Two Peas In A Pod (Chapter 7)

Prince Mallow was evacuating his parents and any remaining staff out the secret exit of the palace, where they could escape and find help as quickly as they could. The young prince was caught off guard however when he heard gleeful giggling coming from behind. "Why helloooooo there! You wouldn't happen to know where the king and queen are, would youuu? Ehehehe!" Grin asked in a dark excited tone, juggling 4 bombs as Mallow was cornered. Mallow seemed to be on the verge of tears, terrified from the destruction and chaos that had struck his home. He barely managed to whimper out something, "G-get away! You're not going to h-hurt my people anymore! I-I may be alone... B-but... But I can still take you guys on!" Grin looked smugly, stopping his juggling and popping the cap of a bomb with his teeth, Fawful standing back and watching Grin, proud of how far he's come from his scared vandal days. "Aaaaahahaha! That's really cute! Oh! I know something cute too! I can make an explosion in the shape of you! BOMBS AWAY!" Grin hurled a bomb right at Mallow, and before it could hit Mallow it seemed to detonate out of nowhere, sending Grin and Fawful back. "Did- Did I get him? Mechawfuls! Scan for him!" Grin ordered, looking around in the smoke as Fawful switched his glasses to a heat detecting setting. Grin was confused with the silence, looking around for their machines. "Mechawfuls?" Grin asked again, but this time it was answered by a loud "GET AWAY FROM ME!" followed by a thunderbolt. The thunder smashed and traveled between the mechawfuls, overheating and shutting them all down. The odds seemed to be evened.

Mallow summoned a cloud above himself, healing himself from any damage he may have taken from the blast. He then looked up at the snowstorm, taking a deep breath before he drew snow from the snowstorm, charging up a giant snowman to keep F.U.R.Y out. The remaining Kremling forces would try to stop Mallow, but got crushed under the weight of the snow. Fawful stood back, trying to keep Grin back too from the powerful magic coming from Mallow, but Grin and Midbus both didn't seem to care. Midbus would punch directly through the snowman hurled at him and the Kremlings, leaving only the main 3 members of F.U.R.Y conscious. Midbus punched Mallow into a pillar, and Grin threw bombs at the pillar to try and bury Mallow under the wreckage. Mallow would just barely flee before he was left under the rubble, getting out his cymbals to make a loud shockwave and blow Midbus and Grin away. Mallow wouldn't let up once he was up, doing what seemed impossible and summoning a massive star to hurl and bounce on F.U.R.Y. Neither Midbus nor Grin could handle the giant comet, but Fawful could. He got out his headgear and began to shoot barrage after barrage at the comet, as well as getting his ray gun out to try and stun it for as long as possible. This did sort of work, slowing it down just enough to where F.U.R.Y could run away, but what was left after the fall was the real damage. There was even more smoke, and barely anyone could see, but they could still hear. And what Grin did hear, terrified him. Mallow shouted out in relief and excitement, "GENO! I missed you so much! I need help!" Things just went from bad to worse.

Before Geno could get out an attack, the doors behind F.U.R.Y were broken down. A giant walrus-like creature was sent rolling into the corridor, being chased down by Captain Syrup in a small floating pod, controlling a bulky spear man that seems to be fighting the walrus creature. "Now is the time for escape! There is already a profit being held, now we are escaping for bigger goals!" Fawful proclaimed, with Midbus grabbing Fawful and Grin to escape out the same exit Mallow was trying to escape out of. Geno took notice of this and decided to take care of 2 birds with one stone. "GENO BLAST!" cried Geno, raining down beams of light all over Nimbus land to launch everyone out and into the volcano below. Tons of Snowmads and Spearmen fell into the lava down below, coming back up either dead, or stranded on rocks in the volcano. F.U.R.Y however had landed on a big chunk of rock, which would benefit them for what would come next. It turns out the Walrus creature was actually the leader of the Snowmads: Lord Fredrik. His titanic proportion towers even over Midbus, so too does his power over the cold via his magic horn, capable of taking an entire continent under its storm. Captain Syrup would follow suit after, but she would end up on a rock further away from the main battle about to break out, watching and irritated at her loss, but at the same time excited to see one of her new enemies get burned. Grin helped Fawful up, breathing a sigh of relief that "At least we don't have to deal with that wooden freak, heh heh! Midbus, you think you can handle this guy? He looks furious!" Grin asked, making sure he too was ok, as well as giving him a brew to boost his strength. Midbus felt a surge of energy, with dormant powers of his returning from Grin's concoction. Midbus brushed himself off and nodded, looking at the massive beast that stood in front of him. "This thing thinks it'll beat me? Nah, I'll win."

Lunging directly at Fredrik, Midbus immediately grabbed a bomb from under his shell and chucked it directly at Fredrik, sending him back and causing both opponents to roar ferociously. Fredrik charged at Midbus, his helmet rushing at him like a bulls horns in a red room, trying to rip him to shreds. Midbus jumped back and stomped the ground, causing the rock to shatter and sink and rise in variety. Now with the high ground, Midbus jumped down at Fredrik curled up in his shell at his helmet, spinning like a buzz saw and trying to either pierce the helmet or shove Fredrik into some other part of the volcano. This did sort of work, as Fredrik was shoved back and even fell towards the lava, however Fredrick's horn came in clutch when he blew on it and froze the fiery bubble bath that would have awaited him. Fredrik froze most of the lava pit, before blowing on his horn again and unleashing an icy dragon, shattering and launching fragments of the ice at Midbus like a rain of knives, all while he clawed back up to the rock to try and grab him. Midbus's shell was sturdy enough to take most of the bludgeoning, but it still took a toll on him, a toll that Fredrik used to throw Midbus up into the air. Midbus smashed through cliffs and edges of the volcano, before landing in a cave nearby, where he could quickly regain himself and catch a breath before Fredrik found him. Fredrik was in hot pursuit, climbing up savagely with a blood hungry look in his eyes, not thinking of anything else but turning this little piggie into a meat mush. Midbus had very little time to come up with something, but as it turns out he wouldn't need to. A giant metal ball on a chain dropped in front of him, and when he looked up to see where it came from, he saw the F.U.R.Y cruiser above as support. Midbus breathed some ice onto his wounds and grabbed the ball, leaping out of the cave and directly at Fredrik in his mad climb, bashing him with the wrecking ball and kicking him in the gut back down to the rocks. Fredrik was sent flying at high speeds towards the ground, just barely not sinking into the lava. Shards of rubble were sent flying towards Midbus from the impact, but he was either able to punch it out of the way, or it crumbled within contact. Midbus landed on Fredrik, and the two beasts did not let up on each other.

While the clash was going on, Grin and Fawful had flown up to get help for Midbus, escaping to the F.U.R.Y cruiser and dropping the wrecking ball for him. It was clear that even though Midbus could keep up with Fredrik, he was outmatched when it came to raw strength and ice power. Fawful and Grin would have to figure something out fast to help take down this savage beast of a winter. "Where are those BFF guys? Isn't this their job?!" Grin panicked, booting up mechawfuls as fast as he could so cannon fire would rain down and hit Fredrik. "Fawful couldn't find them when puppet boy blew us out of our free kingdom! They are probably still having the side dish of gravel and magma!" Unknown to any of them however, was that BFF had escaped the Volcano a while ago. They were lucky and got thrown at the top, which meant they were close enough to the Flying Krock to simply teleport back aboard and gather the remaining ships at Nimbus land and flee out of sight. "SO LONG LOSER FAWFUL! It won't be long now till this whole kingdom bows before us!" Dieter proclaimed, deluded into believing this was a victory. BFF's goals were clear to them: forcefully put themselves in power and get as much Malatone as they could! They'd own the world! At least that's what they believed, not noticing that Geno had snuck aboard. "Yo." Geno spoke in a soft voice, getting Dieter and Kaley's attention as they looked down on him. "Fawful must of sunk to a new low, making such a simple little thing!" Dieter laughed, backed up by Kaley. "What's the matter, Pinocchio? You aren't going to become a real boy here" Kaley said, babying Geno as she played with his hat. Geno said nothing, nothing except— "GENO FLASH!"

Cannons rained, sounding as a brutal cacophony to the two heavyweight champions, if the sizzling heatwaves and ash wasn't. Midbus had bite and torn into Fredrik, covering him in bruises and scrapes that were nasty to look at. That however still wasn't enough to take down viking lord. Midbus could feel his legs giving out, staring at the dark void of Fredrik's horn, possibly the last thing Midbus would see before being put back into the ice.... That's when both of them heard a loud flash bang. Fredrik was caught off guard by the flash, looking up to see a massive ship tumbling down into the hellhole. This was the advantage Midbus needed, using the distraction to snatch away Fredrik's horn, and hitting a home run with Fredrik so he could climb up as fast as he could to reach the Flying Krock. "What's he doing?! Isn't he going to—" FWOOSH! A swarm of mechawfuls would fly by Grin, as Fawful personally controlled some of them to make sure they hit Fredrik. Grin then realized what was happening, a mad dash to see who would hurl the crumbling Flying Krock at the other and definitively win the fight, and Fawful was doing his best to secure a Midbus victory. Grin fumbled with his bomb satchel, pulling the pins off of as many as he could in a hasty manner before jumping off the Cruiser, activating his jet boots, and letting them all loose. Fredrik clawed and bit and rushed by, trying to keep up with Midbus and not get sent too far back. His massive size helped, as even if he was stunned for a bit, he could make up for it by simply getting up further with less of a struggle. Slowly but surely, the mechawfuls thinned out, and Fredrik was getting dangerously close to Midbus and the crumbling wreckage. Fawful couldn't figure out anything else that wouldn't be slow, but Grin was already down there and distracting him, so he just thought "Why not?" Grin flew directly at Fredrik, getting out his entire bomb satchel and smacking Fredrik with it, blowing Grin and Fredrik away with a gigantic boom.... And yet despite that? Fredrik was still kicking. But what he wasn't, was the one who made it to the top.

"RRRRRRRAAGGHG!" Roared Midbus, as the wreckage of the Flying Krock was all sent directly at Fredrik, and not just the Krock, but tons of cannon fire all from the F.U.R.Y cruiser. Fredrik was sent plummeting into the molten grave below, being crushed under cannonball after cannonball after cannonball, ignoring the literal ship on top of him. Midbus panted, landing safely on a ledge and watching Fredrik try and wriggle his way out to no avail. Midbus was satisfied, wiping blood off of his mouth and looking at Fredrik. "Not so cold now, are ya?" Midbus then turned to leave, when Fawful's panic was heard, as he flew down searching erratically. "WHERE IS GRIN?!" Midbus then realized Grin was missing, with the rush of victory going missing too. Fawful and Midbus searched through Barrel Volcano, looking around desperately. He couldn't have gone far, he couldn't have! There wasn't any way he was gone, was he? No! No no NO! Midbus got on his communicator and called in backup from KAOS, and any ship that hasn't completely fled. Before long, most of F.U.R.Y was searching for their second in command. Fawful, despite not being physically strong, was lifting and destroying boulders to try and find Grin, trying to not lose the one thing more important to him now than a kingdom or the world: his partner.

As it turned out, Grin was actually very close by. He had landed in the wreckage of the Flying Krock, which also held BFF. Dieter got up feeling groggy, with Beef still knocked out cold and Kaley in too weak of a condition to do anything. "What happened... where?—" His confusion was halted when he noticed Grin, laying knocked out in pain and in ash, his cloak torn and burnt from the explosion. He looked as if a light slap could end him now. Dieter stared down at Grin and thought of his options, weighing pros and cons. If he kept Grin alive, there was the chance that he could figure out why the Krock crashed in the first place. Oh god, maybe the little freak would experiment on them, turn them into abominations! Dieter's perfect skin and jawline would be ruined! How would he go on? Oh. And he'd also most likely be an inhuman husk of himself unable to recognize who or what he was as he was made into just another arm of the machine to work till his barely intact organs collapsed. But also his jawline would be ruined which is far worse. On the other hand, if he was kept alive then he would be seen as very very valuable to Fawful, and he'd be wanted and kept around like the treasure he is! But then again why would he need his trust if in the end he's gonna ditch him anyway and use his own army against him? Dieter then made his choice, fixing his hair and shades, and preparing to throw Grin overboard and into the lava as well. But of course he couldn't do that without stretching first, he might pull a muscle! "DIETER! I was having confusion as to where you were! GRIN! I HAVE SUCH JOY! Get on the ship, we are leaving soon! And we have prisoners too! Furururu!" Fawful flew in excitedly, picking up Grin and walking back onto the F.U.R.Y cruiser, which now had a bunch of Snowmad prisoners, including Fredrik. Dieter stood there for a moment and groaned, smacking his head on a wall. There goes both options.

Grin was put in the medical bay of the cruiser, he needed a lot of sleep to recover from the blast. For Grin, this led him back to the place of his dreams, a safe rest from the aches and sours he was feeling in reality. This was a different kind of dream however, nay, not even a dream. It was a nightmare, bringing pain to Grin not just in the physical world, but in the dream world too. It can't be a nightmare for Grin of course without an appearance from the blindingly bright blight himself: Geno. The Puppet rained down a barrage of impossibly bright light, as Grin fled and ran away from the stars that rained down, he fled towards what looked like allies. Creatures from the dark, a chill to free him from the heat that burned the sky, a chill that could possibly extinguish the flames that sought him to burn. But what greeted him instead was far, far from that. The shadowy creatures bared striking silhouettes, one was very skinny and tall, another was small and high energy as it flew about, and one was big and blobby and almost pulsating. Each of their eyes all seemed safe at first, before shining like a flashbang into an assortment of yellow, blue, and red. The group of shadows then merged into one gargantuan amalgamation, roaring and swallowing Grin whole into a white void. Suddenly, Grin could feel as if his skin was melting off, looking as he saw chunks of himself dripping off. Grin screamed and begged, looking for any sort of help. His cries and begging would be heard by only one, a silhouette of pure darkness: Fawful. But the silhouette turned, no words or cruel judgment, nothing but a simple turn and indifference to Grin's demise.

Nimbus Land was left in ruin, but not all was lost. Some might ask; what do the people of Nimbus Land value, if not their treasure trove of a land and general wealth. The answer was actually right in front of them, as Geno escorted King and Queen Nimbus out of the palace wreckage, and more importantly, Prince Mallow. The people of Nimbus Land cheered, as they tended to the King and Queen while Mallow and Geno hugged and enjoyed their reunion. "So whatchya been up to buddy? How's Star Road? Is it lonely up there? I missed you so much! I was planning to talk with Peach so we could all have a playdate! I just didn't know how to get to you! But you're here! I'm so happy!" Mallow was filled with excitement, almost hopping up and down, barely able to contain it all as Geno simply patted him on the head and smirked. "Can't fulfill my own wish if I'm up there now can I?" Geno said, picking up Mallow and carrying him on his shoulders, helping people rebuild their homes and shops, before turning back to the palace to free the people who he may have not freed. "Wait what's your wish? Oh my gosh! We didn't see your wish! Tell me! Tell me! Unless it's a secret, then I'll make sure no one else knows!" Geno then looked up at Mallow and chuckled, "It's seeing my friends again, and that's already happening." It wasn't much, and Geno still had his work cut out for him to catch Fawful and his newly arisen militia, but for what it was worth? Geno was happy with the little peace he could get right now, especially being able to see his friends again after so so long.

Grin jolted up with a gasp, clutching his heart as he looked around to remind himself of where he was. The room was chilly, to the point where an icicle or two was on his IV unit. You could see the cold air breeze by, and Grin felt as if he was slowly getting bathed in dread once again. This was however put to rest when he saw two things. Midbus, and not just Midbus in his normal pink skinned form. No, his skin was a pale cyan blue, with his shell being covered in fur and an odd necklace hanging from his neck. Grin looked for a while at Midbus while he napped, before looking at himself and realizing his wounds were not just wounds, they were burns, and he had been scarred badly from the explosion. The burns and scars were not visible on his face aside from injuries that could be healed, but the rest of his body, while still functional and able to walk, would not be the same again. Grin turned back to Midbus, and smiled. He had chilled the room so the burns wouldn't do any more damage than they already had. Grin then turned to get up and find Fawful, but was stopped when he felt something against his leg. Grin looked down and saw Fawful, looking exhausted and stressed. His hair was frizzy and his glasses were laying on the bed a short distance away from him. His chair had a butt mark that suggested he hadn't left this spot for at least hours, and he was the only other person in the room aside from Midbus. Grin's face couldn't be read, but actions speak louder than words, and Grin hugged Fawful.

BFF was left in charge for the time Fawful was out of commission, and they had been given simple orders: Get to a place where they could all lay low, and find the snowmads that had fled to brainwash them. "I know we have brutes as our team name, but that's it?" Kaley asked, fluttering around and perching on random soldiers to try and find a comfy spot. Dieter stood at the bow of the ship, gracefully balancing as he looked at the front of it without falling so he could get his remodeling ideas. "We have our job to do, and we'll do it with swiftness! Can't have loser Fawful and the raw porkchop to think we're disloyal now can we? Don't worry, it'll all work out in due time! Now, do you think yellow would suit the face of the ship?" Dieter's fashionista comments were interrupted by Beef yanking him by his hair, and him gently putting Kaley on his head. "What's wrong, big guy?" Kaley asked, buzzing around and trying to hold her giggles towards Dieter, who was rubbing his hair and combing it to fix it. Beef simply pointed towards 3 Snowmads all fleeing, before hopping down into a clear pipe, out on a road that was being renovated after some black goop had melted the pavement. Dieter and Kaley glanced down, "Do you recognize that pipe?" "Not at all" "Then it seems we've just hit a jackpot! Beef! Kaley! Have you ever wanted to see a massive ship slip into a small itsy bitsy pipe?"

Fawful woke up to the sound of a massive dropping sound, followed by a faint warping noise. Fawful was ready to go up deck and question what was happening, but he dropped that in favor of staying with Grin, when he saw he was up. "I have relief! Fawful's heart was skipping beats at the rate of an oven clicking fire! Though Fawful is having skill at many things, I... I did not do a good job at repairing you. You will not be the same, for all the genius and ingenuity I am having. I... I have remorse." Fawful's smile dropped at those last words, a smile that was already shaky at best and fake at worst in the moment. Grin once again looked at himself, although it had registered in his head that he was changed, he didn't stop to consider just how changed he was. Changed. Grin was a very changed person. In just a month, he had become a whole new Grin he didn't even know he could become. From an underpaid cog in the machine, who had thoughts that if he were never born, nothing would change. To a powerful alchemist with an army and a partner by his side, the future king of the world. Grin thought of all that had happened on his journey, and looked back at Fawful. And for the first time, Grin had on a truly wicked smile, with teeth now sharp as knives and eyes that had lives taken behind its glare. It was as if he was about to tear off his skin and make his metamorphosis a literal one. "Are you kidding? AAAAHAHAHA! I feel BETTER THAN EVER! Ehehe! You've done great, really! Now, what's our next scheme? I wanna be the one putting someone in a hospital bed instead! Eheheheh!" Fawful looked at Grin, pausing for a moment before putting on his glasses. He said nothing, but cackled alongside Grin, now filling the room with malice in tandem, instead of in following.

Grin got up, his body damaged, but his determination boosted beyond what was before. He equipped his gear as if it were second nature, it complimented his baptism in fire from however long it had been since he had been knocked out, Grin didn't know nor care. His satchel was loaded so heavily with bombs that he had to split it up between two satchels, and even that wasn't enough. The cloak was removed so Grin could try and work something out, as carrying two very obviously heavy satchels that he would be keeping from everyone, would be just a bit suspicious. Then Grin remembered, "Oh yeah, I have my own servants now! Mechawfuls! Come here please!" Grin didn't have to wait long, as 4 mechawfuls and a kremling all entered his room in perfect unison. "What'll it be...errrr.." The kremling stuttered, the mind control gas still not having his name hardwired in yet. "That'd be Lord Grinlee to you! I'd remember it if I were you, just a suggestion though! Heheh!" Grin giggled mischievously, hopping onto his bed and holding up his cloak. "Y'all have any idea how to stuff more bombs in here? Satchels are getting kind of boring!" Grin's order was met instantly by one of the mechawfuls, with the Kremling standing near the door to run off and get whatever was needed. "LORD GRINLEE, IT WOULD BE MOST WISE TO ADD INTERNAL POCKETS TO CARRY YOUR EXPLOSIVES. WOULD YOU LIKE A THICKER LAYER ON THE OUTSIDE TOO?" Grin smirked, hopping down and leaning on the mechawful. "As a matter of fact, yes! I'd also liiiike... real silver! The fake silver on my cloak was starting to get tacky, fetch it for me please!" "AFFIRMATIVE!" replied the mechawfuls, buzzing off to get the needed materials, with the Kremling panting and trying to catch up. Grin was getting a good laugh out of this.

Grin walked out of his room in his new and improved cloak, the silver that once had to be fake was now replaced with real silver linings, as well as a heavy layer on the outside so no one would see the bombs on the inside of his cloak. The sharp ends of his cloak at the bottom were now also lined with silver instead of being torn, and the collar had been elongated from its short length so that Grin could wear it as a hood. Grin's exuberance was quickly outshined by his shock when he left his room to find Fawful, instead finding something much more awe inspiring. All around him was a mystical pink sky, with what looked like sparkly dust all over the sky as if they were stars. Grin looked over the edge of the ship and saw it wasn't just the sky either, it was the horizon, the ground that didn't exist, it was this whole space! "Fawfs? Where are we!?" Grin asked, running up and activating his jet boots, excited to fly around in this space. The voice he was met with though wasn't Fawful, but instead Dieter's voice. "Welcome back from your sudden beauty nap, demo-boy. If you must know, we had spotted some fools trying to escape us! But of course we can't leave anyone behind, and we stumbled upon this cute little pipe that led us to this smoothie colored land! I wouldn't be spazzing about if I were you, you might get another booboo" Grin landed down and glared at Dieter, keeping his hands in his cloak and on a pouch. "Demo-boy is a weird way to refer to your Lord, heheh!" Grin sassily commented, pulling out a bomb with a straw in it, with the detonator in his other hand that was still in his cloak. "Want a sip?" Dieter looked down at Grin, doing his very best to not cringe at him. "I'll pass. Just hold on tight, we'll be entering wherever this pipe leads too eventually."

Fawful made his way down to the deck, skipping down in a jollier than usual mood. Grin giggled and looked at Fawful, "Well well! What's changed your mood, Fawfs?" Fawful looked at Grin and held his hands, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Do you have remembering of Turtle Breath's disappearing from the week before? THIS is where he was fleeing too! And now he is gone, leaving all of the crumbs for our tasty mice mouths to make a den with! Furururu! The people here will be having weakness, there will be nothing to stop our cooking of OUR WORLD!" Fawful shouted, rallying the troops around him unintentionally from his natural charisma. Grin looked at the ship's head again, seeing the light get brighter and brighter, the end of the pipe. Grin then looked behind Fawful and saw the fleet of ships following the F.U.R.Y cruiser in a single file line. This mission would be all or nothing for F.U.R.Y. If they didn't succeed here, they'd have nowhere else to go, trapped into a corner and taken in, possibly dying in the process. This thought was terrifying to most, most actions now being life or death, needing precision and planning that F.U.R.Y just didn't have with how sudden this plan was. Not to Grin though, the impulse and action was exactly why he was so excited, looking at Fawful with the same charisma and madness in his eyes. "They'll never know what hit them! Not until they're all chanting one thing! AND WHAT IS THAT?" Grin asked towards the crew, with everyone (except BFF, who simply mouthed along): "ALL HAIL LORD FAWFUL!"

Mallow had decided that Nimbus Land could hold down the fort themselves, and that the current threat was something he had to help out with. Although Nimbus Land was worried for their prince, they understood that he needed to do something, and bid him farewell as Mallow and Geno set off on another adventure. "So, is this falafel guy anything like Smithy? Cuz that'll be easy peasy!" Mallow asked, making fake binoculars with his hands to look for Fawful. Geno sighed as he also made hand binoculars, which were much more effective for him since his eyes actually could zoom in and look around. "More or less, he uses robots and has a ship run by some colorful characters. He's just got a knack for trying to end the world is all" Mallow tripped when he heard the last part, "HE WANTS TO DO WHAT!?" Geno helped Mallow up, rubbing off the dirt and strange black goop that had gotten on him. "Yeah. He's no good. The Dark Star was thought to have died with him, but if he's still around then there's a chance that even if he was nice, things would get bad really fast. He's taken at least the Kremling people under his control, and I doubt he'd leave the snowmads free after they interrupted him attacking Nimbus Land." Mallow looked a bit nervous now, putting down his hands and looking down, before looking back up. "We've beaten bad guys before, we can beat a waffle!" Geno laughed a little and pat Mallow on the shoulder, "He isn't a waffle, but I suppose beans and waffles are sort of alike."

What else goes well with waffles? Syrup of course! Captain Syrup had narrowly gotten away and out of Barrel Volcano, with her crew following suit to find new treasure. Syrup however was salty about all the lost treasure, even if she had still basically sucked Nimbus Land dry of cash. "Finally got Fredrik off our tails, and we still couldn't make away with the gold! When I get my hands on him he's gonna look like a hairless cat!" Syrup said as she walked with the Black Sugar Gang. While marching along, some of her spearmen spotted something interesting, that being a snowmad leaving a weird clear pipe. The Snowmad seemed scared, as it rubbed its side that seemed to be emanating a purple smoke, with it coughing heavily. "Oh good! We don't even have to rough him up! Boys, get 'em!" Syrup commanded, following behind them as she drew her sword to intimidate the Snowmad. "Is it just me, or can I finally see how bad y'all smell? I can fix that, but I guess you want to keep your nose. Talk." Syrup spoke less like she was taking this seriously, and more so like this was a game to her. The Snowmad got the message, as it pointed towards the pipe and made a sad grunt. It then pointed to its helmet, towards the symbol of the Snowmads, the symbol of Fredrik. That was all Syrup needed, shoving the Snowmad out of the way, jumping onto the pipe and blowing a kiss at the Snowmad, and hopping down herself to give chase. Most of the spearmen followed, but were left behind by mechawfuls that had also been left behind.

Certain pipes had a nature to suck people in if they were close enough, whether or not they actually chose to go down them. This leads to whoever is going through the pipe to be shot out with force, which would increase based on how fast someone entered, how many people there are, and other factors. All this to say, dozens of large ships filled with many people of varying sizes and weights, would lead to a big blast. The pipe shuttered and shook, it almost couldn't handle the fleet flying through it. And just when it seemed F.U.R.Y was stuck, the pipe was aimed upwards and shot everything out high into the sky, breaking through the clouds in this new strange world and being a perfect entrance. Sure the blast was loud, but nothing was destroyed, and it sent F.U.R.Y way out of sight so they could hide and find a base of operations. Most ship members were blown back into the ship, with a few clinging on and still being on deck. The only person to be completely fine was Grin, who had used the momentum to take flight and fly high through the air. Grin had missed the feeling of free flight, not for any intense or violent reason, just moving through the air freely. The air was rushing through his face, and the sounds of his own joy were all he could hear. That was until he smacked his face on something metal, sending him flying back. "YOW! What did I even hit!?" Grin asked, rubbing his face irritated. The clouds, as if they heard his question, moved back and revealed something insane.

A giant chunk of metal seemed to be in the middle of the eternal night sky above. What it was was something Grin couldn't fully make out, as it was too dark and cloudy. Grin decided to fly back to regroup with F.U.R.Y, assuming it would take him at least a minute or two due to the heavy clouds. F.U.R.Y was also searching for Grin, hearing the thud of him smacking his head but not knowing where he was. Both sides were then proven wrong, as the clouds were blown away in what felt like a lightning storm. Sparks and thunder jolted out of the metal in the sky, with Grin getting shocked and short circuiting his boots, meaning he had no way to float anymore. "LORD GRINLEE SPOTTED! RETRIEVE AND RESCUE!" was mechanically said by a Mechawful, as a quartet of fawful copters were sent to catch Grin. Grin on the other hand, while still nervous about falling from the massive height, seemed to have an idea brewing in his head. Grin reached into his cloak and got a bomb out, one that exchanged explosive power in exchange for height. He hadn't tested it properly yet, but hey, this'll be a great testing ground! Grin threw off the pins, shoved them to the bottom of his boots, and reached for a fawful copter. He was barely able to reach one, but once he did he propelled himself high into the air, barely reaching the F.U.R.Y cruiser. He barely reached a ledge, and was struggling to pull himself up. Just before Grin lost his grip, Midbus easily picked him up and set him down. "Hehe, well at least I know it works! Thanks by the way, Porks. Say, what was that thunderstorm anyway?"

The "thunderstorm" that was raging on turned out to be something less natural, and more mechanical. Tons of neon lights ignited one after the other, revealing a massive abandoned carnival. It was plated in spikes and neon blue lava, with a seemingly constant downpour of rain to complete the theme. To top it all off, the final lights to turn on were the lights to a giant statue, large christmas tree like lights swirling around the spikes on the shell, and a loud speaker playing a massive roar to show off The one. The only. Bowser. Grin was speechless, he had known that this is where the Koopa King had left to while they snuck around his castle, but he had no idea he just left this massive snazzy fortress to be taken with zero effort! F.U.R.Y flew closer, cautious of it due to the sneaking suspicion of it being too good to be true. Who would really leave a neon fortress that expanded high into the sky completely unguarded? It couldn't be right, could it? Tensions were high, as F.U.R.Y ships scoured through World Bowser, trying to find any threat or danger that could bring any sort of danger. Luckily for them, the only "dangers'' that were there were Hisstocrats and Motley Bossblob. The Hisstocrats were giant snake-like creatures that had worked for Bowser, but had since been left here to call this place home, accompanied by Motley who was another goon with the theme of a jester. It didn't take much to convince them to work for F.U.R.Y, which added too fun little roadblocks to their arsenal. And with that? F.U.R.Y had a base of operations.

Remodeling was the first order of business, they couldn't have a presence if they looked like they were mooching off of Turtle Breath. This place needed Fawfulization! And that meant the giant neon Bowser statue had to go, as well as replacing everything that his face with Fawfuls. "We will be spending much time on redecorating! Days most likely, The King of Stupid is having as much design wits as he does smarts, none at all! No bedrooms, no kitchens, just punch punch punch at the red cockroach that is not falling for his roach spray of stubbornness! Fawful is having headache just thinking about it! Fururu! But soooooon! Furururu!" Fawful marched around in his new lair, marveling at the decor, even if it was while standing on his hover pad to avoid the lava boiling him. Grin followed, while he also liked the current aesthetic, he didn't fully agree on how intense the remodel should be, liking the challenge it put up. "Well there's other castles here aren't there? We can just take those and make them one big castle to add here!" Grin suggested, as he shot at some of the ants and piranha plants that tried to nab and eat him and Fawful. "Other Castles... Hmmmmm... That's it! Grinny! Follow me, I am having inspiration once again!"