Shopkeeper was disappointed, to say the least, when they came back without any of her stolen merchandise. She acted as though she was going through a midlife crisis from simply missing a few gemstones. They were all sitting down in various chairs now, trying to discuss what to do.

“My babies are still missing…” Shopkeeper lamented, eyes red and in her hands.

“You’ll see them soon enough.” Reva comforted, patting her back. “We’ll get them.”

“How are we going to do that?” Hazel silently mouthed.

“I have no idea.” Reva mouthed back, shrugging her shoulders.

“From what Saffron’s said, they’re pretty much dedicated to this one woman.” Selicy reasoned. “So maybe we can impersonate her.”

“Oh, and you can do that?” Hazel asked. “How do you think she got them to worship her?"

“That’s… actually a good question.” Violette said. “Why do you think they worship her?”

“Maybe she’ll kill them if they don’t?” Gunner proposed.

“Actually doesn’t sound like a bad theory.” Shiso laughed. “She wasn’t exactly weak.”

“What do you think, Saff?” Reva asked. Saffron had stayed completely silent since telling the group what she’d seen.

“She… doesn’t use Spell Cards…”

“Yeah, you told us she didn’t.” Selicy said. “I don’t either. What's your point?”

“She used magic, like, real magic. Magic from before spell cards were invented. The oldest magic there is, the kind that’s been undocumented and forgotten.”

“Looks like someone’s remembered your forgotten magic then.” Gunner said sarcastically. “Screw her magic; we’ll just blaze through her!”

“How did that work just an hour ago?” Hazel asked.

“Even my shield was overwhelmed by her magic.” Reva admitted.

“Is there a way to stop her from using magic?” Violette asked. They all looked over at Saffron for some insight.

“Pure magic like that takes more mana because of how much more uncontrolled and powerful it is compared to spell cards.” Saffron reasoned. “So maybe if we force her to use enough magic too rapidly, we could force her body into a mana deficiency shock?”

“Should we figure out her allergies as well so we can force a pack of peanuts down her throat?” Selicy sarcastically asked. “Be real; we’ve got to overpower her, not wait for her to level a parking lot first.”

Saffron reeled back at the hostility. She hadn’t expected anyone to really give a rebuttal to her plan.

“I think we all should swarm her.” Selicy declared; a stream of cold steam started waterfalling from her mouth. “I’m not doing any of this ‘waiting for her to die’ bullshit!” Everyone fell silent.

“I agree.” Gunner finally said off to the side. “I don’t wanna be a sitting duck until she croaks either.”

“She’s not going to die.” Saffron said sternly. “She’ll just faint. Then we can put some more mana in her or something.”

“Double stupid!” Selicy hissed, now standing. “We’re knocking her out by draining mana so we can put mana back in her? You’re denser than the average black hole!”

“At least her plan doesn’t involve getting everyone killed.” Hazel retorted. “I think Saff’s on the right track.”

While they were arguing, Shiso and Reva were quietly conversing with each other about something. Meanwhile, Violette sat quietly in her chair as everyone around her either argued loudly or talked in secret. Then, Shiso cleared his throat as loud as humanly possible.

“AHEM! Can I get everyone’s attention?” he asked, raising a hand. Everyone stopped their shouting and sat back down. “Thanks. Now, I personally think both of your plans are terrible, so me and Reva have made a plan that’s not as terrible.”

“Bullshit.” Selicy mumbled.

“I don’t wanna hear it.” Shiso said, pointing to the girl. He stood up and started walking around them. “We think that some of us can distract the woman while the others sneak around her castle and grab the lady’s things.” Gunner raised his hand. “Yeah?” Shiso asked.

“Can I shoot anyone?” the boy asked. Shiso gave it some thought.

“On the way out,” he said firmly. “Any other questions?”

“Why should I follow your plan?” Selicy asked.

“Because it’s better than yours,” he said simply.

“That’s-”

“Bullshit?”

Selicy growled, grumbled some ambiguous words, and sat back down in her chair with folded arms.

“Cool your jets.” Gunner sighed.

“I thought you wanted my plan!” Selicy complained.

“As long as I get to fire the gun, I don’t care.” Gunner said, hugging his gun closer to himself. Selicy rolled her eyes.

“What are the teams then?” Violette asked. Everyone had forgotten about her.

“Anyone who can’t sneak is a distraction.” Shiso declared. “But I think three people should be on the retrieval team.”

“Who here can keep hidden and stay quiet?” Reva asked. Everyone looked at Shiso.

“Anyone besides me?” he asked.

“How about me?” Violette asked with a small blush.

“Don’t you play an instrument?” Selicy asked.

“I can keep quiet.” she whispered. Shiso stopped walking in front of her chair.

“Are you sure?” he asked. Violette stood up as tall as possible. Though naturally she would be shorter than the gunslinger, her platform shoes made her surpass him entirely. Shiso sighed at the sight of her platforms; he thought “platform” didn’t begin to describe them. She had less of a platform and more the entire stage under her feet.

“I can keep up with you boys.” she flaunted. Although, her comment fell slightly flat, as Shiso and Gunner were the only two guys there, and Gunner was definitely not going on the covert mission.

“Hmm…” Shiso was clearly still a bit skeptical. Violette spread her hand out as wide as possible and placed it over Shiso’s chest.

“Please, honey?” she begged. Shiso coughed and took a step backwards.

“Sure.” he quietly said between coughs. He retreated and sat back down in his chair.

“Dude, that was weak.” Gunner whispered beside him.

“Kid, shut it.” he shot back. “Who else is coming with us?” Shiso asked loudly.

“I’ll come.” Saffron said. Nobody argued.

“So me, Gunner, Selicy, and Hazel will be a distraction?” Reva asked.

“Yes.”

“How? She’s seen us all.” Everyone was indeed stumped at this until Gunner spoke up.

“How about disguises?” he asked. Everyone went quiet.

“From where?” Selicy asked.

“We’re in a store.” Hazel sassed. “Where do you think?”

“Didn’t need the attitude.” Selicy hissed. Hazel was about to start another fight, but Saffron held her arm back and shook her head. The engineer rolled her eyes and strolled off to find somewhere that had clothes.

Everyone agreed to meet back at the circle of chairs and went their separate ways, preparing for the plan they had formed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiso, Violette, and Saffron had made it back to the circle of chairs far before any of the others had. The first to make it back though, was Selicy. She looked rather proud in her costume though.

Her hood was totally gone, letting her hair flow down the back of her head completely now, and a bit over the top of her eyes too. It was a dark blue dress that reached the floor; the shoulders, dress base, and cuffs were all lined with snow-white fur. In the center of her chest was a bright blue diamond in the dress. A pair of similar, smaller diamonds hung from her ears as her earrings. To top it all off, a circlet rested on her head with another bright blue diamond embedded into it.

Though none of them could see them under the dress, Selicy was also wearing clear blue high heels. She strided into her chair.

“What’re you all staring at?” she asked.

“You look like a queen…” Violette said in wonder.

“I always did.” Selicy said with a smile. “I am the North Queen after all.”

“Likely story.” Shiso snorted, spinning his revolver’s barrel. Selicy rolled her eyes and sat down. Next came Gunner.

The boy had on a dark orange shirt, which was covered by a jet-black leather jacket. The jeans he wore were also black with orange diamonds on the knees; the boots on his feet were also black with an orange outline on the bottom. He had ditched the yellow headband, letting his hair fall down almost to his eyes, which were covered by a pair of sunglasses.

“Real incognito, kid.” Shiso said with a laugh.

“Too anonymous?” he asked.

“Just right?” he winked with a thumbs-up and a smile.

From behind his back, Gunner revealed that he had also swiped a bag full of some kind of snack. He popped open the bag and began tossing some blue food into his mouth.

“What are those?” Selicy asked. Gunner held the bag’s label for the rest of them to see.

The entire bag was a deep blue, with the only relief of that being the black nutrition information on the back, which told of the lethal amounts of sugar and mana that it contained, and the label on the front. The bag read “Mana Bites” arcing across the top of the picture below it. Arcing under the picture was the phrase: “Get the energy for when it counts”.

In between them was a picture that Saffron felt was eerily familiar. Printed on it was a woman with long white hair who was wearing a crop top and jean-shorts. She had jet-black horns on her head, small wings on her back, and tail behind her. Her lipstick, eyes, shirt, and shorts were all a light blue hue.

The woman had her hands together around her mouth, with her lips pursed and looking like she was in the process of blowing a kiss. At the same time, she was giving a soft wink. Behind her was a simple diamond of light blue as well.

Gunner took out a small, angular blue diamond about the size of a marble and tossed it into his mouth. He bit down on it with a very audible Crunch! and everyone watched as it shattered everywhere. He swallowed what remained in his mouth, but the parts that hit the ground melted into some kind of liquid and evaporated rapidly.

“You guys remember these things?” Gunner asked, shoving some more into his mouth. “I loved these things before they stopped making them.”

“Why'd they stop making them?” Saffron asked nervously.

“I think their sales dropped when they made budget cuts.” Violette said, trying to recall.

“Nobody bought them when they couldn’t afford to slap that chick on the front of the bag anymore.” Selicy retorted.

“Oh, that actually makes sense.” Saffron pondered.

“Whatever.” Gunner said, rolling his eyes. “I just love these things.”

“The killer sugar and mana, or the way the food’s shrapnel lodges into your gums?” Shiso asked.

“Yeah, both.” Gunner said wistfully. “I’m gonna savor these things for as long as I can.” Gunner folded up the bag and put it into a pocket on the inside of his jacket.

“Here comes the royal guard.” Selicy said sarcastically, pointing to the woman walking up to them.

None of them had easily recognized Reva without her bulky armor and mammoth shield. She was instead wearing much more compact armor that she carried like it weighed nothing. It was silver armor with some green edges here and there; underneath, she wore some simple chainmail. It looked like a good set of armor for something like a Renaissance Festival, but this one was actually functioning.

Reva had refused to wear the helmet though; her hair was also tied up in a bun on the back of her head. The fans in her hair were the only part that really stayed from her old look.

“Ooh, you look so cute!” Violette chirped, running up and hugging the knight.

“Thank you.” Reva blushed. “Shopkeeper suggested wearing something smaller. That way I’d be less recognisable.” She scratched the back of her head. “It was also one of the cheaper armors.”

“She shoved the cheapest thing onto you?” Saffron asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It wasn’t the cheapest one.” Reva reasoned.

“What was the cheapest?” Gunner asked, trying to line up the chairs to bounce in a straight line across them.

“Very little.” she said, shaking her head.

“Little money?”

“Little clothing.”

“What about a weapon?” Shiso asked. “Unless you want to fight with bare-knuckle fistifuffs if push comes to shove.”

“I’ve got it!” Saffron said. She reached into Reva’s pockets and took out a card: Tyrfing. The large sword materialized in Reva’s hands.

“That seems fine to me!” Reva said jollily. She looked to her sides and scratched her head. “Where do I put it?”

“Hmm…” Saffron said in thought. “Let me just…” Saffron took the card again and slapped it on the side of Reva’s hips. It disappeared and turned into a sheath for the blade.

“That’ll do.” Reva shrugged, putting the blade in its place. Almost immediately, the weight nearly sent her to the ground. She struggled to keep up.

“Anyone got a counterweight for her?” Shiso asked while Violette tried to keep the knight up. Gunner and Selicy were too busy jumping on chairs and trying to knock each other off like children. Only one of them had an excuse.

“I think I might have something else…” Saffron said, looking through her spells for something. Card after card came out of her Field Bracer one at a time until she got to what she needed. “This is a prototype for one of my personal spells. Maybe it can help you.”

Saffron took the card and slapped it on the other side of Reva’s waist; a sheath materialized with a red sword inside of it, perfectly sized to counter Tyrfing’s weight.

“Oof, what is it?” Reva wondered, pulling out the large blade.

The blade itself was the size of Tryfing, no question about that. It was entirely red, the surface moving and flowing as if it was running water. The pommel was shaped like a diamond, with a golden diamond in the middle of it. The hilt was spiked in multiple places, making it quite dangerous to the user’s wrists if not careful.

Designed in the center of the hilt and descending about a fifth of the way down the blade was a black teardrop with a smaller golden one inside of it. They all stared at the sword, as none of them had seen Saffron use it before.

“Saff… what is that thing?” Selicy asked. They couldn’t quite place it, but everyone in the immediate area, even Reva, could sense something odd about it. As if the sword itself was trying to tell them something.

“It’s an experimental spell I made.” Saffron said meekly. “It was never meant to really be causally used with your hands, but I figured Reva’s strong enough to carry it.”

“What’s it called?” Gunner asked eagerly. Saffron took a deep breath.

“Ragnarøkkr.” Saffron whispered. “Just some prototype magic. Not even as strong as the real thing…”

Reva took out Tyrfing and crossed the swords above her head. Sunlight glinted off the section where they crossed. She put them back in their respective sheathes, feeling pretty comfortable with them by her sides.

“Welcome to the dual wield club.” Shiso said with a laugh. He took out a set of revolvers and did fancy twirls with his hands, even throwing them over his shoulder and catching them without even a glance.

“Can’t really see the tactical advantage in spinning guns.” sassed a voice from behind them. Hazel waltzed onto the scene, with Shopkeeper not far behind her. She might be the most unrecognisable one.

To start with, the giant poofy hair that Hazel had carried up until them was gone. Instead, her hair had been meticulously and painstakingly put into a french braid, which fell down her back. Looking down, Saffron could see that Hazel didn’t part with her regular boots at all though.

Over her usual clothing, Hazel had thrown on a heavy brown trench coat that covered everything below her neck. Over the left breast of the coat, Hazel had thrown on her own custom patch: An H, with the line through the middle being a wrench. On her head was a typical Russian fur hat, which sat quite loosely and idley. A pair of metal-rimmed goggles were also placed over it. Her hands were buried deep in the coat’s pockets.

“Quite the look.” Saffron said sarcastically.

“This was the compromise.” Hazel grumbled. “She didn’t have a ton of clothing in my size and I wasn’t dressing as either a maid or an orphan.”

“So you settled on being Russian?” Shiso asked.

“I said it was a compromise.” Hazel repeated. She took out her hands, revealing the thick gloves on them.

“What about the gloves?” the gunman asked. “I don’t think you really need those.”

“Of course I need them.” Hazel said defensively. “They complete the look.”

“Guys, huddle together.” Saffron requested. “I just want to see something.”

In a single-file line, they stood shoulder-to-shoulder and peered at Shiso, Saff, and Violette. They were lined up in the order of Hazel, Gunner, Selicy, then Reva.

“So we have a dual-wielding knight in armor,” Shiso said, pointing at Reva.

“A queen of ice,” Violette continued, pointing at Selicy.

“Some kind of modern day Danny Zuko,” Saffron said, pointing at Gunner.

“And a Russian woman.” they unanimously said, staring at Hazel.

“Do you think she’ll let them in?” Violette asked. Shiso took another glance at the four of them. He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

“If I die any time soon, it’s because of you guys.” he groaned.

“Drama queen.” Selicy muttered.

“You’re the ones who look like a high school drama club.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group was right outside Terra’s stone castle. There still wasn’t anyone keeping watch, which made walking up to the castle doors as easy as walking down to a local church. If a local church was in the middle of a barren wasteland.

“Do we have a name for this mission?” Gunner asked at the doors. Everyone stared back at him.

“You wait until now to ask that?” Hazel asked.

“Well, do we have one?”

“We’ll just have to be in and out.” Saffron interjected. “It won’t take long.”

“But I want it to be named.” Gunner pleaded.

“Fine.” Saffron sighed. It’ll be called Operation Intrude N313. Happy?”

“Very.” the boy said, satisfied.

“Alright, let’s go over the plan.” Shiso said. He pointed to the four costumed comrades. “You guys will enter through the front doors while we sneak around. While you put on some sort of Tom and Jerry routine for her, we’ll find the shit and split. Got it?”

“No.” Hazel replied. “What are we actually supposed to do?”

“Distract her.” the gunman said simply.

“By doing what?”

“Hell if I know! Put on a play, polish her shoes, make her a pie; I don’t care!”

“Can I shoot her?” Gunner asked patiently.

“Nobody engages her unless she tries to kill you. Understand?”

“Yes.” the four of them said, with Reva sounding like the only happy voice.

“Then let’s ride.”

The four costumed crusaders stood in front of the door while Reva gave it a sturdy and solid knock. The sound reverberated throughout the entire castle.

“Who goes there?!” boomed Terra’s voice.

“Travelers looking for shelter!” Reva yelled back. Shiso already thought that Reva’s improvisation would end in failure, but the door slowly grinded open to his surprise.

“See ya!” Saffron said as they ran from the doors to find a window to hop through. The three of them peeped through the lowest one they could get to. There was a single guy in a room who was trying to light a candle by snapping his fingers.

“Gotta be quiet.” Shiso whispered to them.

Like a cat, he jumped through the window without a sound; the man hadn’t even noticed the intruder. Shiso snuck around until he was right behind the cultist, then he put an arm around the man’s throat and held on tight.

“Sleep…” Shiso whispered in the man’s ear. After a minute of struggling, the cultist fell unconscious.

The two women crawled through the window and dusted themselves off. The room was small, but poorly lit. It held many shadows for little things to hide in. Shiso took a quick glance outside the room before signaling to the others and darting out the door.

Violette followed the man, and Saffron was getting ready to follow before something brushed against her ankle. She jumped before looking down and freezing in her tracks.

“Saffron!” Vio said in a hushed shout in the doorway. She had noticed that Saffron hadn’t been following them. “Why are you still here?

“Vio!” Saffron said in a quiet squeal. “Come here; look what I found!”

“What is it?” Violette inquired. Saffron was holding something masked in shadows.

Saffron held up a small and rather plump orange dog with a white stomach. It had a simple blue collar around its neck and stuck out its red tongue.

“Doggo.” Saffron said with a squeal.

“Aww.” Vio admired. “He’s so adorable!” She took the dog and hugged it over her shoulder.

“Let’s keep him.” Saffron decided. “He’ll be better with us.”

“Definitely.” Violette sincerely agreed. She held the dog out in front of her. “I’ll name you Sargent Pepper. You won’t be lonely anymore.” The dog gave an excited little bark, which made them both swoon. Shiso peaked his head into the room from around the corner.

“What happened to staying together?” he asked. Saffron held up the dog.

“Doggo.” she answered.

“We’ve already got one.” Shiso said, pointing down at Gunner.

“I want to take him with us.” Saffron insisted.

“Leave him here.” he said firmly.

“But I already named him and I’m very attached.” Violette declared, holding the dog close to her face to cuddle. Shiso groaned.

“Fine, but keep it quiet. This is a sneaking job.”

Violette and Saffron exclaimed happily as they tiptoed out of the room. Violette held Sgt. Pepper firmly under one arm as he panted excitedly and wagged his tail.

They weaved through the complex, searching for Shopkeeper’s three stolen rocks. Along the way, Shiso choked many guards and left a solid trail of unconscious bodies behind them.

“I think this is the place.” Saffron signaled, peeking into a room.

The place had piles of gold, money, gems, stones, relics, and artifacts piled on top of each other haphazardly. Near the top were the three stones that they were looking for: a granite statue, a smooth moonstone, and a cleanly-cut amethyst.

“That was quite easy.” Violette chuckled. She took the amethyst and put it in a pocket. It still obviously stuck out through the pocket. Saffron carried the moonstone while Shiso snagged the granity statue.

“Let’s split.” Shiso said.

“Thieves!” yelled a voice behind them. They turned to see a man in a white hood pointing at them in accusation. A cultist had followed their body trail and found them in the act. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

Just before he could go down a flight of stairs, Shiso pulled out his gun in a last-ditch effort to stop him. The sound reverberated throughout the entire castle and the cultist took a tumble face- first down the stone stairs. Sgt. Pepper let out a howl.

They all stood waiting, with deep, labored, dreading breathing. All they could do was wait for something to happen. Shiso’s gun was still smoking.

“Let’s go, now.” Shiso commanded, not wasting more time.

As they ran down the halls, retracing their steps, the entire structure began to shake and quake, as if the foundation itself was shifting.

“Is it an earthquake?!” Violette asked.

“That might be the best case scenario.” Saffron said wearily.

Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet grew soft and unstable. Mid-run, the three of them and the dog fell through the floor and onto another stone ground.

“Aw shit.” Shiso complained, rubbing his back and neck.

Saffron let loose a Kinetic Wave at the ground to dampen her’s and Violette’s impact. Vio had allowed the small dog to land on her to keep him safe.

“Thieves…” Terra growled in anger. They turned to see that beside the woman was a man with a crimson-stained white hood. “How are thieves dealt with?” she asked loudly.

“Swiftly!” yelled a chorus of voices from every corner of the castle. Every door was occupied by a cultist; they populated the windows from the second floor; they lay in wait on a catwalk above the group.

“Hey, guys.” Hazel said.

The three of them saw the other four disguised comrades. They, too, stood ready for combat. Although, Selicy looked particularly annoyed.

“Man, what did you guys do? We had her distracted until you guys fell from the sky.”

“The elevator was out of order.” Shiso said sarcastically, being helped up by Gunner.

“So you’re all conspirators?!” Terra asked, sounding betrayed.

“Yeah, we are.” Hazel said with a grin. “Don’t take it personally…”

Hazel opened her giant coat to reveal multiple small turrets she had installed across the inside of it. They all pointed at Terra and gave a low hum. She dragged the goggles from her hat over her eyes.

“But if you take shit, you’re getting hit.”

Violette sat down Sgt. Pepper, Reva drew her swords, Saffron loaded spell cards into her bracer, Hazel tossed Violette a violin, Shiso reloaded his gun, Gunner drew his weapon from Hazel’s pouch, and the breath from Selicy’s mouth began to chill into mist. Shiso, Violette, and Saffron tossed Hazel Shopkeeper’s merchandise for safekeeping.

“I was damn tired of waiting for you guys anyways, old man.” Gunner laughed, taking aim at Terra. “I prefer this way.”

“You… you… you…” Terra looked as though she was about to pop a blood vessel; she was angry enough to boil water at a touch. “I’ll make sure you end up six feet under! ATTACK!!!”

Then all at once, every magical cultist ran, jumped, and flung themselves at the team.