"Ray, please release the walls of the blimp on the bottom layer so I can enter, please." Tia voiced through the speaker which sat next to the closed entrance of her blimp, "La Bibliotheca," which was resting above one of the highest peaks of the Phoenix Mountains. "Ray!" Tia yelled seriously, as the ship began to rock and the door lowered extremely quickly. As Tia walked into the small blimp which she had bought a few months earlier, it was mostly dark with a few lamps subtly glowing from the walls. The books from each individual bookcase lining the walls were stacked in neat piles on each shelf, with a few scattered across the floor in a colorful manor. Tia loved to collect these books, ranging from antiques to modern novels, and preferred getting hard-back versions of each. This way they would be able to stack in a much neater way then paperbacks, as the lining on those books left a dissatisfied taste in her mouth. She disliked how they could bend and tear easily, and preferred ink-pressed hardback covers extremely more. Her floating blimp was like a giant library of her own, with each book and stack being neatly organized by author. The vibrancy of the books made Tia feel at home, as she grew up inside a large library her entire life. She tried to model the interior design of this area as if it were a pure replica of the Oak Town Library, to make her and her fellow captain, Ray, feel at peace with themselves.
As Tia walked up the spiral staircase which led to the captain's wheel and upper level of the blimp, Tia witnessed Ray slamming each of her fingers into the keypad next to the wheel extremely quickly and hard. "Ray, what are you doing?" Tia asked her, as she walked over to the wheel and into Ray's presence. "Oh, um... I totally didn't oversleep or anything, I'm just trying to do some extra programming while I waited for you!" Ray exclaimed in a nervous tone, as she continued to quickly type into the screen of the lacrimas. "That is totally fine, Ray... where is Chai?" Tia asked the winged girl, as she scratched her hair while mid thought. Ray was in a very long nightgown, which was red with white stripes. She wore a hat which matched the gown, and her hair was a blunt mess. On the other hand, Tia was wearing a long, purple dress that had white vertical stripes and featured a thin, yet long cardigan around it. The sides of the cardigan met at the top, which were tied together with a red ribbon and a collar's button. On Tia's head and hair, she was wearing a white and fluffy hat adorned with her signature crescent-moon pin. Her hair was tied into two sections, each positioned over the shoulder and neck on each side of the body. It was tied into multiple parts with blue and red ribbons, and had freshly cut bangs covering her forehead. "She's sleeping in your room, or at least that is the last place I saw her." Ray told the purple-haired librarian, as Tia nodded and walked downstairs to her bedroom.
As she descended the stairway, she flipped on all of the switches that lined the panel sitting on the bottom of the well. One by one, the lamps and other varieties of light sources flickered onward, transforming the dim room into pure brightness. Tia began to tie the red curtains which ordained the walls and windows onto the sides that they belonged to, revealing light that poured in from outside the small blimp. The sky outside was gradually switching from a pink-orange coral color to a typical blue color, signifying that the sun was rising into the sky from being absent due to the time of night. As Tia slowly opened the door into her room, she was hit with a very strong odor of lavender and flowers, that of which she loved dearly. Her room was ordained with beautiful purple hues, and looked to be a central and private library for her own liking. Sitting inside of it was everything one may need, a computer, a desk, a beautiful sight of flowers ordaining the windows, a chair to read, and a beautiful bed lined with purple, silk sheets and feaux-fur covers. Unlike Tia's typical sight of the bed, laying on-top in a snow-angel type of situation was no other than her exceed, Chai. "I feeleth like a starfish swimming through a sea of cotton candy! Nyan, Nyan~!" the purple-grey exceed exclaimed, as she wiggled her paws through the mix of fur and silk in a rapid pace. "I guess she hasn't noticed that I have entered the room yet, time to play some games while I have the chance." Tia thought to herself, as she slowly went onto her knees and crawled toward the left side of the bed.
As Tia slowly crawled across the floor toward the bed, Chai made no notice of what she was trying to accomplish. After Tia reached the side of the bed, she shot up from the ground onto the bed next to Chai. "What are you doing?!" Tia screamed to Chai, as the small exceed screamed in fear and embarrassment. "No, please doth not hurt me! I am just a small exceed that wanteth to maketh friends and swim through the clouds! Please doth not hurt me! I am innocent, asketh Tia- Whaaat?!" Chai began to scream, as she cut it off by noticing Tia's face through the darkness between them. "How did the bed feel, Chai?" Tia asked her, while raising a slight eyebrow at Chai. "Eeeep! Eeeeep! My most humble apology! My most humble apology! My most humble apology!" Chai screamed, as she hopped off the bed and ran onto her smaller bed that sat across from Tia's near a grotto of purple flowers. "It's fine, just ask next time. We should go eat before we do what we are doing today." Tia told the small exceed, as she picked her up and walked out of the bedroom and into the bar-area.
As she sat Chai down into a smaller chair than the rest, Ray joined them sitting at the bar as Tia was behind the counter and preparing a breakfast. "Last night, I was asked to do a favor for my guild, in which I was assigned by my Guild Masters. We are to go to the Royal Castle in order to defend their royal family's princess from a planned attack and kidnapping. The castle sent this information to the Guild Masters, which asked me to take a part in defeating this group of individuals and protecting the princess from leaving the castle in the wrong hands. Ray, can you please steer the ship toward that area after we eat?" Tia asked the winged captain of the ship, as she finished stirring the pot full of scrambled eggs. Under her, she pulled the freshly cooked bacon from out of the stove and distributed the food onto each respected plate that it would be designated to each person eating. "Why sure, Tia. The ride isn't too far away either, so it will make for a rather easy ride." Ray told the purple haired girl, as she began to taste the eggs and bacon. Each cut of the eggs had a beautiful array of colorful spices and seasoning gracefully placed in a combination of vibrant colors, causing the eggs to taste as if a fiesta was taking place in the person eating's mouth. The bacon was also professionally seasoned, as it was adorned with the same amounts of spices and seasoning. However, it was also very thin slices with no fat at all. They all gushed at the taste of this, especially Chai, as she hopped out of her seat and began to eat the leftovers with her bare hands in a messy fashion.
After they finished their delicious homemade breakfast, Ray began to walk up the stairs while brushing her hair out into curls, preparing to begin flying the ship to the area they would be assisting: The Royal Castle. Tia was excited for this, but she knew that she would be dressing as if she was just a tourist, therefore being undercover and manning the area in-front of the princess's chambers. Since the ride would take a couple hours minimum to cross a few mountains and bodies of water, Tia decided to sit down inside the lounge of the ship and begin reading a new book she had recently picked up, which was about werewolves and vampires. This was the first book in the Twilight series, which Tia was recommended to read by no other than Ray. As Tia began to sip a small glass of herbal tea, she flipped open the first page and began to scan the covers. As for Chai, she was sitting upon a swing in the lounge doing the exact same thing.
"Now lifting off, prepare ascent into the air. The ride will consist of calm gusts of wind, and will follow in a sunny day. The ride will take approximately two hours and thirteen minutes, as we will arrive in The Royal Castle at 10:46 AM. Thank you for flying with La Bibliotheca, I am your captain, Ray." a voice said over the intercom, which was the voice of Ray's. "Why is she like that, we are the only ones flying on this ship besides her..." Tia asked Chai, as windows began to switch scenery of mountains into clouds. "Tia, shouldn't thee taketh a bath? The last time thee tooketh one wast yesterday morning, ma'am." Chai told her, as Tia shut her book and placed it upon the fur couch that she was sitting on. "Thank you for reminding me, Chai. I am about to go and take one now." Tia told the purple exceed swinging on the swing which was aligned with a stack of books, as she got up and walked through her bedroom into the bathroom that connected her bedroom with Ray's.
As she walked into the bathroom, she was greeted by a scent of fresh rose-petals and candles lit on the edges of each bathtub. Ornately designed walls stretched around the bathroom, as the walls were lined with various depictions of scenes of ancient literature and golden hues. "What a life..." Tia sighed in peace, as she slipped off her hat and clothing into a basket that was conveniently placed by a chair and door leading to her bedroom. As she turned the knob of the hot water, steam began to fill the room and Tia's hair, which looked abnormal since it was completely blank with no ribbons or pin. As she walked over to her personal bin of products, she pulled out a bar of what appeared to be solid, which had a blue and white swirl design. "The scent is divine.." she thought, as she took a whiff before plopping it into the water which was filling up toward the front of the tub. When it fell into the stream that was pouring from the facet, it began to secrete a blue color into the water and a strong scent of patchouli, cinnamon, and frankincense. As it began to turn the water blue, it began to push large amounts of bubbles up into the tub's mass. Once it was full to Tia's liking, she sunk into the mass of bubbles and felt the hot water against her skin. Her skin flushed from a snow white color to that of a pale red, but the warmth mixed with the oils and bubbles made her body feel like she was swimming in liquid gold. "Time to spice things up a bit!" she thought to herself, as she reached to her side of the bath to pull out a pink bath-fizzy which smelled like patchouli and a hint of ylang-ylang oil. "One.. Two.. Three!" she thought, as she slowly placed the pink fizzy into the blue water. As it entered the water, it slowly began to twist and emit pink streaks into the blue, along with white and purple. A small pop could be heard from the dissolving particles of the bath fizzy and it began to twist more, and began to secrete a series of multi-colored rose petals in each direction. Glitter was also floating through the new purple-colored water, and it twirled like a whirlpool as the bubbles faded into the air surrounding the bath. "This smells like pure nature..." Tia said, as she sighed in pure relaxation as the softness and thickness of the water developed her body into pure relaxation.
"Now descending into the Royal Castle's region, please prepare to board soon." Ray's voice boomed across the intercom, as Tia shook her head off in the water and wiped away the grogginess from her eyes. "Crud, I fell asleep!" Tia exclaimed, as her legs splashed in the now-cold water around her. As she slipped back out of the bathtub, she wrapped a towel around her body and flipped a lever on the side of the bathtub to cause it to drain. The bathtub began to look like a purple whirlpool, as the streaks of blue and pink combined to form a purple swirl with fragments of silver glitter floating in-between. As it swirled down the drain into the blimp's water disposal unit, Tia ran over to the mirror that was situated above the sink, and began to dry and straighten her hair with a unique magic tool that she had purchased from a magical beauty store. "I need more time, I need more time!" Tia exclaimed in a rush, as she straightened the last bit of her hair and slipped in all of her ribbons and hat. She then quickly slipped into her dress and cardigan, and ran out into the lounge.
"Please tell me we are not late!" Tia exclaimed, as Chai was still reading her book. "Thee art not, we art still floating ov'r the village. We art being directed to park underground in a special area which wilt ope up soon." Chai told the purple haired girl, as she whipped open a compact and began to draw on eyeliner. "One moment, Chai." Tia told the exceed, as she ran up the stairs to the observation deck. "Hi Tia, look ahead!" Ray directed Tia to look in-front of the ship, as she began to turn the blimp to the right. As Tia looked over the bow of the blimp, she gasped at a beautiful and ornate village with a castle shooting up the middle in a huge area. Each house looked to be a variety of a shade of red, along with oranges and yellows, and the castle shot up a variety of these beautiful colors in an ombre fashion. "How beautiful, I can- What is it doing?!" Tia asked, as outside of the castle a large spherical pond broke from under and revealed a large hole inside of it, which looked to fit an entire city inside.
As they approached the hole, the lacrima screens above the steering wheel of the blimp began to ping a red notification instead of blue. Ray pushed on the diamond which projected from the screen, and it switched onto a messaging system that was a live-video. "Hello Ma'ams, we take it that you are here to assist our castle, yes? If so, please descend into the hole that we widened from the large pond in the south of town. This is our secret boarding of ships area, and we will greet you there." a younger man said, as he was in very official clothing and had pins stretching across his chest pocket, symbolizing his feats. "We are. Preparing to descend." Ray began to say, as she swung the diamond to cut off the video chat and spun the wheel to descend toward the pond. "Tia, I am very not restful. Can we post-pone this event for another time? I would rather sitteth down and readeth a booketh rather than sitteth in a castle all day. After all, wherefore would those gents coequal needeth us? Those gents has't a hell of a gross amount of guards! Behold!" Chai exclaimed, as she floated above the ship to look at the kingdom below them. "All of these people behold very confused. Those gents should bow down to our presence!" the exceed exclaimed, as they began to descend from the surface of the kingdom down into the dark hole that the kingdom used to dock their ships.
As they floated downward, lights scanned the entire blimp and its entirety. "Two humanoid beings. One animal." a mechanical voice said in the area, as a panel floated up under the blimp and locked it into a specially-made lock. It then quickly floated over to a docking area, which was lined with varieties of warships, fleets, submarines, hot-air balloons, and many other types of ships. Ray lowered the door, and the party grabbed their purses and walked out of the blimp. As they stepped out, the same man of the video-chat walked down the docking-area with two guards walking behind them. The man had salt and pepper hair, and was wearing heavily royal armor and wielding a large blade at his side.
"Welcome to the Royal Docks, ladies. Shall you follow us to man your positions?" the man with the salt and pepper hair asked, as Ray and Tia both bowed. "Why sure, please escort us as slow as possible. I would love to retain all of the beautiful views in this castle that you have here." Tia told him, as they began to slowly walk down the very futuristic-feeling docks that had many a boat lining the sides. Around the docks were various scenes of black and blue, and the water that lined the panels shone a very intense blue color. "I never expected the underground to be so immensely advanced and technology-filled." Tia told the man, as he laughed. "We do that so it will not startle the people who live here. We keep a very classical approach above the ground, because we fear it would cause them to think we are too powerful. We would rather them not think that, as a moving pond is a bit of enough advancement to startle them a bit." the man said, as Ray laughed. "So where are we going to be situated today?" the bat-winged girl asked the man, as he sighed. "It's going to be a bit more of a walk, as we are about a mile's walk away from the castle. However, as we walk through those doors, we will be able to take the moving sidewalks through the terminals of the secret subways until we get to the castle." he said, as they approached a massive door at the end of the docks. "And here is the door now." he said, as he opened it.
As he opened the door, they were greeted by a long and thin area which had four paths, all moving at different speeds and directions. On the right side were two lanes, the left being red and going very quickly and the right going slower and connecting to each subway terminal, as the one on the left was the inverse. In the center was a beautiful and thin pond, which had lily-pads and flowers growing around the flow of small waterfalls and koi swimming around in each corner. "We shall step upon the right sided lane sections, and on the left of that. Understood?" the man asked, as Chai had already got ahead of him and hopped on. "Weeeee~!" she exclaimed, as she shot ahead at full speed on the quicker block. "Sorry about her, she is a bit much sometimes.." Tia told him, as they all stepped upon the path and shot across the subway terminal areas.
After about ten minutes of riding across the moving pathways of the underground subway terminals, they finally made it to where they branched off into seating areas and other modes of relaxation. They reached another set of doors, but this time they were a lot larger and ornate with different designs. "One moment, before we go in... I need to do something to you guys.." the man said softly, as Tia tensed up and looked him in his eyes. "Feminas vestis congrua signa benedicere domui!" he shouted while raising his hands, as Tia, Ray, and Chai all were developed in white light. After the spell had warn off, they all had been in completely different outfits. They were all in multicolored dresses, that of which were very thick and ruffly. Their hair was tied into a back ponytail and bow, and they all had a small pin of a pink star in their hair. "I wanted to make you look like the royal family. If you need to change back into your regular clothing or when you leave, please press the newer pin in your hair inwards and you will regain your older clothing." the man said, as the two girls nodded in approval.
"Now, we can go get you situated in your posts. I believe you are familiar with your task, yes?" the man asked them, as Ray nodded before Tia. "We are. Thank you for letting us assist you." the bat-winged woman said, as her wings had been ordained with flowers and white ribbons with this change of clothing. "Very well, please follow me." the man with the dark and light hair exclaimed, as he pushed open the door and revealed a beautiful and long castle full of long hallways and ornate designs. The signature theme in this room was white and red, and was decorated with hints of gold and plant life. "This area is very quite quaint, sir. I would I hath lived hither." Chai told him, as he looked at her with confusion. "She speaks Shakespearean, I am sorry about that sir." Tia told him, as he laughed at the fact. "How interesting, I haven't ever had the pleasure to meet someone like that." he said, as they walked up a stairway up the main center hallway of the welcoming doors of the castle floors.
"You will be standing put here, making sure no intruders come into the castle. If so, you have all authority to kill them. Please keep terrain destruction to a minimum, but it will not be terrible if some occurs. It is bound to happen." he told them, as he walked back down the stairway and toward the front. As he walked outside there could be a scream heard, following with the man with salt and pepper hair running into the castle once again with a terrified look on his face. "They are coming! They are coming!" he screamed, following him running into a maintenance closet and locking the door behind him. "Well, I guess the fight is beginning, Tia. You have never seen me fight, and I never intended on showing you what I am capable of... I hope it doesn't scare you, Tia." Ray said, as she flew on-top of a pillar above them. As she flew up, two men in tight, black bodysuits walked through the castle. One of them looked to be wielding a katana, while the other looked to be controlling four levitating crystals around his hands.
"Tia, if they attack, I claim the one wielding a weapon, okay?" Ray asked Tia, as she bowed to respond yes. "Stay still! State your name and cause of being here!" Tia screamed at the top of her lungs, as a snicker could be seen from both of them. "The thievery twins... to steal all of the money in this place and to end some lives while we are at it!" they screamed, as Ray's wings busted out of the ribbons they were adorned in and grew bigger. She flew behind Tia, and met her lips with her ears. "I will kill them. You stay safe. Chai, you-" Ray began to say, as she looked up at Chai hiding on-top of a pillar that had a small space above. "Shhh!" she motioned, and Ray didn't say a word. "No, I came here to fight as well. We will fight hand in hand, Ray." Tia exclaimed, as Ray shot across the castle with her wings.
"Blood Make: Librarian's Spear!" Ray screamed, as a red light formed from her arm into a giant spear cradled inside her hand. "Yah~!" she screamed, as she attempted to slice through the katana wielding man's body with the larger than human sized spear. He phased out of the way and tried to slice Ray, but she hopped through the sky and met his face with a passionate punch to the face. As for Tia's situation, the mage-brother looked to be charging a chain-spell with his four crystals above his head. They ignited into fire, which startled Tia. "ReQuip: Tidal Waves, Volume I!" she exclaimed, as one of her books fell into her hands. She swiped the cover, which revealed a fizzing bomb of water to launch towards the flaming boy. This distinguished his flame, causing him to waver a bit. The four mages began to fight more and more, deflecting each attack until the twins were eventually getting fatigued. Ray pushed the two twins toward each-other with the butt of her spear, and they were both coughing in worn-out positions. "We will not let you kidnap the princess!" Tia screamed, as she began to summon more books.
"Let's merge our powers, it will be an efficient way to take them out." Ray told her, as Tia grabbed her hand. "Let's." Tia stated, as she began to calm her breathing. "ReQuip: Void, Volume I!" she exclaimed, as the void book fell into her hands. "Charge the book!" Ray exclaimed, as she gravitated behind the two orbs of void that were forming over Tia. "Inanis non tatam posteris fatuus latronum veni in cisternam veterem: dicemusque pati!" Tia screamed, as her eye once again rolled to the back of her head to reveal a black chasm where her eye would be. The balls of void grew bigger and bigger, and Ray could realize that it was finally ready to attack. "RAH!" Ray screamed, as Tia threw both of the orbs through the air. Ray formed a second spear in her other hand, and threw both spears into the orbs with all of her strength. "No!" the thieves screamed, as the orbs devoured their spirits and brought them away with their closings.
As Tia and Ray regained their composure after a very strong battle, Chai hopped down from her hiding spot and hugged them both. "I nev'r kneweth thee two would beest such valorous teammates in battle!" Chai exclaimed, as she high-fived both of them. "Thank you, Chai." Tia told her, as a familiar man began to run up the stairway. "Oh my goodness, you took care of the thieves once and for all! Thank you so much, Tia and Ray! But, you mentioned assisting a princess? Perhaps you were speaking of the princess of the Holy Castle, since we do not have one here. I do remember hearing that they sent out letters to seek assistance, as so did we for the same day! What a coincidence you got the locations wrong! The princess is in another castle!" the salt and pepper haired man exclaimed, as Tia sighed. "So we fought those thieves for nothing?!" Tia asked, as she began to be upset. "Oh, I'm getting a call from that castle right now! They say that the kidnappings were just a rumor, and nothing actually happened. I guess this was fate!" the man said, laughing nervously. "So, do we get anything out of this, sir?" Ray asked the man, as he grinned even more nervously than before. "A good word to the magic council! Thank you!" the main exclaimed, as they walked down the stairway and pressing their pins to turn back into their regular clothing. They proceeded to board their blimp, fly home, and tell the guild about the mess that just happened in their day as the sun set.
WC: 4716 / 4500 ♡
