Nothing Could Go Wrong Here (Private, Event, Leona and Ruvel)

Finally Samira was on her way to catch up to Leona. As unfortunate as it was, she wouldn't have the reinforcements that she had in mind. She wasn't one to force her spirits into participating in something they didn't want to. Unless, of course, much more was at stake than there currently was. They were right to say that using them was probably overkill. With that in mind, she felt no guilt about lagging behind for a reason that ended up being a waste of time. She'd just make it up by being useful by herself instead of relying on the summons she normally used.

It didn't take long for Samira to find the trail that Leona originally started with for tracking the Recheeserator. The maze's walls had holes in random places, all... Recheeserator shaped, if that were an accurate description to give a hole in a wall. A thick trail of cheese was also on the ground and other globs were scattered on the hedges, clearly marking the passage of the abomination combination of a grilled cheese sandwich and a refrigerator. She followed, occasionally calling out Leona's name to confirm if she were close or not. Strange was it that she didn't run into Ruvel outside the maze or inside. Perhaps he left, or maybe he went with his original idea of going into the castle. Samira was not going to follow him there if that were the case. He'd be on his own, so hopefully he just decided to leave the festival in its entirety or find a place to hang out until Leona and herself rescued the chef and others that became the victim of the walking cheese monster.

Before Samira could find Leona though, the trail started going in multiple directions. The small grilled cheese demons were making their own cheesy mess, causing confusion on which direction the Recheeserator went. As the summoner followed the wrong trail and the turns of the maze, she ended up at a dead end. Well, not entirely an empty dead end. The trail led to an enclosed space that had a group of the living sandwiches. They were all huddled together as if they were having a secret meeting. "Oh my," Samira thought aloud after seeing them, armed with tiny guns of orangey red liquid even. She was not aware of the existence of those creatures and had not expected to run into them. Though, the smaller globs of cheese now made sense. The Recheeserator's were far larger.

The sandwiches noticed that they were no longer alone, having heard the human woman speak and interrupting their super secret meeting of super secret plans. "SHE HAS HEARD OF OUR PLANS!" One sandwich cried out while flailing its crust arms in a panic. Samira actually heard nothing and was going to inform them of such, but they never gave her the opportunity to speak before they started to act more frantically and become hostile. "WE MUST DESTROY THE HUMAN BEFORE SHE TALKS!"

"THE ALMIGHTY RECHEESERATOR COMMANDS IT!" Shouted another.

"WE WILL USE HER AS A SACRIFICE!" Another sandwiches suggested.

The lead sandwich raised its butterknife and pointed it towards Samira. "SEEEIIIIZZZEEEE HHHEEEERRRRR!"

"ALL HAIL THE RECHEESERATOR! OUR CREATOR AND EATER OF MORTALS!" The sandwiches screamed in unison.

"Ummm...." Well that was a thing. Samira backed up a few steps, not for fear because an army of hostile sandwiches was the last thing she would be afraid of, but because, well, she wasn't really all too sure what she was supposed to think or how to react. They were sandwiches. Hardly a threat. Turning around and leaving seemed like the most appropriate approach. Pretend she never ran into them even. The scene was just silly. Even if the sandwiches themselves were dangerous, the threats made with their high pitched tiny voices made it amusing more than anything. But, as luck would have it, the grilled cheese demons would not let her just leave in peace.

A couple of the sandwiches raised their tiny guns and shot her with the tomato soup ammo. Lucky for her it hit her natural barrier spell that was always around even if her spirits were not. The liquid steamed as it hit the barrier and started to flow downward. Too bad the barrier didn't come with magical wipers like the windshields on magic vehicles had. But, Samira supposed she could be grateful that it wasn't her clothes or skin that was hit with that boiling soup. One of the sandwiches gasped. "SHE HAS FOUND A WAY TO PROTECT HERSELF FROM THE BLOOD OF THE HOLY TOMATO!"

"ABOMINATION!"
"BLASPHEMY!"
"SHE IS CORRUPTED!"
"PURGE THE DEMON! THE DIVINE RECEESERATOR WAS BIRTHED ON THIS LAND AND NONE SHALL TAINT ITS SACRED GROUNDS!"

The sandwiches sounded their mighty battle cries and charged for a melee assault with their butter knives. They too collided against the barrier and they could not break it no matter how many times they poked it with their weapons or slammed against it. If Samira were any other person she'd probably be rolling around in laughter right about then. All she could do was blink and watch, once again uncertain as to what she was supposed to do. They were... sandwiches. Using her magic to deal with them seemed like a bit of a waste. Those powers were meant to keep the world safe and guarded from things that were an actual threat. This was more like a comedy show. Still, as she watched the sandwiches move about that one lingering thought she had earlier during the cooking contest came to mind. What did those sandwiches taste like? Did a living grilled cheese taste any different than a normal one? Samira remembered how she ate the living gingerbread man cookie a long time ago. It tasted like a normal cookie unfortunately. Maybe the sandwiches would be different.

Convinced that she just had to know, Samira decided to find the answer. The summoner knelt down and grabbed one of the sandwiches with both hands. The sandwich flailed about and made new threats but she wasn't particularly listening. At most, all she did was swat the butter knife away to make the sandwich even more helpless and unable to poke her eye out. Then, in one quick motion for her, and in very slow motion for the sandwiches that watched, Samira bit into the grilled cheese sandwich. She pulled the sandwich away from her face, revealing the cheesy insides that slowly parted from the main sandwich body and the small piece that had just disappeared into her mouth.

The group of sandwiches below gasped in horror. "SHE IS EATING HIM!"
"THE HUMAN IS A MONSTER!"
"I DON'T WANNA BE EATEN!"
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! RETREAT!" The sandwiches scattered in desperate panic and horror. They screamed as they ran and fell over each other. "SUMMON THE RECHEESERATOR! WE NEED DIVINE INTERVENTION!"

The sandwiches eventually disappeared, having gone through the hedge of the maze or even dared run past her while she was distracted with eating the corpse of their brother. Samira allowed it all to happen until she was done. "It is just a normal sandwich...." Clearly she was disappointed that the taste was not something truly original. Good, but not a taste she would have expected from a living grilled cheese. Oh well. Leona wasn't there so she may as well keep on with the search, and probably do something about the thin drizzles of tomato soup covering her barrier.

(Word Count: 1247
Samira Total: 9011)

-In the hedge maze, three minutes later-

"WE CANNOT STOP HER WITH THESE WEAPONS! FLEE FOR YOUR LIFE!" One sandwich shouted to the other as it scurried off. The second sandwich looked at its fallen brethren, looked at Leona, and wisely decided to follow the lead of its brother. It emitted a high-pitched shriek as it ran away with butter knife held high.

Leona had defeated eight of the ten grilled cheese sandwiches with about as much effort as it took to destroy their colleagues. She had killed eight of them and had driven off the last two simply by glancing in their direction while holding her knife. The two surviving sandwiches, seeing that they were hopelessly outmatched by the Wizard Saint, abandoned all thoughts of carrying out their detailed threat and fled for their lives while the blonde cleaned off her knife on the grass. Leona wondered where Samira was and wanted to link up with her before pushing on to find the Recheeserator, the entity behind the whole cheesy mess.

Leona finished cleaning off the sword and walked past the split sandwiches on the ground. While she was getting more than a bit hungry, the blonde decided to leave them where they were because she did not know what conditions were like in the confines of the Recheeserator. For all she knew the cheese was badly out-of-date and would make her ill if she ate it. She did not want to suffer the ignominy of having to go to the hospital because she had done something as dumb as eating a grilled cheese sandwich off the ground.

Now that that had been settled, where was Samira?

Leona reached out with her magic-sensing ability to try and locate the Goddess of Humility but was having no luck with it. She could not detect any magic within the range her ability reached to. Then the blonde thought about what she was doing and did something dangerous. She engaged in a bit of critical thinking.

If the Recheeserator was a magic entity, she could use her magic-sensing ability to track it down. The ability would not give her a pinpoint location, but it could be used to get a rough idea of where it might currently be.

Getting a rough idea of its location was better than not having any idea of where to find it, so Leona switched focus from finding Samira to finding the Recheeserator. She used the ability again and could still find nothing, so it was time to go deeper into the maze and track it down the old-fashioned way. Leona proceeded to follow the path the last two grilled cheese sandwiches had taken to escape her and went deeper into the hedge maze.

-Deeper in the maze-

Leona had just rounded a right corner sixty meters deeper and took seven steps forward she had heard some high-pitched chattering and saw a jet of red liquid soar in the direction of her face. The blonde ducked under the red jet and rolled to the left while another mob of sandwiches appeared to bar her way. They were now twelve strong and half of them were armed with squirt guns loaded with a red liquid that was unfamiliar to the blonde. Was it the blood of someone Leona had failed to rescue in time?

"WE HAVE HER NOW, BROTHERS!" A sandwich holding a squirt gun shouted encouragement to its fellows. Leona took the time to focus and bring in a summon to level the playing field... not like she really needed to. She would let someone else do the fighting for a change and she could think of no one better than Guardian Lion, one of her few ground-based summons. Using him was overkill, but she wanted to see what he could do in an environment that was not high-stakes.

"GUARDIAN LION!" Leona thought as she raised her hands into the sky. A sandwich took the opportunity to spray the front of Leona's skirt with the red liquid contained in its gun. The sandwiches laughed as an angry blonde examined her skirt. Their laughter would be short-lived once her summon got here, which took all of ten seconds.

Leona really liked her skirt. She would make those sandwiches pay for this.

"I long for battle!" Guardian Lion declared to Leona. Upon spotting the mechanical lion the sandwiches went silent, all except for one who issued a bold challenge to the blonde and her summon.

"So the human who murdered our brothers is now too afraid to fight us without a helper? We have already won, brothers!" The sandwich with a squirt gun declared. Leona clenched her teeth and raised her right index finger. She was not going to stand by and be humiliated by a bunch of sandwiches who had crust for arms and legs.

"KILL THEM ALL." Leona angrily ordered the mechanical lion. The lion growled and stood tall.

"They will fall before me!" Guardian Lion declared before running towards the sandwiches on all fours. The previously silent sandwiches now shrieked in terror as the lion went into violent action.

"TAKE THIS, FUZZBALL!" A sandwich yelled as it swung its butter knife at the summon's left shin. The blade bounced harmlessly off the metal body and the sandwich screamed as Guardian Lion stomped on it, reducing it to a mush of cheese and bread. The sandwiches with squirt guns grouped up and tried to stop it with a united stream of tomato soup to the face, but the lion growled and simply swiped at them with his left paw, reducing them to sandwich slices lying on the ground.

"WE CANNOT WIN THIS FIGHT!" A sandwich with a butter knife shrieked before it was stomped on. Leona watched in malicious glee as the small enemies were literally stomped into the ground or cut to shreds by her summon, who took them as seriously as he would any other opponent. That would teach them not to ruin her skirt with tomato soup... not that they would live to apply that lesson. About four minutes later Guardian Lion roared in triumph and raised a claw coated in melted cheese.

"Ha ha! Those tiny morsels were nothing compared to me!" Guardian Lion reveled in his victory. Leona was amused by how quickly the sandwiches fell before him, something which went a long way towards soothing her wounded ego. She really liked the skirt and the tomato soup stain would be an absolute pain to remove without the help of a dedicated Cloth Cleaning magic. She would deal with that problem later because right now she needed to find the Recheeserator and stop its rampage through the festival grounds. Chef Ramsey and the other people who had been captured were not going to save themselves.

Besides, she still needed to find Samira before they joined together for the big battle against the ambulatory appliance.

Guardian Lion:

[Post Word Count: 1,152]
[Leona's New Word Count: 7,323]

With that little interaction with the silly sandwiches over, Samira continued the search for her companions and the recheeserator. Her friends aside, It was kind of bizarre how difficult it was to find a walking refrigerator. A few times she had thought she heard its rapid stomping on the other side of the hedge wall, but the sounds faded off into the distance just as quickly as it had come her way. It was slightly annoying really. If not for the walls she could have caught up to it. Would it be too much just to destroy her way through like the recheeserator was doing? Possibly. It was a nice maze. It would be a pity if she had to resort to destroying it. So, she opted to do the next best thing. Her spirits may have refused to help but she was still able to make use of their powers just fine. The portal of magic of Janus was used. With each wall in her way Samira created a portal that allowed her to pass through to the other side. The process was repeated until she ended up at the maze's center.

Before her was a large clearing with some benches along the hedge walls, dirt pathways that led to other passages of the maze, and at the center was a fountain. It was fancy in design and seemed to be quite old, quite possibly one of the castle's original outdoor decor that remained despite how much time had passed and the castle's history. More benches surrounded it for those that might have wanted to sit by it for whatever reason. On A good day anyway. Today the fountain was being used for more than relaxing scenery. More of the living grilled cheese sandwiches were scattered around it. Many standing on the benches, jumping around, and/or waving their butterknives and tomato soup guns around. They chanted some gibberish, likely the language of grilled cheese sandwiches if such a thing came into existence so quickly. Though, Samira could have guessed that they were chanting something to do with their recheeserator.... god.

Samira stared blankly as her body and thoughts just had no clue as to how to properly react. She felt the urge to turn around and leave quietly again in order to avoid the scene making an imprint in her memory. That was there at least to tell her that she was still sane enough to know that wasn't normal. But, the scene was something that was impossible to look away from. Three sandwiches stood on the edge on the fountain. One facing the side that led to the water and two others that aimed their butterknives at it, pushing it further to the edge as if it were a walk the plank situation. That was sort of what was going on. In reality, it was the group of sandwiches sacrificing one of their own to summon their almighty recheeserator.

"You must jump into the water! Only then will the recheeserator come down from the heavens and aid us! You. Must. Be. Sacrificed!"
"NO! I don't want to be sacrificed! I want to live!" The sacrificial sandwich cried out while flailing its crust arms wildly in the air in desperation.
"None of us will live if you do not do this! We are being hunted by a deadly human that cuts us down and her demon lion monster has squished our armies! Only the recheeserator can stop her!"
"Don't forget the one that eats us! I will never forget what I saw. Harry never stood a chance! It was horrible!"
"And those are just the start. Soon more will join them! Don't you see?! You've been raised for all of these ten long minutes for this purpose!"
"I didn't choose this purpose! Why me?!"
"Because everyone else claimed to not be it before you!"
"No!"
"I'm sorry. There is no more time. It has to happen now."
"What are- no! Stop!"
One of the sandwiches used its butterknife to stab and knock down the sacrificial sandwich. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" cried the sandwich during the fall. Then it hit the water's surface. The sandwich reached out and cried for help but it was no use. No help came. It died as its bread body absorbed the water.

To the sandwiches around, it was a dramatic moment. Sacrificing one of their own for their god. To Samira... She had no idea what was going on. She could see the event take place and hear everything, but she couldn't understand any of it. In fact, from her point of view there was nothing dramatic about it. A sandwich just flopped into the water and became a mushy meal that no one would dare eat. Riiigghhhtttt. Well alrighty. That was a thing. Now someone was going to have to clean the fountain if they kept at it. The thought of destroying the distracted sandwiches crossed her mind, if only to prevent the tiny cheese demons from causing more trouble or spreading to the rest of Fiore. Something happened though that made her pause. A loud roar sounded from the other side of the furthest wall. Samira then watched as the recheeserator broke through the hedge wall and jumped, landing directly in front of the fountain. It roared again, spreading cheese everywhere. The sandwiches cheered and jumped joyously. The recheeserator had answered their sacrificial prayer! In reality the abomination of a kitchen appliance just happened to be passing by, but the sandwiches didn't seem to really consider that possibility.

"Finally the search ends." Well one of the searches. Leona was still around somewhere. Now where was she? Had she gotten lost? Or did she decide to jump inside the recheeserator herself to rescue the man that had insulted her too many times to count? "Hmmm." Samira watched as the recheeserator turned on the grilled cheese sandwich worshippers, bringing about their apocalypse. Not so much that she cared that the recheeserator was stomping on them and eating them, but because she took notice of a new problem. If she destroyed the appliance then the chances of those that got trapped inside it would be lost for good increased dramatically. It couldn't be destroyed just yet. Someone needed to go in first and get everyone out.

Connecting her magic to the celestial vault watched over by her spirits, Samira summoned up a small swirling portal in front of her. She reached inside it and pulled out a small vial that contained thousands of tiny twinkling stars. It was called a Galactigram, and it was one of several items she had obtained from the old woman Sanura, who couldn't wait to get rid of them all. A message was translated onto the stars, and when she opened the vial the miniature stars took flight over the hedge walls and through the maze. Their magic allowed them to find anyone the message was for, and in this case the message was for Leona.

They found the blonde that was now stained with tomato soup, but they were stars, so they did not judge. Instead they fell down on the Saint of Courage as if she were standing in the middle of a star shower. While falling, they screamed the message they were given at a high volume that could probably have been heard through the entire maze. "LEONA, THE RECHEESERATOR HAS BEEN LOCATED. FIND ME IN THE CENTER OF THE MAZE. WHEN YOU HEAR A WATER FOUNTAIN YOU WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE CLOSE! ALSO, BE CAUTIOUS. THERE ARE LIVING GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES THAT RESEMBLE THE ORIGINAL ONE YOU MADE FOR THE CONTEST. THEY ARE MOSTLY HARMLESS FROM MY EXPERIENCE, BUT THEY CAN BE A BIT OF A NUISANCE. IT IS BEST NOT TO COMPLETELY UNDERESTIMATE THEM IN EITHER CASE. -SAMIRA." The message was entirely in Samira's voice. Strange as it was since she never did yell the message or even was the type to yell in the first place. Magical objects sure were strange at times. It was a shame parts of that message came a bit too late to save Leona's skirt or her run ins with the sandwiches.

At that point Samira waited for Leona to catch up. She moved closer towards the hedge wall to be out of the way of the Recheeserator's rampage against the fleeing sandwiches. Being noticed by the appliance wasn't in her best interest right then until her help arrived. If she had to though, she could probably immobilize it for a short period of time. As long as she didn't completely destroy it.

(Word Count: 1432
Samira Total: 10,443)

Leona had been inordinately pleased by the slaughter of the animated sandwiches because they had sprayed the front of her skirt with tomato soup from a squirt gun. A Wizard Saint should not take pleasure from that kind of thing, but Leona did anyway. She was not going to let a bunch of sandwiches spray her with tomato soup and make attempts on her life with impunity and Guardian Lion was the instrument of her revenge. Speaking of him, the mechanical lion spotted a sandwich with a butter knife that waddled onto the scene from around the bend and quickly chased it down, ending its "life" with a claw swipe before it could even scream. Leona was amused by that, but she needed to find Samira and join up with her before taking on The Recheeserator.

But how could Leona find her?

The easiest way would be to break through each wall like that walking pitcher from the drink commercial, but that would also be the expensive way because she would have to pay for the damage to the hedge maze. Her magic-sensing ability was not detecting Samira but was picking up sandwiches aplenty. Leona did not have an iLac, so it was not like she could just dial up the green-haired summoner and ask where the latter was. There had to be a better way to find the Goddess of Ishgar before sunrise.

"THERE SHE IS!" A high-pitched voice shouted. Leona groaned. Not these guys again. Fifteen more sandwiches hurried onto the scene and barred her path. Just how many of these things were running around?

"WE WILL FEED HER CORPSE TO THE HOLY ONE!" A second declared. The cheers of his fellows rang out and they waved butter knives and squirt guns in a gesture of intimidation.

"THAT DEMON LION WILL NOT SAVE YOU NOW, FILTHY HUMAN!" A third chimed in.

"...Wait a minute. That demon lion is still here!" A fourth warned its fellows, who finally took notice of the mechanical lion that towered over them. The sandwich who warned its fellows fled the scene with another in tow while the remaining thirteen stood their ground in a vain attempt to fend off the Wizard Saint and Guardian Lion. Leona, having long ago tired of them, simply pointed her right index finger in the direction of the sandwiches. Guardian Lion nodded and the slaughter began anew.

"STAND YOUR GROUND, BROTHERS! FIGHT FOR HE WHO GAVE US LIFE!" A sandwich tried to rally its fellows with a reminder of what they were fighting for before being stepped on by Guardian Lion. Its attempt to rally the others fell as flat as the sandwich... the rest immediately lost their fighting spirit and turned to flee around the corner from whence they came, but the mechanical lion was not going to let them go so easily. He immediately pursued them and high-pitched screaming sounded from around the corner as the sandwiches were shredded. Leona saw the occasional sandwich slice and glob of melted cheese fly from behind the shrubbery as each tiny scream marked the passing of an animated grilled cheese sandwich. Leona winced as the last sandwich screamed and Guardian Lion strode from around the corner with more melted cheese on its claws.

"Pathetic little creatures! They do not have the heart of a warrior!" Guardian Lion exclaimed in disappointment.

With that "threat" taken care of, Leona turned her thoughts back to trying to find Samira. She had spent enough time in the hedge maze fighting sandwiches and wanted to get to the main event some time tonight. But for that to happen she had to find Samira, but how?

Leona thought she had seen a star falling from the sky and turned to look up. She was right. There was not just one star falling from the sky... there were multiple stars falling from the sky and a message delivered at high volume.

"LEONA, THE RECHEESERATOR HAS BEEN LOCATED. FIND ME IN THE CENTER OF THE MAZE. WHEN YOU HEAR A WATER FOUNTAIN YOU WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE CLOSE! ALSO, BE CAUTIOUS. THERE ARE LIVING GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES THAT RESEMBLE THE ORIGINAL ONE YOU MADE FOR THE CONTEST. THEY ARE MOSTLY HARMLESS FROM MY EXPERIENCE, BUT THEY CAN BE A BIT OF A NUISANCE. IT IS BEST NOT TO COMPLETELY UNDERESTIMATE THEM IN EITHER CASE. -SAMIRA."

Leona blinked. That unexpected message was very good timing on Samira's part because the blonde had no idea where to even begin looking and did not want to waste valuable time wandering the maze trying to find the green-haired Goddess of Ishgar. Then the blonde had an idea.

Why waste time wandering around when she could just fly over the hedges and reach the middle of the maze that way?

Leona immediately dispelled Guardian Lion and summoned the Harpy Sisters using the chant.

"O FABLED HARPIES, O SISTERS THREE, LEND YOUR STRENGTH UNTO ME!" Leona chanted aloud. Moments later the three winged sisters arrived.

"Hey girl! What's with the sandwiches lying on the ground?" Sylvia asked Leona.

"It's a long story, but the short version is that there's a giant refrigerator that's a mix of metal and grilled cheese wandering around the maze with people trapped inside of it and we've got to rescue them." Leona answered the question. Daphne walked over to a flattened sandwich that had been stomped by Guardian Lion and awkwardly rolled it over with one toe, wincing when melted cheese got onto one of her talons.

"Like, so gross! What did you do to them? Step on them or something?" Daphne asked as she awkwardly kicked the melted cheese off.

"Guardian Lion killed them." Leona answered dryly.

"So you're fighting and killing living grilled cheese sandwiches... that use squirt guns and butter knives as weapons?" Sandy asked. Leona nodded.

"Well, I can't say that that's the strangest thing I've ever heard of, but considering what tonight is, I'd still say it's pretty strange." Sandy concluded.

"I need to fly above the hedges to the center of the maze to meet with a friend. Can you help me out?" Leona asked them. Sylvia stepped forward and offered to lend a hand... er, wing. Or both.

"Leona has a friend?" Daphne asked aloud. Leona clenched her teeth but ignored the insult from the black-haired harpy because she had bigger fish to fry.

"I've got this! Just hang on!" Sylvia said before wrapping her arms around Leona's waist and taking off with the Wizard Saint. Daphne and Sandy took to the sky and the quartet flew above the maze until they reached the center, which took about all of three minutes.

-In the center of the maze-

Sylvia slowed her descent and Leona landed without incident at the center of the maze, where a fountain sat in silent majesty. Leona then turned to Samira, who was kind enough to wait for the Wizard Saint instead of running off to fight The Recheeserator by herself. It was not like Samira really needed Leona's help because the former was so powerful that she could vaporize entire towns by herself if she wanted to, but it was nice to know that Samira valued Leona's help.

"Hey Samira! I was looking for you and fighting those annoying sandwiches when I got your message!" Leona greeted the Goddess of Ishgar with her three harpies standing beside her.

"One of those damn sandwiches got the front of my skirt with their tomato soup guns." Leona preemptively answered the question that Samira was most likely to ask. Now that that question had been answered, it was the blonde's turn to ask one of her own.

"Have you seen The Recheeserator anywhere around here?" Leona asked Samira the burning question that was on her mind.

[Post Word Count: 1,298]
[Leona's New Word Count: 8,621]

Samira didn't have to wait long for Leona to show up. In just a few short minutes, Leona could be seen up above, descending with the harpy summons that had carried her across the maze to its center. Upon landing, Leona had greeted her and stated that the message had reached her. Good. That vial of stars had worked after all. Truthfully, Samira had never actually tested it before to be sure. A small glance was given towards the front of Leona's skirt where the red stain was, but she wasn't planning on asking about it. Samira had seen blood before so she knew it wasn't that, and she knew all too well that the little crazy sandwiches were carrying guns filled with the type of soup Samira now would never want to see or smell again. "Oh," Samira replied to the explanation of the stain, hardly expecting the blonde to go straight to answering for her dirty clothes first thing. My, did she really come across as someone that would be that judgmental? Or was Leona just a bit more insecure than Samira had first thought? "Well I am sure there is some way to remove the stain," Samira assured her after glancing at the stain again. They did live in a world of magic so there had to be some super magical and mystical laundry detergent that could remove all stains without harming the material. "That can be worried about a bit later though. It is more of a good thing that your skirt was the victim of the stain instead of you being given a burn or two. Though, we should probably deal with the more pressing matter on the agenda." Like the Recheeserator and saving those it had taken.

Leona's next question though made Samira stare at her in complete bewilderment. The contents of the message she sent aside, Samira had to wonder if Leona's vision had also been burned away by the tomato soup. Or her hearing. Maybe Leona wasn't as well as she appeared. Remaining quiet as she continued to stare with that same confused and puzzled expression, Samira lifted her hand up and pointed to their side. That pointing finger leading right to the Recheeserator that was rampaging itself around the center of the maze. Still the abomination distracted itself by stomping and making meals of the fleeing and screaming grilled cheese sandwiches. Not even the decorative benches were safe from the creature's path of destruction. How Leona missed not only the sight of it, but also the sounds of the ruckus was beyond any realistic explanation that Samira could come up with.

Samira coughed, clearing her throat and moving on without comment so as not to make Leona seem or feel foolish for completely missing the Recheeserator. The question had been answered and that was as far as she was going to take it. "I had thought about destroying the creature, but I worry that it would sever the link between it and wherever its victims were sent. Surely they all couldn't possibly fit inside it, and I have my doubts on it being able to digest anything, or even that quickly if it could. So I concluded that there is a chance the Recheeserator sends them elsewhere. One or both of us may have to go in if we are to get them out." Samira wasn't all too sure about the abilities Leona had at her disposal. She herself could have a summon make portals to get everyone out once inside. Theoretically. The science of a Recheeserator wasn't exactly a thing, so she was pretty much just making educational guesses. "Do you have any ideas to add?"

(Word Count: 616
Samira Total: 11,059)

Leona had intended her remark about her skirt as an explanation of why it looked like that, but instead the comment only served to make her look like an idiot... not that that was too hard for the blonde to accomplish. She was standing in front of one of the most famous mages in Earthland who had tried to include her in the fight against the Recheeserator and its tiny minions/spawn/whatever, a famous mage who had went to the trouble to send a message to Leona giving directions to find her instead of leaving the blonde to wander the hedge maze and miss obvious clues as to where her quarry had went. Samira could take on the Recheeserator and all the sandwich minions it could summon by herself and win, but she still was making a serious effort to include Leona, if only out of necessity. Samira had went to all that trouble and a remark about her skirt being stained was all Leona could say? It was no wonder that Samira and her fellow Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar likely thought of the Wizard Saint of Courage as an underling to be dragged along whenever some extra muscle was needed instead of seeing her as an equal worthy of respect.

Open mouth, insert foot.

Leona's question about the location of the Recheeserator, far from suggesting that she had a modicum of intelligence and thus some ability to think, only dug a deeper hole for herself. Samira's confused facial expression hammered home how dumb Leona sounded. Leona blushed as red as the tomato soup on her skirt and desperately wanted to be anywhere else but here after she made herself look and sound like an utter dumbass in front of Samira Nassar.

The blushing blonde was certainly living up to the worst stereotypes about her hair color. Samira was probably thinking that Leona had spent too much time in the desert sun and had burned out her brain cells. Having lived sixteen years in a desert village and having spent a good deal of time out in the sun, Leona thought that Samira was entirely justified in thinking that way. The Wizard Saint's thinking skills were not exactly breathtaking, but her ability to make one stupid remark after another was.

Open mouth, insert other foot.

Leona struggled to find some halfway rational excuse for her comments, but she could not come up with any. Nothing could justify the mind-numbing stupidity that she had just hurled at Samira. Leona just sheepishly looked at the ground and wished that she could disappear.

Samira then posited a hypothesis that simply destroying the Recheeserator would take its victims with it because it was the portal to a pocket dimension where its victims were sent when they were captured. Samira and/or Leona would have to go inside of the Recheeserator, rescue the people trapped inside, and then destroy it. Samira then asked Leona for ideas as to how to approach this situation.

This might be Leona's last chance to save face. She had better make this opportunity count.

She started to silently and seriously think about what she had just been told by Samira. After a bit of thought Leona came up with something reasonably intelligent that might start her on the path to redemption. Looking away from the ground and facing forward for the first time since the less-than-stellar start to this conversation, Leona faced Samira and spoke to the Goddess of Ishgar.

"If you're saying that the Recheeserator sends people to a pocket dimension when it catches people and shuts the door, I believe that we're gonna have to go in there to get those people out. Once it figures out what we're doing it'll try to keep us from leaving. My suggestion is that we give ourselves a way out by each of us leaving a summon or two in the outside world to help us get out once we rescue the people. If things get bad, we can have our summons do something like rip a hole in the Recheeserator's side or forcibly pull the door open." Leona started going over her idea with Samira.

"However, you also hypothesized that if we kill the Recheeserator the link between worlds dies with it. I suggest that we try to rip a hole in its side with us and the captives still in it only as a last resort." Leona tacked that warning onto her previous statement... not that she needed to. Samira was much smarter than the Wizard Saint and had made it this far by herself without some chick from the desert giving her advice. No one lived long enough to become one of Earthland's most powerful and respected mages by being dumb.

Well, no one except for Leona, but that was a story for another day.

"I have mostly winged summons and I'm not sure how much space they'll have to fly inside the Recheeserator, so I'm likely gonna use what few ground-based summons I have to help us get through the interior and leave my winged summons outside to be part of an emergency escape plan if we need one. My summons should help us get through the sandwiches that are waiting inside and I'm betting there's gonna be a lot of them. When I was stuck in the maze I heard the sandwiches babble on and on about how the Recheeserator's their deity and how they're on a holy mission to captured the Haunted Castle area for their deity, so once we go inside we'll likely have to fight our way to its captives. Those sandwiches won't take our intrusion into the interior of their deity lightly." Leona finished pitching her idea.

As far as ground-based summons went, Leona's options were slim. She had the Black-Backed Jackal and Guardian Lion as dedicated ground-based summons and Winged Lion and Sky Champion Rafale as winged summons who could pull double duty. Technically all her winged summons with humanoid shapes could pull double duty on the ground, but walking with clawed feet had to be difficult, especially for a short and rotund summon like Tempest Avian. She did not know how large the Recheeserator was on the inside, which was why she emphasized that ground-based summons might be the way to go. Once they were inside the Recheeserator the two mages would need to move quickly and they would not have much time to wait for Leona's winged summons to slowly walk on the ground.

Leona thought that what she had said sounded somewhat intelligent and covered any relevant concerns, but since Samira might have to brave the inside of the beast as well, Samira would have to be the final judge on whether Leona's idea was sound or stupid. At least this time the blonde had put some thought into what she had suggested to Samira.

[Post Word Count: 1,146]
[Leona's New Word Count: 9,767]

Samira listened to the words spoken by Leona. All of it was sound and logical enough. The previous worries that she had before faded as it seemed that the blonde was still of capable mind and was not turning into a mindless slave that was controlled by one of those silly grilled cheese sandwiches. Although, that could be something that they might have to worry about later. Possibly. Or perhaps Samira had read way too many stories or experienced a variety of weird things that turning into a sandwich puppet wasn't the oddest or most farfetched thing her mind could come up with. "All right, we will do as you suggest and leave a summon here as an origin point so we can get back. If that fails I do have a portal spirit that can aid us, but he is a fickle and cowardly being. Let us hope we do not have to rely on him if we are surrounded." That and there was the fact her spirits said they were taking the day off for the festival event. Pretty much all of them. What a time to have that happen, and nearly all of them would stick to it too regardless of the chaos happening around them. It was considered as free entertainment.

The summoner turned her head to stare at the cheese monstrosity once more to see what it was doing now. The Recheeserator had seemed to calm down a bit now, but that was probably because no grilled cheese demons remained within its line of detection. It stood there, making odd random sounds mixed with wheezing, growling, and the gurgles, pops, and squishes of melted cheese. It was disgusting really. The whole cheese thing. Leona may have been squirted by a tomato soup gun on her skirt, but now Samira had considered a worse fate: being covered from head to toe in melted sticky and stinky cheese. Now that was a horror story. It was also enough to put the teal-haired woman into a final state of no. That wasn't happening. Not to her, and not to Leona. That was a worse fate than being a sacrifice for the tiny living sandwiches in her opinion. Inside, she shuddered at the image.

"It seems the Recheeserator is finally having to take a break... that is my best guess as to what it is now doing over there," Samira said, admitting that she had zero idea what the creature was capable of while in that phase. It could be charging up a super overpowered ability to turn the maze into a cheese lake for all she knew, but it looked like it was resting. Sort of. If refrigerator and sandwiches rested. Her focus and emerald gaze returned to Leona. "Many of my spirits are still waiting at the eating contest table. They will act as my tether to this world. You just need to choose yours now before we go through with the plan."

The Goddess would wait for the other to make her choice, expecting it not to take very long. With how she described the possible scenario Samira guessed that one of the harpy sisters would have been chosen for the job. They were already out and about so it seemed like a sound estimate. She also waited for the blonde to make other preparations before rushing in. Leona had said she wanted to use a few of her ground ones to barge into the interior and that too seemed like a good idea, especially since her own summons refused to act as the small army that day. "I can make sure the Recheeserator stays put long enough for us to jump through its... erm... door." Saying they were going to leap through its mouth like some suicidal sacrifices to the cause of a god was not exactly how she preferred to phrase that. "As for the matter of cleanliness..." Samira's words trailed off as she waved her hand slightly, using a small portion of her magic to use one of her spells. Sparkly blue energy surrounded her hand and then spread to her own form, enveloping her completely in a thin overlay of celestial energy. "This was supposed to be a spell for basic protection against harm. I think today it will also have to be used as a different sort of protection." That being protection against being covered in a nasty dairy product the moment they jumped into the Recheeserator and entered what was sure to be a bright and cheesy world. The celestial overlay would act as a second skin... or third skin if clothes acted as the secondary one. Either way, it left Samira's true skin and clothing completely clean and untouched by the substance.

"I would not dare to assume that you have nothing similar or have need of it. Still, I offer to also cast this on you and your summons if you like. At they very least it would allow you to focus on the plan of entry fully rather than your own well being for a short time." Yes, Samira was acting as support rather than just taking the lead with the plan. She wasn't alone on the task of rescuing the victims trapped within the sandwich abomination, and so she did not act like she was. That meant making sure Leona was covered and was able to do her part with her skillset. Of course, just as Leona's perceptions of Samira were far from reality, perhaps Samira's perceptions of Leona were also a bit off the mark. The Wizard Saint did have the title of "Courage". Surely that also meant the blonde was a woman that liked to take charge and had great confidence in her abilities!

(Word Count: 960
Samira Total: 12,019)

"If everything goes well we should be in and out before we get into too much trouble. Still, things can and do go wrong in our line of work, so having a quick way out of a bad situation is handy." Leona said to Samira, who suggested that the former quickly find a "tether" to this world and call it in before they ventured into the unknown depths of The Recheeserator. The Recheeserator had broken through a lot of bushes and was clearly winded by the exertion, but there was no telling for how long it would remain still enough for the Wizard Saints to venture inside. The blonde knew that she had better not take too long to make a choice on her summon because time was not on their side.

The blonde did not have to think too hard about which summon she would employ to keep an escape route open. Sky Champion Rafale would do nicely. He had the perfect balance of speed and power that made him a good choice for almost any situation, but there was another reason she had called upon him. While he too always looked to prove himself in battle, Rafale was a lot easier to keep focused on a task than Guardian Lion. Then again, Leona had worked with Sky Champion Rafale a few times before, so she knew what to expect from the green-clad summon.

"I've got just the summon I want to use as my tether. I'll order the Harpy Sisters to stay outside while I bring in Sky Champion Rafale to go with us. He can fly, but he's also a humanoid, so he can walk with us instead of having to fly everywhere." Leona announced before channeling magic into her hands and raising them into the sky to bring forth her fourth and final summon.

"Sky Champion Rafale!" Leona called out. A few moments later the green-clad summon appeared in a kneeling position and stood up, facing the blonde Wizard Saint.

"How can I help?" Rafale asked Leona. Leona pointed to the Recheeserator.

"See that giant refrigerator? Samira and I are about to go inside of it and I'd like you to go with us. I'm gonna leave the Harpy Sisters outside as part of an escape plan while you go in with me and help us rescue some people the Recheeserator took captive." Leona explained to Rafale. Rafale blinked.

"So you want me to go with you and your companion? Inside a giant refrigerator? That can walk?" Rafale asked Leona.

"Yeah. It sounds dumb, but it's as real as you, me, and Samira." Leona answered truthfully. Rafale blinked again as if he could not believe what his mistress was telling him. He looked back at the Recheeserator, then back at Leona.

"Very well then." He answered. With that settled, Leona turned to Samira for a moment.

"I'll tell the Harpy Sisters to be on standby." Leona told Samira before turning to face the sisters, but Sylvia was already within arm's reach of Leona along with Daphne and Sandy.

"Hey girl! I hear that you need us to stay outside while you, Samira, and Rafale go inside that refrigerator thing, right?" Sylvia asked. Leona nodded.

"Like, that's so gross! Who knows where that cheese has been and how long it's been there! Like, call the health department!" Daphne commented about her mistress' choice to go inside the giant refrigerator. Leona sort of agreed with the black-haired harpy. Going inside of that beast was going to be a thoroughly unpleasant experience with a lot of bad smells and even worse impact on her clothing.

"At least we don't have to go inside, Daphne. All we've gotta do is stay outside and wait for Leona to tell us what to do." Sandy gently reminded her sister. Daphne looked at Sandy.

"Like, there's no way that I'd go in there even if we had to! That nasty cheese is such a health risk! And it might fall in my hair! MY HAIR!" Daphne protested. Sylvia, Sandy, Rafale, and Leona all stared at the black-haired harpy as if daring her to say that again. Leona was willing to let the sarcastic joke about her having friends go, but she was not going to let flagrant insubordination from Daphne go, not when people's lives were at stake. People were counting on her... so was Chef Ramsey, if he really counted as a person. That thoroughly obnoxious celebrity chef would be rescued too, but Leona was not going to take any more attitude from him tonight because in the cooking contest he had pressed a lot of her buttons despite what she could do to him if she got really pissed off.

The Wizard Saint had not fallen for his rules lawyering during the contest and had turned down his invitation to fight after his attempt to invoke a technicality to win by disqualifying his competition failed, but she was still angry at him for insulting her heritage. She would have to let that go before she got to him. She could only hope that he would have the basic decency to keep his cavernous, obnoxious mouth shut and accept being rescued by a bad cook from Desierto.

"OK, FINE! I'D GO IN IF I HAD TO, BUT ONLY BECAUSE OF LEONA!" Daphne relented under the withering gazes of three summons and her mistress. Once it was firmly established who was in charge here, Leona turned back to Samira and spoke to the Goddess of Humility.

"OK, I believe I've got everything lined up on my end, Samira. The Harpy Sisters are staying outside and Rafale's going with us. I'd like you to cast that protection spell on me and Rafale, please. I'd rather not have to worry about the health risks associated with the cheese we're about to wade through." Leona requested of Samira, deliberately omitting any mention about her clothing. Leona had finally started to dig her way out of that hole and she really did not want to fall back into it if it could be avoided. Instead she focused on rescuing the festival-goers... and Chef Ramsey. It was unknown how much longer they could last and Leona did not want to finally get to them only for them to be dead because she had been indecisive on one detail or another.

"I'm ready to get going whenever you are, Samira. Lead the way." Leona said to the Goddess who had graciously put up with her this far. Now that most of the planning had been done, it was time to get going. Hopefully the Recheeserator would stay still long enough for Samira and Leona to begin their rescue mission.

Sky Champion Rafale:

[Post Word Count: 1,120]
[Leona's New Word Count: 10,887]

(The above posts complete the 100Y job for this sign up.
Samira Total:  12,019
Leona Total: 10, 887
Thread Total: 22,906
100Y WC starts here
Due to Event requirements, Leona's WC does not contribute to the 100Y until here
Ruvel's WC does not count)

The surprised yet quite blank reaction of Leona's newest summon was amusing. The whole scenario of a living creature that was a fusion between a grilled cheese sandwich and a refrigerator certainly was something that had to be seen to be believed. If only because it sounded ridiculous. Meanwhile Samira's own spirits treated the strange happenings as if it were a normal thing. It was just another average day in the life of Samira Nassar. As for the more vocal one of the harpy sisters that had clearly been disgusted with the idea of jumping into a cheese monster, that too was also humorous. A small smile formed on the summoner's face. The interactions between other pairs of summoners and their magic companions were always interesting. It always reminded her that she wasn't the only one that had to deal with a variety of strong personalities.

She waited patiently for the discussions and directions to come to a close. Once Leona was finished and said she was ready, Samira nodded. The spell that had been used on herself a few moments prior had then spread to also cover Leona and her summon in that same sparkly overlay. Hopefully Samira was correct in that it would keep them from getting that mass of melted cheese all over them. Otherwise they were going to look like mutated blocks of humanoid cheese monsters by the time they got back. "I am going to keep it still now and get the door open. This should not take long so I ask for a bit of patience before we charge in."

Samira turned away from them, facing the Recheeserator and walking towards it at a normal slow pace. As she got closer to the fountain, and as a result the food appliance creature, the Recheeserator took notice of the presence coming closer. It stopped resting and straightened its bread crust legs to stand tall once more while turning around awkwardly. The creature had intended to let out a mighty and threatening roar before devouring the woman, but its simple plan never had the opportunity to occur. At least, not the way it imagined. If Recheeserators had the capability to imagine anything. Both Samira and Leona were going to have to write the book on food fusion creatures to answer some of those questions apparently.

To immobilize the creature, Samira did not use one of her own abilities, but rather ones that belonged to a spirit of hers; Cernunnos. Even if he himself, or any of the others, were not present she usually always had access to their powers to use as her own. For that she was always grateful since it quite commonly came in handy for many issues. The surrounding maze hedges began to glow a light green, their energy taking on a more visual manifestation. The energy began to flow out of the hedges and towards Samira, where she gathered it as one powerful energy beam shot that was unleashed towards the Recheeserator. Upon impact, vines started to grow and wrap around the Recheeserator, rooting it in place. That was not all. Some of the vines grew in such a way that they pulled and forced the door of the sandwich refrigerator to open wide. Within it, there was a cheesy inside, of course, but there was also a swirling mix of magical energy and cheese. The similarities to a normal portal were there, though it was much more... gooey looking. "And there it is. As I thought there is a portal there." That confirmed knowledge satisfied Samira and her hopes of rescuing everyone increased. But wait, something else was in there.

"Hm?" The woman stared harder, squinting her eyes to see within that mass of melted cheese better. Something was moving around in there that was not the portal. It didn't take long for her to figure out what it was for it swiftly lashed out and wrapped around her. It was the cheese lasso the Recheeserator had used on the other victims before! Many might have been more alarmed by it, and the surprise of it did startle her a bit, but it quickly faded. The plan was to charge in and go in there anyway, right? So she did nothing about it. The lasso was pulled back towards the Recheeserator, taking Samira with it. She disappeared into the portal just as the others before her had already. Now it was Leona's and Rafale's turn if they still chose to go through with the plan.

Whether the two of them were taken by the lasso or charged right into the portal themselves, the result was the same. The portal transported them to a tunnel made out of cheese. But, it was not just any sort of tunnel. It was a tunnel that acted as a sort of water slide! Acting as the "water" was cold melted cheese that had the consistency of overly watered down nacho cheese. Samira could be seen in front of them, also sliding down the random tunnel slide they had been transported to. Until the tunnel reached its end, that is. At the end would not be ground. Instead, it was a fall into a giant cheese lake of the same "water" that was in the tunnel slide. Samira fell right in with a cheesy splash. She surfaced, and thanks to the overlay she was dry and completely safe from being covered in cheese as it flowed off her and back into the lake.

Not entirely what was expected, but Samira supposed it could have been much worse. Then again, aside from the melted cheese lake there was nothing else around. No Ramsey. No random victims. No surface to stand on to get out of the lake. Oh, dear. Hopefully they didn't all drown while waiting on Leona and herself to rescue them. Actually, it would probably also be beneficial to make sure they themselves didn't drown before thoroughly investigating and exploring. "Leona?" Samira called out in search of the blonde and to make sure she was okay after that fall. Hopefully she wasn't in the middle of drowning. The Goddess was quite unaware of the Saint's mediocre swimming skills.

(Word Count: 1033
New Samira Total: 1033)

"I'll wait here." Leona said laconically in response to Samira's appeal for patience as the latter set in motion a way to force the Recheeserator's door open so that the Goddess of Ishgar and the Wizard Saint could go in to rescue the innocent people... and Chef Ramsey. Leona was not exactly eager to go into the cheesy belly of the beast, but people were counting on her to go to their rescue before they suffocated... or worse. Samira was counting on Leona's support too. If Leona did not find a way to botch this, this incident could boost her reputation as a hero. She patiently watched as Samira approached the Recheeserator to force its door open and the beast stood tall as if daring Samira to challenge it.

The Recheeserator made a big mistake.

Using some ability that was unknown to Leona, Samira made the surrounding maze hedges began to glow a light green, their energy taking on a more visual manifestation. The energy began to flow out of the hedges and towards Samira, where she gathered it as one powerful energy beam shot that was unleashed towards the Recheeserator. Upon impact, vines started to grow and wrap around the Recheeserator, rooting it in place. That was not all the vines did. Some of the vines grew in such a way that they pulled and forced the door of the sandwich refrigerator to open wide.

"You did it! Nice work, Samira!" Leona complimented her peer for the nice work in keeping the Recheeserator from going on another lengthy jog through the hedge maze. Leona and Rafale began to slowly and carefully walk towards the beast in case it somehow broke free of Samira's spell, but the vines were holding so far. When Samira sidled up to the open door to peer in, a cheese lasso went around her and she was pulled inside!

"SAMIRA!" Leona called out. She broke into a run and Rafale followed close behind. She was not going to let the Recheeserator get away with capturing the Goddess of Humility and making her fight those annoying tiny sandwiches. Leona was going to rescue Samira, the festival-goers, and Chef Ramsey from the giant refrigerator-grilled cheese hybrid that she had somehow created. No one needed to know that she had indirectly created the beast.

Leona reached the door where Samira had disappeared and climbed in, running through a portal that was a short distance away from the entrance. Rafale followed right behind Leona. The Wizard Saint had a feeling that this already bizarre adventure was going to get even stranger, a prospect that was improbable but not impossible.

-Inside the Recheeserator-

Leona reappeared on the other side of the portal and Rafale appeared right behind her. Leona immediately fell onto her backside and suddenly found herself on a cheesy water slide. While the startled Wizard Saint slid helplessly along Rafale simply took to the air and hovered behind Leona, trying to grab her collar and halt her descent but never quite getting to her. Leona saw Samira sliding just ahead of her and was glad to see that the Goddess of Humility was OK. Her backside also hurt less than she thought it would, but she could deal with that later because Samira ended up in a pool of cheese once the water slide ran out.

Leona unceremoniously fell right in a short distance from the Goddess of Humility and immediately panicked when her feet did not touch the bottom.

She hated deep water. Or deep cheese.

Unless she got out of here she was going to drown in a pool of cheese. What an ignominious end to her life and career. Rafale hovered above the thrashing Leona and extended a gloved hand to his mistress.

"Leona, grab my hand. It is not that deep." Rafale gently assured her. Leona grabbed his hand and felt the strength of his grip. She gradually began to calm down enough to tread "water" and realized that once the panic subsided he was right. It was not that deep; while her feet did not touch the bottom, she was not in any danger of drowning as long as she remained calm. As long as no diving was involved she could do this.

"I'm OK now, I promise." Leona assured Rafale. Leona looked around and did not see an easy way out, but her recovery was not the end of their troubles. Where was Samira?

"Samira is a short distance away from us. Look." Rafale said before pointing in the direction of the green-haired Goddess.

Leona looked in front of her to find Samira floating calmly a short distance away. The blonde began to blush again. She had finally started to climb out of the pit she had dug with her comment about her skirt by helping come up with a plan that was actually a bit smart. Now she had ruined it by behaving so erratically when she hit the pool. At least this time she had a good reason for behaving like she did.

Mustering the full extent of her mediocre swimming skills, Leona began to slowly swim towards the floating Goddess and soon ended up on her left.

"Are you OK, Samira?" Leona asked the green-haired mage. Her first impulse was to order Rafale to find them a way out of here, but the Wizard Saint was not sure how good a swimmer Samira was and decided to keep the green-clad summon on standby. Leona was able to swim as long as it did not involve diving. Under the water was where Leona encountered problems with swimming. Her near-death experience in the cistern under the Abandoned Cabin did not help matters at all and only strengthened her loathing of deep water.

"Sorry about earlier, Samira. I grew up in the middle of Desierto, which doesn't have a lot of deep water. As a result me and deep water don't get along very well, not since I almost drowned in a cistern under the Abandoned Cabin a little over a year ago." Leona explained why she had panicked when she fell into the pool. She did not elaborate and just left it at that because they needed to find a way out of this pool so that they could go about rescuing the festival-goers. And Chef Ramsey.

[Post Word Count: 1,056]
[Leona's New Word Count: 1,056][/color]

Samira had heard some splashes and the voices of both Leona and her summon. From the other direction. Oh. That was probably why she had not seen the blonde drop on into the lake of cheese. She turned herself around to see them both, at that point making her way towards her. Lucky for Leona her little panic attack had stopped before Samira had seen it for herself. Not that she would have judged, of course. Who would want to drown in a lake of cheese? Samira could barely even tolerate swimming in it. One could argue surely all of that frantic splashing would have clued her in, but this was a woman that thought Leona's attempt at apple bobbing was a professional tactic instead of her nearly drowning in a trough. Chances were, Samira just considered it as a unique swimming attempt. Now that she had seen where Leona was, the celestial summoner began to also swim forward to meet up with the blonde. Once she figured she was close enough, she stopped and resumed floating until Leona was close enough to talk normally.

"I am alright," Samira answered the question the Wizard Saint had asked. She spoke as if everything that had happened thus far was normal. Combating living grilled cheese sandwiches while chasing down a fused creature of refrigerator and grilled cheese sandwich, being eaten by said creature, and now floating in a cheese lake were all certainly normal everyday circumstances that just about anyone and everyone would encounter and participate in. Surely. Her tune changed when some of the watered down cheese got in her mouth, which was almost impossible to avoid. She spat it out in disgust. Wiping her face at that point wasn't going to do any good. It was dripping from her hair and bangs and her hands were also covered in the substance. It'd just make it worse. "Mostly, I suppose. I am uncertain as to the effects being covered in liquid cheese will have on me after today." Somehow she doubted it would be the next big trend among spa treatment facilities.

Samira had been about to ask Leona the same question. It was fair and polite to do so, after all. Before she could though, Leona went on to apologize for something Samira was pretty clueless about. She blinked and stared for a moment, putting the clues and pieces together. Her mouth formed an 'O' as if she were hit with the "oh" stick and forced to say the word. That was what the splashing was all about. Wait. Did that mean the talented apple bobber wasn't using a professional technique back then? Had it all been an accident? Samira's mind was blown. That couldn't be true! She refused to believe it. The pieces of her exploded mind started to put themselves back together so it could get back to working order. Although, the thoughts were still there, as was the feeling of being completely stupid. All that time believing Leona was a professional at a silly festival game. The blonde must have thought she was some clueless weirdo when Samira had first mentioned it back then. If she weren't stuck in a lake of cheese, or had some people to rescue, Samira would have probably found a reason to leave as quickly as possible.

A foolish and embarrassed smile appeared on her face as she tried to force her own stupidity away and get back on track for the time being. No way was she bringing up the subject by asking about it. "No need to apologize," Samira said with a small embarrassed chuckle. "That is a perfectly understandable and reasonable reaction from your past experiences." Yeah, she still felt stupid as her mind kept going back to the apple bobbing game. Not even wanting to know the details behind almost drowning in a cistern was enough to make her forget it. "We should find some way out of this mess. It is difficult to help the others if we cannot even help ourselves." How were they going to do that though? Yes, it was a body of liquid cheese they were swimming around in, but were they supposed to be looking for any sort of... land? Did such a thing exist inside a Recheeserator? It was totally bizarre and it was pretty apparent that they were somewhere that was more than just the Recheeserator's belly.

As if things were not already at the facepalming point of silliness, things were about to get even stranger. Samira tilted her head a bit in a bit of confusion, looking past Leona to stare at something peculiar. "Is that-?" She cut herself off. Her eyes confirmed it as it floated closer. It was. Approaching them was a giant tortilla chip floating on the cheesy water. It was being used as a weird sort of boat, propelled by pretzel sticks that acted as oars and were being wielded by people wearing food costumes. It couldn't have been the people that were swallowed by the Recheeserator earlier. It was way too early for them to have gone insane enough to change their outfits to food worshiping attire. Plus, Ramsey's mouth would have been loud enough to pick him out of the small group on the "raft", and Samira couldn't hear him. Instead all she heard was, "there's more of them!" One of the costumed people pointed in the direction of Leona, Rafale, and herself. It didn't sound hostile, but it was hard for Samira to tell for sure. They did keep coming though. "We may have found our way out of this pool." The teal-haired woman mentioned to her two companions. "If they are enemies we should try to... commandeer their um... vessel." Hopefully they were not hostile, but given their current problem she wasn't above taking control of that "vessel" and continuing on with their quest.

(Word Count: 983
Samira Total: 2016)

Leona was worried that she had lost Samira somewhere within the vast expanse of the lake of watered-down cheese. She hoped that Samira had not been lost beneath the lake of watered-down cheese because should Leona survive this she would have a lot of explaining to do for both the authorities and an angry public. It would not take long before accusations of murder would fly and all of them would be directed at the blonde.

Critics would allege that Leona had killed Samira in order to eliminate a rival and to possibly advance into the Goddess of Ishgar slot that would be left open by the Goddess of Humility's demise. Leona would do no such thing because Samira was the closest thing the blonde had to a friend among the Wizard Saints and Leona was perfectly happy in her current role as the Wizard Saint of Courage. None of that would matter to a grieving public and the skeptical authorities because Samira had become a legend within her own lifetime. She was both the longest-serving Wizard Saint and an icon to hundreds of thousands. In contrast, Leona was the upstart from the desert without much personal charm and one of the newest Wizard Saints, so it would not take much effort to paint her as a jealous rival looking to take the more powerful mage out of the picture and climb the ladder to become a new Goddess of Ishgar.

Leona's panic began to build until she saw Samira swimming in her direction and sort of relaxed. Samira was alive after all. The Wizard Saint of Courage was glad to see that because now the pair could continue their brave quest to save the captives taken by the Recheeserator... once they got out of this lake of watered-down cheese.

"Samira! I'm glad you made it! I was beginning to think that I'd lost you!" Leona greeted the green-haired Wizard Saint. Unfortunately Leona's swimming had splashed some of that awful cheese into her mouth and the response was immediate. Leona tasted the sheer awful taste of concentrated, stagnated awful and turned her head to the left to spit it out so that she did not spray Samira with it. Once Leona had gotten the taste out the best she could she heard her companion lament the unknown health risks of swimming in this cheese.

"I'm worried about the health effects too, Samira. Swimming in something this awful can't be good, especially if it gets in your mouth." Leona commiserated with Samira, making absolutely certain to keep her mouth shut about the state of her clothing. Samira's clothing had likely been ruined too, but that was the least of their worries. They needed to get out of this mess, but how?

Leona was glad that the Goddess of Humility did not hold her sort-of panic attack against her or think she was stupid for having it once the reason for it had been given. The blonde and deep water did not get along after her nearly drowning beneath the Abandoned Cabin. She had wanted to avoid swimming altogether, but circumstances had forced her to do what she intensely disliked in order to save innocent people. And Chef Ramsey.

"You're right, Samira. We don't have time to swim around while the Recheeserator has those people. And Chef Ramsey." Leona agreed with her esteemed colleague. She then tried to use her brain to come up with a way out of this lake. Her thoughts turned to Sky Champion Rafale, who was patiently hovering overhead and to Leona's right.

"Maybe I can get Rafale to pull us to shore while you hang onto me." Leona suggested to Samira before the latter spotted a boat going by and pointed it out. The blonde turned her attention to the boat, which was not exactly what the Wizard Saint had expected. It was... odd, to say the least.

The "boat" was a giant tortilla chip floating on the cheesy water. It was being used as a weird sort of boat; it was propelled by pretzel sticks that acted as oars and were being wielded by people wearing food costumes. Leona was so enthralled by the odd spectacle that she forgot all about the state of her clothes and her hair. Then a lot of questions crossed her mind.

How did they survive down here so long?

How did they get food to eat that was not moldy, out-of-date, and/or exclusively cheese-based?

If the Recheeserator was only hours old, how did these people even get here?

Were they friendly or were they still more servants of the Recheeserator looking to kill the intruders?

Where did they get those costumes?

"Do you... see those people?" Sky Champion Rafale asked in audible confusion.

"Yeah, Rafale. I see them. I see them." Leona answered in audible confusion of her own. She was not sure if those people were real or just hallucinations brought about by ingesting some of the awful "water" of the cheesy lake. Considering how weird this whole adventure had been, Leona would not be surprised if the cheese they were floating in had some adverse effects on those who accidentally consumed it. She had never heard of cheese that induced hallucinations, but there was always a first time for everything.

Like trying to make a grilled cheese for a cooking contest, having it come to life and merge with a refrigerator, and eating people before bursting through a hedge maze like a children's sugary drink mascot on a caffeine rush.

Leona watched the boat head in their direction and wondered whether the Wizard Saint and Goddess of Ishgar would be encountering odd but friendly people or sworn enemies of those who would oppose the Recheeserator. Leona was hoping that they would not encounter human servants of the Recheeserator bent on killing them because the two mages were not in much of a position to fight back. Maybe the Wizard Saints could get passage on the tortilla chip boat without having to take over the ship themselves.

"Uh, hi there. Would you guys mind taking us to the far shore?" Leona asked them aloud. She was not liking the look of this and did not like the tone of what they were saying, but maybe she was just being a bit paranoid. Maybe they were off-kilter people who wanted contact with other humans and were actually friendly. The only way to find out would be to actually make contact with them.

At least she had Sky Champion Rafale out if things turned ugly. He should be able to handle the weird people without too much trouble. If all else failed, he would make a great distraction while Leona and Samira boarded the "vessel" and took control of it from the hostile costumed people.

[Post Word Count: 1,134]
[Leona's Word Count: 2,190]

Samira could agree with Leona's statement about the cheese. Already her stomach was turning from just having a small amount of it drip into her mouth, and the smell was also not pleasant. They needed to get out of that disgusting liquid and quick. Thankfully, Leona agreed. Her desire to help Chef Ramsey was obviously forced, but so long as she put effort into saving the others he would be saved as well by default. In theory. Well, that was a concern for another time. She was certain that Leona could continue to force her negative feelings towards the man aside in favor of doing the right thing and making sure he got back to the real world as well. Although one could argue allowing him to stay put to keep the rest of the world from suffering more of his outlandish behavior and words would be the right thing as well. Samira could only be ever grateful that Leona had not tossed such an argument her way. It would have been difficult to refute that sort of logic.

The blonde had pitched a suggestion of having her summon pull them to shore. An idea Samira had considered and nodded in approval of. Until she saw that "boat" coming their way. It wouldn't be the first ship she had to take over; having done so long ago while dealing with a group of bandits and pirates, but it certainly would be the first giant floating tortilla chip. She wasn't even sure if something so silly should be put into her notes once it was all over.

The tortilla chip vessel continued to make its way over towards the three, coming to a stop and floating right beside them. The cheesy waves increased as the "boat" pulled in, and making it so once again Samira found herself submerged under the liquid cheese for a few seconds. Another layer of cheese was added that needed to be washed off during a very long shower. She was now even more displeased.

"Well lookie what we got here! More people falling from the Rillamook waterfall!" A man in the hotdog costume shouted, leaning over the side of the tortilla ship boat to get a look closer look at the trio. "Well aren't you all just the tastiest looking cheese toppings that have fallen down here today."

"Oscar stop messin' around and get 'em all outta there before I fry you up with the rest of our supper!" A woman wearing a french fry costume yelled, slapping the hot dog man in the shoulder. "You know darn well what is huntin' down there. You want these folk to be its next meal? Now do as I say and git 'em outta there!"

As the hot dog man and french fry lady had their little squabble, another costumed person came to the side. He had heard Leona's question and thought it best to get it answered before that scary looking bird man thing decided they were enemies. This particular man was dressed in a hamburger costume. "We would be delighted to take you and your companions to the shore!" The man replied with a huge grin. "We just dropped off a group of others that came down the waterfall before you. Are you with them?"

"Yes, and no," Samira replied truthfully. Technically they were down there to save the group so they were separate groups entirely with two different ways of ending up there. One on purpose, and the other being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seeing the slight confusion on the man's face, Samira decided to add a bit more to the explanation. "We are here to bring the previous group you encountered back home to our world. They were swallowed by a monster and that in turn put them here... wherever here is."

"Darnit, Angus! You get them out of there too! Ask questions after they're out of there!" The french fry lady took the giant pretzel stick from him and smacked him right on the buns with it. "Do I have to do everythin' by myself?!" The lady shook her head, furious, but once she turned her focus to the two in the cheesy lake her face softened and she put on a gentle smile. "Well come on. We don' have all day. Get on." With some help with those on board the tortilla chip boat, Samira was able to get on. They'd help Leona as well if need be, but chances were Rafale was capable of getting her on the vessel himself.

"Ya'll are a disgusting mess, aren' ya?" The woman said, taking notice of the liquid cheese that was now covering the floor of their boat, having dripped down from their newest passengers. "We will have to hose you all down once we get to shore." The french fry lady turned to the rest that were on board. This consisted of costumed individuals such as the hotdog, hamburger, a celery stick, a slice of supreme pizza, and a chicken. Not fried chicken. Not rotisserie chicken. Just a person wearing a normal feathery chicken suit. Surely someone was playing the "One of These Things is not Like the Others" tune somewhere.

As the costumed people used their pretzel sticks to row through the cheesy water, the tortilla chip boat began to turn around, going back the way it had come. They were on their way to the shore, or so the trio would have to believe. Thus far they couldn't see it on the horizon. Maybe Rafale could if he took to the skies. Samira didn't suggest it though. She was content to see where they were taking them and go from there. Besides, the Goddess of Ishgar was far too busy trying to squeeze the cheese out from her long locks. It was disgusting. The last thing she wanted was for it to dry in her hair and make it worse. They couldn't get to a real water source fast enough.

"So, you want to explain again how ya'll got here? The Wakusei portals that came here shut down ages ago, and it didn' drop people off at the waterfall. Ha! No one innocent anyway." The French Fry lady snorted in amusement. They were lucky they had been passing through or they would be dealing with something more dangerous than some weird costumed people.

(Word Count: 1066
Samira Total: 3082)

Leona wondered whether the tortilla chip boat people had seen them or were deliberately ignoring them, but when the boat started being rowed towards them she knew that she and Samira had been saved from the cheese lake. She was not sure if they had been saved from the cheese lake only to land in a worse predicament like the people in food costumes wanting to eat them since the pair were not cheese-based food, only cheese-flavored thanks to spending time in the lake. Speaking of food, a woman in a french fry costume yelled at the man in the hot dog costume who was facing them that he needed to hurry up and get them out of the lake before "something" came along and ate the Wizard Saints. While the hot dog and french fry argued a guy dressed as a hamburger spoke to Leona and told her that the boat people would be glad to ferry them to the other side... if the "other side" meant the lake shore and not the afterlife.

Since she did not have many options other than trying to swim to the other side herself and either suffering the humiliating fate of drowning in a cheese lake or being eaten by whatever lurked in the cheese lake, Leona was willing to go on a little faith here. She was also interested to hear about the other group of people that had been rescued and ferried across the cheese lake, something she could not do if she died in the lake. The french fry lady urged "Angus" to pull them out before talking any further. Samira was rescued by Angus and Leona too was helped out of the water by Rafale and Angus: Rafale had taken her left hand and Angus had taken her right. Leona ignominiously flopped onto the deck like a fish instead of landing on all fours like her feline namesake, but she was out of the cheese lake.

Once his mistress was out of the water Rafale zoomed off and flew over the boat to look for the shore and to keep a watch for whatever lurked in the lake. She also wanted to have a backup plan in case the costumed people were cannibals and were planning to make a meal of the Wizard Saints. Maybe Leona was just being paranoid and Wizard Saint was not on the menu.

Once Leona was on board thanks to the she stood by Samira's side and let her green-haired companion do the talking. Samira was better at that kind of thing since she knew how to think before she spoke. That was something that the blonde would have to learn to do if she wanted to make any friends and keep the acquaintances she had. The french fry woman who seemed to be the leader of the costumed people said that the pair would need to be hosed down once they reached the shore, something that Leona would be glad to go through if it meant getting the cheese off of her clothing.

Leona kept comments about the state of her clothing to herself. She was trying to keep from putting both feet into her mouth for the third time today. Besides, she had bigger concerns such as what the french fry leader said to her and Samira. It had something to do with the "Wakusei portals" being closed for a long time and how no one "innocent" ended up here. Leona was getting the impression that she and Samira had stumbled across a cult of some kind.

Leona could not believe where her mind was going.

If the costumed people really were cultists, they had just found a cult that had been around for years even though the Recheeserator was only hours old. At first glance it did not make sense, but the blonde actually thought about it and recalled "Wakusei portals" that the french fry lady had mentioned moments ago. Had the costumed people been deposited here by the portal long ago?

Leona was not sure how to proceed here. If she asked the wrong question she would either get thrown back into the water or would be bumped up to first on the menu if the costumed people were cannibals. She was thinking of just staying silent, but then what she thought was a sensible question came to mind. Then she thought better of it.

Leona's curiosity finally got the better of her and she was about to ask a question when French Fry Lady beat her to the punch and asked the pair how they got here. Leona decided to not just defer to Samira and answer this one... intelligently.

"We were participating in a cooking contest around the Haunted Castle. We got here after a grilled cheese sandwich I made for the contest somehow came to life and merged with a refrigerator. It grew tall, ate some people, and ran off into a hedge maze, leaving behind a bunch of tiny grilled cheese sandwiches who wanted to take over the area for their master. The people it ate were spectators... and a contestant named Chef Ramsey. We're here to rescue them." Leona explained to French Fry Lady how the Wizard Saints had gotten here and what their mission was. She deliberately kept her feelings about Chef Ramsey quiet because she was supposed to rescue everyone who needed her help, even the rude people. Even a jackass who seemed to revel in his jackass nature like Chef Ramsey did not deserve to die in the bowels of the Recheeserator.

Leona then asked the question that she had been afraid to ask before, but not before she had chosen her words carefully.

"What do you mean when you say that no one innocent ends up here?" Leona dared to ask French Fry Lady. Leona made sure to leave off any references to the afterlife, to the lake of cheese, or to anything else that might ruin the peaceful mood and convert allies to enemies. The blonde did not want to get thrown back into the lake and eaten by whatever lurked beneath the surface because she said the wrong thing at the wrong time.

[Post Word Count: 1,035]
[Leona's Word Count: 3,225]

The costumed crew listened to Leona's story in full. It was a very interesting tale. If they themselves had not been in a world based entirely on food they probably wouldn't have believed a word of it! The rowers made some comments among themselves. Mostly they were impressed with it as well as amused. They laughed and the name Ramsey had also rang a few bells. "Ramsey? Ain't that the feller we nearly threw overboard?" Oscar asked, quite casually actually even though he just mentioned the possibility of letting a man drown in a cheese lake.

"Sure was!" The French Fry costumed lady answered with a snort. Her mood worsened on hearing that name. What a despicable man! "If I didn' think he'd anger the beast of these waters I'd have done it! Couldn' risk havin' that though. A good thing too if ya folks are here to rescue that swine. We dropped them all off at the town we are takin' ya two. Shouldn' have any problem finding them. Gettin' out of here might be a problem though. We gave up tryin' to leave a while ago what with the portals shut down and all."

"You have our gratitude for rescuing them from the lake then and taking them to the shore," Samira added in, finally joining the conversation after dealing with her hair. It wasn't much of a fox honestly. The green color was mixed with that ugly orange and yellow layer that had set in and dried. She could smell it! Her stomach was starting to turn and she felt the faint beginnings of nausea start to take over, but she did her best to ignore it. For how long that would last she didn't know. She could only hope the shore wasn't far and she could be "hosed down". That term told her she'd be out of luck if she desired a real shower, but at the very least there would be actual water to help remove the caked on cheese that she would swear was starting to fuse itself to her if she didn't know any better.

"No problem! Can' have people down there addin' their rotting flavor to the lake and all, ya know." The woman joked with a grin... but really she was serious too. People drowning in the lake and becoming a corpse that remained in it would be truly... unsanitary. Even for that place. Leona had then asked another question. The french fry lady blinked her eyes after hearing it and then she and the whole crew burst into a fit of laughter. The woman was even hugging her sides. The fight to catch her breath was excruciatingly difficult, but she managed after a few attempts of trying to answer. "Good heavens, darlin'. With everythin' around ya, ya got stuck on what I said about that? I had already forgotten about it! I was teasin'. I meant that ya'd have to have a huge bill of karma for the Wakusei Portals to get all screwy and drop ya off here in this lake. It ain't safe. With the portal to here closed, I would have thought ya really pissed someone off if I hadn' heard that story of yas with my own ears!"

Samira wasn't sure if she approved of the laughter. It was a legitimate question, although she was unaware of the real reasons Leona chose to ask it. Leona being capable of paranoia had never dawned on her as a possibility. "You mentioned the Wakusei Portals a couple of times now. I assume this is another world outside of Earthland then. Much like the worlds of Terasu, Kyoka, and Nazo."

"That's right. The portal to this one closed and became inactive so we missed the way home. Must have not got the memo that they'd be shuttin' it down. A vacation became a permanent stay. We can' even find real clothes around here. All there is are food costumes!"

"I see." Samira concentrated her thoughts for a moment, putting the pieces together. It was more difficult than usual with all of that cheese surrounding her AND being on her, however. Somehow she managed a basic puzzle, though. Her gaze moved over towards Leona so she could be facing her fellow Wizard Saint and give her the thought process she had so far. "Leona, I do not think we are inside the Recheeserator. I think it acts as a strange basic portal to this world. It would explain how it was able to fit several people inside it and how we also ended up here. How that came to be I do not know, but we may not ever know. There is more at work here than your talented cooking." Truly Leona would be the envy of all if they realized she could not only make her food come to life, but also attach portals to them. Samira believed the former. The latter was improbable. That seemed quite advanced just for a grilled cheese sandwich, and the refrigerator fusion was an unplanned accident. "What world is this exactly?" Samira inquired of the costumed food crew. In unison and with much excitement in their voices, they all shouted "MESHI!" The emerald eyes of the Goddess glazed over upon hearing that name. What a ridiculous world! It truly existed?! That explained so much! "Well that answers why we landed in a lake of cheese and why of all worlds the Recheeserator brought us here. Meshi is a world made up entirely of food... quite literally." It was a shocker that the air itself didn't taste of cotton candy and actually provide a source of nourishment beyond oxygen for their lungs. That example was probably the only one of its kind in that world though.

During the conversation there was a series of splashes being made nearby. Not by the tortilla chip boat. The French Fry lady was quick to hear it. Despite being a part of the conversation she was alert. "Shoosh! Quiet!" She whispered, now getting quite serious that it alarmed the teal-haired Wizard Saint. It had been so sudden. More splashes from something under the liquid cheese, still unseen. "Oh, hell! Boys! Get us out of here! It's noticed us!" The tortilla chip captain looked to the two mages. "Get ready for a rough ride. This ain' no joke! If ya can do anythin' to help us move faster or delay what's comin' then don' sit around restin' on those laurels! Otherwise stay put and don' fall overboard. We ain' coming back for ya if ya fall in." She then proceeded to give orders to the costumed crew that started to go to work on rowing faster.

Samira blinked. Well they could help, but there were absolutely no details given whatsoever. She turned and cast her gaze onto the "waters". What was coming? She didn't see anything. "What are we supposed to be escaping from?" The answer came quickly, without the costumed crew giving it in audible form. From the liquid cheese that surrounded them a massive creature burst through its surface, creating large waves of cheese that impacted the tortilla chip vessel and caused it to tilt slightly before regaining its natural upright position. Samira couldn't believe what she was seeing. In fact, she hoped she was simply hallucinating from the stench of all the cheese around her. What had popped out of the waters was a giant wheel of solid cheddar cheese. A hole at the top of the wheel seemed to act as eyes, or at least it looked the part. A wedge slice also seemed to be missing to make it an incomplete circular wheel, but Samira saw why very quickly. The two opposite ends of the missing wedge came together and then reopened, allowing all who looked at it to stare into the deep and dark void of its insides. The missing piece was acting as the part of a mouth. Each time the mouth opened and closed a deep sound thundered from the strange dairy product. Just a single word that was repeated. "NOM!"

(Word Count: 1350
Samira Total: 4432)

Leona was not sure what was going on here anymore. She and Samira had been rescued by the weird people in food costumes and they had learned that the costumed people had ferried the people captured by the Recheeserator to the other side of the lake without incident. And that Chef Ramsey guy too, though the costumed people were sorely tempted to throw him overboard because even after being rescued from an ignominious death by drowning in the cheese lake or being eaten by whatever lurked in the cheese lake he could not stop being a jackass for a few seconds and show some gratitude.

"Thanks for saving those people. And Chef Ramsey." Leona echoed Samira's statement of gratitude to the costumed people for saving everyone, even that thoroughly obnoxious chef guy. Leona then turned her attention to the matter of the "Wakusei Portals", which had been brought up a few times. The french fry lady and the entire crew laughed at her for the question she had asked about the Wakusei Portals and the blonde blushed in embarrassment. It was a sad day when she was laughed at by a bunch of weird people in costumes, but the blonde Wizard Saint had an unfortunate tendency to put her foot in her mouth at the worst possible times.

Keeping her mouth shut to avoid any further humiliation, she listened to a hypothesis that her fellow Wizard Saint had put forth about where exactly it was that they had ended up.

Samira posited that they were not inside the Recheeserator, but rather had gone through a portal that was inside the Recheeserator that led to this world. Leona was not sure how exactly that worked, but to her relief neither was Samira. It was good to know that for once the blonde was justified in not understanding how something magical worked. Portals were entirely new territory for the blonde.

Samira asked what world they were on and the crew all shouted "MESHI!" Leona blinked. What in Earthland was Meshi? Leona kept her mouth shut for a second time and was rewarded when Samira explained that Meshi was a world made entirely of food, which explained that awful cheese lake and why it tasted like awful cheese. No one had rotated the cheese out since the food world was made.

While Leona listened to Samira and the costumed people she heard splashing nearby and French Fry Lady silence everyone. After a tense few seconds Samira raise the question of what exactly it was that they were trying to avoid. The answer came mere moments after the words left her mouth.

From the liquid cheese that surrounded them a massive creature burst through its surface, creating large waves of cheese that impacted the tortilla chip vessel and caused it to tilt slightly before regaining its natural upright position. Leona looked at it and could hardly believe what she was seeing. She was looking at a giant cheese wheel that might had been the product of a hallucination... maybe the cheese lake's "water" had something in it that was causing the blonde to see things that were not there.

A hole at the top of the cheese wheel beast seemed to act as eyes, or at least it looked the part. A wedge slice also seemed to be missing to make it an incomplete circular wheel, but watching it more closely filled in the gap, so to speak. The two opposite ends of the missing wedge came together and then reopened, allowing all who looked at it to stare into the deep and dark void of its insides. The missing piece was acting as the part of a mouth!

Leona saw the mouth open and close and heard a deep thundering sound come from it, a sound that formed a single word.

"NOM!"

Leona blinked and put her hands on her hips.

Just what the Hell was this thing?

Leona saw that it was cheese, but how had it come to life? She did not know, but she was going to kill it and kill it fast. The boat had gotten back into motion and she and Samira had been told that if they could not or would not help that they were to get down and hang on for dear life. If either of them fell off there would be no rescue attempt. Leona would prove to the costumed people and to Samira that she could do more than just take up space and ask dumb questions.

She and Rafale were going to kill this cheese beast.

"Leona, what do you want me to do?" Rafale asked after zooming down and landing on the deck of the tortilla chip as its crew worked to row them all to safety.

"I want you to kill that cheese beast." Leona answered in all seriousness. Rafale gave her a "You've gotta be kidding me!" look that the blonde fully understood. When he saw that Leona was being completely serious he brandished his violet energy swords and took off straight up from the deck and flew towards the beast.

"Consider it done." He declared to Leona just before flying towards the beast with a sword held out. The blade made contact with the beast's "flesh" and cut through it with no effort at all. Part of the top of its head peeled and hung onto its body.

"NOOOOOM!" It bellowed in pain. Rafale zoomed around and made another lighting fast slash through the middle of its body, cutting it through the left side of its mouth.

"NOOOOOM!" It bellowed again before its mouth began to hang awkwardly, its jaw having been partially severed. The cheese beast was in pain, but it was still advancing towards the boat. Fortunately Rafale came in for a third pass and completed the job of severing its lower jaw from its body. Cheese spurted from the wound as it paused in midair and Rafale cut its remaining body in half with another slash.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOM!" It bellowed one last time before it split in half and plummeted towards the cheese lake from whence it came. Leona blinked as Rafale flew around and hovered above Leona, then softly landed on the deck to her left.

"That was easier than I expected." Rafale said to Leona. He made no attempt to hide his disbelief about what had just happened.

"Yeah. Me too. I'm not complaining at all, but I'm surprised too." Leona admitted that she was just as surprised at how easily the beast was defeated as Rafale was. She was also glad that the beast was dead. From now on the weird costumed people would be relatively safe if one of them fell overboard... or decided to go swimming. Leona was not sure who would willingly swim in the cheese lake, but there was always at least one person who would do strange things like that.

Leona could not wait to get to the other side and get her clothing hosed off. She could not wait to get this awful cheese off of her. She especially wanted it out of her hair.

If she never returned to Meshi after this rescue was completed she would not complain at all.

[Post Word Count: 1,205]
[Leona's Word Count: 4,430]

Samira sighed. This was getting just plain ridiculous now. Well, no. Wait. Things had reached ridiculous quite a while ago. There was no longer a word that could be used to describe the day Leona and Samira were having. When would it end? Come to think of it, how would it end? It was a terrifying thought after what they had experienced so far. "Very well," Samira said flatly with no argument. The two of them may as well do something against even deadly cheese wheels. Leona seemed to be just as agitated upon seeing that silly beast of the cheese lake just as she was. In truth, the Goddess had hoped it was a normal sea monster that would have destroyed them all with a single glare. At least then her day would have some normalcy to it.

The command that Leona had given Rafale had been overheard by Samira. She approved of the blonde taking action. That meant she could focus on defending the vessel and working to add some speed to it to get them out of there. Celestial energy radiated from Samira, making its way from her body, onto the deck of the tortilla chip boat, and spreading further to cover the vessel entirely. The swirly sparkles flashed for a split second, and when it dimmed a complete transparent spherical barrier that chimed with magic and glowed a pale blue light had formed around the boat. Now for that boost of speed, of which she had intended to use a summon for that. Oh, wait. Her spirits were currently trying to handle the mess and chaos that the Recheeserator had caused in their world. She'd just have to do it herself.

Samira had just raised her hands in the air, preparing to connect with one of her wind spirits and use their power for herself, but it proved to be unnecessary. She had heard the nomming howls of pain coming from the living cheese wheel, but she didn't realize it would be over so quickly. Rafale had defeated a very feared creature in that world in seconds. Not that she thought less of Leona or her summon, quite the contrary. She knew her fellow Wizard Saint had to be powerful to get where she was as both a Guild Mistress and an esteemed reputable mage. The teal-haired summoner just expected a lot more from the creature after the costumed crew showed such fear towards it.

Samira blinked her eyes. "Oh. Well it seems I was not needed for this." Samira lowered her arms. Her gaze looked over towards Leona and she gave her a warm gentle smile. "Good work, Leona." She flashed the same smile towards Rafale as well. "You too, especially. Let us hope there is not another one out there or worse." Than again, was another creature of that sort really an issue with those two around to take them out? Not really. The lake creatures surely would have the intelligence to avoid messing with that vessel, at least until the fearsome blonde and her powerful summon were gone. Still, just in case, the summoner kept her barrier in place to ward off any direct impacts that may hit them from other creatures down below.

As for the costumed crew, they could hardly believe what they had just seen. They were stunned. Speechless. In completely mind blowing awe! Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped. "What in the world?" The Fry Lady finally managed to say, thinking out loud and her surprise written all over the tone of her voice. "You slaughtered the cheese beast in seconds! You aren' no normal folk, that is for dang sure!" The rest of the crew burst into a wave of cheering. They stopped rowing, threw down their pretzel oars, and began clapping and giving fist pumps in the air. "Take that, you beast! Whooooooo!"

The cheering did end up coming to a stop so they could proceed with rowing to the mainland, but their increased positive mood continued. The crew were in much better spirits than they were previously, and they couldn't wait until they could spread the tale of the courageous mage that had defeated the cheese beast. No doubt it'd probably have very exaggerated details, but that was just one of the perks of being amazing in front of them.

As the boat came closer to the shore, Samira could see people roaming around. None of them in those silly costumes as those on the vessel. They had to be the ones that had been forced into that crazy nonsensical world. There were also pumpkins of various sizes that she could see even from that distance. Some of them were even large enough that they could be mistaken for oddly shaped buildings. Size aside, their presence made sense for many reasons, one being the season. Pumpkins would be a common sight pretty much anywhere, including there apparently. Also apparently, someone was still capable of getting their head stuck in one even there. "HELP, MY HEAD! IT'S STUCK IN A PUMPKIN!!" The panicked cry of some poor soul on the shore could not be missed by anyone's ears.

"I almost fear what we will see next on that land after what we have seen just being on its version of water," Samira said softly to Leona. She only hoped they could locate the group and get them all out of there before they encountered something else just as silly.

(Word Count: 913
Samira Total: 5345)

Once the cheese beast was dead and its parts had sunk beneath the cheese lake Leona gave a grin. Hearing the costumed people express amazement about her quick victory over the dreaded beast only gave Leona even more reason to grin. She should not be acting so smug when she had done nothing but order one of her strongest summons to slice up the beast on her behalf, but the blonde was feeling pretty good... and more than a little pleased with herself. Wizard Saints should be more humble, but the blonde was feeling satisfaction after having proven that she could do more than just take up space and ask dumb questions.

Earlier the costumed people had laughed at her and treated her like a joke.

They were not laughing any more.

The costumed people now understood who they were truly dealing with. Leona was not the Wizard Saint of Courage because she had won the title in a raffle. She had won the title through a lot of fighting against daunting odds and courageous acts such as taking on an entire pack of werewolves and their alpha near Lycuston, infiltrating a cult without benefit of her gear or weapons, and stealing what turned out to be a Muserian Focusing Stone right from the tent of a commander of the Crimson Sashes after rescuing the prince of a desert tribe. Perhaps after her display of power they would think twice before laughing at her in the future. If they did not, all they had to do was recall what happened to the cheese beast and consider how easily Rafale's energy blades could slice through human flesh.

If cheese could not resist the Sky Champion's blades, neither could human flesh.

Now that her pride had been satisfied, Leona turned away from those dark thoughts and turned towards Samira, who had stated that the blonde's quick thinking had left her with no role to play. Samira then praised Leona and Rafale for slaying the cheese beast with the same effort that it took most people to breathe.

"They don't call me Sky Champion Rafale for nothing." Rafale said to Samira before crossing his arms and grinning. Leona, on the other hand, took a more modest tone towards Samira.

"I'm glad you were here to help protect the boat and its crew in case I couldn't stop the cheese beast in time, Samira. You would have bought me additional time to take care of the problem before the situation reached a critical point. There was a need for you after all." Leona assured her esteemed companion that there was a need for her. The blonde had dealt with feelings of worthlessness before. She had dealt with them earlier this evening when the two Wizard Saints had met up and Leona had made a dumb remark about the state of her skirt. Samira had rightfully questioned her priorities and that had made the blonde feel dumb and worthless.

It had spurred feelings that Leona was a "kid sister" of the Wizard Saints who the others tolerated only because they needed a meatshield or extra muscle. Leona had also felt worthless whenever she had met Leila Vergious after nearly dying to a mundane serial killer who had made up for his lack of magic with clever tactics. She felt that Leila had only invited her to join Silver Wolf to keep her out of another guild's hands. Even now Leona felt that she was only Guild Mistress of Silver Wolf because she had been in the right place at the right time.

Leona knew what it was like to feel worthless and Samira did not deserve to feel that way. Samira had a lot to offer the world. Leona's thoughts were interrupted when she saw the tortilla chip boat gradually approach the shoreline and she saw people milling about. Leona saw people and buildings of various sizes made out of pumpkins and even one hapless man who shouted "HELP, MY HEAD'S STUCK IN A PUMPKIN!" as an obvious cry for help as he ran around in confusion and agony.

The Wizard Saint's face showed the same "You've gotta be kidding me!" look that Rafale had given her when she had told him to attack the cheese beast. Speaking of Rafale, the summon uncrossed his arms and looked towards the village/city/inhabited place. His face also said "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Is that... am I seeing... pumpkins?" Rafale asked Leona.

"Yep. Pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins." Leona answered laconically. This trip kept getting weirder and weirder with each passing moment. Leona expected to see a liquid cheese waterfall or liquid cheese fountain any minute now. Leona heard Samira express some apprehension about what they would see on land after enduring a trip over cheesy water... or watery cheese, whatever.

"I'm also worried about what we'll find on land, Samira." Leona seconded the Wizard Saint of Humility's apprehension. The blonde hoped that the rest of the mission would go easily and they could rescue everyone (and Chef Ramsey) without too much weirdness. However, the Wizard Saints were now in the land of the weird and they would not get through it without encountering more weird sights and sounds. Speaking of weird sounds... was anyone going to help that guy with the pumpkin on his head remove the pumpkin or was he doomed to run around?

Leona thought that someone should help him before he either ran into a building and knocked himself out, ran into the cheese lake and got into even more trouble, or passed out from oxygen deprivation and suffered the various negative consequences that stemmed from oxygen deprivation.

[Post Word Count: 944]
[Leona's Word Count: 5,374]

The pride that was obvious in both Leona and Rafale was almost cute. She'd let them have their moment without interruption or bringing them down. There was very little chance that Leona would let it go to her head. Or that was Samira's opinion anyway. The blonde didn't seem the type. If it became problematic in the future perhaps then would be the opportunity to bring them both down to ground level, but for now Samira enjoyed the display. There was very little doubt now that Leona's name would spread across all of Meshi by the end of the day. It was actually quite humorous to think the blonde had a giant cheese wheel on her list of kills. Anyone that did not know the story would have been in for a treat if they ever asked her for her kill count. Yes, after some time Samira was sure that the story of the Recheeserator adventure would be one they'd look back on and laugh at. Assuming neither had already purged it from their minds with a magical potion of some sort, of course.

Leona had agreed with her. She too was worried about what they would run into next. Samira only hoped that it would be anti-climatic. There would be nothing left in the way. They'd find the group within the next five minutes and be able to get back swiftly and easily. It should be their reward after everything they went through. Oh wait... no. With the cheese wheel incident and the teleportation to Meshi she had completely forgotten about actually dealing with the Recheerator itself. Samira's mood dropped some more. The day wasn't close to being over yet then. She sighed hopelessly.

The rest of the way to the shore didn't take too much longer. Long enough for the costumed crew to sing songs as they happily rowed the now safe cheesy seas, but still not too terribly long. Unless their rather average singing made it seem like an eternity. Samira didn't mind it much. Not to say that she joined in on the singing. She didn't. The Wizard Saint remained silent unless spoken to, standing there patiently until the tortilla chip vessel reached shallow "waters" and docked.

The costumed crew dropped their giant pretzel stick oars and left the boat. Some started to make sure the vessel was secure, and others went off into the pumpkin littered land where quite a few people were already grouped up. Judging by their normal clothing they were probably the ones that the Recheeserator had swallowed and teleported there. Well, besides the man that had a pumpkin on his head. He was still flailing and yelling until one of the crew went over and took the thing off. At least Leona and Samira didn't have to solve that problem as well.

The French Fry captain also left the vessel, but she turned around to face the trio once her feet met solid ground. "All right, these are the folk we found swimmin' in that lake. I don't know if it's all of them, but that's as good as it's going to get. If you're missin' some, you'll have to find them yourself." The lady motioned over to the pumpkin scenery. "This here is Season Fields. What grows here is based on the season and you're just in time for pumpkin season. Eat some, take some, destroy them. Don' matter to me. It's fair game and they grow like weeds around here." As she said that a small pumpkin popped right out of the ground beside her feet. It was nonsensical and quite impossible for a pumpkin to grow that fast, but yet there it was. The world of food was indeed also a magical one. "If ya need anythin' else just come find me. Just ask around for Ida. That's my name. I'll have Angus hose ya all down to get rid of that cheese off of ya." The lady dressed in her potato appetizer started to turn but paused as a thought came across her mind. "Come to think of it, would it be possible for us to hitch a ride with ya'll on the way out? We wanted a way out of here and turns out one plopped right in front of us without us even realizing it."

"I do not see why not," Samira answered in a neutral tone. They didn't seem to be bad people, and if they really were originally from Earthland then it was best to try and get them back as well. Her gaze shifted over towards Leona to see if she had any disagreement or concerns with it.

During the conversation an old woman had entered the scene. She was dressed in a purple witch costume and pulling around a small cart that was loaded with treats. There was even a sign listing all of the pumpkin treats available. She had stopped by and served some of the others in the area, but upon seeing the chip boat return she decided to make her way over to treat some new customers.

"Hello, dears," the old woman greeted sweetly, bringing her cart to a stop right in front of them all. "Would you like some of my pumpkin treats? I've been told that they are delicious!" On the cart was a nice assortment and display of Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pumpkin Biscuits, Pumpkin & Biscoff Baked Donuts, and many other pumpkin flavored goodies. They all looked and smelled amazing. Tons better than the cheese lake Leona and herself had just been in. It was real fresh food! Well, supposedly. Was there some kind of trick to it? Samira was almost afraid to find out after having encountered the Recheeserator, tiny grilled cheese sandwiches that wanted her dead, a giant man eating cheese wheel... actually all of those had cheese in it. Maybe it was just cheese flavored things that were corrupted and evil. Pumpkin though? Pumpkin seemed safe.

Deciding to be brave in this new challenging endeavor, Samira took one of the pumpkin cookies and bit into it. The cookie was warm and soft, and its pumpkin flavor most certainly was quite tasty. Samira's eyes went wide as she tasted it, hardly believing that something tasted good enough to overpower the taste of the bad cheese. "It is good!" She exclaimed after swallowing the bite. "You two should have some!" Truthfully she wanted to go for more. Possibly take the entire cart. But, that was greedy, wasn't it? Maybe she'd get some more of the treats once they left. Or at least after the trio were cleaned off.

(Word Count: 1106
Samira Total: 6451)

Leona and Rafale watched the pumpkin city draw closer as the tortilla chip boat drew closer to their destination, which was dry land. After spending so much time on the cheesy lake the blonde could not wait to set foot on dry land again, even if dry land was full of pumpkins. Once the ship docked the costumed crew dropped the pretzel sticks which had served as their oars and disembarked. Leona wondered if one of them was going to help that poor guy who had somehow gotten a pumpkin on his head... thankfully one of them went to the hapless guy's aid before the situation got much worse. The costumed person set his hands firmly on the pumpkin and pulled up a few times, a move which made the hapless guy yell in pain but ultimately set him free after five forceful tugs.

Leona heard the french fry woman who was the leader of the costumed crew say that had pulled everyone who had been captured and swallowed by the Recheeserator out of the lake and if the boat's crew had not rescued everyone that was as good as it was going to get. if anyone was found to be missing rescuing them was on the Wizard Saints and Rafale. Leona thought that the duty to save everyone was being foisted onto Samira and herself, but the blonde supposed that that was the price of being a Wizard Saint. Oh well.  

Leona believed that she had heard "Ida" call the town Season Fields because what grew in the city was based on the season. Based on that information, Leona found the town's name to be an appropriate one. She also heard Ida give the trio permission to eat the pumpkins, destroy them, whatever they wanted to do... the orange vegetables grew quickly and in such abundance that a few missing pumpkins would not matter to the people. Ida was about to set off to do whatever it was that costumed people did  in a town full of pumpkins when the woman turned around and asked them something.

Would it be too much trouble for her and the rest of the people to hitch a ride with Samira, Leona, and Rafale on the way out?

Samira stated that she did not see a problem with that arrangement and turned her gaze to Leona. The blonde felt that Samira was doing that to appeal to Leona's better nature. Maybe she had deduced that Leona had had dark thoughts when the costumed people laughed at her for asking about the portals after the topic of conversation had shifted to something else. Maybe the glance was an unspoken appeal to Leona's better nature, the side of Leona that did not want to leave Chef Ramsey behind for his insufferable ego. If it was an appeal, it had worked.

"I don't see a problem with it either." Leona replied in a neutral tone. The moment the blonde had been chosen as a Wizard Saint she had taken an unspoken vow to set aside her personal issues and help people in need, even if said people had been rude like Chef Ramsey or insulting like the costumed people on the boat. She would uphold that vow and find a way to take the costumed people out of Meshi along with the people who had been captured by the Recheeserator. And Chef Ramsey too. But only because she had to.

Once Ida had went on her way an old woman in a purple witch costume pulling a cart loaded with pumpkin-themed treats came along and offered her wares to Samira, Leona, and Rafale. Samira went for a pumpkin cookie while Leona took a moment to browse what was available. The Wizard Saint of Courage looked at all of the wares and eventually requested a pumpkin spice latte since the idea of food was about as appealing to her as a punch to the stomach. The pumpkin spice latte was handed to her and Leona looked down at it to notice that there was a small face in the shape of a smiling jack-o-lantern floating in the drink.

Leona tried it and found the latte to be pretty good. Leona would toned down the pumpkin taste just a little, but after that it might not be worthy of being called "pumpkin spice" if it did not taste like pumpkin. She still preferred plain coffee, but the latte was a good way to get that awful watery cheese taste out of her mouth. Almost anything was better than the taste of stale and watery cheese that the cheese beast had been swimming in for who knew how long.

"Thanks for the latte." Leona thanked the old woman for the pumpkin spice latte. After Leona had gotten a drink Rafale was seriously considering getting something from the cart while he had the opportunity. While he decided what to get Leona faced Samira, who had already grabbed a pumpkin cookie and was clearly considering going for more.

"Samira, where do you think we should start looking for those people? Do you think this place has a town square or town fountain or something where people gather?" Leona asked her esteemed companion. Leona believed that all of the people were mundane, so she could not use the "follow the magic signature" tactic like she had in the past. Besides, this whole area was probably magic and that would throw off her tracking of individuals. Then she had another idea.

Maybe the trio should listen out for Chef Ramsey complaining about something.

Chef Ramsey's voice was loud, obnoxious, and distinctive, so if they heard his voice while searching for the other people there was a good chance that there was at least one other person with him. However, while that was a start, it was not exactly foolproof logic. Maybe the other people who had been captured with him had gotten tired of his belligerent and obnoxious attitude and had left him behind somewhere. While she would have preferred to find all of the missing people at once, Leona would not blame them if they had left him somewhere else where he could complain to himself about the cheese lake, the cheese beast, the costumed people, the pumpkins, or whatever it was that he liked to complain about.

Leona was sure that he would find something to complain about. Chef Ramsey seemed to be a big fan of his own voice and never missed a chance to share it with people. Leona dreaded what he would say to her whenever they met, but she would just have to put up with it.

Or would she?

Chef Ramsey had been tap-dancing on all the buttons of things that made her angry during the cooking contest and he had been an unrepentant jerk about it. He had insulted her cooking skills, he had made fun of her desert heritage, and he had repeatedly called her a "princess" despite being nothing of the sort. When his taunts had failed he had tried to resort to rules wrangling to get her disqualified from a contest she would have gladly left if she could have. It was safe to say that Leona had a low opinion of the man. If it were not for a punch to the face being classified as assault no matter how much Chef Ramsey had deserved it, Leona would have punched that obnoxious windbag out long ago.

[Post Word Count: 1,246]
[Leona's Word Count: 6,620]

Ida sighed with relief. For a moment there she had thought the almighty Leona would have said no and leave them there to rot in that foodland. What a close call that was! "You two are alright in my book! Just come give us a holler when you're all done here so we can hitch a ride back with y'all!" The french fry lady couldn't be happier to finally get off that world and into some REAL clothes, and be on a REAL ocean, with REAL sea monsters. Finally! With a skip in her step she waved to the two and went on her way to check in on her costumed crew and tortilla chip "ship."

As for the old woman in the witch outfit, she smiled softly and nodded, appreciating Leona's gratitude for the latte. "Take care, dears. This land can be dangerous so don't stray too far from here." She kindly warned them. It was her saying a farewell before the two women went off to complete the next step of their adventure. No doubt the two would be gone before she could even get her cart rolling along properly. For now, she patiently waited for Rafale to choose something from the cart. He had been eyeing it and seemed to be picking something, but had yet to make a final decision. "I have never seen a creature like you before. Do you enjoy pumpkin treats?" She asked him, still in that kind voice, but now had curiosity within it. Maybe he was a creature that would enjoy having the whole cart!

Samira had finished her pumpkin cookie and had convinced herself to take another from the cart. The woman was happy, and devouring that cookie brought a look of complete joy and bliss to her. It was a heavenly cookie! That is, until Leona asked her question and that cookie almost became a weapon used against her. She nearly choked on it! Pain shot through her as the bite went down wrong, and she began to cough with her eyes tearing up as another side effect. It took a moment, but she managed to get herself under control with no need for the heimlich maneuver having to be performed. Why had she nearly choked? Because once again Leona had surprised her with a question that had an obvious answer.

Poor Leona. Samira was beginning to wonder if Leona was supposed to be wearing eyeglasses. She didn't want to make her uncomfortable by stating the obvious though. The obvious being that there was a group of people that could be seen wearing normal clothes right there in the open not far from them. That was the best place to start since they were most likely people the Recheeserator had swallowed from the festival and teleported there, just like themselves. "There might be. We can ask Ida and her crew if need be, or the old woman with the cart if need be. I suggest we approach those people over there though." She nodded her head in the direction of the group ahead, staring and observing. "They look like they might be from our world. Although, I do not spot Ramsey among them." Either Ramsey had been eaten by the cheese wheel monster, or he was off doing something else further inland. Terrific.

"He might be-" Before Samira could finish her sentence, the woman disappeared! Well not disappeared, per say. She was pushed out of the way by a heavy stream of water that shot at her and continued to shoot and push her along. It wasn't until she was about to reach the group of people that the stream's strength had weakened and reached its maximum distance. "That's one down!" Shouted Angus from behind them. The hamburger costumed man was on top of a giant pumpkin that was in actuality their strange version of a water tower. He held a giant hose that connected to the "water tower". That had to have been the weapon used against the summoner. Although being an attack of some sort wasn't the intent. It was mentioned that they would be hosed down to get rid of all of that cheese from the cheese lake. There weren't exactly any showers and they lacked a true lake with water.

"Next one up!" He adjusted his aim, locking onto Leona, who was the next target to be hosed down and cleaned off. "Fire!" He commanded his crew buddy wearing the chicken costume. The chicken pulled a lever that unlocked the water from the tower and funneled into the hose. The water then blasted from the rip of the hose like a rocket that had just blasted off. It was strange for it to have that much strength and power, yet there it was. Rocket speed water shooting right at Leona. If she were hit she would probably notice that the water wasn't actually water. It wasn't even liquified pumpkin. There was a flavor of coconut in it. Was it... coconut water? In a pumpkin shaped tower? The place was getting weirder and weirder.

(Word Count: 848
Samira Total: 7299)

Leona watched her companion nearly choke on the cookie and was oblivious as to why the teal-haired mage nearly choked. She then listened to Samira patiently explain that the best place for them to start looking for the missing people was not too far from where they already were and realized that she had asked yet another stupid question. Leona's face burned with embarrassment for several minutes before it went back to its normal color. Her dumb question was why Samira had nearly choked on a piece of cookie!

"Oh, right. Sorry." Leona meekly apologized for what she had said that caused Samira to choke. Just when she was taking a step forward with her social skills she took two big steps back. Leona did not dwell on the embarrassment and instead focused on the group of people that Samira had pointed her to. Leona was sort of glad to hear that Chef Ramsey was not among them.

Scratch "Sort of." The blonde was REALLY glad he was not among them.

That jackass probably got thrown out of the group for being so relentlessly obnoxious.

Leona listened to Samira talking until the conversation suddenly stopped. The blonde blinked and looked for Samira. She hoped that she had not done something so incredibly dumb that the Goddess of Ishgar had decided to abandon Leona in this cheesy, cheese-ridden dump with all the weird costumed people and leave by herself. The blonde looked around for Samira and saw her lying on the ground some distance away just a short distance from the group of people the Goddess of Ishgar had pointed out.

"Next one up!" Leona heard someone shout. Her attention was drawn from Samira to the source of the shouting, which was coming from a giant pumpkin. Keeping her mouth shut and using her eyes to observe what was in front of her, Leona deduced from the hose being held in the hands of the man wearing the hamburger costume that the giant pumpkin was being used as a water tower. Leona then put two and two together and deduced that the hose was what had blasted Samira away from her, not Leona's penchant for asking dumb questions with obvious answers.

Leona watched as a guy in a chicken costume pulled a lever that funneled water into the hose. Just then it finally dawned on her what was going on.

This was how the pair were going to get the cheese off of their clothing!

"Wait a-" Leona petitioned them for time to get ready, but it was too late. The water was already on its way and there as nothing she could do to stop it. Leona was hit in the face and mouth with the initial burst and was strangling on the water that had been forced down her throat when she was knocked backwards. Unable to stay upright for very long, Leona fell down and began to roll backwards as she was hit in the chest with the powerful stream. After three revolutions Leona stopped rolling head over heels and instead rolled on her side until she came to a stop next to her esteemed colleague and rolled over on her stomach.

Once she stopped rolling Leona began to violently cough up "water" that was not really water. Instead of the plain "taste" of plain water it had a coconut taste to it. The dizzy blonde lay on the ground coughing up water and hoping that the rest of this rescue mission would go a lot smoother than washing her clothes off had gone. She had suffered a lot of indignities up to this point, some of them self-inflicted. Things could only get better from here.

Leona rolled onto her back, raised herself into a sitting position, and looked at the front of her outfit. There was no cheese on it anymore. She raised her hands to her head and felt that the cheese had been washed out of her hair. Leona kept her mouth shut about the state of her outfit and sat next to Samira while coughing violently on occasion and doing her best to recover from the abrupt trip down the road. She hoped that the pair would stay on dry land for awhile.

The blonde also tried to make sense of why there was coconut water stored in a giant pumpkin. Then she gave up on the endeavor because trying to make sense of it would take time and energy she did not have. Leona knew one thing for certain... this place was weird.

[Post Word Count: 760]
[Leona's Word Count: 7,380]

Samira didn't move at all after her forced journey had come to an end. The summoner lied there on the ground, sprawled out on her stomach and her face completely unseen as it was buried in the dirt and covered more by her own hair. How was one supposed to react after having been pushed away by a huge blast of coconut water? She didn't know. She didn't even know that she'd ever experience something so silly and weird. All Samira wanted to do right then was turn around and go home. It had been her idea to go after the recheeserator. It had been her idea to get eaten by it to test her portal theory. It had even been her idea to keep going even after that! Apparently it took being pushed aside by a strong spray of coconut water for her to reach the limits of her tolerance. Or maybe it was just her desire to have one really long bath to feel clean again making her want to forget about the whole self created mission. She really wanted one. She really needed one. For her own sanity if anything. But the want and need was so far away from being made into reality!

The ground around her was covered by even more coconut water. Based on the coughing she heard Samira could take a guess that Leona had met the same fate as she. Two Wizard Saints defeated by a hamburger costumed man using coconut water as his weapon. Well that would be an odd news piece if anyone outside of that realm ever found out about it and believed it. That was a concern and rush of embarrassment for another time though. Right then the only thing on Samira's priority list was to get to the closest inn and have a three hour bath. After the whole recheeserator mess was cleaned up, of course. Before even that though she should probably breathe instead of continuing to suffocate herself in that puddle of mud and coconut water.

A deep inhale was taken as Samira lifted her head from the ground. She didn't have the coughing fit that the blonde next to her had. Thank goodness for that. Not much of that water really got into her nose and mouth so there was at least that minor blessing. Now if only she didn't feel as if she got hit by a large moving object while being pierced at the same time. The pain would pass with time most likely. If it had been serious there would be no saving Angus from the wrath of her spirits. Seeing as none of them acknowledged her pain in some way the summoner could conclude that she was fine physically. She’d been through worse.

Her breathing normalized quickly. Her gaze saw the surroundings and just as she expected none of it was a dream nor did the spray of water somehow rip through dimensions and take her home. Samira grimaced in disgust. "I do not like this world." The comment was stated truthfully but also in such a way that showed Samira was not enjoying herself. Her curiosity for the world had vanished. Her patience for the day dissolved. None of the other worlds she had been to before were so ridiculous or strange. It was then that Samira would come to the realization that she preferred dangerous worlds that could be taken seriously. Meishi was such a world that one would assume came from the imagination of a child. Her sense of humor for such things was, sadly, apparently lacking.

Samira pushed herself up and took to standing on her feet once more. She took the ends of her skirt and twisted it, attempting to squeeze out any of the water that had been absorbed. The woman sighed. The outfit had once been decently cute. Now it had to be replaced due to all the water and... cheese damage it had taken. Not to mention the normal dirt that would need to be bleached out. How unfortunate.

She did the same thing to her hair in an attempt to dry it a bit. Not that it did much good. Samira flipped her heavy wet hair over her shoulders and stared at Leona. "We should find everyone and get out of here quickly before we somehow find ourselves drowning in chocolate milk next." Not that Samira saw a great body of chocolate milk anywhere. It was just one example of many. First liquefied cheese, then coconut water. Who was to say her guess wasn't possible in that world and with their bad luck?

The tealette leaned down and held out her hand with the intention to help pull her friend from where she sat on the ground. However, something had caused her to pause in that position, causing her to forget to help Leona further and instead avert her verdant gaze from the fellow Wizard Saint and turn to look at the group of stragglers further up ahead. There was a voice. A loud, insulting, demanding, and unfortunately familiar voice. Was that chef Ramsey? Had they truly found the original victim of the recheeserator already? From the sounds of things he was causing a stir once again. "We might not have to go very far, after all." Finally they had managed a bit of good luck. If anyone could call it that.

(Word Count: 901
Samira Total: 8200)