As Thief Heart reached the castle he took a deep breath.
“Good Luck, I’m going to jump the motorcycle. There should be a grappling hook in the bag on your right.” Good Luck opened it and saw a grappling hook, he pulled it out a bit worried.
“What do I do with it?”
“Fire it at that open window towards the left. When I say ‘now’ you’ll fire it and as you do, hit the button on your left that’ll turn the motorcycle into a chip immediately. Make sure to grab it. Once you do, release the trigger to pull yourself to the window. I’ll glide toward another window and contact you when I enter.”
“Both of you be careful. The glasses will let us see what’s going on but proceed with caution.” Mend Heart’s voice of urgency made both Thief and Good Luck nod. Thief Heart accelerated and did a jump over the area where the draw bridge should have been.
“Now, Good Luck!” Good Luck fired the grappling hook and hitting the button as Thief commanded. As Thief jumped off he activated his glider and glided toward the right as Good Luck held the microchip close and released the trigger to get toward the window. Good Luck pulled himself into the room and landed face first before rolling onto his back and sitting up.
“Good Luck, press the button on the side to revert it to glasses mode when you get inside. Sorry meant to say that a moment ago.”
“Of course, apology accepted. Now button…Ah right there.” Good Luck pressed the button making the helmet return to it’s glasses form. As he did so, the watch tower had visual of the room from Good Luck’s point of view.
“Well I’ll be. The room’s empty.” Tenderheart sounded unimpressed as Cheer elbowed him. About a minute later Thief Heart’s view turned on, showing a broken door.
“Thief, can you head toward that door and see what’s outside?”
“On it Mend, it’s too quiet. Good Luck, anything on the ceiling or hidden around you?”
“No, can’t say so Thief. I’m looking around and see nothing unless the tower sees anything.” Good Luck slowly opened his door and saw a staircase. “Oh, there’s a staircase. Should I follow it?”
“Not yet Good Luck. Thief?”
“I see a staircase. Since I was on a floor above and…Whoa!” Thief Heart jumped back as a void creature came down from above. Thief Heart reached into his cloak and produced a knife. As the creature rushed at Thief he dodged and slashed at the creature.
“Good Luck, run upstairs and get the grappling hook ready.” Good Luck gripped the grappling hook and rushed up the steps, he soon heard the conflict and saw Thief having to dodge and being unable to counter.
“Ok…I think I get it…Aim…Fire!” Good Luck got the grappling hook around the void creature’s leg and pressed retract as the creature flew at him, Good Luck ducked as the creature hit the wall.
“My turn, let’s see what you’ve got!” Thief Heart reached toward the creature, as soon as he touched it, the creature exploded into dark particles and faded. The grappling hook dropped, having Good Luck retract it so it’d be rewound and ready.
“That’s weird, normally void creatures can’t disappear unless they have nothing keeping them intact. So why?” Noble heart mused as Mend Heart began to think. They finally snapped their finger and smirked.
“The Belly Badges must have been in them earlier, but now they are there to try and keep people away. Thief Heart, Good Luck, check the rooms on that floor!”
Good Luck and Thief began to kick open doors and glance before entering. As soon as they kicked open the 5th door, and the last on the side of the floor they were on, they saw a badge in the middle. It was a gold shooting star holding a red heart.
“That’s Oopsy’s badge! Well, Oopsy really doesn’t have one per say but…”
“It’s fine, Cheer. I’ll just grab it…”
“Wait Good Luck, take this.” Thief handed him an extra knife. “Now, get ready…” Thief threw a rock at the orb, before the rock could hit the orb, a void creature landed on the orb, merging it into their body and growing a pair of arm blades and roared.
“What the heck is that creature, Thief?!”
“Well Mend, I figured if Void Heart wants to protect the belly badges, he’d have a void creature watching it. Ready to pounce when someone goes for it. Now as for the arm blades, I’m guessing it’s a power up due to the belly badge?” Thief and Good Luck dodged the bum rush the creature did at them.
“Good Luck, use the knife to block the attack. If you can strike their leg to make them stumble we may have a chance.”
“Thief! You and Good Luck shouldn’t be trying to fight these creatures! I don’t have a plan for it yet.”
“Heh, you know me Mend. Throw caution to the wind and aim for the head!” Thief slammed his knife into the head and as the creature screeched Good Luck slashed the legs. Thief took the opportunity to use his ability and grab Oopsy’s badge. As he appeared on the other side, the creature screeched even louder before exploding. Good Luck sighed and looked outside before screaming.
“We’re in deep trouble!”
“Thief! There are TONS of those creatures rushing toward your location! Get out of there right now!” Tenderheart’s urgency in his voice as Thief smirked.
“No Thief, don’t even try it! Retreat now!”
“Oh don’t worry, Mend. Good Luck and I will be careful.” Thief handed Good Luck Oopsy’s badge and pushed him out the window, pressing the button on the glider.
“Wah! What the heck Thief?! I don’t know what I’m doing!”
“Get to the other side of the cliff, make the motorcycle appear and wait for me to arrive. I even turned your glider on for you.”
“Thief, get out of there! Using the Smoke bombs won’t stop them.”
“I’m going to try my skill. When I touched them they exploded before. If they have nothing to take they may continue to explode. I feel Void Heart would have them take their badge powers to try and stop us now. I’m risking a lot, but I promised to help.”
Tenderheart, Cheer, and Noble Heart all looked at one another, as Mend Heart sighed.
“Thief, you’re an absolute idiot. But you are my idiot and my friend. I’ll try to see if I can notice any that look different while you’re doing your maneuvers.”
“Much appreciated, Mend!” Thief Heart threw the smoke bombs as the creatures entered. Luckily, the glasses could see through the smoke which gave Thief and the tower more advantage. Thief used his ability making the void creatures without anything holding them together explode. As Thief used the smoke to find a vantage point, Mend was looking over the screen. Eventually they noticed one creature with spikes on it’s back.
“Thief Heart, near the right edge of your view, there’s a void creature with spikes on their back.”
“I see it, Mend. If the theory proves right that’s who I should aim for.”
“Look, be careful. If the theory is true and it has a badge, grab it and get out of there immediately OR SO HELP ME!” Thief cringed a bit at Mend Heart’s tone.
“Ok, Ok, I’ll be careful MOM.” Mend Heart’s eye twitched knowing Thief Heart was being sassy. Thief Heart rushed quickly through the other creatures before rushing at the special one. Before he could react it rolled into a ball and smacked Thief Heart into the wall and rushed at him. Thief Heart used the wind-up time to focus and dodge before slashing with his knife and slamming his hand into the creature. He saw an orb with a smiling sun and grabbed it, popping out of the creature as it roared and exploded. Thief Heart rushed into one of the empty rooms and rushed for the window before seeing Void Heart drop down, the door closing.
“You seem to be trying to cause trouble, you thief.”
“Heh, well my name is Thief Heart. You going to try to get my badge, Void Butt?” Thief dodged the tail strike and rushed forward sliding under Void Heart who swiped at him.
“You insolent creature!”
“Let it be known that Thief Heart has won once again!” Thief Heart fell out of the window and activated his glider flying up past the window and holding Funshine’s badge close to keep it safe. As Thief Heart looked at the castle, it began to spin, each floor moving and spinning around. He flew over to Good Luck and landed near him.
“Hey Mend…We got any idea what’s going on now?”
“First, you are SO LUCKY you didn’t get hit by Void Heart. Second we’re keeping a timer going on the castle, we’re watching it from the telescope at the tower. You two get back here now. Funshine and Oopsy will be waiting outside the tower since Noble went to deliver the message. Finally, if you EVER do something stupid like that again, Thief Heart, If you ever WORRY me…”
“Sorry Mend. I know I should have been more cautious especially with Void Heart. I’ll listen to your plans and orders more closely.” Thief put Funshine and Oopsy’s badge orbs in the trunk and closed it, locking it for extra safety as he and Good Luck activated the glasses to turn to helmets and got on the motorcycle, heading back to Care-A-Lot. As they rode in and came to a stop, they saw Oopsy and Funshine turn to them with Noble Heart next to them. Thief Heart stepped off as Good Luck jumped off, taking the glasses off as Thief unlocked the trunk.
“Oopsy, come here bud.” Oopsy rushed over, before tripping over himself and landing onto Good Luck, eliciting some chuckling from the others.
“Oopsie, sorry Good Luck.” Oopsy got off and stood up as Good Luck got up and handed Oopsy his badge.
“You’re good, bro. Just hold it toward your belly.” Oopsy nodded and followed instructions, getting his light green color back and releasing another shockwave, making some more of Care-A-Lot return to it’s normal state, with at least one tree fully back to normal. Thief Heart grabs Funshine’s and taps the motorcycle’s button catching the chip and walks over.
“Hey, Funshine right? I retrieved your badge.”
“Thank you, Thief.” Funshine applied his badge making more area return, which Mend Heart noted on the marker board in the watch tower, adding the note and marking Funshine off the list along with Oopsy as they went back to watching the others out the window.
“Heh no problem, just dodged Void Heart’s attack.”
“Thief, we were all listening to the event. I get you wanted to prove yourself but you don’t have to risk your safety. Promise you’ll be more careful, for everyone’s sake?”
“Yeah, you got it dude. I’ll make sure to be careful. Promise.” Funshine hugged Thief and poked his nose.
“There, promise sealed by a boop on your nose.” Funshine walked off as Noble walked over.
“Heh, seems you got my son’s acceptance. Let’s head upstairs. Pretty sure Mend will rip into you. Good Luck, Oopsy, you guys go rest. We’ll call if we need you.” Noble led Thief upstairs. Thief braced himself for whatever was to come next.
