Wonderland Raid: Prison Keeper

“Ugh! This is the pits, nyah! We couldn't have been called over to, oh I don't know, the HUGE castle in the other direction?” A rather ruffled neko called out, swatting away an oversized leaf that happened to be in her way with equally oversized claws. This trek through the forest was beginning to be exactly the opposite of what Hope was promised. And that, was exciting, eventful, death-defying even. So far, it was just a boring walk through Wonderland. Which, now that she thought about it, was strange in and of itself. Since when was Wonderland boring?

“Oh, can it, Hope. Let’s just… hope that the world’s residents were just a little more looney than they seemed when we get that request.” Serenity sighed. As much as she enjoyed the outdoors, the werewolf could do without the suspense. It was their mother’s request that they came to Wonderland. There were disturbances on The World That Never Was, but that was already being… taken care of. It still amazed Serenity that there were such people in the world like that green-haired, battle crazy… girl? Woman? Whatever. That wasn’t the point. What was the point, was that Faith had called for help, and they answered to that call. But thanks to that, they were wandering around, seemingly lost. “You don’t think that mom would-”

“Send us out into the middle of nowhere for one of her pranks, desu?” Felicity said with her trademark smile, the last of the group finally spoke up. She had forewent the human appearance. Slime green better suited her anyways. “It’s possible, but I believe in this instance, it’s unlikely. She appeared more serious this time, desu. If that woman is even capable of such a thing.” She'd get a chuckle from one sister and a sigh from the other. Turning her eyes off to the side, Felicity could feel it thickening around her. Whether her sisters were aware of it or not, they were getting closer. Whatever it was that had the people of this world on edge, they were right to fear it. “Regardless, we need to make sure our search is thorough, and that we don’t let our guard down, desu.”

“Right!~ Or the beastie would take us, too, nyah!”

“Don’t even, Hope. I don't want to even think about being some beast’s… lunch…” Serenity’s words trailed off as Hope swiped away a leaf. What she saw behind it, she wished she hadn’t. The so-called beast, was a heartless, and one of mammoth proportions. They were expected to beat that? One look to Felicity said it all. That was their target.

With a simple command, Hope and Serenity scattered into the shadows granted by Lotus Forest’s thick foliage, waiting until the slime woman had created an opening for them. Felicity stepped forward, closer to the Prison Keeper, and grinned wide. “Show time, desu.”

A grimace appeared on the slime’s face at the sight of the mass of bodies crammed inside the Heartless’ cage of a stomach. Not just her, either. Felicity’s sisters were thinking the same thing. This thing had to be put down - and quickly. The screeching stung the sensitive ears of the neko and the werewolf, but they kept their positions in silence. As for Felicity, she simply grinned and charged forward as the monstrosity made its way towards her.. “You can’t take what you can’t hold, desu.” Her body shifted to that of an amorphous blob that rolled across the ground towards the Prison Keeper.

The intentions it had were clear. Capture. Consume. Kill. This was made especially clear as it swiped a clawed hand at her. Though, rather than catch her in its skeletal grasp, it swiped through her gelatinous body. Bits of slime would be left on the Prison Keeper, to which Felicity willed it to seep into its mechanical joints and become dense. She wanted to make moving difficult for it, one joint at a time. The slime woman targeted each of its joints. In both hands and wrists, its arms, shoulders and finally, its jaw. Immobilization was key to taking such a foe down.

From the shadows of the forest, Hope and Serenity waited, anxious and ready. They watched the events unfold, and waited to see if their sister’s method had succeeded before they even thought of rushing in. Felicity made it clear during training that they weren’t to act without being completely sure of the situation.

The screeching in their ears was nearly unbearable to their sensitive hearing. Hope, much like her sister, had clasped her hands over her ears and winced. Though their eyes widened in horror when the Prison Keeper snatched up the cage that dangled beneath it and tipped it upwards. Watching as the rabbit-eared woman tumbled out of the packed cage and into the open maw of the heartless, Serenity nearly lost the contents of her stomach at the rabbit foot was lobbed off.

The Prison Keeper’s eyes glowed, and a chilling breeze whisked past them. Felicity didn’t like the fact that the beast was trying to tamper with the density of her slime. She refused to let it control her, and so when it appeared as though her attempt at immobilization was a failure, the slime woman moved on to Plan B. Moving a partial amount of her slime from the joints to the serrated edges that formed its teeth, Felicity aimed to gum them up with a stick slime. From there, she reconstructed herself near the cage. Reaching out a hand, the bars that formed the cage’s door was grasped tightly as Felicity aimed to wrench it open.

This was stalled by the fact that the damned thing kept moving around. Being lift into the air, ice spewed from its fingers and rained down upon the ground. Being that the slime woman was attached to the Prison Keeper itself, she didn’t expect it to cause itself harm. Her sisters, however, were a different manner.

Still hidden within the shadows of the forest, they had to move from the ground to the canopy - and quickly. The ice made quick work of the forest’s floor. While it was amusing to see bambi sliding helplessly across that same ice, there were pressing issues at hand.

“Hope, Serenity.”

Felicity managed to grip the cage’s door, but rather than opening it like a retard and exposing innocents to further danger, she guarded it, sealing it so that it wouldn’t be easy to open. The slime woman was sure that the people would rather they be uncomfortably squished than eaten alive. Slowly, her slime began to multiply and coat the people trapped within. She wasn’t adept at healing, so the effect she had on their wounds was cooling, soothing at best.

Upon hearing their sister call out to them, it seemed as though it was their time to shine. Hope was the first to leap out, jumping high into the air. Going into a freefall with her arms outstretched, a thick darkness sphered around them, becoming darker than night and blinding those within it. Any ice that would have came her way was swiped through with claws stronger than steel. The neko would have landed on the Prison Keeper’s head and then pushed off, launching herself into the air once again and back into the darkness.

While her sight was limited, Serenity wasn’t completely helpless. She had managed a partial transformation of her hands and feet into that of a werewolf. Fueled by rage, the woman charged at the heartless in the dark.

“Jab. Left hook. Jump 3 meters. Right elbow. Bounce left.”

From the dark, Hope would instruct the enraged werewolf as she was completely capable of seeing in the dark. Her position would be ever changing, as to not get caught, but her directions were on point. Help Serenity make contact with the heartless and bring it down. That’s all that mattered.

As cruel as it sounded, their mission was not to save the innocents that were kidnapped, but to dispose of the heartless that was tormenting the world. It’s defeat was their primary concern. If they could be saved, it would be a pleasant bonus, but with how things were looking that didn’t seem to be an option. If their bodies weren’t already irreparably damaged from being stuffed beyond capacity, then the cold would definitely do them in. It was a harsh fact that both Hope and Serenity had to swallow down, despite their strong desires to save those poor people. Letting them die might save the three of them further issues down the road. With no more hearts to consume, the heartless would have nothing more to draw strength from.

Thankfully, the Prison Keeper was, for the time, prevented from consuming any more hearts, though it didn’t seem to like the fact. Showing as much by emitting an ear-shattering screech, both the more beastial sisters flinched. Wanting nothing more than to slap their paws over their ears, Serenity seemed better trained than her feline sibling who gave in to her desires.

“Nyaaah!~ Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Hope cried out, shaking her head with paws over her ears.

The darkness surrounding them flickered as her focus wavered. Something that Felicity and Serenity had noticed. Grunting though the ringing in her ears, Serenity’s eyes became more accustomed to the fading darkness, she was in time to see the frigid aura forming. Not only was the Prison Keeper taking aim at the mostly defenseless Felicity, but a distracted Hope who was still hiding the the trees. The cold stretched across the area, and ice raced its way towards her. As the darkness further dissipated, Serenity was able to see it, as well as the many dents that she had managed to place in the Prison Keeper’s body. Good. It wasn’t invincible. The only question that remained, was how many dents could the mechanical heartless take before it became inoperable.

Serenity attempted to dodge out of the way, but the lingering nausea from the earlier screech left the werewolf a little slow to react. She managed to move out of the way of the business of the ice, but from her calf down on one of her legs she was encased in ice. Screaming out, and her anxiety quickly rising, Serenity struggled against the ice that held her.

“Hope! Focus!” Felicity’s testy voice called out. Her patience was wearing thin as her liquid body was having a hard time against the frigid temperatures. She managed to maintain her hold on the cage’s door, but her slime body was growing thicker.

Focus. Right. Shaking her head out, the neko dashed out from the shadow of the foliage. Her ears were still ringing, but her discomfort wasn’t the important thing right now. In her run from one end of the clearing to the other, Hope clawed at the ice. Repeating the process several times over, darting from one side to the other in bursts, the feline was attempting to minimize her presence on the field as to not become a target, while still being a distraction. With every pass, Hope clawed at the ice that bound her sister. With Serenity’s assistance, it was soon shattered, and the werewolf was free.

Though her body was slowly freezing over as she clung to that cage, Felicity had little fear. Even should her slimy body shatter, she would be alright once it thawed. To her displeasure, however, it seemed as though the heartless had other plans. Reaching through the bars of the cage for a boy small enough to fit in through the gaps, the Prison Keeper had claimed another victim.

Hope and Serenity diverted their eyes as the heartless consumed him, but were soon looking back as the screams rang in their ears. Heat was swelling up throughout the area, and they began to sweat. Felicity held on as long as she could, but when the metal that the heartless was composed of heated up, she was no longer able to hold on, her liquid body beginning to boil. Releasing the cage and dropping to the ground, she’d quickly pick herself up and take on a more solid, human form to prevent herself from evaporating completely.

Seeing a ball of fire forming in its claw like hand, the three were expecting and prepared for the hit, only for it to bypass them completely. Hope was dashing out from the safety of the forest, and towards her sisters. The flames spread, surrounding them in a ring of destruction that consumed the beautiful Wonderland forest. Hope had a visible twitch to her eye, and both her sister’s had noticed.

In the shimmering mirage left by the heat, two shadows on the Prison Keeper appeared, shuffling in with the original. All three raised their hands to begin gathering flames within them, preparing for another attack.

“Focus, Hope!” Serenity had called out, receiving no response. She’d beat her fists together and pound one into the ground. A towering wall of earth rumbled up and out, forming a semi-protective shield from the fire. She then turned to Felicity, who nodded in silent understanding.

Walking up to the neko, Hope got a swift smack across the cheek and a trademark smile. Hope would gasp with wide eyes. “Want to make it suffer, desu?~” Felicity would ask, receiving a nod in response. “Then let’s make it suffer.”

Grinning, Serenity would then turn to the flames that surrounded them and began to breath them in, absorbing the very element. She’d turn that energy into something she exuded. Both Felicity and Hope began to soak in that same energy, and their bodies burst with energy. Felicity began to damped the ground surrounding them, not able to do much more in the slowly declining heat as everything evaporated too quickly.

Hope, on the other hand, began to crackle. Bright flashes of electricity charged her body, and a grin appeared on her lips. “Let’s do this.”

Serenity continuously absorbed the blaze, fueling her sisters’ pools of energy. In doing so, she was immobilized. Felicity would bend the steam that formed into a thick fog that remained within the fiery ring, further condensing it into near cloud like consistency and further fueling it with the energy she received from the werewolf.

Inside those clouds, flashes of light would be seen. Dashing through the fog, Hope used the scent of blood, and the sound of screaming to guide her towards her target. “Forgive me…” She prayed to the people still trapped inside their prison, a solemn expression on her features. She gathered her energy, took aim, and released an intense burst of electricity at the Prison Keeper, using its metal frame as a lightning rod of sorts.

With things beginning to take on a more positive light, the trio was starting to have more confidence in their victory. The fight went on for some time longer, with that confidence growing more and more. That was, until an unexpected turn of events had transpired. All around them, inky corridors were opening. Heartless were pouring out in an incalculable number. In the distance, they could hear the screams of the unfortunate. The rumble of danger, the tremble of fear, and the unmistakable roar of something to be avoided at all costs.

“Ellie…” Hope’s voice faltered into one of meekness, her ears falling flat against the top of her head. Her instincts told her to run fast and far. Whatever was emerging from the depths of darkness left her with an uneasiness.

Serenity turned her green orbs over to the slime as well, gritting her teeth. She didn’t want to admit it, but she felt much the same as her feline sister. The hairs at the back of her neck stood on edge, and an intense shiver ran down her spine. All around them, the heartless swarm was growing, and would soon be upon them.

“Retreat.”

“What?”

“We’re getting the fuck out of here, desu.” Felicity snapped. The fact that she was unable to finish what she had set out to do irritated her, but if they were to safely make it home, then this was the necessary course of action. And being that Felicity promised to look after and protect her sisters, this was when she needed to do. They would have to apologize to their mother later on for not being able to complete her task. Grouping together, the three were soon teleported away due to Hope’s canny ability for the act. In the flash of an eye, there were home on the World That Never Was, witnessing a moment of regret and sadness. Two stars vanished from the night sky, two worlds swallowed up by the darkness.

“This isn’t over, desu. We will help mother recover Wonderland somehow. We’ll find a way. It’s the least we can do, desu.”

“Nyeah. I’ll really miss it, though…”

“Farewell, but not goodbye.”