Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

Moving On

Kipo watched the little screen with baited breath, and when the newcomer merperson finally dropped the flowers in the boat, she breathed a sigh of relief. The screen went dark.

"...It worked," Kipo whispered, relieved. Gale gave her a look.

"Don't tell me that was actually your plan," he huffed. "You got incredibly lucky here. Next time won't be so easy, you know."

"Huh," was all Kipo said in reply. Yeah, he was probably right. Her idea fell apart on the second term. If not for the whale providing a threat, and her using the eagle to her advantage (to Gale's chagrin. He had tried to argue with her, that the eagle was meant to 'carry an opponent away from the battlefield', but Kipo had argued right back that there was no reason she couldn't use the eagle like this. Eventually, thankfully, Gale gave in, grumbling), then they probably wouldn't have won.

Kipo frowned. She'd have to be more careful in the future. Still...

"They're safe now, right?" Kipo asked, leaning forward. Gale sniffed.

"Safe enough. The battle is over now; they don't need for you to hold their hand to get them back to land, do they?"

Kipo rolled her eyes, but she didn't push it anymore.

"Who are you going to next?" Gale questioned her, and before them, the screen lit up again. Now, the soft light was split into three sections, one showing Kris and Mabel, another Kai, Mira and Tulip, and the last Fei Fei and Anne. Kipo blinked down at it as she thought. All this... was messing with her head.

She was up here to protect her real life friends from real life danger, but the way Gale was presenting it, it seemed like a tabletop board game. A common theme with Gale, it seemed.

"In the end, it doesn't really matter, does it?" Kipo spoke, but Gale didn't answer. Not like it was really a question. "I'll help Fei Fei and Anne. Where are they going, again?"

Gale suddenly seemed smug. "Oh, don't worry. It's a place you know very well."

The screen changed, going black before it once again lit up, showing Anne and Fei Fei standing side by side, looking up at something. Kipo's eyes widened.

"...Huh."

"...Huh."

Both Anne and Fei Fei had the same look on their faces, but they wouldn't know, because they never looked at each other. Instead, their eyes were fixed on the unfathomable colossal things before them.

"I..." Anne gulped, and then tried again. "Uh... wow."

"These... they must go up to outer space," Fei Fei decided. There was no way they didn't at least graze the edge of the atmosphere. She raised a hand, pressing it against the trunk of a tree. It was real, very much so. "Amazing."

Something pink tired to reach out and grab her, but Fei Fei quickly snatched her hand back. She blinked. She hadn't even noticed the pink fog swirling around the forest, swirling in and out between every tree, like a sea of sparkling pink.

Anne didn't seem to have noticed.

"This place is amazing," she said, and Fei Fei grimaced in disagreement. Finally, Anne tore her eyes from the trees, shaking her head in disbelief. She didn't look up again after that, because every time she did, it seemed surprise her even more. She always seemed to forget just how big these things were. "How, you don't think these flowers are going to be super tall, too, right?"

Fei Fei frowned; she hadn't even considered that. "I... don't know."

"They better be," Anne grumbled, and for the first time, she saw the fog. "Oh, hey, what's that?"