They rerouted their journey and made their way to a nearby ocean. Holly pointed at the waters and said to ascend higher. Meta Knight did as she instructed and they found themselves in the clouds.
"Higher!" She commanded.
"If we go any higher we'll be going off of the planet though." Meta Knight reminded her.
"No, our Kingdom is higher! We won't be flying into space, I promise. Any damages I'll take responsibility for and will fix." She promised him.
So, he continued upwards and they found themselves in a foreign place.
"This is the Kingdom of Cards. It rests in the sky about the ocean that neighbours Cappy Town. This entire Kingdom sits in the sky and is unknown to many. Some people call it Wonderland due to the slight resemblance." She explained.
Gently, she made her way off of the battleship. Eagerly, she bounded up and down; she was so excited to show them her homelands.
Most of the maids were hesitant to abandon the ship. How could they be sure that this wasn't a trap? Only Ebony and Angelica followed alongside (Y/n).
Four armoured women approached Holly as she waited for everyone to follow her. One of the women drew a sword and pointed it at the others. "Miss Holly, who are these foreigners and what business do you have with them?"
Giving a snicker, Holly explained how they were the rumoured heroes who were destined to slay Nightmare for good. The brunette-haired Knight lowered her sword in realization and bowed lowly,"My apologies, great heroes, please forgive me."
"Hope, you're always so quick to rush to formalities." Holly sniggered, rolling her turquoise eyes.
"Ahem, it's Spades Knight. You don't use my name unless we're hanging out." She scolded.
"Knock it off, Spades. We've much to discuss and we don't have time for this."
Holly scolded back,"We have important visitors and you need to be on your best behaviour so long as you are around them, capishe?"
With a heavy sigh, "Capishé." was what Hope reluctantly replied with.
The princess turned back around to her guests. Their only interest was the small group of new faces that introduced them.
"Who are they?" (Y/n) asked her.
"Yeah, same could be said for you too." The ginger haired Knight shot back.
"Alright, these are my knights, Diamond Knight, Spades Knight, Hearts Knight and Clubs Knight. The one with blonde hair is Diamond, the one with brown hair is Spades, the one with ginger hair is Hearts and the one with black hair is Clubs."
Each Knight had her emblem on her left pauldron.
"And, who would these be?" Spades asked yet again.
"They're the heroes I've been on about for the past six months. If I'm not wrong, then their names should be (Y/n), Meta Knight, Ebony and Angelica." Diamonds butted in, earning an astounded look from them.
"Yes, they're our names but how did you know that?" Meta Knight inquired.
"I'm known as an oracle here, all knowing and all seeing. Not only am I able to predict the future but I can read destiny itself." She proudly told him.
The princess stood tapping her foot impatiently. It was a matter of time before the others even noticed. When they finally did, they silenced at once.
Once everyone was silent, she spread her grand wings and flew towards the castle.
It exterior was extremely grand. A huge water fountain stood before it, with a statue of the Queen on it. The castle had two sets of staircases which bent around a tall sakura tree that stood on a patch of grass.
The inside of the castle was fancy as could be. Huge glass chandeliers hung from the roof, the walls were filled with paintings of the dogs the family owned, the marble floors were coated with silken rugs, it was expensive alright.
They met with the Queen who was sat upon her throne. Her blonde hair reached her shoulders, similar to Faye's. Both of her irises looked like pools of milk chocolate glistening in the morning sun. That day she was wearing a rose gold dress that reached her ankles. On her feet she had white ballet flats with faux pink roses. Around her neck was a silver pendant with a heart locket.
Her daughter brought the travelers before her.
"Holly, why did you bring a gathering of strangers to me?" She asked.
Even her daughter gave a small curtsey before her,"Well, these are the heroes that Destiny was on about."
For a second, she was wordless. These were the heroes destined to defeat the beastly enemy whom had been terrorising their lands for so long? She held back a sigh of disappointment.
"Aww, don't be so down before you get to know them..they are pretty powerful.."
"Not powerful enough! The heroes who'll slay Nightmare will have to be able to at least put a scratch on you first!" She roared, louder than she had anticipated. "You are right, we do need to see their power before we judge them."
Holly smiled with satisfaction and clicked her fingers. They were taken to the advanced combat room, a room that was split in two and had a rather insufferable temperature. Only two rocky platforms stood, beneath them was bubbling lava. Steam filled the air and hurt (Y/n)'s eyes.
The Queen commanded her daughter to fight them, to which she hesitantly agreed with.
Ebony and Angelica backed down from the fight, arguing that they had no power nor weaponry to fight with. Holly tossed them a rusted cutlass and gave a smile.
They almost freaked out when they saw her six tails emerge from under her skirt. Each tail had a red diamond at the end of it and her eyes were now an emerald green.
She spread her phoenix wings and made her orangey-red horns viable.
With a sinister smile, she flapped her wings and spread her arms.
"Let the fight begin."