Twisted-Wonderland: Heart of the Night

Episode 3-27: Singing Some Praise!

"It's closed?!", everyone.

"Are you kidding?  What awful timing.", Jack.  "Is that why the Leech brothers haven't harassed us at all today?  Because they knew?", Deuce.  "I dunno about that.", Ace.  "I agree with Ace.", Kalin.

*(!) They definitely know about it, but I'm pretty sure there still keeping a look out for us just to be safe. (!)*

"Are we really turning tail and going back empty-handed after coming all this way?", Jack.  "Hold up!  I've got an idea.", Ace.

"Mragh!  Guess I shouldn't be surprised that merfolk society would have merfolk security guards.", Grim.  "I mean, duh?", Deuce.  "Okay.  I'm gonna distract the guard.  In the meantime, you guys sneak in behind him and borrow the photo.", Ace.  "Are you sure you can handle this by yourself?", Jack.  "You're honest to a fault, and Deuce would give himself away within minutes.  Not to mention, Kalin has no clue how things are in this world, so she couldn't keep up anyway.  Don't worry.  I got this.", Ace.

*(!) I really wanted to prove him wrong.  ...But he was right. (!)*

"Awww, MAN!  For realsies?!", Ace.  "Hm?  Is something the matter?", Mermaid Guard A.  "Is the museum really closed today?  I can't believe this.  I was super pumped for this visit...", Ace.  "Why, that's an odd tailfin you've got.  Are you a land-dweller?  Did you come all the way here by yourself?", Mermaid Guard A.  "Yes, sir!  I've always admired merfolk society, ever since I was a kid.  I scrimped and saved, got myself a magic potion, and now I've finally made it here!  Duuude, a real live merman!  This is SO COOL!  Can I touch your fins?  Can I have your autograph?!", Ace.  "U-um, sure?  Would you like to see my dorsal fin, too?", Mermaid Guard A.

"That guy can lie like nobody's business.  He ain't even battin' an eye!", Grim.  "This is no surprise.", Kalin.  "The guard's totally distracted.  Let's move!", Deuce.

We finally made it in unnoticed.

"This is the place Azul mentioned, right?  Here's a photo commemorating the visit of Horatio XII, court musician...  Here's one of a fourth princess...  There sure are a lot of these.  I can see why he said nobody would notice if we borrowed one.", Jack.  

I look to where Jack was looking to see if I could find it in the collage of photos.

"Where's that commemorative photo of Prince Rielle from ten years ago...?  Ah, here we go.  This is it, right?  "A visit from Prince Rielle and his schoolmates..."  Looks like a photo of an elementary school field trip.", Deuce.

"There's a bunch of tiny merfolk in this pic.", Grim.  I take a closer look as well.

"Of all the pictures here, why would he ask for this one specifically?", Jack.  

*(!) This kept bugging me as well... No matter how much I look, I can't figure out a reason as to why. (!)*

"I couldn't say...  But once we bring it back, I can say goodbye to this sea anemone on my head!  Just grab it and let's go already.", Deuce.

Since they all look to me, I went up and carefully pulled it out of its position on the board.

*Clatter*

"Huh.  It's not even rigged with an alarm.  I guess it really is just a commemorative photo.  This is kinda underwhelming.", Jack.

"Hm?  HEY!  What are you doing here?!", Mermaid Guard B.

*(!) Way to jinx it, Jack! (!)*

"Myah?!  Uh-oh.  It's a guard!", Grim.  "I don't like this one bit, but I've got no choice.  Sorry, buddy.  You need to take a little nap!", Jack.

When he says that, the merman guard and another shows up ready and armed with their polearm spears.

This is where I'm a little nervous, because when we were fighting against the Leech brothers, fighting against other merman might be the same ordeal.  But here goes...

"Grim, go in with your cosmic magic!  Jack, use your wind magic!", Kalin.

"Right/ Yeah.", Jack and Grim.

Grim made the first move with cosmic magic, and the merman he went against responded with the same magic.  Against the other merman, Jack used two wind magic attacks.  The merman wasn't effective as he used water magic.

"Grim, same tactic as before but with wind magic!  Deuce, your up and use cosmic!  Jack, back up Deuce just in case!", Kalin.

Both Deuce and Grim went upfront and Jack stayed in front of me on standby and incase a merman comes by to me.  This time they went up against one of the merman.  Deuce was up first, and the merman used his water magic, making him step back a little from the force.  Deuce got up quick and used his cosmic magic when he regained his stance.  Grim was next and the merman used his water magic again, but it wasn't as effective as Grim used wind magic after him.

"Grim, Jack, finish them off!", Kalin.

Grim went head-on first, using his final wind magic against one of the merman.  Even with their water magic combined, with Jack's water magic to back Grim up, both managed to knock both merman out with wind and water.

Seeing them knock out on the floor, we took our chance to make a break for it.