Homecoming - Part 2

Kou trekked up the stairs, stopping in front of the palace's giant door. He could see the golden and orange lights adorning the dining room, raying their shines through the glassy windows.

"Turns out this place didn't change much. That gives me flashbacks of the first time we came here. Now just to meet up with everyone." He prepared to make the first step, but a feminine, silvery voice tingled behind him.

"Kou! Hiya!" Yumiko raced after him, waving her arm and greeting him with an amiable smile, Ralphie jogging behind her.

Only one glance at his two companions he hadn't seen for two years sparked a smile on his face. "Ralph! Yumi! Heyyy!" Waving back at them, he suddenly noticed Yumiko clutching him, embracing him, impatiently pressing his face into her chest, "Kou! It's been too long! Look at how much you've grown up!" She hopped on her feet, bouncing Kou with her, "Looks like you've grown up too! But give me a breather! You're gonna suffocate me!" He could hardly breathe with his face trapped between her bosoms.

Ralphie rocketed after them, "Yumiko-cupcake! Embrace me too!" His nose sprayed blood as his body skated on the white snow and colored it crimson, colliding into the palace's wall.

-

After reuniting, they opened the palace door, entering the broad and large dining room, "Let's hope the others are here." Yumiko stated, looking through the crowd and spotting Kyora in the distance, "Look! It's-!" Ralphie interrupted her as he dashed before her, shrouded by pink hearts, "Is that a goddess?!" He noticed Kyora's monumental transformation in her appearance and couldn't hold it in, "Kyora-princess!" He raced with open arms, attracting everyone's attention, while the blood rapidly sprayed from his nose.

Kyora braced a fist, and instantly, a loud pounding noise resounded through the dining room, and Ralphie got beaten through the palace's ceiling into the greyed-out sky, "Her fist is like the beating heart of never-ending passion!" His voice faded more the further he flew.

Who could know how far his journey took him?

Kou and Yumiko watched the scene unfurl before their stares in disbelief. "She's gotten stronger, and our "perfect" cook hasn't changed. Good to know." Kou commented, Yumiko adding to his words, "Who's gonna fix the ceiling?"

Kyora waved at them from the table, "Kou! Yumiko!! Come over here! Alina's preparing a feast and should be ready when everyone comes!" They approached the table, "A free meal? That sounds great. Let's hope we don't see something red in the grub." Kou answered, concluding the sentence, sitting on the chair, and joining the conversation.

"Great to see you, Kyora!! You look so different! I like your unique, new style! Where'd you get those clothes?" Yumiko appeared inquisitive and stunned at what she saw. Kyora responded with a giggle, "Thank you! I wanted to impress everyone. After all, meeting with everyone for such a long time is amusing. Now, that said, you chose a new style of fashion, Yumiko. And Kou, you haven't grown, but you look like you're ready to kick some butt."

Kou's amusement vanished into thin air as he crossed his arms, "Thanks for the "compliment," I guess. Either way, were you the first one here, or did you meet anybody else on your way to the palace?"

Kyora had to deny Kou's inquiry, "No, sadly. I didn't encounter anyone else besides you three. And now, the only person missing is Tim, knowing that Ayuka, Chiaki, and the new crew member are all waiting in the east." Yumiko placed her elbow on the table, "Oh, I can't wait to see them and meet the new crew member! But didn't Ayuka receive some disorder that might discourage her from sailing with us?" Kyora and Kou were both mindful, but neither knew the answer, "It's been a while since it happened, but I can't tell. Hopefully, she can."

-

Timothy stood in the center of nowhere, battered by the snow that wobbled around him. He stared at the stony wall with a ticked-off face, to the point of his eyes losing pupils, "I don't want to be that guy who doesn't know where they are or the path they took, but... I don't know where I am and which path I took." His device on his shoulder glowed blue, and Phalris' voice conversed with him, "How could you have lost your way in the middle of a giant city and somehow ended up in the hub of the forest, someplace entirely else than the city?"

Timothy disputed with himself, "I wasn't here for two years, and the first structure I found was the "facility" I'd never been to before! And the snowstorm doesn't help the navigation either! Besides, you're here, so why don't you help me, the all-mighty goddess of water!" Phalris' body emerged in front of Timothy's viewpoint, and in the next instant, she bonked the top of his head, "Ow!" He quibbled, clutching his bump, "I may be the goddess, but I'm the goddess of the east, not the west! All I know about the west is that it has bizarre beasts in the ocean! But I have never been here in my entire life, while you have, so you should've had a better orientation than me!"

Timothy rolled his eyes, "Wow, for a goddess, you're really stupid." He ticked off Phalris, driving her to begin beating him up, his whines and arguments resonating through the woodlands.

"Okay! Okay! Calm down! I'll find my way back somehow!" Phalris finished, folding her arms, peering away, "Hmph. You're blessed I'm stuck like this, or you'd be penalized even more sinisterly."

-

Alina strode toward their table, seeing them chat, "The feast is ready. Should we begin or wait for your captain?" Yumiko clasped her wrist and glimpsed down at her wristwatch, "Two hours since we entered the palace, and he still didn't show up. Don't tell me he forgot about this meeting."

In those two hours, Ralphie assisted Alina and the cooks with the feast and managed to keep his manners on the right track, "I'm sure he didn't forget. He probably just got sidetracked or lost, as usual. Besides, Kyora-princess received his directives yesterday to meet at the palace. I'm sure he'll show up sooner or later."

And ultimately, Ralphie's remark came to actuality. The door burst open, and the cold wind drafts coursed into the dining room, displaying Timothy standing in the frame. "Right on cue," Ralphie commented, compelling Yumiko and Kou to leap onto their feet instantly, "Tim!" He grinned and witnessed his friends a few meters away, "Yo!" At the spoken word, Yumiko and Kou rushed in his direction, zipped at him, and tackled him to the ground, "Captain!"

The squad finally reunited.

To be continued...