pullsneedles | (no subject)

(no subject)

Lucas is grateful when he opens his door to an empty hallway. He'll be happier once he finds Boney but just being alive is great for now.

It doesn't take long, however, for him to pick up his dog's thoughts in a nearby staircase.

"Coast is clear, boy," he calls, still adjusting to the sound once again coming through a Pigmask helmet.

Boney comes down the stairs, his yellow Pigmask helmet looking particularly ridiculous on him. But boy is he glad to see Lucas, especially since he has company.

"We're s'pposed to be looking for some monkeys, or at least that's our story if any Pigmasks ask. They're hidin' somewhere in this lab and prob'ly eager for a way out. And keep a lookout for..."

He winces under his mask as he thinks about the Ultimate Chimera.

"...well, you'll know it when y'see it."

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"Always," Dinah says cheerfully, tapping her fingers to her forehead in the smallest indication of a salute. "I'll be here for him."

She wraps her arms around the warm Lucas and hugs him tightly. "You were amazing."

Lucas hugs back, though he does turn his head to watch Doria in her final moments.

"I'm about to disappear youthfully and beautifully..." the Magypsy says. "Think about me sometimes, okay? ♥ "

"'course we will," Lucas says.

"I leave the rest in your hands now. ♥ "

And with a final flip of her hair, Doria fades completely.

"Bye now! ♥ La la la! ♥ "

Dinah turns to watch as well, a hand still on Lucas' shoulder.

"So now what?"

"Well, there're five more Needles t'find," Lucas says.

"And we gotta find Duster and the Egg of Light," Kumatora adds, picking up Doria's last worldly belongings: a lipstick and a razor.

Boney barks while Salsa and Samba look down in the pond.

"But I dunno where t'start," the boy says.

Boney barks again, thinking, "(I can try to find his scent.)"

"You could..." Dinah starts, then she glances over at the dog.

"Did he just say something to you?"

"Oh, yeah..." Lucas says sheepishly. "It's kinda part of the PSI. I can understand animals."

He then points to Kumatora.

"She knows PSI, too. She's the one that first helped Salsa and found out about Samba."

"Oh, is that Love Monkey's name?" Kumatora says. "I just knew she was Salsa's girlfriend. Stupid Pigmask Army had her caged up and was making Salsa do their work."

Dinah's face drops.

"That's horrible," she says.

Kumatora thumbs at her nose.

"Yeah, but that nasty ol' Fassad doing it got his comeuppance. Slipped on his own banana peel and fell off the Thunder Tower."

"That's how we all got split up," Lucas says. "He was trying to get us to stay on Thunder Tower while it was being destroyed. After he fell, we grabbed hold of his airship. But we all ended up falling off in different spots. Boney and I ended up in a sunflower field near Tazmily."

"And Doria found me," Kumatora says. "But we knew Lucas was gonna show up 'cause I had a dream where a pretty woman in a red dress told me you were all right."

"You had a dream, too?" the boy asks. "Grandpa told me he had a dream where Mom told him to pile up a bunch of hay. Once he finished, Boney and I fell in it."

"When you fell out of the airship?" Dinah asks.

"That's some Mom you've got there, Lucas."

Lucas nods, smiling a little.

"I wonder if she came to Duster, too," Kumatora says thoughtfully.

"Maybe..." Lucas wonders. "Or maybe his Mom would come to him."

Kumatora nods and then quirks her lips a little in thought.

"Y'know, I just realized none of us have our Moms with us anymore," she states.

"You don't, Kumatora?" the boy asks.

"Nah. The Magypsies have raised me since I was a little squirt."

There's a pause after that admission. Then Lucas goes to give Kumatora another hug.

Dinah says nothing, but she does make a mental note to hug her Mom as hard as possible when she gets home.

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