Episode 3

The episode begins with Kellie waking up. She looks around and notices that Mars is laying on top of the bed, seemingly asleep. She sees his metal feet and wonders what he is wearing, she juggles some ideas in her head which only lead to more questions. Her eyes then avert to his Dimensional Backpack laying against his bed and after making sure Mars is still asleep she sneaks over to investigate. She grins thinking of what cool stuff could be in there, she remembers him putting his swords in the sheathes but after looking at them she makes a mental note that they wouldn’t fit, she looks down the holes on top of one of the sheathes and sees that it’s dark but clearly empty. She looks around wondering if he put the swords elsewhere. To no avail she can’t see them and goes back to investigating. She remembers his pistols popping out of his bag. She wonders why he keeps his pistols in a bag rather than a holster or sling. After looking at the top she then wonders how to open it and after no success on finding the intended way to open it, tries to pry it open. As Kellie attempts to open the bag, the Camera shifts to Mars awake looking at Kellie messing with his bag. His eyes faintly glow yellow and the bag pops open and her face of awe and anticipation switches to confusion as the camera goes to her perspective as she sees that it’s completely empty. She mentally makes a comment on how she swore he saw him put his pistols in the bag. She looks up, staring into the distance as the audience can hear her wonder if she ever saw him take his swords and pistols out of the bag. Mars interrupts her thought by asking “Did you drop something in there?” She is very startled and drops the bag on her foot, she yelps in pain and rolls the bag off her foot. Reeling in the pain, she apologizes for looking through his stuff. Mars says that it’s fine and after picking up the bag, looks inside as if checking to make sure everything is in order. Kellie, now confused, asks where his swords and guns went and Mars responds that they are in the bag. After a pause of silence with both parties staring with blank faces, Kellie responds that she didn’t see anything. Mars responds with “I don’t need to retrieve anything from it at the moment so it’s currently turned off.” Another moment of silence as both parties give a blank stare before Kellie shakes her head and asks what Mars meant about the bag not being on. Mars raises rather bag and the lid pops open as a pistol pops out. It’s strap reaches out and grabs Mars’ wrist. Mars then drops the pistol back in the bag. Kellie walks closer to look into the bag and looks in confusion as she now sees a black void at the bottom of the bag. Mars responds with that it is emitting a portal to some place. Kellie asks what kind of place and Mars responds with that he doesn’t know. Kellie returns to being confused and asks how he doesn’t know. Mars shrugs saying that he has never seen the other side of the portal, he can put all sorts of stuff in and later retrieve that stuff at will, it also appears to manufacture particular items and perform maintenance on particular items located inside, like his swords. He goes on that is all the backpack has done so far but he has never seen the other side although he guesses that it is some large automated machine. Kellie nods, partially understanding but satisfied with the answer and changes the subject to starting their trip. She excitedly reminds him that it’s time for them to go to the other town to meet up with the person Mars is going to meet and save her parents. Mars asks if she wants to eat something before leaving and Kellie declines saying that she is fine. After which her stomach audibly rumbles and her face shifts to an awkward weak grin. Mars says that they might as well eat since she won’t arrive until the afternoon. Kellie getting annoyed with waiting, gives a long sigh and says fine and requests that they eat quickly. Mars gets up and slings his backpack over his shoulder and it slaps to his back, sticking in place despite no straps visually seen. The camera looks at the hotel door as the two of them walk out of the hotel room with Kellie rushing Mars to hurry up. The scene jumps to them sitting at a table with Kellie eating a large tray of food and she asks why Mars isn’t eating. He responds that he isn’t hungry. Kellie gives him a weird look and shrugs to return to eating her food. She quickly finishes with food messily around her mouth and she shouts done and sprints out the building. Mars sighs and leaves some money and the camera stays at the table and watches him leaving the building shouting to Kellie if she even knows where she is going. After this the intro for story begins (for the first time in the series). The opening consist of the song of Core of Spark by Meiko Nakamura. After the intro, the scene goes to Kellie and Mars walking on a dirt path to the town where they are meeting Mars’ friend. It starts out silent by Kellie breaks the silence by asking Mars who they are meeting. Mars responds that she is a friend of his who is a traveling merchant who knows some magic. Kellie asks if she can do spells and stuff to which Mars affirms. Kellie then asks if he can do magic stuff to which Mars responds that he is seemingly devoid of magic. Kellie looks a bit disappointed and comments “So just basic Chromamancy then?” Mars shakes his head and says that he can’t do any magic whatsoever. Kellie gets confused with that answer and asks Mars who he is. Mars, slightly surprised with the question, thinks for a moment before answering that he is just a traveller. Kellie is unsatisfied with the broad answer and asks if Mars is in the military. Mars shakes his head and answers no. Kellie thinks for a moment before asking where he is from. Mars answers that he is from Pontevan. Kellie thinks for a moment before saying that she doesn’t know where that is, she pauses for a moment before saying that to be fair, she doesn’t know where most places are. Kellie then asks, “If you are a traveler, then where have you travelled to?” Mars answers that he has been to numerous cities in the Empire with addition to Metros, Kellie looks fascinated when he says this and starts to ask all sorts of questions and asking more before any of them can be answered but finally concludes with if he could take her there? Mars looks uncomfortable at the request and says that they can’t go since they are trying to rescue her parents. Kellie looks annoyed and stating that she knows and meant afterwards. Mars is a bit taken aback and concludes that they can talk about it when they get there, before Kellie can detest, he states that they are here. Kellie looks forward and realizes that the town is within sight. Kellie yells let’s go to Mars and runs towards town, the scene cuts off after Mars begins to run after her shouting that she needs to stop running ahead because she doesn’t know where they are going. The next scene is them wondering through town with Kellie talking about how she hasn’t been to this town in years and how much it has changed and grown. She then asks Mars where they are meeting his friend to which Mars responds that all she has given him is the name of the place and then after looking around for a bit, asks a local for assistance. The first local shrugs and after asking around a little bit, finally gets an answer. The final local says that’s a very old name which hasn’t been used in 20 years and points to the place Mars is looking for. Mars and Kellie walk over to the place, which appears to be a restaurant. They enter the restaurant and Mars looks around and says to Kellie there she is and points to a booth with Sophia sitting alone looking around in boredom. When she sees Mars, she lights up, smiles, and waves. They walk over and sit down. Sophia greets Mars saying that she hasn’t seen him in so long, she then asks who he is with. Mars introduces Kellie and Sophia with each other. Sophia asks why they are together, before letting Mars answer, she says “you two aren’t dating are you?”. Kellie, flustered and surprised, blushes and looks in shock while Mars firmly responds with no, and before he can continue, Sophia cuts him off with a sigh of relief and says that is a relief, saying that she was a bit on the young side and it would have been weird if they were. Kellie, still a bit flustered looks upset and shouts that she is 15 and is practically all grown up and that she could date anyone she wanted. Sophia ignores her entirely and then asks why she is tagging along. Mars responds that her village was attacked and that he rescued her but her parents were kidnapped and he promised to rescue them. Sophia says that’s horrible and then quickly mentions that she thinks the village attack is horrible, not the promise to rescue her parents and states that she thinks that is a very good thing of Mars to do. Mars, already exhausted from the conversation, just says thanks. Kellie then says that she heard that Sophia can use magic, to which Sophia lights up again and states that she very much can use magic, leaning in her booth seat coolly. Kellie, in awe, asks if she can show her some magic. Sophia is happy to have someone to show off to and does a magic show. She makes some colorful designs in the air and finishes with a little sprout growing between the floorboards. Kellie looks in awe until the pathetic sprout pops up and while dumb founded, asks if that is it. Sophia sighs and says that she can do much more but she has learned her lesson to ignore property damage. She frantically tries to hype Kellie up by saying that she can show her much cooler stuff when they get outside to unowned land. After that a waitress comes by and asks them if they are ready to order. Sophia orders first and after she is done the waitress looks over to Mars who says that he is fine. Kellie looks down and also says that she won’t have anything. Mars asks why she won’t have anything and Kellie mumbles that she doesn’t have any money and feels guilty leeching off of Mars. Mars says that he is fine with paying for her food, it’s his job to take care of her until they can reach her parents. Kellie says thanks and begins ordering. Mars cuts her off and tells her to not go over board though. Kellie nods and orders a simple lunch. The waitress leaves and after a moment Kellie realizes that Mars didn’t order anything again and asks why he hasn’t eaten the entire day. Before Mars can answer, Sophia interrupts saying that she hasn’t ever seen Mars eat and it kind of creeps her out. A moment of silence transpires as Mars and Kellie stare at Sophia blankly. Sophia nervously chuckles and says that she is joking and looks away to mumble not really. Mars turns back to Kellie and simply says that he just isn’t hungry. Mars then turns to Sophia annoyed and asks why she used the restaurants old name when she sent him the letter. Sophia responds how she has loved this restaurant and she's been numerous times and she often mixes up the name. She makes a silly face and Mars rolls his eyes. The waitress brings out their food and they begin eating. Before they can pay the check, Sophia looks at her watch and a shocked look appears on her face and she states that they are behind time and need to go. She tells Kellie to pack up and leave and soon after she bolts out. Kellie asks Mars if he saw her pay to which he shakes his head and says that she certainly didn’t. He puts his hand in his bag and pulls out the payment for the food and leaves it on the counter before getting up and leaving. Mars and Kellie are walking through town to where they are meeting up with Sophia again. Kellie says to Mars “didn’t you say she was a merchant?” Mars nods and says “She claims to be an exotic traveling merchant with artifacts and trinkets from throughout the land. However most of her wares are phonies that she made herself. Because of this her business is scarce and has made her a bit of a stickler for money, I don’t know when I’m not around, but when we travel together I consistently end up paying for every meal. Honestly I think she would be much more successful as a traveling circus with how much she likes to show off.” Once Mars finishes his jab, they arrive at the cart park which contains numerous vehicles laced around with people unloading and loading their vehicles. Sophia waves over to them from a single truck and shouts for them to hurry up. Mars asks if she was traveling alone to which Sophia responds that she disbanded her escort here since she doesn’t need any protection while he is here and winks. Mars, unfazed, asks if they could stop by the town he and Kellie needs to go to. Sophia nods before walking around to the hood of the truck and opens up the wood hopper and shouts “the hopper is full, she is loaded up, let’s go” and hops into the driver’s seat. Mars and Kellie follow and sit in the passenger seats behind Sophia. Sophia turns the key and the engine sputters to life. A plume of smoke launches out of the exhaust pipe and the truck drives off. They are driving on a dirt road through a forest when Sophia asks Mars if he found any new trinkets that he could give her. Mars shakes his head and says that he hasn’t. Sophia gets a little upset for a moment and then lights up with a mischievous grin. She slowly asks “you know, why don’t you give me one of those swords or pistols you have. You have two of each, you don’t need both of them.” Mars squints and comments how she asks this every single time they meet up. Sophia says that she knows and that she just wants him to know that the offer is always there. The camera jumps to a shady person in a tree watching the road. He notices Sophia’s truck driving past and looks ahead of them and lifts his hand up, putting his pointer, middle, and thumb together. Upon doing this a light shines from the tip of his fingers. The camera jumps back to inside the truck looking forward on the road when a bunch of men run out of the tree line, some carrying crossbows, other carrying tank traps. The men with crossbows form a line and aim at the trucks and the men with tank traps form a barrier in front of them. Sophia says that they got trouble. One of the men pull out a basic megaphone and shout for them to pay a toll to pass through, attempts to avoid taking the toll will be met with force. Sophia sighs and cracks the car door open. She shouts what the toll is. After they shout their price, she looks back to Mars and Kellie and sighs, saying that she doesn’t know why she asked when she wasn’t going to pay regardless. She quickly glances over at the line of men and looks back. She tells Mars and Kellie that she has a plan and for them to remain calm. Kellie nods and Sophia leans towards the open door again to speak. She loudly asks how she should give them the money, if she should throw it or if they should come up to her to get it. The negotiator cuts her off, shouting that throwing the money is fine, and upon inspection that they have received the correct amount, they will be free to go. Sophia shouts roger that and ducks back into the truck. The camera sits from the perspective behind the inspector and can see Sophia duck under the window. She sits back up and tosses a wallet in front of them. The negotiator notices the sound sounding off and seeds spilling out of the wallet. The camera switches to inside the truck looking at Sophia closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe while the negotiator shouts at them for trying to deceive them. The camera jumps to a low to ground angled up at the negotiator as the ground rumbles and tons of little vines shoots out of the wallet. They quickly begin spinning wildly and wrapping around the men, tangling them up. Large vines pull the tank traps towards the center and Sophia slams on the gas. The truck races past the tangled men and those free shoot in panic and miss. The camera shifts to the man in the tree from before creating a small blue sphere and gently points his hand forward. The blue sphere races forward, curving toward the truck leaving a slowly dissipating trail behind. The camera shifts to in front of the truck looking at it. A cartoon speech bubble appears above the truck with a simplistically drawn chibi Sophia with a hand in the air for victory, saying “take that losers!” before laughing. During this the magic blue sphere thing swerves into the road next to the truck and explodes, shaking the truck. Chibi Sophia grabs the steering wheel and says “son of a-“ before the tires screeching censors the last word. The speech bubble disappears as the camera switches to the side of the road as the truck brakes to a stop. Kellie asks why they stopped, Sophia responds “Did you not hear the explosion!” “(Kellie) Well I would imagine that would make you want to leave faster, not stop so that they can catch up.” “(Sophia) The only way that they could have caused that was with some sort of spell and if they can do that then they could certainly land a few more hits before we could get out of range, and I don’t want to risk losing merchandise.” Sophia steps out of the truck and faces back where they came when the man can be seen calmly walking towards them with another sphere suspended in his hand. The caster says “That was a neat trick you pulled on my friends back there, and I gotta say that I am impressed. However you will need a little more than a little trick to get past me.” “(Sophia groans in frustration) Why do you have to rob us, why can’t you guys just get a legal job somewhere. Hell, your a caster, why don’t you join the military or something” “(Stranger) Eh, law enforcement is pathetic around these parts so pirating is easy. And joining the military is signing up for a whole bunch of obligations and restrictions on freedom.” After a moment of silence, the caster asks “So are you going to hand over the money or-“ but suddenly cuts off with a startled look before frantically swiping upward at the air, causing a bunch of dirt and dust to bounce into the air. Immediately after, the dust cloud is barraged from tiny pink little projectiles with explode and pop causing a large smokescreen. The dust settles to reveal the stranger unharmed although visibly panicked. He quickly regains composure and says “I guess that answers the question” before going moving his hand to form another blue sphere and flicking his wrist to launch it. The magic projectile launches at an angle and curves toward Sophia from the side. She smirks as she quickly raises her arm as bamboo rise from the ground from a nearby spot and block the projectile. The bamboo shatters from the explosion and Sophia shield’s her face as bamboo shards spray her. The caster smirks softens a bit and he says tired “Why do you have to resist. I don’t think our toll is asking for too much, what do you say about half price?” He gets another look of surprise and repeats his dust cloud trick as another flurry of pink projectiles gets intercepted. The caster looks angry and frantic and shouts “Will you stop interrupting me?! I’m trying to negotia…” he then frantically creates another dust cloud as more pink projectiles fly at him. He looks very annoyed before shouting “That’s it I’ve had enough of this!” before repeating his blue sphere. However this time he expands his hands and the orb splits into three smaller orbs. He then aggressively throw the small spheres in quick concession. Sophia smirks before raising her hand, causing a big bush to rapidly grow in front of her. The bush quickly flowers and blooms before getting stroked from the first blue orb. Leaves and seeds burst out from the explosion and the bush quickly grows bushy branches to the left and right to block the 2nd and 3rd incoming spheres. Sophia quickly forms her own pink orb which spontaneously spews the pink projectiles at the caster. The caster repeats his dust cloud once more and after the smoke clears he quickly shouts “Truce! (After a pause to make sure Sophia isn’t going to attack again) Ok so clearly we have demonstrated that we are at a stalemate here, I can block your attacks and you can block my attacks, and with enough time, you will run out of plants or seeds or whatever to grow so why don’t you just pay the toll, at third price! Just pay the toll at third price and we can go our merry ways.” “(Sophia pretending to think about it for a moment) No I don’t think I will.” “(Stranger screams in frustration) Why?!” “(Sophia) because I won (she winks while pointing at his feet)” The stranger slowly looks down in disbelief before seeing vines have crawled its way from between the two of them to his feet. The vines quickly tighten around his feet and start dragging him towards the vines roots. As he is getting dragged, Sophia is joyfully walking towards the center. Once the caster is at the center, more vines burst out of the ground and wrap around his arms and body, completely restricting him. The stranger bursts out in confused anger “How? You didn’t throw any seeds that far and I would’ve seen those vines coming at me a miles away.” “(Sophia boastful) Well you see that bush that you bombarded had seeds sprouting and the blast from your attack sent them flying towards you. Additionally, it was pretty easy to have the vines subtly sulk towards you since your dust clouds blocked your vision numerous times and your hissy fit made you a bit tunnel visioned.” “(The stranger looks away in scorn) Whatever, just go. I don’t care about the stupid toll anymore.” “(Sophia shrugs sassily) Only if you say so.” She then skips back to the truck with a huge smile on her face. The scene cuts to one of the previously tied up goons grinning as he is starts to take aim. The scene cuts to one of Mars’ metal slugs as it collides into the goons head. It appears slower than normal and the slug bounces off the goon’s head leaving a large red mark. The goon collapses unconscious and the other freed goons watch and quickly drop their weapons and put their hands up. Sophia, oblivious, opens the truck door and climbs in. Mars goes in after her and the camera watches from behind the goons as the truck races off. As soon as the truck is a bit aways, the goons rush towards the tied up caster before cutting back to the truck. Sophia gives Mars an annoyed glance before looking back onto the road and saying “You know you could have jumped in at any time instead of leaving me with all the work. Mars responds “I know (he continued talking a bit quieter for only Sophia to hear) but I didn’t want to steal your audience.” He then moves his head to gesture to Kellie, Sophia along with the camera look over to Kellie who looks absolutely starry eyed. Kellie then excitedly says “That was amazing! It was so cool with all those magic thingies flying around and the plants bursting out and tangling and blocking, and, and… can you teach me magic!” “(Sophia reels back a bit surprised before looking a bit uncomfortable) I don’t know, I have never taught magic before and we probably don’t have the time. (She looks over at Mars who has a disapproving face. She sighs before giving in) Ok when we get to our next stop I can try to to teach you a little bit but don’t get your hopes up. Magic isn’t something everyone can do flawlessly straight off the bat.” “(Kellie sad until Sophia gave in) Yes! Thank you so much!” Kellie excitedly looks out the side window and watches out. Sophia sighs before a small smile grows on her face and the camera switches to watch the truck drive down the road and into the distance. After that the closing begins and after the closing the post credits scene views the pirates once more. The caster is rubbing his eyes as the goons circle around him, looking between each other confused (one goon is rubbing a red spot on his head, occasionally wincing in pain). One of the goons asks the caster “So what’s the plan now boss?” “(Caster annoyed) I don’t know, I’m getting sick of all these people who keep trying to deviate from what should be a very simple operation. I think asking for money and expecting people to be compliant is to generous, next time let’s just take it ourselves. Now let’s get out of here.” The other goons cheer and as the group walks off the road and into the wood, one of the goons pushes aside a stiff branch which, once he gets past, whips back and hits the caster in the face. The scene quickly cuts to black and ending with a smack.