Chapter Text
Amalie the Rhino Turtle watched from the rooftops of the construction and repair work underway across Trinity City, her striking red cape flowing in the high winds above the rising tower. After observing a little longer, she turned tail and made her towards the top of the alleyway. Using the dividing walls of either building, she jumped in a triangular motion before eventually landing on the ground. Without missing a beat, she slowly made her way to a staircase leading down below towards a wooden door.
She walked in to the almost absurdly homely interior where the red carpet melded with the brown oak tables and chairs to create a soothing, almost too soothing, atmosphere.
Behind the bar counter, a Blue and White Cicadabot unit turned it’s head to see her enter as it cleaned the glass in it’s hand with a white cloth.
The Hat-clad Ice Turtle and brightly pink coloured Dog Gator turned their heads away from their drinks to also see her enter.
“It’s about time you showed up,” The Ice Turtle remarked, his large pistols hanging from his Torso shell side as he turned, “The boss was getting impatient,”
“The commute was terrible…” Amalie responded almost coldly.
“That...that was a joke right?” The Dog Gator said somewhat confused.
“You wouldn’t know a joke, Ark, if it bit you on the tail and said 'I am a joke',” The Ice Turtle insulted, “And as for you, Amalie. Would it kill you to crack a smile once in a while? Even Ribus over there knows how to be happy,” as he ushered his hand across the room at the purple Jellymage sat with his arms around his head and his feet resting on the table.
“Ribus only smiles when he’s coming up with his next doomsday weapon,” Amalie responded as she put her hand on her hip and looked over at the maniacal-looking mass of gelatinous evil.
“Guilty as charged!” Ribus replied almost proudly, not even opening his eyes to answer.
“Anyways, Osho” Amalie continued back to the Ice Turtle, “What’s so important that he wants us all in one place again?”
The wall at the far end of the room, directly opposite the entrance, suddenly slid open as an echoed voice spoke out,
“Because we have a contract that requires all of our skill,” The Five in the open room all turned their heads as the hidden door came to a stop and in the darkened entrance stood a small Red, Yellow and Blue insect-like creature, “So we have no time to waste with petty little excursions, Amalie,”
“Chron…” Amalie responded in a greeting manner as she nodded her head in his direction.
Chron proceeded to walk out into the open as everyone followed his motions,
“Now listen up as I’m only going to say this once...because I can’t be bothered for any lax attention, Ark,” the direct insult prompting Ark to give off a small whine and his ears to droop, “No doubt as you’ll have heard, Team Chimera are the ones responsible for removing the Dark Ants. By chance, we were contacted by a client to take out Team Chimera for them. Something to do with them interfering with their own plans or whatever. So the original plan was to just sit back and let the Dark Ants take care of them,”
Ribus suddenly stirred from his nap-like trance,
“Yeah, who would have thought they’d start recruiting super Ramechans into their ranks,” He quipped aloud, “Those Dark Ants didn’t stand a chance I’d say,”
Chron turned his head round to his Jellymage associate,
“Well giving that Rhino Turtle super speed didn’t help matters,” he patronised over to Ribus, who merely opened his eyes and stared at the wall in an annoyed manner. Chron turned back to the rest of his cronies, “So with Plan A out the window, Plan B is now just a traditional beat down. Can't mess with the classics. We head over to Team Chimera directly and dispose of them ourselves,”
Osho and Ark exchanged glances,
“Erm, no insult to your ideas, Chron,” Osho remarked, “But what makes you think we’ll be a match for these guys? I mean they took on literal Dark Ants and won. And know they have at least one Cosmic Fruit in their possession thanks to Ribus over there,”
Ribus suddenly sat up and turned to face everyone in an insulted manner,
“Again with the digs!” He yelled up, “Why am I being treat like the bad guy here?”
“Because that’s literally your whole personality,” Amalie replied.
Ribus paused on the notion before accepting the description,
“Fair play. Carry on,” he then returned to his resting position.
“Point still stands, Chron,” Ark continued, “It’s a powerful weapon they could have. They would have the upper hand if they know how to use it,”
Chron gave a sinister grin before silently walking over to the jukebox by the entrance. He turned around and leaned on it with one arm,
“That’s why we’re just going to steal it,” He proclaimed, “A good old fashioned heist should keep things interesting, wouldn’t you say?”