Chapter Text
"Ahem," Dandy cleared his throat, standing atop the lobby tree planter. The lobby, while being where you go to clock in for shifts now, was also an announcement room. Mostly because almost everyone was guaranteed to be there and it was safe while being easy to get to. "I have a small announcement, and it's regarding the mini-earthquakes that have occurred recently. It seems that there is a cause to these shakes, and it is what I assume to be some animal."
Cosmo, sat next to Sprout, raised his hand to ask a question. Dandy nodded to him and he put it down again, asking "is it dangerous? If it can cause the whole facility to shake then it must be big right? How are we gonna prepare for if it is dangerous?" Cosmo always was one worried pastry, always asking questions like these. Though, this time, it was warranted. Such a big animal scared most of the toons, even seeming to get on Shrimpo's nerves in a different way.
"That," Dandy started to reply, the button up shirt he always wore untidy from how much he rushed this, "I don't know. There's a wealth of security supplies from when Gardenview was still in business though, and I'm sure Rodger would love to help get it all fixed up enough for everyone to have some way to protect themselves if anything dire does happen." Wait, there were security supplies? And Dandy hadn't used it at all for the ichor missions? Or fixed it up already to use against twisteds? The toons collectively put that thought aside, they'd address it later.
𓆤⭒𓆑⭒𓆣⭒𓆨⭒𓆦
The crown finally sent out a few teams to scout outside of hallownest to find this anomaly, the expedition team sent having a supply of kings idols to keep them from losing their thought.
"There's nothing out here that could even lead to a kingdom," one of them complained, they've been traveling for the whole day. Their legs were starting to get tired and the ground kept rumbling occasionally.
"Hmmm.." another one stopped, making the group stop. "Maybe the rumbling of the ground is an indicator?" She asked, stomping on it a little. Her pretty lightbug wings buzzing a bit
"Maybe the kings idols aren't working," another said, "because you've definitely lost your thought."
"No, let her speak," an older one said, she was a moth almost as old as the kingdom, brought along for her wisdom "these rumbles are new, so they might indeed lead to something promising."
The spider who complained, and the roach that spoke up against the idea both rolled their eyes, they were gonna be brought along for this stupid idea and it won't even lead to anything. "Aundrene, would you maybe start digging here please?" The moth asked, the spider groaning as they started burrowing before the ground beneath them all crumbled and they fell.
Where they ended up, was not as useless as first thought. The lightbug ended up falling onto her back, but felt something that wasn't just a regular pocket in the ground. It felt like the tracks to the tramways back in the kingdom. "Tramway tracks! Get out the way!" She called, quickly scrambling up and moving to the side. So did all the other bugs. Though, the moth had injured her leg and couldn't move. The roach reaching out to grab her. The sound of a horn blaring getting closer as the tunnel slowly started to illuminate.
Just as the tram passed, flinging rocks everywhere, the moth was pulled off the tracks and safe. And they watched as the tram passed. Though, it felt like it went on forever. It was several times longer than their own trams.
They needed to tell the king, as soon as possible.
𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘
Dandy and Rodger had been repairing things almost all day, and Rodger didn't even wanna be doing this. Both of them were getting tired and Dandy's pretty sure Rodger forgot to eat lunch.
"Do you think this beast really is dangerous?" Rodger asked, just curious.
"Eh," Dandy replied, reconnecting two wires in a taser, the rats got to these. "Better safe than sorry, you know." He shrugged.
Rodger nodded, "do you think it actually is an animal?" He asked, doing the same that Dandy was doing. He was still in his pajamas.
Dandy shrugged, "if it isn't, its still better to be safe than sorry." He adjusted the cigarette in his mouth, he had tried to quit smoking year after year but always got on it again. "And humans would know the facility's here and probably not get so close. Or they'd be dangerous too."
Rodger shrugged, going quiet again before speaking up again. "Do you think humans would ever find us again? That train does pass by us still." He asked, picking up another taser to fix.
Dandy couldn't answer that. "I don't know, i doubt it though." He sounded more sorrowful about that.
Rodger hummed a little as a response, and just kept fixing the piles of tasers and chewed wires. They really needed to get rid of these rats somehow.
𓆤⭒𓆑⭒𓆣⭒𓆨⭒𓆦
Quirrel was panicking and running around, trying to get ready for the trip he was just assigned. He had thrown everything he'd need into his bag and was now trying to find an empty journal to log his trip with.
Truthfully, he didn't know why he was chosen as the one to represent the crown on this trip. Sure, he worked closely with the crown as the temporary head of education and scientific research, but he wasn't that close! Maybe it was because of how nice he was and how many languages he knew? Or how detailed he was in his logs? He didn't know.
He found an empty journal big enough and threw it in his bag, closing it with some trouble. Okay, there, he should probably get going now. He got the bag on, heaving as he carried it before running to visit Lady Monomon, he wanted to visit her before leaving. He always did before leaving somewhere, it was simply good luck and polite.
He quietly opened the door to her office, where she's been recovering for a bit. She moved from her room to her office so she could still work despite recovering. Quirrel thought it unneeded, but she kept insisting and now she was here.
"Come in, dear," she greeted, not turning away from her work. "I thought you were going off to investigate next door, are you not?"
"I just wanted to visit before I went off, Lady Monomon," he responded, looking at her. She was still as pretty as he remembered her being.
"Are you just nervous?" She asked, now turning to him while covering her mouth with a tentacle. Trying not to laugh at how he was constantly a little nervous no matter what. She thought it cute how he needed to cling to her for everything. He still acted like a shy kid sometimes.
"No," he shook his head, "it'd be rude of me not to visit before going." He said, adjusting the nail on his hip. Really, just fidgeting with the tassel on the handle.
"You sure?" She asked, chuckling a little while floating over to him. She was at eye level with him but still much bigger, the floor was actually quite low and the entrance was just at a higher level with stairs leading down to the actual floor.
Quirrel nodded, "and it's good luck!" He said, "you don't mind me visiting you, right?" He asked, his head tilting a little.
"Not at all! It's just quite funny, you come to me for any minor thing!" She responded, "it's fine though, I guess i like helping you!"
Quirrel nodded, "if I'm ever too much, you can tell me okay?" He moved to step out again, he didn't wanna keep the escort team waiting too long "I'm gonna leave now, it was wonderful to talk to you!"
𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘
Shelly has just gotten her first ever weapon, a dull machete that was gonna be for some other toon that just was never made. She also got some old empty cans and bottles to practice using the machete on. Oh, and a taser she guessed, but the machete was more interesting to her. She could probably give Vee the taser.
And she got a small bell on her door that'd ring at any emergency, everyone got one of those. The bell was controlled by a string that went out her door and ended at the start of the toon rooms that'd be pulled to alert everyone.
This machete was really dull and old. It had rust on it. She liked the look of the rust, but she needed to sharpen it if she ever hoped to use it right.
She was about to go find a book on how to care for knives when a knock fell on her door, making her jump. "Come in!" She called.
The person opened the door, it was Tisha! "Hi! I just wanted to pay a visit while they put my bell up," she said, then looked at the Machete in Shelly's hands, and nearly fainted. "Oh my god-- that is the DIRTIEST knife I have ever seen!" She said, grabbing it up, "I can clean this for you, I need to clean up my own anyways."
"O-okay! You don't have to but okay!" Shelly was just jumpscared, flustered and just got her machete taken away. "I was just gonna sharpen it, I like the rust actually! It gives this like, ancient feel, you know?"
"You're gonna get tetanus." Tisha bluntly said, "I'm gonna clean it, no changing that. You can sharpen it though! I'm only good at cleaning," she put it in a bag with her own knife, it was a smaller butterfly knife, Shelly recalled it from an episode where Astro had to perform magic tricks or something.
"Okay!" Shelly was still mentally buffering a bit, "so, what did you wanna talk about originally?" She asked, sitting down on the bed and leaving space for Tisha.
"Just about the news," she said, sitting down next to Shelly. "I think its weird Dandy hasn't repaired and handed these weapons out sooner," she commented.
Shelly nodded, "it is weird, it makes me think of if he's hiding anything else." Shelly shrugged, "we'd never know though. He's like, the most secretive guy I know. He's good at keeping secrets too."
"And like, is it even any of our business either?" Tisha pondered, "maybe it's to keep us from worrying too much."
Shelly shrugged again, "eh, I don't think him keeping secrets isn't gonna change anything anyways." She said, looking at Tisha. She always liked her dresses, they were pretty. "Maybe we can learn how to sharpen our knives together! I think it'd be a useful skill now."
Tisha seemed to light up a bit, smiling at the thought of spending time with Shelly "sure! That could be nice," she got up, "do you wanna do that now? I can teach you how to clean your machete too!"
"Okay!" She got up after her, "lemme get my gloves, they're thick so the knives won't cut through them!" She went to her nightstand, an utter mess in Tisha's opinion, but Shelly knew how to get around it. She pulled out her archeology gloves, worn thick gloves that seemed more like armor sometimes. "Maybe we should see who else has blades so they can learn too?" She offered, putting the thick gloves on. They looked fitting on her. Her tail was wagging a little.
"Alright, got them?" She asked, looking over to Shelly holding up two thumbs. "Lets go then!" She left Shelly's room, the ammonite following soon after.