And so Itvasme and the Dark Rizzards were finally making their way towards their showdown with Sally!!!
Tristen, Rowena and Sally of course were also ready for their climactic confrontation.
"They're on their way at last." Via the CCTVs, Tristen reported the Dark Rizzard's movements, as they inched forwards closer towards their location, and their heavily armed and booby trapped ice tunnel.
"Wait. Who are these guys?" Rowena suddenly noticed that not far behind the Dark Rizzards were a motley crew of what appeared to be 3… pirates?!?! Seemingly following behind them?!?!
"Are they… pirates?"
"… it appears so."
One of them, seemingly the aptly named 'ringleader', was decked out in what appeared to be a lot of bling, and a full blown, classic pirate captain outfit, replete with hook, wooden leg, the hat, eyepatch… the works! The other two, one thin and scrawny, the other massive and muscly, were likewise kitted out in old school singlets, bandannas, and even had blue anchor tattoos on their arms… - I mean, could you get any more cliché?!?!
"…"
As a matter of fact, the removable stick-on tattoos, alongside the rest of their piratey getup, were all the product of their visit to Aisles 538 and 933, in keeping with Py Rate-io's preferred philosophy - 'fake it til' you make it'.
"Uh… "
"Sally, what should we do?"
Sally frowned. With her genius-level IQ, she realised that this was highly likely one of Author's in(s)ane 'bursts of inspirations', which in practice meant that all bets were off as to figuring out what might actually happen next…
As a matter of fact, even Author had no clue what would happen next - as part of his Writing Techniques, in order to avoid assimilation by the bots, he had himself stumbled upon what had seemed like a good idea at the time - a foolproof plan to avoid imitation by the Amoral Arcana - he would let the plot be written not by himself, but through the channelling of Divine Acualised Power, letting go of wanting to consciously control the process and thereby allowing him to transcend his normal limitations, and in the process, this meant that he himself was unaware of what would happen next!!!
This was basically in keeping with the Ancient adage which explained that in order to confuse others, you must first confuse yourself…
"…"
"Unbelievable."
"And yet, I-I need to know what happens next!"
In the audience, Pep-Z guy muttered in spite of himself. Although outspoken against Author's shamelessness, he nevertheless found himself regularly attending the chapter releases… J-Just for research purposes of course! It wasn't like he was entertained or that it had become a way of life… humph…
"Yeah, me too. I want to know what happens next as well…!!!" A friendly, good-natured voice spoke up from next to him, affirming Pep-Z guy's outburst.
Pep-Z guy nodded. "Yeah, thanks for the affirmation … you're a good guy…"
…Wait. Mid-motion of tossing a popcorn into his mouth, Pep-Z guy frowned. Why was that voice so familiar?! And somehow so… lowkey irritating in its warmth and richness…?!??
Indeed. It was because the voice that had spoken up next to him in fact belonged to Author!!!
"…"
"Bruh. Aren't you supposed to be writing the novel?!"
"Yep, that's what's happening now…"
"…"
The Shamelessness levels had risen once again.
___
Glancing at the soon-to-be invaders, Sally quickly made her assessment. Since it would be very difficult to know what might happen next, they would have to focus on what they could control - namely focusing on defeating the Dark Rizzards and keeping the EVP Blueprints safe!
"We don't know if they're on our side, against us, or they could just be cosplaying civilians… Either way, the Plan stays the same. Protect the Blueprints and our Anti-Rizz Realm Family from falling into the wrong hands - this will include the Dark Rizzards and anyone else not affiliated with the Anti-Rizz Realm. The only persons we can trust are our own."
Sally calmly relayed the instructions to Tristen and Rowena, who immediately acknowledged them with a salute.
"Yes, Sally!!!"
___