Chapter Text
“Daddy! Help us!” Galileo’s family ran towards the Docks as fast as they could when suddenly, a portal appeared behind them. It swallowed Oma, his wife, and Ocean, his daughter, who were both too weak to escape its grasp. Galileo tried to resist the pull of the portal, and as it sucked in his family, all but one of his bags was stolen from him, being transported to the same, unknown island Oma and Ocean were now stranded on.
“Honey! Help!” As Oma and Ocean were thrown to the ground, Ocean tried to jump back up into the portal, only to be pinned down by the flurry of bags that came through with them. The portal closed, leaving Oma and Ocean surrounded by an unknown area, drenched in the warm, red rocks and cool, flowing streams that Lavasteam and Watersong would have called their own. Oma gathered the bags together, trying to find a bag with anything the two of them could use to survive.
“Mommy? What did Wilfre do to us? Are we gonna die?”
“No, sweetie, don’t worry. Daddy’s gonna come find us, and we’ll be ok.” With the unfamiliar area overwhelming her, Ocean began to bawl uncontrollably. Oma dug into their bags to find Ocean’s stuffed animal, a small Star Baki with a smile stitched onto the star. Ocean held it close to her chest, still whimpering in fear. Oma continued to look through their bags, finding clothes, toiletries, and various stargazing materials Galileo had packed.
“Ooo, is that a star map?” a voice called out from behind the two. Oma held Ocean tight as she turned around, pushing all their supplies behind them. She looked up and noticed a Raposa wearing a dull suit of armor with black and red hair covering part of their face. “Been a long while since I’ve seen one of those!” The figure reached her hand out, and Oma noticed multiple scars running up her arm.
“Hey, don’t worry about getting hurt by us,” a second figure said, this one with shining rust-colored fur. “All of us ended up here just as afraid as y’all are now.”
“One question, how did you all get here? I’ve been watching the ocean all morning and I didn’t see a single Watersong or Lavasteam ship.” A third figure appeared next to the other two, this one with worn down Lavasteam Royal garb and bright orange fur.
“Who are you three? Where are we!?” Oma asked, grabbing in the shadows for any sort of protection. The three figures stepped back, finally recognizing the fear plastered on the faces of the Raposa in front of them.
“Hey! You three! Get back up here! It’s breakfast time!” a voice yelled from a door above the group. The Raposa with scars squatted down, still backed away from the two.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. My name is Kacha, that’s Robigo, with the rust fur, that kid over there is Byetts, and the voice that you just heard was Elodie. You’re on Ex-Isle, a prison island for Watersong and Lavasteam. Hope you didn’t forget anything at home, cause it looks like both of y’all are stuck here now.”
“Who in Creator’s name are you talking to down there?” Elodie called out, running down the steps and into the dimly lit room. When the guard noticed the two Raposa huddled in the side of the room, she threw Kacha to the side and began to collect the bags Oma and Ocean had brought with them.
“Hey! That’s our stuff; get away from it!” Ocean yelled, gripping her Star Baki close. When Elodie reached for the plushie, Ocean leaned over and bit her arm, causing her to fall back in recoil. The guard opened their eyes and saw Kacha standing over them.
“She’s just a kid Elodie, leave her be.”
“Regardless, it’s breakfast time. Get your two new buddies and head upstairs. And you two,” Elodie snarked, looking at Oma and Ocean. “After breakfast, we’re gonna have a talk.” Ocean stuck her tounge out as Elodie jumped up, walking out of the room with most of the bags. Kacha extended her hand once more, helping Oma to her feet.
“Don’t worry about the rest of your bags. We can handle toting ‘em,” Robigo said, nudging Byetts with her shoulder.
“Don’t expect all of your bags to get back to you though. Elodie’s one of the nicer guards, so no telling where all your stuff will end up,” he said, picking up a bag with a bundle of paper and some markers inside. As Robigo picked up the other bags, the five of them went upstairs, finding the other exiles already sat at a series of long tables. Kacha guided Oma and Ocean to the end of one table, pulling up two chairs, while Robigo handed over the bags to a guard. Byetts, however, sat down with his bag.
“You ain’t gonna turn that in?” Robigo asked.
“Nothing in here but paper and markers. If they want to inspect it, they can, but they won’t find anything good.” Robigo laughed as the five Raposa sat down together at the end of the table, everyone’s eyes on them. When they were seated, one of the guards stood at their end of the table and began to shout to the entire table.
“Attention exiles! Thanks to the mysterious appearance of gramma and kiddie down here, along with the delay of these three, breakfast has been cut down from one serving to just half a serving! If you’d like to thank anyone, these five will be happy to talk to you, isn’t that right Tiger?” they said, looking at Kacha.
“Yes sir,” she growled, her eyes filled with fire. The rest of the exiled groaned as cafeteria workers pulled up the metal blinds covering the serving stations. The exiles began to walk over, picking up a tray and holding it out, receiving a blob of grits, one pancake, and half a sausage before getting cup and a drink from a table of refreshments.
“You five can wait until the rest of the table gets food, can’t you?”
“Excuse me sir,” Oma said, looking back at the guard. “I’m afraid my daughter and I don’t belong here. You see, we were kidnapped by Wilfre and sent here, so if you don’t mind, we’d like to go back home now.”
“Oh, you were kidnapped by Wilfre?” the guard gasped, covering his mouth with his hands. “Well then of course the two of you can go! Let me just get the twenty other exiles who tried to pull that excuse on me, and all of you can head back home together!” The guard laughed and walked back to the other guards, who were all sitting at a table of their own with fancier food.
“Is that actually how the two of you got here?” Byetts asked as the five of them stood up to get breakfast.
“Yes, and frankly, I don’t think he should be passing judgement so quickly,” Oma said, taking her meal and sitting back down. When all five of them were seated again, Ocean began to tear up. Oma, noticing her cloudy eyes, held her tight and began to softly sing to her. As she sung, Robigo and Byetts leaned over the table to talk with each other.
“So, any new gossip from the mainland?” Robigo asked.
“I heard that Key was working on a huge Robosa that could do the mining for the entire village.”
“Yeah, as if Miney would let the workers off that easy. You and I both know that if Key gets that thing working, Miney’s just gonna increase the quotas.”
“I just can’t imagine how he’s gonna power the thing. The Robosa we have now can burn a whole house’s worth of energy in a day.”
“Let’s just shove Miney in the thing so he can know what it’s like to work for once. Hell, one of his brothers can take the throne and we’d be better off. You were close with ‘em growing up, yeah?”
“Yeah, the five of us lived together for a few years. Perks of being their cousin I guess.”
“Who do you think would be the better king, Eeny, Meeny, or Moe?”
“Oh, definitely Meeny. Moe loves being the foreman, and Eeny desperately wants to get off the mainland.” The two of them laughed and continued to talk while Kacha focused on Oma and Ocean. Oma stopped singing when Ocean stopped crying, and the two went back to eating breakfast.
“So, Wilfre’s really back?” Kacha asked.
“Yes ma’am, and this time he can disguise himself. He took the appearance of my husband and broke into our home. Then he went around stealing the color from buildings and kidnapping people, including us.” Ocean poked at her pancake in silence when suddenly, she dropped her fork on her tray and looked up to Kacha.
“Did Wilfre steal you from your home too?” Kacha sat for a moment, thinking of a response. She took her last bite of grits and set her spoon down, leaning over to talk to Ocean as people began to leave at the other end of the table.
“It’s a long story, but to answer your question, no. I’ve never heard of Wilfre before getting here, but I have dealt with a bully like Wilfre. It was only a few weeks ago.”
Three Weeks Ago
“Please ma’am, I promise I won’t try this again. I just can’t stay here any longer!” I used to be a member of Lavasteam’s royal guard. I was stationed on this island for two months when I noticed someone trying to escape.
“Sorry Byetts, but you know the rules. Anyone trying to escape gets their remaining sentence doubled. I can’t make exceptions for friends.” I saw how upset he looked, and I didn’t know why he was stuck on the island – I still don’t – but something compelled me to help him.
“Come on Kacha, you’ve seen what they’ve tried to do to me. You’ve heard what they call me. I can’t stand this anymore.” After some thought, I put down my spear, just like the one you saw Elodie with earlier, and I helped Byetts climb over the rocks surrounding the upper level. However, as we were almost at the top of the wall, someone snuck up behind us.
“Hey! You two! Get back down here, now!” It was the bully I mentioned. His name was Terra, and he’s the one who made the announcement at breakfast. He saw our shadows at the top of the rocks, but he couldn’t see our faces, so I told Byetts to keep moving while I slid back down the rock and picked up my spear.
“What do you want Terra?”
“I want you to explain to me why you’re helping an exile escape their sentence.”
“That exile is a good Rapo, and the treatment they receive here is horrible.”
“That’s no reason for you to break your oath to Lavasteam!”
“Pick your next words very carefully.” This was when I realized that we were about to fight. Terra always had a history of ignoring his bosses, and this time was no different.
“I don’t think I should, considering you won’t be in charge by tomorrow morning.”
“Is that a threat, Captain Norte?”
“It’s a promise, Chief Hanaman.” That was when we started fighting. I don’t what exactly happened, but he ended up winning, and I ended up on the ground. When I woke up, I was in an exile’s room, and my spear and helmet had been taken away. I thought Byetts had gotten away, but later that day, I saw him walking around the island.
Suddenly, a pair of hands gripped Kacha’s shoulder, causing her to jump in her chair.
“Really? The exiled guard wants to call me a bully?” Terra leaned over to Ocean and Oma. “Just wait until you hear how she got the nickname Tiger.” Terra let go of Kacha and walked over to Oma and Ocean. “Breakfast time is over newbies. Come with me to my office and we’ll discuss where you two will be living.”
“If he does anything to you two, let me know,” Kacha said, glaring at the new Captain. Oma nodded and the three of them walked out of the dining hall and into the guard quarters. Terra led them into a room, directing them to sit by his desk.
“So, why don’t we start with your names, your old homes, and your reason for exile.”
“You have no right to be holding us here sir. We are residents of Rapoville, not Lavasteam or Watersong, so I will kindly ask you to let us go unless you want a Hero to get involved.” Terra laughed at Oma’s remark until he looked back at her.
“Oh, you’re serious. Well ma’am, let me tell you now. In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t a place for jokes. I wouldn’t care if you were some measly peasants working in the Banya mines or the Creator himself. You’re on my turf now. Not Rapoville, Lavasteam, or Watersong, so we won’t play by any of their rules. Now, let me ask you one more time. Name, homes, and reason for exile.”