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Grape Garden was, for lack of a better phrase, a heavenly land. Like all children have, James had wondered if clouds were actually solid and if one could walk across them with the grace of a ballet dancer. On these clouds, apparently he could. Stepping onto a staircase seemingly tethered to the mountains, he felt his weight supported strangely by the clouds, which under his feet felt like cold candy floss, but not as wispy. The clouds would crunch under his feet like the freshest powdery snow, as him and Sailor Dee walked upwards into the sky. James almost felt like he'd died and found out that Heaven actually did exist. If it didn't, then this was close enough. The land was nothing but the thinnest sky above them, like a clear blue ceiling, the endless armada of clouds stretching out before them like the fluffiest motorway ever. Creatures zoomed past back and forth across the clouds, running or waddling by without a care in the world. Yet despite the name, he saw no garden. Or grapes. It made him wonder if the other places had such misleading names, and he was slightly irritated at such an odd naming scheme for these regions. Nevertheless, they pressed on, with James slowly gaining confidence in every step of the seemingly fragile clouds, which Sailor Dee noticed. "Come on, what's wrong James?" "I just get the feeling I'm gonna fall through one of these dammit, I mean back where I came from you can't walk on clouds." "You keep talkin' about where ya came from, you really wanna get home that bad?" "Well...yeah. I miss people back there, sure the place wasn't as...gorgeous as this place but I got so used to it and all." "Alrighty, but really, the clouds are fine, we can jump an' run on them, so come on!" And Sailor Dee did just that, bouncing merrily across the cloudy plains with James following up, who could hear his companion singing to himself as the mood took him. "I'll be home sooooon, sooon with my mooooom, then we can bake a big haaaaaappy cake!" James couldn't help singing with him in turn, letting himself go in the moment as he skipped merrily with Sailor Dee through the clouds.

For the most part, Grape Garden was cheerfully uneventful and they encountered no problems to speak of, other than the occasional raincloud which Sailor Dee warned the raptor not to step on in case of lightning, which he dutifully gave a wide berth of in their traversing of the aerial land. He could even see houses people had built on the tops of mountains or even on the clouds themselves, pillars and fortresses planted firmly above the sky, including one large castle that seemed to be crackling with electricity. "Hey who lives there?" asked James, pointing towards the electrical fortress. "That? Oh that's Kracko's place!" "Kracko?" "Yeah he handles this place, he's this floating thunder cloud, nice guy but a li'l too paranoid." "...a floating thunder cloud. He talks and everything?" "Ah huh!" "...yeah I don't wanna meet him, can we keep going?" "What's wrong?" "I got a problem with thunder and lightning is all." "Awww, you got a phobia of it?" "...I dunno. I just...I get this really bad feeling about it, like more than most would. Something sorta...tingles in a bad way through my whole body." He couldn't explain it truly, not knowing how his nanos seemed to shiver with the presence of raw electricity. He also remembered the last time he had been electrocuted and how he ended up in hospital, but he could have ended up in a grave had he not survived the F-Zero crash. Either way, lightning was bad, and they kept walking on, soon seeing a large yellow building in the distance. "Lemme guess, Butter Building?" "Yep! We can get down to the ground with this, then through to Ice Cream Island and finally to my house!" "Awesome!" They ran towards Butter Building, excited to get out of the clouds and down towards the ground. James was amazed that a building so tall existed in this land, one that literally pierced the heavens, but not like a skyscraper. Even though they were called "sky scrapers", they were everywhere in his world and nothing special to him. But this building was taller than any skyscraper he had ever seen, even taller than the Sears Tower. This was a skypiercer. Despite its flat top allowing easy access to Grape Garden, Butter Building was one hell of a climb downwards, and James had to try and not look down from the top as much as he wanted to, just to see how high he truly was. When he succumbed to his curiosity, he could see a beautiful beach stretching across the way, and a forest beyond it. The beach looked like a smear of paint, and the forest like a tiny rag from a bumpy carpet. He whimpered slightly, his self-awareness of suddenly turning incredibly strong.

"What's wrong James?" "A-ah...i-i-i just didn't realise how high we were going up that mountain...i-it didn't FEEL that long." "Well they did make it real easy to climb it yanno. Now come on, let's go down!" Despite the fact they were going to be mostly in the building, James kept his senses on high alert as they traversed down the yellow stairway that spiralled all the way down. Sometimes inside, sometimes having to go through various odd rooms, and sometimes on the very outside of the building itself, coiling around like a corn snake on a thick clutch of maize. Because he became so alert in this, he couldn't help but feel he was being watched by someone, continuously looking back all the time only to see nobody else. While he never had a true fear of heights, he had never been THIS high in his life, especially on a building completely on its own without a single other foundation around it, giving it a false sense of an even grander height that made the raptor uncomfortable. He tried to stay firm and kept walking down, carefully so despite the fact the stairs were constructed with ease in mind. Sailor Dee had no problems at all, for he had a perfect head for heights. "Come on James, don't get panicky now!" "J-just shut up okay I'm trying to focus!" "Hahaha, ya don't have yer air legs yet do ya?" "Oh sure mister big sailor of the skies, you had a flying ship, but you fell out of it into the SEA! If this was a tower in the middle of the sea that'd be alright, but no. That's LAND down there, that's solid ground and I don't wanna be a tomato!" Sailor Dee couldn't help giggling at the panic of his friend, but kept himself quiet as they walked down to the halfway point after what felt like an hour, occasionally eating some candy from James' pouch to keep their strength up. They soon reached a rather enclosed room, large and grand like a hallway with the windows wide on both sides. This made James uncomfortable, especially with the warning on the door before it that said "WARNING: HIGH WINDS". "Why would they build windows so huge here?" asked James. "Wouldn't the wind sweep people away?" "That's what the sign's for." "Uh...yeah but...why make them in the first place!?" "Well winds tend to slam into buildings pretty hard, so it might fall over! But if ya put some way for the wind to pass THROUGH the building, it won't fall when the wind can't push against it!" "...huh...that...yeah that works, wow that's clever!" "Mmhmm! Lemme just head through first to see if it's safe okay?" James nodded and let him go first, wondering how far he had left to go before he could decide on leaving. As much as he enjoyed Dream Land and its bountiful cheersome nature, he felt it would wear down on him, with too much smiles and candy probably becoming irritating for one so unused to it all their life. The waddle dee crossed the room easily so, and invited James across the hall. But before he could, he was suddenly knocked down by a blast of wind, small and focused right in front of him. "WHA-UNGH!" "So...we finally meet, stranger."

The voice before him was dark and threatening, resonating with a power that unnerved him as he opened his eyes. Blocking his path was a short creature, with a ball-like body of possibly dark blue, wearing a silver mask that showed only two perfectly circular glowing yellow eyes. A purple cape shimmered behind him, beneath two bat-like wings the span of his own body. He wielded a golden sword in one mitten-like hand towards James, coolly horizontal without the slightest tremor, as if he could perfectly balance a raindrop upon the blade. "Wh-...who the hell are you!?" "I am here to take back what is mine, fool." "Wh-what?! I dunno what you're talking about!" "The one you are travelling with. Do not toy with me, your coercion will not work on me." "What are you talking about, coercion?!?" "Enough! You fight me now." "Oh piss off, I don't wanna-" "If you do not fight, I will throw you to the winds." James stopped and looked outside. He could hear the wind picking up, but not coming through the room strongly enough to do so. He had no idea if the midget swordfighter would do such a thing. But he knew already in his life to not call bluffs from those like him. "Jesus...come on, I just wanna take him back-" "You will take him nowhere, fiend. Now...fight me." James stood ready to fight as best as he could with his claws out and ready, but the opponent merely waved a glove. "No. We fight fair." With a sweep of the cloak, he threw a sword out towards the raptor, who picked it up curiously. The sword had a bronze blade with a metallic handle, straight and fine-looking but nothing special. "What you giving me this for?" "I never fight unfairly. We fight like men, not cowards." "Well jeez fine oh heroic knight, if that's the way you wanna do it." Wielding the sword and pleased by it being not too heavy, he gripped it tensely and got ready to fight this strange character, with Sailor Dee hiding in panic from the other side of the room to watch the fight commence. James ran forwards with sword at the ready to slash, but he was easily blocked in the swing by his foe, who immediately scratched several times at James' side with surprising speed. Snarling in pain, he swung hard in a backhand maneuver at the stocky knight, but the stranger dodged and rolled under the blade to deliver another cut, this time at the raptor's arm. Merely thinking himself unlucky, the raptor made several hack and slash tactics at him, carving at the facemask, trying his best to strike him. But he was always blocked or dodged to no avail, and while he did his best in evading very well due to his reflexes, his blocks were poor, ungainly and easily broken to be jabbed and slashed through, but never non-fatally.

"Do you not know how to use a sword? Fight me!" "FUCK YOU, SHORT-STOP!" James started to furiously swing at his opponent, roaring in a rage that consumed him. But this only made him less reactive to the cloaked figure sidestepping once more, expertly so. His cloak flapped in the wind, in a manner befitting of a silent strong heroic figure wandering a wasteland. He even used his cloak to confuse the raptor into striking at the wrong place, only for James to end up being struck in the knee, making him fall. He tried to swing wildly once more, but he only saw a thin veil of starry darkness before him, and a strange whoosh not of the wind flowing through the hall around him. For a few eternal seconds, he only heard that otherworldly breeze, slightly stinging at his cuts, trying to see where his opponent had disappeared to, confused at how quickly darkness came with twinkling stars fading before his eyes. Before he knew it, he was bashed in the side of his head with the blunt side of his opponent's sword, rolling over and getting up quickly. His head was spinning as he striked violently at the constantly-evading opponent, out of confused rage. The swordsman tried to lecture him inbetween dodges. "Your anger is your greatest mistake, moreso than your inexperience." "SHUT UP, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Seeing his opponent, he was too angry and sore to care as he charged with a roaring fury, screaming against the winds, sword upwards to his right ready to slash diagonally downwards. But as he swung, his foe simply dodged to James' right, and struck him bluntly to the side, hard enough to send him down on his knee. James tried to get up weakly, only to see the masked one standing before him, with a blade pointed at his eye. "You were foolish to even try to fight in your current state of mind." "You were the one who gave me the fucking sword!" "As I said, I never fight unfairly. I wish my opponents to always be as well-armed as I. Their skill however is not of my concern." "That's still not fair when I dunno how to use this!" "You can always learn." "I do well enough with my fists and claws, I don't need a stupid sword!" With furious insult, James threw his away and sneered in anger at his humiliation. "You had your fun, now lemme just keep walking." "Not until you release my crewman." "Your...what?" "M-meta Knight, S-sir!" Sailor Dee popped out from behind the doorframe and waddled quickly towards his former captain. "Sailor...you are well I hope." "Y-yes Captain! I...this guy he-" "Fear not, he is defeated and we shall return you to your home-" "But he wasn't kidnapping me, sir, he helped me!" "...was he?" "Yeah, I...I didn't say before because you two were fighting so quickly, I didn't have a chance to speak up! He got me off an island that I was stranded on...I...I-i-i'm sorry sir." "Hmm...it appears that I was hasty in my assumptions."

As Meta Knight slowly turned away from James, the raptor took the opportunity to quickly trip up the knight and kick him to one side, hard enough to smack him against the wall. "Wh-WHAT-" "FUCK YOU!" "J-JAMES what are you doing!?!?" cried out the sailor. "You wanna humiliate me!?!? HUH!?!? I ain't letting you leave without at least ONE bruise you fucking midget!" James grabbed the sword that he threw away and readily stood up to Meta-Knight. "You...deceitful little swine." The masked warrior's eyes glimmered darkly, and his wings spread before flying towards James at a speed that both threw him off-guard and panicked him. He tried to dodge and avoid being slashed, but Meta-Knight only threw his cloak over him in passing, and once again James fell into that silent darkness. Now he was scared that it happened to him twice, and he barely had any time to react before he felt something slice through his gut. The slash came from out of nowhere, and he felt like he had been cleaved clean through, making him fall to the ground clutching his stomach. Shaking hard, gasping in pain, the feeling of a deep bleeding pain came to him. Meta-Knight merely stood before him as the darkness glimmered, sword at his head once more. "So...you think you could have won by dishonourable means?" James started to shake with tears of deep pain, whimpering like a kid who scraped his knee. "Ffffuuu...a-a-a-a-aAAAAGH....s-s-s-son of a BITCH....y-y-you cut me!" "You dared to assault me like a coward, and as such this is the price you must pay." "FUCK YOU, I-NNnnngh...hhhaaagh! Y-y-you talk about honour and shit, you realise n-not everyone's gonna fight like YOU!?" "I do. But I make those like you an example. I cannot abide pragmatists." "The only reason I s-survived this long is c-c-cuz I fight dirty." "Then you will never become greater." "Oh I beg to f-f-fucking differ, mister holier-than-th-th-thou, if I was all honourable about fffffighting I'm pretty sure I'd be d-d-dead three times over!" "And yet your dishonour here brings you very close to it." "And if you were dishonourable like everyone else I ever fought, you'd have K-K-KILLED ME already about five minutes ago instead of giving me these fffFUCKING speeches like some comic book reject!" The darkness disappeared as Meta Knight finished his lecture, but kept his sword out as the world returned to James' eyes. "Hmph...since you have no desire to learn the ways of chivalry, I will let you be. Sailor, do you still wish to travel with this ruffian?" "Y-yes captain. No disrespect to you but we did kinda travel so far together already and-" "You do not need to say anything. I have already failed you once as a captain. I do not expect to win your loyalty back so soon, especially when I have brought tears to your mother, falsely I now realise." "...you'll always be my captain, captain." "Very well. I will leave you two." "Wh-what?!" shrieked the raptor. "I'M DYING HERE!" "You are not mortally wounded. Get up."

James tried to do so, and found that while he was in severe pain from something, he wasn't actually bleeding, nor was he unwell enough to not keep walking. Moving his hand away from his stomach, he noticed no cut. Nothing, not even a scratch. Yet the pain resonated so very deep within him, to the very center of his being. It felt bodily, but somehow it also afflicted his mind too, turning a little dizzy. "The...wha...I'm not bleeding...but...why am I so sore?" "I have trained myself to cut through the very souls of my opponents. Do not worry, you will heal in time." "You...what? You cut my soul!?!" "It is not severe, and it will heal itself as I have said after resting yourself well." "Wai-wai-wait! You...CUT...my fucking SOUL!?!?! HOW THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?!?" "Such skills are to be discovered, not to be taught." "Oh christ you're gonna be that fucking cryptic I won't even bother asking, I'm out of here! Goddamnit!" "I have but one thing to tell you...James." The raptor gazed down at the sword facing between his eyes, meeting towards the eyes of the knight. "Beware your arrogance. I sense that it will cause you quite a struggle in your future." "What the fuck ever, now get your toothpick out of my face." He walked away to the other side of the hall, clutching his stomach on instinct from the pain that throbbed throughout his entire body, a pain so strong that it ached him to walk. But he had to. He wanted to get away from Meta-Knight, out of anger at being humiliated for no good reason, and out of fear for what he had the potential to do. An hour later, they had traversed to the bottom of Butter Building, slowed down by James' weakened state, grunting with every 20 steps he took as his body throbbed all over. Sailor Dee said nothing, feeling responsible for the whole ordeal. Reaching the bottom of the butter-coloured tower, the two walked towards Ice Cream Island, a place that could give James some relaxation after his struggling defeat. He certainly perked up at the sight of the beach, a proper one stretching across the length of a coast, the sun shining so beautifully upon themselves and the sands. James also noted seeing a lot of people nestling up on the scrubland near the beach, the fine border where yellow and green blended into a scraggly wilderness of toughened harmless plants. The place was practically a resort, people having drinks and sunshine, eating ice cream, it made the raptor's heart warm up as he said to Sailor Dee: "You know...I've never been to a beach like this before." "You wanna rest? We're almost home anyway." "If that's okay with you..." They walked softly towards one particular free spot and sat down gently, Sailor Dee helping James to do so without getting too hurt in his wincing effort, lying back to gaze at the calming pure blue sky. Sighing with bliss, he could finally rest his body, whimpering a bit from the pain as Sailor Dee just nestled his tush on the grass, enjoying the beautiful view. It was a slice of paradise, and the two said nothing for a long while, afraid of shattering the serenity of it all. All James could think about was how his ass had been so readily given to him by Meta-Knight. Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew the knight was right. Maybe he'd have fared better if he hadn't lost his temper. Maybe if he got more better at the sword he could seriously whup some ass. Dirty fighting however, he wasn't gonna stop that. It was only called dirty fighting because it wasn't bound by any rules. He called it surviving. But he still did wonder on what would happen if he had learnt to be better with a sword. He couldn't think on much more of it when he soon took a small nap, slowly drifting off as he basked in the warmth of the sun.