─ᴮᴬᵀˢᴴᴵᴾ ᶜᴿᴬᶻᵞ─

❝ Alcohol — Booze — liquid courage. ❞ He's sure Mr. Ten-Gallon Hat here knows what he's talking about, no need to play coy.

❝ If we pass through Hivory Towers, we can get to Capital Casino, I'm not the biggest fan of the owner, but the service is impeccable. ❞

As long as Capital B was doing absolutely nothing but counting up his money and watching profit grow, he was actually relatively harmless.

⸻Besides, while him and Laylee are still shipwrecked, there was no better place to go that wasn't indirectly supporting a cruddy corporate creep.

Moral dilemma aside, Capital Casino was absolutely incredible, if Nack was just seaching for a fun time he'll get it there.

"I— What, ya think it's just for decoration or somethin'? Of COURSE it's supposed to be like that, ya dolt! Do you always go 'round judgin' strangers' teeth, or am I just a special case for ya? Sheesh! The nerve o' some folks! I swear...!"

❝ Honest mistake pal, —no need to get so worked up. ❞ The chameleon shrugged.

❝ Maybe I can make it up to you? I mean I've got nothing to do today, —you need a favor? ❞ Yooka didn't want the weasel to hate him just because he didn't think before he spoke.

In his experience purple mammals usually tolerate him pretty well.

“Really?” That gets Melody excited—hearing Yooka speak to her, and knowing that she’s wanted now for a chat instead. The fear that had been pulling at her eases its grip. Though she doesn’t come nearer, she flutters about like loose leaves tossed on a breeze.

❝ Are you kidding me? You're literally looking at one. ❞

—For pete's sake, he can't eat this thing, it's like eating a baby.  ───────────────  

Doesn't mean he can't grapple her down here though.

With absolutely no intention of eating her, Yooka used his tongue to grab Melody out of the sky and bring her down to his level in one fell swoop.

❝ ... ❞ He let her fly off his tongue peacefully, folding his arms as he stared at her hovering at his eye-level.

Admittedly now that he has the floor with her, he's not sure how to go about this⸻

❝ I wanted to say I'm sorry, you're a kid, and you don't even know better enough to know what I am. I can't eat you. ❞

This wasn't even to mention the fact a lot of the insects back at Shipwreck Creek and Tribalstack Tropics usually wanted to be munched by him.

Oh, how exciting! Even after running through the edge of the map and beyond, it seems like the scarlet creature had skidded to a stop in some sort of... unique-looking world. With an equally unique-looking friends here. Not that the larger reptile-looking monster is familiar with them, but by looking at the green one's tail alone...

Yes, this HAD to be a little one! Maybe! Why is it green?

Koraidon turns his head to the side and opts to lean forward and get a better look at both creatures. A purple... Noibat... and an odd looking small-sized Cyclizar?

Either way, while the two had shared a small quip back and forth, Koraidon's grin grew wider. A playful shine in the dragon-type's eyes.

"Agias-!"

With a soft noise, it unfurls its odd looking 'trills' into a sprawl of wings dyed with whites and blues. Arching upward, it seemed to be responding to Laylee's sudden motion of her wings.

❝ Oooo, Yooka! —translate what he's saying! ❞ Laylee commanded, being bossy.

❝ Laylee, we've been over this, I don't speak lizard. ❞ Yooka replied.

❝ What do you mean you "don't speak lizard"? You are a— ❞

Yooka sighed, he's being profiled for the second time today.

Now that the duo is standing directly in Koraidon's sight, Yooka couldn't really afford to get lost in his feelings on the matter, he put on a genuine smile and took Laylee's comments in stride.

❝ Hi, I'm Yooka, and this is Laylee. ❞ Yooka introduced the both of them to Koraidon.

❝ Full name: Laylee "The real hero of the story" esquire. ❞ Laylee said, wanting a complete stranger to know her purely by that mouthful of a title.

Yooka took this time to gingerly pet Koraidon on the snout, cuddling the larger lizard.

The tongue lands.

“AH!”

And he snatches away her acorn cap hat.

Yooka retracted his tongue like a spring-coil without much thought. Assuming he'd gotten his prize.

 ❝ ....❞

However, it didn't take the chameleon long to register that what laid on the tip of his tongue was just a small acorn cap.

—and so the chameleon was here. awkwardly standing, mouth agape like an image frozen in time.

Which had given Melody just enough time to get some needed distance from Yooka.

Not a single one of them deserved what happened to them. None of them had yet death came to them all the same. An undeserved death.

And it was all his fault, because Karik had asked questions he drew the attention of something terrible. Something able to control things from behind the curtain. They were sent on a scouting mission, but all they found was that thing! That monster was there waiting for them! Just like now! It was just like that day! The magical eye that lay unseen was there then too! Guiding the beast towards its prey! Towards their end.

Music

"Oh? Where did they go I wonder? Did you see them my pet? I thought for sure they came in this direction. It was rather amusing hahaha."

A snarl could be heard in response, the person then laughed to himself.

"You should have seen it! Like something from a cartoon! Karik is so amusing and stupid...but the reptile with him could be a problem. We have to make sure they are taken care of. How should we do it I wonder? You are rather hungry aren't you? Aww....so adorable you are."

Overhearing that, the now stonewall-textured chameleon didn't like his and Karik's odds of survival.

Still not able to say anything, the chameleon could only watch, and hope these mysterious clearly magically-inclined strangers and their ravenous pets would be fooled by Yooka's good'ol camouflage trick.

For Karik's sake, as long as the crying, panic-attacking koopa stayed behind Yooka's camouflage. The Koopatrol knight was just as invisible as the chameleon.

 ❝ ....❞

Weirdly, Yooka hadn't seen any sign of the monster(s?) yet. He could only hear them. —Their hunger, their footsteps, their sloshing jaws and their drool. They were eager to hunt Karik and Yooka like animals. It made the chameleon's heart race a mile a minute.

❝ ᴋᴀʀɪᴋ, —ᴡᴇ ɢᴏᴛᴛᴀ ɢᴇᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ʜᴇʀᴇ.❞ Yooka whispered as if his life depended on this information being passed to the Koopatrol knight without mincing.

The Magic Eye, used for the beast's owner to communicate to it while remaining completely unseen glowed with a sickly, threatening aura. Yooka wouldn't put it past that thing to be able to literally see them the same way a surveillance camera would.

Eventually he found what looked like a stone wall. Karik hid behind it but upon realising he was still tied to Yooka the knight quickly pulled Yooka towards himself before then trying to cover the reptile's mouth while making a gesture of silence. There was absolute terror upon the knight's face the kind of fear that only gods could put into someone.

Music

Yooka lifted his battered scaly body off the ground. His butt was full of skid marks, he's also a lizard with small orange back spines which had taken a beating thanks to Karik dragging him across the rocky Darkland ground at 8 miles per hour.

 ❝ !!!❞ Yooka's indignant attitude quickly faded, a flinching shock to the chameleon's nerves as he heard the sound of thundering, dinosaur-like footsteps approaching them.

Karik was hugging him for dear life. Yooka's mind was starting to run almost as wildly as whatever creature was making those sounds sounded GINOURMUS.

He couldn't scream, or else WHATEVER THAT WAS would find them, Yooka started slowly camouflaging himself into the stone wall as a natural chameleon fear response.

He grabs Karik's shivering, panic attacking form. Yooka's bare skin pressing against the cold metal armor. Karik had been exposed, and If Karik gets seen by that monster, that meant Yooka wasn't close behind to becoming it's next meal.

The chameleon covered the koopa in a perfectly replicated stone wall texture painted across the canvas of his own chameleon scales, if the two reptiles hadn't been relatively the same height this would have never worked.

"No its not that...I just felt..."

Karik was sure he felt the telltale sign of something watching him from somewhere. It was a spell Karik had become well aware of. An eye unseen by normal people but with how the spell was cast Karik could become aware since he was sure it had been used on him many times. Someone was scrying on him right now, he was sure of it. That could only mean one thing, they were up to something. This was very bad!

"Someone is watching...someone bad...I need to..."

Karik began running off his panic making him not aware the tail was still tied to him. It was a shell after all, so the sensation of touch didn't apply to Karik his shell was detachable despite how it looked.

"I have to get away from you! I'm going to cause you danger!"

 So close yet so far.

The chameleon almost had his freedom back, and him and Karik were no longer on bad terms. The only thing that was in the way now was Karik's backwards priorities from where Yooka was standing.

❝ Ok fine, just untie my— . ❞  Karik didn't untie his tail,

❝ !!!❞  —and Yooka was sent tumbling while attached to the fastest turtle to ever live.

How scary was this perceived threat that getting distance from it was such a necessity that Karik didn't have time to fully untie Yooka???

Yooka's tried to grip onto something to stop Karik to no avail. His fingers and toes grinding, his tail being stretched to it's excruciating limit to the point where it felt as if it could come off at it's hinge.

This turtle had put him through so much pain, so much stress, and just when they were seemingly coming to an understanding of each other he does this.

Yooka never wants to see a turtle again for the rest of his life.