Story NPC Chronicles

Long chapter ahead. Chapter title may sound familiar. :dryadcool:

Chapter 14 - How to kill all boss​

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Three days had passed since the Two Moons. Lunette went to see Garret early in the morning, and while a part of her mind was hoping he would have good news, she was ready for the worst. Or at least, for 'no news.'

"Sorry, there's no mention of Dryads being able to do what you did anywhere in my books."

Lunette sighed. 'No news' it was, then. "It's okay, there's still one more place where I can ask."

"So, you want to go to the jungle, then."

"Yeah, it's been a while since I visited my town."

"Things will be far more dangerous now."

"I know that, but I can't just sit around here doing nothing, I want to know what happened."

Amy walked in right then. "Oh, I knew I would find you here."

Lunette smiled as Amy hugged her from behind. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you up. Not like this was worth waking up early for, anyhow."

"So, nothing?"

Garret sighed. "Nothing. There isn't much information on Dryads to begin with."

"I'm going back to the Jungle. We'll have to kill that Plantera thing and whatever is locked inside that temple eventually, so..."

"You're in the mud to go visit your relatives, then," Amy said.

"That was a bad pun. I guess I'm a bad influence for you."

Bunny walked in right then, followed by the 'Hallow Kitty.' Oh, you guys are all here, that saves me time. Dawn wanted to gather the crew in the main hall."

"I wonder what she's up to," Lunette noted. "Let's go."

-----​

As the four walked in, they saw the rest of the group was waiting for them. Dawn was standing in the center of the room, with a strange, large contraption right besides her. "Okay, what the heck is that thing?"

"I've been working on this one for a while," Dawn said, "and now that you're all here, I can tell you what it is. Ever wanted to craft stuff while exploring? And I don't just mean wood platforms or torches, I mean complicated things."

Lunette looked at the artifact. It almost looked like... "That thing is a crafting station? But it's too bulky to carry in a backpack."

Dawn smiled at that and pressed a button on the artifact. It started folding into itself until all that was left was a small metal cube. "So, what do you think?"

"That's awesome!" Bunny said and hugged Dawn. "Now I can craft party stuff while exploring."

"Uh, yeah. And gear too," Dawn said, noticing the looks the others were giving them. "Also, I guess we never told them about..."

Bunny saw the only ones who weren't staring at them in surprise were Amy and Lunette. "Uh, guess we didn't."

"About time, girls," Lunette said with a smile.

Amy looked at Hope, then at Pearl. "I wonder..." She saw both girls looked at her with a blank expression, and chuckled. "Guess not."

"Anyhow," Dawn said, "I've built a few of these, but I wanted our resident speed craftgirl to try them out."

Lunette nodded. "And I wanted to see if I could make gear out of the wood and icy chunks left by these 'Moons' so it's win/win for me."

It took Lunette a whole two minutes to craft things with the portable station. It had everything she needed, a small forge, an anvil and a crafting table. Once she was done, she showed the others the result of her work. "It really works."

Bunny looked at the black suit of armor. It somehow reminded her of a spider. "Uh, that looks spooky."

"Spooky armor," Lunette mused. "Sounds like fun."

Dawn noticed Amy was looking at the armor, but didn't upset by it. "Hey, what-"

Amy walked to Lunette and took a good look at the armor. "I'm not afraid of spiders as long as I have this beautiful lady protecting me."

Lunette blushed. "Uh, I... You're the one who's beautiful."

"Get a room," Calvin joked. "Oh wait, you already did."

The Dryad frowned. "Keep that up and I'll make you an armor."

"How is that a punishment?" Bunny asked.

"I'll make him an armor. I think I'll call it the Greedy Bastard set."

"Oh..." Bunny flinched as she finally understood what her friend meant.

-----​

The group had decided to split for this mission. While Lunette, Amy and Hope went to the Jungle, Bunny, Dawn and Pearl were heading for the Dungeon. Bunny would have liked to help Lunette, but she couldn't pass a chance to have some fun with Dawn. Well, at least the 'fighty' kind of fun. "So, here we are again, huh?"

Pearl looked around. "This place looks quite empty."

"If I remember correctly, this place gets more crowded the deeper you go."

"That wouldn't be a problem, there's pits everywhere," Dawn commented. "Good thing Lune isn't here."

The trio leapt down one of the many pits, and used their wings to float down. Bunny was the first to land, and notice something. "Ooh, shiny!"

Dawn saw the large, flaming skull heading their way. "Where's a BFG when you need it?"

Bunny pulled out a small, white gun, and used it to shoot at the skull. It fell to the ground, encased in ice, and shattered in countless pieces. "Cool. Pun very intended."

"Guess that gun works."

"I'll call it the Frostynator."

"... Just don't call it that in front of Lune," Dawn muttered.

Just as they were about to resume their march, they saw a small group of skeletons heading their way. Unlike the ones they had seen during their last visit, these had armors and weapons. "That's a lot of skeletons."

Pearl sighed. "Time to test this beauty." She pulled out a bluish bow, and put an arrow in it, but instead of the arrow, the bow shot a bluish beam which vaporized all the skeletons. "I guess now I know why Lunette called this thing 'Tsunami.'"

"Oh? I thought it was 'Soon Amy.' Now it makes more sense."

Dawn stared at the Party Girl. "You do that on purpose, don't you?"

"Do what?"

"... Nothing." She sighed. She could be so damn silly at times, really... But she knew that, deep inside, her silliness had been one of the things that had made her like her.

"Oh hey, the same locked chests we saw before."

"Those locks don't look like any of the keys we've found," Dawn noted. Then again, they hadn't been looking for keys at all.

"Eh, we'll come back later and check them out." Bunny said. "What I'm interested in is this place's boss."

"Why?"

Bunny looked at Pearl. "It's a Paladin. Paladins use hammers. That means I could get me a new hammer from this fight."

"And we help saving the world, too."

Bunny shrugged. "Yeah, there's also that, I guess."

Suddenly, a purple beam hissed by over their heads. "Ah crap, more enemies?" The beam bounced on the wall and straight back at them, and the three girls had to dive out of the way. "Who's shooting those?"

Pearl looked around. "That guy." There was, indeed, a skeleton wearing a dark robe, and it was charging up for a second shot.

"Damn it, let's fry him."

Pearl smirked. "I don't think we need to shoot him at all." She took out the magic mirror, noticing the mage was about to shoot again. "Do your worst."

The skeleton complied, shooting another beam and cackling at them... Until it realized the mirror had reflected the beam straight back at it.

"That was cool," Bunny admitted.

"I don't like fighting much, but that doesn't mean I'll let some crappy mage shoot at me-" Pearl stopped and looked around, noticing there were ten skeletal mages around them now, along with several armored ones. "... Screw you, universe."

-----​

Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, another group of women was having a blast.

"Watch it!" Lunette shouted as a hornet exploded close to her.

"Sorry!" Hope shouted back, before turning to snipe another hornet out of the sky.

It was a very literal blast they were having, too.

Amy cringed "more of those stupid tortoises coming from the east."

"And more of those whatthe:red:s with the dumb eyes coming from the north."

Lunette frowned. "Let them come."

"But-"

"When I tell you, jump."

"You have a plan?" Hope asked. "I bet fifty gold coins that it will involve stuff getting blown up."

Lunette shrugged. "Only bet when you're sure you'll win, huh? I can agree to that. Anyhow... Jump!"

The three jumped up, using their wings to stay airborne, and their would-be attackers all looked up in confusion, until the hissing noise registered in their minds, and they looked down to see a huge bundle of hallowmite about to explode.

"Fikod would have loved to see that."

Hope flinched. "With the size of that explosion, he might have seen it from the base."

"Well, see the bright side, free turtle shells which I'm almost sure I can turn into gear, and also, an entrance to the underground."

"Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games..." Amy said.

"One of your books, I suppose?" Lunette asked. As Amy nodded, she smiled. "Someday you'll have to show me some of those books."

"After all this mess is done, I will."

Hope was shooting down the hole with her rifle. "I see dozens of hornets down there, along with some vines with big toothy mouths, some bugs crawling around... Orange walls..."

"Oh, the Temple. We need to kill that Plantera thing to get in."

Amy nodded. "To do that, we have to find one of the bulbs and destroy it."

"Piss a giant plant of doom off? Sounds like fun!" Hope said, not sounding excited at all.

-----​

The creature looked at the human and let out a growl. "You've summoned, now be ready to die."

Razor sighed. "Chill, you plant-for-brains. I'm on your side."

"On my side?" Plantera was confused. What was this human babbling about?

"Simon sent me, he's trying to revive his Master. I'm not here to fight you, but there's a trio of dumb girls floating around these mossy caves right now-"

"Yes, I can sense them."

"Go kill them, so your Master can return."

Plantera let out a sound which was close to a chuckle. "Oh, I will."

Razor saw the giant bulb crawl up the walls and away, and smirked. "No, you won't. I'm starting to get what this Simon kid is doing... And if I'm right, Plantera, the blockhead inside that temple, and the knight-wannabe in the dungeon are all screwed." Still, he wondered if that 'Fishron' creature would be strong enough to defeat the NPCs. They had grown stronger, much stronger than he anticipated. Still, he was now beyond their- No, he was done being the fool who overestimated his foes. He would be ready, should they try to stop Simon's plans. Should they stop him from doing the only thing he had really wanted since he arrived here. To leave, to go back home. If he had to play villain to achieve his goal, he would play villain.

-----​

They had explored every inch of the Dungeon. It was easy to tell, as they had lighted up every explored area with a torch. "So, where the heck is that dumb boss?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know, Garret said the only thing needed to find it was to explore this place."

Pearl looked at one of the nearby walls. "Wait, why is..."

"What? That's just one of our torches."

Pearl examined the torch and shook her head. "No, this isn't made of boreal wood, but of pearlwood." She grabbed the torch, and as she did, the wall slid down, revealing a hidden passage. "Well, I'll be damned."

"Nice going, Pearl!" Dawn said. "Let's get that knighty guy."

"I'm a Paladin, not a Knight. There's a difference."

Dawn looked at the rather large man (was it even a man, or a skeleton?) with the equally large hammer. "And what is that difference?"

"We Paladins are much more awesome than those crappy knights."

Bunny sighed. "I know you're trying to explain stuff, but all I hear is 'blah blah blah I'm stupid kill me now blah blah blah'"

"I'll show you stupid!" The Paladin snapped, jumping up and using the fall's speed to slam its hammer close to the three women, knocking them all back. "Pathetic humans, you will never defeat me."

"You know," Dawn commented, "I liked it more when these idiots didn't speak at all."

"Agreed," Bunny said, and pulled out a large bundle of hallowmite. "Eat this!"

The Paladin let out a chuckle. "No, you."

Dawn saw the enemy hit the explosives with its hammer, sending them straight back at a very confused Bunny. "Move!"

Bunny picked herself up after the explosion, wondering just why she wasn't out cold. She then saw Dawn was down, the front of her armor quite singed. "Damn... You..."

Pearl
took out several healing potions. "I'll help her, you get that bastard."

Bunny grabbed a jar full of candies from her backpack. "You bet I will."

"Not the time to eat candies, girl," Pearl commented.

"Oh, you have never seen me on a sugar high, have you?" Bunny said as she started gulping the candies down. "Things may get crazier than usual," she said, then smiled. "Oh yeah, I can feel it already!"

The Paladin saw the pink-haired girl run straight at him. Unarmed. Just what was that idiot thinking? Oh who cared, an easy kill was an easy kill. "Die!" it shouted as it swung the hammer. Then it noticed the Hammer had been stopped mid-swing. "What?"

Bunny was clutching the hammer with one hand. "The thing about me and candies, Pearl," she explained, "is that when I'm on a sugar high I'm faster and stronger, and don't quite feel pain. In short, I can stomp on morons like this one in no time!"

The Paladin tried to pull its hammer back, but it was as trying to pry it out of a brick wall. "Damn it, what's going on?"

Bunny pulled on the hammer, sending the Paladin flying up. She then looked up and tossed the hammer up, smashing the Paladin into the roof. The hammer flew back down to her hand, and she turned to Pearl just as the Paladin fell to the ground with a loud, crushing noise. "I was hoping that moron would put up more of a fight."

"Bunny, watch-" Pearl warned, but then had to blink to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. The Party Girl had swung the hammer back, and her foe's head was sent crashing through a wall, helmet and all. "Wow."

"She can be quite amazing when she gets high on sugar, huh."

Bunny smiled, seeing Dawn was conscious. "Thank you for saving me, but... I hate to see you hurt."

"Likewise, that's why I saved you."

Pearl looked around the room, then saw Bunny was returning to normal already. "Wait, just how did you-"

Bunny let out a giggle. "I've been doing that for quite some time, so I can guess how much sugar I need to get me through most fights."

"That's crazy," Dawn said, "which means it's normal for you."

Bunny looked at her new weapon. "Know what, I thought coming here would be pointless, but I got this hammer."

Dawn nodded. "It looks like a certain hammer of legend, the Mjollnir."

"Huh? Who would call it that, it's a mouthful! I'll just call it Paladin's Hammer."

Pearl looked at her friend for a few seconds before shrugging. "Close enough."

-----​

"So, what are we looking for here?" Hope asked, looking around. It was a rather huge cave, but not different from the rest of the underground jungle. Trees, mud and more mud.

"This... I don't understand," Lunette said.

Hope looked at the Dryad, not quite sure what the problem was. They were now wearing armors made from the shells of the many turtles they had killed, and they had also found a strange, green metal - which Lunette called Chlorophyte - and the Dryad had crafted weapons out of them - including a pair of polearms which shot slow-moving clouds of a greenish gas. The others had seen it cause many hornets to drop to the ground, twitching. The Nurse had new bullets for her weapon, as did Hope, and the bullets made with the new ore were capable of homing in on enemies. So, as far as gear went, the trip had been rather rewarding. Still, Lunette didn't seem thrilled right now. "Lunette?"

Amy walked to Lunette. "I think I know why we're here. This... You wanted to find your village, right?"

"It- I remember the path here, I used to go out to hunt every few days when I Was younger. The village should be here, so why-"

Amy saw her friend's face go pale. "Lune, what's wrong?"

"I can't... I can't remember how my parents looked like, or how the village looked like. What's going on?"

"Ah :red:, we have bigger problems now. Way bigger."

Amy turned to look at the cave's entrance. There was a huge bulb-like creature there, crawling in with its equally huge vines. "Plantera."

Lunette glared at the creature. "What have you done to my village?"

"Your village?" Plantera exclaimed. "I have no idea what you're babbling about."

"I know you must know something about-"

"Shut up already. It's rude for food to speak."

The three flew up to dodge the vines, but saw Plantera was shooting pink seeds at them - each as large as a fist - and Amy gasped as she saw the seeds punched through the muddy walls. "So is spitting at people," the Nurse snapped before shooting at the giant plant.

Plantera wasn't dodging, those attacks would not do a thing against it. "Pitiful humans, you can't win this."

Hope was shooting at the giant plant with two sniper rifles. "We'll need more firepower for this one."

"Just keep on shooting," Lunette said and took out the portable crafting station.

"We'll keep it busy," Amy said, then dodged a green seed. "Ugh, green?" The seed exploded against a wall, releasing a foul-looking green gass. "That must be poison."

Hope switched her rifles for two Megasharks. Her wings strained to keep her stable against the knockback of the two guns, but she managed to hit Plantera countless times before she had to dodge a barrage of pink and green seeds. "I'm gonna make a salad out of this thing."

Plantera roared. "Enough! Time to die, humans!" It started shooting large, spiky seeds at them. They were spherical, and bounced on walls, which made them quite hard to dodge.

Lunette flew up a minute later, and they could see she had two large, blue spears. Though they were different, one had an icy spearhead, while the other had a mushroom-shaped one. "Hey, what-"

The Dryad smiled at Hope. "I was keeping a few of the Frost Moon drops with me, and some of those blue mushrooms. I'll explain later." She stabbed forwards with both spears, one of them released an icy projectile which dropped ice shards as it went, while the other left behind a beam of ghastly mushrooms. Both attacks hit Plantera at the same time, and the creature howled in pain. "Aw, did I hurt the pretty flower?"

Plantera roared again, this time much louder, and its petals fell off, revealing a large mouth filled with green fangs. "I admit I underestimated you before. Shall I start fighting you in earnest?"

Amy saw several, smaller "mouths" shoot out, connected to Plantera by thin vines. "This is going to reek."

Hope saw Plantera shooting several pink seeds, but these were unlike the ones it had been using before, they changed directions as they dodged them, much like their own Chlorophyte bullets. "I agree."

Lunette saw Plantera lunging at her and let out a growl. "I don't have time for this crap!" she shouted before diving right at the plant, spears-first. Her two spears shot their attacks into the creature's mouth, and the plant boss screamed in pain as the blasts tore straight through it.

Amy saw Lunette flying right through the giant monster's corpse, and she seemed to have a lot more green on her than usual. "Ugh, that must have hurt it."

"I hope it did," Lunette noted. "Now..."

"Are you okay?" Amy asked.

Lunette knew what her friend meant. "I'm... Still confused, but I'll solve this mystery later. We have to see what's inside that temple." As she said that, she showed the others an orange key.

"We'll help with that."

Amy turned to see the three other girls where there. "Huh? You're done with the Dungeon?"

Bunny pulled out her new hammer. "Yeah, it wasn't easy, but I-" She noticed Lunette was visibly upset. "Lune, what's wrong?"

"This place... This is where my village should be," Lunette said. "There should be some trace of it, but there's nothing."

"Perhaps you should go back to the base-" Pearl started.

"No. I promised Amy I would not run away again. I won't break that promise."

"Just be careful, okay?" Amy said.

"Yeah. Let's go, the Temple awaits."

-----​

Yes, the more these fools struggled, the more strong creatures they defeated, the stronger it became. They didn't know yet, they thought they were going to save the world, but their foolish campaign would be pointless. As pointless as all those other groups it had faced before. Let them enter the Temple, let them defeat that Golem, and then they would discover the truth. Soon, they would all be dead, and another era of chaos would begin. Soon...

My plans for the ending changed slightly, so I'll have to rewrite a few scenes. I had first thought of adding the Temple scenes to this chapter, but I think this way it'll work better. I may split the final chapter in two if it grows too long, so this story could end in the next chapter, or get a sixteenth chapter... Time will tell.
 
Fun fact: I wasn't planning on using all the NPCs, notice there's still no mage or witch doctor, and the pirate's been limited to one or two lines through the whole story.

To be honest initially I just planned to have the six girls, the Guide, the Arms Dealer and the Demolitionist.
 
You'll notice a small number below your posts, right next to the like/quote/reply links. Yours says #128, for example. If you put your mouse over these numbers, you'll see they're links. I simply copy-paste that link.
 
This story was a lot of fun to write. In any case, here it is, the final chapter... And also the longest chapter of this saga. Enjoy.

Chapter 15 - The Lunar.​

-----​

The Temple wasn't quite different to the Dungeon, except it seemed that instead of fifty monsters per trap, its builders had opted for making it fifty traps per monster. Lunette dodged a fire blast coming from a nearby wall for the fifth time, and frowned. "Damn it, we're gonna get killed at this rate."

Dawn nodded. "Fortunately, I built something in case we found a place as trap-ridden as this one." She tossed a box out of her backpack, and it turned into a bot with many arms, each sporting a tool of some kind.

"What the heck is that?"

"A Trapbot. It will locate and disable each and every trap in this place."

"Can it disable clap traps?" Bunny mused.

Amy saw the robot was already making quick work of the corridor they were in. One difference with the Dungeon was that this place was no maze, there was just one main path, with a few rooms along the way. The corridors always ended in large holes, which led to new corridors.

"What do you think we're going to find at the end of this Temple?"

"A Golem, which will hopefully drop a few good items when we kill it."

Amy smiled at Lunette. "Feeling better?"

"Not really, but I'll worry about that when we're done here."

There had been a few chests along the way, and a few humanoid lizards, the only interesting thing they had dropped were some kind of strange glass and metal cylinders. The substance within these cylinders was glowing, and they at first confused it for some sort of explosive, but after Bunny's field testing - tossing a cylinder at one of the creatures - they knew the substance inside wasn't volatile... However, judging by how the lizard doused in that substance had gone from solid to bubbling goo in five seconds, it was still useful as a weapon, and something to be handled with extreme caution.

"So, what do we find after a hole and a long corridor? Another hole! Ready for another corridor?"

Pearl looked down, giggling at Hope's thinly veiled critique of the building. "Wait, this-" She dropped a torch down, and whistled as she watched it fall. "For this one, we'll need our wings."

"That tall, huh?" Dawn noted. A fall longer than all the previous ones was an anomaly, and where there was an anomaly, there could be more. Better safe than sorry, as the saying went. "Let me get another bot for this one." The robot that appeared this time had small thrusters, and a quite potent light in its front. "Better to know what we'll find down there," the Mechanic said and tossed the robot down the hole. She then took a small device out of her backpack, and everyone could see images being played in it.

"Oh, that thing sees what the robot sees?" Bunny guessed.

"Yeah." Dawn let the robot explored around for a while. No enemies down there, but it was a single, very large room, and the only features visible were the spikes on the walls - her trapbot was already dealing with those - and a large altar with small crystals adorning it, their glow similar to that of the substance inside the cylinders. "Okay, if I were to make a wild guess, that altar is used to summon Golem, and these cylinders we found are the key."

Pearl frowned. "But we got a lot of those and only need one to summon that thing."

"We don't know if we'll only need one," Amy noted, "and I'm sure we could craft bullets or thrown weapons filled with that goo."

Bunny grinned. "So, they would be... Goolets and Goonades?"

Lunette cringed. "Really, leave the name choosing to others."

"Okay, the room's clear," Dawn said. The group flew down and could see the room was poorly illuminated, quite a contrast with the rest of the building. The girls set several torches around the walls, and once they were content with the lighting levels, they all gathered around the altar.

Amy was examining the altar's top. "Hmmm... There's six holes on it about as big as these 'capsules.'"

"Six holes?" Bunny frowned. "That's a coincidence, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Lunette said. She looked at the holes, which were forming a circle around a central crystal. She then took a capsule and placed it in one of the holes, and it started glowing brighter. "Let's see what happens when the circle is complete."

As the Dryad planted the sixth capsule, the whole room started shaking, its very bricks dislodging themselves from the walls and converging right above the altar. Slowly, but steadily, the bricks formed a giant, somewhat humanoid creature.

"Orange, huge, bright red eyes... Yup, we summoned ourselves a Golem," Dawn said.

"Aww, he's kinda cute. Not in the 'cute puppy' way but the 'so freaky it's cute' way."

Amy looked at Bunny and then shook her head. "I don't know what's worse, your crazy talk, or the fact I'm expecting it to happen."

The Golem stared at the group with its red eyes as it fell besides the altar. It then started talking in an unknown language.

"Uh, sorry, what?"

The Golem looked at Pearl for a few seconds before coughing loudly. "I apologize, I forgot such primitive beings would of course utilize a primitive language."

"I'm not sure if he's being polite or rude," Hope commented.

"Probably both," Lunette said. "Let's just destroy that thing."

"Destroy me? Hahahahaha! Not only is that unlikely, but... Do you have any idea what you're about to bring unto this world, Dryad?"

"I know I'll turn you to brick dust, then make sushi out of some giant fish, and then live happily ever after."

The giant laughed again. "So naive, so ignorant. So unlike our master."

"Hmph, as if a flying fish would be smart..."

That caused another round of laughter from the Golem. "Fool, Fishron is not the master."

"Then who is?"

The Golem stared at Amy. "You will all find out in due time... And wish you never had."

"Hmph, enough with the diplomacy," Bunny snapped, holding a jar of candies. "Time for some forceful negotiations!"

Dawn saw her girlfriend downing the whole jar of candies, and saw the usual effect was almost immediate this time around. "Cue the superbunny."

Hope saw the Party Girl rush at the Golem, who tried to punch her out with its fists - which it could shoot out and recall, much like boomerangs made of stone. "He's distracted, get him!"

A barrage of attacks from the other five girls knocked the Golem back, and Bunny smiled creepily as the creature staggered up. "You weren't that tough."

"I'm not down yet," the Golem snapped.

Bunny chuckled. "Look down, rocky."

The Golem looked down and saw a large pack of metalic sticks were attached to it with gel. "Oh fu-"

"And stay down!" Bunny snapped.

Lunette was about to cheer, but then saw the Golem's head floating up, its body rising again. Where its head used to be, there was a large, red crystal. "Should have expected a second phase."

The Golem's head started shooting lasers from its eyes as it floated around the room, and the body jumped up, falling quite close to Dawn, who had to dive to the side to avoid being crushed.

Bunny, however, was still not done with her sugar high. She grabbed her new hammer, tossing it straight at the Golem's crystal, and smashing right through it. "I think told you to stay the :red: down."

As the Golem's body exploded, its head fell near Lunette. "Foolish... Dryad. You always..."

Lunette stared at the head as it fell silent, and then surprised everyone by kicking it up, then using her two spears to blast it to pieces. "If you're going to say something, don't die halfway through it, damn it!"

Amy sighed. "Did anything useful drop?"

Dawn was holding two items. One of the Golem's fists in one hand, and a rather large, orange pickaxe in the other. "Hmm, this pick..." She walked to a wall and hit it with the pickaxe, dislodging a brick right off it. "Well, now we can loot this whole place, literally."

"Why would we want the bricks?"

Dawn looked at Pearl. "I don't know, perhaps the whole 'most resilient building material we ever found' thing could clue you in."

Lunette took out her mirror. "Let's get out of here."

-----​

As the group appeared near the base, Lunette sighed. "I have to give some things a lot of thought, so-" she stopped as she heard Dawn's gasp, and turned to see Bunny kneeling on the ground, a line of blood coming from her mouth. "Bunny!"

The Party Girl staggered up slowly. "I- I'll be fine, just need a health potion. I've never used my 'sugar high' twice the same day."

"Let me heal you," Amy said.

Lunette sighed. "Fortunately, we're done with the fighting for today."

"Oh, I wouldn't bet on that."

The Dryad turned to see someone she really wasn't in the mood to see. "Oh, hi there, :red:face."

"Still the same obnoxious imbecile," Razor snapped.

"Shut up and die!" Lunette said and swung both spears in Razor's direction. Razor simply stood there, taking the hits, and smiling. "Oh, I guess you've also geared up."

"I'm not here to fight you," Razor said, then leaned to the side quickly, barely avoiding a sniper shot. "... No, seriously."

"If you don't want to fight, you should just leave."

"Nah, I think I'll stay and enjoy the joke. Yo, fishpig!"

A giant, flying fish appeared, its face that of a pig, its body that of a shark. It looked down at Razor and growled. "Insolent human, I will not tolerate-"

"Shut the hell up," Razor snapped, "I could turn you into sushi in a blink, but I think it will be more fun to see you tear those dumb :red:es to pieces."

The rest of the NPCs walked out, noticing things were not looking good. "Oh joy, Fishron."

Calvin looked at Garret. "See the bright side, it's the last one."

Fishron laughed at that. "You are always so naive... It will be fun to kill you again."

"Again?" Lunette asked, "but we never-" Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her head, and dropped to her knees. "Ugh, what is-"

"I see. Things are indeed going as planned."

Bunny saw a new enemy was there. "Who's the brat?"

"My name is Simon, and I'm not here to fight you. I just wanted to have a first row seat for the end of the world."

"Well, that's not happening," Lunette snapped. "We're going to kill this huge fish."

"You might be able to, yes," Simon said.

Lunette looked at the 'boy.' His eyes made it clear, this was not a child, those eyes were eyes of someone who had been alive for longer than even she had been. Still, what was he not telling them?

Bunny took out another jar of candies. "Oh well..."

"No!" Dawn grabbed the jar. "Don't do that!"

"It'll be fine, I-" Bunny stopped as Dawn silenced her with a kiss.

"We'll defeat that fish, as a team."

"But I-"

"You ended up coughing blood after using it twice. I don't want to find out what will happen if you use it thrice the same day."

Bunny was about to protest, but saw the way Dawn was looking at her. She sighed. Normally, the old Bunny, would have done it anyways. They could respawn, right? But... No, if being reckless would hurt Dawn like that, then it wasn't worth it. "I get it, let's get that fish."

Fishron laughed. "Let's see if you can defeat me." It shot bubbles out of its mouth, which drifted quickly towards its foes. The NPCs were smart enough not to let the bubbles hit, but the bubbles exploded violently, and the explosion's force knocked several of them out. "Hmph, so useless."

Dawn saw Bunny was down and growled at the fish. "Damn you!" She tossed a dozen boxes around, all of them turning into small robots with jets and guns. "Eat lasers, moron!"

The fish wasn't fast enough to dodge, but it didn't need to dodge. "Oh, so we're doing summons now? Let me show you how it's done." Several blobs of water fell off the monster's fins, and small tornados formed where they hit. The tornados shot out sharks in all directions, knocking out even more of the heroes.

Lunette looked around. Dawn was out cold, Pearl was clucthing a wound in her left arm, the only male NPC still up was Fikod, and Amy was the only other ally who had been able to dodge all the attacks. "As expected of a final boss, that thing is tough."

Fishron laughed. "Final boss, me? Tell me, Dryad, do you even remember your home and your parents?"

"How do you... What did you do to them?"

The fish stared at Lunette evenly. "I am a powerful being, yes, but even I cannot harm that which does not exist."

Lunette gasped at that, feeling yet another wave of pain in her mind. "What does that even mean- Why is- NO!"

Again, another green wave shot out of Lunette's body. Fishron wasn't killed by it, but blood started falling from its mouth. "Heh... Once again, the world is about to end."

"Once again?" Amy glared and looked up at Fishron. Lunette was still clutching her head, and was visibly in pain. "Damn it, I'm not going to let you toy with the one I love." She grabbed Lunette's Mushroom Spear and Hope's sniper rifle, sticking the spear's pole inside the gun's barrel. She then took aim at the fish, who was making no move to dodge. "Die already."

The spear shot right through its target, and Fishron laughed weakly, spitting blood as it did. "So foolish... Killing me will seal your fate, as it has... Many times before..."

As the fish fell down to the ground - shaking the area violently - Amy turned to her friend. "Lune, are you okay?"

Simon laughed. "She's better than never before, trust me. She's recalling who she really is."

"Who she really-"

"Stupid Nurse. Tell me, can you really remember your life before coming to this place? If you really focus, can you remember details? Can you remember your parents?"

"What are you saying?" Amy asked, but then felt it, a pain in her mind. "Ugh. Damn it, I can't- What are you doing to our minds?"

"Me? I'm doing nothing at all. You never really remembered any of that, dear Nurse. You were too busy with your 'mission' to really focus, so you would have never noticed. But now, the truth must be out."

Most of the other NPCs had awoken, and Bunny looked at Amy in shock. "Amy, I..."

Amy saw the Party Girl was scared. "Bunny, calm down."

"How can I- He's right, I can't remember a thing!"

Lunette stood up, but her face showed them she wasn't in pain anymore. "It's always like this, huh? You guys simply can't figure it out on your own. See, there's nothing to remember. You didn't exist before coming to this place."

"We didn't-" Amy could see it now. All the 'memories' of going to a medic school, of living in a town, they were all gone. Her first real memory was waking up in this world, near the base. "Damn it, what's going on?"

Lunette smiled, looking at Garret. "Do you remember the name of the one who wrote that 'legend' we've been following?"

"Duter Letthadeny."

The Dryad chuckled. "Exactly. I know one of you is good with anagrams, because she always gets it when she pays attention to that name."

Bunny stared at Lunette in shock. "Can't be..."

Lunette stared back at her, amused. "Tell them."

"That book's author... The name's an anagram of 'Lunette The Dryad.'"

"What?"

Lunette laughed. "Let me explain a few things to you, my 'fellow' NPCs." She didn't mind Razor and Simon being there, it was all part of the game, and Razor would be yet another outsider she would have used for the sake of her own amusement. "See, this world exists because I willed it to. I created this world to amuse me, but the old 'good versus evil' crap got too old, too fast. So I changed things a bit, spiced things up, bringing outsiders here and giving them a group of allies, making them fight creatures I've created for my amusement. But even then, it wasn't that much fun, and they always won in the end, which was, honestly, :red:ing boring."

"So that's what the Chosen One bull:red: was about," Razor said.

"Yes. However, I found a way to make things more fun. I would be a part of the team, locking my own real memories here and creating fake memories, just as I had with the others. Then I would help the Chosen One until they defeated all bosses. I linked their defeats to my awakening, so that when the heroes thought the battle won, they would face something they could not stop. They would face the Lune, or as I called it in my book, the 'Lunar.'"

Amy could feel tears forming. "But... This was all a lie, then?"

Lunette smiled at her, but her smile was cold, unemotional. "No, the Lunette you met, she's not me, she's her own person. It's always fun to see how that goes. Sometimes she's a berserker creature, sometimes she just stays in the base and does nothing... Heck, most of the time, none of you fight, and the world is slowly, clumslily saved by the Chosen One. I must say I like this better, to see an actual team pull through all that. It's always different, however, so next time things may play differently."

"Wait, you're talking about next time, the past... Does it mean-"

Lunette interrupted Dawn. "This is far from the first time I reset everything. It will be far from the last, too."

Razor looked at Lunette, then walked to the NPCs. "I propose a truce."

"What?" Amy asked.

"Listen, what this chick's doing? She sounds like a major :red: to me. I may be one too, but even I have morals. So what do you think, should we stop this :red: before she 'resets' this place?"

"Why would you help us?" Calvin asked, "there's nothing in it for you, she'll probably send you back home."

"I will send him back, once I defeat you all," Lunette agreed, "and it's good to see the Chosen One switch sides again. The one time in the past where one of you turned, she stayed evil until I 'killed' her. It was a pity to have to send one of you back before the game ended."

"Game?" Bunny almost shouted. "That's what we are to you? Just a game?"

"That's wrong. The Lunette I love would not-"

Lunette looked at Amy, and her stare was enough to silence her. It was a cold, emotionless stare, a stare of someone who felt nothing for the other person. "That Lunette ceased to exist the moment the real me awakened. So, are you ready for the Endgame?"

Razor took out a couple large, golden swords. "You're one cruel :red:. You remind me of an ex-girlfriend of mine. Guess this will be an enjoyable fight for me!"

Lunette saw Razor jump straight at her, and smiled before phasing to the side. She then punched the man, sending him flying straight through a tree, then saw the NPCs were all aiming their weapons at her. "Just as planned. You were brought here to entertain me. Please do. A word of caution, however, now that I'm back, none of you will be respawning. Not until I reset this world, but that won't matter to your current versions."

Dawn saw Bunny was holding two jars of candies. "Wait, don't do it!"

Bunny looked at Dawn sadly. "I... You heard what she said. Things won't be the same next time. I would rather die than lose what we have."

"Bunny, we can-"

"We have to hit her with all we've got," Bunny said. "We have to if we want to stop her."

"You won't stop me," Lunette snapped.

"We will see that, won't we?" Bunny snapped back, then ate the two jars of candies. "Oh hell yeah, now this is a rush!"

Pearl saw Bunny vanish and blinked. "What happened?"

Lunette was sent flying back by something unseen. "Hmph! As impressive as always, Party Girl!"

"Name's Bunny, :red:," Bunny said before appearing right behind Lunette, and knocking her upwards with a kick.

"In this loop, yes," Lunette said.

"Now, fire!"

The rest of the crew all shot their best weapons at Lunette. Razor, who had recovered in time to see the Party Girl's gamble, took out several white discs, and threw them at his foe. The combined power of all the attacks knocked her to the ground, and Lunette laughed as she knelt on the ground.

"She's laughing after that beating?"

Bunny appeared next to Lunette, holding her two hammers "She won't be laughing once I crush her damn head!"

Amy cringed. "Wait, Bunny, don't!"

"What-"

"I'm sure there's a way to bring our Lunette back."

"We have no time for your delusions," Razor snapped.

"You have no time at all," Lunette noted, "I guess I should have known... This group is strong, just like the first one, but still different. It's the second time I have to use my true power."

Bunny saw Lunette vanish, and waited for an attack, however, she heard a gasp, and looked to the side to see the Dryad had Simon in a stranglehold. "What are you doing?"

"I usually leave a small fragment of my consciousness inside me, but I also have one ally, an NPC who may choose to help the hero or hinder them by making them waste time in fool's errands. Still, there was one time I needed the power I had given him, for the NPCs and the Chosen One had allied against me. Guess this will be one such time, again.

"Master... Why...?"

Lunette looked at Simon coldly. "Lunette says die."

Amy had to look away as the Angler was vaporized, the 'smoke' left was absorbed by Lunette, who now had two pairs of green wings on her back. "Lune..."

"Damn it, Amy, that's not Lunette anymore! Lunette's gone, don't you get it!"

"No, I can't... I won't accept that."

"Foolish Nurse," Lunette said, "you should listen to your friends."

Amy looked down. "If she is really gone, then go ahead, reset this damn thing."

"Amy?" Bunny was shocked, Amy was someone she respected as much as the Dryad - well, before she turned into a :red: from hell, anyways - so she couldn't believe she would give up. "Amy, no, you can't give up!"

"What's the point?" Amy asked.

Bunny growled at that. "And you called Lunette a coward back then?"

"What?"

"Seriously. Do you think Lune... You think our Lune would have been happy if you just give up? Perhaps you're right, perhaps there is a way to bring her back, but if you just let her kill us all, then you will, for sure, never see her again. Is that what you want?"

Amy was shocked, and a bit angry at herself. But Bunny was right, giving up was not something she had ever been good at. She grabbed Lunette's 'North Pole' spear and her own Megashark, and glared up at the Dryad. "Right, if I want her back, I'll have to get through to her."

Lunette laughed. "Fool... Loyal to your lover to the end, but still a fool." She rose her arm, a green ball of energy forming, and rose it to aim at the Nurse. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then her arm kep rising until it was pointed straight at her former ally. "Any last words?"

Razor smirked. "How about 'die already, :red:?" As he said that, all the heroes shot at the Dryad at the same time, but their enemy didn't even seem to notice the hits. "... Well, that didn't work, I guess."

Amy was looking at Lunette. Was there really nothing they could do? Was she invincible? No, there had to be a way, they could- Her train of thoughts was derailed as she felt something, her mind registering what had happened a second after it happened. Lunette had shot at her, a green beam of energy, and it had pierced right through her heart.

"Amy!"

Dawn glared at Lunette as Bunny went to check on the Nurse. That :red:, she wanted to kill her now, it didn't matter if she had once been their- Wait, why wasn't Lunette moving?

"Amy..."

Bunny looked up at the Dryad. "Lune?"

"I... What did I... No, get out of my head you :red:! You don't exist!"

Razor saw Lunette fall to the ground, holding her head. "What the hell..."

Bunny looked at the Dryad, then at Amy. "She... She was right. Guess the old Lune was still there."

"But she's just-" Razor frowned. "Oh screw it. After giant eyes, flying fish and a wall made of gore, I really shouldn't try to make sense of this place anymore."

The Dryad finally stood up, looking at Amy. "I... I don't even know if I can undo what I've done, but at least I can..." She flinched as green 'smoke' started pouring out of her skin, forming a large, green cloud. "... I can destroy what did this to her."

The cloud laughed, rapidly condensing into another Dryad. This one, however, had withered leaves for an armor, and her eyes and hair were a sickly yellow instead of the normal green. "Fool, you are nothing!"

"Are you sure? I am you. I know everything you know. I have the same powers as you have."

The evil Lunette chuckled coldly at that. "So what? We are equal in power, are you saying we should just fight until one of us dies? Why would I take that risk when I can just reset it all right here, right now?"

Lunette smiled. "You said it yourself. You're bored. You've... We've been bored for centuries. Reset this, and you may never find someone like me, someone who could really defeat you, someone you can fight without taking victory for granted. Would you rather be eternally bored, instead?"

The evil Lunette frowned for a few seconds, before smiling - and for once, it was a honest smile. "I see your point. If I lose, I'll stop being bored, and if I win, it will still be the most fun I've had in the last few centuries."

As the two Dryads faced off, the group could only watch. Their battle was frantic, with both flying around and shooting at each other, sometimes going for melee, but neither scored any hits. These two Dryads were evenly matched, but Lunette's friends knew shooting at the evil Dryad would be pointless, their weapons had proven useless against her, and it could distract their Lunette.

Bunny suddenly looked at her Paladin's Hammer. Was it shining?

Lunette sighed as both Dryads stopped. They were both quite exhausted, and yet neither had managed to hit the other even once. "I am, much despite myself, quite like you. I hate being bored, and enjoy fighting more than I should. But I found something else, something you never had, something you will never have, or understand. I have things you don't, and that is why I will win this battle."

The evil Dryad looked at her foe, not hiding her amusement. "And what is that, dear 'Lune'?"

"She has friends," a voice said. "FIRE!"

The evil Dryad barely had time to register whose voice that was before a barrage of attacks hit her from all sides "You... Cheater..."

"I didn't cheat, you knew each and every one of my powers, for they are yours," Lunette said. "And yet, you underestimated my friends, because they're not me. Because you were so blinded by your own power, that you never thought those you created could end you. Omnipotence doesn't exist, you just thought you had it."

"I see..." the evil Dryad said. Let her speak, let her blabber about her own power. She smiled. Lune's talk would soon turn against herself, as soon as she recovered-

Lunette chuckled. "I know what you're thinking. Now you know better, so all you have to do is recover and kill them, then kill me. Right?"

The evil Dryad showed, for the first time ever, fear in her face. "... I can't..."

"Be proud, 'goddess,'" Lunette said, "in a way, you defeated yourself."

"But... I created this! I created all of you! Even you, Lunette, you are me! I can't lose! I can't die! It's not fair!"

Lunette stopped at that. Fair? This creature was talking about fairness? Someone who would create an entire universe just for her amusement, to do as she pleased with it? What right did this monster have to talk about fairness? "If you think it's not fair, you should complain to the creator. Oh wait, that's you. Sucks to be you, huh?"

"No, wait, I-"

Lunette sighed and turned, walking to the other NPCs. Amy was about to ask Lunette why she hadn't finished her 'evil twin' off, when the other Dryad was swallowed by light. "It's done."

"So you... Are our Lunette?"

To answer Bunny's question, Lunette walked to Amy and gave her a long, deep kiss. "The one and only. At least from now on."

"But you still have access to all those powers-"

"Yes, but I... I think I know what I... The other me... Ugh, it's confusing to talk about this. Anyhow, what 'we' always wanted was right in front of 'our' eyes, yet... She never saw it. She didn't need those powers to be happy."

Amy saw the way Lunette was looking at her and blushed. "I guess I'm a goddess' girlfriend, then? Oh my..."

Lunette chuckled, then saw Razor walking to her. "I apologize for this whole mess."

Razor stopped and blinked at her. "Wow, I never expected such words to come from you, Lunette."

"The me who had no idea what this whole world was about? Guess we didn't get along at all, huh?"

Razor chuckled. "Such an understatement. So, anyhow... You can do what that Simon kid told me you could, right?"

"Send you back? Yeah. Whenever you're ready."

"Will I be able to keep all this gear?"

"No."

"... Crud. What about my memories?"

"I would say no, but back in your world, who would believe you if you told them this really happened?"

"Heh, guess you're right. I'm not in the mood to end up in a padded room."

"So, you ready to go?"

"Almost... There's one last thing I wanted to ask of you."

"What is that?"

"You, me, a fight to first blood. No superpowers."

"Just for fun?"

"Just for fun. I don't expect to win, but I always loved clashing heads with things I knew were stronger than me."

"Sounds like a deal, then," Lunette said. The fight that followed was short, but rather intense...

-----​

Hours later, Amy and Lunette were watching the sunset from the base's roof. "That guy was a good fighter, after all."

"He was."

"You let him win."

Lunette smiled. "Let's put it this way: I pretended I was giving it my all and still got beaten by him, and he pretended he didn't know I was letting him win."

"Hah, aren't you the benevolent goddess..."

"I won't use those powers anymore, tho."

"Why not?"

"There's nothing else to fight."

"Why not?"

Lunette chuckled. "You sound like Bunny. Anyhow, why not? Because those bosses we beat were the only ones I created."

"So, we'll spend an eternity here."

"Yeah."

"Without a decent fight at all."

"... Yeah."

"Seriously, you basically run this place. Can't you think up something to keep our lives interesting?"

"Who knows?" Lunette mused, causing the other woman to shake her head at her.

-----​

A week passed with no new incidents, and while the group was glad they finally had a break from their 'quest,' Lunette also knew some of them were itching for a fight.

Still, things had changed slightly. Jake, Xanos and Calvin had left on a trip around the world - a world which Lunette herself had shaped, so she knew what they would find, but wasn't telling them - while Tony had been trying to romance Hope, who was trying too hard not to look like she liked his flirting. Pearl had declared to Garret two days after the "final boss fight," and they were both quite happy. Still, Lunette knew it, they all wanted something to shoot at from time to time.

But still, she wasn't her old, cruel self anymore. She would not create creatures with the sole purpose of fighting them. The fun thing was, however, that she didn't need to. Her old self had created a whole universe, with a seemingly infinite number of worlds - and her powers let her see them all - and had given all intelligent races within it free will. There was one, for example, which had been forcefully taking over worlds, taking both resources and slaves back to their own world. It was a race some would consider evil, and all Lunette had to do to attract them, was put an idea in their leader's mind. A small world such as Terraria, in the edge of the galaxy, would often be overlooked, but suddenly, on a whim, their leader thought it would be a good idea to take over that very world.

Lunette smiled as she looked up. "Heh, here they come."

Bunny looked up as well, but saw nothing. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"There's an evil alien race heading our way, they want to take over our world."

"Why, it's not like there's a lot to do here," Dawn noted.

"Their leader suddenly thought conquering this world would be a good idea."

Bunny frowned. "Oh? Oh! So, more baddies to loot?"

"A whole race of them," Lunette admitted.

"I'm gonna make me a sword shaped like a cat, then, to fight those aliens." Bunny said.

Dawn chuckled. "You really like cats, huh?"

"Yep."

Amy sighed. "You miss Dryad..."

"What? I thought you wanted to have some fun. Outside the bedroom, I mean."

That made the Nurse's cheeks to grow red. "Uh, anyways, when are they going to reach our world?"

The Dryad looked up and smiled, a single word escaping her lips. "Soon..."

-----​

The End​

So, what do I plan to do now? Re-read this story, for starters. I won't promise any more Terraria-related stories for the time being, as I want to focus on my main fandom for a while. Still someday I may write a sequel to this, or something different. Time will tell.
 
Huh, you know, I was expecting Razor to turn out to be the all-powerful bad guy, just because it would irk Lune

Anyways, really loved the story, your writing style is great--though I may just think that because it's P much the same as my own--and I absolutely adore all the weapons you invented owo
 
I think I left enough clues on Razor eventually being the one who would turn out to be the all-powerful superbeing to make it clear he wasn't going to.

... Though that would require knowing I never write stories where everything can be guessed without a lot of "looking at the fine print" involved (the "legend" being written by *Spoiler*, for example.)
 
Tried to be unspecific, but kinda gave up, so have a spoiler:
Eh, I actually didn't see that many... There were more for Lune that I caught, which is exactly why I assumed it wouldn't be her :dryadtongue: Of course the whole Devour the Dragon bit was obvious and he deserved it owo

The legend bit was pretty great though, I'd been trying to sort of out if it was referring to someone we already knew for quite a while I'm bad at anagrams
 
I love anagrams and usually have at least one in my stories.

I think the biggest hint of all was in the character's name, though...

Lune-ar, trololololol.
 
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