Waiting for Pirate Man

[Proto Man]

The group had wandered away from the Nexus. After a tense stand-off with a marine and some other unsavory characters, the trio had bid their farewells to Princess Guu.

“That’s the guy that blew you up, wasn’t it?” Proto Man asked once they were outside of earshot. After verifying that Mickey was nodding, the preteen machine glanced one last time over his shoulder and scowled. “Jerk.”

“I’m sure it was nothing personal,” the mouse replied warmly. “He did get decapitated a few minutes later.”

“Yea, but that one guy from the Graveyard.” Proto Man couldn’t shake the frown from his face. “People…”

“Primes,” Mireya snorted as she glanced up from a small knife she was polishing casually as they strode further from the fountain.

“Are you sure you want to come along, Mireya?” Mickey asked. “You didn’t leave the stove on at home or anything?”

The half-night elf smiled and shook her head. “Nah, I got some neighbors that’ll make sure my cabin doesn’t burn down while I’m gone.” Once the words were out of her mouth, the former nomad reached into a side bag and slid out a small handheld device. She chewed on her lower lip as she tapped out a message to send to Mitch, and after that was in the airwaves (or whatever magic crap these devices used), she pocketed the tiny machine.

“Were you just texting?” Proto Man chuckled as the gate to the Endless Dunes grew a little larger on the horizon.

“Like I said… neighbors.” The half-night elf shot back with a smirk.

“I thought you weren’t big into people.”

“He’s a moogle.”

It was then that Mickey glanced over and furrowed his brow. “Moogle?”

“Yea,” Mireya responded. The woman’s overly casual tone made it seem as if the two diminutive primes should have already known this information. “They’re these small furry animals with batwings. They also got, like… a pompom on an antenna and squinty little eyeballs.” At that description, both Mickey and Proto Man paused and glanced at their much taller friend. When the woman saw their reaction, she chuckled softly before gesturing for them to keep following her. “No, really, the guy’s name was Mitch. He was some sort of traveling salesman with a knapsack that could fit anything inside of it.”

“That’s loco,” Mickey muttered.

“From the talking mouse?” Mireya shot back with a faint smirk as they drew closer to the gate. “We’re going to have to make a sharp detour, won’t we? Empire ain’t too fond of you, Mickey.”

“Yup!” The mouse replied with a little too much enthusiasm for someone on a totalitarian government’s most wanted list. “I’m sure they’ve got other things to occupy themselves with.”

“We’ll still have to take the long way. The Empire might be busy, but that doesn’t mean their bounty hunters won’t be.”

Proto Man nudged Mickey in the shoulder. “Kopaka.”

The mouse scowled as he recalled the metal creature tearing through the forest to try and smash him to bits. “Don’t remind me, Blues.”

Mireya glanced back at her two companions. “What’s a Kopaka?”

“No es mada.”

The machine didn’t understand half of the Mireya-speak, but he knew enough to know that Mickey was skirting the question. “Kopaka was a giant robot thing that wanted to kill Mickey. It tried jumping us a few times while we were trying to help this fellow named Teucer.”

“Did you get rid of it?”

“We didn’t, but someone else did,” Proto Man remarked as the image of Link smashing Kopaka with an oversized hammer popped into his head.

“So is this the reason we’re going to find Minnie?” Mireya asked after a few moments of silence.

At that, Mickey furrowed his brow. “Huh?”

“I figured it was just because you haven’t seen her, but if you’ve also got a robotic bounty hunter that you defeated, he probably respawned here and went after your wife, right? That seems like the logical thing for a malicious mercenary to do.”

The mouse’s eyes went wide as he reached out and snatched their wrists in his oversized, gloved hands. “Why are we still talking?! Let’s go!”