Back to Micha!

"Woah. This place is huge." Michael mumbled and Christine nodded, looking through pictures of the kingdom.

"That's strange."

"What?"

"There's no ice in the pictures. In fact this is a desert, it should be scolding hot." She pointed out and she was right. The desert was covered in ice.

Which Rich accidentally crashed into.

"Oopth." He mumbled, opening the roof and jumping out to examine the damage. "Okay I'll have to have time to fix thith...how about you two figure out if Thquip already thtole the Binding Band."

"We can do that. Chris grab your bag and let's start exploring this place." Michael pulled himself out of the ship, and Christine followed suit.

The two were freezing the moment they stepped out, and decided it was best to find some kind of shop and buy warmer clothes.

Luckily there was a town nearby.

The duo made their way over, noticing how some of the inhabitants were frozen in ice.

"E-Excuse me, can you p-point us into the direction of a s-shop?" Christine asked, and the tiny skeleton looked at her and pointed to a small building. "T-Thank you."

Once inside, Michael and Christine were already warmer. Looks like this was indeed a shop.

"Oh thank goodness it was freezing out there. Why is it so cold?" Christine asked and the shop keepers must've heard her.

"Oh some creep stole the Binding Band from the inverted pyramid. Had a whole fleet of flying boats!" The yellow skeleton exclaimed, voice shaking in fear.

"Boy it was something. I'll give him that." The purple one spoke softer and looked at Michael and Christine with a smile. "Can I get you two something?"

"Yeah, we need some jackets for when we head back outside." Christine explained, pulling out a bag of coins and awaiting her answer.

"Hey before you do that...this creep you mentioned, did he happen to have a prince on his ship?" Michael asked and the two skeletons looked at each other then back to him, and nodded. "Okay...Chris that means Rich was right and Squip was here."

"There's still one of those flying boats circling around the inverted pyramid. Maybe you could take it out? That may make it warmer around here."

"Sure. Oh umm...about the jackets..." Michael smiled awkwardly and one of the skeletons gave him two jackets.

"On us. Since you're going to help us."

"Thank you. We'll make this place warm again, count on it." Christine smiled at the two, zipping her jacket up and pulling the hood on. "Ready Michael?"

"I always am."

"Then let's get goin." The two waved goodbye to the skeletons and left the shop, looking up towards the sky to see an airship circling an inverted pyramid.

"Well I guess that's where we're headed."

***

"Well...that was..fun..." Christine was climbing up the last steps behind Michael, both completely out of breath.

"I can't tell if Jeremy is on the ship or not..." Michael heard chuckling after and looked up at the ship.

"Oh your prince isn't here." Somebody neither of them had seen before jumped down, readjusting his bowtie and smiling down at them. "You two wanna crash the boss's wedding right? Heh, well don't think I'm gonna let you get away with that." He clapped, and from his ship came a top hat, with a green-blue band wrapped around it. "Oh how rude of me. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Jason, one of my boss's newer recruits."

He threw the hat and snapped, which made it grow as it slammed into Christine's stomach as she finally stood up, which knocked her back down.

"Ow." She muttered as she stood back up.

"Hey what sense you've got beating on somebody smaller than you? Why not pick on somebody a little more your size?" Michael clenched his hands in fists and flames formed around them as he landed a punch to Jason's jaw, which slammed him back a bit. "How do you like that?"

"Oh you're gonna get it now." Jason clapped twice and two more hats came from the ship. He twirled his hand and they flew around him in a tornado shape.

Michael picked Christine up and began running. He knew these types of attacks. As long as he kept moving he couldn't be hit.

And it worked. The three hats launched out and not a single one hit Michael. They boomeranged back to Jason, who snapped, increasing their size, and span around, the hats following suit on the center piece they were standing on.

It tripped Michael, who fell on his side, and Christine rolled out of his arms. She looked up to see Jason looking down at her with a smug grin on his face.

"Ya know, for my boss's enemy, you sure are cute." Christine moved her leg and kicked Jason's stomach, knocking him down as he stood up.

"I'm sorry, you aren't my type." She grabbed the hat and clapped, which caused it to slap Jason in the face. "I think if you wanna live, you should leave."

"Alright but this isn't the last time you'll be seeing me or my hats." Jason whistled and one hat turned upside down and grew. He jumped inside and flew back to his ship in it.

Michael and Christine watched as the airship flew away, and the pyramid moved downward and into the ground.

Christine ran over to Michael and helped him up, realizing he probably bruised his side being slammed into the pyramid like that.

"C'mon. Rich probably fixed the Walnut ship by now." She wrapped his arms around her and the two climbed back down the pyramid.

***

When they got out, they realized it was much hotter, and removed their jackets.

When they returned to the town, the citizens seemed very happy. One od the shop keepers ran over to them in joy.

"Thank you for returning our heat! We have a reward as special thanks." The skeleton pulled a green, crescent shaped, glowing object out for Michael, who took it in confusion. "It's a power moon. It brings good luck. We hope you find your prince."

"Thank you." Michael smiled weakly, Christine helping him back to the ship.

They saw Rich was laying underneath it, pushing himself out and sitting up.

"I think we're good. Oh what ith that!?" He asked, running over to the duo and examining the power moon.

"It's called a power moon." Christine answered and Rich gave then a look just asking to hold it. "You can hold it if you want." He took it and examined it.

"Ya know, I bet thith could help power the thhip! Jake you think tho?" Rich turned to Jake, who was cleaning his face off and nodded. "Do you two mind if we-?"

"Not at all. It'll help us get to Jeremy faster..." Michael whispered, and Rich noticed his weak state.

"You alright?"

"He hurt his side really badly during a fight we got in. Also, Squip got himself a new henchman."

"Get him in the thhip. I'll get him a Dew Red, that'll heal him right up." Rich ran to the ship and jumped inside, Jake following suit.

The two helped Christine and Michael inside, and Michael laid down on the small makeshift bed Rich had installed after their second trip in space.

"Here." Rich handed Michael a Dew Red, and he took it gratefully, opening it and drinking it. "That thhould heal you up in a few minuteth."

"Hey Rich we gotta figure out where to head next." Jake was at the wheel, looking theough Rich's map book trying to find somewhere Squip would go.

"Well he would need a wedding dress...err tunic...honestly Jeremy could wear either...but Squip would probably get one of those right?" Christine suggested, and Rich walked over and looked at the book with the two, flipping through it until he found what he was looking for.

"Lake Lamode, in the Lake Kingdom. There ith a pretty famouth drethth called the Lochlady Drethth there. Thurely, knowing Thquip, he headed there. It ithn't far from here either."

"Huh, well guess we're headed there." Jake redirected the course and Rich took the wheel.

"Hey guys can I see the book?" Michael asked and Christine brought it over and handed it to him. He sat up and looked at the photo of the dress and smiled at the thought of Jeremy in it.

That would be absolutely beautiful...he sighed, closing the book and looking out the window. They'd get to Jeremy soon... he'd be with his love again soon.