A New Era Dawns

"Good Evening. This is Slow Weather Jamz, your source for 24/7 weather coverage in, on, and around Olympia. Stay with us, and stay informed.

Here's your weather forecast for Tuesday, April 16."

All across Olympia, restaurants and homes and vehicles alike heard the sounds of the local forecast begin on their TVs and radios. It may be above the clouds, but there was still plenty to talk about regarding Olympia's weather. Temperature and wind speed, for starters, not to mention the city was subject to artificial rain at certain preplanned times to keep the decorative plants watered and to make the city feel a little more 'natural'. Of course, nothing about Olympia was natural. This city was schemed up in a board meeting years ago, and built from the ground up to one day be a flying spectacle. At last, that day had come.

But was the world ready for this? Had Olympia's time come too soon? Or was it time for the people of Earth to step forward into a bold new age of interplanetary alliances?

Kuwahawi, Here We Come!

Come along and ride on a fantastic voyage...

Dolby smiled and bobbed her head, listening to her tunes as she looked carefully around her room one last time to make absolutely sure she wasn't forgetting anything important. Not only did she have three big suitcases packed with personal items, but she was using herself as suitcase number four, having shoved all the nostalgia into her body she could comfortably carry. Perusing her depleted rack of cassette tapes one more time, she opted to grab one last blank tape and cram it into her mouth to join the rest.

"Dolby, it is time to depart." Odyssey droned from behind her. He carried only a single small case of items - his arcade machines were being shipped to Kuwahawi Island separately.

"Yeah, I think I'm set." Dolby nodded, smiling at her friend and turning her music down. "I still can't believe you're coming to Kuwahawi. I really thought I'd be the only Nostalgia Elemental to follow the Kobbers."

"Las Vegas is my home, and I will miss it. And when this is over, I will enjoy being back home." Odyssey's pupils flicked back and forth, looking at the ransacked state of Dolby's room as she had taken tons of her personal belongings and packed them up. "But I believe your desire to see more of the world is not without merit, and the opportunity to introduce these natives to arcade gaming is one I do not wish to miss. It shall be a worthwhile endeavor."

"Man, this place is gonna feel empty with you two gone."

Dolby and Odyssey turned to see Zenith, Sinclair, and Noir standing in the hallway, crowded around the entrance to Dolby's room. It had been Sinclair who had spoken, and he lowered his camera-like head. "We'll miss you."

"Come back safe, all right?" Zenith said, stepping in close. "I'll keep these two in line in the meantime."

"And when you get back," Noir piped up, "we can throw ourselves a little shindig!"

Zenith chuckles. "Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, have fun. We'll make sure to keep you in mind with music and games while you're gone."

Dolby grinned and hugged Zenith. "Thanks! Don't worry - we might get scuffed up a bit-"

"Might?" Sinclair laughed. "It's the kobbers! And you even said you want to fight in that Brawl they do every summer!"

"Hah, yeah! So we WILL get scuffed up. And probably worse. But we'll come back in one piece, just you wait and see!"

Odyssey began to move to the hall. "I shall miss you all as well. When you next see me, I shall have made arcade history."

Dolby followed Odyssey, and Sinclair came after them - it was he who would drive them to the airport. And as the waving Zenith and Noir vanished in the rear-view mirror and Odyssey and Sinclair made small talk, Dolby held up her smartphone and stared at her wallpaper, depicting her and her two best friends. Soon, she would finally see them again.

Hostile Takeover

-KUWAHAWI ISLAND FITE CLUB-

The end of January was too early. Beheeyem didn't need that much time to set up. Not even he was really sure how his Fite Clubs worked - he simply rented rooms, and the odd people who came to him would do what they wished to furnish said rooms. Sometimes they barely altered them from their default "plain room with a wrestling ring" appearance, but other people seemed somehow able to make little pocket dimensions, like the wintry forest Letty Whiterock, his second-in-command, had made for her own battles. He didn't understand it, but he felt it wasn't important (though, if pressed, he's always assumed something like Big Bobby's portals were at work... but how they were able to follow him around without his knowledge even when he got a new facility baffled him).

In any case, the strangeness of his "tenants" meant that three months of preparation was about two months too many... but Beheeyem had been quite happy to change location, and was eager to see Kuwahawi for himself, quietly, peacefully, before things got chaotic in May when the Kobbers inevitably began rooting out corruption, evil, and darkness. For now, Beheeyem was just another tourist, and Fite Club was able to be set up at a quiet, leisurely pace.

What Beheeyem hadn't anticipated was that maybe he'd been around the Kobbers a little too long. Maybe their stink of attracting trouble had finally worn off on him after four years of greeting them, helping train them, and even fighting with or alongside them several times. Perhaps his joining in that time last October when Big Bobby got in trouble with a portal breach was the tipping point.

After all, how else could he explain the clearly non-native armored fellow currently swaggering into the Fite Club like he owned the place?