Btw, if you were wondering what the "Flechette Needles" Alice used earlier were like, they're probably similar to this recently invented bullet.
It's the time for a certain cheerful rival to shine?
Enjoy!
“Uhihi! Good evening!”
With a flip of her honey blond hair, a young girl, with a distinctly rich mademoiselle-like air and looks to match that cheerful tone of hers, stepped out of Lumberjack.
Dorothy Lorena Baum. Daughter to the multi-millionaire Baum Family and one of the few Treasure Hunters the same age as Alice. Also known as the “Good Luck Fairy”. This was a girl who acted on random impulses and hunches whilst good fortune took care of the rest. It worked for her to such an extent you’d think she was blessed by the heavens themselves. You could call her something of a polar opposite to Alice.
“I’ve beaten you to the punch once again, Allie! Aren’t I just the best!?”
Devoid of the definition to the word “tact”, something that Alice could attest to, Dorothy was nothing but smiles.
“And here I had no idea that the tunnel we found in Puerto Rico would lead us directly to our goal either. I guess what they say is true, the proof is in the pudding.”
Did years of meticulous planning, all with the Foundation’s full support, really just get one-upped by something as simple as “the proof is in the pudding”...? Alice drooped her shoulders with a weary expression about her. Reading the mood was something Alice had long given up on teaching Dorothy at this point.
“But anyways, this is it! My victory is at hand!”
With most of her body still inside the upper half of Lumberjack’s body, Dorothy took on a guts pose. Lumberjack acted in perfect sync to Dorothy’s movements, taking on a guts pose of his own.
“Remember this well, Allie! For today’s the day Dolly made you taste defeat!”
With a snap, Dorothy pointed to Alice in a dramatic fashion.
“Ki… kishishishishi.”
Alice burst into laughter, her face still facing down to the ground.
“W-What is it? Why are you laughing like that!?”
“Foolish child, you really need me to spell it out for you, don’t you?”
Alice’s cackling stopped and she unraveled the whip she had wrapped around her waist.
“Think about it, you come here ahead of me, have all this time to prepare your lighting equipment and everything. Whatever happened to the part where you actually grab the treasure?”
“......Ah.”
Dorothy’s mouth opened wide.
<L-Lady Alice is right!>
Lumberjack reached out for the Golden Boat.
“As if!”
Alice’s whip snatched up the relic before Lumberjack could make it.
“And there we go. Treasure secured-!”
“Ahn~, not fair! That’s simply not fair!! I was really looking forward to seeing Allie get all upset toooooo~!!
Dorothy, still leaning out from Lumberjack’s body, swung an arm around in frustration.
<That’s dangerous Milady!>
Involuntarily matching Dorothy’s movements in sync, Lumberjack swung his arm too, though his with a buzzing sound. Alice gave them a sideways glance before quickly putting the Golden Boat away in the pressure-resistant case she had on her back.
“Hatter, I was able to secure the target.”
<Congratulations, by the way, there’s something I need to report, Professor.>
Hatter’s voice replied from the communication device.
“The way you’re putting it, it sounds like…”
<We have a Code D.>
“Ah-, naturally. I’ll be fine, don’t you worry.”
A Code D. Alice smiled wryly; among all the traps to have planted in a ruin housing a treasure, that particular code letter was assigned to the most dangerous of the bunch, the self-destruction type.
<Withdraw immediately.>
“Roger that. I wasn’t planning on staying here much longer anyways.”
After Alice cut off communication, she turned to Dorothy, who was in the process of stamping her foot on the ground in dismay, making Lumberjack stomp his foot as well.
“Hey Dorothy! Listen up, I’m only telling you this on account of us being childhood friends.”
“W-Whaat is it, Allie?”
“Everything here’s going to collapse soon. You’d better get moving.”
Alice shot a wire gun up towards the hole in the ceiling where she had dropped in from as she informed Dorothy. Inertial control was pretty great for descending, not so much for climbing back up however.
“What!? You’re kidding, a Code D!?”
“You got it. Now if you’ll excuse me~”
Alice shot a wink to Dorothy before activating the wire gun’s motors. As if sucked into the sky, Alice’s figure vanished in a flash.
She hurriedly made her way back to the Attack Device “White Rabbit” she had originally used to get here and settled into its operating position, which was something akin to riding a bike really. The hatch closed in response.
A digital display stood out dimly in the darkness of the Attack Device. The top right corner displayed the coordinate date of the White Rabbit’s current position and right below it, a display of the estimated time before the self-destruction sequence flooded the pyramid, as analyzed by the Vimana.
“Looks like I made it just in the nick of time.”
Alice quickly fastened the harness to her body as she muttered.
<Five, four, three, two, one.>
A monstrous tremor shook the White Rabbit as the countdown reached Zero. The outer walls of the ruin had just collapsed and the rest of it was going down with it thanks to the water pressure. The tremendous air pressure released by the underwater pyramid was thankfully more than enough for Alice to make her escape with aboard the White Rabbit, she began her ascent.
“Hatter, requesting retrieval.”
<Understood. What became of Lady Dorothy?>
“She’s with Lumberjack. She’ll live.”
Alice’s vessel slowly emerged from the sea, together with a mass of air bubbles.
“At least I can get to work on the next phase now.”
As a prerequisite to Alice inheriting the Dodgson Foundation, the 3 Queens, current administrators of the Foundation, had decided Alice was to complete this task.
Alice gave control over to the white Rabbit’s autopilot and took the Golden Boat out from its pressure resistant case, she gave it a good long look.
“Hn?”
Alice’s look turned grim with discomfort. Something didn’t feel right.
“I’d better have Hatter check this out ASAP.”
***
A small island in the South Pacific. This island, its existence erased from maps all around the globe, housed a base which contained various super-machines for the Treasure Hunter Alice to make use of.
Deep within, in a dark computer room lit only by the light of the liquid-crystal display of a screen, was the figure of a woman wearing a crimson red dress. Her eyes were locked onto the data displayed on the screen, data sent from the Vimana.
“The ‘Gate Opener’ noticed the third one was a fake.”
The woman murmured at the display, a thin smile crossing her lips.
“The time is upon us, My Queen.”
A male voice came from somewhere in the shadows behind her.
“Very well. Let’s start by having the Songstress take the next treasure.”
The woman told the shadow in an unperturbed tone.
“By your will…”
“Make sure you don’t let them discover your true identity.”
The woman backed away from the monitor and slowly, she vanished, blending into the darkness of the room.
*By the way, I used to call Dorothy "Loreena", but apparently "Lorena" is a better romanization, so I guess we're going with that from now on.
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