"Goodbye everyone! This place was really great, I had a lot of fun!"
Bugs Bunny stood beside a rabbit hole that had appeared in the center of the square at some unknown point, its edges cartoonishly distorted. He waved a paw casually at everyone, even holding half a Mondstadt carrot in his mouth as a "souvenir."
His leisurely appearance suggested not a journey across worlds, but rather a quick visit to a neighbor.
"Goodbye, Brother Rabbit! Come visit often!"
the quartet pulled out four handkerchiefs of different colors from who knows where, waving them in unison, their faces contorted into a few "reluctant" tears, their overly dramatic acting drawing stares.
Behind them, Jean, the Acting Grand Master, heard the words "come visit often" and her face instantly changed from its normal paleness to an unsightly liver color, her lips trembling, almost gasping for air.
Bugs Bunny's single visit had turned the Lawrence Clan into Mondstadt's biggest joke. While satisfying, what if he came a few more times?
She felt her hairline receding at a visible rate!
Under the gaze of everyone (with complex emotions), Bugs Bunny winked at them, then lightly leaped, precisely jumping into the rabbit hole.
The entrance vanished instantly, as if erased by an eraser, leaving only a few carrot whiskers swirling in the wind.
Just as everyone (mainly Jean) was about to breathe a sigh of relief, King Hassan, who had been standing still like a background prop, turned to his temporary Master, Elliot, bringing with him Hassan of the Hundred Faces, who was still trembling even in the sunlight.
"Contractor, these matters are concluded. It is time for us to depart."
King Hassan's ancient, deep voice rang out, without the slightest ripple.
"Ah? Are you leaving already?"
Elliot scratched his head, a little surprised.
"Do you need to say goodbye to Klee? That little girl will probably talk about you for a long time."
"There is no need."
King Hassan said, taking out a folded black cloak from somewhere and handing it to Elliot.
"Give this to her."
Elliot took the cloak. It felt strange to the touch, neither cloth nor leather, with a hint of coolness and an indescribable weight.
He subconsciously shook it open and looked—
"Pfft—!"
Elliot almost spat out what he was holding.
The Grand Assassin's cloak, which should have been pure black, solemn, and full of the aura of death, now had a clumsy, yet colorful, embroidered dog head (possibly Razor?), a round cat head (probably Diona?), several small cat paw prints, and even a miniature, grinning Jumpy Dumpty pattern!
"This... this is your cloak, old man?!"
Elliot pointed at the extremely incongruous cartoon patterns, his voice changing pitch.
"Just... what is this?! Did Klee corrupt your aesthetic sense, old man?!"
King Hassan's skeletal mask seemed to move slightly, his voice still steady: "This is that child's 'mending.' This item contains my aura and can protect her, and also conceal her presence, preventing unnecessary prying."
After speaking, without waiting for Elliot to complain further, King Hassan and Hassan of the Hundred Faces' figures, like candles in the wind, quickly transformed into specks of golden spiritual particles and dissipated into the gentle breeze of Mondstadt, as if they had never existed.
Elliot stood stunned for a long time, holding the "deathly cute" cloak with its sudden change in style, finally covering his face in exasperation and letting out a sigh that saw through everything: "So... you really are that tsundere grandchild-lover, old man!"
"I will deliver this cloak to Klee."
Jean, the Acting Grand Master, had approached at some point, her face still a little pale, but her tone brooked no argument.
She really didn't trust these four unreliable guys to deliver it. Who knew what trouble they would cause on the way, or what strange things they would teach Klee (like using the cloak to enhance the stealth of bombs?).
"Oh, oh, alright, thank you, Acting Grand Master Jean."
Elliot readily handed over the cloak, as if it were a hot potato.
Watching Jean leave with the extremely garish cloak, Jesse leaned over and nudged Elliot with his elbow: "Hey, troublemaker, what do we do next? We have to find some fun, right? Has Mondstadt been a bit too peaceful lately?"
Zane also crossed his arms, stroking his chin thoughtfully: "Hmm... should we go to Inazuma to see if Raiden Ei has invented any new desserts? Or go back to Sumeru to help Nahida 'optimize' the Akademiya's management system? Or go to Fontaine to experience the latest aquatic court?"
Just as the quartet began to seriously (?) discuss their next "travel (troublemaking) destination," a panicked, scrambling figure accompanied by shrill cries approached from afar:
"Honorary Knights! Help me—!!!"
Everyone looked towards the sound, only to see a young man in ordinary Mondstadt citizen clothes, his hat askew, scrambling over, his face filled with terror, as if he had just been chased by a Ruin Guard for eight blocks.
"Hmm? What's wrong, brother? Take your time, has the sky fallen or the earth collapsed?"
Jesse asked, striking his most practiced "enthusiastic citizen" pose.
"It's, it's my house!"
The man panted, pointing towards the west side of the city.
"Suddenly! Suddenly there were two monsters I'd never seen before! They were too fast! I couldn't even see what they looked like, I only saw two shadows, one blue and one brown, flash by, and then I was 'bang' hit out of my house! Look!"
As he spoke, he excitedly lifted his hat, revealing a clearly swollen bump on his head, with a suspicious reddish hue.
"Fun's here!"
Elliot's eyes instantly lit up, like a cat sniffing fish.
"Let's go! Follow me to check it out!"
He immediately resumed his arrogant stride, proudly heading towards the west side of the city.
However, the next second, his movements froze.
He found that even though he was walking forward, the surrounding scenery was rapidly receding—no, he himself was retreating! As if an invisible rubber band had pulled him back to his original spot.
"Ahem."
Elliot awkwardly cleared his throat, then instantly teleported in front of the still-shocked reporter, a kind (and suspicious) smile plastered on his face.
"Sir, may I ask, where exactly is your house? What's the house number?"
Everyone: "..." (You teleported to cover up getting the direction wrong just now, didn't you! Definitely!)
After getting the detailed address, the citizen, as if a huge burden had been lifted, said rapidly: "It's right there! Please, everyone! I'm going to the Cat's Tail Tavern for a drink to calm my nerves! Diona is on duty today, I absolutely can't miss it! Be sure to tell me if there's good news! I'll treat you then!"
With that, without waiting for the quartet to respond, he dashed towards the Cat's Tail Tavern, his speed comparable to someone imbued with the anemo element.
Following the address, the quartet soon arrived at a cozy-looking residential house on the west side of the city.
The house didn't look special: white walls, a red roof, and several pots of freesias on the windowsill.
"Let me see what's going on!"
Elliot rubbed his hands together, once again taking the lead.
He cautiously (he thought) placed his hand on the doorknob, just about to push hard—
"Bang—!!!"
With a loud crash, the door wasn't opened from the outside, but was violently burst open from the inside with thunderous force! The sturdy wooden door almost slammed into Elliot's face!
At the same time, two figures, one blue and one brown, shot out of the house like cannonballs, at a speed difficult for the naked eye to catch!
The larger blue figure seemed to be a... British Shorthair cat?
The smaller brown figure was a... mouse?!
These two figures didn't pause at all. After rushing out the door, they made a sharp turn and instantly blended into the intricate alleys and streets of Mondstadt, leaving behind only two trails of dust and a faint, almost imperceptible, comical melody in the air, similar to the background music from "Tom and Jerry."
"What the hell?!"
Matt's huge body, blocking the way, was also startled by this sudden turn of events, and he bellowed in a booming voice.
Jesse rubbed his eyes, uncertainly saying: "I think... I saw a cat... and a mouse? And that art style... isn't it a bit too familiar?"
Zane's calm facade finally cracked. He gasped, his voice filled with rare shock: "Those aren't just ordinary cats and mice! Those are Tom and Jerry! Those two living ancestors! How could these lawless creatures appear in Teyvat?!"
"Wait! Where's Elliot?"
Matt suddenly realized someone was missing. He looked back and saw that where Elliot had been standing, a thin, human-shaped "paper cut-out" was clearly stuck to the door, its outline vaguely resembling Elliot, still swaying slightly, as if a gust of wind could blow it away.
Matt extended a huge finger and carefully poked the "paper Elliot."
"Oh."
He concluded.
"He's become a paper cut-out."
"What are you still standing around for?!"
Jesse was the first to react, letting out a scream comparable to an air raid siren.
"Quick, catch them! Those are Tom and Jerry! Not ordinary cats and mice! They are walking natural disasters! Loopholes in physical laws! Incarnations of chaos! If we let them run wild in Mondstadt, we won't need the Abyss Order to act; we'll be rebuilding the City of freedom from ruins by tomorrow morning!"
Zane was already silent. A flash of lightning appeared at his feet, and he was the first to chase after the direction where the two figures had disappeared, moving so fast that he left only an afterimage.
Jesse no longer cared about elegance. He scrambled to follow, still shouting: "Quick! Block off the streets! Notify the Knights to evacuate the citizens! No! Prepare the post-disaster reconstruction plan directly!"
Matt watched his two teammates quickly disappear, then looked at the paper-thin Elliot still stuck to the door, trying to "peel" himself off. He hesitated for a second, then extended his large hand and carefully "ripped" Elliot off the door like peeling a poster, before striding with earth-shattering steps towards the center of the chaos.
Mondstadt's peaceful and quiet afternoon was thus completely shattered.
An unprecedented commotion, caused by a cat and a mouse, officially began.
And our four "Honorary Knights" were about to face what might be their most troublesome, most unreasonable, and most likely to turn themselves into a comical background for a "challenge" since their transmigration.