Of Salvaged Blades and Otherworldly Beings
Chapter 1:
"Ugh, what hit me?" was the first words to come out of my mouth as I forced myself into a kneeling stance.
It was strange, to say the least of it. Waking up in a strange, and apparently empty from a lack of any verbal response, room with my face against the metal floor? Not exactly comforting to think about. Worse yet, my body feels like it got hit by a speeding oil tanker or something, 'cause everything hurts and I have a migraine that's making it abnormally difficult to think.
As I used one of my hands in a slightly vain attempt at alleviating the echoes of agony running rampant in my skull, I eventually decide to study my surroundings to see if I could figure out what my situation was.
The iron-clad room I found myself in was very spacious, rather oddly so, which left me befuddled since most of the room was devoid of anything. My only guess could have been that it might be a storage room, were it not for what was right in front of me. In the middle of the room is a small platform over what looked like a pit of light that is the only source of illumination in the room. Upon the platform is the central pillar of the room. The room had a light amount of fog rolling along the ground, and the air in the room was so humid I felt like I might as well be breathing water. Finally, on the complete opposite side of the room, there stood a tall, and very wide door with a large blue crest near the center that was likely a button of some kind. As my eyes adjusted to the lighting, I noticed the walls and floor of the room had a sea blue tint to it.
After a moment of getting my head on straight, I decided to check the backpack that I still had on me for some reason. Not that I think I shouldn't have it, but with how I mysteriously ended up in this room, I was curious as to how I didn't lose the bag somehow. Digging through it, I mentally listed off the items I found inside.
Medkit? Check
3 large ziploc bags of beef jerky? Check
IPhone with chargers? Check, but no service.
Aviator shades? Check
Toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant? Check
Dark green Hydro Flask? Check
Revolver and ammo that some drunk dropped on the floor at the casino that I was going to toss in secret when I got the chance? Also check, and now I'm keeping it on me in case of emergency. A shame to whoever dropped it, a colt python in good condition is a rarity these days.
Forest camo wallet? Check, but nothing in it, so no money, and no ID. Welp, looks like I know what went missing in the process.
After I took the revolver out and put it in my pocket, for easy quick draw if need be, I tried to stand up, finding my balance in the process. Once I could stand without my knees buckling, I started walking around the pit of light in the middle of the room, toward the large door.
When I got to the door, I studied the crest on the door. It poked out like a button, but something about the crest itself got me curious. Not like it was an overly complicated or intricate crest, it being a circle around the image of a flame, but it gave off a weird vibe of some kind. As if I was drawn to it like the character of a dark souls game, I slowly reached for the button with some hesitation. The second my hand touched it though, I immediately drew it back because of a painful zap from the contact.
Nursing my now twitching hand, I stared at the crest with a certainty. This door likely only opened to whoever either bore the same crest, or was of the same lineage as the person whom this crest represents. Judging by the fact my hand is now writhing of its own agony, I'm not one of those people. That means that, until someone that fills that criteria comes along and opens this door, I'm basically stuck in this room with not a single damned way out.
"Fan-fucking-tastic." I sighed in spite as I turn around and slumped to the ground with my back against the door. "Trapped in a room with no way out, and not even a single damned person around that could possibly open the door."
I could try being hopeful, but that doesn't look like it'll be helping me anytime soon. As I simply sit in front of what is essentially the door to a prison I won't be getting out of anytime at all, I try to recall the events that led up to this.
It was supposed to be simple, a trip to Los Vegas with the 'ohana to end start off the New Year. We were having the time of our lives, and with one of our cousins from the mainland to boot. I was hoping the memories would last as we drove to the airport, when a giant flash of white seemed to engulf the world, then everything went dark, and now I find myself waking up in a room I have no idea about with not even one member of my family around to talk to. I don't know which one of life's toes I stepped on during the last year, but apparently, she decided to fuck around with me afterwards.
As soon as I looked up from my position on the floor though, two things in front of me made me question both my sanity for what I was seeing, and how dumb I was for not noticing them before.
The more obvious one is that there just so happens to be a large, double edged red sword stabbed into the floor in front of the tube on the middle platform. Not just the guard being red- no, the ENTIRE sword was red from blade to pommel. A precariously cross shaped emerald crystal in the shape of a rosario was embedded into the cross-guard of the blade. From the cross-guard down extended a thin yellow hilt with a red hand guard circling down toward, and connecting to, the pommel. There was a strange split down the middle of the blade that I couldn't really figure out a reason for, my only guess being that it had a similar function to a sai in which to catch a blade and either pry it from someone's hands or snap it in twain, and three 'teeth' were cut into the top portion of the blade near the base. An oddity about the sword is that the blade was triangular in overall shape, leaving much of its large surface area, which was wide at the base and tipped into twin prongs where the blade split in the center, flat as a paddle. I could even scarcely make out some mechanical parts in-between the two halves of the blade, but I can't really figure out what they're for from a distance. Why on earth someone would just leave a random sword in a room like this is not a question worth overlooking, and a curiosity worth looking at.
The other thing I noticed, which immediately answered my lingering question, was that there was a PERSON inside the oddly placed cylindrical object behind the sword.
A fair skinned, short haired, red headed girl lay silently inside the apparent stasis pod, which actually looked like a comfy pod on the inside. A small tiara of some kind with a green gem embedded into it rested on the girl's head, two green gem earrings dangling down from her ear lobes. From where I could see, she likely stood at around 5'4", average height. While that was normal, the rest would mentally chuck a normal man's head through a ring of fire.
Her clothing looks so skimpy and outlandish that I'm pretty sure I wanted to slap myself to double check whether what I was seeing was real or not. Her outfit, if I could even could it that, hugged her curvaceous frame rather tightly, as it looked like it would have been a pain for any normal girl to put on, much less work up the courage to wear in public without fearing the attention and any possible wardrobe failure.
Her clothing consisted of a deep crimson under mesh that, like the lighter red armor over it, only covered her upper torso, her shoulders, her neck, and down the front of her midriff, leaving her back and the sides of said midriff exposed. This was accompanied by what is likely the absolute shortest pair of "booty shorts"/"butt floss" i've ever seen, being held up by thin red garter belts that wrapped around her hips, only there to accent her hourglass form it seems, and likely hooked to the back with golden clamps like in the front. Red shoulder pads accented with golden pieces adorned her shoulders, golden clamps keeping some of the layered armor attached over the body mesh, though only along the sides, as the body mesh was clearly visible down the middle of her body except for around her neck. She wears red boots that reach just above her knees with black stockings that stick out just an inch higher, and black fingerless gloves with armor over the top that extends a little past her wrists like a gauntlet from the golden piece with a green gem embedded into it.
She seemed to be in a deep sleep, seeing as she didn't respond to my earlier inquiry as to my location, and the fact that she didn't wake up from my cry of pain due to the shock from the door. She's simply laying back inside the comfy pod in deep slumber, her hands resting over her chest in a rather peaceful manner. I was almost curious as to how she felt comfortable sleeping in that outfit, but I wasn't one to pry on such a thing.
After all, i'm just a dark skinned Hawaiian dude wearing a dark green tank top with black cargo shorts and a simple pair of black slippas, or "flip-flops" as the mainlanders call them, so I couldn't possibly understand how much dedication she had to that outfit that she would sleep in it. I also had my good luck necklace on, consisting of a sky blue dream catcher and a cait shelter guild amulet hanging from the middle. The symbol of the guild being a cat with only its right eye carved out and two tails, one normal curving up with the other disembodied tail connecting to the first in such a way that both tails formed a sideways S.
Seeing as the girl in the middle of the room might just be my only ticket out of here, I stood myself up, after I checked that my hand stopped having a self-inflicted aneurism, and had only just started walking toward her, when I heard what sounded like a cargo bay door opening behind me. I wasted no time turning on a dime toward the door, but it hadn't been opened. Considering this fact with the very lightly muffled sound I heard, there was only one conclusion I could come to. I swiftly hid myself bit off to the right of the doorway, pressing my back against the wall, as much as I could with my backpack on, and waited with baited breath.
As I had suspected, the door opened soon after, the crest on the door glowing as it opened to signify that someone worth was opening it, and from the doorway came…A kid?
Of all things I could have possibly expected to come into the room, a 5 foot tall white kid with short brown hair wearing a blue and gold diver suit surely wasn't what I was expecting. Interestingly, some of the suit seemed removable at certain parts, namely around the torso and between the legs. The only parts that could be recognized as the suit were an unbuttoned vest hinged to a helmet that dangled behind him, the large brown gloves with something attached to the back of his left glove, the air canister that was fastened to his back by overlapping belts, and large trouser style leggings that covered the outer area of his legs alongside large steel-toed boots. Underneath the suit peaces he wore a simple sleeveless, legless blue body mesh that covered his torso.
Another thing I wasn't expecting a girl around the same height as the first kid, to walk in after the diver kid in a full yellow onesie suit, fair skin and short silver hair with- wait, are those ACTUAL CAT EARS on her head?! Also, why the hell is there an ARMORED WHITE TIGER walking next to her?!
Shaking off that train of thought before it started getting weirder then need be, I noticed the next three to enter the room were more along the lines of what I was anticipating.
The first of the three was a man standing at about 5'11" clad in black samurai styled, layered plate armor from neck to toe, his head having no helmet, and his gloves are fingerless, which revealed pale skin and short black hair spiked up in what I could only describe as a really short cow lick, his side burns reaching down to the sides of his face.
The second one was, for lack of better description, a hunched over lizard man with sickly navy-blue skin dressed in black egyptian styled robes and armor with gold trimming. A black helmet with a gold faceplate covered the head of the hunched over monstrosity, gauntlets over clawed hands and anklets over equally clawed feet. The oddest thing about the creature is the weird blue crystal seemingly embedded into its golden chest armor, blue lines leading from said crystal flow along the body, almost as if it were a machine even though it is clearly flesh and bone. Worse yet, if the creatures stance wasn't hunched over with its knees bended, it would likely stand even taller than the cow licked man who entered previously.
The last, but certainly not least, was a guy who gave off a weird vibe. Standing tall at 6'4, pale skinned, white spikey neck length hair, wears a metal masquerade mask and similar armor to the first guy, but white around the legs, boots, fingerless gloves and shoulders, with something akin to the ends of a trench coat hanging down from the armor on his waist past his knees. Interestingly, the armor was sleeveless, leaving the man's toned forearms out for all to see. The name Sephiroth pops into my mind just looking at him, and the more I look, more I understand why.
While it was weird that these four people, and one monster, would possibly come here on random notice, it didn't take much to see that all of them, even the two kids, were armed with weapons.
The kid in the diver suit had a folded up curved long sword strapped to the back of his waistline, while the cat girl apparently preferred dual chakrams as her weapons of choice, strapped to her left hip for good measure. The guy in the black armor had a handle for some sort of weapon attached to his hip, but if there was a blade attached at some point it isn't there now. Finally, and I had my suspicions as to why, the tall dude in the mask had a long katana strapped to his back.
I don't really feel like giving them any reason to hunt me down, since it appears that the girl is what their after, and because they didn't seem to be looking for me in particular from what I could tell, so I do my best to sneak back to the now open door, making sure to keep my foot falls quiet enough that the cat girl wouldn't immediately pick up on it. Once I got close enough to the doorway, I rounded the corner and started tip-toeing backwards, doing my best to keep my eyes on them.
I would have gotten away without anything happening, 'til the kid in the diver suit decided to get a little too close to the sword.
"Hey, brat! Don't even think about touching that!" the guy in the black armor shouted in anger, but the warning twas in vain, as the kid touched the sword, resulting in green particles exploding out of it. Before the kid had time to regret whatever he might have just done, the man in the mask grabbed the hilt of his katana, seemingly teleported behind the kid, and turned the kid's body into a kabob upon his blade. AKA, he just stabbed the kid, and I wasn't sticking around to find out what happens next.
So, taking the smart way, I immediately decided to haul ass before the guy turned around to notice me, by immediately bolting in what I could only assume was the way to the exit.
A guy who could flash step with a katana as long as he is tall? I'm not going to risk that coming to get me.
As I ran, I didn't really have much time to take in the surroundings I fled past, since I was just busy getting myself the hell out of dodge before the masked freak figured out he missed one. There were a lot of stairs though, along with sea creature corpses that I didn't even recognize. No time to think though, busy running for dear life.
As I ran up another flight of stairs, I could hear foot falls echoing from somewhere in the direction I was running from, which immediately was the opposite of what I wanted. That meant that the cat girl probably heard me when I started running and let the mask maniac know someone else had seen what they did. My mind racing with a bit of panic, I kept running with the adrenaline rush. I didn't care if my lungs were in pain from the abnormal breathing, I didn't bother to notice if my legs were screaming bloody murder in agony major. I just needed to escape, and fast. I was not about to let that masquerade renegade and his loony toon squadron catch me.
Hope seemed to shine down on me right then, because after coming up one final set of stairs, I saw an exit to this labyrinth of a place. As soon as I ran out into the open, and made a stop near the center of the area, three realizations struck me as I looked around.
First off, I found myself on the deck of a ship. A giant, black, ship. Well, I guess that would explain some of the interiors design.
Second… was that there was now a crowd of what appeared to be humans and short, currently indescribable due to the adrenaline causing my brain to race a mile a minute, beings in diver suits, all now staring at me from my sudden appearance.
Finally, and though this seemed minor to everyone else, it was storming like crazy. I don't know how I didn't hear it on my way to the exit, but I could feel it now and it felt rather wonderful to be frank.
Feeling some of the adrenaline leave my legs, that I could only now recognize were in searing pain, I fell to my knees, and I was likely about to keel over and faint from the amount of wheezing I was doing, if not for someone's voice catching my attention.
"You ok there?" I heard someone ask, likely coming toward me as the sound of foot falls indicated. "You ran like you'd just seen a ghost or something."
I looked up toward the man who was speaking, and was surprised to find him being the only one without his helmet on in this currently stormy weather. He wasn't overly complicated to look at, a bald black dude with sturdy facial features. Although he had a slight accent I couldn't quite place.
After I'd managed to get some of my breath back, I had no doubt as to what I should be saying. "You would to… if you'd just seen someone get run through with a katana."
"Someone in the ship got stabbed?!" The man explained in surprise.
"Yeah… a kid in a blue diver suit…. Got to close to whatever they were searching for down there, and apparently the masked maniac didn't like that all too much." I informed as I started to get my breath back. I noticed a stark silence the second those words left my mouth, but I didn't stop there. "I don't know why he did it, but I wasn't risking being next on his hit list, and I don't think any of us should get involved with this either."
"No, we shouldn't" the man agreed all too easily. He then turned to the crowd around us. "MEN, listen up! We're moving out, so get back to the Maelstrom and get ready because we're not letting them back onto the ship!"
"Sir Yes Sir!" and with that, everyone started crossing a thin boarding plank toward another ship which was docked beside the one we were on. Looking at it, the ship, while magnificent to enthusiasts, looked like quite the roughed-up piece of work. Patchwork could be seen on multiple parts of the ship, but it looked sturdy enough to hold all the people now swarming back to it. Efficient, but not too fancy, something I can appreciate.
"Where do you all think you're all going?!" Or at least, I COULD have appreciated it, if they hadn't shown back up after a few minutes into it.
Turning around, I see that the masked murderer and his two cronies are now standing half way across the ship from us. These guys were already starting to get on my shit list, and that's normally not something that happens so easily. I guess that's just what happens when the stress of being stuck in a room with no knowledge of my family, alongside seeing a kid get shish kabobbed will do to ya.
The black armored cow lick man was standing to the right of the katana wielding maniac; over his shoulder he carried the pod that held the girl from inside that sealed room, confirming my suspicion that she was the one these three were after. His partner in crime, the humanoid reptilian in egyptian style armor, standing just off to his right.
The cat girl, and her tiger, were both standing to the left of the masked man in the middle, probably giving a smug smirk- wait… she's not smiling? On second glace, she… looks like she's feeling guilty. Well, at least someone in their group didn't exactly appreciate their 'leader' feeling stabby.
"We just got back, and you all are already leaving? What, did you all decide to chicken out?" Mr. Cow lick attempted to berate us.
"No." I answered plainly, hopefully drawing their attention enough to give the others enough time to get out onto the boat. "We all simply recognized that there would likely be nothing good left on this ship after you got what you wanted, so we're getting ready to set sail."
I was making this up as I go, but it's better than nothing. As much as I absolutely detest lying, even I must admit, in only the rarest cases, that it has its uses. I was none too worried though, as he seemed to have bought it.
"Good sense, but I'm afraid we can't let you go."
"Really now? On what terms?"
"The fact that the price for your lives has already been paid."
"Hah, I've heard better one liners from a mud crab. Why don't you try looking up some new quotes after you get your hair to stop trying to peal itself off your head eh? Don't worry, owl wait." I could feel a cheshire grin playfully molding into place on to my face. 'gods, why can't I resist making puns right now?'
"Why you little-!" and he would have finished that statement while probably flying into a rage, were it not for the sides of the pod he was holding suddenly combusting into flames. With a startled cry of "W-what the-?!" he chucked the pod behind his group.
I was immediately concerned for a few reasons. The main ones being; 'How is the girl going to survive being on FIRE?!' and 'how did the pod catch fire in the middle of a STORM?!'
Didn't really have to wait long for my answer, because only a few seconds after the pod dropped to the ground, it erupted into a pillar of fire, from which a ball of flame separated and perched itself atop a spike pointing skyward. The spectacle alone looked impressive, but as the flames began to die out, I saw something that truly left me speechless. Now standing atop the spike, flames licking at the very air around her as if she were a phoenix newly reborn, is the girl that had just before been sleeping inside the now truly charred pod. With her hands no longer hiding the area just above her chest region, she appeared to have rosario with an X shape cut out of the middle made from an emerald crystal imbedded into the area of her chest piece that was once covered by her hands while she was asleep.
Everyone still on the ship stared on either in aw, or in disbelief. However, the craziness wasn't over, not by a long shot.
As if the pod hadn't just been subject to enough torture for one day, the ground underneath it suddenly started lighting up, and heating up, in a large circle around it. With not a second left for it to say its piece, the ground exploded upward into a massive column of fire, having built up heat from the lower levels of the ship, shooting into the sky. The flames were so intense in both brightness and heat at this point that I felt like I had to cover my face to prevent getting my eyes scorched out.
After a few moments, the flames died down to simple sparks and cinders, licking the edges of the hole that was now burned into the deck of the ship and likely the lower levels, and a loud 'THUD' of something landing rang out from the silence that fallowed. Moving my arms away from my face is all I needed to be completely baffled- no, outright confused as hell.
There, right in front of the newly flame carved hole in the deck of the ship that was somehow still lit lightly by very persistent flames, is the kid in the blue diver suit. As the kid sat there on his knees, taking a moment to catch his breath, it was very easy to notice the sword, the same one that was in the sealed room, was now in his hand. He now also, as I know I didn't see it on him before, sported a green gem in the shape of an X on his bare chest. Not on a necklace, not hanging down from some invisible choker, a gem literally emblazoned into the kid's skin. While that was a major oddity, it didn't hold my attention much.
What had me stunned however, was both the fact that the kid was somehow alive, and the new appearance the sword in his hand now took. It kept the overall qualities it had before; red parted blade with teeth at the base of the top blade, thin golden handle with red hand guard, and green cross shaped gem embedded into the cross-guard. What made it different now, is that there were now thin, concentrated spouts of FIRE now coming out from the serration gaps and the split in the blade, said split having parted a bit to allow the flame coming from it to manifest as a burning blade, extending the swords effective range by a very large margin.
While my brain took it's time processing how in the living hell the sword wasn't burning from the heat, and the complete mystery of how the kid survived what very much looked like being impaled through the heart, if not at least one of his lungs, the world decided to move on while my mind lagged.
"Rex?!" I heard the cat girl call out in surprise.
'So that's the kid's name huh?' I thought in passing, since now I had a name to at least one of these faces. The guy in the black armor however, wasn't so happy to see him though.
"You!" he shouted, rage steeping every letter. "And that sword. Can't be!"
As the diver boy, Rex as the kitty in the yellow onesie called him, rose to his feet, he pointed the sword in his hand towards to group with a determined expression plastered onto his face. "It's kinda low to stab a man in the back… You bloody psychopath!"
'Yep, the British are coming. Now that I think about it, that Nekomata in the onesie suit also sounded a bit British, though slightly different.' Such an observation was minor, but it helped define them a bit for me.
Rex then turns toward the girl standing upon the spire above him and calls out to her. "Pyra! Cover me!"
"Got it!" the newly dubbed Pyra responds, prompting the blue diver boy into immediately charging with a battle cry towards the masked freak and his two buddies while she jumped down from her position, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the flash stepping katana wielder is the one who stabbed him before.
It seemed like the events of not even an hour, as far as I could tell, were about to play the same ending tune once more, the masked man reaching for his katana to play said note, before the cow lick in black armor decided to step ahead of his co-hort. "Jin, Leave 'em to me."
'Lots of name drops, much wow.' I thought sarcastically, as I now had the name of the masquerading murderer archived in my mind for future reference. All I need now is the names for miss kitty and the man in cow licked black and I'll have figured out who falls into anime stereotype 1-4.
Deciding to watch this spiel for a few seconds more, giving my brain time to process this overload of info properly, I saw Rex try to swing his blade down upon his armored foe, only for said opponent to deftly grab the weapon hilt at his waist and bring it up in a guarding motion as- oh what the hell! Since when to random blade handles create blades of blue ethereal energy with a flick of the wrist?!
Either way, Rex's attack was blocked, and them locking blades with each other means that their distracted, which means the perfect chance to start exiting the premises, Stage Bridge. I looked back towards the bridge, only to find that some of the people that were evacuating had stopped to stare at the surprise fight that was now occurring. This immediately ticked me off.
"Don't just stand there! Keep going!" That seemed to shake them out of their stupor, as they immediately went back to crossing the bridge and making it onto the other boat; The Maelstrom I believe the captain had called out in passing.
I turned my attention back to the now ensuing fight, and started backing up slowly toward the bridge connecting this ship to The Maelstrom; keeping my eyes acutely aware, and my hand over the pocket where I put my revolver in case one of them decided to turn around and notice everyone else evacuating.
"Give it a rest Malos! Can't you see he's just a child?!" 'Thanks for the name drop kitty, where's yours?'
"A Child? Don't Make me laugh!" says the armored cow lick man having a standoff with said child, where's your excuse? "This kid… has made himself the Aegis' Driver!"
'Driver? How in the frozen hell does one drive a sword?!' It sounded like a load of crap, but something tells me this place isn't exactly following normal rules. As I watched the ongoing dance of blades, I couldn't help but notice the fight between Pyra and the lizard man in the background. As it seems obvious that Pyra and Rex are now working as partners, it seems more than likely that Malos and the monster lizard were partners as well. Another thing that came to mind was something about what this 'Malos' character mentioned.
'Aegis…' my mind was a train wreck when that word came to the forefront. The last time I checked the 'Aegis' was an impenetrable shield that existed in greek mythology. The problem that caught my mind like a fly to a bug zapper, was that what he's referring to when saying 'Aegis' definitely does not seem to be a shield of any sort, but the sword Rex is now using.
Shaking off that thought for now, I focused my attention back to the battle between the two swordsmen. It seemed like an even matchup at the start, sparks danced around the two swordsman with each clash of their blades. Eventually however, Malos, seemingly being a more experienced fighter, got the upper hand and sent Rex flying, in my direction, with a solid kick to the gut.
'Should I risk catching the kid or- fuck it, I'm probably in hot water for my last comment anyway.' Mind made up, I widened my stance like a soccer goalie and caught the diver suited tike midflight; the momentum pushing me back a bit, but not enough to tip me over.
"No flying lessons for you yet kid, you're not old enough yet." I said with a small grin as I put Rex down on his feet.
"Who are-?"
"No time for that now dude" I interrupted him while pointing towards the lizardman that had jumped to catch the weapon Malos threw into the air. The second the egyptian creature feature was at the height of his jump, with blade in hand, he crossed his arms before making a slashing motion with both arms, sending condensed blades of wind at us.
Thinking fast, I grabbed Rex around the waist and jumped back, just barely dodging the blades as they slammed against the ground with explosive force. The force of the explosion of wind that followed pushed us as I jumped, leading to me slamming back first against the wall, but other than the slight ring of pain down my spine I didn't feel much worse for wear.
"You've still got someone who has a bone to pick with you." I reiterate for Rex as a put him down. "You go deal with the armored lunatic, I'll make sure everyone else gets out alive."
Rex seemed to get the message, as I saw him nod before taking his battle stance and immediately charging back into battle. Pyra, the red headed girl who was fighting the blue lizard man, regrouped with Rex during this time due to her combatant braking away from her earlier and ran parallel to him towards their target. Said lizard man, who was still holding the weapon at this time, fired off two more wind blades in an attempt to slow the advancing brunette and red head pair, only for Pyra to move in front of Rex and placing her hand out in front of her, somehow blocking the attack with an invisible force field that, when struck, appeared as a set of yellow hexagonal pieces formed into the shape of a thin dome-like shield. This protection proved sufficient, as it allowed Rex to close the distance without much hassle.
'Huh' I found myself thinking as I watched what seemed like Pyra's means of defending her partner. 'Is she the one who's being called the Aegis? Rather weirdly round-about way of thinking about it if you ask me.'
As the clash between the two swordsmen resumed, the egyptian alien thing having given Malos back his weapon before Rex got close, I made sure to keep Jin and the cat girl within my peripheral vision. I had no idea as to if the cat eared girl and her tiger would try anything, her wanting to tell Malos off about fighting Rex giving me a bit of doubt about what her real intentions were, but that doubt was exchanged for hatred as I refocused on Jin. That masked monstrosity in human skin already attempted to kill the kid once, and I am more than happy to put a bullet in his head if he tries it again. Luckily, he seemed to be letting Malos handle the situation, but one wrong move and I'll probably use him as target practice.
My attention was still mostly on the battle and the bridge to the Malestrom however, so it wasn't an easy task keep an eye on them.
As the sword wielders clashed, the heavy storm battering down upon everything, and the persistent flames clinging to and illuminating the metal floor of the ship, creating an awe inspiring back drop that both obscured and silhouetted the fighters every move. At one point, Malos tried to break away from the fight, getting to higher ground by jumping, then aimed to attack the Maelstrom, which was just then starting to set sail after the rest of the crew got on board. I would have had to respond by shooting at him, if Rex and Pyra hadn't decided to first fired off a wave of flame at Malos, who blocked it, then quickly jumped up after him to continue the assault, forcing Malos to keep his defensive stance and subsequently forcing him down from the high ground to fight on even terms. Following the action wasn't easy through the rain constantly blurring my vision, but the flames that ever defiantly resisted the storm helped quite a bit in that department.
The battle seemed to be, in few words, hectic yet graceful. Both Rex and Malos were trying to slash at eachother, yet where one would strike, the other would either parry or block.
Rex would mix in some thrusts with his slashes, using the range advantage given to him by the flame beam coming from the middle of his sword to full effect, and seemed to rely on the flat of the blade for blocking. I also noticed he seemed to be using the momentum of the sword to leverage it on occasion, which was understandable seeing as while it was probably a somewhat decently sized longsword for me and Malos, it looked like a greatsword in the short brunettes hands.
On the other hand, Malos' energy sword, while not sporting Rex's range, sported the ability to morph between a few different forms for extra versatility. These forms being a long, curved blade similar in style to a flamberge that extended down the length of Malos' arm like a tonfa, a straight sword, and a forearm length buckler shield. These form changes seemed to give him a unique edge, as it allowed him to keep Rex guessing as to what he'd do next. Would he slash with the tonfa blade, would he trust with the straight sword, or would be bash your face in with the shield?
On occasion I'd hear one of them start shouting their attacks, which was a really dumb thing to do, but they were both doing it so I guess it was a fault they both shared to some capacity. Either that, or this was one of those anime-esque worlds where shouting your attacks gives you power, as dumb as that might seem, which seemed more and more plausible as the battle raged on.
After a few more swings from both sides, the two combatants backed off from each other, apparently having a standoff for a moment to analyze each other, before Malos rose from his stance and started to speak.
"You're good, kid." He spoke plainly, his tone mostly neutral as Rex started to charge at him again. "It's no simple feat to control the Aegis like that. However…" He paused, finishing in a more hushed tone as a swirl of some kind of dark energy formed in his left hand, which allowed him to stop Rex's sword mid overhead strike. Malos, possibly deciding it was time to end their little duel, full force punched Rex in the gut, while still holding the handle of his weapon, knocking the wind out of the little diver boy long enough to use his other hand to grab the kids sword arm.
I could feel my eyes twitching as I saw Malos fling Rex against the ground behind him like a ragdoll, Rex's bruised body stopping right in front of me since he had been sent rolling in my direction as his flaming sword landed a little farther back since Rex lost his grip. Since the Maelstrom had been successful in getting away, I had nothing stopping from running up to Rex's prone form and at least helping him sit, vaguely hearing Pyra call out to Rex while dealing with the lizard man.
"Took a beating there eh dude? Don't go passing out ye-"
"Don't get cocky, you little shit!"
"OH NO YOU DIDN'T YOU BULL WANKING BASTERD!" Without even getting to give some encouragement to the kid, I immediately rose to full height with a flame in my eye and a gun in my hand. I don't care if you're the devil himself or god in the flesh, NOBODY interrupts me and gets off without judgement! I would have shot Malos right then and there for his sin too, especially since the dark knight wannabe started charging toward us, had not a booming roar immediately made my ears ring.
I could feel my body flinching, taking a step back while my aim wavered, only to see that the cat eared girl, who was now riding the tiger she had with her, take her stance between us and Malos, who seemed to have also been stunned into place by that infernal roaring. This immediately had me a little confused. The cat girl in a yellow onesie, who was definitely with the enemy before, is now siding with me and Rex? Something is suspicious about this, but I'm gonna guess that this wasn't a part of their plan, if the face Malos is currently wearing is any indication.
"Get out of the way, Nia!" oh frickin' finally! Our mysterious neko savior does have a name! "Have you gone mad?!"
"You're the one who's off your nut, waling on a child!" and now she's telling him off. If this is an act it's starting off rather convincingly.
"Nia… I don't think you quite comprehend your position."
"I get it, but-"
"You're starting to piss me off!"
With a single bang, I immediately sent Malos reeling back with a fresh new hole in his shoulder, and drew everyone's attention with a pull of the trigger. Even the tiger Nia is riding seemed to be shocked by what I did, which further confused me, but I needed to put that aside for now. I didn't even bother to hold back a sneer as this action came to light, mostly because the kickback from the revolver hurt like hell when only using one hand.
Seriously, that officer from the walking dead must have used it pretty damned often if he's gotten used to the backlash from this thing.
"You don't get to be pissed off ya friggin' mahu. I'M the one who's pissed here!" Ignoring the expressions of surprise I was likely drawing from Rex and the newly named Nia, I pointedly aimed the revolver at Malos' head in case he decided to attempt some monkey business. "Now I don't care who you think you are, but that shot is gonna be your only warning."
"Who the hell do you think you are?! Don't stand in my way!"
"Fuck you too asshat, my day was perfectly fine before your retarded, cow-licked okole showed up." Well, that's a flat lie, but I can't exactly tell him how I actually ended up in this position. "Now I've nothing else to do but take that frustration out on you."
"Really now? You honestly think you'll get out of this alive? You should have left on that boat with those salvagers when you had the chance."
"You're supposed to scare me? I'll die of boredom before that happens. Do me a favor and just go cry me a river. At least nobody'll see you doing it with the rain pouring down like this." Yep, got him real salty now, I even got him to battle stance for me. It also looked like Malos was about to start coming toward me, which I would have greeted by, as a certain group of people would have put it, "popping a cap in his ass".
Pyra had other plans however, because as soon as she had a clear shot she apparently ran straight for the sword that Rex dropped. Rounding a nearby box with blade in hand, she ran at Malos full throttle and jumped clear over her blue scaled opponent, who had attempted to stop her advance, aiming for a much higher overhead slash with the blade. Likely due to the hole dug into his left shoulder not even a minute ago, the back handed black knight was forced for block the downward strike with his sword-tonfa-thing. This, however, proved surprisingly ineffective overall as Pyra, using what seemed like inbred gymnastic skills, somehow kept herself suspended in the air via the sword handle, before using the momentum from the clash to vault over Malos' head with a few upside-down twirls and landing behind him light as a feather.
This action led a new clash to ensue, with Malos pressing the assault and Pyra meeting it head on with a kind of graceful gusto I couldn't truly figure out yet. One thing was for certain though; as the red head traded blows with armored marauder, she kept taking steps back. I found this to be rather odd, as while the man was probably strong, she both had the extended range of her sword and her very apparent speed to work with, so my only guess as to this is that she's probably making sure she's just out of the range of her opponents sword.
Malos then dodged one of Pyra's diagonal slashes, going in for a slash of his own, only for the redhead to knock it away with a backhanded swing. This didn't deter the dark armored man however, as he used the momentum from the failed slash to twist into a roundhouse kick followed closely by spiraling as if he were a spinning top, his blade poised to strike at Pyra with each rotation. This was in vain however, as it seemed the added factors both his opponents superior speed, and his movements being impaired by pain in his shoulder, allowed the redheaded sword wielder to effortlessly dodge the attack by elegantly somersaulting backwards just out of range. This feat was made even more astounding by the fact she did so with only her left hand, her right hand being used to hold her sword aloft without even letting the extended blade of flame touch the floor.
If the dark knight was losing any steam from it though, he definitely wasn't showing it. Immediately after his spiral came to a stop, he dashed from his kneeling position towards Pyra. This charge was responded to by the red head ended off her apparent gymnastics routine in order to swipe at the air, sending balls of fire manifested from her sword hurling towards Malos. He wasn't having it though, as he used his sword-tonfa to swat at the flaming projectiles, which logically makes absolutely no sense, causing them to explode on impact, which apparently gave Pyra the perfect opportunity to close the distance and strike with an upward swing that was, unfortunately, also met with a swing from Malos, causing them to clash.
"You're pretty good for someone who's only just woken up." 'He's about to exposition dump isn't he?' I thought as Malos began to speak. I could vaguely hear Rex call out to Pyra from behind me, but that wasn't my main point of focus.
"This takes me back to 500 years ago… But what's the deal with that appearance? I'm guessing your goal is Elysium…" 'Name drop with no explanation, thanks for that one batman.'
"That is our dream!" 'Nice to know you're enthusiastic there Pyra, but would you kindly provide me some context while you're at it?'
"Then I have no choice but to stop you!" The very second these words left his mouth, he ended the clash between their blades, and tried to pull the dark hand trick, essentially gathering the dark energy from before into his hand and attempting to grab Pyra with it. Being the ever agile girl she seemed to be, she simply leaped backwards to both dodge the grab and create some distance, even tossing in a few midair twirls, before landing a kneeling position with her sword being held behind her back.
My attention was, at that very moment, drawn to a giant black ship pulling up on Pyra's side of the boat. While I could have taken the chance to examine it in detail, my main concern was held at the fact that two giant rocket pods lifted into view from the top of the ship… and aimed directly at Pyra, who had absolutely no idea the ship was behind her.
'Something tells me she's about to get broadsided.'
"Pyra, watch out!" 'A little late for that dude!'
It did seem, however, that life intended to prove me wrong, because Pyra seemed to recognize Rex's warning just as the ship started firing, allowing her to whip around and place her hands out in front of her, apparently creating a force field to protect herself. A thick cloud of smoke formed over where Pyra now stood, getting thicker with each hit she was blocking as the ship shook with each impact. Eventually, it seemed to stop, only to see Pyra be sent tumbling out of the cloud of smoke, skidding to a stop in our direction
"Pyra!" Rex shouted in concern as he immediately ran out towards her, not even giving me the chance to attempt stopping him. Once her got to her prone form, grabbed her shoulders and helped her into a sitting position. I would have run up there to scold him for running off, but I doubt I'd get there fast enough considering that ship was aiming for a second round. That's when I noticed that Nia, who was still riding her dang tiger, come between the two downed swordsman and the ship. As the unidentified black battleship aimed fired another volley, the tiger Nia was riding on took a low stance and roared, somehow creating its own force field with which it used to protect everyone.
'A shield generating armored tiger mount… clever girl you are Nia, and lucky as hell." At this point I wasn't gonna question the weirdness, I'd save the questions for later. Right now? I'll just enjoy the awesomeness currently within view.
Strangely, or in my case awesomely, the shield generated from the tiger somehow held out for a lot longer than the one created by Pyra, attesting to my personal view of tigers being the best of the big cats, with the last blade resulting in a large explosion that still didn't break it. the knock back of the explosion did have an effect though, as while I was looking up at the height of the smoke created by the explosion, I saw Nia get flung out of the smoke, from maximum height, her arc of trajectory indicating that if someone didn't catch her, she'd likely fall off past the side of the boat into what I only now noticed to be a giant sea of clouds.
'What is this, a cloudy version of water world?'
"Nia!" 'There's our shonen protagonist, watch him go.' Seeing Rex run down the sloped side of the boat in an attempt to chase after the falling cat girl, I immediately thought things were gonna downhill. Not like I'm one to talk though, I went toward that direction too 'til I ran into the railing on the bow of the ship that I didn't know was even there. I even saw the blue suited brunette dive off the side after Nia. It looked like they were going to fall through that sea of clouds as I saw them disappear over the side of the ship, until I heard what sounded like a grappling hook firing, and a thin metal cable shoot into the sky with what looked like a small anchor at the end of it. I could only guess that the kid was probably trying to latch on to the ledge, but slightly misaimed so it went over instead. It didn't look like it was gonna catch anything as it was on its way down, but…
Feeling the need to act, I holstered the revolver that was still in my hand at the time and jumped over the rail. Using my left hand to, with what I can only call the greatest of luck, slip my middle and ring finger through the gaps between the anchors points and, using my right arm, kept myself balanced on the slippery sloped floor by holding onto the railing. As I held onto the anchor to keep close what seemed to be the only lifeline Rex and Nia had, I turned my head at the sound of footfalls splashing against the wet floor, only to see Malos beginning to walk towards me with his arms crossed and his weapon sheathed.
"That kid's a pretty tough one, but there's only one way this can end!"
"Sure as hell ain't gonna be because of you, ya friggin' mahu." Despite me answering that way, I could see the rocket pods on the enemy ship aiming again, likely towards where Rex and Nia were hanging around. In that moment, I couldn't really be blamed for assuming that there wasn't a way out, even if I could find out a way to help them survive the missile fire.
Light flashed, and there was what I thought to be the end… Had it not been for the fact that the light turned out to be something blasting the top of the enemy ship with a healthy dose of explosive napalm.
It was not much of a stretch to think everyone was pretty damned surprised to see this. I guess life decided to cut me a break on the punishment this time.
Mere seconds after such a lovely display of explosive force, I heard what could only be described as a piercing shriek from far away, while a large, winged silhouette descended towards the ships. The somehow still burning flames, which I feel should have been put out a long time ago by the storm, lit up the figure as it flew sideways between the ships. What I saw could only be processed by my adrenaline fueled mind in one way.
'IS THAT A DAMNED DRAGON?!' Tis the only thing it could be as the little of what its appearance registered into my brain. Large wings, apparently stone scaled skin, giant frame and was very likely the one who caused the explosion from not even a minute before, there was no denying what such a beast was.
"Gramps!" 'Oh you cannot be serious Rex! You cannot tell me you've been raised by a dragon this whole time! This is not an episode of Fairy Tail, and your name is not Natsu!' even if the sound was feint, I could still hear Rex, so that at least let me know that he didn't plummet very far off the side of the ship
As the dragon flew past the ships, he, and I'm only guessing that because of Rex, turned midflight for another pass around, only it looked like it wasn't gonna be a friendly one. Infact, it looked a lot like he was gonna dive-bomb the top of the ship.
"Azurda…" 'So that's what Jin sounds like- Wait, was he referring to the dragon when he said that? That's actually a pretty cool name.'
I wasn't really able to dwell on that thought however, because the newly dubbed Azurda ascended into the sky after flying right over the ship we were all currently on, only to start dive bombing downward while launching fireballs at the ship. While luckily none of them hit near me, I did see Jin preform a repeat of Malos' tune on a grander scale, by slicing the fireball that was heading his way into scattered embers. Illogical, but I guess in that way it's unique. From the smoke I saw Azurda change his flight path a bit. I wasn't exactly sure what he was going for, but it sounded like I didn't need to ask.
"Rex, get on!" 'Old and gravelly, kinda guessed the big dragon would sound like that.' I marveled as I heard the dragon call out to Rex. I looked down toward where Rex and Nia were likely dangling, and noticed Rex's right arm hanging onto the side, the metal wire I was currently holding the end of coming from the contraption that I'd seen on him earlier. Suddenly getting an idea, I connected the anchor to the railing, making sure it was safely secured, before immediately tugging at the wires length, which resulted in Rex being pulled up along the side with an unconscious Nia dangling from under his left arm. Now knowing that they were not cliff hanging for dear life, I unhooked the anchor just as I saw Pyra riding down towards Rex on the tiger, made sure the anchor was secured in my left hand again between my middle and ring fingers, then immediately sprinted down the side towards them. As I did so, I saw Azurda slam into the side of the ship, skidding toward them while Pyra reached down towards them from the big kitty's back. Just as Rex got pulled onto the armored feline behind Pyra, said feline now carefully holding Nia in its jaws as it ran, I was just lucky enough to reach them by the time as they jumped off the end of the ship, the dragon separating from the ship and swooping right under them for a landing.
As I myself jumped off, and somehow managed to land on the big buys back with the others, I grabbed onto his back which, surprisingly, had grass on it for stable grip, releasing the anchor from my hand once again since I no longer needed it as a possible safety line. Luckily it seemed Azurda was a good flyer, as even though he was going fast, I could still feel that his back stayed mostly stable ground so to speak.
Craziness kept it self-known however, as Azurda was being shot at as he flew away. A few flashes of white, a cloud of grey smoke with ringing in my ears, and then the darkness returned once more.
Authors Notes: Welp, here it is, my first maiden voyage into the world of fan fiction. Wonder how long it will take for anyone to notice this amongst the rubble.
So, here you all have it. the first major fanfic idea I feel confident enough to upload. not sure how it'll do, but what do I know? I'm open to any starter criticism that anyone who's seeing this is willing to bombard me with, so don't be afraid to comment. I'd like to warn anyone now that i currently don't have an upload schedule, seeing as this is my first time, so if any of you are interested in seeing more.. well, it'll depend on how much everyone likes it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing other then this story, and the person who's perspective your seeing in the story. The world, other characters, and all other assets are copyright of Monolith Soft.