Here's the next chapter! What will Sayre and her friends find once they rescue her brother? Who is the man in the message? Find out in this exciting new chapter!
"Text"-talking
"Text"-cryptid talk
Text-thoughts
/text\- journal/reading
Rescue and Reunion
Sayre and the knights readied themselves. 50 knights could fit into the Shadower Shuttles so it was a little cramped. 13 shuttles were inbound to the fortified prison. 3 shuttles, one of them empty, would wait just outside the fight until evac began. The knights on board them would guard the shuttles after they dropped off their compliments of knights. 4 shuttles would attack the main entrance, while the remaining 6 split into groups of 2 and attacked the smaller gates.
When the shuttle dropped, the knights moved out carefully. They hadn't been detected yet thanks to the shuttles stealth capabilities. Sayre motioned for the Abeo scouts to go and look ahead. Asagi nodded to her, changed into her white wolf form, and led the 3 other Abeos off to check it out. Just as soon as they left, gunfire sounded. The knights had begun their assault on the main gate.
Sayre moved the platoon up and came just up to the edge of the tree line. Sayre watched as Asagi and her team subdued the few guards at the gate before ordering the knights to attack. They drew their swords and rifles and ran at the gate. The moment they were in they ran smack dab into the middle of a large group of guards.
"Tear them apart!" Sayre yelled, firing her pistol at the nearest one. It nailed him right in the forehead. The other knights broke ranks and began to fight the guards one on one. They overwhelmed the force and broke through their lines. Sayre took the twins, Kenshin, Wadi, and Francis down to the courtyard.
As they approached the gate to the courtyard, they were ambushed. Sayre fired her pistol and hit 2 men in the chest. Kenshin and the twins fired their rifles off at the guards. Even Francis used his sonic collar to knock back a few of them. Once done, they broke the gate and called out to the prisoners.
"Come on! We're getting you out of here!" Kenshin yelled. The prisoners ran for the gate. Sayre looked each one in the face trying to identify if her brother was really here. Then she saw him. She recognized that face anywhere. She hugged him as he walked out of the gate.
"Sayre, so you're my rescue huh?" Michael inquired, a smile coming to his face.
"Brother, I thought you were dead. I'm so glad you're alive." Sayre said, tears streaming down her face.
"I know sis. I know. But guess what? I've got some good news for you. I know where the rest of the knights are!"
"What?"
"Even I'm able to hack their systems here. I noticed that there were still a lot of knights and ships missing, despite our heavy losses. I got a secret transmission sent to me telling me you were on the way to rescue us and coordinates to meet up with the rest of the knights."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
The knights ran back to the fighting, knocking aside any guard that got in their way. They rendezvoused with the other knights and ran back to the shuttles waiting for them. Once everyone made it onboard, the shuttle lifted off with the other one and streaked off. The other 11 were following closely.
After about 2 hours, they landed back on the temporary base for Sayre and the knights who followed her. The ones who stayed behind cheered as they walked down the ramps with the rescued knights. Sayre and the others walked back to the bridge of the Crimson Hope. Chris, Karin, Kadan, Aron, and the other clones were waiting for them.
"The fleet is ready to move out at your command." the captain reported.
"Michael, where are we going?" Sayre inquired, curious as to where the other knights were hiding.
"Ren, here's the coordinates for the rendezvous." Michael said, handing a piece of paper with numbers on it.
"Wait, this can't be right. This is only a few miles from here. We haven't picked up any ships in the area besides our own." Ren commented as she input the coordinates.
"Trust me, you'll understand why when we get there." Michael said. "Is the fleet ready to move out?"
"Yes, let's go." Sayre ordered.
A few minutes later they were approaching the point the coordinates brought them to. But there wasn't anything but ocean all around them. Sayre looked at her brother, thinking he was messing with her again.
"Tell the frigates to make sure everything's airtight and to dive." Michael informed. "We're going under water."
"Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. No ship in the fleet, no matter how advanced it was thanks to Pluvian tech, could survive underwater for more than 2 weeks, let alone 3 months! But they had to trust him, so the order went out and the 3 ship dove below the ocean.
After going for about 10,000 feet, Michael had them activate their lights. As soon as they came on, everyone froze. There just below them, hidden amongst the rock formation, was a hangar. 6 fighters came out of the hangar for the fleet. When they were within range, they saw that 2 of them were Nova fighters used by the knights. The other 4 were different and unrecognizable except that they looked like manta rays.
"This is Shield 2 ordering the fleet approaching to identify themselves." a voice came through on the comm system.
"This is Commander Sayre with the other commanders of the Dragons of Kur aboard the Crimson Hope, escorted by the frigates Arctic Thunder and Arctic Fire, requesting permission to dock with the base here. We received a message telling us to come here." Sayre answered, not believing what she was seeing. "How is it you're down here?"
"My lady! Welcome! If you think that's amazing, just wait till you see where you really are." the pilot replied, happiness sounding in his voice.
The fighters escorted the ships into the hangar, which turned out to be a huge docking area. Several ships, both Novus Ordo and other strange ships that resembled whales of a sort, were spread out over the vast area. When the knights began to disembark from the carrier, Sayre had counted at least a hundred ships. She walked over to the pilot that she assumed was Shield 2 and waited for him to get out of the fighter.
"So, what is all this?" she inquired.
"Mam, its best if I show you." he replied. He removed his helmet to reveal that he was a clone of Zak. Except he had all white hair and his eyes were blue. "My name is Marcus mam. I've been instructed to bring you to the command center."
They followed Marcus to the command center while the other knights were reunited with their comrades and some family members. Apparently, some knights had rescued civilians and brought them here. Sayre watched as she past happy reunions and sad grievers learning of loved ones' fate.
When they arrived at the command center, they saw some humanoid cryptids. Sayre was informed that they were the people of Kumari Kandem. The guards at the entrance were both Kumari Kandem and knights of the Novus Ordo. Marcus led them down the corridor into a large chamber. It turned out to be a throne room.
"Welcome to the new city of Kumari Kandem!" the person on the throne announced. He came to the font of the group and offered his hand. "My name is Ulraj and I'm the king here. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Sayre. As well as the other Lords and Ladies that are the commanders of the elite unit known as the Dragons of Kur. I offer not only my home for you all to recuperate, but my sincere apologies for the losses you've just had."
Everyone just stared at him, confused at his politeness. Then Wadi walked up, grabbed his hand, and nearly tore his arm off shaking it. "Well Ulraj, see you haven't lightened up after all these years!"
"And you're still as rude as Zak!" Ulraj replied, a smile playing on his face.
"What is this city? Didn't you guys live on the back of that sea serpent thing? Why are you allowing the knights to recuperate here if you were staying out of the war? Are you the one who sent Kenshin that message?" Wadi inquired, throwing him off as she did so. Everyone chuckled at seeing Wadi disarm the man so easily.
"My people grew into such a large population that we decided to settle into a more permanent home. The knights I let gather here because of a promise to a friend in the knights. And it was that friend who sent the message, not me." Ulraj answered.
"And just who is this friend?" Sayre inquired, voicing the question everyone was thinking. Sayre was very intrigued by someone who could not only rally so many knights to them, but get a neutral king to shelter them and ally himself to them.
"You two can come out now!" Ulraj called out, turning to the throne.
First came a Vulpi. It was a female. As she walked down, Aron ran over and hugged her. "Rioko! You're ok!" He picked her up and twirled her around. She was laughing at his reaction and squeezing him back.
"Are you the one pulling this all together?" Daisuke asked walking over to them with Wadi and Kasumi.
"Sorry, but I just helped make sure the guy lived after what happened to him." Rioko answered. She turned back as the last of the hidden group stepped out. 2 knights walked out. One was clearly a Zintari, his uniform marked him as an Abeo, and the other a Valarian clone of Zak with a tattoo mark on his forehead. They smiled at the group before moving aside to reveal the man behind them.
Everyone who had just arrived froze. It couldn't be! They saw him die and yet here he was. They could tell him apart from the other clones because he was older than them by at least a year. The man still showed the same smile he always had. "Hello everyone. Nice to see everyone again." Zak announced.
Before anyone could move, Sayre had run across the floor, up the stairs to the throne, and tackled Zak. They went rolling down the stairs and stopped halfway down. Sayre had him pinned. He looked into her eyes and waited for her to say something. She leaned in and kissed him passionately. They broke apart smiling at each other.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again." Sayre ordered, a smile on her face and tears of joy running down her face. She got off him and helped him up as the others rushed over.
"Where have you been?"
"Why didn't you contact us before?"
"Easy guys. I have answers for everyone. First off…" Zak tried to answer, then a new voice cried out.
"Daddy!"
Everyone's jaw dropped as a little girl ran out, a couple of Zak's clones chasing her. She jumped up into Zak's arms and buried her face into his shoulder. She looked to be only 6 years old. She had blonde hair cut short, lightly tanned skin, and blue eyes. She was wearing a black pair of pants and a long sleeve black shirt. They both looked too big for her. She also had on a silver belt and silver colored sneakers.
"Sorry sir, she got away from us." the first clone said. She and the other female clone were breathing heavily, as if they had been chasing her for hours.
"It's alright. Sweety, I thought I asked you to stay with Maria and Sandra?" Zak asked.
"But I wanted to be with you daddy. Are these your friends you told me about?" she inquired, looking at the 13 individuals staring at them. "Why do they have silly faces?"
"Uh, Zak, you've got some explaining to do." Asagi informed, a suspicious look on her face.
"That's right pal." Daisuke said, walking over to him and looking at the girl's face. She looked him up and down before saying, "You must be Daisuke."
"That's right. How did you know?"
"Daddy said you would be the guy who looked like a wolf but had silver hair and was more like a human. He also said you'd be the funny one."
"Wow, not bad. So what's your name princess?" Daisuke continued.
"Angel. I'm a half breed."
"Huh?"
"I'm half human and half Valarian."
"Oh."
"So where did you pick her up Zak?" Sayre inquired. She knew this was going to be good.
"As I was saying, my Abeo sergeant William and my Valarian clone Samuel were the ones that saved me. William kept dragging my body, even after the building collapsed. As we fell down, Samuel used his Valarian wings to fly us out of there. He flew as fast as he could, but the fleet was already gone. We did manage to find a small shuttle and used it to make our escape. We found Rioko and a few other knights on board and took off as fast as we could. Samuel was piloting the shuttle past all the enemy forces while Rioko used her healing abilities to try and save me. She stopped the bleeding, but I was still unconscious." Zak answered.
"When we finally managed to break through and escape, we couldn't go far." William picked up where Zak stopped. "We found a Sanctuary City in Washington State. We set down so that we could resupply and try to heal Zak. After about 2 weeks, he finally woke up. He was still weak so we had to stay put and let him recuperate. We sought shelter in an old run down building of the town. More knights would show up, but only in small numbers. Civilians who had no family in the town or anywhere else were the ones who helped us everyday. The whole town assisted us, but those who had no one lived with and helped us. Including several orphaned children. The children took a liking to Zak and the few clones with him, seeing them as a role model.'
"Angel was the youngest and the one who at first didn't even speak much. But she eventually warmed up to Zak and started calling him daddy. At first, Zak was really embarrassed by it. Then the warning came. Ordo Ferrum forces finally found the town. We didn't have enough knights to organize a fight, but Zak was determined. He led roughly 500 knights with only rifles and swords and laid in wait for them to come. When the enemy arrived, Zak ambushed them. It was a huge battle. We were outnumbered 5 to one, but Zak and our ragtag unit defeated the enemy. But we lost more than 3/4's of our force."
"Then a miracle happened. The cruiser Iron Resolve arrived with reinforcements. We loaded all the citizens we could, but a new wave of enemy forces arrived. The rest were…massacred. We had to hold Zak back to prevent him from rushing at them again. He still got into a Nova fighter and led a squadron to cover our escape. It was several hours later when he returned. Good news, he was alive. Bad news, only 3 other fighters were with him. At that time, he finally remembered Ulraj and the Kumari Kandem and led us here. '
"After a few hours, he convinced Ulraj to let us recuperate here and shelter the civilians. Zak sent out a faint signal calling all surviving knights who didn't meet up in Australia to come to Kumari Kandem and to bring any innocents in need of help. And we've been here ever since."
"Wow." was the only thing anyone could say. Then they went back to greeting each other again, thankful for their safety. Sayre walked over to talk to Angel and Zak after awhile.
"Daddy is this Sayre?" Angel asked, clutching his shoulder.
"Yeah sweety. This is my fiancé Sayre." Zak answered.
"Nice to meet you, Angel. Glad to see someone kept an eye on my guy." Sayre said.
"Nice to finally meet you mommy." Angel said. That caught Sayre off guard. She looked to Zak who nodded.
"Ok, Angel, I'm your mommy."
"Oh, and Sayre? We never did get to have our wedding like we planned." Zak informed. "How about we have our moment?"
"Sounds good to me. Hey everyone, weddings' back on!" Sayre announced.
Everyone cheered at that. The preparations were to be done immediately. This would be the wedding of the ages.
How'd you guys like that? Next time, chapter 3: The Bond of Marriage. This is something the female White Knights wanted to do, so they're going to write it while the rest of us get the next chapter of our crossover up. Oh, and thanks to everyone who's been reviewing our story. You guys keep us going.
