By Kondoru
Standard Disclaimers
Thanks to Richard for betaing
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Ten days later they came to a tree fringed coast.
Cid had detected it on his radar long before the lookout, of course. "But something's funny about the reading. I get ghosting, like off of ice. But it's not like ice. And the water temperatures too high for freezing."
"This is Wonderland, Cid," reminded Nav gently.
They opened the hatches and climbed out onto Jane's hull, looking at the uninteresting trees.
"There's your ice, Cid." Miles pointed down the beach.
"But that's not ice." Cid shook his head. "It's blue stuff."
"Like Clears clothing." Ai said.
The partly disembarked and walked on down to the blue mass on the beach.
Well, it looked a lot like ice, but it wasn't ice.
Yu patted the blue substance. It was warm and slightly squishy, like a thick gel. But if poked too firmly it went rock hard.
It was flying water.
"Ohh!" Yu yelped as the lump rose up, with him sat on top.
"Wark!" Chobi jumped forwards, craning his neck to reach his bond human more out of curiosity than an attempt at rescue. Yu jumped down upon the bird's broad back, sending him sprawling and lumps of the blue stuff scattering.
Cid stood with a piece in one hand, furiously typing on his laptop with his other hand. He shut it down. "Yup, this is flying water!"
Miles gave her broadest grin. "Power to fly! Power to defeat Chaos!" She yelled triumphantly. For none was as eager as Mireth Miles the Gunner to take the battle to Earl Tyrant's own doorstep.
Everyone laughed wholeheartedly; victory was finally within their grasp. They played around with the fascinating substance for a few hours; squidging it, throwing it around, even jumping on big lumps to make it float, then hopping off before it rose too high. Fuel water in many ways resembled the strange cotton wool like Mist that they had encountered in the ruined Mystarian City, but was very different. Lisa used her Kigenjutsu senses to scan it. This was not Mist at all, but more like a water version of Soil, and so compatible with Cid's technology.
Kuroki Kaze did not join this indignified horseplay, but watched, sat under a tree in his habitual pose. The others had forgotten all about his sullen presence.
Ai noticed him. "Come on Kaze!" She shouted, "why don't you ever join in the fun?"
Yu patted her arm, "don't make a pest of yourself Ai," he told his sister. "Kaze's having his fun watching us, don't you understand?"
Ai pouted at her brother and picking up a piece of fuel water, threw it at the inoffending gunner, Kaze ducked and the lump hit the tree he was propping up, spattering him with blue fragments; he shook it out of his matted hair, snorting at the intrusion.
Cid tossed down a lump of fuel water he had been intending throwing at Nav. "It's getting on. We should be lugging this stuff into the hold. But I have something that should make that a lot easier."
After a hasty meal Cid led the crew down to the storage space, the room next to the one Kaze had appropriated for his lair. "Let's get cracking."
All set to unloading the crates from the submarine.
Inside were rapidly assembled yellow tracked vehicles.
Cid stood back proudly. "Here is Lamonts One though to Ten..."
"A girl's name" said Ai with weary contempt.
Yu fell asleep though Cid's lecture on his new gadgets.
"Kwei!" Rang out Chobi's warning cry, he craned his head around nearly a full circle.
Ai followed "something wrong!"
Fango jumped off one of the Lamonts. "Bad stuff!"
Lisa's head whipped around. "Chaos!"
Kaze leapt to his feet in one fluid movement, he unholstered his shotgun.
And monsters shimmered into existence.
There was a whole host of them, most were strange creatures that bore a great resemblance to a walrus, but their sharp tusks were forwards jutting and their flippers more like a sea lions. No doubt these creatures were very agile upon land.
Others were even bigger things more like lobsters.
The largest of all was a giant sea anemone.
The first leapt on a Comadeen, and before he could scream, bit him clean in two.
"Pist's creatures," gasped Lisa, familiar with the psychic signature of this Death Lords creations.
"So many of them," said Cid, he pushed down his headset.
"To your stations, Comadeen," ordered Miles.
"See off the small ones, I'll deal with the clawed." Nav got out his Gatling.
And the fight began.
This battle was the most serious they had ever fought.
Ai fought like a pigtailed demon, she had grabbed up a crowbar cid had brought for fuel water harvesting, and stuck right and left.
Chobi jumped and kicked and pecked with his great beak.
The rattatat of Nav's Gatling was overlain by the deeper crack crack of Kaze's sawnoff.
Miles had shot several poisoned darts into the monsters with her multibarreled blowgun; it was slowing them down but didn't have any real result. She sighed and grabbing up her spear, jabbed it deep into a tusker.
Of all Jane's crew only Yu did not fight, he huddled in amongst a pile of fuel water blocks. Yu was terrified both at the violence and his own helplessness. What was he to do?
Kaze was peppering the massed tuskers with scientifically placed shots all the while powering up the Magun, a tusker jumped at him, Lisa gasped, she knew Kaze was almost helpless in close combat, even more so while integrating his Magun.
But before she could react Kaze brought his Magun arm round, the blades which Lisa had always thought insubstantial sliced though the creature in a great spray of minced flesh and gore.
Kaze dropped his shotgun upon its wrist strap and wiped red muck off his face.
The Magun clunked together. "The Magun has thawed." Kaze gave the command that activated its targeting computer,.
Lisa stepped in front of him; Kaze would need her to cover him while he went though the loading ritual. Something he could not skimp upon. Each and every soil charge had to be mentally primed before chambering.
The sea anemone was grabbing lamonts and the odd hapless Comadeen, smashing them down upon the fuel water.
"Be very careful Kaze!" She yelled above the thrum of the soil turbine. "Nothing fire or energy based! I sense great latent power in the fuel water, if you get it wrong, the whole place will go up!"
Kaze nodded. "The soil charge to use against you has been decided!" He stabbed a judgemental finger at the sea anemone.
Kaze gave a few mental commands to the Magun's computer. The targeter which was wired into his cyberneticaly altered brain went blank and brought up a wholly different Soil triad than it had initially done. Normally the Magun decided its own ammunition based on what it saw though Kaze's left eye and his perception of the danger. But this was only a suggestion.
"...An infinity to surpass the heavens; Sky Blue!"
Kaze primed the first magic bullet. The soil charges contained the soul, backed up by a mixture of Soil sand and high explosive to vaporise it into pure spirit.
"...That which burrows though solid ground; Earth Brown!"
He reached into his belt, pulling out the second charge. Kaze could feel where each charge was located in the forty-two slotted belt. He did not need to look.
"...And finally, a deception to twist a dimension; Magic Violet!"
The last bullet was telekinetically flipped into the third chamber of the Magun and the breech closed.
Kaze quickly checked the reading on his targeter. All three soil charges were primed and ready to be fired. He revved up the soil turbine, which powered the Magun; his heart beating faster to keep up the blood flow which cooled the weapon and kept its Ki circulating. This was critical, if the Soil overheated the Magun would misfire, unchambering the soil charges and deactivating again.
Kaze did not like to think what could happen if it misfired after the Soil charges had been turned to spiritual energy.
Gathering his Ki, Kaze braced his feet against the recoil and squeezed the trigger.
"...I summon thee... TYPHON!"
Lisa gave a big sigh of relief as she tossed another tusker with her Kigenjutsu; Typhon would remove the big monster without disturbing the fuel water.
The energised soil charges spiralled out and coalesced into a purple creature, Typhon resembled nothing more than a strange alien insect larvae, and most people who saw him, their first reaction was to go huh? The sea anemone did not have the sense for this, merely batting at the inoffending demon.
Typhon powered up, grabbing a big lump of space in a blaze of light, the sea anemone with it. The light turned to blackness, as Typhon returned to his own dimension, crushing the enemy as he dragged it along with him.
Kaze stood in a cloud of exhaust gases and vaporised soil...not to mention blood. The Magun powered down automatically as it did after every firing. Kaze calmly reloaded his holstered shotgun with fresh magazines, he could not use the Magun on the scattered monsters; it would be too risky for the Comadeen who were bravely fighting them off with blowguns and assorted hand weaponry. A tusker bounded towards him and he blew its grotesque head off with a carefully placed explosive bullet.
In spite of everyone's heroics, the Comadeen were losing. Several were dead. Cid lay unconscious, trapped under a fallen lobster. Fango was trying to lever the brute off of his companion. Miles was standing over Nav, who was frantically trying to reload his Gatling. Lisa stood leaning against a crushed Lamont, getting her breath back.
No one saw the approach of a slim white clad form.
Not even Kaze.
Shiroi Kumo sliced though two lobsters as if they were his supper. He almost flippantly speared a tusker and beheaded another.
Kaze had killed three sea monsters but had been injured in the process; he had taken a tusk to the chest and lower legs. Kaze struggled to get up, but could not, he sank down, blood slicking the fuel water The Demon Gunner nearly fainted.
Then he sensed Makenshi, Kaze looked up, he grabbed his discarded Winchester, -empty.
Pulling himself up on his free arm he hauled the Magun into view, the demon gun remained inert, Kaze groaned, "move!" He ordered.
It integrated with painful slowness, blood dripping from the tourniquet to join the puddle on the ground.
"The Magun has...thawed."
Shiroi Kumo walked slowly up to him, sword on belt.
Kaze pointed the Magun with a shaking hand "the soil charge to use against you has been decided."
It was no use.
The warning signs his targeter brought up were all red.
Nor did the Magun suggest a soil triad to use, as it should have done.
Kaze fumbled in his belt. Nothing. The soil charges were all inert. He could not activate them.
Kaze groaned. He was done for. The gunner sank his head back down to the fuel water, waiting for the blow of the Maken that would end him. Death would be a merciful sleep.
Makenshi contemplated his archenemy for a long moment; he pulled back his mask.
He then spat full in Kaze's face.
Kaze groaned. "Do not torment me, Makenshi, I cannot fight."
Shiroi Kumo smiled, "sleep Kuroki Kaze...You deserve it."
He brought down the Maken.
Yu gasped.
Kumo looked at him, "come here!" He ordered.
Yu gaped.
"I knocked him out...He's still alive."
Yu took a step forwards, he was resolute. "And you won't take him alive. Chobi!" He did not like to think what The Black winds bitter enemy would do with him.
The yellow bird ran to his master's side.
Kumo looked at them both, still calm in spite of the threatening chocobo "Best move, Earl Tyrant has dumped an Omega crystal on this plane...It will take a while to activate but once it does..." He made an explosive gesture.
Yu gasped. "So it's all a diversion to keep us in place?"
The steel masked Mystarian nodded. "Help me get Kuroki Kaze to your ship."
So Yu had bound Kaze's unreacting hand and his Magun arm to Chobi's collar with his belt. "Go to Jane!" He had ordered the worried bird.
Chobi would not leave his bond humans side.
"Go to Jane!" Yu had shouted in sudden anger. "I have to help Ai and Lisa."
Chobi turned and walked away, Kaze's long legs flopping behind him.
Yu sighed, tears running down his cheeks. He had little hope of seeing his bird ever again.
He looked up, resolute Ai or Lisa?
Yu decided upon Ai...He knew full well he stood little chance of carrying Lisa who lay exhausted by her Kigenjutsu struggles.
He stepped over to his twin "it's all right Sis, I'm here."
"Yu?"
"Its me, Ai, don't be afraid."
"Yu..." cried Ai weakly, she was cut and bruised in a dozen places, two dead monsters testifying to her bravery.
Yu managed to haul his sister on his shoulders shaking hands slick with Kaze's blood.
"Wait."
"Sis, we have to hurry, we have only a few minutes."
"Let me grab a black of this stuff then." Ai grabbed as big a handful of fuel water as she could manage, with it she was lighter, Yu was grateful, Ai was a big burden.
He staggered back to the submarine and inside the airlock.
Cid was lying on the floor just inside, two Comadeen beside him.
"Cid!"
"Yu...and Ai!" Cid groaned, "I have broken legs, one of those tuskers fell on me...ooowww!"
"Where are the others?" Asked Yu.
Cid gestured further in. "Nav carried in Miles, I don't know how he did it."
"And Lisa?" Yu was worried. He owed Lisa so much. But Ai was his sister.
"I have Lisa." Came a voice behind him.
Yu turned, there in the doorway was Makenshi cradling her in his delicate arms.
"Thank you!"
"No matter."
Cid was in too bad a state to climb to his controls "slight design fault there I think," he muttered to no one in particular.
Kumo put down Lisa, "We have to move."
Nav looked at him, groaning "not everyone's accounted for."
"If we stay here any longer we will all die, -close the hatches!" Kumo told them sadly.
"Kaze and Chobi!" Cried Yu in alarm.
"We have no choice" Kumo raced up to the cockpit "how does this thing work?" He called down to Cid.
"I've been gathering data on the Planes. My computers got the co ords for them."
"Sod it!" Kumo jumped down, gathered the inventor in his arms and levitated back up to the cockpit. "Do it!"
Cid rapidly plugged his laptop into the socket for the main computer. He looked about himself in horrified confusion, then groaned. "The ocean puzzles breaking up round Omega."
Lisa stood up. "Let me out Cid." She said in a weary voice.
"What?"
"I'll summon my Kigen Dragon."
Kumo and Cid looked down at her.
"Hurry, we have very little time." She turned to go. "Cid, Nav, Miles...look after the Twins for me. Help them find their parents, look after Kaze for me too."
Lisa opened the hatch.
"Lisa!" Called Nav in distress but she ignored him.
Outside all was deadly quiet. The last of the monsters had vanished leaving only the dead, there was a strange pinky purple glow in the air.
Omega.
Its energy levels were rising by the second and were getting unbearable. Lisa shut off that part of her mind. She estimated she had less than half a minute to act.
Lisa focussed her Ki "turn my life into spiritual energy."
The great silver snake materialised, wrapped its shimmering coils round the Comadeen submarine and vanished to another plane.
A few seconds later, probably speeded up by Lisa massive expenditure of energy, Omega blew, obliterating the ocean puzzle entirely.