Chapter 4: The mission
Kai followed Crystal back to their room, and when they got there, the captain was waiting for them.
"Ma'am." the captain said bowing, "The princess wished to have something delivered to you. It is inside."
When they opened the door, a black suit of armor was hanging on a manikin. It was beautiful, it was like one of those suits of armor from ancient times, but it seemed more elegant.
"It is for your Shikigami. a different one has been delivered to your comrades. Good day." the captain said.
When the captain had shut the door behind him Kai walked forward and touched the suit. It was cold as ice, and he got the feeling that this suit had seen a lot of action.
"Well dog, take of your clothes and let's put it on." Crystal said.
Without a second thought, Kai took off his pants and replaced them with leather breeches, and his shirt with a long sleeve tunic. After that he slipped on the tactical boots that he had found. He shivered as he slipped the black chain mail over his head, it fell to knee length, trickling like ice. He then placed put on the black chainmail pants. Then he attached the greaves to his shins and stepped into the black metal boots. Crystal watched while Kai attached the Cuisses over his thighs. Crystal walked over to Kai and helped him attach the breastplate and the backplate over his body, then she gently buckled the buckles and tightened them, keeping them together.
As Kai reached for the rerebrace crystal slapped his hand. "What?" Kai said.
"I will do it." she said.
She picked up the rerebrace and put it over Kai's biceps. She then grabbed the shoulder plates and connected them to the armor. After that she attached the vambraces to Kai's arms and then slipped the gauntlets over his hands.
Kai watched her as she tenderly tightened all the loose buckles, wondering what had gotten into her. She is never this gentle with me... I wonder what is happening... She then grabbed Kai's belt with Ignis and wrapped it around his waist and made sure it was secure and easy for him to grab.
"I have another gift for you.." she said.
She walked over to her dresser again and grabbed a black shield with a wolf howling on it, just like the mark burned into his right hand.
Crystal lowered her gaze, "I had this made for you the other day..."
Kai walked over and gently took the shield from her. He slipped it on his back and attached it so that it wouldn't fall off.
"Thank you Crystal. I will protect you with it, with my life." Kai couldn't believe he said that, but it was worth it for the look he got from Crystal.
She looked up at Kai with hopeful eyes, "You promise?"
Kai put a hand on her shoulder, "I promise." he said.
Kai took the black helmet and put it under his arm, "So, how do I look? Hot right?" He said winking at her.
Crystal cracked a smile, "Dumb dog." Crystal then changed into her regular uniform with a cape and grabbed her wand. "Ready!" she said.
Kai thought the armor would weigh a ton, but he could barely feel it on him. Kai and Crystal walked outside to where a carriage was waiting for them. Kai looked and saw that Jake and Felicity were waiting for them, Jake was dressed in an identical suit of armor, the only difference was that it was blue.
Jake looked at him, "Nice man! So sick right?!"
Kai laughed "Hell ya man!"
Kai looked at the carriage, "It isn't very big.." he said looking at Crystal.
Crystal smiled slyly, "Dogs don't ride, they walk."
Kai looked at her appalled, "All the way to the Agmous forest?"
"Yep!" she said and jumped in the carriage with Felicity.
Kai sighed and put on the helmet, keeping the visor up. "I suppose you want me to carry your stuff too right?" He said.
Crystal poked her head out the window, "Good idea!" she said and dropped the bag on him.
Jake laughed, "Shoulda kept your mouth shut, huh?"
Kai growled and attached the bag to the rear of the the carriage, no way in hell he was carrying it, it weighed a ton.
The driver cracked the whips and the horses started off, Kai and Jake trailing alongside it.
Kai and Jake walked and talked, while keeping a watch on everything, for any sense of danger.
Another thing that surprised Kai was that the armor was surprisingly quiet. He had suspected that he would be a walking clanker, but the armor just slid back and forth smoothly, with no noise.
Obviously this isn't a regular suit of armor. It must be magically enhanced...
They had been walking for about five hours when the carriage stopped. They had reached the outskirts of the Agmous forest.
The driver glanced back into the carriage, "This is as far as I go. I'll give you ladies two horses, but that is all I can do."
The girls stepped out of the carriage, "Thank you sir."
Kai went behind the carriage and detached the bag and reattached it to Crystals horse after it had been unhooked from the carriage.
Jake helped Felicity onto her horse, whispering to her about something.
"Dog, get on your knees." Crystal said. Confused, Kai got on his hands and knees and was frustrated when Crystal stepped on him then mounted the horse.
"Really?" Kai said standing up, " If I had know what you were planning, I wouldn't have done that. I could have just helped you up you know."
Crystal laughed cutely, "And what's the fun in that?"
Kai growled and stormed to the front of them to take point.
So much for me thinking she was changing. Kai was frustrated, but deep down, he knew that he didn't want her to change. She was who she was, and she had her moments. That was that.
Kai began to walk forward, looking at the ground for any trace of tracks. Part of his military training was that he was an excellent tracker. They continued in formation till it was starting to get dark, when Kai noticed a human footprint.
"Ah! I got something!" he said.
Jake rushed to the front and took a look, "He's right, its a footprint."
Kai looked closer, "It's fresh, probably three hours old."
Crystal and Felicity hopped off their horses. "We should make camp, it's too dark to see anything, let alone attack an armed base." Crystal said.
"Agreed." said Felicity.
While the girls prepared dinner, Kai and Jake put up the tents.
"What are you thinking?" Jake said.
"I'm thinking that I'm going to scout ahead. Judging from the tracks, the person was around 5'10" and was carrying a large weapon."
Kai didn't know how he knew that, but somehow he did. Weird... I shouldn't know that. Something is really weird..
Jake just nodded, "I'll cover for you, go on ahead.
Kai nodded in agreement and walked silently into the woods until he came across the footprint. He followed in the direction it was going, spotting several hints of someone passing. Broken twigs, abnormal fallen branches, crunched pinecones, nothing escaped his vision. As the night before, he could see clearly, even though it was really dark. Kai followed the tracks for about half an hour when he heard voices. He unslung the shield from his back and silently pulled out his sword. He got low to the ground and nearly crawled toward the voices.
Kai could see them now, they had uniforms on, with a symbol of a dragon on their backs and shields. Definitely the enemy, the dragon was the symbol of the country of Magnus. Kai stalked around them to see what they were up against.
From his count there was 30 guards, surrounding a large- Oh no... That's, that's a mortar cannon! He didn't know how the hell they got a mortar cannon... this was supposed to be a planet in the stone ages. From what he had seen, nothing was technological around here. So what was a mortar cannon doing here?
Kai slowly and quietly sneaked back around the encampment and went back to camp.
When he got there he accidentally snapped a branch, causing Jake to pull out Fulgur and both Felicity and Crystal to raise their wands.
"Whoa!" Kai said stepping back and raising his hands, "Just me! No need to kill me is there?"
Crystal let out her pent up breath and lowered her hand, "Dumb dog, I should kill you just for startling us!"
Kai walked over to a fallen log and gently put down his sword and shield and the unbuckled his chest plate and put it on the ground.
"Come here and get some soup." Crystal said, pouring him a bowl, "You have to keep your strength up for tomorrow."
Kai silently took the bowl and ate in silence while the others talked.
When he was done, he put down the bowl and said "Well, guys, we have a problem."
Crystal looked up, "What is it?"
Kai looked down and continued, "From my count, there are 30 guards, I might have missed a couple but I doubt it."
"So? What's the problem with that? We can take them, a little wizards fire, some hack and slash and we are done!" Jake said.
Kai looked up and took a deep breath, "They're guarding a mortar cannon."
Jake and Felicity gasped.
"What's that?" Crystal said.
"It is a big weapon from our planet." Jake said, "Even on our planet, with our advanced weaponry, the mortar cannon is a huge threat."
"Oh." Crystal said.
"Let's get some sleep, we will deal with it tomorrow." Kai said standing up.
After putting out the fire and cleaning up, Jake and Felicity went to their tent and Kai went and opened the other tent for Crystal.
Kai was about to close it after her when Crystals warm hand grabbed his wrist. "You're sleeping in here too." She said.
"But it's a tent, it's made for one person." Kai said.
"It's cold..." Crystal said and lowered her head, "You have to keep your master warm. That's your duty as a shikigami."
Kai nodded and got inside after her, zipping up the tent. He then helped Crystal into her sleeping bag and laid down next to her. Crystal grabbed the blanket and put it over both of them. Kai was surprised when she then curled up against Kai's chest and quickly fell asleep. Kai slowly and tentatively put his hand around her, comforting her. He could feel her warm body pressed against his chest, he could feel her warm breathing against his shoulder and could smell her coconut shampoo from her pink hair. Kai pulled the blanket up higher over her shoulder and slowly rested his head on his pack. It took him awhile, but he finally fell asleep, still holding onto Crystal.
The morning came and Kai woke up with the sun. He looked down to see that Crystal was still asleep, so he didn't move, as not to wake her.
Another half an hour past and Kai felt Crystal stir in his arms. He looked down and saw her open her eyes as she yawned and stretched.
"Morning." Kai said.
She looked up at him with her beautiful green eyes, still curled up, "Morning."
Damn... she is really cute...
Kai unwrapped him arm from around her, "We should probably get going.."
Crystal sighed, "Ok."
When they got out of the tent, Jake and Felicity were sitting around the breakfast fire.
"Good morning you two." Jake said smirking.
Jake was already in his armor and was drawing something on the ground.
With Crystals help, Kai put his chestplate and his belt back on. Kai grabbed his shield, slinging it over his back and set his helmet on the log next to the fire.
Crystal had eggs waiting for him, he took it gratefully and started eating.
He ate half of the plate and gave the rest to Crystal, "You need to eat too." Crystal nodded and took the plate.
"So what's the plan Jake?" he said.
"Well from your report, it seems like they are surrounding the cannon. So the best idea is to split up their forces." Jake said. "Felicity and I will attack from the East side, while you and Crystal attack from the west."
Kai looked at Jake's battle plans, "Sounds good to me, Crystal?" Kai looked at Crystal whose mouth was full of eggs. She looked at him and nodded briskly, then continued eating.
When Crystal was done eating, they headed off. Kai and Crystal headed around to the west side of the enemy's encampment while Jake and felicity headed to the east.
When Kai and Crystal were in position Kai leaned close to Crystal, "Stay behind me and don't take any risks." She nodded. Kai put on his helmet and closed the visor, he unslung his shield and took out his sword. Suddenly there was some commotion on the east side.
"That's our cue!" Kai said and stood up and charged at the nearest guard. They didn't even see it coming. Kai flew from one guard to the other, dealing death blows left and right. Kai bashed with his shield just as much as he slashed with Ignis.
"Partner, left!" Ignis said. Kai raised his shield and blocked the blow coming from his left side, then stabbed Ignis into the man behind the blow. He retracted Ignis and raised it again to parry another blow. The guy behind it blew up as Crystal pointed her wand.
"Damnit! That's not what I said!" Crystal shouted at her wand.
I guess he's not used to it like I am. Kai chuckled. He heard a shout and and dodged to the side, bringing Ignis up and stabbing into his would be attacker. Kai looked around, dead guards littered the ground, they had done it.
"Jake, Felicity? Are you both ok?" Kai shouted through his visor.
"Ya!" Jake said as he came around the corner with Felicity.
Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Kai saw another guard, this one looked like the captain. He pulled out a civil war style single round pistol and aimed it at Crystal. Kai's eyes widened and the world seemed to slow down.
Kai ran forward yelling "Gun!" and jumped in the way of the shot.
The bullet hit Kai in the chest, going through his breastplate and into his body. Kai fell to the ground, hitting it like a rock.
"KAI!" Crystal yelled and fire shot from her wand and engulfed the captain.
Jake and Felicity rushed forward, "Are you ok?!" Jake said.
"I'll be fine." Kai said looking at Crystal. "You did it, you used magic."
Crystal smiled, "Ya I did.."
Kai leaned to the side and coughed up blood. He was having a hard time breathing now. Jake dropped down and ripped off his chest plate and pulled up his chainmail and shirt to asses the damage. Kai looked at Crystal, he could see her eyes watering and a tear fall down her face.
"Crying for your dumb dog?" Kai said laughing, but choked and coughed up more blood.
"Stop talking Kai." Jake said. "Felicity? Can you fix it?"
Felicity leaned forward and assessed Kai's chest.
"No. I can't fix it, but I can keep him alive until we get him back to the school." she said.
Kai coughed up more blood.
"He's losing a lot of blood, we need to hurry." Felicity said.
Kai turned his head and looked at Crystal, who was holding her hands to her mouth with tears streaming down her face. Kai smiled, trying to reassure her. His vision slowly faded as he blacked out from blood loss.