CHAPTER 6
"What be that weapon you used?" Howard asked quietly, pointing at Gregor's pocket.
"Oh, it's, um, a weapon we use in the Overland. You know how you use bows and swords? Well we use these things called guns. They are like your bows, but think of the arrow being smaller, sharper, and travelling about as fast as sound." Gregor explained, looking at the faces staring in awe at his pocket. The only one that was not unnerved was Ripred. Aurora brought Luxa down on the ship, putting her gently on the deck.
"I know they are lethal, but they have to be aimed, like a bow you humans are so fond of. I have heard of this from the Overland gnawers." Ripred said with a yawn, examining his paw.
"Well that's all; we should go back to our rooms now." Gregor said stiffly, getting more annoyed at Ripred.
"Fine… pup." Ripred sneered, crawling back into his own cabin.
"Shut up, can't you realize that I've had enough? You've been like this the whole time!" Gregor growled, lifting Luxa up into his arms and walking to his cabin. When they were inside the cabin, Gregor gently put her on the bed.
"Thank you." Luxa whispered, touching his hand.
"You know I would risk anything to save you." Gregor replied, stroking her cheek.
"So, that is what your Overland weapon does." Luxa said, pointing at the gun.
"Yep, although you have to aim like you do with your bows. I'm not quite sure how I managed to aim the accurately." Gregor replied, his face forming a quizzical expression. He had sort of unintentionally aimed and fired. The risks of shooting Luxa were too great, but somehow, that rager-like sensation with the gun changed his mind. Suddenly, a wide array of possibilities flashed through his head. He groaned as he realized that they were just as bloodthirsty as the rager sensation made him. Killing cutters, shooting them from afar…
"What is wrong, Gregor?" Luxa asked, looking worried, "You have had a gleam in your eye and you have tensed up."
"Oh, what? Oh you mean… yeah, I think I have a sensation sort of like the rager sensation, but with this gun." Gregor said, startled. To prevent himself from answering more questions, he pretended to fall asleep…
Ares was burning up, fires were consuming him. Heat all around, wings in huge pain. His body on fire, burning…burning…
"Wake up! Why do I always have to wait for you two?" Ripred's snarl echoed in Gregor's head.
"Hmm…what?" He said sleepily, twisting himself around. Gregor found Luxa sleeping next to him.
"Hey, Luxa, wake up!" Gregor whispered in her ear, giving her a little shake.
"I do not want to get up, Vikus!" Luxa muttered, rolling around. Gregor tried again, this time successful.
"Ripred! I thought you were my bond! I do not wish to wake this early!" Luxa snapped, standing up.
"It breakfast! It breakfast!" Boots' happy chirp came from outside. Gregor went outside and found a couple of bowls filled with soup on a table. There were slices of bread and cheese. He could see Boots happily digging in and feeding Temp as well.
"Temp eats! Temp eats good food! Good Temp!" Boots said, scooping up soup into the cockroach's mouth, making a mess.
"Ohhh, not good I feel, not good." Temp moaned, lying down. Gregor knew the crawler was in torture. He himself had been in Boots' eating games and it was not fun. She would just shovel a lot of food in your mouth, not caring for accuracy. Most of the time, you would whether choke or get very dirty.
"Boots, there's a yummy bread plane flying in! We need a place for it to land!" Gregor said, dunking a piece of bread in soup and "flying" it into Boots' mouth.
"I gib plane place to lan'!" Boots said through a mouth full of food. Gregor fed her more, also eating some himself. It took him forty minutes to get through his meal. After that, he excused himself and went to see Ares. Gregor walked through the doorway and saw his bond in a terrible mess. There was bloody everywhere as well as torn wings. He was missing a claw from the battle with the Bane and had two huge scars from where the Bane bit him. Ares must have been really strong, almost invincible, to last through the plague with the Bane fight back to back. Gregor had already been in awe that his bond recovered that fast from the plague, but now he was just completely astonished that Ares had cheated death itself. Ares' reputation just got larger and larger.
"Hey, Ares. How are you doing?" Gregor asked. Ares grimaced. The bat shifted around, trying to find a comfortable spot.
"Not well, but I have been recovering." Ares said.
"So how did you manage to survive that attack?" Gregor asked, getting curious.
"When I was bitten, I became unconscious and couldn't do anything. Later, I had to survive on anything that came by me, it didn't matter most of the time what it was. Finally, I was well enough to fly and I flew to Regalia." Ares told his story. "The reasons I survived were that I was the son of Achilles and that I was lucky enough to be bitten on places that were only near my veins."
"Who is Achilles?" Gregor asked.
"Achilles was my father and he was a strong war bat. He survived any attack and was the best bond that lived. One day, my father went to war with his bond and he was clawed by a gnawer in his claw where you humans would call a heel or wrist. My father fell from there and he and his bond both were completely eaten by the gnawers." Ares explained. "I inherited his resilience to attacks."
"Overlander, I know he is your bond but he needs his rest!" Howard called from outside.
"See you around, I guess." Gregor mumbled and he held out his hand to Ares' undamaged claw. They did the bond handshake and Gregor left the room.
"You are very lucky; Ares has survived very much unlike Pandora." Howard said, catching up to Gregor.
"True, but then again, I thought he died." Gregor replied.
"Yes, that is true, but you are lucky to have a bond once more. After you left, many humans bonded with the gnawers. Most of the people on this ship have gnawer bonds. I myself, have a bond called Sharpclaw. He is not very strong, but he is smarter than most rats and actually has sympathy for other creatures." Howard said.
"Howard, come here now!" Hazard came running, breathless and panting. Howard went to look what was bothering Hazard so much and froze when he looked ahead.
"Everyone! We are approaching the maelstrom! Fliers, we need you to take whatever you can and help drag the ship across!" Howard yelled. Gregor remembered the whirlpool that Twitchtip almost drowned in. She fell overboard and nobody tried to save her. Except Gregor. At that time, Gregor did not know how much the humans hated the gnawers, seeing nobody helping her made him furious. Now, since the humans were at peace with rats, Gregor could relax, knowing that nothing bad will occur unless they ran to the Uncharted Lands or the cutters. He went next to Howard and took a look at the whirlpool. Surely, it had to be the large one he had seen on the last quest. What Gregor actually saw though, made his heart stop. The maelstrom was a huge, vast, spiral of dark water. There were huge walls of white froth foaming at the edges. The one he saw in the last quest was just a baby compared to the one he was seeing now. Why, it could swallow two of his apartment rooms with ease! Gregor gasped in shock.
"Yes, this is an unusually large one, but I have seen one like this." Howard said, as if he had read Gregor's mind.
"Geez!" Gregor thought. "I really have been missing out on things!"
"Boots!" He called out, hoping to get her on a bat as fast as possible.
"Gregor! We go swim, we go swim?" Boots jumped up and down excitedly, running to him.
"No swimming! Boots go fly, okay?" Gregor said, lifting her up.
"I need a flier!"
"Andromeda and I shall take her, Overlander. Do not worry, she shall be safe." Mareth said, taking Boots from Gregor and hoping on Andromeda.
"Gregor, you need to mount on Aurora now! Ares is already trying to fly away!" Luxa yelled from Aurora's back. Gregor mounted and saw his bat flying already, trying to pull the ship up.
"Is he strong enough?" Gregor asked.
"No, Overlander, we are going to help him." Aurora purred and dived in to help Ares. Gregor saw every bat trying to lift the ship. Slowly, their ship lifted up and he could hear the shiners screaming.
"Ahhhh! What are you doing? WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Photos Glow-Glow screamed.
"Wait! First, we can get some food before we die!" Zap exclaimed excitedly and went down to eat the supplies.
"I am with her because we did not come on this trip to be in a maelstrom. We will have to require more food." Photos Glow-Glow explained, and rushed down to eat as well. Despite the situation he was in, Gregor found himself laughing at the shiners' antics and watched them abandoning the ship, flying away in their fat bodies while munching on food.
"They would think of food at this time." Ripred snarled, gnashing his teeth together. "When we are done with this quest, I will so kill them. They have that coming. Warrior, this is not funny business!" Gregor couldn't help but keep on laughing. Somehow, it was so funny and he wanted to keep on laughing. Then, he realized that Boots and Hazard were laughing before him and Luxa had started laughing as well. Even Howard started getting a smile on his face.
"Everybody, remember the Vineyard of Eyes?" Ripred asked. "Because currently we are breathing something like that. Fliers, I need you to last as long as you can. Looks like that gas is coming from the island up ahead." Gregor started getting delirious; tears were flying out of his eyes as he shook with mirth. Now, he started to see an island shaped like a melon up ahead.
"Like a melon." He thought and cracked up. Somehow again, that seemed funny. Now, his vision started getting fogged up and Gregor was panting for breath, shuddering but still happy.
"Come on! Just a bit more…there!" Ripred shouted triumphantly. Gregor immediately shot out of his stupor and gazed around. He saw the island behind him and the whirlpool by it. The fliers landed back on the ship and Ares was carried by Mareth and Howard back into his cabin.
"Warrior, I do not intend that happening again. You cannot just lost discipline in times of danger. We are all very disappointed in you." Perdita scolded, walking up to him.
"We still made it, I don't see the problem."
"The problem is that your foolish little head just can't register any danger. Think! You aren't a child any more! I thought you fought enough to realize that! The reason that we older people are more resistant is because we have our guards always up! Didn't you learn never to let your guard down?" Ripred snapped at him.
"Fine, I won't do that again." Gregor said, a bit depressed. Now that he realized it, he had let his guard down to the gas and that was the only reason he was susceptible to it. Head hung, he walked away sitting alone, waiting until they reached the Labyrinth. After a while, he felt a hand touch his shoulder.
"Gregor, do not be depressed by what Ripred said. Ever since he became my bond, he did that to everybody. I do not know why but he has changed." Luxa said, sitting next to him.
"That's not what I am depressed at. It's just that I found out that I wasn't the invincible person I thought I was. Being a rager and all, I thought I learned enough now, but I guess the gases from the island beat me."
"Maybe if you apologize to him, he might be nicer?" Luxa suggested.
"Why not? There's nothing to lose." Gregor thought. "Good idea, I'll do that now." Slowly walking towards Ripred, he opened his mouth to apologize: "Sorry Ripred, I know I haven't been very careful and almost got you guys killed." Ripred was unmoved.
"You have to be more careful, warrior." Ripred coolly said and crawled away.
