Gokaiger of Zero
Chapter 8
Disclaimer: I own neither series.
"So, this is the place?" asked Alex as the group arrived at their destination, a large lake that Montmorency claimed housed a Water Spirit that held a contract with her family.
"Lagdorian Lake," confirmed Montmorency with a nod, "though I don't recall the waters extending this far."
"It does seem unusual," agreed Guiche as he looked at what appeared to be the roofs of dwellings sticking out of the water.
"Maybe the water level rose over time?" shrugged Alex, "It's not something we have to worry about now. Let's focus on finding that Water Spirit."
The two nobles nodded and the group headed to the nearby banks of the large lake, knowing that their top priority was helping Louise. Once there, Montmorency took her Familiar, a frog named Robin, and placed it at the edge of the water. Montmorency then pulled a pin from her pocket and pricked her finger, allowing her to place a drop of her blood on the head of said frog, before sending it into the waters of the lake.
"We just have to wait now," said Montmorency, "my blood will let the Spirit know that I am here. Once Robbin returns, it shouldn't be long."
"You named your frog Robbin?" asked Alex with a raise eyebrow.
"Yes," said Montmorency, "why?"
"No reason," said Alex, thinking of a certain comic book Boy Wonder with some more amphibious features.
And it wasn't, as the frog familiar soon swam back to shore and hopped into its master's hand. Almost immediately after it did so, the waters of the lake began to bubble and churn, twisting into a violent maelstrom as a liquid mass began to rise from the epicenter, emerging from the waters itself as its very presence caused some sweat to form on Alex's brow due to the supreme weight of it. The mass then formed into a shape that was vaguely humanoid and was composed completely of the lake water, its form shifting, granting it no set defining features as it rose to stand atop the surface of the lake. Alex couldn't help but be in awe of the sheer majesty and presence that the Spirit exuded, dare he say it was almost, supernatural?
"You have summoned me," said the Spirit in a powerful voice that was neither male nor female, yet both at the same time, "why?"
"Honorable Water Spirit," said Montmorency as she bowed respectfully, "My name is Montmorency Margarita La Fère de Montmorency. I ask for your aid according to the contract set down by my ancestors. We require a tear from you to help our friend."
The Spirit was silent for a moment, seeming to deliberate on the request before finally speaking its answer, "No."
"Eh?" said Alex in surprise as he stumbled from such a frank dismissal.
"Oh, well sorry to bother then," said Montmorency hastily, obviously not wanting to offend the powerful Spirit.
"Seriously?" muttered Alex, "We are not leaving just yet."
Alex then stepped in front of Montmorency, gaining the attention of the Water Spirit as he pulled out his Gokai Spear and stabbed it into the ground hilt first. Sinking to one knee, Alex placed one hand across his chest as a knight would when bowing to his king.
"Water Spirit of the Lagdorian Lake," said Alex in a respectful tone, "My name is Alexander Agustine Drake, Summoned Familiar of Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and wielder of the powers of the Sixth Gokaiger. I beg that you hear my words."
The Water Spirit was silent once more as it regarded the human from another world, "…speak your words."
"Thank you," said Alex, "My friend and summoner is currently suffering from an affliction and requires a tear from you to be returned to good health before she inadvertently hurts herself in some way. I sincerely request your help in curing her before an irreversible harm befalls her due to this enchantment. Should you grand us this boon I promise I shall do whatever it takes to repay your kindness."
"Inheritor," said the Water Spirit, surprising Alex, "I hear your words. If you speak truly, I then I shall agree to part with a tear in exchange for one task."
"Name it and it will be done," said Alex, "I shall complete any task if it is within my power."
"Very well," said the Spirit, "some time ago, a great treasure was stolen from my waters, forcing me to expand my lake in order to search for it. In response, humans like your friends, have sent forces here in the hopes of forcing me to stop. Deal with these aggressors and I shall consider your request."
Alex bit back a remark at the 'consider' part of the agreement, and instead bowed to the Spirit before him, "It shall be done."
With that the Spirit of the lake sank back down into its waters, leaving the four teens alone once again.
"Well then," said Alex after a moment, "looks like we know what we have to do."
"Are you crazy?" exclaimed Montmorency, "I mean, defeating Guiche is one thing, but you're going to be up against trained mercenaries at the very best and Triangle to Square class Mages at the worst!"
"Your concerns are noted," said Alex, "but I'm not going to leave Louise in this state if I don't have to. Plus, the Water Spirit now expects us to carry out the task assigned to us. Do you really want it to think that we've backed out on our end of the agreement considering the power it has at its disposal?"
Montmorency paled at that thought and nervously looked back to the waters of the flooded lake, "…I see your point. But still, are you sure you can take them?"
"It won't be easy, I'm sure," said Alex, "but I'll manage."
"Alex," said Guiche as he stepped forward, "I would like to offer my assistance in this endeavor in the hopes of making up for my part in this."
"Good man," said Alex, "now let's get moving. Our first priority it to assess the threat level and number of opponents we have to face. Once we have that information…"
Pulling out his Gokai Cellular, Alex inserted a Ranger Key and pressed one of the buttons.
[Gingaman!]
"We strike," finished Alex, now clad in the armor of the Black Knight from Gingaman, "let's go."
xXsceneXx
Alex led the way as he and Guiche made their way along the shores of the lake, hidden by the dark of the night as they searched for the intruders the Lake Spirit had sent them to deal with, and it wasn't long until they came across two figures wearing dark cloaks walking towards the lake. Alex nodded to Guiche and the blond drew his rose-wand and made to cast a spell at them, but a twig snapped under his foot, causing the two figures to quickly turn towards the noise, one of them raising a staff and conjuring a spear of ice that was promptly launched in their direction.
Acting quickly, Alex whipped out his weapon, Bull Riot, in gun mode, and fired a spread of blasts that shattered the ice spear, reducing it to glistening powder that was quickly scattered to the wind. Deciding to be the first to make the next move, Alex focused his power, and gathered flames in his hands before thrusting them forward at the unknown assailants.
"Mane of Fire!" yelled Alex as he launched a wreathe of fire at the cloaked enemies, but as they dodged, the light cast off the fire illuminated their features under their cloaks, causing him to stop short and dispel his transformation, "Wait, Kirche? Tabitha? Is that you?"
"Alex?" said one of the girls in question, her voice showing obvious surprise as she and her companion threw back their hoods, "What are you doing here?"
"It's a bit of a long story," sighed Alex, "to put it simply, we need a favor from the Spirit of this lake and in exchange, we are to drive back assailants that were attacking it. I guess we got a bit mixed up and attacked you instead. Sorry about that."
"Actually," said Kirche, "that's why we're here. It's a bit of a long story, and I think Tabitha should be the one to tell you when she's ready, but we were sent here by the King of Gallia to deal with the flooding happening because of how the spirit of the Lagdorian Lake was raising the waters of its lake for some reason."
"Ah," said Alex as he scratched the back of his head, "well, this is a bit awkward."
"Kind of," said Kirche, "but Tabitha needs to force the Spirit to retract the lake's waters so homes and people would not be endangered. It's very important."
"So, it's complicated then," mused Alex.
"A bit," agreed Kirche before she glanced at him with a sultry look, "though I have to say darling, you never said you were a fire mage."
"Yeah," said Alex as he edged away from her a bit, "it's a bit more complicated than that. Several of the heroes that I can call upon the powers of were aligned with element of fire, and thus I can use their abilities as well."
"Hmm," hummed Kirche as she moved closer, "I knew we were a good match, Darling."
"I don't think this is the time," said Alex awkwardly, "we have important business to take care of that involves our deal with the Water Spirit."
"What kind of business?" asked Kirche with a pout, put off that her affections were pushed aside yet again.
"ALEX!"
Alex froze as he heard Louise's voice, causing him to be a second to slow as the diminutive girl glomped him, bowling him over onto his back, before she proceeded to cuddle.
"Louise?" said Kirche in surprise at this scene.
"This is the situation I was talking about," sighed Alex as he tried to extricate himself from the pinkette's grip, "there was a bit of a thing that led to a mix up and now we need a tear from the Water Spirit to get Louise back to normal."
Kirche could only gape at this completely out of character display from her main rival. Hell, even Tabitha's normally neutral expression displayed obvious surprise at the pinkette's behavior.
"I missed you Alex," said Louise with a smile as she resisted my attempts to remove her.
"Oh my," said Kirche as she brought a hand up to her mouth.
"Unusual behavior," agreed Tabitha, a note of bewilderment lacing her normal deadpan.
"Sorry," said Montmorency as she ran up, "she managed to get away from me."
"Montmorency?" said Kirche in surprise.
"Kirche?" said Montmorency, "And Tabitha? What are you doing here?"
"Apparently," said Alex as he managed to pry Louise off of him and hold her at arm's length, "they're the ones the Water Spirit was speaking of when it spoke of intruders coming to attack it. It looks like this is all tied to the raising of the waters of the Lake."
"So, what do we do now?" asked Montmorency.
"We do the only thing we can do," said Alex, "We return to the Water Spirit, and attempt to seek an accord."
xXsceneXx
The group returned to the edge of the shoreline and Montmorency proceeded to summon the Lake Spirit once again while the others waited tentatively to the side. Upon arriving, the Spirit loomed over Alex as he kneeled at the edge of the water, it's features morphing to one that almost seemed to be inquisitive.
"Inheritor," spoke the Spirit, "I see you have returned, so I assume that the attacks upon myself have ended?"
"Noble Spirit of the Lagdorian Lake," said Alex, "we have come to an arrangement with the ones seeking to oppose you. They shall cease their efforts to oppose your search, so long as the waters of your lake no longer flood the homes of those that reside around it."
"You would have me retract the waters of my domain?" the Lake Spirit stated.
"Indeed," said Alex, "they were only sent here because innocent homes were uprooted by the flooding. If the flooding is stopped, then the attacks would cease as well."
The Spirit was silent for a moment as it pondered the facts provided before answering.
"No."
"I beg your pardon?" squeaked Alex, completely caught off guard by the Spirit's refusal to compromise and his thoughts on how to help Louise now.
"I shall not repeat myself, even for you inheritor," the Spirit replied, "to recover the treasure stolen from me, I must seek the one who has stolen it. To do that, I must expand the reach of my domain until I can find the one I seek."
"I see," said Alex as he tried to think of a way around this situation. Suddenly though, a wild idea came to him.
"I shall find it for you!" he blurted out, causing everyone, including the Spirit to look at him in surprise.
"Explain yourself inheritor," requested the Spirit.
"In exchange for retracting the waters, I shall seek out the one who stole from you and will return the treasure to these shores," said Alex, "I swear on the legacy of the Super Sentai and the powers I hold as Gokai Silver that I shall return it to you."
As the Spirit considered this offer, the gathered teens held their breath. At this point, things would either go well, or very, very badly.
"The Ring of Andvari," the Spirit finally replied, "that is what was stolen. Promise to return this to me, and I shall fulfill your requests."
"You have my word," said Alex, "and my gratitude."
"And I shall hold you to that," said the Spirit, "oaths are sacred here, and oaths made to the spirits cannot be broken. You have entered into one with me, so do not forget."
With that, the Spirit held out an arm and a single drop of water fell from it, landing in a bottle that Montmorency hastily pulled out, before the Spirit dissolved back into the waters of the Lake as the waters edge retreated back to its natural borders.