Azule gasps as he becomes mesmerized by the beautiful view of the ocean in the early morning, smelling the delicious seawater below him and feeling the calm ocean breeze blow in his face; Azule was on a big yacht with Cobalt, Tangie, and the members of Kidvel. They had set sail for Death Row Island at the same time that Reice and Volet and the others had departed for Beacon Hills, and were now on their way there, prepared to investigate what happened on the island after receiving orders from principal Telfin.
For the past week, Azule and company had been doing training in preparation for what might lie ahead; Azule continued his combat training with Pastelle and Tangie, participated in endurance training with Taylor and Nelson, and talked sport with Cobalt. Azule goes over to join Cobalt and Tangie, who were both out by the front of the boat admiring the sunrise.
"Morning guys, ready for a good day?" Azule stretched as he greeted them; they both greeted him as well.
"I see you're beaming brighter than usual…what happened?" Cobalt raises an eyebrow out of curiosity with a grin, nudging Azule while doing so.
"Well, I don't really know, I just feel really good today!"-shrugging his shoulders as the smile grew brighter.
"Maybe it's the beautiful morning." Tangie takes out her camera to take a snapshot of the sunrise.
Azule nods his head, "It definitely is a beautiful morning; rarely do I ever see the sky like this in the morning. No clouds, buildings, or sounds of machines to ruin the peaceful song of the ocean."
Cobalt takes a peek at Tangie's photo after she takes a couple, "It's amazing to believe that we're just about to enter the Mana Trikon…"
Azule and Tangie look and at him-clueless to what he's referring to, "Mana…Trikon…?"
"Mana Trikon, otherwise known as the forbidden triangle; It's a supposedly cursed area out here in the Splatlantic Ocean, filled with scary monsters and very mysterious things happening like the sudden disappearances of ships." Cobalt informed, holding up a finger with full engagement.
"Why do you know these things?" Tangie said bluntly, uninterested; Cobalt became annoyed.
"Well you see, it just so happened that I learned about this from my father back when I was a young child. It scared me to know that big, scary monsters were lurking here."
"Huuuuh?"-Tangie taunted with dead fisheyes-"you of all people were scared of something? I thought you were supposed to be some super serious-never smiling samurai?" Tangie said, poking fun at Cobalt.
"Very funny, so funny that I forgot to laugh." He responded sarcastically.
Azule claps his hands, "Now now you two lovebirds, no bickering so early in the morning. Let's enjoy the morning without your usual play antics."
Both of them stare at Azule face-palming and shaking their heads, not even attempting to respond. Pastelle walks out of the girls cabin-still in her pajamas-with a can of black coffee; there were two sets of luxurious cabins: one for the boys, and one for the girls.
"Good morning guys…" she yawned holding her can of black coffee in one hand as she covered her mouth with other.
"Seems you're the first to wake up from Kidvel." Cobalt noted.
"Yeah, they aren't really morning people." She responded.
The four of them discussed little things to pass the time and then had breakfast, and by the time the rest of the Kidvel members woke up, it was already noon. They all ate together for lunch and were making plans for after the mission. During the trip, they passed by a couple of nice islands known as the Mahi Mahi isles, a group of islands considered to be a part of Mahi Mahi despite being far offshore of Mahi Mahi; the Mahi Mahi isles were the popular tourist destination of the east that competed with the Maui isles of the western Splacific ocean near Cepholodan. Mahi Mahi Isles were known for their majestically large mall, top class resorts and fine dining.
"We should go to mall of Mahi Mahi when we finish this, right Nelson?" Taylor proposed; eager to try out the fancy clothes and dine at the lovely restaurants.
"I heard their restaurants are all waterfront! Cobalt, imagine us dining on the edge with your life on the line!" Tangie added with stars in her eyes, shaking Cobalt rapidly at the thought of being alone eating on the edge of life and death.
"No thanks…I value my life." Cobalt responded with a sweat-drop, declining her offer as he made a double chin.
"Focus on the mission first and take it serious; Death Row Island is no joke. The most dangerous men alive are kept there, and now that it's speculated to have been an uprising, we should be completely focused-"
"Wouldn't they just escape from the island by now?" Cobalt interjected, not letting Pastelle finish.
"No, given that some of the criminals are quite intelligent…I'd expect that they have some plan ready, expecting us to come." Parker stated imperatively.
"For all we know, they could only be expecting the Elites or S.I.A.T or maybe even the reserves from the Squidops or Special Forces. They may not even be expecting us, and surely they aren't factoring Azule, Cobalt, and Tangie." Nelson said, hoping to downplay the importance of the mission since he'd never been a part of a mission of this magnitude.
"Even so, we still must focus on how we'll handle them…"-he looks down at the floor as if something heavy was on is mind-"after I did some digging the other day I learned that Kida just recently got admitted there…"
The other's faces drop afterwards, knowing very well that this mission got a lot tougher; they were able to defeat Kida last time because they had numbers of highly talented individuals on their side like Sky and Saya, but now it was up to Pastelle, Cobalt, and Azule-the three most skilled combatants-to lead the attack against a island full of dangerous prisoners led by a powerful foe like Kida.
Azule saddened as he thought about Spyke, regretting the result of crippling him a few months ago. He hoped that he could help Spyke as soon as he finished this mission, but now he'd have to face the angry big brother Spyke; Pastelle notices Azule's sad expression and figures out it must be related what happened between Azule and Spyke-learning from Sky everything that happened regarding that fight.
She pats him on the back, "Whatever happens when we get there, know that I got your back."-Reassuring him with a wink and a smile.
Suddenly the yacht jerks, stopping abruptly; it had been on autopilot the entire night and was Parker's job to steer when the daylight came. Everyone ran outside and over to the bow to see what it was that stopped the ship so sudden, all of them thought they must have simply hit a rock; the ships rocks and everyone falls on the floor as water furiously splashed onto the deck. A giant shark emerges from the water showing its large dorsal fin; everyone's face turns pale as they recognize the aquatic beast before them.
"I-It's a-actually real!?" stuttered Nelson in fear; the only people unfazed by the encounter were Azule, Cobalt, and Pastelle, who was smirking instead of trembling in fear.
"To think the Mana Trikon would be the domain of one of the most legendary of predators…the big, mighty Katastrofeas Nero!" Cobalt said, unsheathing his carbon black katana blade.
"Everyone else, evacuate to the speed boats…it's about to get ugly!" Pastelle commanded, tying up her two long braids into one and cracking her knuckles-ready for a fight.
"This will make for a good warm up before we arrive at Death Row Island!" Azule added, tightening his cap.
Nero opens its mouth wide open as it crashes into the yacht-taking a big bite out of the bow and pushing everyone back; Parker led the others to the life boats as they made their escape, careful of the water around them. The boat begins to sink as the others panic, knowing full well that they all could die should they fall into the water.
As the shark went back underwater, Parker and the others began to sweat in fear as it could be possible that the shark was after them next; their fears are confirmed as they see a shadow coming towards them. Nero jumps out of the water, ready to devour them; Pastelle shot the mighty shark right in the eye as it was in mid-air. The sharks halts its attack and turns around in rage to eat Pastelle instead, but finds Cobalt, who stabs the shark in its dorsal area. The shark tries to throw him off, but can't as Cobalt jammed his blade deeper; the shark then decides to head underwater to recover. Cobalt leaps of the shark and back onto the sinking boat before he gets dragged underwater to his death. He breathes heavy as he realizes just how close to death he was; Azule ran over to help him up.
"Are you alright?" Azule asked, helping him up by the arm.
"Yeah…didn't realize the gamble I just made. Luckily I realized just in time…" Cobalt answered, catching his breath.
Pastelle is on the roof of the cabin with her military custom sniper rifle, waiting to penetrate Nero with another bullet-her finger hugging the trigger as she stares through the scope.
It's quiet for a brief moment, and then Nero pops out of the water yet again; Pastelle fires another shot and destroys the other eye, blind the shark completely. Nero crashes into the ship once again and Azule braces for the impact with his fist ready to deliver a powerful punch. Azule-with full power-punches Nero right in nose and completely demolishes the structure of the shark's face, sending the giant creature back-dazed and confused. Cobalt sharpens his form and sprints towards the shark, leaps up, and lands a dozen quick slashes at Nero's left gills spilling the shark's blood into the water. Cobalt returns back to the sinking yacht with Azule and Pastelle and the three of them wait for their comrades to come.
After that ordeal, they all ride on the speed boat the rest of the way. Cobalt cleans the blood off his carbon katana with a rag sitting with his legs crossed under him with his eyes closed, in deep thought. Azule sat next to him and asked him about the blade, wanting to know where he got that blade from.
"It makes me happy to know that the captain is interested in my past!" he guffawed, continuing to clean his blade; Tangie-who was talking with the others kept an ear open to hear what the duo were talking about-wanted to also know more about Cobalt, since he didn't like to talk about his family too much.
"I just find it strange that you have a carbon black blade. Are there any powers with them like in movies?" Azule asked; Cobalt laughs again at his naïve captain.
"This blade is a family treasure that was passed down from my ancestors to my great grandfather, to my father, and then to me…I received the blade shortly before the war began. I remember my father told me to hold onto it until he would return, where he'd properly pass it down to me to signify my coming of age as the next front runner for the clan…but as you know, he didn't return."
Azule respected the silence that followed-knowing Cobalt's father died in the 2nd Great Turf War, "So a family treasure? Why is it considered a treasure?"
"It might be just a theory, but a legend in my family is told that the first Tokugawa from hundreds upon thousands of years ago was a specialist as a blacksmith…"-he looks down at his blade, feeling the hidden black carvings of a design-"he created so many powerful and amazing weapons that some people believed that he used magic-for this specific blade, he created it from a rare rock that he found; He made it to protect his family from those that would harm them since he was greatly criticized by many for his amazing craftsmanship."
"Whoa, I thought your first ancestor would've been a samurai! I guess it helps to really know your history!" Azule chuckled, trying to liven up Cobalt.
"Well…there's more to it. It was believed that there was a rival who was looking to harm his family who happened to be a samurai that wanted to kill my ancestor on the claim that he was a witch because of the amazing armor and weapons that he made. One day the rival attempted to kill my ancestor's family by seizing their home, he killed the wife after she protected all four of her children from mortal danger while he was away at work. Luckily the kids held him off right afterwards, using that very same sword that he left behind as defense and survived the attack. When my ancestor got home and saw that the samurai was dead in his home, and saw his dead wife, and saw how traumatized his children were with blood stains on the hands of the one used the sword, he knew everything. He declared that the weapon had saved his family and cut wounds into the palms of his hands, spilling the blood on the hilt; his children did likewise as they all mourned their mother. It's believed that when the father died, his soul was transferred to the sword to protect the future generations from ever experiencing a tragedy of losing a family member while the sword was in range."
Azule was speechless for a moment, "Wow…that's a sad story."
"So from then on, the sword was passed down along our family as we evolved and soon became a family of samurai-choosing to do so in honor of the first lady of our family who was murdered by one."
"So…you're blade, have you ever cleaned it?"
"That's taboo in my family; we are forbidden from ever cleaning this blade because it holds the blood of the very first Tokugawa's and all others after them…it's our direct connection to them."
"How can you tell that the blood is still there?" Azule raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Because of the exhausting amount years of existence regarding that blade, it has formed an odd number of strange carvings from the many predecessors in the family…A legend was also told that only a select few in the family could possess the power to access the full potential of this powerful blade."
"What do you mean a select few?"
"This blade's purpose is to protect. With that in mind, there are a select few that had such a strong sense of protecting the ones that they loved that they resonated with the blade, unleashing the potential of the carbon black katana. Many of them studied and mastered many arts of swordsmanship and accomplished many great things for our family."
"Do you think you'll become strong like them?"
Cobalt smirks as he kept his eyes closed-like he had been doing the entire time, "I'm confident that I'll surpass them one day…but only fate will be the judge of that."-He got up and stared at the sky and smiled-"I know that he's watching over me."
Tangie's expression changed from a curious one to a mild sadness, she's always admired the determination, dignity, and confidence that Cobalt possessed; when it came to his samurai heritage though, she resented it. Tangie was never well received by Cobalt's family, and in fact was hated by all of his relatives except his parents, who saw chemistry between the two. Tangie grew to respect them in the times that she'd visit and see them, but when the war came and the tragic news that followed, it devastated her that the only positive influence that she'd have with Cobalt was now gone. Now that they were gone, Tangie only wanted Cobalt as Cobalt-not the Ao of the Tokugawa's, but as her Cobalt. She saw it right to be the only one who could be there for Cobalt since his other relatives didn't show much interest in taking care of him.
Tangie snaps out of her thoughts as she heard DJ Octavio get brought up by Parker; they had been discussing the current big list of notorious criminals that were there at the top of the list.
"That's Fuchsia's dad!" she blurted out cutting off Parker, who was detailing a plan for how they'd attack.
"Yeah…he's the number one prisoner since he's the Octarian King." Pastelle said.
"So he's been kept in this prison the entire time!?" she asked in shock with sweat running down her face.
"Yes, because of what happened during the war, he's being kept as a prisoner." Taylor informed.
Tangie felt uneasy since facing Fuchsia father could possibly lead to injuring him or even worse, and she knew that Fuchsia definitely missed her dad since he'd been imprisoned for so long. "What are we going to do regarding him? We're not going to hurt him…are we?"
Parker shook his head, "Of course not, we'll need to see how everything plays out first before we can make a decision on him."
The rest of the day is peaceful as it reaches around five o' clock, but our friends finally see a large island with a huge watch tower in the near distance with some tall buildings surrounding it. They saw the shadows of the swampy jungle that served as the outer defense for the actual prison, and also saw fog beginning to emit around the island-or was it smoke? Either way, they all knew they found their target and made preparations for how they'd complete this mission. Finally, Battle was about to begin!
