【56 - Let's Find Each Other then Get Me the Hell Off this Island!】


YouTube: Rainforest sound 11 hours. Rainforest Reverie, natural sound of a rainforest for relaxation


Heidi felt like she'd been running through the jungle for ages. Suddenly she broke through and found herself on a different beach once more. She froze, clenched her shaking fists and then turned her head skyward.

"FUCK!" Colourful birds scattered from the nearby trees and flew away from her verbal explosion.

She actually wanted to run into the enemy and yet once more she'd veered off course and ran right through the island. She'd have to turn back into the jungle, again.

Far away to her left she could see streams of lava pouring into the ocean, causing steam to rise and for the hot stuff to cool into rock once more. She supposed there must be channels of lava working through the jungle from the volcano. She wasn't an expert but supposed this eruption was very bad, exactly how that bastard General Urobach wanted it to be. She turned back into the jungle, using her frustration to power her running once more.

And so she ran, feet tearing through ferns as she went. She tried to avoid anything living. A thick yellow spotted snake or those buzzing beetles clicking by the hollow of a tree. Anything that could be poisonous. Heidi jumped over a log and ran over a patch of leaves when something snagged her ankle. She cried out as she whipped up, and then she was dangling upside-down. She feared for a moment it was the enemy tribe, but then she recognized it as one of their own hunting traps. She'd watched them set this one up. Nobody was around and so she swayed in place ridiculously.

With a grunt she bent upward, tried grabbing at the rope and slipped. She tried again and held on, pulling herself up. That knot wasn't coming undone - her own weight was tightening it. Heidi tried shaking the branch it was connected to but wasn't getting anywhere with that either. She chewed on her tongue, sweat running down her as she tried climbing up to the top.

"Heidi, is that you?"

She gasped and let go. Then she latched back on and gave her hands rope burn, eventually back to swaying freely. She saw a bearded teen watching her, his dark eyes surprised.

"Dominic? Where the hell have you been?"

"Dodging freaky islanders all day and sleeping."

"Think you could help? The blood is rushing to my head here."

"Take this," he handed her his father's pocket knife. "Cut yourself loose and I'll catch you."

Heidi nodded, took it and bent back up, blowing her fringe out of her face. She grabbed the rope and started to saw. The knife had become quite blunt from overuse. Once it broke free she dropped into Dominic's arms and he set her down onto her feet. She passed him back the knife and worked to undo the loop around her foot. Dominic slipped the heirloom back into his pouch and she stood.

"What the hell is going on here?" Dominic asked. Heidi didn't look at him and then turned off to leave. He ran after her "hey! Hey, where are you going?"

"You don't want to come with me, Dominic."

"Why not? What are you trying to do?"

"I'm going to duel the lieutenant." She stopped to face him angrily. "All of this is General Urobach's doing. We already saw one lieutenant here and there's probably more. Thanks for helping me back there, but if you come with me you're just going to die and there'll be nothing I can do to protect you. That's what always happens."

"Oh yeah? What about safety in numbers?"

"Don't you get it?! This is all about me! All of the people doing this are here cause they want to kill me and Kanoa. Everyone else who ever died just got in the way!"

"This planet belongs to all of us, and if these lieutenants want to mess it up then this is about all of us!" Dominic yelled back.

"I've had enough!" She screamed. Then she ripped open the zipper of her pouch and pulled out her cards, a flame of red energy streaking up even taller than her head. She'd made good progress with connecting to Mars over the past month and it was showing with her increase in skill. "The only reason I'm not challenging you now and taking you down is because you freed me just before. But if you try to stop me I swear I'll burn you into cinders! So if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from me and sort out your own problems by yourself!" With that she marched away.

Dominic was bewildered but he didn't go after her. She'd just threatened his life after all. Still, he wondered what the hell could've made her lose all reason and go off the deep end like this. Once she was gone he looked around, wary that someone else might've heard their screaming match. He slinked off into nature and away.

Dominic trekked around the jungle and stayed relatively close to the shore. When he saw through the palm trees their volcano spewing lava and smoke it made him halt in his tracks. He'd felt the awful trembling sometime under an hour ago but hadn't put two and two together. This whole situation was absolutely crazy. It didn't make sense. Was General Urobach really doing all of this? Dominic steeled himself and pushed on through the wilderness, but couldn't squash his nerves completely. They were growing with each passing moment.

He was trying to assess how much danger they were all in when the leaves ahead parted. Dominic tensed and blinked at an old man standing there in rags, bandages over his face.

"You… you're that blind hermit Heidi spoke about right?" Dominic remained suspicious, even if this was supposedly a 'good guy'. Everything going on was so bogus he wasn't about to give anyone a free pass.

"I'm looking for Heidi and Kanoa, actually." He turned his head. "Have you seen them?"

Dominic didn't answer. Something about this guy was making him uneasy.

The hermit huffed "I wouldn't have thought by your complexion that you were with the tribe here, but you're not dressed like a pirate."

"I thought you were blind."

The old man reached up and started to unwind his bandages. Then he looked at Dominic with monochrome teal eyes. His hand caught blue "I'm going to ask you once more… tell me where I can find Heidi and Kanoa."

"Honestly pal, I don't think you have the best intentions." Dominic's deck shone red in his grip.

The hermit smiled with yellow teeth and their tables faded to view between them. Dominic's heart was racing, but he knew these guys needed to be stopped even if they weren't after him. He was up for the challenge.

Hikiko charged nature while Dominic charged with a costly dragon and passed back.

"I summon Jasmine and sacrifice her to boost mana!" Hikiko turned over his next card and added fire as well.


+ Mad Max: Fury Road | Blood Bag


Dominic charged nature "I summon Kodamanma and return a shield to my hand." The fire puppet sat on the jungle floor between them. A shield safely dissolved and Dominic returned the card to his hand. "Turn end."

"Hmph… could it be you use rush? I'd better boost quickly. I summon Ochappi Pure Hearted Faerie and put the Jasmine in my graveyard into my mana zone." The pink-haired faerie landed before his table with a flourish.

"I cast Faerie Life!" Dominic announced. "Then I summon another Kodamanma and return another shield to my hand. First Kodamanma, shield break!" It thrust its body forward, slamming into a panel and flinging glass.

Hikiko lowered his arm "fast indeed… but your recklessness will cost you! Shield trigger!" It assembled into a blue card. "Ragnarok the Clock ends your turn!"

"All good, I was finished anyway." He crossed his arms.

"You are finished, island worm… I summon Cebu Algol, Electro-Fused and the psychic creature I bring out is Intense Sumo! Thrust Wrestler." The next two creatures made the surrounding trees bend and crack. First a big blue cybernetic blob, and then out from an upright portal emerged a flaming giant. He was fat and had multiple arms, pushing the shrubbery away from him. 5000 power. "Now my other creatures all gain 1000 power for each civilization they have!"

Dominic stared up at it while clenching his fists.

Hikiko swept his arm out "Ragnarok attacks Kodamanma! Ochappi breaks a shield!" The clock man fired lightning that fried the tapped puppet. The faerie flipped and kicked glass, a piece cutting across Dominic's shoulder and making him curse loudly. Hikiko chuckled "turn end."

"Not just yet!" He showed the glowing card. "Shield trigger, Faerie Life. I boost mana and now it's my turn." He drew "I summon GENJI Double Cross, Blastdragon!" The palm trees around Dominic burst into flames at their tops. A flaming samurai-dragon emerged with two blazing crosses in his hands and 7000 power. "Every time he attacks I get to destroy one of your creatures with blocker! So attack Ragnarok and destroy Cebu Algol!" It swung a cross and fire traced to the clock creature who burst into flames. Some fire jumped off and melted the blob creature as well. "Then Kodamana suicides with Ochhappi!" His puppet thrust itself onto the faerie who struggled, both of them fading out. Dominic looked pleased with himself "I end."

"I summon Imen=Bugo, Dragon Edge and bring out Boaroaxe, Evil Tomohawk!" The blue crocodile with the colourful headpiece cleared his own little patch among the forestry. He summoned electric chains that pulled the dreaded axe out from hyperspace. "And now I summon Macallan Fine from my mana zone!" A flaming human on 4000 emerged, holding out a blazing sword.

"But Boaroaxe only lets you summon nature creatures from your mana that cost 5 or less!"

"Yes, but my trusty Imen=Bugo gives all my mana cards every civilization, which is the genius of this combo. Also Macallan Fine's mana arms 5 triggers, since all my mana counts as fire. Now all my creatures have speed attacker!"

Dominic cursed and Hikiko burst into raucous and evil laughter, his eyes widening "Imen=Bugo, double break his last two shields!" The crocodile swung the tomahawk and cleared his last defense. "From my mana I play Prometheus Splash Axe." The water-nature creature joined his attackers.

"Shield trigger and strikeback effect! Father Earth sends Macallan Fine to your mana zone and I replace it with your aqua ninja! Your creatures lose speed attacker." As Raija jumped in Hikiko snarled and took Promethus back to his hand. Dominic continued "Also I discard a fire card that came from my shield zone and summon Dual Shock Dragon!" The next armored dragon was even bigger, flying above Double Cross. It had giant blades on his arms, one orange and the other blue. With 8000 power it was the strongest in play and unleashed a metal-tearing screech.

"Strikeback… I see." Hikiko smiled sadistically. "That's why you were destroying your own shields with the Kodamanmas. You weren't able to use their shield triggers, but if you'd burned a fire card you could've brought this dragon out much earlier in the game. I suppose you were only getting nature cards huh? Such a shame… This win is mine!" He twisted his last card with eagerness while Dominic watched on without words "Intense Sumo! Todomeda!"

The 5000 giant floated closer, multiple arms reaching down to palm-strike the boy and cause serious damage.

"Ninja Strike! I bring out Falconer, Lightfang Ninja and block the attack!" The gold ship flew in, intercepting the blow on his behalf. A grin curved up Dominic's face while his opponent's dropped into shock, realising that was his last attacker.

"It'll be my win, you alien bastard!"

"You won't get past my shields!" The hermit yelled in a shrill voice.

"One way to find out. I cast Hyperspatial Shooting Hole to summon a psychic creature that costs 9 or less! I summon Gaial Kaiser! A 6000 speed attacker!" The red dragon soldier held twin flaming swords and joined the others as his third double-breaker. "Ike!" It flew and Hikiko gasped at the heat, stumbling away as the glass scattered. "GENJI Blastdragon, double break!" It sprang, flinging apart its two flaming crosses and breaking the last shields.

Hikiko couldn't believe it "wait… no, don't kill me!"

"Dual Shock Dragon todomeda!" A flaming arm blade swung down and cracked his table. While the hermit jumped away fire exploded outwards. He screamed for several seconds before succumbing to the blaze that was eating away at his flesh. A burnt corpse was all that remained and Dominic found himself sinking to his knees with relief.

He picked up his dragon card and stared at it "...a little sooner would've been nice. But I can't complain since we won." Dominic looked up "Okay Heidi, Kanoa… that's one more lieutenant down. Hopefully that makes it easier for you guys to stop whatever's going on here." As his table began to fade he quickly packed up his deck. Any enemies nearby could've heard their duel or seen Dominic's dragons in the sky. He wanted to vamoose and be sure he was gone by then.

Heidi thought she heard a duel and stopped. It was coming from somewhere behind her. After missing the jungle's middle twice she'd put most of her concentration on staying unwaveringly forward, trying to make sure she wouldn't veer off course again. After leaving Dominic she'd had to remember this intention and steer herself around, but she was pretty sure she was going in the right direction. Whatever conflict might be causing the distant explosions behind her could be Kanoa battling the lieutenant, or it could just be her tribemates fighting off the invaders. She was reluctant, knowing that if she turned back it could be a mistake and then it would take her even longer to get back to that temple. Heidi's angry sigh became a growl and then she turned to the closest tree.

"Enough!" she started to climb.

Limbs wrapped around it tight and shuffling her way upwards. She got splinters but perservered. At the top she squinted against the sunlight and saw fires burning not far from her. It must be downwind. Then she looked over at the volcano that was streaking lava. One way to be sure she wouldn't veer off course was to go straight for the volcano, since it was in the middle of the land anyway. From there she could work her way outwards.

Heidi made up her mind and slid down, getting more splinters before landing back with a thud. She rubbed her sore feet and then pressed on for the volcano.

Her walking was uninterrupted until elsewhere Kanoa had stopped to meditate on Jupiter, his intention being to find Mars. Perhaps it was because they were within kilometers of each other. Maybe their strengthened connections to their phoenixes were granting them new skills. Whatever the reason, it succeeded in reaching her. Heidi stopped when she could see Mars in her mind's eye, spreading his wings and crying out. She could sense Kanoa now, he was far off.

"You want to track me down, is that it? Well good luck catching me." Heidi grumbled and continued forward anyway.

Mars screeched again, this time it was at her. She could tell he wanted her to unite with Jupiter.

"I don't care." She snapped back. "You're not the boss of me. Nobody is. So deal with it."

Mars flapped fiery wings and let loose with another non-verbal cry. Heidi ignored him and continued on. It was getting smoky ahead and soon she found herself by more ruins. But instead of the temple from before, this looked like a small town. Block-houses of yellowed brick, entire sections crumbled away from age. Trees and vines grew throughout. Heidi coughed in the smoke and made her way through. It was a little creepy, but seemed abandoned.

Maybe the ancestors of the prior settlers were here. Heidi couldn't help feeling like there were the presences of something. As she walked by an old well she couldn't help imagining a long-lost civilization, going about their day-to-day lives. Heidi could almost see them, like ghosts trapped in the memories of their own past. She walked the length of what seemed to be an ancient main street. As the smoke started to bother her more she buried her nose and mouth in the crook of her elbow. Then she saw a river of lava running through. It looked like half a building had collapsed into it and melted away. Beyond it the jungle was burning and it was the reason for all the smoke that lingered everywhere.

Heidi focused and summoned a red aura that encased her body. When Mars felt his power being used he screeched and the energy receded.

Heidi unzipped her pouch and pulled out Mars's card "The path forwards looks too hard to climb, it looks easier if we just go through the lava here. Give me your heat-proofing." She watched as the phoenix gave her the side-eye. With that strange knowing they shared she understood that all he wanted was for her to turn back and meet up with Jupiter. Heidi's anger flashed "if you won't help I'll get across myself!" She fumbled with the zipper, yanking it closed and then looked around with her mouth covered.

Her eyes stung in the cloudiness. She saw a branch that looked promising so started climbing an incline to it, grabbing ferns down by their roots to pull herself up. A few metres to her left a fern caught fire and burnt up in seconds, being too close to the running lava. Heidi was sweating, the air around her shimmering from the humidity. When she got to her tree she started to climb. The bark was dry and shedding as she pulled herself up, muscles straining and feet struggling to find purchase. But she got up and threw herself over the main branch and then stared ahead. She would have to crawl over the lava and then maybe jump for the other side. Fear made her pause and Heidi took a breath before sheer stubbornness forced her onward.

She tried to not look down but after a few feet the air itself started to burn. All the heat was rising up and now that Heidi was directly over the lava it was stinging her. Mars had been watching all this time, and begrudgingly shared his power. Heidi felt relief when the red energy shrouded her like static, but she didn't say anything to him. She crawled forward now at an unhindered pace. All the way to the end of the branch and saw the next tree was further than she'd thought. It was in jumping range, but with no space to gather herself for a proper jump she probably wouldn't get more than a few feet.

Heidi tried to get her feet under her until she was crouching somewhat. She heard a crack and in her panic she lunged forward. Falling through air, grabbing for the vines which broke in her grip. She fell backwards into the lava.

Mars's aura reddened and protected her from the heat. But heat wasn't the problem, the lava was much too thick to simply swim through. It was like cement, and it pushed her along and she was powerless to fight it. It was so heavy. As her heart raced with panic she tried using the fear to give her strength. Turning and reaching for the edge, pulling and slowly suctioned herself out. She was carried twenty metres before she could finally get her last leg free. Then she crawled out, blobs of bright orange falling from her shoulders and singeing into the grass. She fell on her stomach, exhausted by the effort.

"Made it across…" In her mind she saw Mars snapping his beak, as if berating her for being so reckless.

Then she pulled herself up and once more started walking. The volcano was over the jungle-tops in front of her, but the way ahead was full of thick smoke from a jungle fire. Heidi wouldn't be able to see through it so she started making her way around. Eventually she found a field of ash, the trees mere blackened skeletons. It was eerie like a graveyard, but the smoke wasn't so thick. Even so Heidi found herself coughing every minute or so, like something had got stuck in her throat. She walked forward and the ground was soft, soot staining her legs. It was a direct path to the volcano now. All she had to do was climb it far enough to get a good view and she'd be able to direct herself to where she wanted to go.

There were occasional shrubs the first hundred metres up but after that it was only barren brown earth. The soil felt different, like it'd been formed by countless other eruptions in its past. There were a few streaks of orange in view, pouring down into the land. However most of the outflow was on the other side, running down toward the village. Urobach had probably laid explosives along that side to direct most of the lava where he wanted. Heidi refused to let her mind drift over the fact that her tribe could all be dead. She knew it was possible, inside. And that just fuelled her anger and apathy even more. The volcano wasn't too steep for the first kilometer or so. She stopped to turn, glancing from the ocean on one side to the ocean on the other. She tried to get her bearings and then walked across to where she needed to be.

Unknowing to her, back in the ruins of that ancient village, the one remaining lieutenant was on her trail. The big man spun a knife with proficiency before carrying on to stalk his prey.

General Urobach was sitting with a glass of scotch on the rocks in one hand. With the other he was reading through a piece of Aurellian literature. Mostly he read non-fiction, trying to learn everything he should about the civilization he was trying to conquer. However, it interested him to learn about the history and culture he was aiming to annihilate. This classic had been referenced by various leaders of thought so he'd finally decided to try his hand at fiction. So far it was dry and uninteresting but he persevered with it, keeping in mind this was about learning. At least reading about forests and oceans made the story different to whatever historical reports had been available on the meteorite. There personal expression and experimentation were forbidden, and all citizens were forced to be strictly uniform. With things like media, television and games… with landscapes full of trees, water and animals… it's no wonder the inhabitants of most worlds were so soft. It was what made them easy to destroy.

A hubbub started up. The personnel in the submarine were scrambling and Urobach slammed his book shut. It had been the only thing keeping him from executing people on the spot. He wanted them to regain full control of the payload so they could trigger his tsunami, the final act of his newest grand show. Now it looked like something else had gone wrong so he jumped out of his leather seat, seething.

"What is it?" he barked to the first soldier he saw.

"Something just dropped from the sky and is heading for the island."

"Something!?" He leaned forward and the other man leaned back. "What did you let through my perfect blockade!? Cause that sure as hell isn't going to be some damn meteor that just happened to fall in and ruin everything! What is it?!"

"It's a ship of some kind. Probably a saucer. We're having a hard time pin-pointing its location." Someone by a computer screen said.

Urobach stomped over and spun their chair around so they were facing him "I ordered our men to shoot down anything that gets through our blockade, on sight!"

"It's the virus, S-sir. We're doing everything we can..."

"Send one of our airships after them. Search and destroy." Urobach let go of their armrests. They spun back and everyone typed away at their keyboards, some speaking into earpieces to issue his commands. Urobach stared at the screens and a hard grin etched across his face "...so who is coming to save the day? Both the Starbolt Cruiser and its prototype were destroyed. Who built a new one, and who decided to risk everything to interfere now…?"

Some monitors were playing news reports. As predicted the chosen water duelist had made more annoying anonymous warnings for people in coastal areas to evacuate. It would reduce the death toll, but it wouldn't save everyone. The General strolled over to the screen, he could see his faint reflection in the glass, featureless amber eyes trained on the one speaking.

Once more his video message was getting replayed. His artificially deepened voice and the posture of his silhouette indicated more urgency than his last warning.

"People of Aurellia. I'm recording this to warn you again of another terrifying plan. With similar nuclear technology to what caused the disaster in the coal province city, our enemies now plan to create a tsunami in the island regions that will result in the deaths of millions. Everyone living in coastal regions have to evacuate for higher ground now. I repeat, evacuate now for your own safety. I'm currently doing everything I can to stop them. I have some help, but we don't have the manpower to slow them for very long. It seems our enemy is receiving aid from our own military. Please everyone, do not panic. The man behind all this is referred to as General Urobach. So now I speak directly to you…"

As he leaned closer to his webcam, Urobach found himself inching closer as well. "You are a monster and a coward. The five of us chosens will stop you. We-" and then static. Urobach huffed and straightened, arms behind his back.

About time police showed up at the television towers to shut off the broadcasts by force. Telling everyone the military was involved was where the water chosen had gone wrong. That classed his speech as propaganda. Of course he'd eventually be proven right, but there was still time to accelerate the rest of his plan if he had to. At any rate it was good for his name to now be floating around out there, conveying power and drawing out fear. Soon he'd cease to be a rumour but rise up in the open as a new political figure. The leader of a new age, tearing down democracy and the rights of the people. After trimming down the planet's population to a mere hundred million or less there'd be no questioning his absolute rule.

Some ways away and a kilometer deeper the underwater blue darkens to indigo and then black. There an underwater carrier floats in darkness. It is controlled by none, as access to it is being fought over using radio signals between computers, closer to the surface. For now the carrier drifts deeper into the ocean trench, pulled down by the tonnes of nuclear material stored inside...


AN: Eep this took a few days but now we're in the last quartile. I've already had to go back and fix duel mistakes in prior chapters. Lord knows they'll be there, and until Acuma points them out to me I won't know how much needs to be changed. But now there are five juicy chapters waiting for him, kinda like how I intended the beginning of this arc to be, with me updating the first 25% in secret. Anyways I hope Heidi's gallavanting about has at least made for some nice comic relief, as I realised I hadn't put as many comedic parts in this arc as earlier ones.