The Power of Music and Other Things
Finally! I'm back! Man, it's been an eventful summer for me. I got out of my fanfic groove for a while there. CHAPTER SUMMARY: Turns out Shute's not the only surprise magician in Lacroa; it's the villagers turn to shine!
Shute could barely hang on as Sterling thundered his way across the barren stretches of Lacroa. His feet pounded against the ground with such force that the mountains shook, and the racket caused by his clanging scales was nearly unbearable.
"STERLING!" Princess Aresia shouted, but could not make herself heard over the clanging. "STERLING! STOP!"
Shute decided he would try to get Sterling to stop, being he was closer to his ear. "STERLING! SLOW DOWN!" Sterling began taking shorter strides, and Shute smiled. "Hey, it work-"
His joy faded away as the fact that Sterling had not stopped because of Shute became evident; he was panting heavily, and his scales were hot to the touch.
"OW!" Doha jumped up from his scale. "It's hot! It's hot!"
"Sterling's overheating!" Shute guessed. "Everyone get off 'im! Hurry!"
All of the children, including Mercury the baby song dragon, stumbled to the ground quickly while Sterling fell to his knees. Doha tapped Sterling's muzzle twice, which to him meant "Open your mouth" but to Shute meant absolutely nothing. Sterling strained his mouth open and lolled out his tongue, which Doha began bathing in ice.
"Eeeaaa!" Mercury began nudging her daddy's leg pitifully. "Eeaa!"
"Oh, poor Sterling baby!" Aresia tried to stroke Sterling's head, but his scales were too hot to touch without getting burned. "You're not used to running, are you?"
"What's that mean?" asked Shute. "Is he okay?"
"Sterling always flew us to the cave we told you about," Aresia answered.
"It gets colder the higher in the sky you get," Noah stated.
Shute nodded his head. "I know." He was reminded of the hours he would spend touring SDG Base with Captain, and how bracingly cold the air was up in the clouds. He felt the homesickness punching him in the stomach, and his eyes suddenly began to sting with tears, which he shook away.
Doha looked up from his duty of cooling Sterling's mouth. "But he can't fly with holes in his wing, and since the Dark Axis came-"
"There's no trees for shade to cool him down." Coa finished.
Shute rolled his eyes. "Great. My one chance to escape, and he blows his radiator."
Sterling sighed a small jet of steam out through his nostrils, a comical sight if it had not had such grave consequences. Mercury nestled herself under Sterling's wing, still crying for her daddy. Camille loped up behind Noah, curling about him protectively while sniffing the air. Shute moaned and rubbed his neck.
"Well, now what are we gonna do?"
Coa tapped his chin in thought. "We should probably get Sterling some water."
Doha looked about. "I don't see a river."
Coa snapped back at his brother. "I know there's a river somewhere north, I saw it on the way to the cave last time!"
Noah raised his finger. "Even if there was a river, how are we supposed to get the water to Sterling?"
"Yeah, we don't have a bucket." Doha placed another ice chunk on Sterling's tongue.
Aresia nodded. "Noah does have a point."
Doha howled, "I'm Doha!"
Noah waved his arms. "I'm Noah!"
#And I'm Camille!# barked Camille in an attempt to relieve some of the building tension.
Coa growled as if frustrated. "We're magic now, remember?! We could do stuff like that easy!"
"Not me!" Shute jerked back, tense with worry. "I can't do water magic, it hurts!"
Aresia cocked her head in a very Sayla-ish way. "It does?"
"WELL, I PASSED OUT, DIDN'T I?!" Shute rubbed his temples. "Baka hiime..."
"Let's just find the river and get Sterling some water!" ordered Coa. He too rubbed his temples in anger.
"Well, I'm not going on foot!" Aresia suddenly interjected. "Shute, tell Camille she'll have to carry me."
Camille growled without saying anything first, but then followed with, #I don't carry rude puppies.#
Shute translated, "I think Camille would help you if you asked her politely, Aresia-hiime."
"I am a Princess; the only people I have to ask politely to do anything are kings and queens." Aresia ruffled her frilly dress. "And stop calling me that, I have no idea what it means!"
"Aresia-hiime?" Shute cocked his head. "It just means 'Princess Aresia' in Upper Neotopian. It's my second language."
"Well, stop it anyway!"
Shute scrunched up his face in anger. "Baka hiime."
"What was that?"
Sterling cut the conversation short by blasting all of the children with a hot jet of steam They all screamed in terror, but got the message Sterling was trying to send them. They all hopped on Camille's back and began scouting for a river.
&&&
"So, what's a 'channeler' do?" Shute asked. Aresia had just told him that she herself was a "channeler" when he had asked what type of magic she was, and the only thing he could think of was the ability to talk to ghosts. And of course, he wasn't about to believe that.
Aresia smiled, glad to get the chance to brag. "Channelers focus the magic of other people by touching them. By keeping my hand on Coa's shoulder, I am helping him concentrate on his magic so that he doesn't drop the water ball in his hands."
Shute looked downward, watching Coa balance the basketball sized ball of water in his hands while Aresia (sitting behind him) kept her hand around his shoulder. The realization hit him in a few seconds. "Oh, so it's like wearing glasses when your vision's bad, right?"
Aresia gave him a blank look. "What are glasses?"
Shute felt a drop of sweat rolling down his temple. "Never mind-"
"STERLING!"
Shute's eyes snapped open at Doha's cry; Sterling was under attack by a group of 20-something spear-holding villagers! Before he realized what was going on, Camille had lunged forward, leaving him and Aresia behind while she attacked! Coa threw his water ball at the nearest villager, soaking him to the bone and making him raise his spear, ready to attack-
"CAMILLE, STOP IT!" Shute reached his hand out to stop her-
Suddenly, Camille (the triplets had fallen off by this point), Mercury, and about 5 of the attacking villagers were being lifted into the air in a cloud of blue magic energy.
"Oi!"
Shute looked to the side just as a scrawny teenaged villager kicked him into the dirt, making him drop everyone he was holding up. He was a tiny wasted boy whose clothes were too big for his body; the dull fabrics of his clothes accentuated his electric blue hair. "Gott-a fancy-lookin' lot o'er 'ere, don' we?"
"Looks li'e they just came from the royal castle, Bevis!" yelled another villager who was busy wrangling Mercury behind a wall of hound dogs. "What'ya think, burg'lars?"
"Naw, they's too young to be burg'lars." The teenaged villager nudged Shute's chin with the dull point of his crude spear. "So, what are ya? King's messengers?"
"No!" Shute gulped back his fears and answered truthfully, taking a few minutes to think of the right word. "We're runaways."
"Stop attacking our dragons!" Aresia shouted, standing up and dusting off her frilly gown. "By order of the Princess of Lacroa!"
"Well, look'a'dis." The teen, called Bevis early by his friend, turned around to face his teammates. "Oi, fellas-" (everyone in the group was male) "Take'a'look'a'dis, this one's says she's'a prin-cess!"
"She is a princess!" yelled Coa.
Noah nodded. "And we're the princes!"
Doha spoke loudly, yet a bit quieter than his brothers. "If anybody cares."
Bevis poked Shute again with the spear ("At least I don't get fried by this guy," thought Shute). "Wha' does that make you, 'air boy?"
Shute began to wonder why Bevis had given him the nickname "air boy", not knowing that Bevis had unknowingly dropped the 'h', but still tried to think of some way to keep himself out of trouble. "I... Uh... am these kid's kidnapper!"
Bevis blinked... Then blinked again... Then withdrew his spear. "Whatcha mean by that?"
"Sit still and listen for a minute-" Shute smiled, "And I'll explain this whole thing."
&&&
"Baku!" Zero flew into the Music Room as fast as his wings could carry him, his eyes catching nothing even the slightest tint of red. "Bakunetsumaru!"
Zero mumbled a spell under his breath and pointed his hand at a pile of rocks. They instantly shrank down to the size of pebbles and formed themselves into a small pile. Underneath the pile was-
"Baku!" Zero flew down to his friend and flipped him onto his back. His shell was badly dented, but the fact that his wounds were healing themselves already was enough to make Zero inwardly smile. "Oh, Baku, you're alive..."
The Blazing Samurai flinched and blinked to refocus his vision; Zero was the first thing he saw, the second being a ton of stone and granite surrounding him. He grunted and tried to sit up, but a small piece of rock jammed into his shell stabbed him in the soft part of his underarmor, making him grunt in pain and fall back to the floor.
"OW!"
"Don't worry, Baku, I'm here!" Zero held his best friend's hand comfortingly. "It's okay, someone will be here for you in a minute."
Bakunetsumaru shook his head; then his eyes focused on the gaping hole in the wall. "Where's Shute?"
"Shute?" The question caught him off-guard, so Zero didn't know quite what to say. "He was... On the dragon... But you wouldn't know the drag- he's not in- (groan)."
Baku closed his eyes and sighed, trying not to look relieved. Zero could hear the castle guards coming; he floated back into the air. "The guards will help you. I have to go look for the children."
The Winged Knight zoomed out of the Music Room, down a few hallways (he flew right over Captain, but didn't notice), and into the Throne Room where Prince John was waiting.
"I checked the Music Room just like you asked, m'lord." Zero grounded himself and continued. "I found Bakunetsumaru under the rubble."
Prince John furrowed his brow. "You mean the red one?"
Inwardly, Zero was offended, but he knew better than to show it. "Yes, sir, the red one. Other than that, there was nothing out of place."
"What was he doing in the Music Room?"
"I don't know, sir."
"You didn't ask?"
Oops. That order had completely slipped Zero's mind. His eyes shrunk in realization. "No, sir."
Prince John slapped his forehead. "Zero..."
"I'm sorry, m'lord, but he was buried under a ton of stone! He needed help!" Zero gasped as he realized he had snapped at the king and covered his mouth with his hands. "I'm sorry, m'lord!"
Prince John sighed. "It's all right, Zero. We're just going to have to go out and look for them ourselves, now, won't we?"
Prince John fluttered past Zero, towards a door hidden behind his throne. Zero blinked in confusion. "Um, sir, need I point out that the Kingdom of Lacroa stretches out for miles on end?" Zero received a nasty look from the king. "With all due respect, m'lord."
"I know. Need I point out to you, Zero, that overweight song dragons with broken wings leave huge footprints that are terribly easy to follow?" Prince John smirked and opened the door...
&&&
"WOW!"
Prince John winced at Zero's voice. "Zero..."
"I've been around Shute for too long..."Zero covered his mouth once again. "Sorry, sir."
It was a large alcove, a circle of walls without a ceiling, housing a giant clipper ship within its belly. The ship's multitude of sails were all different shades of gold; the body was a durable wood covered by a thick layer of silver. Emblazoned on the port side of the craft was the Lacroan royal family's coat of arms, a large shield with pictures of four of the five Sacred Beasts (minus Fenn, apparently).
"We shall look for them in this." Prince John boasted. "It was my brother's. He took the solid gold one, but, eh, it's better than nothing."
"It's beautiful!" Zero began floating towards the ship. Prince John placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Ah ah ah. The laws of Lacroa demand that there must be at least 3 knights aboard the ship at all times to protect the king."
"But who are the-"
It was at that time that a few dozen palace guards entered the room through a second door, shoving a very angry Captain and Zero in front of them.
"Let us go!" Bakunetsumaru shouted, obviously better from the beating he took from Mercury. His hands were held behind his back by a bright blue ribbon of light. "We didn't do anything!"
"Odd that you should say that." Prince John hovered in front of the two Gundams. "Baka-nada- whatever, you were found in the Music Room right after the dragons escaped... Did you see anything?"
Baku gave the king an evil glare. "Bakunetsumaru."
"Whatever." Prince John raised his scepter. "That's not important. Did you see what happened to the dragons?"
The Blazing Samurai lowered his eyes. "No."
Zero felt his chest tightening. "Baku, please, if you saw anything, you have to tell us."
Baku glanced at Zero out of the tops of his eyes, but didn't say anything. He was soooo mad at him right now...
"What about you?" asked Prince John, turning his attention to Captain, who also had his hands bound. "Have you seen the triplets anywhere?"
Captain, surprisingly, "closed" his eyes and turned his head away, refusing to answer. Baku had told him not long ago "If you say anything, we might never see Shute again"; he had no idea what he was talking about, but the thought alone was enough to clam him up.
"Captain!" Zero was in shock; Captain was never one to disobey any authority figure!
"No?" Prince John seemed to be enjoying the interrogation session. "What about the Princess? Both of you. Speak up."
Baku and Captain shared a look, and shook their heads "no".
"No again?" Prince John smiled evilly; he was enjoying it, more than he should have, actually. "What about the other boy? Shute?"
"Shute?"Captain noticeably startled, for he had no idea Shute had disappeared along with the other kids! Baku noticed what he was doing and elbowed him in the gut, raising a few suspicions within Zero's mind.
"Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." Prince John bounced his scepter in the air, like he was hitting something, and the glowing hand restraints magically disappeared. "Good. I like the hard way, it's more fun. You're now officially knights until I say otherwise, and you must accompany us on the voyage to search for the children."
Their eyes showed that their hearts had just been shattered. Captain and Baku tensed up immediately and started refusing to go, saying they had to stay here unless Shute came back. Zero could feel his own heart sinking into his stomach, partly out of concern for the children, partly out of extreme guilt, and partly out of the feeling that his own friends had made all this happen.
"Too late." Prince John raised his scepter, the familiar blue energy surrounding the two Gundams. "You're coming and that's final."
He flung the Gundams through the air and onto the deck of the ship, Zero following swiftly behind. The two foreign Gundams landed on top of each other (more specifically, Baku on top of Captain) on the deck, Baku getting up quickly while Captain tried to recover. Zero held Captain's hand and helped him up slowly as not too hurt him.
"Captain, Baku, I'm so sorry this happened." By this point, Captain was back up on his feet, but Zero wouldn't let go. "If there's anything I can do-"
Captain responded by violently pulling his hand out of Zero's grasp, his Soul Drive lighting his eyes aflame out of pure fury towards Zero. Their eyes met, and Zero could feel his intense, silent anger burning in his soul stone. The Neotopian Gundam stepped away quickly, leaving the blue knight dazed and confused once again.
The ship rocked unsteadily on the ground, and then began lifting into the air. Baku stood looking over the port (left) side of the ship, Captain joining him soon after his little moment with Zero. The Soul Drive tired itself out and stopped making Captain's eyes glow; he was able to look at Bakunetsumaru without the latter party flinching. "So... Where are we going now?"
Baku placed his head in his hands. "On a one-way track to failure and misery, Captain." He sighed mournfully. "Getting me and my sister out of the dojo was never this complicated."
Captain turned his eyes downward, studying the tracks of Sterling the dragon and the huge distances between each stride. They were at least 4.53 miles out into Lacroa... Who knows what might have been happening to them?
&&&
Shute had to duck to dodge the large pewter mugs of the toasting peasants. He, along with the royal children, had been heralded as heroes, and had also been made official townspeople of the village of Pigsbottom Flats, East Lacroa province (Doha never stopped laughing at the name "Pigsbottom"). Sterling, Mercury, and Camille were helping themselves to a drink of water from a fishpond nearby while the kids were eating a nice meal of vegetable soup with their new friends, the teenager Bevis and his best friend, the equally skinny and incredibly tall Trent.
"So, if I got this righ'," began Bevis. "You lot were tired of gettin' trea'ed like rubbish at the castle."
"Right!" chirped Shute, dodging more clinking mugs.
"So, you escaped... an' came 'ere?" Bevis took a break to swallow a boiled carrot while Trent took a turn talking.
"Why 'ere at Pigsbottom Flats any'ow, Shute?"
Doha and Coa began sniggering uncontrollably from the other side of the table. "Pigsbottom..."
Shute felt a smile tugging at his lips; his muscles were so tense that it was hard for him to talk. "We didn't plan on coming... We just sorta... geheeheehee... arrived..." He then burst into a laughing fit. "Your town's called 'Pigsbottom'!"
Trent and Bevis both shared a loud belly laugh. "Yeah, we like i'too!"
Princess Aresia, sticking to her old habit of staying quite until she needed to talk, tapped Bevis' arm. "Why is your village called 'Pigsbottom'? I'm certain my father wouldn't approve."
"Tha's it!" cheered Trent, raising his ale mug. "Ya see, when you' father, King Davis, was in charge, the town was called Fairiecharms Flats, 'cause o' all the faeries 'round here, see?" Bevis beat his fist against the table, and three green sprinkles of light burst out from the wood and into the air.
"Faeries!" Princess Aresia gasped in amazement. "I've never seen one so small! All the ones in the castle are so huge!"
Bevis raised his eyebrow. "Yeeeaaahh... Well, anyway, we were 'appy to follow King Davis's rule. But now tha' that no-good, son-o'-a-'ogsbottom Prince John is in charge, we've rebelled, ya know. We changed our name to Pigsbot'om!"
The peasants raised their mugs in union. "Pigsbottom Flats! Huzzah!"
Noah screamed in joy. "Pigsbottom!"
"Down wi'h those scurvy, royal, parsnip ea'in', magic usin' cod wallops!" yelled a rotund peasant woman with a baby in her arm. She patted the closet triplet to her, Noah, on the head. "No offense to you ickle pumpkins."
Noah and his brothers shared a weird look. "Um, sure..."
"They deserve to be strung up by the ears!" called another villager, this one a man.
Princess Aresia leaned over to Shute's side of the table. "Shute, do you hear music?"
Shute cupped a hand to his ear. Sure enough, he did hear music coming from Sterling's direction, and it sounded just like... Oh no, how on Earth or Lacroa or wherever they were did they know that song? "Oh crud."
&&&
Bevis: If you're blue and you don't know
Where to go to, why don't you go where roy'lty sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz. (Shute sighed. "Never the original words, never!")
Bevis: Different types who wear ermine coats
Pant-a-loons, cutaway coats, perfect fits?
Puttin' on the Ritz. (The auburn one sighed. "Oh, how creative..."
Princess Aresia tapped Shute's shoulder. "Shute, please, make them stop, it's embarrassing!")
Trent: Dressed up like a million dollar trouper.
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper. (Shute pulled on Trent's arm. "Um, Trent, could-".) Peasants: Super duper!
(Shute wiped the sweat off of his brow.) Bevis: Come let's mix where Rockefellers
Walk with sticks or um-ber-ellas in their mitts. (Shute waved his arms. "Please stop!") Puttin' on the Ritz. (Shute growled madly.)
Random Villager 1: Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue- (Noah tried his hand at stopping the song. "Um, sir?") Random Villager 2: On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air?
(Doha raised his finger in protest. "Uh, we're still here, you know!") Trent: High hats, and arrow collars,
Bevis: White spats, and lots of dollars,
(Coa took a deep breath. "SHUT UP!") Random Villager 1: Spending' every dime
For a wonderful time? (The triplets shrugged. "We give up."
Aresia ruffled her dress in anger. "By order of the-")
Bevis: If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go to where roy'lty sits?
(Aresia yanked her hair so tightly that the skin on her forehead turned red. "He interrupted me!") Bevis: Puttin' on the Ritz.
Trent: Different types of wear all day coat, pant-a-loons,
And cut away coats for perfect fits? (Aresia-hiime waved her hand at her pet song dragon. "Sterling, you stop this music right now!" Sterling glared at his princess out of one eye, but did nothing. He was a song dragon, he lived for the music!) Trent: Puttin on the Ritz.
Random Villager 3: Dressed up like a million dollar trouper Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper. ( Villagers: Super duper!
(Aresia approached Shute, her face turning purple to match her dress. "Make them be quiet!") Trent: Come let's mix where Rockefellers
Walk with sticks or umbrellas in their mitts.
Bevis: Puttin' on the Ritz.
(Shute flung his hands out to his sides. "Well, what am I supposed to do?")
Random Villager 3: Dressed up like a million dollar trouper (Aresia pulled her hair again. "I don't care, do something!") Random Villager 3: Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper. Villagers: Super duper!
Bevis: If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go to where fashion sits?
Trent: Puttin' on the Ritz
(Shute rubbed his head. "Um...") Bevis: Puttin' on the Ritz
("I don't know what to do...) Trent: Puttin' on the Ritz
("You have magic, Shute, use it!"screamed Aresia.) Bevis: Puttin' on the Ritz (Shute sighed again. "Fine.")
Trent: Move... (Trent placed his hand delicately on Aresia's wrist. The princess jumped in surprise.) Trent: I want you to MOVE! ("WOAH!"
Trent began flinging Aresia around like a kite of a string, obliviously trying to "dance" with her. Shute, Coa, Doha, and Noah couldn't help but laugh.)
Bevis: Gotta dance! Gotta- (Bevis then grabbed Shute's arm and began flinging him around, and not unlike Aresia, he wanted Bevis to let go then and there!) Bevis: Dance!
("Lemme go!" Bevis was spinning Shute around so quickly that he couldn't see; he head was becoming light, and he began to panic. "LEMME GO!")
&&&
"KABOOM!"
&&&
Prince John, along with a few royal palace guards and one royal tracking warg, saw the explosion from the prow of the ship. It was a unnerving sight as to the fact that it was a weird mix of gray and magical blue...
Zero rushed to the front of the ship, his heart racing in terror. "What happened?"
"We've got a lead..." Prince John tucked his scepter into the sleeve of his robe. "Full forward! We've found them!"
"Already?" Zero looked out to the horizon; it must've taken a lot of magic to create such an explosion, he thought.
Every muscle in his body shook at the thought. "Shute..."
&&&
Shute had thrown Bevis back about 39 feet into the fish pond, spooking the dragons and immediately ending the song! Bevis sputtered about underwater and finally jumped out, running full force towards the startled boy.
"I'll teach ya ta throw me, boy!" Bevis held back his fist, his hand glowing in-
Wait.
Shute bounced onto his feet. "Bevis! Bevis, look! Your hand!"
Bevis lowered in hand... In was glowing, and in a very familiar blue pattern...
"What.... What's all this?" the boy shuddered, now noticing that both his hands had the same glow. Other villagers, including Trent, flocked around him...
"Bevis..." Shute pointed to the fish pond behind the boy. "Bevis, concentrate on that rock in the middle of the pond..."
Bevis turned to see a small rock sitting smack dab in the middle of the pool, nothing much to look at and all to easy to look over. He was too scared to do much else, so he concentrated on the little rock in the pool of water. It was just a little algae covered rock... Nothing to get all excited about, I mean, it wasn't like it was a strange color or anything... It wasn't shaped like anything either, it was just a plain and simple-
"Bevis, the wa'er!"
Trent's voice snapped Bevis out of his self induced trance, and immediately the floating, glowing rock dropped down out of the air and onto Bevis's head. "OW!"
"Bevis, that was levitation!" Shute stood in front of Bevis, his eyes wide and his entire body glowing with a sort of primal energy. "You know what that this, don't you? You Used Magic!"
"Magic..." Bevis felt a giddy feeling running along his stomach, like a wee fairy doing a jig on his entrails. He, a simple little peasant boy, a potato farmer no less, actually did magic-
"SHUTE!"
The auburn one looked up just in time to see an arrow headed straight for his back! Almost instantly, his hand jutted forward and unleashed a magic burst that disintegrated the arrow in midair!
Coa didn't need to think about what had just happened; one of Daddy's flying clipper ships and a very angry looking Uncle John was enough to tell him-
He faced the crowd of astounded villagers. "RUN!"
The peasants panicked and ran in different directions, with several villagers grabbing the triplets and spiriting them off with them. Shute snatched Aresia's arm and pulled her along with him, knowing that there was NO way this Sayla-look-alike could keep up with him. Sterling roared loudly and swiped his wing at the ship, which dodged his blow as if it were alive.
"Camille!" The warg responded to Shute's call and started following him, only having to run a small lope to keep up with the comparatively slow boy. "Take the Princess and run!"
A whimper rang from Camille's jowls. #Where, puppy?#
"Anywhere safe, just go!" Shute, in an amazing fit of strength, actually THREW the princess onto Camille's back and, in the same movement, completely turned tail and began running in the opposite direction. Camille would have followed him if she had not been bred for obedience; she kept going in the same direction, leaving Aresia to scream and cry her heart out for nothing.
&&&
"Don't hurt him!" Captain was obviously referring to Shute and the apparent attempt at his life!
"I'm not gonna hurt him if he keeps blowin' up everything I throw at 'im!" answered Prince John, his voice ringing of a light, withheld accent. "Try it again!"
"Hey, PJ!"
"What the blazes?"
Zero was barely able to see Shute over the rail of the ship; he was obscured in a cloud of dust and practically invisible. "You're chasing after me, leave the villagers alone!"
Baku suddenly pushed Zero aside, nearly jumping onto the railing of the ship himself. "SHUTE, HURRY, GET OUT OF THERE!"
Zero felt his own anger seeping through to the surface. His eyes went from neutral to angry. "You were involved in this!"
Baku also switched to angry mode, a vein popping out of his forehead. "You stay out of this, home wrecker!"
"Home wrecker?!"
"FIRE!"
Too late, Prince John had just fired a whole volley of arrows! Both Zero and Baku, and also Captain rushed forward with their hands outstretched. "NO!"
But this time, Shute didn't blow them up; instead, he changed the direction of the wind and blew all the arrows back towards the ship! Not only did the bottom of the ship get littered with arrows, but everyone on the ship got a face full of dust!
Zero was the one whose vision cleared up first. He spied Shute running off, following Sterling's footprints once again. He couldn't let him get away, not again!
&&&
"SHUTE!"
"Don't look at him!" screamed a voice inside Shute's head. The boy kept running as fast as he could despite the fact that his calves were killing him...
What was that? Up ahead, it was... TREES! There was a forest, and it was a huge one at that! Perfect, he could run into the forest and hide from John, Captain and Baku would find him, everything would be-
"GECK!" A blue rope had just tied itself around Shute's legs and was not letting go! The young boy tripped and hit the ground with enough force to knock the air out of him; when he looked up, Zero was hovering just above him.
"Come on!" Zero held out his hands, ready to take him up and away, away from Captain, away from Neotopia, away from Nana-
"NO!" Shute held him hands outward, not knowing what would happen. Two huge boulders tore out of the ground beside him and struck Zero from either side, throwing him backwards and into a tree. He leapt up and stumbled into the forest glade, his legs too sore to run but his mind to strong to give up.
&&&
"Hold your fire, don't hit the spirit trees!" Prince John waved his hand, and the archers lowered their bows. Captain jumped out of the ship and raced towards Zero, who could barely stand after getting bashed into the trees.
Zero felt Captain's strong arms lifting him out of the dirt. "What happened?"
"Shute attacked you." Captain had a way of responding in the worst way to a question without realizing it; Zero nearly broke into tears at the words.
"What?" Zero collapsed to his knees, leaving Captain to try and hold him up. "But I'm trying to help him!"
"Help him by what? Separating him from everything he's known for his whole life?"
"Don't you start, Captain!" Zero forced himself to his feet, jerking himself out of Captain's grasp. "Shute needs to learn to control his magic to keep himself and others from getting hurt, I told you that!"
"Sure he does."
Zero was once again appalled by Captain's outrageous outbursts (well, maybe he was mentally exaggerating, but this is Captain we're talking about). As the ship flew in closer, Zero swung his hand forward to end the conversation. "Captain, I stand by what I said. This is for his own good!"
The ship was just above Captain's head now; the military Gundam reached upward and plucked an arrow out of the hull of the ship, one of the arrows intended for Shute's heart. "Right."
Captain threw down the arrow at lightning fast speed and clipped Zero's foot with it; the Winged Knight jumped back, startled.
"For his own good."
Captain walked back to the ship while Zero stood there, his eyes transfixed to the arrow...
&&&
"Itai... Itai..." Shute fell onto the ground, the benevolent spirit trees cradling him with their roots. "This isn't fair, this isn't fair..."
"Shute?"
"Nan da?"Now was one of the few times he was happy to hear his name called today; Aresia tripped out of the woods, the upper layers of her gown torn away by thorns and twigs. "Aresia-hiime!"
"Oh, Shute, are you alright?!" The princess hugged Shute tightly and refused to let him go. "Did they hurt you?"
"I'm just really sore..." Shute's head fell into her lap. "I really need to sleep."
"Shute, no, you can't sleep yet, we're in-" Aresia heard a light snoring ringing from her lap. "Shute?"
Too late, he was already out like a light. Aresia tried shaking him, but he would only grab onto her arm and cling to it like a tick.
"Shute, wake up!" she desperately cried. "You can't sleep, we're in..."
The horrible sound of stretching bow strings caught her attention. She gazed upwards to she ten topless men on horses aiming bows at her; it took her a few seconds to realize, though, that there was no delineation between man and horses.
"Centaur territory."
DONE! Oo, busted by the man/horse, oo- HETTIE! STOP EATING MOMMA'S SHOE! HETTIE! (smack (surprised yelp) NO! Stupid dog... Anyway, where was I?
I released some early information that this chapter would include two songs. I lied. The other two I had planned weren't well known enough to include, so (snap) scrapped 'em. Sorry about that, Devo and obscure cartoon fans who would recognize "Workin' in a Coal Mine" and "Where There's a Whip (There's a Way)"- HETTIE, NO! (smack) NO!
Lots of emotional stuff going on here; I know, it's rough, but it's plot developing, and I, myself, am proud of the job I did putting the emotions down on my document on the computer. (sigh) Hettie, what are you chewing on NOW- oh, it's just a plastic coat hanger. Okay, you can chew on that, no problemo...
Heeheeheeheehee... Pigsbottom, Hahaha... Hogwarts, anyone? Hahaha! I called it Pigsbottom, hahahahaha....!
Some would say that Captain's emotional outbursts are "out of character" in this chapter. You know what I say, I say "HECK, NO, THEY'RE PERFECTLY IN CHARACTER!" because Captain was all like "I will NOT be defeated!" in the last episode of the first season and I'm like "ALL RIGHT, GO CAPTAIN!". He has the emotions, hun, and I think it's sad that in most fics, Captain's just kinda there and just spouting lines like "Maybe we should investigate this"or "maybe we should ask him about that"to advance the plot without really showing any personality or character development or doing anything! Either that, or it's a humor fic, and he's always either confused or annoyed, and I'm sick of it! The only fanfic I've seen that do Captain really well was Neoyami's "Simple Kind of Life" on , kudos to Neoyami, and even in THAT it's a Shute fic and he's just sorta kinda there! I'm still waiting for silence865 to write that Captain fanfic, you know (You'd better be working on that thing, 'cause I'm waiting for it, believe you me!). I'm sick of it! CAPTAIN NEEDS SOME LOVE TOO! (deep breathe) Lemme rest for a minute, throat's sore...
I hope I did okay on the Cockney accents, it's hard to do when the only real exposure you've had to them are old Monty Python videos and Parker- heavy episodes of Thunderbirds.
That's all I can think of now- HETTIE! Excuse me a minute, I'm done here, you can go home now. HETTIE, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT?! HETTIE!
Finally! I'm back! Man, it's been an eventful summer for me. I got out of my fanfic groove for a while there. CHAPTER SUMMARY: Turns out Shute's not the only surprise magician in Lacroa; it's the villagers turn to shine!
Shute could barely hang on as Sterling thundered his way across the barren stretches of Lacroa. His feet pounded against the ground with such force that the mountains shook, and the racket caused by his clanging scales was nearly unbearable.
"STERLING!" Princess Aresia shouted, but could not make herself heard over the clanging. "STERLING! STOP!"
Shute decided he would try to get Sterling to stop, being he was closer to his ear. "STERLING! SLOW DOWN!" Sterling began taking shorter strides, and Shute smiled. "Hey, it work-"
His joy faded away as the fact that Sterling had not stopped because of Shute became evident; he was panting heavily, and his scales were hot to the touch.
"OW!" Doha jumped up from his scale. "It's hot! It's hot!"
"Sterling's overheating!" Shute guessed. "Everyone get off 'im! Hurry!"
All of the children, including Mercury the baby song dragon, stumbled to the ground quickly while Sterling fell to his knees. Doha tapped Sterling's muzzle twice, which to him meant "Open your mouth" but to Shute meant absolutely nothing. Sterling strained his mouth open and lolled out his tongue, which Doha began bathing in ice.
"Eeeaaa!" Mercury began nudging her daddy's leg pitifully. "Eeaa!"
"Oh, poor Sterling baby!" Aresia tried to stroke Sterling's head, but his scales were too hot to touch without getting burned. "You're not used to running, are you?"
"What's that mean?" asked Shute. "Is he okay?"
"Sterling always flew us to the cave we told you about," Aresia answered.
"It gets colder the higher in the sky you get," Noah stated.
Shute nodded his head. "I know." He was reminded of the hours he would spend touring SDG Base with Captain, and how bracingly cold the air was up in the clouds. He felt the homesickness punching him in the stomach, and his eyes suddenly began to sting with tears, which he shook away.
Doha looked up from his duty of cooling Sterling's mouth. "But he can't fly with holes in his wing, and since the Dark Axis came-"
"There's no trees for shade to cool him down." Coa finished.
Shute rolled his eyes. "Great. My one chance to escape, and he blows his radiator."
Sterling sighed a small jet of steam out through his nostrils, a comical sight if it had not had such grave consequences. Mercury nestled herself under Sterling's wing, still crying for her daddy. Camille loped up behind Noah, curling about him protectively while sniffing the air. Shute moaned and rubbed his neck.
"Well, now what are we gonna do?"
Coa tapped his chin in thought. "We should probably get Sterling some water."
Doha looked about. "I don't see a river."
Coa snapped back at his brother. "I know there's a river somewhere north, I saw it on the way to the cave last time!"
Noah raised his finger. "Even if there was a river, how are we supposed to get the water to Sterling?"
"Yeah, we don't have a bucket." Doha placed another ice chunk on Sterling's tongue.
Aresia nodded. "Noah does have a point."
Doha howled, "I'm Doha!"
Noah waved his arms. "I'm Noah!"
#And I'm Camille!# barked Camille in an attempt to relieve some of the building tension.
Coa growled as if frustrated. "We're magic now, remember?! We could do stuff like that easy!"
"Not me!" Shute jerked back, tense with worry. "I can't do water magic, it hurts!"
Aresia cocked her head in a very Sayla-ish way. "It does?"
"WELL, I PASSED OUT, DIDN'T I?!" Shute rubbed his temples. "Baka hiime..."
"Let's just find the river and get Sterling some water!" ordered Coa. He too rubbed his temples in anger.
"Well, I'm not going on foot!" Aresia suddenly interjected. "Shute, tell Camille she'll have to carry me."
Camille growled without saying anything first, but then followed with, #I don't carry rude puppies.#
Shute translated, "I think Camille would help you if you asked her politely, Aresia-hiime."
"I am a Princess; the only people I have to ask politely to do anything are kings and queens." Aresia ruffled her frilly dress. "And stop calling me that, I have no idea what it means!"
"Aresia-hiime?" Shute cocked his head. "It just means 'Princess Aresia' in Upper Neotopian. It's my second language."
"Well, stop it anyway!"
Shute scrunched up his face in anger. "Baka hiime."
"What was that?"
Sterling cut the conversation short by blasting all of the children with a hot jet of steam They all screamed in terror, but got the message Sterling was trying to send them. They all hopped on Camille's back and began scouting for a river.
&&&
"So, what's a 'channeler' do?" Shute asked. Aresia had just told him that she herself was a "channeler" when he had asked what type of magic she was, and the only thing he could think of was the ability to talk to ghosts. And of course, he wasn't about to believe that.
Aresia smiled, glad to get the chance to brag. "Channelers focus the magic of other people by touching them. By keeping my hand on Coa's shoulder, I am helping him concentrate on his magic so that he doesn't drop the water ball in his hands."
Shute looked downward, watching Coa balance the basketball sized ball of water in his hands while Aresia (sitting behind him) kept her hand around his shoulder. The realization hit him in a few seconds. "Oh, so it's like wearing glasses when your vision's bad, right?"
Aresia gave him a blank look. "What are glasses?"
Shute felt a drop of sweat rolling down his temple. "Never mind-"
"STERLING!"
Shute's eyes snapped open at Doha's cry; Sterling was under attack by a group of 20-something spear-holding villagers! Before he realized what was going on, Camille had lunged forward, leaving him and Aresia behind while she attacked! Coa threw his water ball at the nearest villager, soaking him to the bone and making him raise his spear, ready to attack-
"CAMILLE, STOP IT!" Shute reached his hand out to stop her-
Suddenly, Camille (the triplets had fallen off by this point), Mercury, and about 5 of the attacking villagers were being lifted into the air in a cloud of blue magic energy.
"Oi!"
Shute looked to the side just as a scrawny teenaged villager kicked him into the dirt, making him drop everyone he was holding up. He was a tiny wasted boy whose clothes were too big for his body; the dull fabrics of his clothes accentuated his electric blue hair. "Gott-a fancy-lookin' lot o'er 'ere, don' we?"
"Looks li'e they just came from the royal castle, Bevis!" yelled another villager who was busy wrangling Mercury behind a wall of hound dogs. "What'ya think, burg'lars?"
"Naw, they's too young to be burg'lars." The teenaged villager nudged Shute's chin with the dull point of his crude spear. "So, what are ya? King's messengers?"
"No!" Shute gulped back his fears and answered truthfully, taking a few minutes to think of the right word. "We're runaways."
"Stop attacking our dragons!" Aresia shouted, standing up and dusting off her frilly gown. "By order of the Princess of Lacroa!"
"Well, look'a'dis." The teen, called Bevis early by his friend, turned around to face his teammates. "Oi, fellas-" (everyone in the group was male) "Take'a'look'a'dis, this one's says she's'a prin-cess!"
"She is a princess!" yelled Coa.
Noah nodded. "And we're the princes!"
Doha spoke loudly, yet a bit quieter than his brothers. "If anybody cares."
Bevis poked Shute again with the spear ("At least I don't get fried by this guy," thought Shute). "Wha' does that make you, 'air boy?"
Shute began to wonder why Bevis had given him the nickname "air boy", not knowing that Bevis had unknowingly dropped the 'h', but still tried to think of some way to keep himself out of trouble. "I... Uh... am these kid's kidnapper!"
Bevis blinked... Then blinked again... Then withdrew his spear. "Whatcha mean by that?"
"Sit still and listen for a minute-" Shute smiled, "And I'll explain this whole thing."
&&&
"Baku!" Zero flew into the Music Room as fast as his wings could carry him, his eyes catching nothing even the slightest tint of red. "Bakunetsumaru!"
Zero mumbled a spell under his breath and pointed his hand at a pile of rocks. They instantly shrank down to the size of pebbles and formed themselves into a small pile. Underneath the pile was-
"Baku!" Zero flew down to his friend and flipped him onto his back. His shell was badly dented, but the fact that his wounds were healing themselves already was enough to make Zero inwardly smile. "Oh, Baku, you're alive..."
The Blazing Samurai flinched and blinked to refocus his vision; Zero was the first thing he saw, the second being a ton of stone and granite surrounding him. He grunted and tried to sit up, but a small piece of rock jammed into his shell stabbed him in the soft part of his underarmor, making him grunt in pain and fall back to the floor.
"OW!"
"Don't worry, Baku, I'm here!" Zero held his best friend's hand comfortingly. "It's okay, someone will be here for you in a minute."
Bakunetsumaru shook his head; then his eyes focused on the gaping hole in the wall. "Where's Shute?"
"Shute?" The question caught him off-guard, so Zero didn't know quite what to say. "He was... On the dragon... But you wouldn't know the drag- he's not in- (groan)."
Baku closed his eyes and sighed, trying not to look relieved. Zero could hear the castle guards coming; he floated back into the air. "The guards will help you. I have to go look for the children."
The Winged Knight zoomed out of the Music Room, down a few hallways (he flew right over Captain, but didn't notice), and into the Throne Room where Prince John was waiting.
"I checked the Music Room just like you asked, m'lord." Zero grounded himself and continued. "I found Bakunetsumaru under the rubble."
Prince John furrowed his brow. "You mean the red one?"
Inwardly, Zero was offended, but he knew better than to show it. "Yes, sir, the red one. Other than that, there was nothing out of place."
"What was he doing in the Music Room?"
"I don't know, sir."
"You didn't ask?"
Oops. That order had completely slipped Zero's mind. His eyes shrunk in realization. "No, sir."
Prince John slapped his forehead. "Zero..."
"I'm sorry, m'lord, but he was buried under a ton of stone! He needed help!" Zero gasped as he realized he had snapped at the king and covered his mouth with his hands. "I'm sorry, m'lord!"
Prince John sighed. "It's all right, Zero. We're just going to have to go out and look for them ourselves, now, won't we?"
Prince John fluttered past Zero, towards a door hidden behind his throne. Zero blinked in confusion. "Um, sir, need I point out that the Kingdom of Lacroa stretches out for miles on end?" Zero received a nasty look from the king. "With all due respect, m'lord."
"I know. Need I point out to you, Zero, that overweight song dragons with broken wings leave huge footprints that are terribly easy to follow?" Prince John smirked and opened the door...
&&&
"WOW!"
Prince John winced at Zero's voice. "Zero..."
"I've been around Shute for too long..."Zero covered his mouth once again. "Sorry, sir."
It was a large alcove, a circle of walls without a ceiling, housing a giant clipper ship within its belly. The ship's multitude of sails were all different shades of gold; the body was a durable wood covered by a thick layer of silver. Emblazoned on the port side of the craft was the Lacroan royal family's coat of arms, a large shield with pictures of four of the five Sacred Beasts (minus Fenn, apparently).
"We shall look for them in this." Prince John boasted. "It was my brother's. He took the solid gold one, but, eh, it's better than nothing."
"It's beautiful!" Zero began floating towards the ship. Prince John placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Ah ah ah. The laws of Lacroa demand that there must be at least 3 knights aboard the ship at all times to protect the king."
"But who are the-"
It was at that time that a few dozen palace guards entered the room through a second door, shoving a very angry Captain and Zero in front of them.
"Let us go!" Bakunetsumaru shouted, obviously better from the beating he took from Mercury. His hands were held behind his back by a bright blue ribbon of light. "We didn't do anything!"
"Odd that you should say that." Prince John hovered in front of the two Gundams. "Baka-nada- whatever, you were found in the Music Room right after the dragons escaped... Did you see anything?"
Baku gave the king an evil glare. "Bakunetsumaru."
"Whatever." Prince John raised his scepter. "That's not important. Did you see what happened to the dragons?"
The Blazing Samurai lowered his eyes. "No."
Zero felt his chest tightening. "Baku, please, if you saw anything, you have to tell us."
Baku glanced at Zero out of the tops of his eyes, but didn't say anything. He was soooo mad at him right now...
"What about you?" asked Prince John, turning his attention to Captain, who also had his hands bound. "Have you seen the triplets anywhere?"
Captain, surprisingly, "closed" his eyes and turned his head away, refusing to answer. Baku had told him not long ago "If you say anything, we might never see Shute again"; he had no idea what he was talking about, but the thought alone was enough to clam him up.
"Captain!" Zero was in shock; Captain was never one to disobey any authority figure!
"No?" Prince John seemed to be enjoying the interrogation session. "What about the Princess? Both of you. Speak up."
Baku and Captain shared a look, and shook their heads "no".
"No again?" Prince John smiled evilly; he was enjoying it, more than he should have, actually. "What about the other boy? Shute?"
"Shute?"Captain noticeably startled, for he had no idea Shute had disappeared along with the other kids! Baku noticed what he was doing and elbowed him in the gut, raising a few suspicions within Zero's mind.
"Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." Prince John bounced his scepter in the air, like he was hitting something, and the glowing hand restraints magically disappeared. "Good. I like the hard way, it's more fun. You're now officially knights until I say otherwise, and you must accompany us on the voyage to search for the children."
Their eyes showed that their hearts had just been shattered. Captain and Baku tensed up immediately and started refusing to go, saying they had to stay here unless Shute came back. Zero could feel his own heart sinking into his stomach, partly out of concern for the children, partly out of extreme guilt, and partly out of the feeling that his own friends had made all this happen.
"Too late." Prince John raised his scepter, the familiar blue energy surrounding the two Gundams. "You're coming and that's final."
He flung the Gundams through the air and onto the deck of the ship, Zero following swiftly behind. The two foreign Gundams landed on top of each other (more specifically, Baku on top of Captain) on the deck, Baku getting up quickly while Captain tried to recover. Zero held Captain's hand and helped him up slowly as not too hurt him.
"Captain, Baku, I'm so sorry this happened." By this point, Captain was back up on his feet, but Zero wouldn't let go. "If there's anything I can do-"
Captain responded by violently pulling his hand out of Zero's grasp, his Soul Drive lighting his eyes aflame out of pure fury towards Zero. Their eyes met, and Zero could feel his intense, silent anger burning in his soul stone. The Neotopian Gundam stepped away quickly, leaving the blue knight dazed and confused once again.
The ship rocked unsteadily on the ground, and then began lifting into the air. Baku stood looking over the port (left) side of the ship, Captain joining him soon after his little moment with Zero. The Soul Drive tired itself out and stopped making Captain's eyes glow; he was able to look at Bakunetsumaru without the latter party flinching. "So... Where are we going now?"
Baku placed his head in his hands. "On a one-way track to failure and misery, Captain." He sighed mournfully. "Getting me and my sister out of the dojo was never this complicated."
Captain turned his eyes downward, studying the tracks of Sterling the dragon and the huge distances between each stride. They were at least 4.53 miles out into Lacroa... Who knows what might have been happening to them?
&&&
Shute had to duck to dodge the large pewter mugs of the toasting peasants. He, along with the royal children, had been heralded as heroes, and had also been made official townspeople of the village of Pigsbottom Flats, East Lacroa province (Doha never stopped laughing at the name "Pigsbottom"). Sterling, Mercury, and Camille were helping themselves to a drink of water from a fishpond nearby while the kids were eating a nice meal of vegetable soup with their new friends, the teenager Bevis and his best friend, the equally skinny and incredibly tall Trent.
"So, if I got this righ'," began Bevis. "You lot were tired of gettin' trea'ed like rubbish at the castle."
"Right!" chirped Shute, dodging more clinking mugs.
"So, you escaped... an' came 'ere?" Bevis took a break to swallow a boiled carrot while Trent took a turn talking.
"Why 'ere at Pigsbottom Flats any'ow, Shute?"
Doha and Coa began sniggering uncontrollably from the other side of the table. "Pigsbottom..."
Shute felt a smile tugging at his lips; his muscles were so tense that it was hard for him to talk. "We didn't plan on coming... We just sorta... geheeheehee... arrived..." He then burst into a laughing fit. "Your town's called 'Pigsbottom'!"
Trent and Bevis both shared a loud belly laugh. "Yeah, we like i'too!"
Princess Aresia, sticking to her old habit of staying quite until she needed to talk, tapped Bevis' arm. "Why is your village called 'Pigsbottom'? I'm certain my father wouldn't approve."
"Tha's it!" cheered Trent, raising his ale mug. "Ya see, when you' father, King Davis, was in charge, the town was called Fairiecharms Flats, 'cause o' all the faeries 'round here, see?" Bevis beat his fist against the table, and three green sprinkles of light burst out from the wood and into the air.
"Faeries!" Princess Aresia gasped in amazement. "I've never seen one so small! All the ones in the castle are so huge!"
Bevis raised his eyebrow. "Yeeeaaahh... Well, anyway, we were 'appy to follow King Davis's rule. But now tha' that no-good, son-o'-a-'ogsbottom Prince John is in charge, we've rebelled, ya know. We changed our name to Pigsbot'om!"
The peasants raised their mugs in union. "Pigsbottom Flats! Huzzah!"
Noah screamed in joy. "Pigsbottom!"
"Down wi'h those scurvy, royal, parsnip ea'in', magic usin' cod wallops!" yelled a rotund peasant woman with a baby in her arm. She patted the closet triplet to her, Noah, on the head. "No offense to you ickle pumpkins."
Noah and his brothers shared a weird look. "Um, sure..."
"They deserve to be strung up by the ears!" called another villager, this one a man.
Princess Aresia leaned over to Shute's side of the table. "Shute, do you hear music?"
Shute cupped a hand to his ear. Sure enough, he did hear music coming from Sterling's direction, and it sounded just like... Oh no, how on Earth or Lacroa or wherever they were did they know that song? "Oh crud."
&&&
Bevis: If you're blue and you don't know
Where to go to, why don't you go where roy'lty sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz. (Shute sighed. "Never the original words, never!")
Bevis: Different types who wear ermine coats
Pant-a-loons, cutaway coats, perfect fits?
Puttin' on the Ritz. (The auburn one sighed. "Oh, how creative..."
Princess Aresia tapped Shute's shoulder. "Shute, please, make them stop, it's embarrassing!")
Trent: Dressed up like a million dollar trouper.
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper. (Shute pulled on Trent's arm. "Um, Trent, could-".) Peasants: Super duper!
(Shute wiped the sweat off of his brow.) Bevis: Come let's mix where Rockefellers
Walk with sticks or um-ber-ellas in their mitts. (Shute waved his arms. "Please stop!") Puttin' on the Ritz. (Shute growled madly.)
Random Villager 1: Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue- (Noah tried his hand at stopping the song. "Um, sir?") Random Villager 2: On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air?
(Doha raised his finger in protest. "Uh, we're still here, you know!") Trent: High hats, and arrow collars,
Bevis: White spats, and lots of dollars,
(Coa took a deep breath. "SHUT UP!") Random Villager 1: Spending' every dime
For a wonderful time? (The triplets shrugged. "We give up."
Aresia ruffled her dress in anger. "By order of the-")
Bevis: If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go to where roy'lty sits?
(Aresia yanked her hair so tightly that the skin on her forehead turned red. "He interrupted me!") Bevis: Puttin' on the Ritz.
Trent: Different types of wear all day coat, pant-a-loons,
And cut away coats for perfect fits? (Aresia-hiime waved her hand at her pet song dragon. "Sterling, you stop this music right now!" Sterling glared at his princess out of one eye, but did nothing. He was a song dragon, he lived for the music!) Trent: Puttin on the Ritz.
Random Villager 3: Dressed up like a million dollar trouper Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper. ( Villagers: Super duper!
(Aresia approached Shute, her face turning purple to match her dress. "Make them be quiet!") Trent: Come let's mix where Rockefellers
Walk with sticks or umbrellas in their mitts.
Bevis: Puttin' on the Ritz.
(Shute flung his hands out to his sides. "Well, what am I supposed to do?")
Random Villager 3: Dressed up like a million dollar trouper (Aresia pulled her hair again. "I don't care, do something!") Random Villager 3: Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper. Villagers: Super duper!
Bevis: If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go to where fashion sits?
Trent: Puttin' on the Ritz
(Shute rubbed his head. "Um...") Bevis: Puttin' on the Ritz
("I don't know what to do...) Trent: Puttin' on the Ritz
("You have magic, Shute, use it!"screamed Aresia.) Bevis: Puttin' on the Ritz (Shute sighed again. "Fine.")
Trent: Move... (Trent placed his hand delicately on Aresia's wrist. The princess jumped in surprise.) Trent: I want you to MOVE! ("WOAH!"
Trent began flinging Aresia around like a kite of a string, obliviously trying to "dance" with her. Shute, Coa, Doha, and Noah couldn't help but laugh.)
Bevis: Gotta dance! Gotta- (Bevis then grabbed Shute's arm and began flinging him around, and not unlike Aresia, he wanted Bevis to let go then and there!) Bevis: Dance!
("Lemme go!" Bevis was spinning Shute around so quickly that he couldn't see; he head was becoming light, and he began to panic. "LEMME GO!")
&&&
"KABOOM!"
&&&
Prince John, along with a few royal palace guards and one royal tracking warg, saw the explosion from the prow of the ship. It was a unnerving sight as to the fact that it was a weird mix of gray and magical blue...
Zero rushed to the front of the ship, his heart racing in terror. "What happened?"
"We've got a lead..." Prince John tucked his scepter into the sleeve of his robe. "Full forward! We've found them!"
"Already?" Zero looked out to the horizon; it must've taken a lot of magic to create such an explosion, he thought.
Every muscle in his body shook at the thought. "Shute..."
&&&
Shute had thrown Bevis back about 39 feet into the fish pond, spooking the dragons and immediately ending the song! Bevis sputtered about underwater and finally jumped out, running full force towards the startled boy.
"I'll teach ya ta throw me, boy!" Bevis held back his fist, his hand glowing in-
Wait.
Shute bounced onto his feet. "Bevis! Bevis, look! Your hand!"
Bevis lowered in hand... In was glowing, and in a very familiar blue pattern...
"What.... What's all this?" the boy shuddered, now noticing that both his hands had the same glow. Other villagers, including Trent, flocked around him...
"Bevis..." Shute pointed to the fish pond behind the boy. "Bevis, concentrate on that rock in the middle of the pond..."
Bevis turned to see a small rock sitting smack dab in the middle of the pool, nothing much to look at and all to easy to look over. He was too scared to do much else, so he concentrated on the little rock in the pool of water. It was just a little algae covered rock... Nothing to get all excited about, I mean, it wasn't like it was a strange color or anything... It wasn't shaped like anything either, it was just a plain and simple-
"Bevis, the wa'er!"
Trent's voice snapped Bevis out of his self induced trance, and immediately the floating, glowing rock dropped down out of the air and onto Bevis's head. "OW!"
"Bevis, that was levitation!" Shute stood in front of Bevis, his eyes wide and his entire body glowing with a sort of primal energy. "You know what that this, don't you? You Used Magic!"
"Magic..." Bevis felt a giddy feeling running along his stomach, like a wee fairy doing a jig on his entrails. He, a simple little peasant boy, a potato farmer no less, actually did magic-
"SHUTE!"
The auburn one looked up just in time to see an arrow headed straight for his back! Almost instantly, his hand jutted forward and unleashed a magic burst that disintegrated the arrow in midair!
Coa didn't need to think about what had just happened; one of Daddy's flying clipper ships and a very angry looking Uncle John was enough to tell him-
He faced the crowd of astounded villagers. "RUN!"
The peasants panicked and ran in different directions, with several villagers grabbing the triplets and spiriting them off with them. Shute snatched Aresia's arm and pulled her along with him, knowing that there was NO way this Sayla-look-alike could keep up with him. Sterling roared loudly and swiped his wing at the ship, which dodged his blow as if it were alive.
"Camille!" The warg responded to Shute's call and started following him, only having to run a small lope to keep up with the comparatively slow boy. "Take the Princess and run!"
A whimper rang from Camille's jowls. #Where, puppy?#
"Anywhere safe, just go!" Shute, in an amazing fit of strength, actually THREW the princess onto Camille's back and, in the same movement, completely turned tail and began running in the opposite direction. Camille would have followed him if she had not been bred for obedience; she kept going in the same direction, leaving Aresia to scream and cry her heart out for nothing.
&&&
"Don't hurt him!" Captain was obviously referring to Shute and the apparent attempt at his life!
"I'm not gonna hurt him if he keeps blowin' up everything I throw at 'im!" answered Prince John, his voice ringing of a light, withheld accent. "Try it again!"
"Hey, PJ!"
"What the blazes?"
Zero was barely able to see Shute over the rail of the ship; he was obscured in a cloud of dust and practically invisible. "You're chasing after me, leave the villagers alone!"
Baku suddenly pushed Zero aside, nearly jumping onto the railing of the ship himself. "SHUTE, HURRY, GET OUT OF THERE!"
Zero felt his own anger seeping through to the surface. His eyes went from neutral to angry. "You were involved in this!"
Baku also switched to angry mode, a vein popping out of his forehead. "You stay out of this, home wrecker!"
"Home wrecker?!"
"FIRE!"
Too late, Prince John had just fired a whole volley of arrows! Both Zero and Baku, and also Captain rushed forward with their hands outstretched. "NO!"
But this time, Shute didn't blow them up; instead, he changed the direction of the wind and blew all the arrows back towards the ship! Not only did the bottom of the ship get littered with arrows, but everyone on the ship got a face full of dust!
Zero was the one whose vision cleared up first. He spied Shute running off, following Sterling's footprints once again. He couldn't let him get away, not again!
&&&
"SHUTE!"
"Don't look at him!" screamed a voice inside Shute's head. The boy kept running as fast as he could despite the fact that his calves were killing him...
What was that? Up ahead, it was... TREES! There was a forest, and it was a huge one at that! Perfect, he could run into the forest and hide from John, Captain and Baku would find him, everything would be-
"GECK!" A blue rope had just tied itself around Shute's legs and was not letting go! The young boy tripped and hit the ground with enough force to knock the air out of him; when he looked up, Zero was hovering just above him.
"Come on!" Zero held out his hands, ready to take him up and away, away from Captain, away from Neotopia, away from Nana-
"NO!" Shute held him hands outward, not knowing what would happen. Two huge boulders tore out of the ground beside him and struck Zero from either side, throwing him backwards and into a tree. He leapt up and stumbled into the forest glade, his legs too sore to run but his mind to strong to give up.
&&&
"Hold your fire, don't hit the spirit trees!" Prince John waved his hand, and the archers lowered their bows. Captain jumped out of the ship and raced towards Zero, who could barely stand after getting bashed into the trees.
Zero felt Captain's strong arms lifting him out of the dirt. "What happened?"
"Shute attacked you." Captain had a way of responding in the worst way to a question without realizing it; Zero nearly broke into tears at the words.
"What?" Zero collapsed to his knees, leaving Captain to try and hold him up. "But I'm trying to help him!"
"Help him by what? Separating him from everything he's known for his whole life?"
"Don't you start, Captain!" Zero forced himself to his feet, jerking himself out of Captain's grasp. "Shute needs to learn to control his magic to keep himself and others from getting hurt, I told you that!"
"Sure he does."
Zero was once again appalled by Captain's outrageous outbursts (well, maybe he was mentally exaggerating, but this is Captain we're talking about). As the ship flew in closer, Zero swung his hand forward to end the conversation. "Captain, I stand by what I said. This is for his own good!"
The ship was just above Captain's head now; the military Gundam reached upward and plucked an arrow out of the hull of the ship, one of the arrows intended for Shute's heart. "Right."
Captain threw down the arrow at lightning fast speed and clipped Zero's foot with it; the Winged Knight jumped back, startled.
"For his own good."
Captain walked back to the ship while Zero stood there, his eyes transfixed to the arrow...
&&&
"Itai... Itai..." Shute fell onto the ground, the benevolent spirit trees cradling him with their roots. "This isn't fair, this isn't fair..."
"Shute?"
"Nan da?"Now was one of the few times he was happy to hear his name called today; Aresia tripped out of the woods, the upper layers of her gown torn away by thorns and twigs. "Aresia-hiime!"
"Oh, Shute, are you alright?!" The princess hugged Shute tightly and refused to let him go. "Did they hurt you?"
"I'm just really sore..." Shute's head fell into her lap. "I really need to sleep."
"Shute, no, you can't sleep yet, we're in-" Aresia heard a light snoring ringing from her lap. "Shute?"
Too late, he was already out like a light. Aresia tried shaking him, but he would only grab onto her arm and cling to it like a tick.
"Shute, wake up!" she desperately cried. "You can't sleep, we're in..."
The horrible sound of stretching bow strings caught her attention. She gazed upwards to she ten topless men on horses aiming bows at her; it took her a few seconds to realize, though, that there was no delineation between man and horses.
"Centaur territory."
DONE! Oo, busted by the man/horse, oo- HETTIE! STOP EATING MOMMA'S SHOE! HETTIE! (smack (surprised yelp) NO! Stupid dog... Anyway, where was I?
I released some early information that this chapter would include two songs. I lied. The other two I had planned weren't well known enough to include, so (snap) scrapped 'em. Sorry about that, Devo and obscure cartoon fans who would recognize "Workin' in a Coal Mine" and "Where There's a Whip (There's a Way)"- HETTIE, NO! (smack) NO!
Lots of emotional stuff going on here; I know, it's rough, but it's plot developing, and I, myself, am proud of the job I did putting the emotions down on my document on the computer. (sigh) Hettie, what are you chewing on NOW- oh, it's just a plastic coat hanger. Okay, you can chew on that, no problemo...
Heeheeheeheehee... Pigsbottom, Hahaha... Hogwarts, anyone? Hahaha! I called it Pigsbottom, hahahahaha....!
Some would say that Captain's emotional outbursts are "out of character" in this chapter. You know what I say, I say "HECK, NO, THEY'RE PERFECTLY IN CHARACTER!" because Captain was all like "I will NOT be defeated!" in the last episode of the first season and I'm like "ALL RIGHT, GO CAPTAIN!". He has the emotions, hun, and I think it's sad that in most fics, Captain's just kinda there and just spouting lines like "Maybe we should investigate this"or "maybe we should ask him about that"to advance the plot without really showing any personality or character development or doing anything! Either that, or it's a humor fic, and he's always either confused or annoyed, and I'm sick of it! The only fanfic I've seen that do Captain really well was Neoyami's "Simple Kind of Life" on , kudos to Neoyami, and even in THAT it's a Shute fic and he's just sorta kinda there! I'm still waiting for silence865 to write that Captain fanfic, you know (You'd better be working on that thing, 'cause I'm waiting for it, believe you me!). I'm sick of it! CAPTAIN NEEDS SOME LOVE TOO! (deep breathe) Lemme rest for a minute, throat's sore...
I hope I did okay on the Cockney accents, it's hard to do when the only real exposure you've had to them are old Monty Python videos and Parker- heavy episodes of Thunderbirds.
That's all I can think of now- HETTIE! Excuse me a minute, I'm done here, you can go home now. HETTIE, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT?! HETTIE!
