(Hmm… I hope this turns out good. Just a random idea, but please review nonetheless! By the way, the Hero's name is 'Rode', in this.)
EDIT: I've fixed the ending; I'd basically had it in mind since the beginning, but I changed it at the last second. In any case, enjoy!
TALK!
Mitsuba yawned loudly, stretching her arms and nudging Snowe in the cheek. He brushed her hand away, continuing to look at the water.
Chiepoo was laying on his belly, his hands holding up his head. He was beside Snowe, drifting in and out of sleep.
"Mitsuba! There you are! We fight now!"
The short- haired girl turned, seeing Jeremy standing a few yards behind her sitting spot. "Okay, okay, but if I win I get your dinner!" She got up quickly and ran over to him as Chiepoo suddenly pointed at something. "Hey, what's that?" he thought aloud while his tail curled.
Snowe looked to where he was pointing and saw something floating in the ocean water; it was black in color, perhaps mechanical? It was inside something, though, a container…
"How do we get it?" asked the Kobold. Snowe squinted, trying to get a better view. "I'll just jump and grab it; use that rope over there to get me back up," he stated while nodding motioning towards the curled up rope that had been cast off onto the deck of the stronghold ship.
Chiepoo nodded as the blond leapt into the water, swimming over to the object. He reached out for it, pulling it forward. He picked it up in both of his hands, inspecting it.
Whatever it was, it was inside a cube- shaped, clear, plastic box. Snowe shrugged and swam back to the side of the boat, waving at Chiepoo to lower the rope, which he did.
Before Snowe had even gotten back up, Chiepoo had already grasped the box and set it down in front of him.
"What do you think it is…?" inquired the Kobold.
The blond just stared at it, noticing a small tab on the face of the box in front of tem. He flipped it up, and the upper portion of the cube swung back, allowing for him to take the peculiar thing out. It had a somewhat short, rectangular protrusion coming from the front of it; it was a little bulky, but could fit into a hand; there was a leather strap on its right side, which fit around the hand.
Snowe slid his hand through the strap, holding the object. There was a small latch on the opposite side, and he used a finger to swing the part into view; it turned out to be a small, square screen. There were a few buttons near the rear, and Snowe pressed the red one down with his thumb.
The screen lit up, showing Chiepoo curiously looking at him; he moved his head to the side, seeing that the cat-like creature was doing just that.
"Hmm… It seems to be some sort of recording device…" he said while pressing the red button again, thus switching the screen off.
"This isn't over Mitsuba! I'll beat you next time, for sure!"
"Yeah, whatever! You said that last time!"
The girl bumped into Snowe, causing him to stumble back. She turned to apologize, but saw the black thing in his hands.
"Ooh, what's that?"
"It's-,"
She took it from him, mimicking his previous posture and pushing down some of the buttons. "Hey, whoa, this is so cool!" She brought it down, looking at them. "Where'd you get it?"
"It was drifting in the water in that box," answered the Kobold. Snowe nodded.
"Huh… I've never seen one of these things before…" She pressed the red button, twirling around. "Ha, great! I wonder what it's used for..."
"It seems to record images," replied the blond. "It might turn out to be useful, actually."
Mitsuba looked around, noticing that no one else was on the deck of the Serenity, aside from Rode, their captain.
"Hey, Rode, look what I found!" she exclaimed while running towards him; Snowe and Chiepoo exchanged worried glances before following.
Rode looked at her from his point on the deck, scratching his head.
"What do you think of this?" she asked while shoving it into his hands; he stared oddly at it for a moment, before holding it the way she and Snowe had.
He cocked his right eyebrow up and handed it back to her before looking back out at the sea.
She turned it back on and aimed it at him, backing away a tad. "Hey, Rode, can you talk?"
He looked at her oddly, and Snowe folded his arms. "That's true… I've never heard you talk before…"
Rode nodded with a smile, his attention gained by the device. "So… why don't you?" He shrugged, poking at the object.
"That's not an answer! Come on, say something! We can record it with this, and you won't have to talk ever again, if you don't want to."
Rode shook his head, smiling, and jogged away, below deck.
The three watched him go, and Mitsuba switched the device off. "Hey… I have an idea…"
"What?" Chiepoo asked plainly. "Well, we can use this for a lot of things… I'm going to use it to make him talk!"
"I've known him for years, but I haven't ever heard him talk," stated Snowe. "I doubt you'll make him."
"Anything's possible; let's go find him."
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"Thanks for the new hammer, by the way," said Adrienne as she placed it down and gave Rode his newly tempered swords. "Make sure to put them to good use!"
He nodded and sheathed them.
"There you are!"
Rode turned to see Mitsuba right before him, the device right in his face.
"Come on, Rode, just say something; it won't kill you."
He tried to move to the left and walk past her, but she blocked him. They repeated this for a few seconds, but then he faked a right and dashed around her and into the elevator.
Snowe passed him on his way towards Mitsuba. "Okay, would you just stop and give the thing back to me?"
"Oh, what's the problem?"
"Look, Rode doesn't need to be bothered; he has a lot of things to do at the moment."
"Hey, what do you have there?"
Both of them turned in Jeane's direction as she pointed at the peculiar item. Mitsube laid it on the Rune Shop counter, and Jeane inspected it. "What is it exactly?"
"We don't know, really; Chiepoo and I found it drifting near the ship," answered Snowe.
As they conversed, more and more crew members and people hovered over to it, and soon, a small crowd was gathered around the object.
"It's quite intriguing," said Sigurd as he examined it.
"I wonder where it came from."
"It's highly advanced," stated Oleg. "It can store events, much like my own prototype, but much more so."
"How do you even know it's not dangerous?" asked Champo.
"We shouldn't take any chances…"
"Nothing's happened with it yet, that's for sure."
"You think someone sent it, hoping to attack us with it?"
"Like who? How many enemies have we made?"
"We could use this to our advantage somehow, don't you think?"
"Just don't take it into the baths; might screw it up."
"Does the King know about it?"
"Probably not, but he might chuck it back into the sea if we show it to him."
"That's true…"
"Hey, Mitsuba, why were you fiddling around with it, anyway?" inquired Jewel.
"I wanted to see if I could get Rode to talk and record it, but he keeps running away."
"I could catch him, you know."
"Nah, it's okay, Cedric."
"It would certainly make a good article in my newspaper…"
"Do you really think we should let it go public?"
"Where's Rode, anyway? I'd like to hear him talk too."
"We should not disturb him…"
"Oh, where's the fun in that, Paula? Aren't you curious?"
"Well, yes…"
"Good, then let's go!" Jewel said as she grabbed the device and headed for the stairs, followed hastily by Mitsuba, Snowe, and most everyone else.
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Reinhold charged again at Rode, the young man barely avoiding the spear. He knocked it upwards with his left blade and slashed at his opponent.
The bald man quickly brought his weapon down, blocking the blade. He swept it around, attempting to hit Rode in the side, but he ducked under it and attempted another attack.
Reinhold parried and stabbed forward, but Rode was quick, and successfully knocked the spear straight out his hands; the older man quickly stopped, smirking.
"You've improved quite a bit since your bout with Miss Mitsuba," he said.
Rode smiled and nodded, putting away his dual swords. Suddenly, the door blew open, revealing Jewel standing there with the strange item aimed at him; the rest were behind her, and Paula squeezed through.
"I apologize for the inconvenience," she stated before slamming the door shut. Rode only sighed.
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The young bearer of the Rune of Punishment turned on his side, trying to find a more comfortable position to sleep in. The rocking of the ship seemed somewhat soothing to him; he closed his eyes.
There was a snicker, and his eyes shot open.
He sat up and looked to his right to see Jewel, Mitsuba, and most of the other Stars of Destiny inside his room, all eyes glued on the mysterious recorder. He sighed once more.
"Come on, Rode, say your favorite word." urged Jewel. The captain of the ship stood up and walked past them all, and right out of the room.
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Ted plopped another spoonful of the soup into his mouth, swallowing it quickly. Rode gave a small wave to him as he sat beside him, obviously distressed.
"What's wrong?"
He nodded towards Mitsuba and Jewel as they darted over to him. "Please, Rode? One word, that's all, one word!"
"If he doesn't want to speak, let him," said Ted in defense of the young man. "Oh, he just has to say one or two words; the only time we've heard any noise out of his mouth is during battle!"
Rode gave them a glare and walked off.
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The massive monster swept a tentacle at the party. "You've got to be kidding me!" yelled Hervey as he avoided the tentacle and sliced it off cleanly with his Blood Sword.
The sea creature sent another tentacle; Hervey wasn't as fast this time around, and got hit. As the limb sailed towards Rode, and as he prepared to strike it, something distracted him. It was Mitsuba, holding the odd object, who was running towards him. "Rode! One word!"
By the time Rode looked back to the monster, the tentacle slammed against him, knocking him across the ship and into the ocean on the opposite side.
'Oops,' thought Mitsuba. "Sorry!" she yelled.
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"You don't seem to have any broken bones," stated Yu as he inspected the captain. "You should be fine, but be more careful next time."
Rode gave a silent nod, but as he began to stand up from the chair, it toppled over, and he fell.
"Hey, you're okay!" cried Rita.
"You too?" asked Yu casually.
She nodded. "Yep, now, we're all curious, so can you say something?"
Rode got up and dashed out of the room.
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The young captain closed the restroom stall door behind him, sighing. He would finally have some peace and quiet, even if it were for only a few minutes.
He raised the toilet lid and began to lower his shorts, but the stall door suddenly swung open.
And there stood Mao… and Nao… and even Tal! And let's not forget Gau!
Nao was holding the evil recording device up, and Tal scratched his head. "Hey, sorry, Rode, but we were thinking you might talk when you were relieving yourself."
The look on Rode's face was of utter horror, and he speedily slammed the stall door shut.
"Well, when you're done we'll still be out here."
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Rode sighed deeply as he walked in line for dinner. After an entire day of dodging his obsessed comrades, he might finally get some much needed relaxation, because, well, he hadn't seen Jewel, Mitsuba, or any of them for the past few hours, and none of that cursed recording thing.
As he stepped up to the counter for his meal, though, Mitsuba, Jewel, and everyone else sprang up from behind their hiding places inside the third floor below deck.
They came up from behind the round, central counter, the side stands and booths, and some even dropped from the ceiling.
Mitsuba had popped up right in front of Rode, the evil, apocalyptic recording device right in front of his nose.
"Talk, Rode! Talk!"
The young man remained silent, his right eye twitching.
"You want me to talk…? You want me to talk?" shouted Rode suddenly, causing her to back away.
"Fine, I'll talk! See, I'm talking! Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk! Talkitty- talk, talk! Are you happy? I'm talking! TALKING!"
He stopped; his expression seemed calm, and perhaps a little crazy. He raised his left hand, a crimson aura surrounding it. "Is it such a problem if I'm quiet? Is it? I mean, gee, just because I'm not the talkative type doesn't mean you can go and wave a little camera thing in my face! Would I do that? No, because I'm sensible, sensible!" He laughed maniacally, glancing at his left hand. "And this is probably the only thing that can make all of you, stop talking!"
"Oh, you wouldn't do that, Rode!" exclaimed Jewel with a laugh as she hopped up beside Mitsuba. "You could kill us all if you used the Rune!"
The captain did not laugh. Nor did he shake his head. The aura only grew larger, and he held his hand forward…
"He's… serious…" muttered Akaghi from afar. Rode was clearly furious, and Mitsuba and Jewel began to slowly back away.
Jewel grabbed Ted, since he was nearby. "Come on Ted, help us! Use the Soul Eater! It can counteract the Rune of Punishment, right?"
Ted shook his head. "You two deserve what you have coming to you; besides, I'd rather not use my True Rune."
Mitsuba giggled nervously. "There's no need to go shooting the Rune off… That thing can kill you…" she said.
"Yeah, yeah, we're really sorry… It was all for fun, you know, just all for fun… We apologize!" stated Jewel fearfully.
Rode softened slightly; he lowered his hand.
Everyone in the room sighed with relief, but Rode then immediately raised his hand and used the Rune of Punishment.
The magnificent blast of red and black shot through the ship, annihilating everything in its path… Well, it didn't obliterate anyone, but it did destroy Elenor's liquor, so they'll die anyway… Moving on…
The horrific ray continued cutting through the sea, eventually reaching Razril and Middleport, eradicating them and all the innocent people. It kept on going until it hit Nay, and then Nal-Nal, finally stopping…
"Oww…" muttered Mitsuba as she crawled out of the rubble like a majority of everyone else. She looked around, noticing the recording device a little ways off. 'It's still intact!'
She began to reach for it, but Viki suddenly appeared.
"Huh? What…?" She looked down, picking up the item. "Whatever could this be?" Viki then sneezed all of a sudden, vanishing, along with the object.
Mitsuba stared at the spot, eyes wide. "No! The recording device!"
And while everyone moped at the loss of the device, Rode could only smile and look towards the sunset… through the gigantic hole he blasted through with the Rune of Punishment.
"Well, that's that."
(Wow, this was long… To me, at least.)