"Fusion generator, fusion generator, squizzle fenator." X sorted through a pile of papers, frowning. "Ema, do you know where the maps are?" He tossed away some junk, annoyed, and his female companion picked it up and neatly piled it onto a table.
The interior of their ship was dirty, dusty and messier than any small, enclosed space had a right to be. A small electrical lamp sat on the table, illuminating the room with flickering light. This was a combination kitchen, dining room and paper storage room. Every document of value to the running of the ship could be found here, if you looked hard enough.
"X, you're a disorganized feeb," she said kindly. "Let me look." X moved out of the way with a grin, and she knelt down, her soft linen skirts pooling around her in a splash of a half dozen colors. "Ahh… which map? There are three."
"All of them. What was that ship they wanted us to meet them at again? The Silly Putty?"
"The Wandering Gypsy." Ema corrected, pulling out one of the maps.
"Asinine name. Gypsies always wander, it's why they're gypsies, even I know that. Only thing worse would be the Soaring Seagull or some such nonsense." X started reaching for a metal flask of alcohol, and his companion reached over without looking, taking it away and placing it in her skirts. X sighed gustily, but didn't protest.
"Our ship name is much better." She agreed with a nod, and frowned as she found another map. "A bit of mold on this one."
"Pity. I'll have to redraw it again." The maps, if you could call them that, were hand drawn by Copy X. More in the nature of memory aides than serious navigational tools, they nonetheless covered a vast amount of area. Often incompletely, but X wasn't noted for good record keeping. Anyone else trying to use the maps would have been hopelessly lost, but for Copy X and Ema, they were invaluable. "Where's spiky boy?"
"He's fishing off the dock." Ema finally found the third map, and stood, knocking over the alcohol flask. X pretended to ignore it, but one foot started inching a bit closer. "He was awfully surprised when I told him we had met Zero and a bunch of people from Neo Arcadia."
"Ohh, spiky boy is keeping seee-crets." X said in a sing-song, then grinned. "But that's okay, we don't tell him everything either." Ema and X exchanged smiles. They both had suspicions that their friend was much older than he looked.
They didn't much care, though. Their river boat only had the three of them as crew, but it was a fine little boat. They had acquired a fusion generator as loot from a mission, and ran a wonderful propeller setup. It was slow but steady, and the ship had puffed its way across the ocean on more than one occasion. Once, they had gone straight through a typhoon. That terrifying experience had almost killed them all, but none of them had been at all daunted. Frightening or not, they loved the sea, and that was the only thing that was really important to them.
There was a loud clatter, and the last member of the crew walked down the stairs into the bowels of the ship. A tiny Met drone followed close on his heels, making X smile. Investing in the drones had been one of their best decisions. They were what made it possible for three people to run this boat so easily.
"Hey, X," A young looking male Reploid collapsed on to a chair, grinning. He was wearing black armor, old style but actually very current, with bright red hair and crossed scars on his face. "Finally found the maps?"
"Bah. Does everyone know me better than I do?" X bantered back. "Why don't you make yourself useful and cook some breakfast, Axl?"
"Oh god, no!" Ema exclaimed, horrified. "Not that! Anything but that! Don't punish me so!" X's foot managed to snag the alcohol, and he slowly started to reel it in… until Ema casually stepped on his foot. "I'll take care of breakfast. Axl, can you put the rum away?" She kicked it out from under X's foot, and Axl took it with a grin.
"Sorry X, you're all dried out." X sighed, slumping in his chair with a mock woeful expression.
"It's all so cruel…" Axl shook his head with a smile as he put the metal flask away. X didn't really want to drink. This was a morning ritual, a friendly game X and Ema always played. Ema seemed to have a psychic sense of where the bottle was at, and X delighted in trying to outwit it. In the evening, of course, it would be a different matter, but Ema didn't object to drinking as long as it happened late in the day. She could put away more than a bit herself.
Axl stared at the metal flask, at his reflection in it, thinking. He hadn't expected to ever meet Zero again. Would Zero remember him? Would Zero even look the same? Axl hadn't seen him in so long, the memory was frayed and worn. Would he recognize Zero, if he saw him again?
I could show them the way to New New Hope now, he thought, wiping away some dirt from the cupboard. We don't have to do this at all… but then I would have to explain how I know the way. He didn't like that thought. People from the more technologically advanced areas usually kept that fact to themselves, and for good reason. Too many people seemed to think they had miracles in their back pocket, when in fact there were never any miracles. But in places where people lived an inch from starvation, was it any wonder they looked on the lands that still held the glories of the past with awe and desire?
Axl wasn't worried about X and Ema putting that on him, though. They had been adventuring together since the day Axl had pulled X out of the sea. By sheer chance, he'd seen X's shuttle go down and arrived in time to rescue him. Axl had taken X to Larkspur, an irradiated but still functional city, where Dr. Light and the Reploids living there had repaired him. Axl had been shocked by X's personality, but delighted, and they had decided to go see the world together. No, X knew quite well that Axl had no miracles stuffed up his sleeves.
But Copy X couldn't keep his mouth shut if you duct taped it, sealed it with wax, then welded it. Well, maybe that was being a little unfair. X could be incredibly sneaky when he put his mind to it, and part of that was keeping mum when silence was more than just golden. Still…
I'll keep it to myself for now, Axl finally decided. If Zero's generator gets worse too fast, I'll tell them then. Comforted by that thought, Axl closed the cupboard. Soon, they would be trawling through the rivers and puffing through the sea. Axl hadn't loved the waves when he had first helped X put together this ship. But now, he was as addicted as any of them. They had been in harbor for a week, and it would be good to be sailing again.
Soon, the three of them were in the cabin of the Wandering Gypsy. Compared to their ship, it was well-lit, extremely clean and extremely organized. X immediately started to clutter it up by collapsing onto a chair, his chains tinkling. "Hello again! Oh, I suppose I should introduce everyone… this is Ema, and this is Axl." Ciel and Leviathan nodded and murmured polite words. Ema sat more sedately in the one remaining chair, while Axl stayed standing, giving them a small wave.
Zero stared at the black armored Reploid, feeling vaguely unsettled. A memory was teasing his mind, something about this boy… it wasn't the first time he'd felt this way. Copy X had inspired much the same feeling, the first time he'd seen him. But this was strong enough to give him a powerful feeling of déjà vu. The Reploid looked extremely young, but his armor was a very old style… and if Zero's memories held him, he couldn't be young. Axl grinned at Zero, and waved as his name was mentioned.
Meanwhile, Axl was entertaining some thoughts that would probably have made Zero blush and try to sink under the desk. Wow, who came UP with that look? It's awful! He looks like… like… I don't know what he looks like, but it's not Zero. Ugghh, if I ever find who came up with that I'll have to give them a huge shake. Axl managed not to say anything, though, as X unrolled his maps on the desk.
"Okay, I'd say the first place we should go is Larkspur. It's waaaaay on the other end of the islands, though." Leviathan, Zero and Ciel crowded around the desk, fascinated by the cobweb-drawing maps. "Oh, by the way, what are you paying me?"
"You haven't asked?" Axl said, appalled, and X looked thoughtful.
"To tell you the truth, I sort of volunteered… but you'll have to at least make up expenses." X looked at Ciel. "And maybe a bit for my time." Ciel nodded.
"That's fair, but we only have trade goods… spices, mostly. Leviathan?" Ciel glanced at the Guardian… she was the one in charge of the trade goods, since Neo Arcadia had provided them. She nodded.
"We can work it out." She was more interested in the map. Reaching out to touch it, she examined it carefully. "Oh… here we are." Hell's Mouth was marked in red, along with several other locations… including Larkspur. This particular map was a fairly extensive one, of this area of islands and jungle terrain. She frowned, looking at the blue lines that seemed to indicate rivers on the homemade map. The rivers got close to Larkspur, but never quite reached it… and the closest other city seemed to be quite far away. "It's inland."
"Alas, it is," X sighed. "We'll have to dock the ship at Manna, I'll have to make my usual threats and we should probably leave some guards… not that it'll be a problem after what happened last time."
"I daresay not. How many people did you kill, exactly?" Ema said with a smile, and X shrugged.
"I lost count." Noticing the horrified looks of their hosts, X grinned. "It's not what you're thinking. The villagers were in cahoots with some pirates, and they took our ship while we were in Larkspur. We hunted them all down and killed 'em… then executed the village elders who knew about it. Not an easy couple months, but great fun!" He sniffed slightly. "Although the pirates made a mess of the boat. It needed fumigating."
"And de-lousing." Axl put in with a grin. "So X, what path should we take?" X stood up and leaned over the map, peering at it intently.
"It'd be fun to take a new route…" He mused, then shook his head. "No, not for this one." Pulling out a little plastic box of green pins, he carefully put them into the map, outlining a rather circuitous route. Leviathan frowned, and touched a much larger part of the river. It looked far straighter and easier.
"Why not go down there?" She asked, tilting her head. X glanced at what she was pointing to, and shook his head.
"See the black triangles between the blue lines? Rapids. The ship would never make it, we'd have to portage the whole way, and that's a pain in the arse." X spoke from painful experience, and Axl nodded emphatically.
"Oh." Leviathan looked over the map, severely puzzled. The black triangles weren't the only ambiguous symbol on the map. There were red circles, yellow triangles, green stars… "Why don't you make a key for those symbols?"
"That would make it too easy for someone to steal it and use it," X said absently. "No merchant makes their maps easy to read." Ciel blinked at that concept. Maps were so common in Neo Arcadia, no one would bother with the kind of subterfuge X was describing, but in a place where there were no standard maps it made sense. Having experience with an area could make all the difference between success and failure. "There. That route should do us. Now, the most important question! Which ship will we use?"
"What?" Leviathan blinked, startled. "We can't leave our ship here!" X looked pensive, reaching up to rub the jewel in his helmet.
"You really ought to. It would just be a hindrance on the rivers we plan to go down. It's a lovely coastal ship, suited for deep rivers, but these aren't deep rivers. It might run aground." Leviathan and Copy X entered a spirited debate about the merits of their respective vessels. Ciel and Zero listened uncomprehendingly, while Axl and Ema just enjoyed the dispute. Finally, it ended in X's favor. The deciding factor was when he mentioned the lovely, high tech motor on his ship that also powered some defensive armaments. The ship Leviathan had brought didn't have anything like that.
"So what should we do with this ship?" Zero asked, and X shrugged.
"Just leave it here. The harbor fees are nominal and if you leave your crew, it'll be safe enough. We can trade some of those spices for money for you, for a small commission, and leave them enough to manage for a couple weeks or so. That's how long it will take us to get to Larkspur and back." X grinned. "They'll be okay, as long as they stay out of the brothels. Some of the whores roll the johns." That made all three of them blush, to the amusement of their guests. "Anyway, let's get to work on those spices of yours, and you can meet us at our ship tomorrow bright and early. It's the Bad Penny on dock five."
"We'll meet you there." Zero promised, giving Axl one last, puzzled glance. The other Reploid grinned at him, which only made his sense of deja vu worse.
After they were gone, Zero turned to Ciel, Leviathan trying very hard to listen in. "That one with the orange hair, Axl… he seems so familiar to me. I feel like I know him from before." Ciel looked slightly concerned.
"Well… he might be a survivor of the ancient times. Some Reploids have made it." It was rare, but a few had pulled through the cataclysm and all the subsequent years. Zero looked troubled, but nodded.
"Yes, but I've never felt a reaction this strong before…" Zero sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Oh well." Leviathan blushed lightly, watching his hair sliding down over his back, then jerked her eyes away.
Now wasn't a good time for that. There probably would never be a good time, but now certainly wasn't it.
"Cast off! Cast off!" The Bad Penny was getting underway in a tearing hurry. Understandably, since a lynch mob was forming on the dock.
"Gods, you just went out to sell spices! What the hell happened?" Ema was working even as she talked, using a remote control to fire up the ships engines… and defenses. Not a moment too soon as a spray of plasma hit the invisible force field the ship was spinning up. Zero and X were both looking disheveled, and Leviathan was actually injured, favoring her right leg.
"Nevermind that!" X slashed the ropes holding them to the dock, dumping several people into the water who had been trying to scale them. He casually punched a Reploid who had managed to grip the rail in the face. The Reploid fell into the water with a scream, which only inspired the crowd on the dock to even more bloodthirsty threats. Ciel was looking after Leviathan, who had sat down on the deck, wincing in pain. A hole had been punched almost entirely through her leg, and though her auto-repair systems would eventually take care of it, Ciel could take away the pain and hurry the process a great deal.
The ship finally pulled away, leaving the screaming pack behind them, and none of the other ships tied up at the docks seemed inclined to follow them. Zero noted with relief that no one was bothering the Wandering Gypsy. Despite their pit stop to drop off the gold they would need, it seemed no one had connected them to the other ship.
"Now what HAPPENED?" Ema repeated, and Ciel looked up from her work with a scowl.
"Yes, what happened?" X sighed, and leaned against the rail, which creaked under his weight but held up easily.
"Would you believe the spice trade is totally under the control of a criminal syndicate run by none other than Raphael Kesseny?" Axl heard, from where he was tapping instructions in to the ships steering mechanisms, and looked over with a groan.
"Him! The one you scammed two pounds of gold from?" X tried to look innocent, but the grin trying to break out definitely ruined the attempt.
"Hey, it was a legitimate card game!" He protested, and Ema shook her head.
"Except that the cards were fixed, and he found out a month later. Will we ever be able to go back into Hell's Mouth again?" She asked sourly, and X gave her an urchin grin.
"Oh yes. We ended up killing him and taking all his treasure, that's what the fuss was about." And to the amazement of everyone… Zero and Leviathan most of all… he reached into his vest and pulled out several large bags. Opening one, he spilled a handful of cut jewels into his hand. Sapphires and emeralds glittered like the very essence of the sea from his palm. "You know how these things are. No one will remember in a month. Well, actually, it'll enhance my reputation." X looked a little pensive. "Although I might have to kill his brother too, when we come back."
"Ohhh… let me see those!" Ema snatched the pounch, making X laugh. "Even if we can never go back, this is worth it! What a price they'll fetch in Larkspur! Do you have more?" Axl joined them to look over the loot, and Zero looked down at Leviathan and Ciel, who looked up at him blankly.
"When," Zero wondered aloud. "Did he grab those? He was fighting the whole time, he even called up his Seraphim mode. I saw him." Seraphim, wearing that gaudy vest, had been something to see. Ema looked over with a grin.
"This is X. He could fall into a cesspit and come up with gold." She was rolling a string of pearls through her fingers and beaming brightly.
"This totally messes up getting some more soldiers, though," Leviathan said grumpily. They had been planning to take two more Rebellion soldiers, and three Neo Arcadians with them. Now, all they had was the single Rebellion attendant to Ciel. There hadn't been any time to do more than toss the bag of gold onto the Wandering Gypsy before they'd fled for the Bad Penny. Something occurred to Ciel then, and she stood up, stalking over to the three who were examining the loot.
"Since Zero and Leviathan did half the fighting, shouldn't we get half of that?" She said sweetly, and Axl stepped back as X immediately protested.
"Hey, if Zero hadn't passed out when I was trying to intimidate Raphael, it mightn't have happened!"
"But it did, and you made a profit," Ciel pointed out with relentless logic. "It's only fair to share, don't you think?"
"She has a point, X." Axl opined, and X sighed, but conceded defeat with a shrug. He made a rough split of the gemstones, and handed Ciel a pouch.
"Well, let's get this show on the road." The three of them scattered to their accustom places, getting the ship on course for Larkspur.