Lian's Peculiar Journey: Starlight Paladins
ARC II-
SERIS' BLACK PARADE
Chapter 14
"God Poseidon" Makoa
Our Five Paladins traversed through a near barren savanna with the sun hovering high over them.
"Man, this sun is really killing me…" Zhin murmured as his black hair radiated heat across his scalp.
Lex looked up to the cloudless sky and grumbled.
"It is unbearable…"
"With this bad of a heat, you'd think the sun itself was an enemy stand trying to kill us." Sarah joked, though it was not well received.
"I'm feeling tired…" Moji mumbled as her steps startled to falter.
"There there." Lian picked her up, "Here, have some wat-" she shook her canteen.
Empty.
"Uh…." Lian mumbled, causing her allies to turn to face her.
"What's wrong?" Zhin asked.
"I'm out of water." Lian informed as she flipped her canteen, causing only one drop to fall to the ground and evaporate rapidly.
"I hav-" Lex sighed as he felt his canteen was empty as well.
"I'm out too." Zhin added.
"Don't worry everyone, I stored extra water in my pack." Sarah smiled as she set down her bag and opened it up, "It's always good to come prepared."
She pulled out an extra-large waterskin and presented it to her group.
"A-AAH! A-AAH!" a screech came from the sky, and a large eagle swooped down and took it from her hands.
"Hey!" Sarah yelled.
"That is theft, you mischievous avian! Face the penalty of The Law!" Lex yelled and took out his stand, then fired upon the bird.
"CAW!" the eagle was struck and tumbled down with the water skin.
"Why did it take it!?" Lian asked as the five ran to the crash site.
"Must have thought the skin was a rabbit or something." Zhin responded, "No offense." He looked back at Moji.
"None taken." Moji told him.
"There it is!" Sarah took the lead and ran up to the dead eagle, "Thank the Pyre the waterskin survived!" she cheered and picked it up.
A stream of water immediately poured out.
"Sarah!" Lex pointed at the sight.
"What!?" Sarah gasped, "No! No! No!" she tried to keep the water from coming out, but it was too little too late.
"OH MY PYRE!" she cried out.
Lian sighed and grabbed the waterskin from the woman's hands, "Those eagle's talons pierced it." She pointed to the holes in the leather.
"Great, it won't be an assassin to end us, but the forces of nature."
000
A good distance away, in an oasis dotted by palm trees and ancient ruins, sat what appeared to be a large turtle creature meditating on a stone pillar.
"It seems they are here…." his fin shaped ears twitched towards a spot in the distance, "These must be the trespassers that woman warned me about that have come to defile my sacred ground. If so, then I must stop them…"
The water from the oasis started to churn jumped out into the sand, where it formed the semblance of an anchor and a chain.
"These violators must pay the price for challenging Makoa and defiling my realm."
The anchor went under the sand and slithered off.
000
The Five continued on their way through the savannah.
"Ms. Lian…. I don't feel so good…" Moji panted as she started to falter again, then collapsed into the sand.
"Moji!" the four others turned to see their downed ally.
"Her poor little body couldn't handle the heat!" Sarah cried and ran over to the leipori, "Oh…." She said and lifted her off the sand.
"Here, cover her from the sun!" Zhin took off his outer garment and held it as a makeshift roof over Moji.
"Let's see if I can fan her!" Lian said and pulled out her eastern hand fan, then started to blow wind on the leipori's face.
"We must do something before we all succumb to the sun…" Lex grumbled as he noticed the fatigue on all their faces.
"Or something worse…" Sarah looked up.
A slow growl sounded in the air.
Two primal sand lions neared them, baring their large fangs and growling menacingly.
"Oh great, we don't have time for this!" Lian looked at the big cats.
"I'll take care of them." Lex said as he took out his stand.
"They must have been stalking us for a good while." Zhin also took out his stand, noting their footprints in the sand.
"RARRR!" one of the desert lions roared and pounded its massive leg on the ground.
"If they make one more move towards, I will fire." Lex informed, trying to intimidate the lions away by standing up straight and making himself appear larger rather than shoot them.
The desert lions continued to walk circles around their targets.
The sweat on the Paladins' faces intensified more with this new threat.
"RARRR!" one of the lions roared and started to charge.
Lex looked at it.
SHLICK! A piercing of flesh sounded in the air as an anchor made of water pierced the side of the lion which charged, killing it instantly.
"What the hell!?" Zhin yelled.
The other lion roared and stomped on the ground.
Suddenly, the same anchor appeared and pierced the lion through the head, then dragged it down into the sand.
"What the hell is going on!?" Lian yelled.
"Ah…. Ah…" Moji panted.
"Here, Moji, I managed to save some of the water from the skin in here." Sarah said and pulled out her canteen, then poured some water on the Leipori's face and mouth.
"Are you better?"
Moji nodded.
"Good… because we need to get out of here." Sarah set the canteen laying horizontally on the ground and helped Moji up.
However, a stream of water was slowly entering said canteen.
"I can carry you until we get out of this godforsaken desert." Zhin offered.
"It's best that we all drink that water you saved, Sarah." Lex pointed to the canteen, "So we have enough vitality to run from whatever just took down the two beasts." He looked at the sole lion remaining that bled out over the ground.
"Gods know what that thing was." Lian murmured, "But I'll pass it around while you help Moji, Sarah." She went to pick up the canteen.
"Hey Sarah, how much water did you have in this canteen anyways?" she asked.
"Not a lot, maybe around a quarter, why?" Sarah responded.
Lian mumbled, "It feels a lot more than a qua-" she stopped when she felt the canteen shake.
Out of nowhere, the aquatic anchor shot out from inside the canteen.
"It's an enemy stand!" Lian yelled and narrowly avoided being struck in the head by the anchor.
The watery anchor missed but retreated back under the sand.
"It seems to be made out of water." Lex informed, "But how-" he stopped to see Lian's cheek, which had a large cut across it.
"Lian, are you alright?" he asked her.
"Whatever that thing was, it's not just regular water…" Lian covered her wound to prevent it from bleeding, "It's sharp… and deadly."
"Where is the stand user?!" Sarah looked around and picked up Moji.
"I'm looking!" Lian called out Power Khan and started to scan the horizon.
"I'm going to try and get a better viewing point from that rock!" Lex pointed to a nearby boulder that stuck out of the sand and started running.
His allies looked around for the stand.
Then, appearing in a wet spot in front of them, the stand shot towards Lex.
"There it is!" Sarah pointed.
"Lex!" Lian called out, "The stand is-"
The anchor shot out of the sand and aimed itself right towards Lex.
"Huh- Ah!" Lex yelled and turned to face his enemy, "THE LAW!" he called out his stand, then made it fire at the enemy.
The bullets, however, shot cleanly through the anchor without any effect and cut The Law across the neck.
"Hwak!" Lex grunted as a stream of blood came out of him.
The anchor returned back into the ground.
"LEX!" Lian screamed in horror.
Sarah stammered and looked at Lex via the Pyre.
"H-He's still alive!" she informed as she saw Lex's soul was still glowing.
"I'm getting that son of a bitch stand!" Zhin yelled in anger and ran towards Lex's location.
"Zhin, we still don't know what that stand does!" Sarah told him.
Zhin ignored this and continued running.
A wet spot in the sand appeared nearby, then shot out in a line.
"Zhin!"
"Hmph." Zhin stopped and grunted, "THOUSAND HANDS!" he yelled as the anchor shot out of the water and aimed straight for him.
"ZZZZYYYYAAHHHHH!"
Thousand Hands cut the air faster than human comprehension, reducing the watery anchor into a bunch of droplets that landed all around him.
"You defeated it!" Sarah cheered, but stopped when she saw the water merely recollected itself and then shot back out as the anchor and chain.
"Damn it!" Zhin said and avoided the attack, then started running towards Lex when it disappeared into the sand.
"Hah!" he noticed the anchor shot back out and jumped over it, "Hmmm…" he started to run away from Lex.
The wet trail followed behind him.
"Hut!" Zhin ducked to avoid the anchor that came out, "Sarah, I need a favor!" he said.
"What?" Sarah asked.
"Get your stand to lift me into the air." Zhin responded as he once again ran towards Lex, "Argh! Counter!" he called out his stand and sent the anchor back into the sand.
"What are you planning to do?" Lian asked.
"I have a suspicion as to how this stand operates." Zhin responded, "Do it now!"
Sarah nodded and called out Furious Flame, which flew towards Zhin and picked him up from the ground.
Zhin looked down and grabbed his canteen from his waistband, then threw it into the sand in a manner that it tumbled a short distance.
The anchor suddenly shot out of the sands and pierced the canteen, then dragged it under.
"Alright, call back your stand." Zhin said, "I've seen enough."
"Are you sure?" Sarah asked worriedly as she started to walk towards him.
"Don't move-"
The anchor shot out and aimed itself right at Sarah.
"AH!" The defenseless woman screamed and threw Moji away, then received a terrible gash to her eyes that sent her falling to the ground.
"Oof!" Zhin fell to the ground when Sarah's stand retracted.
"DAMN IT!" he narrowly avoided the anchor that came for him, only receiving a cut on his upper arm.
"What happened?!" Lian yelled.
"That stand can sense movement on the ground!" Zhin told her, "That's how it is finding out our locations! Whoever is controlling it cannot see us directly!"
"Ah.. Ah…." Sarah moaned as the cleansing fires of the Pyre healed her eyes, "Ow…." She stood up.
"Sarah!" Lian saw the anchor shoot out, "Power Khan!"
Power Khan appeared and punched the anchor, causing it to spread out and fail to hit its target.
"What did you say the stand does?" Sarah asked as she wiped the sweat off her brow.
"It senses your through your movements on the ground." Zhin repeated, "Try not to move at all… Though it may already know our locations…" he murmured.
000
"There's no use standing still, trespassers…" Makoa mumbled, "I know you will not move… Yet I remember each and everyone of your places. Now you will face against ancient wisdom and power for your blasphemy."
000
"It's probably biding its time… looking for an opportunity to take us all out in as few moves as possible." Zhin murmured as he saw Lex still laying there on the sand.
"Just like in chess…" Lian mumbled and also looked at Lex.
"He still lives, Lian." Sarah informed as they all stood still.
"Uh…." Moji groaned as she regained consciousness, "what… Is going on?" she held her head.
"Moji! Don't move!" Sarah told the leipori, "You will be in serious danger if you do!"
Moji saw the frightened faces of her allies and a deep fear came upon her.
"W-w-what is happening!?"
"Stay calm Moji!" Lian told her, "We cannot be freaking out right now!"
"I have a plan to get rid of the stand." Sarah said, "If it is water… well…" she called out Furious Flame, "I'll just vaporize it…" she said, "but I have to go heal Lex first!" she added and was picked up by her stand.
Sarah made her way over to Lex and hovered over him. "Lex, be healed." she spread Pyre energy across his neck, closing the wound and stopping the blood.
"Ugh…" Lex groaned.
"Don't move." Sarah told him, but then felt a sharp pain across her side.
The anchor had shot out and pierced both her side and her stand's right wing.
000
"The woman told me all about you. Your flight will not hinder me." Makoa mumbled.
000
"Sarah!" Moji screamed and called out her stand, then jumped on top of it and scampered away.
"Moji!" Lian yelled, then saw the anchor turn and head for her.
"I want to go back home!" Moji cried and scampered on her stand.
"She's going to get herself killed!" Zhin yelled as he saw the anchor disappear, "It's only a matter of time bef- AGHH!" the anchor suddenly appeared and struck him on his left leg.
"That bastard! He faked out!" Lex yelled as he stood up holding Sarah in his arms, then jumped on the boulder he was originally aiming for.
Zhin groaned and fell to the ground, his ankle and heel gashed.
Lian snarled and started running towards Moji.
000
"Those footsteps… they're delicate and light… more than the average human." Makoa meditated deeply as his ears twitched.
"It must be a human woman… Tall, thin…. She's running towards the even lighter footsteps… perhaps a creature… ah I know… It's one of the Leipori from the reservation." He continued, "That will be her undoing chasing an innocent creature."
000
"What are you doing, Lian!?" Zhin yelled, "You're going to attract the stand!"
"Moji! You're going to get yourself killed!" Lian called out.
"I don't want to die!" Moji cried.
The anchor continued slithering under the soil, leaving a wet trail of sand as it did so.
"I want to go back to my dad!" Moji continued.
"You promised to stick together!" Lian said, then used Power Khan to propel herself forward, "If you don't! You're a traitor!" she landed right on top of Moji.
"AYYY!" Moji squeaked as she was driven into the sand by Lian, who then picked her up.
"There's a time to be afraid! Now is not one of them Moji!" Lian yelled at her face, "There are times fear will lead to your death! Not only yours, but those of others! We all have to make a stand!" she said, then saw the anchor shoot out of the ground.
"AHHH!" Moji screamed.
"It's now or never Moji!" Lian did nothing as it shot straight for them.
"Will you cower in fear and die, or will you do something!?"
Moji panicked and glared at the enemy stand.
Lian growled and glared at it with not a hint of fear, something that Moji saw.
"NAHHHH!" Moji yelled and caused Po-Li to appear and transform into a wall of rock.
The anchor crashed through the rock and pierced through it partially.
Lian gasped as the anchor struggled to continue moving forward through the stone.
"AHHH!" Moji cried in pain and bled a little from the mouth as this occurred.
"Alright!" Lian said and used Power Khan to climb over the wall, "Here we go!" she used it again to leap high into the air.
Moji called out her stand and made it into sand the blew up to reunite with them.
"Good." Lian told her, "Now we are falling. I know your stand can make itself into wood. What are you going to do now, Moji?"
Moji trembled when she saw how high they were but gulped in some courage.
"Po-Li!" she called out her stand, then shapeshifted it into a wooden pair of aeroplane wings that strapped on to Lian's back with wood fiber straps.
Lian felt as she started to glide in the air.
"Good, know there's a strong vantage point." She said and started to look around, then spotted the oasis in the distance with Power Khan's eyesight.
0000
"Where did they go?" Makoa grumbled as he tried to listen for any noise on the ground.
000
"Keep it steady, Moji!" Lian said as the glider started to teeter, then started to lose altitude.
"Moji!"
"It's only a glider! It can't fly!" Moji responded.
Lian stopped when she knew the leipori was correct and decided to not push her buttons any longer.
"Hah… I don't want to give away our plan, I saw what appeared to be the stand user in that Oasis. It had to be, he was the only thing in sight."
Lian noticed her body was starting to get lower and lower.
"I'm going to hit the sand soon, I don't want to do this, but." She curled up her leg, "Power Khan!"
Power Khan's leg appeared within hers and together they kicked the ground, sending them all upwards into the sky.
000
"There they are and headed directly for me!" Makoa exclaimed, "Could one of them have harnessed the power of flight?" he said, "Regardless… now that I know they are avoiding the sky through the air in a fashion more sophisticated than that other woman, it will be easier to take them down." He meditated deeper.
000
Lian saw Makoa's stand appear out from under the sand and start shooting itself randomly into the air.
"It still can't see us." She mumbled and sighed in relief.
"Thank heavens." Moji sighed as well.
"You're doing great, Moji." Lian told her, then saw the enemy stand appear again and shoot into the air, "Look at it, it still doesn't know where we are!" she chuckled, "And we're heading straight for him, that old foolish turtle."
The two shared a small laugh.
"It'll be over so-" she stopped when she felt something on her cheek.
Water.
"What the?" Lian saw small water droplets all over the glider and their bodies.
000
"Hmmm… Foolish human." Makoa mumbled, "With the sound of the rain I am making, I can see you even in the air."
000
"It's using false rain to detect us!" Lian gasped as she saw the stand's wet trail line up perfectly with their trajectory.
"What?!" Moji started to panic.
The enemy stand shot out and nearly hit them both.
"AH!" Moji shrieked and lost control of her stand, causing it to plummet.
"Get a hold of yourself, Moji!" Lian said as the neared the desert.
The watery anchor stand continued chasing after them.
"I want out of here!"! Moji cried out as her stand started to disintegrate into sand.
"Moji!" Lian gasped as her feet were now a few meters off the ground, "I told you to stop being so damn afraid!" she removed herself from the crumbling glider and grabbed hold of Moji.
"This is to teach you that you have to make choices in face of your fears!"
"AHHH!" Moji screamed as Power Khan's arm surrounded her.
"I have you now!" Makoa said as he registered Lian's landing on the sand, then lined up his stand to execute her
"HRAHHH!" Power Khan threw Moji straight towards Makoa.
"What did she throw!?" the turtle being opened his eyes and saw Moji rocketing straight at him, "She threw the Leipori!?"
"Yes! And now you are going to make a choice!" Lian yelled at him, "Kill me or save yourself!"
Moji heard Lian's confident and fearless tone and once again gulped courage.
"Po-Li!" she called out her stand, which surrounded itself and its owner in stone, forming a ball.
"Hrrrr…." Makoa growled, "In my old age, I can't dodge that! It's coming in too fast!"
Lian turned back to see the stand had avoided her and blasted over to Moji.
"Stop this now! Creature!" Makoa yelled as the boulder came towards him, "You are done!"
His stand shot out of the sand and struck the boulder, causing it to chip away and land nearby.
"Owie…" Moji groaned as her head spun when she landed.
Makoa grunted.
"Now to the other land-dweller…" he turned to face where Lian was originally standing, then saw she was no longer there.
"She must have run away… using this poor creature as a sacrifice for her cowardly escape." He closed his eyes and started to mediate, trying his best to locate the woman's footsteps.
But there were none.
"Hmmm?" he focused.
Nothing.
"Where did she go?" he opened his eyes to see if he could spot her, then heard the sand shift behind him.
Lian was standing there.
"Hmmm… I made a mistake assuming your cowardice." Makoa spoke, "But over millennia, I have only seen that humans have presented themselves as nothing more than thieves, snakes, and murderers of both themselves and this planet. I must commend you for challenging me, Makoa…"
A puddle started to form around the turtle.
"Humans have always run in fear from me. They must have known that my sheer power would break their weak bones asunder. Thus, they knew well not to desecrate the seas and the rivers, as well as all of nature and its creatures, when I was around."
"Your ancient ways and assumptions have brought you to this position." Lian told him as she straightened her stance.
"Do not dare try to strike me, as it will be your end." Makoa made the puddle around him churn.
"You have tried to kill my friends, and I will not tolerate that, assassin." Lian said and glared at his shell.
Makoa breathed in.
Silence.
Lian clenched her jaw.
Silence.
A soft wind blew across the sand.
Silence.
Makoa breathed in one more time.
The water anchor shot out from the puddle.
Power Khan appeared and rapidly punched Makoa across the face, knocking the titanic tortoise to the ground and disabling his stand.
"AGHH!" Makoa groaned and spat out green blood.
"Looks like your bones are the weak ones, old turtle." Lian grunted and walked over to her enemy.
"Unbelievable…" Makoa mumbled.
"Relax, you're not going to die." Lian said, "I want to know something. Who are you and why did you attack us?"
"My name is Makoa. I am the guardian of the seas and the rivers…"
"Too far for that to be true." Lian chuckled.
"What you are standing on now was once a deep sea, yet man came long and diverted all the waters to their cities and farms." Makoa murmured, "This place holds a special temple dedicated to all the Ocean's creatures… I was defending it from you, as I have done against many foes, with my stand POSEIDON'S SEIZE... A woman came to me telling me of your trespass."
"How did the woman look like?" Lian asked.
"I did not see her well in the dark of the night… but…. She was pale… deathly pale." Makoa murmured and went unconscious.
"We have a motive, and I can say for a fact I know who that woman was." Lian mumbled and looked at Makoa's body, "Too bad you went on false information."
"Now I rest…" Makoa said lowly, and a light rain came over the savanna.