Lian's Peculiar Journey
Chapter 25
"God Apollo" Zigs
"The Town of Andalicia." Lex spoke as he read the sign by the dirt road, "It doesn't look much like a town." He observed its rather large size.
"Andalicia is even bigger than the last town." Lian groaned, "How will we ever find that giant palace or whatever Sha Lin said it was?"
"Why don't we ask for a map?" Moji piped up.
"If only it was that easy, Moji." Lian grumbled, then saw Moji jump on her lap.
"Look!" Moji pointed ahead and saw a building labeled "Town Hall and Visitors Center", and outside of it was a large painted map on a wooden billboard.
"Bet you feel a bit stupid." Zhin came up and smirked, "Good job, Moji. Let's see what it has." He said and jumped off the wagon while it was still in motion.
He nearly faceplanted the dirt but managed to gather enough strengths to rescue himself from that embarrassing fate.
"Zhin!" Moji called out and jumped out soon after and landed on his back.
"Hey!" Zhin laughed and started to run, "Guess you wanted a faster ride?" he sprinted ahead of the wagon.
Moji giggled and started to sniff the air.
"Watch out!" she pointed ahead of him.
Zhin noticed that there was a pile of horse dung right ahead of him and jumped over it.
"My thanks." He murmured and avoided a couple of travelers.
"You're welcome." Moji nodded and saw that they were nearly there, "Haph!" she jumped from Zhin's shoulders.
"Po Li!" she called out her stand, which appeared and shifted itself into a board of wood.
Travelers saw as the Leipori started to glide through the air using this board before landing by the large map, at which point the clapped at the small spectacle.
"Now let's take a look! Po Li! You can rest!" Moji called away her stand and looked up at the map. From what she saw it was from a bird's eye perspective and not an isometric one. Even though, it loomed over her, she could still make out even the farthest corners of the board, though she did need to dust off her glasses first.
"Hmmm…" she pondered and followed roads and alleys, then she spotted something.
A large mass was painted on the wood.
Al-Alhameed Fortress.
It was colored blue just like what was the label for a residence.
"Zhin! I found it! It's just down this road!" Moji called out to Zhin, who was still caught up with foot traffic, "Come! Let's go!"
"Moji! Wait!" Zhin called out as he pushed aside an ork, "Moji!"
Too late, she was already gone.
"Moji!" he called out and looked for her, but with her small height combined with the forming crowds, it was becoming near impossible.
"Good grief…" he groaned and turned back, "They're still a bit away. I need to look for Moji!"
Moji, however, had not noticed Zhin was no longer behind her and kept scampering through the legs of people and around them.
"I remember it was this street, then two more before turning left!" she said to herself as she avoided the hooves of a horse.
"Don't worry Zhin! We'll be there in no time!"
The Leipori scampered until she reached her intersection, then turned a sharp left, narrowly avoiding a wagon and its ox before finding a bench she hopped on.
"Hmmm… AH ha!" she pointed ahead.
There was a large structure made of red sandstone, a massive building that towered over the surrounding structures. It was covered by a large stone wall that was visible even from her part of town, though it was rather small from her perspective.
"Zhin! I…" Moji turned around and looked for her friend, "Zhin! Where are you!?" she called out.
All round her were unfamiliar faces, worn out people, worn out places.
She jumped on a nearby horse to get a better vantage view.
"Zhin! I'm over here!" she spotted the man behind a group of bards, "Zhin!"
She saw that the bards were playing a song to a nearby lady, thereby drowning out any noise from his end.
"I better use my familiar to signal him." Moji murmured and started to call out her stand.
"Let's go!" a man yelled and suddenly landed on the saddle behind her.
"HYAPH!" he kicked the horse and it sped off.
"WOAH!" Moji nearly fell off the horse but managed to grab hold of the man's satchel, "Sir! SIR!" she cried out.
"Oh why is he going so fast!?" she held her hat to her head as the rider yelled and blitzed past people.
It was then when she noticed what she was holding on to. It was a satchel filled with envelopes, scrolls, and packages.
This man was a mailman.
The rider fixed his bright red cap and red scarf before waving a similarly red flag up into the air.
"Mail! Mail! Mail Delivery! Clear through!"
The people in front of him started to part a path through the crowds to let the rider and his horse through.
Moji turned back to see that the corner she turned from was long gone, and so were Zhin and her friends.
"Zhin…" she muttered, "Excuse me! Sir!" she said and started to tap the man on the back, "Sir! Sir!"
"Damn flies…" The rider grumbled as he started to swat his hand behind his back while maintaining a straight view forward, "must be the damn humidity."
"Sir!" Moji grabbed hold of his tunic and pulled on it.
"Huh!?" the rider finally turned to see Moji sitting right behind him, "Hey! When did you get on here!?" he growled, "No free rides, kid! I have packages to deliver!"
"Please, sir!" Moji responded, "I have to get to that fort!" she pointed ahead at Al-Alhameed.
The rider looked ahead and saw the fortress.
"No way, Jose. That's off limits per owner's and the Town Lord's request! She never gets mail anyways!" he informed, "Now get off before I boot you off!"
"Watch out!" Moji pointed and grabbed the horse reins from the rider.
The horse neighed as it was directed to a sharp change of direction to avoid an old woman who had no way to escape its path.
"Woah!" the rider held his cap as Moji took the lead, "Hey! Give it back!" he reached for the reins again and seized control from the leipori.
"Thanks, but that doesn't mean I will let you ride! Now where to drop you off…" he looked around.
"There's a crack on the road!" Moji alerted once again, this time catching the rider completely off guard.
"What!?" The rider said and did see a large crack on the road dead ahead, "Oh crap! That'll be the end of my horse! I can't stop him in time!" he cried out.
"PO LI!" Moji called out her stand, "Rock form!" she said.
The lizard stand barked with its two heads and shifted itself into stone inside the crack.
The mailman's eyes widened as he just saw the crack magically filled with stone leveled enough for his horse to safely pass over.
Moji called back her stand and looked at the mailman.
"Can you please take me to the fortress?" she asked.
"I don't know what you just did, but I'd rather get on your good side!" the mailman responded.
"I just hope Zhin will know to meet up with me at the fortress…" Moji told herself as she looked back.
The mailman made quick work of the long roads, using his authority as an agent of the state to tell the common folk to make way for his mission. He raised his flag on high and cried out above the murmur of the population to gain speed and clearance.
Moji could already see the walls of the fortress reach their true size, and it was not long before they were just a few blocks away.
The mailman noticed this as well and started to slow down his steed.
"This is as far as I can take you." He informed as he made his way towards a mailbox at one of the corners, "There, that is the last mailbox in this end of town."
The horse snorted and huffed as it walked and stopped at the mailbox.
"Best of luck, whatever you're doing in there better be important." The mailman said as he fixed his hat.
"Why do you say that?" Moji asked as she lept off.
"There's rumors that that place is cursed." The mailman responded, "Many people are apparently invited in or get too close and are never seen again." He looked at the forboding walls, "Just recently two young men were killed in front of its gates. But hey, thanks again for saving my horse." He nodded and turned his steed around, then kicked it to ride off.
Moji sighed and noted that this part of town was mildly lively, yet she noticed not one of the people here dared to look at the fortress. The few people that did, she assumed, were tourists that did not live in the area.
"I should wait for Zhin." She told herself, but then heard hooves hitting the road.
It was the mailman from before, and he had returned. However, he ignored her and rode towards the road that led to the fortress.
"What is he doing?" Moji ran behind him until she turned the last corner to the road directly in front of the fortress' gates.
There the mailman had stopped at one of the buildings directly in front of the fortress to drop off a large package.
A group of three people came out of the building but they were cloaked, thus their features hidden from Moji's view.
However, Moji was hard at work looking for an angle to look at them, moving about from different positions to do so.
It was only until she reached the fortress wall when she caught attention.
A silent guardian was standing atop the fortress' central spire. Seris' bird.
It glared at Moji with intent, noting that it was spying on the three figures and the mailman. Once it saw that Moji was getting precariously close to the gate that it swooped down and landed on a part of the wall.
The bird was hesitant at first, thinking Moji was just some curious child, but it was ready to strike if anything changed.
"ZIGS!" a voice called out from the streets, causing Moji, the bird, the mailman, and the three people to turn.
It was Cassie, walking on a crutch, waving at the bird.
"Oh thank heavens, Seris kept you safe!" she smiled and walked up to the wall, "I've been in the hospital for a week and just now got the chance to take a carriage here!"
The bird swooped down and landed in front of Cassie, looking at her without sound.
"Zigs, are you ok?" Cassie asked, noticing her animal's quiet demeanor, "Is Seris here? I need to tell her something. I don't want to chase those people anymore, I just want to go back home."
"Wait a minute…" Moji looked at the woman, "Isn't that the one who attacked Lex and Lian? I remembered! She was the one with the animals!" she exclaimed.
"Come here, Zigs." Cassie opened her arms, "Cassie is here for you."
"Hey you booger!" Moji yelled, interrupting the entire scene with her outburst at Cassie.
The three figures turned back at her until one of them glance back at Zigs and gave an ominous and dreadful whistle.
Zigs started to hiss and puff its chest up at Cassie.
"Z-Z-Zigs?" Cassie stammered as her bird started to glow.
"What the…." The mailman was confused at the whole event.
"Is that…" Moji stopped in her tracks.
From behind the bird formed a figure, it appeared like a bird, but was entirely formed of golden polygonal shapes at the head with few rounded areas in the chest. It had long wings, also formed of polygonal shapes, that were silver in color and rested on its body without opening.
Truly this figure looked like a bird missile.
"Zigs… Why are you taking that out… Why are you taking your friend APOLLO out?" Cassie started to step away from her pet.
The same figure with the mailman whistled a sharp pitch.
"SKEEEEE!" Zigs screeched and immediately disappeared from sight, leaving behind a cloud of dust from where it was originally standing.
"Where… Where'd he go?" Moji looked around for the bird but stopped when she heard a most disheartening sound.
"Ahh…." Cassie groaned as blood trailed down her mouth.
"By the Gods! I'm outta here!" The mailman yelled in horror when he saw that there was a hole clean through Cassie's chest.
"Oh hell, screw this!" he ran to his horse.
The three figures stepped out into the street and the whistling one whistled once more before they walked to the gates of Al-Alhameed and opened it.
"Wait…" Moji looked at them, "Why are they going into t-" she noticed a shadow cast above her.
Zigs.
He was soaring in front of the sun. His head was now turned to the mailman, and then he dove.
"Oh no!" Moji yelled, "Hey! Guy!" she called out to him, but the mailman had already taken off, "I need to save him! Po Li!"
Her stand came out.
"Sand Form!" she said, and Po Li shifted itself into a pile of sand that ejected itself into the air like a geyser.
Zigs saw this action and changed targets, but saw he did not need to do that as Moji was going towards the mailman.
"CAW!" he cried out and dove with much greater speed.
His stand, Apollo, appeared in front of him, it's golden, sharp beak shining brightly.
"Ah! What the hell!?" the mailman yelled when he felt sand enter his red scarf, "What i- You!" he saw Moji was sitting right behind him, "What do you want!? You brought me into this mess!"
He started to push her off, but then he heard a most terrifying sound.
A screech.
Zigs rocked past the horse at a speed much faster than his comprehension.
"AGHAAAA!" a nearby innocent bystander suddenly had their right arm removed.
"Holy hell!" the mailman called out and urged his horse to go faster.
"Don't worry! I'll protect you!" Moji said.
"What are you going to do!? You're a stupid rabbit and that's a killer bird!" the mailman responded as he kept urging his horse to go faster.
"Trust me!" Moji looked up to the sky and saw Zigs returning towards them, "PO LI! ROCK ROLLER!"
Po Li appeared and turned itself into a rock, then shot out smaller rocks from its body at high speed.
Zigs saw this and screeched, causing his stand Apollo to shoot out shards from it's polygonal wings and destroy the stones, but it still dissuaded him from diving.
"How did you do that?!" The mailman asked.
"Keep riding! We have to lose him!" Moji responded without an answer, "Here he comes!"
Zigs dove, and in a blink of an eye swept down right by the horse's neck.
Moji saw that a piece of nearby stone wall fell clean off, alongside a wagon belonging to a civilian.
"Hmmm." She pondered, "I think I know what his familiar does! It must make him cut through anything!"
"Like our heads!" the mailman lashed out, "Oh gods, I knew I should have stayed home today!" he groaned and maneuvered his steed through the light mass of people.
Zigs suddenly appeared from around the corner and hovered right in front of them.
"SKRAWW!" he cried and used his stand to launch more shards.
"Watch out!" Moji pushed the man forward, causing him to hide behind his horse's head.
"NEEEEEAAAHHHH!" the horse screamed as shards pelted its body, causing it to come to a halt and knock both riders off its back.
"OOF!"
"AGH!" Moji and the mailman landed in a wagon full of cabbages.
"What the!?" the vendor called out as other civilians ran to the scene.
"My horse!" the mailman said as he sat back up, then saw his horse speed off down the road, "Wait!"
"Mailman no!" Moji screamed.
Too late.
A swift kicking wind was the only sound that resonated before the mailman stopped walking down the street.
"By the goddess!" an old crone screamed.
"What the!?" a civilian yelled as he stepped back.
"I knew I shouldn't have come to… work… today…." The mailman murmured as his left leg fell to the side before he collapsed to the ground.
Moji covered her eyes as civilians surrounded the man, then heard the flap of wings. She removed her paws from her face and saw that Zigs was perched atop a nearby street light.
"You…. Big… Fat…. Meanie!" she yelled at him.
Zigs was suddenly pelted by a fury of sand that carried him straight into a wall.
"CAWW!" he squawked in pain.
Moji made Po Li into a boulder.
"Take this! Boulder Bash!"
Zigs saw the giant stone head towards him and immediately took flight, narrowly avoiding the object. "SKRRAAAAA!" he screeched and flew upwards.
"You won't get away that easy!" Moji growled but saw that Zigs had turned and was headed towards her, "Oh no!" she gasped and immediately ran to a nearby alleyway.
The kicking of wind sounded behind her as the lamppost from before was suddenly split in two and crashed with a metallic clang.
"As long as I stay down with cover from the sides, he won't be able to get me." Moji told herself as she kept watch behind her, "Who know- WHA!" she screamed when shards suddenly pelted the ground beside her.
Zigs was trailing behind to her and using his stand to shoot shards at her.
"This booger just won't give up!" Moji cried, "I wish Lian or Mr. Zhin were here! Oh… but I know I have to stand up for myself! I can't always count on them!"
Her face gained determination.
"Po Li! Sand storm!"
Zig snarled as his aim was suddenly hidden by a cloud of sand.
In his anger, he dove straight into the cloud, only to come back up and see that it was all gone.
Everything, including Moji. This raised concern and so he landed in the area where he last saw her.
Nearby, hiding in a clay pot, was Moji, looking at Zigs through a small hole.
"That's it, just get closer…" she mumbled as she saw Zigs get close to a pile of sand, "Po Li will get you…"
Unfortunately for her, Zigs flew away at the last minute.
"Doo…" Moji grumbled, "I almos-"
"RAHHHHHHH!" Zig's beak suddenly poked through the hole.
"AHHHH!" Moji screamed and jumped out, then bolted towards the end of the alley.
Zigs turned and started to fly towards her, but before he could get his talons on her back she dove into a water pipe.
"SKWAAA!" he crashed into the wall.
"Woah!" Moji said as she slid down the metal pipe, "Oof!" she landed inside the sewers.
"Ewwww…" she said as the stench got to her, "At least I'm safe from that bird… It's best I go find my friends so we can take care of this together!"
She saw a manhole up head and jumped up to reach it.
CRASH!
Zigs had cut clean through the earth and entered the sewer system.
"AHHH!" Moji screamed and fell from the ladder she was on, crashing back to the ground with a thud and a bounce.
Zigs saw this and smirked, then walked up to the downed Moji and raised his talons. Infusing them with the power of his stand, he gave out a screech before striking.
Stuck. He was stuck.
Zigs looked in confusion as his right leg failed to move away from Moji before he saw the awful truth. The colors from Moji's body faded away to reveal that it was actually a marble statue of Moji.
"Gotcha!" Moji jumped down from the manhole ladder, "Po Li! Batter Up!"
Po Li shifted into a log of wood and struck Zigs.
"TAKE THIS!" Moji kicked Zigs back down and into the walls of the sewer.
Zigs screeched and slid down the walls as Moji landed safely nearby.
"It's done, feather brain!" Moji pointed at him, "You've big too big of a meanie! It's time to take you to time out!"
Po Li appeared behind her.
Zigs groaned as it tried to straighten its wings.
"I love to study animals, and I know big biffs hurt birds more than mammals!" Moji told him, "That's why I kept hitting you with hard objects!"
Zigs cackled.
His stand appeared and went into his body, where his bones started to crack and hid body started to heal.
"What the… He must be using his stand to fortify his body! That's how he cuts through anything!" Moji gasped.
"SKRAAAAAA!" Zigs shot out shards from his stand.
"Woah!" Moji dove into the sewer water to avoid the attack, "I need to find help!" she surfaced, "No! I must defeat him! I can't let anyone else get hurt by this bully!" she looked up.
Zigs screeched and fired more shards into the water, causing it to rise up.
Moji used this opportunity for something clever, she called out her stand and surfaced.
Zigs saw this, but then saw that there was something under Moji.
A board.
A surfboard.
Moji was using the force of the now moving waters to escape.
Zigs was not pleased, and with an angry screech rocketed forward.
Moji yelped when she felt the bird miss her by centimeters, but the force he used in the air pushed the water even further.
"Kowabunga!" she caught a big rise.
Zigs blocked her path and launched more shards with Apollo.
Moji saw this and kicked up her board, jumping over the attack and bopping Zigs in the head.
"RAAAA!" Zigs plummeted and fell into the sewer water.
"So long, silly bird!" Moji taunted as she continued down her path, "Thanks so much, Po Li!" she laughed as she surfed her way down the sewer.
Under the water, however, there was anything but "so long".
Zigs opened his eyes and used his advanced sight to spot Moji even in the brackish liquid. He then flapped his wings, causing his stand to appear.
All he needed.
All Moji heard was a sudden surge of water before Zigs suddenly exploded out from the surface.
"AHHHH!" she screamed as a pain surged through her head, "MY EAR!"
Zigs was about to turn but he noticed that his attack had caused a large upsurge in water, all of which soon pelted him and flushed him down the pipe with Moji.
The waters spewed forth out into a nearby park pond, shocking nearby citizens who were enjoying their peaceful afternoon.
Moji was the first to surface, blood trickling down her head, but Zigs rocketed out soon after.
"SKWAAA!" Zigs cried as it locked back on to Moji, then gave her a glare that could kill.
"NYAHHHHH!" Moji shrieked, "Po Li!" she called out her stand, "Sand Storm!"
Her stand came out and launched itself as a cloud of sand at its target.
Zigs smirked, knowing to well this was done out of desperation.
"SKREEEE!" he screeched and dove head first, completely ignoring the sand
Moji closed her eyes when she saw the end was near, but dove quickly.
Zigs barely missed Moji's body, but managed give her a huge cut across her back since he saw all the blood coming out into the water.
He snarled in annoyance and turned to the leipori, who was floating lifelessly under the water.
The bird gave out what could be construed as a laugh and called out his Stand.
Apollo started to charge the shards on its wings in order to launch them.
"Caw caw caw…." Zigs murmured and pointed at her with his wing.
Moji suddenly turned her head and looked at him.
"No today, poo brain." She told him.
Zigs shrugged it off, but then felt something in his wings.
Mud?
How did mud-
"I knew you were all wet and splashy from being underwater." Moji turned to face him, "So I launched Po Li at you in the form of sand. We know what happens to sand when it touches something wet, it becomes all icky, sticky, and it gets everywhere."
Zigs saw as the mud started to move across his feathers and body.
"Now you have Po Li all over you!" Moji yelled, "Po Li! BOULDER BASH!"
Po Li formed into a boulder entirely around Zigs, entombing and crushing him within stone.
"SKRAAAAAAW!" Zigs cried out and tried to use Apollo to burst out, but since he couldn't move his wings he could not use that ability.
"Now, Po Li! Send that bully to time out!"
Po Li shifted into mud that launched itself out of the water and let Zigs go, but soon changed itself into a giant stone bat that hit the bird when it descended.
CRACK!
Zigs cried as he was launched far beyond the horizon, never to be seen again.
"Out of the park!" Moji cheered when she surfaced.