The crew was quick in rousing themselves for action, the fog chilling across their skin as Vyse, Aika, Alexan, Kenth, and Silva knew that this fog was the very same one that crept over them when they went to save Dyne with their small boat. The sounds that could be heard was the winds and the thundering clouds above, but Alexan listened before he motioned, Vyse nodding as they traveled up the canyon up and the sounds started to grow with the sounds of a whale's calls, meaning that Rhaknam was close by, but it was also added on to the sounds of...
Vyse heard them as he pondered on who else was close by. "... What's that sound?" Aika started to hear it as well as she pinpointed it herself.
"It sounds like cannon fire..." Alexan, standing in the crow's nest, peered forward before he exclaimed.
"Vyse! Dead ahead!" From the dense fog, a large whale started to emerge and Vyse breathed as he spoke to Drachma.
"Captain!"
"...It's him!" Diala paled before she rushed over to the wheel in yelling.
"To starboard! Starboard!" Kenth stopped her with Tyra as he spoke to Vyse."
"We are not going to ram that thing, are we?"
"Not really!" Vyse answered with turning the Little Jack, the ship yielding as the arcwhale came barreling right for them before doing the same in turning to the right, the slight collision knocking Alexan down as he flopped onto the deck and got up on a knee to watch the arcwhale swim past before he turned to the cabin in yelling.
"What the heck, we aren't even searching for a Gigas and we have already found one! Fina, Rhaknam has similar markings as Recumen and Grendel!" Fina paled as he breathed with the whale's bulk slipped away.
"Then... that means that Rhaknam must be the Purple Gigas, Plergoth, so it is likely that he has been wandering mindlessly as there have been no signs of the Purple Civilization after the Rains."
"That's for later!" Vyse answered as he spotted the cause of the cannon fire. "Look over there!" In pursuit of the now-revealed Gigas was a trio of Valuan ships with the sides being Cruisers, but the center one, being a Battleship, was not standard, it was shaped with black and red for its colors as they trialed behind before firing, their shells hitting across the creatures skin and it was clear that, unlike the other Gigas, Rhaknam was mortal as the patches erupted in blood under the protective shell of the Gigas skin as Vyse inquired to the unknown ship.
"Captain, whose ship is that?"
"While we were in Valua, I heard rumors that the Armada altered their chain of command." Drachma grimaced on the turn of events as Alexan got inside to join the crew in seeing the squad after the arcwhale. "That must be Ramirez's ship. He was Galcian's Vice Captain... He's the most feared officer in the Armada."
"Ramirez..." Fina mumbled under her voice, she had heard that name before, but that was in the Palace, now... now she was concerned that... it was true, he had turned as Aika heard the mumble.
"Fina... what's wrong?"
"Nothing... Everything is fine." But she couldn't shake it off as, unbeknownst to her, Alexan was frowning all the same, he was just as familiar with the name as he was with Piastol, but that was a secret kept for the time as Vyse asked for direction on this fight.
"We can't fight them both at the same time! Captain, what should we do?" Drachma answered without pause, his mind focusing solely on Rhaknam, everything else fell away, even Alexan exclaim of what Rhaknam truly was.
"Take out the Valuan ships first. I don't want them interferin' in the fight with Rhaknam. I need to kill Rhaknam myself." The crew glanced to each other as it was a good plan, but there was a hint of... unease about this matter that could be an issue as Drachma gave the command as the Cruisers split from the hunt to attack the Jack. "Battlestations! Leave Ramirez's ship alone! Take out the two cruisers in front of us first!" And so, they engaged the ship blocking them from the hunt.
Just so, Alexan peered through the fog for any sign of Ramirez's ship, the likely course being that Ramirez also slipped past their vision while they handled both ships and went behind Rhaknam for the shot, as much as Alexan wished he could have accused the old sailor or focusing too much on the arcwhale over their lives, the truth was that he had heard the story and didn't choose to begrudge the man of his pursuit, still, it was a trap that they would heading into if they followed the course.
The Cruisers went down with a few careful shots and a Harpoon Cannon to the rear before the Little Jack zoomed in on Rhaknam as Vyse exclaimed. "Alright! We've got a straight shot at Rhaknam!"
"I've waited for this for a long time... Harpoon Cannon... FIRE!" The weapon launched, but despite its claim of power and apparent as much with gutting metal ships to parts, it instead lodged itself into Rhaknam's hide, gushing out a bit more blood, but stopped in digging into the Gigas skin for even a yard as Drachma smirked to the hit. "Heh... There's no escape for ya now." The moment of cheer was cut short with cannon fire impacting the ship as Vyse exclaimed in spotting their missing foe.
"Captain! Watch out! There's an enemy ship off the starboard side! It's Ramirez!"
"He got behind us while we were concentrating on Rhaknam!" The shell riddled the Little Jack as it started to go up in flames, tough as it may be, the damages from Ramirez's escort had weakened the Little Jack as well for the new Admiral to expolt it as Aika exclaimed with checking the gauges and shouting about the damages.
"The Little Jack is on fire! Propelling power dropping rapidly! We're... losing altitude!" Vyse grimaced as he spoke with worry.
"This isn't good... If we keep this up, we're all going to die." Drachma, on the other hand, refused to let Rhaknam go, he refused to give up the hunt so close.
"NO! I've waited far too long! I may never get another chance!" Vyse rushed over in snatching Drachma's shirt, the ship getting towed by the wounded Rhaknam and keeping them level for a time.
"Captain! We've got to abandon ship! We need to get to the lifeboats down below!"
"What...?! You're tellin' me to abandon the Little Jack?! You're tellin' me to let Rhaknam go?!" Vyse answered jsut the same as he exclaimed with getting Drachma to focus on the crew, not his agenda.
"YES! If you die, it won't bring back your son! And as long as you're alive, you'll always have another chance!" It got through somehow as Drachma growled as Vyse pushed to get him to understand. "If you die now, then the lives of your crew... and your son... would have been lost in vain." Drachma shoved Vyse off as he roared in frustration of the loss, but it was enough as Vyse acknowledged it as Drachma understanding the situation, if they lingered, Ramirez would turn the Little Jack into a fireball. "Alright, we're abandoning ship! Everyone! Get down below!" They nodded with rushing down, the wood and metal screaming as even the engine puffed and popped to the damages before they peered the double doors opened and lowered the escape hatch, the girls getting into one of the lifeboats while the boys grabbed the other before Aika exclaimed to one currently out of the life boats.
"Cap'n, hurry! Get on! The ship's going down!" But the grizzled sailor only planted his hands on the back of the lifeboat holding the five girls with silence before Vyse tried to get Drachma's attention again.
"Captain?! ...Captain! Get on board!" Rhaknam moaned and Aika exclaimed what the sound meant right now.
"Look... Rhaknam is hurt!" Whatever silence Drachma had, he steeled it as he started to push, the jostling of the boat surprising the girls as Aika exclaimed. "Cap'n! What're you doing?"
"No, don't!" Silva and Diala tried to recover, but even Tyra was knocked over into the boat before Drachma shoved the lifeboat into the open air with a mumble under his breath before he marched to the back of the boys' lifeboat as Vyse exclaimed, Alexan and Kenth grabbing his arms to stop him from doing the same to them.
"Captain, hurry Get in!" But a twitch of the moustache told enough as he voiced his disagreement.
"No..." With that, he shoved the boat off, Alexan tumbling into the boat with hands gripping the sides as Drachma said his farewells. "Goodbye..." With that, they were hurled into the foggy air with the Little Jack vanishing into the dark as Vyse yelled in grief.
"Noooo!" They managed to catch up with the other lifeboat as Aika wailed.
"Cap'n!"
"Why did he do that?" Alexan growled before he got back up and spoke.
"He would rather send us off while he lingered on a sinking ship! Mule-headed geezer!" He huffed before he heard a whistling as he shouted. "Brace!" They did so as the air around them erupted with explosions as Vyse exclaimed.
"Ramirez... He fires at lifeboats!?"
"He must be trying to eliminate witnesses!" Four rounds flew for them, missing, but it still tossed the lifeboat into a crash dive as Fina and Aika exclaimed.
"Vyse!"
"Nooooo!" Two more rounds flew and the girls were lucky that their boats didn't spiral out of control, so they had some stability, but as for right now, the party was divided amongst the skies...
