"a" was apparently the letter of the day as the four weapons plummeted towards the ground, screaming their lungs out.
"not coooooollll!" screamed soul.
Liz closed her eyes as the pavement rushed up to greet her. She wished she could have told kid how she feels about them.
Wait, what?
Before Liz could comprehend what her mind had just told her, green filled her vision, and she took an abrupt stop. Confused, she looked at what had saved her.
She blinked.
She smacked her eyes a couple times.
She was riding on a Rayquaza.
(google is a wonderful thing. – ruin the moment author)
Weaving and diving, The Rayquaza managed to dive and catch the other weapons. Liz was in front, hanging onto the horns of the Rayquaza's head, while the others sat on the segments behind her. Turning her head around, she saw that the Rayquaza was surely 100 feet long, minimum!
"You ok back there, Liz?"
Liz couldn't have been more surprised if kid fell out of the sky and started tap-dancing on the rayquaza's head. "y-you can talk? And you know my name?"
"obviously."
"h-h-how the-"
"I am genetically altered to speak, like certain other pokemon, and the Queen told me your names, and told me to catch you guys, giving me your coordinates."
Despite Liz' shock, she couldn't help but be confused. Weren't Queen usually women, and Z, the ruler of the ship, was a man?
"how can Z be a queen?"
The Rayquaza gave a slight shudder, as though it recognized the name, but then it straightened out again.
"who's Z? J is queen."
Liz' head spun. "who the bloody hell is J?"
"Ask you herself. We're at the great castle."
Liz gasped. A huge castle, the size of a football field, stretched in front of her. Golden-pink spires spun from its top. There was a huge pink letter J on the tallest tower.
The rayquaza flew into that very tower's top room, perched over the castle like a 20-ton meteor.
On the inside, the old-fashioned Exterior contrasted with the modern interior. Glass coffee tables, 64-inch flat screen hdtv, a minibar complete with bartender (shirtless and muscular, he winked at Liz as she passed. Liz blushed.) a metallic square chandelier, square-shade lamps, a spiraling glass staircase, and much more. The millionare suite.
"Did you bring them?"
The voice sounded about 14 years old. It came from above them, and The group looked to see a huge vine lowering towards them.
"Yes, your majesty. They are right here." Said the Rayquaza from the window.
"excellent. You are dismissed, Jared." Came the voice. The vine reached the floor, revealing its passenger.
It was a girl, who looked young, and beautiful. There was something eerie about her, though. She wore a pair of Jeans, and a pink tee. She would have appeared human, if not for her skin, which was chlorophyll green and almost luminous, like someone had emptied the blood from her veins and replaced it with that stuff you put in glo sticks.
Her hair was brown, and fell past her shoulders, though the bangs were neatly trimmed.
She held a ragged, tattered stuffed bunny in her left hand.
All in all, she looked like what that girl in "grudge" would have looked like if she hit puberty. Only with green skin.
She gave the group a dazzling smile. "greetings. I am Empress J. Mistress of the Jship, sworn destroyer of the undead and the satannical, queen of the high Council of Jaliens."
"Save the formalities." Muttered Soul, putting a arm-blade under her chin. "start talking, or I slice you to ribbons. Why are we here? Why do you claim to be mistress of the ship? Where are our meisters?"
"Patience, Soul" said J, not the least bit fazed by his scythe-arm. "Manners cost nothing. A little please wouldn't hurt."
"Spare us." Said Liz. "Who the hell are you?"
"tsk tsk! So rude." Said J. with one finger, she pushed Soul's blade as one would push a piece of paper. Soul grunted, like he was trying to fight against her, but J was having no trouble at all.
"I suppose I would also be wondering what the hell is going on here if I was in your position. I may as well tell you." Said J.
"I know Z brought you here. Wait a minute, hear me out." She held up a hand before they could cut her off. She had obviously rehearsed this all beforehand.
"Z has fooled far smarter then you. No offense."
A vein pulsed in Liz' temple. J continued.
"Z is a master deceptionist. He is the master of lies and illusions. He fooled you into thinking he ruled the ship, did he not?"
"In reality, Z is nothing more then a thief. A good thief, a powerful thief, but just a common thief. He has been trying to take over the ship for countless years. He can't do it alone, and he knows it, so he tricks more powerful people into helping him.
"Still, though, he does have some talents. It has to do with his backstory.
"you see, Z was an artificial intelligence for our computer hub, a while back. He did well for a while, but the power of his position corrupted him. We tried to shut him down, but he had gotten too skilled. We abandoned the central hub, but it's virtually impossible to create a new one and disconnect the original computers, so we just left the original intact. We knew Z wouldn't self-destruct the ship or anything, because he wanted to take over it, and besides, he would kill himself in the blast.
"but… why did he come corrupted in the first place? Specifically, that is." Questioned Tsubaki.
"That is a interesting question. What I think is, he wanted to be immortal.
" 'in the end, we're all just chalk lines on the concrete; drawn only to be washed away.' That's from the earth band, five-finger death punch, with their song 'never enough'. One of Z's faves.
"Z was like Voldemort. He was scared of dying. He knew that if he took control of the entire ship, he would leave behind a legacy which would be truly immortal.
"Now he has kidnapped your meisters, in order to ransom them, in return for you helping him take over the ship."
"Ok… Ok that makes sense." Said Liz. "What do we do to stop him?"
"we need to get to the hub, and take over it. Once I have control of the monitoring system for the ship, I will find your meisters almost instantly, and we will go our separate ways.
"Here's what we're gonna do…"
Next chapter is gonna be great! It's over 1,500 words on its own! Stay tuned!