Winds of Change Book II: Distant Thunder
Chapter 18: A Whole New Kind of Trouble
AN: Ok, the long wait is over! I'm back baby! Real life has been soo mean to me, but I fought back to get time to write for you guys! Sorry I was gone for so long, but…well, that's how things are sometimes. I hope you all can forgive me for being away for almost a month! Now, things are going to pick up fast here. This terra is by request of Arashi21 for figuring out my first riddle way back when several months ago. Of course I haven't forgotten the person that won my second riddle, and I'll be PMing them the choices for the terra to visit after this one shortly. This particular 'mission' will be a wild ride the entire time, so make sure you keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times.
Enjoy!
Also don't forget check out Arashi21's profile for his work as well as a few that we are joint writing!
Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will, also I do not own anything related to Legend of the Dragoon or Legend of Zelda or the 'Deathclaws'. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, Sony Entertainment Nintendo and Bethsaida (I think) however I DO own Kai, Rose, the Shadow crystal, Kanin, Tsuki, and this story.
Shadow,Griffy and Nagera are the property of ShadowQueen25
Tigger belongs to Mrs J Black
Marina is Star Wars Nut's
Rondana was made, and is owned by MissDedodakes
Scarlett is the creation of Love Flame
After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, Tigger's voice cut through the air.
"Kai…..why don't you ever take off your gloves?"
Everyone turned to look at the small blond haired girl with varied expressions.
Groan
"You actually remembered that?" Kai asked, clearly disappointed at that small detail not having been forgotten.
Tigger smirked.
"Hey, you promised, and I plan to collect on that promise. So off with them!" Tigger said cheerfully.
Despite the seriousness of the atmosphere, Kai smiled just a little bit, having figured out that she was trying to take everyone's minds off of what they had just learned.
"A promise is a promise I suppose," Kai said dryly as he undid the two strap buckles from each of his wrist.
"Remember when I told you that I'm….not quite human anymore? Well this is kind of what I was talking about," Kai said as he slowly pulled off the first glove before quickly pulling off the second one.
Holding out his bare hands, Kai looked off towards one of the walls, not wanting to see the others expressions.
For several seconds, nothing happened, but then, he felt something warm and soft touch his left hand. It pulled his hand up, and seemed to trace around the fingers.
"Kai….what…what is this?"
"Of course it would be Piper," Kai thought glumly.
"They're just what they look like," he retorted coldly.
"You're telling me that THIS is the reason you wear those stupid gloves all the time?" Tigger asked suddenly.
Kai's head shot back around with a glare.
"Hey, it's not by choice you know, I hate wearing those things. I just don't like being stared at ok?" Kai said before yanking his hand free.
"Ouch!"
Kai flinched.
"Sorry Piper. That's the other reason I wear them….so I don't hurt anyone," Kai said looking down at his hands as he flexed his fingers. He could feel the tiny drop of Piper's blood as it trickled down his finger, but did his best to ignore it.
His hands looked normal enough, but the nails were much darker than a normal persons. Not to mention the fact that they were also half an inch long and pointed.
"Why don't you just cut them?" Rondana offered.
Snort
"Tried it, doesn't work. I could cut them to the quick right now and they'd be back to full length by breakfast tomorrow. They never actually seem to grow any longer, but they always grow out really fast." Kai said as he pulled the leather gloves back over his hands.
"Have they always been like that?" Piper asked calmly.
Kai shook his head.
"I mean, you know, always, like, after you got the Shadow crystal?" Piper rephrased her question.
"Pretty much. They were like this when I woke up after….that happened. I tried for about a month to keep them 'normal' but gave up after that," Kai said using air quotes at one of the few words he had come to hate over the last few years.
Normal
It was vastly overrated in his opinion.
"Look, if you girls don't have any other questions, can I PLEASE have my boots back? This floor is very cold."
Starling tossed Kai his boots, and after putting them on, he cleared his throat, prompting Rondana to hand him his staff as well as a small box that had his other 'confiscated' items.
"I'll be in the galley if anyone's looking for me," Kai said as he stormed out of the room, leaving the girls to themselves.
"Man…I had no idea that…" Piper said shaking her head as she lowered herself to her bunk and put her head between her hands, resting her elbows on her knees.
"That is one of Kai's biggest problems. He never tells anyone…..not even me," Starling said, though the last part was much softer.
"Why is he like that? I mean, he's not a bad person, but why is he so darn stubborn?" Tigger asked, slightly angry at herself for bringing up the issue in the first place.
"Its just part of who he is. Kai has…difficulty asking others for help," Starling answered sadly.
"He's not the only one," Piper muttered to herself remembering the purple haired Sky Knights not so stellar history on the subject.
"Why? He certainly has no problem coming to me to stitch him back together. Why would this be any different?" Rondana asked, thinking she knew the answer, but hoping that she was wrong.
"Because you're a doctor," Starling answered before continuing. "As much as he might hate going to see one, he knows that most doctors can generally be trusted because of their oath to cause no harm. In the past, he has had…problems with other people, even those he knew and trusted because of the blasted Council."
Piper's head lowered slightly more at this point.
"So….what do we do?" Shadow asked softly.
Starling shook her head. "If I knew a way to snap Kai out of his funks, I would have used it by now. All we can do is wait for him to get over it himself. In the meantime, we should focus on repairing the ship. We haven't much time. We know now that Cyclonia is on the same trail we are. For now, we still have a head start, and it would do us well to keep it for as long as possible," Starling said as she exited the room.
Piper, Tigger and Marina followed her with Shadow bringing up the rear, but she was stopped by Rondana grabbing her shoulder.
"Shadow….could you do me a small favor?"
The young girl was surprised at Rondana's tone. It wasn't as much of a request as a veiled order.
"Uh…sure…I guess."
Rondana thought for a minute before saying anything, trying to word what she was about to ask carefully.
"I need for you to…I need you to speak with Kai."
Shadow flinched, but Rondana's grip held like iron.
"Please, just….speak to him. He needs a friend right now."
"What makes you think I want to talk to him? And why me in the first place? Starling's his friend too isn't she?" Shadow asked, trying to get out of the situation as quickly as possible.
"It's not that simple Shadow. Please, just speak to him. I'm not asking you to do anything you don't want to, but please, just get him to talk. I've seen him slip into these moods before, and I don't think we can risk it with how things are developing now," Rondana said as she released the younger girls arm.
Watching the older woman slip away, Shadow felt her shoulders slump.
"She's right…"
Opening the hatch to the galley, Shadow cringed at the sight of Kai resting his head on the table.
"What do you want Shadow?" Kai's muffled voiced asked coldly.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Shadow stepped forward.
"I…I wanted to apologize…about…about what I said before…well…you know."
Kai didn't respond, so Shadow took that to mean she didn't have to leave….yet.
"Are you alright?" She asked suddenly.
Kai looked up with a mild glare.
"Ok, stupid question. But seriously, what's up? If you're worried about us knowing about," she never got to finish.
"I don't care about that Shadow…you should know by now that I don't really care what other people think…at least what they think about me."
"So what is it then?"
"Look, what make you think that I should tell you anyth…" Kai stopped when he saw Shadow's own version of Starling's patented 'death glare'.
Kai slumped. "Sorry. I'm just…not in a good mood right now," Kai said as he slumped his head back down to the table.
"Oh no you don't. You are going to tell me what's wrong, or I'll get the others in here and MAKE you talk," Shadow threatened.
Kai shot her an amused smirk.
"Make me? Shadow, I've been trained to resist any and all known forms of torture. What makes you think you can do any better than a Cyclonian inquisitor or one of the Council's lapdogs?"
Shadow's smirk changed from playful to downright scary.
"Because, I know for a fact that none of them were girls. And I happen to know for a fact that you tend to buckle very quickly when," Kai cut her off.
"OK! Ok! Jeeze you're evil you know that?"
Shadow's smirk returned to being an innocent 'clueless' smile.
"Why, what ever do you mean?"
Kai growled.
"Hey, not my fault I know how to push your buttons. What can I say? I learned from the best," she said playfully.
"And I think I'm going to regret it every day for the rest of my life," Kai muttered under his breath.
"I'm just trying to…process what I just learned. I'm worried about having the lot of you on this mission, and I'm wondering if it would be in everyone's best interest if I just turned this ship around and dropped you all off."
"Kai….we've been over this. You. Are. Not. Going. SOLO! You would have died ten times over by now if we weren't here."
"You all died THREE TIME'S OVER ON THE LAST TERRA ALONE!" Kai roared.
Shadow gaped at him.
"Is that what this is about? The going back in time thing?"
Kai looked away, not wanting to meet the younger girls gaze.
"It is isn't it? You're afraid you're going to mess up again aren't you?"
"I failed three times Shadow…THREE TIMES! I'm not going to risk that again!"
"Hello! We take the same risk just being here! Or did you forget that?! We WANT to help you, you thick skulled idiot! Is that too hard for your tiny brain to figure out?!" Shadow roared back.
"As long as you're on MY ship and helping on MY mission, you are MY responsibility! I'm not going to risk you or any of the others getting hurt or dying on my account!" Kai shouted, now standing in front of and looking down at the much smaller person before him.
SLAP
"YOU. ARE. NOT. MY. FATHER! So stop acting like it! I don't need a father! I need a friend, and SO DO YOU!"
Kai blinked.
"Pull yourself together, grow up, and STOP TRYING TO BE SOMETHING YOU'RE NOT!" Shadow was panting at this point and shaking in anger.
"What happened to you Kai? You're not like this. Why are you so afraid all of a sudden? You weren't on any of the other missions you helped out on. What makes this one any different? Is it the risks? Is it the danger? What is it? Why are you pushing us all away? We're you're friends, we just want to help you," Shadow asked softly.
Looking up, she saw several emotions flicker across his face, but it only took a brief moment before they disappeared under his 'mask'. Kai then walked past her towards the exit, but not before stopping when he was standing right beside her, shoulder to shoulder, but facing the opposite direction.
"It's because…..this time…I'm afraid," he said cryptically before exiting the room.
Shadow's eyes widened.
The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. Kai, though quieter than normal (which was in fact saying quite a bit) helped the others as they made repairs to the ship. With everyone helping, instead of it just being Tigger, Kai and Starling, things went much quicker.
Less than four hours later, and they were off to the next location.
"Ok, so where are we going next? Terra Ray?" Tigger asked hopefully.
Kai chuckled.
That let everyone know they were not going to like what he said immediately.
"Fraid not. Looks like we'll be visiting some old friends of mine actually."
That caught everyone's attention.
"Uh….but if one of the sites is in Terra Deep, why didn't we just take care of that one first?" Shadow asked with a gulp.
"Hey! The Murk's are more like business partners than anything else. It's not like I hang around them by choice….often. Were going to the Urufu Mori. It's not exactly the most….look; the place is downright scary ok? I hate it, I hated it when I was there, and I don't want to go back there, so I can pretty much guarantee that you'll hate it too….probably more than I did. But the people there are…friendly enough," Kai answered carefully.
"What's wrong with it? If the people are ok then why is it an issue?" Marina asked, not understanding the problem.
Piper groaned, getting everyone's attention.
"Kai, is this that place that you were telling me is still stuck in the 'old' ways?" Piper asked as if she was being told she needed to get rabies shots.
Kai nodded.
"Uh…translation for non book people please?" Shadow asked raising her hand.
Piper turned to face the others with a frown.
"These people have…not changed since their civilization was founded. They might be a little backwater compared to other terras in a few ways, but culturally they are thousands of years behind. They go by this stupid caste system that dictates what a person can do in life. Namely, girls stay at home and do all the work while guys do all the fighting, hunting, and are the only ones that have any 'rights'," Piper explained.
"Great, so we're going to a terra full of male chauvinist pigs. What are we supposed to do? Pretend to be guys?" Marina said dryly.
Kai had to bit his tongue at that remark, but he decided to at least tell them what was going to happen.
"No. I'm not exactly on…good terms with their chief, but I can at least get them to back off, but that's only if we even come across them. It would be better to just avoid them outright if at all possible."
Several hours later, the terra came into view.
"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me." Shadow said as she, like the others, gaped at the sight before them.
The terra was located on the backside of the Great Divide, so it was dark all day, every day year round. The odd thing was that it actually had trees, a LOT of trees, but they were all dead.
"What happened to this place?" Rondana asked as the ship lowered so that it was only a dozen or so feet above the tree line.
"No one knows really. It's been like this for a long time," Kai answered.
"But for trees to grow, it must have had sunlight at one point, and there is no way that those mountains have grown in the last thousand years," Rondana shot back.
"What if the terra dropped?"
Everyone turned to look at Shadow.
"Seriously, think about it. If the mountains haven't grown, then the terra must have shrunk, right?"
"Shadow don't be ridiculous. There is no force on Atmos that could bring a Terra down even a few feet, let alone several hundred," Piper shot back.
"Uh…actually Piper, there ARE…several in fact. But none of them are anywhere near here," Kai said blankly.
"Where does it say we need to go?" Kai asked, remembering that he hadn't seen the map in a good few days.
"I'm working on it, just give me a minute," Piper said as she suppressed an involuntary shudder.
"Something is wrong with this terra. I don't think Kai is hiding anything from us, but something is just…wrong here." Looking around, she noticed that Kai, Starling and Marina all seemed to be a bit more edgy than usual. Shadow, whom she usually used as a 'gauge' for weirdness on a terra was preoccupied with something from earlier, so that was out for the moment.
Looking back down at the map, she looked it over carefully, trying to figure out what they should be looking for.
"We're looking for a…oh I don't believe this. It says were looking for an underground bunker of some kind."
Kai, Starling, Marina and Piper all groaned.
Underground hidden bases, especially those that were built by the Ancients were always a pain in the backside.
ALWAYS
"I see a clearing down there. Let's set up base and see if we can get our bearings straight," Starling said leaning over Kai's shoulder and pointing to a small clear patch of land.
"Ay ya Captain," Kai said dryly, causing Starling to frown slightly.
After they landed, the group exited the ship to see if they could figure out where they needed to go.
"Kai, I think we should talk to them. They might know where it is, they do live here after all."
"Piper, trust me, if we go to the village you'll have a heart attack, a stroke, or you'll turn the entire thing into a heaping pile of half burnt rubble."
"Then you go if you're so sure of yourself," Piper defended.
"If I go I WILL turn the village into a burnt cinder. We should do our best to just avoid contact with them," Kai answered without a second thought.
"Kai, I think Piper has a point; we should use whatever options are available to us in this….Kai? Are you listening to me?"
Starling knew the look on the boys face. Something was very wrong here.
Suddenly Marina looked up and shifted into a defensive stance, drawing her blades.
"We're not alone," Kai whispered as he drew his staff.
The others carefully drew their weapons and backed towards each other in a circle formation. They were not going to allow themselves to be caught off guard again.
Marina shifted her eyes over to Kai, who in turn nodded.
Rustle
Shifting towards the sound, Starling saw a bush move for just an instant before it stopped.
"I don't like this," Shadow said quietly.
"Shhh, we don't know what it is that's," before he could finish speaking, Marina leapt forward and drove her blades into the ground behind the bush that had moved just moments ago.
Right when she landed, something small and black jetted out like a rocket and tackled Shadow to the ground.
"AHH! GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME NOW!"
Hearing the others laughing, she stopped thrashing and looked down.
To see the twitching nose of a little black bunny rabbit.
Turning red with embarrassment, Shadow grabbed the rabbit by the scuff of its neck and got up.
"You guys were just as freaked out as I was!" Shadow shouted, trying her best to salvage her wounded pride.
About to launch into a speal of insults, Shadow was stopped when Kai tackled her back to the ground.
Since her head was over his shoulder as she went down, Shadow saw what was above.
The only way to describe it was a huge hand with what looked like steak knives for fingers.
ROAR
Scared out of her wit, Shadow barely registered when Kai rolled to the side and threw her several feet away.
"WHAT THE DIN IS THAT?!" Marina shouted at Piper as she ducked from the monstrosity that threatened to cut her in two.
"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?!" Piper shouted back as she jumped over the creatures bladed tail.
"IT WAS A GENERAL STATEMENT!"
The beast was just that. A beast.
It looked vaguely human, but only as far as its basic shape.
The creature was at least seven feet tall, had scaly orangish colored skin, a left hand that looked like a dragons claw, and a right hand that looked almost like a Virage's and was the size of Junko's torso. It's only other distinguishing trait was that it had a relatively small head with a mouth of razor sharp teeth.
GRROOOOOUUUUUHHHHH
"Kai, talk to me here, what is that thing?!" Starling demanded.
"I don't know! I've never seen anything like it, I swear!" The boy shouted as he rolled away from its massive 'death claw' and tried to put as much distance between it and himself.
"AHH! Hey, I need a hand here!" Marina shouted as the creature turned its sights on her and charged.
Raising her scimitars into an X block, Marina held back the giant claw just barely.
"Good lord this things strong. It's like trying to hold back bus," she muttered under her breath as she felt it forcing her down.
The creature started making a series of grunting growl sounds that almost sounded like a Skimmer stalling out.
"Yeah well same to you ugly!" Marina shouted back.
This seemed to anger the creature, causing it to push down even harder.
"SOME TIME TODAY WOULD BE NICE!" Marina shouted, feeling that her legs were about to give out under the monstrous pressure being forced down on her.
"What do you want us to do!? I'm not fighting that thing! Junko wouldn't even fight it without a beam or something to smash it with!" Shadow shouted from a perch up in a nearby tree.
Rondana snapped her fingers.
"That's it! Everyone, aim for the tree Shadow is in!"
The young girl's eyes flashed in understanding as she jumped from the tree and swung her crystal ax into the tree's base, right as several different colored beams of energy struck it from the other side.
"TIMBER!" Shadow called out.
"MARINA! MOVE IT NOW!" Starling shouted.
Grinning, the red head deactivated her blades and rolled under between the creatures legs right before the tree came crashing down on top of it.
Brushing herself off, Marina looked at the creature's unmoving body for several seconds, then gave it a swift hard kick.
"What is it?" Shadow asked, still keeping her distance from the monster.
"I think its dead," Kai said, noticing a trickle of green ooze flowing out from under the tree.
"Really? No dip Sherlock. What's your next amazing discovery? Water is wet?" Shadow bit back, still a bit shook up from the fight.
"Hey, I saved your butt, you owe me!" Kai shot back.
"I put up with your butt, so you owe me!" Shadow retorted.
"Uh, guy's I think you should take a look at this," Tigger called out from the tree line.
Stopping mid-insult, Kai and the others went to see what 'they needed to see'.
"Oh…" Piper turned away, as did most of the others aside from Starling, Marina and Kai.
It looked like a large cocoon, but it was…moving, pulsating even.
"We should torch it now, it's probably a nest for those…things," Marina said readying her blades.
"Hang on, I think I…hear something," Kai said moving towards the fleshy cocoon with a strange look on his face.
"Kai, get away from there, we need to destroy it before it hatches," Starling ordered.
Kai ignored her and moved closer to it before reaching out to touch it.
Immediately it started pushing against his hand.
Eyes wide, Kai pulled out his slicer blade and bisected the bag in one clean cut from bottom to top.
"KAI WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Piper shrieked, thinking that he had just set free the creatures offspring.
"Stopping you guys from making a big mistake, that's what!" Kai shouted as he reached into the cocoon and started pulling it open.
"Come on, give me a hand here! I need help!"
Not hearing any movement, Kai called out again.
"Come on! I need a hand here, you have to trust me!"
Only one set of footsteps approached him.
"What do you…need a hand with?" a firm familiar voice asked, causing Kai to almost fall over.
"Thanks Star, I need you to hold this, hurry, I don't know how much time is left," he said pushing one of the cut 'flaps' towards her.
Repressing a shudder, Starling grabbed hold of the fleshy material and pulled it back as far as she could, and watched as Kai shoved his hand into it.
"Grab my hand!"
Starling, along with everyone else's eye's widened as a very human looking hand grabbed hold of Kai's forearm.
"Hang on tight!" Kai shouted before falling backwards and pulling the person free.
"Ewww gross!" Shadow shouted.
Of course everyone else was thinking the exact same thing, they just didn't vocalize it.
When Kai pulled the person free from the cocoon, a rush of slimly yellowish ooze came with them, drenching Kai and splattering half of Starling.
"AAHHH!"
Focusing on the source of the scream, the group saw it was not only the new person, but Kai and Starling as well.
"What's wrong with them?!" Piper shouted as she and the others ran up to them.
"AHH! It burns!!" Kai shouted as he curled up. Starling had doubled over and was barely standing while the new person was just screaming at the top of their lungs pain.
"That stuff must be some sort of acid…its air activated! We have to get it off of them now!" Rondana shouted as she reached out towards Kai, only to flinch back when his eyes opened and focused on her with an intense pain induced rage burning in their depths.
"Get away from me now!" Kai growled out in an eerie two tone voice.
"Kai, you need to get that stuff off of you! Hurry up!" Rondana pleaded.
Kai ignored her and shakily pushed himself up, still not having broken eye contact with Rondana.
"His eyes! They're almost wild with pain, does he even recognize me?"
Just when they didn't think things could get any worse.
They did.
THUMP
Something very large and very heavy landed behind them.
HOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLL
"You have got to be kidding me!" Shadow shouted as she pulled her crystal ax free from its holster as she spun around to face whatever the new threat was.
Whereas the creature from earlier looked like some freakish demented alligator demon hybrid, this creature was very familiar to those present.
Standing at six foot six and covered from head to toe in solid white fur, the creature's canine snout leered directly at Kai before letting out a deep gutted growl.
Kai, shaking from pain didn't show any signs of fear, just pain induced rage. His mouth stretched back, baring his teeth with a vicious scowl.
The creature looked around at the others, and seemed to focus on Starling for a moment longer than the others before shifting its gaze to the figure behind Kai.
Growling, it lumbered towards Kai. Piper noted that its hands actually seemed to grow several inches wider and longer as ten bright silvery claws extended from their tips.
Kai didn't budge an inch; he stood his ground and gave a deep throated growl as a warning not to come any closer.
Rearing back its head, the werewolf let out a roaring howl that made the hair on the back of the girls necks stand on end.
"What is it doing, why hasn't it attacked us?" Piper thought as she watched the exchange between the two.
Kai's mouth pulled back a little farther, baring his teeth completely. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his neck back before letting lose his own roar, one that the others had never heard before. (Think T-Rex from Jurassic Park, just not as 'powerful')
The werewolf paused for a moment and sniffed the air. Piper, just starting to come back to her senses and shaking off the effects of the two roars, was surprised to see the creatures face show a very human expression.
Realization
"Kai? Is that you?"
Eyes narrowed, Kai didn't budge.
"Kai, what are you doing here?" The creature said as it shrunk to being about Aerrow's size.
Tigger was the first to notice the tight red and black robe that the creature was wearing suddenly turn into a loose fitting set of robes.
"Kai? It is you, what are you doing here?"
Kai shook his head. "Kanin? Is that you?"
"YOU KNOW HIM!?" Shadow shouted (voicing everyone's thoughts)
Before he could answer however, Kai collapsed forward onto the ground in front of Kanin.
"This could be nothing but trouble, I know it," The man said shaking his head.
"Uh, excuse me, but, WHO ARE YOU!?" Shadow shouted, not happy at her being ignored.
The man (whom they assumed to be Kanin) turned and seemed to notice the others for the first time.
"Oh great, more outsiders." Before he said anything else however he turned his attention to the figure on the ground behind Kai.
"Tsuki!"
Kneeling down he tried to brush the 'ooze' off of her and was caught off guard by the sudden burning sensation that creped up his arm.
"Fenral that burns, what did you do to her?!" he demanded with a snarl.
"WE didn't do anything! Kai and Starling pulled…HER!?" Tigger said blinking at this sudden revelation.
Sure enough, the figure behind Kai was noticeably female now that they actually paid attention to it..
"Forget about that, we have to get this stuff off of them now. Shadow, you and Marina take care of Starling, Tigger, you help…Kanin was it? Help Kanin, I'll take care of Kai. Chop chop people, move it now!" Rondana shouted, prompting the others to move quickly.
"I'll get some blankets!" Piper shouted as she ran back inside the ship, not having been given anything else to do.
"AHH!"
"I said it was acid Tigger, you should know what that means," Rondana called out over her shoulder as she unfastened Kai's armor plating as quickly, but as carefully as she could.
"Only you would get doused with some sort of organic acid five minutes after landing on a terra." She thought ruefully shaking her head.
After Piper returned with the blankets and a stable geyser crystal, the others stood back as she doused them with water to remove as much of the acid as they could. Normally this would have been a HUGE no no, but at the moment they had no other choice.
Wrapping them with blankets, Rondana turned towards the others.
"We have to get them out of here. Kanin, how far is your village?"
The white haired man narrowed his ice blue eyes at her dangerously.
"Who are you to order anything from me woman."
Rondana's eyes narrowed just as dangerously.
"I am this squadron's chief medical officer, and as of now, acting leader until I deem the threat to its members is no longer a factor. You seem to know Kai, and since you have not attacked us, I am wagering that you are a friend, or at least an ally to him."
Seeing his expression not change in the slightest, Rondana clinched her fists.
"Your friend needs medical attention, and she needs it immediately. Your people know how to threat themselves correct?"
No response.
"If they are to have any hope of saving her, you need to get her to your people as soon as possible. Our ship is faster than your legs. You help us, we help you. Is that understood?"
The man snorted before picking the woman up and walking towards the ship, causing the others to let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank the divines I know politics," Rondana muttered as she messaged her temples to ward off the oncoming migraine.
"Marina, you get Starling. Piper, give me a hand with Kai," she ordered, knowing now that this mission was going to be a long one.
End Chapter 18
Ok, I know this was short compared to my past chapters. But I've been away for a while, and I wanted the actual village part to be a chapter in of itself, so that's why I stopped this one here. Hope I haven't gotten rusty while I was gone and that this chapter was still enjoyable though. I'll try to update a bit more frequently now that I have some time to actually work on my…well, work lol. Also, check out my profile, I've updated it a bit and put up a link to where you'll find the actual model I used to make Kai's 'freighter'.
Be on the look out for chapter 19: Old Friends, Old Scars, New Problems! To be out soon!
Till next time, Ja Ne!