Winds of Change Book II: Distant Thunder
Chapter 20: Divided We Stand, United We Fall!
AN: Well, thanks to you guys reviews (those of you that did, and I KNOW there are others that didn't) I managed to work past my little pity spell and have decided to as one famous character once said, 'I will continue to walk the path of the warrior, and will see this done straight onto the bitter end!' So don't worry about it ending on a cliffy lol Things have been busy, but with all of your support, I managed to coax my muse out of hiding and give me a hand, so thank guys! (Even if all of you but two are actually girls….)
Oh, and 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, Majah and this story. Oh, and lastly, the 'song' that will be in this chapter are excerpts from 'Reason' by the talented Nami Tamaki. Yes, its Japanese, and if you haven't figured it out yet that Japanese is pretty much the basis for the Ancient's language, or at least the Dragon's, then SHAME ON YOU!
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
Kai was not happy. He was stuck watching the ongoing battle outside through the hole in the wall near where he was laying. Unable to jump into the fray, just watch it from afar.
"Great, just bloody great! Everyone else is out there fighting, and I'm stuck in here!"
Trying to 'reach' out with his senses, Kai was quickly able to get an idea of what was going on. The 'Deathclaws' were doing a grand job at destroying the village. And why shouldn't they? All of the village's warriors were down for the count!
That made Kai's eyes widen.
"Of course! There is no way that this is a coincidence! Why else would the creatures have waited all this time before attacking? They must have done something to the Red Claws. But the question is what?"
Closing his eyes, Kai felt four flickers of energy spike. One he was *very* familiar with, having fought it in a heated battle only days earlier at Rocky Falls. But it felt…different this time around. Last time he sensed it, the energy had been fairly constant, like a running faucet. This time however, it was fluctuating between rapid growth and contraction, almost like something was trying to force it in a direction it didn't want to go. Most of the energy, he could feel was tainted, cursed. But there was a tiny portion of it that wasn't, and that tiny portion seemed to be dragging the tainted energy like dog by the leash.
The second one he felt was also somewhat familiar, but not exactly how he remembered it. It almost felt like Nabooru's energy field, but at the same time, he could feel it coming from Marina. The only thing he was able to guess at was that all Gerudo had some common source of energy to draw from. Otherwise Marina had to be drawing power from Nabooru, and there was no way that could be possible with her being thousands of miles away. At least, he didn't think there was.
The third one was weak, but he had sensed it once before, and that was back at Rocky Falls. Unlike the others however, he couldn't sense a single trace of malice or anger behind it. It actually was a very soothing, almost calming presence. It was fairly close to the 'tainted' ones presence, but beyond that he couldn't tell anything else about it.
The last one however was the one that had his attention. It felt so similar to his own energy that it almost seemed to be calling out to him.
"kimi dake wo dakishimetakute nakushita yume kimi wa "akiramenaide" to ittia"
Ignoring the pain flowing through his body, Kai shot up like he had been stung.
"No way, that's not possible."
Looking around, he tried to find the source of the beautiful voice he had just heard, but there were only wounded men as far as the eye could see. Looking to his side, he confirmed that Tsuki was still out cold, so it couldn't have been her.
"ROSE! Where are you!?"
Normally she would ignore him when he called out to her, but there had been a few occasions where she deemed a situation important enough to answer his call.
"Yes?"
Whipping his head to the side, he saw Starling looking down at him.
"Star what are you?"
Narrowing his eyes, Kai growled.
"I told you not to do that Rose. Right now though," he was cut off before finishing.
"I am aware of why you called me, but I am afraid that I'm not quite sure where that song came from myself."
Kai frowned at hearing this.
"So it wasn't you?"
Rose shook her head.
"But the only other possibility would be…"
Rose finished the unwanted sentence.
"Piper."
The two of them looked out through the hole in the wall; waiting for what they knew would come next.
"tooku hanareteru hodo ni chikaku ni kanjiteru samishisa mo tsuyosa eto kawatteku…kimi wo omottanara"
Kai's head lowered while Rose continued to stare through the hole in the wall.
"You do know what this means, don't you?" Rose said more than asked.
Kai sighed before nodding.
"Yeah…I know…"
"Aerrow is going to kill me when this is all over, I know it."
The second Piper's feet touched the ground; she charged the injured creature before it could heal. She didn't know what it was, but she could have sworn she felt like someone was…around her, touching her, on her. It was like she was a puppet being guided through its motions.
Jumping over the creature, Piper landed in a crouch then brought her right leg out in a sweep kick, knocking the 'Deathclaw' off balance. Continuing the motion to keep the momentum building, she pushed off with her right arm to back flip and put some distance between her and the creature.
"me w t jite mieru k ra e wo fur zu aruko o w shi u k ara"
"That voice, who is it?"
Bringing her right hand out she deflected the creatures attack with one halve of her broken staff before bringing her left arm around and hitting the creature in the head with the other broken half.
Roaring in pain, the creature brought its free hand up to crush her, only to miss when she ducked under the arm she was holding back. Bringing both halves of her staff around, she slammed them into the creature's side as hard as she could.
*Crack*
Wincing slightly, knowing that she had at least cracked a rib, she again put more distance between her and the creature.
"This is bad, I need to end this fast, I can't keep dodging this thing, its going to get in a lucky hit in eventually."
"Then finish it! What's the problem?" New Piper asked.
"Whats the problem? My staff is broken, I'm not a Wallop and I don't have any powers! What the heck am I supposed to do?!" Piper demanded.
"Well, you could fix your staff for starters, have you tried that?"
Piper scoffed at the idea her 'other' had though up.
"Lark's the only one that can do that unless you forgot, geeze, if I'm so smart how is it you're so..so…."
Time stopped.
Literally
Piper looked around and saw that nothing was moving, almost like she was inside of a picture.
"Ok, first of all, I am NOT dumb, neither are you, and you know that!"
Jumping slightly, Piper turned to see 'herself', still wearing 'that' outfit.
Turning red, Piper sputtered.
"WOULD YOU PUT SOME FREAKING CLOTHES ON?!"
'New' Piper rolled her eyes.
"I AM wearing clothes. Not my fault your so self conscious. Oh, and by the way, nice try, but your still YEARS away from being at Kai's level with that little trick. Nice try though, keep at it."
Piper pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Well, since you seem to know everything, tell me, what am I supposed to do?"
'New' Piper just stared at her blankly.
"And don't say 'fix your staff' because we both know that's impossible."
'New' Piper continued to stare at her blankly, causing Piper to scoff.
"Lark is the only one that can do that! She's got those freaky dark powers….well, yeah, she stole those from Kai…Rose, whatever, the point is, only someone with 'Dragon' powers can do that and you know it!" Piper shouted.
As soon as the words left her mouth, realization hit her.
'New' Piper just smiled a small smile before sauntering away from her 'other' self.
"Not bad, and I didn't even have to spell it out for you this time, wonder how long till you're able to figure these things out on your own?"
Piper looked up at her other half, still confused at what she was supposed to do.
"Oh, and Piper, you owe me one for this! I expect you to start dressing better! Show us off girl, or Aerrow wont notice!"
'New' Piper's comment made Piper turn darker than a black cherry, but she couldn't help but feel just *slightly* indebted to her 'other' self.
Time started again, and Piper found herself staring down the charging monster.
Spinning the two halves of her broken staff, Piper ran through the various bits of what she had learned about Kai, and through him, Lark's powers, hoping that her 'other' self was right.
"Its energy, it's around me, and it's inside me, it's stubborn and wants to be lazy, so I have to force it to do what I want. Ok you stupid energy, FIX MY STAFF!"
Reaching out with her 'will' she was able to feel something…warm, almost like a static field around her. Focusing, she grabbed onto and forced that energy field around her into her hands, and then through them into her staff.
Flashback
"Kai, how did you…you know, do that thing with the wings?" Piper asked the still flat on his back Kai.
"You mean back on terra Gerudo?"
Piper nodded.
"I wanted to block Nabooru, so I just made the wings block her."
"But how? I mean, I know I can't do that, but how did you make pure energy into a solid form like that?"
"Oh, that? It's kind of hard to explain unless you've done it yourself, the only way I can really describe it is I made it do that. It's like moving you arm around, or walking. It's not something you do WITH your body, you have to move it like it IS part of your body," Kai explained.
Flashback end
"If what Kai said is right, then it's like a reflex. I don't think about it, I don't concentrate on it, I just have to do it!"
Bringing her two hands together, she held her staff out in front of her with both hands, and then pulled her left arm back behind her and crouched low into a ready stance.
Sure enough, the staff was now fixed, a single piece instead of two broken halves.
Grinning at her accomplishment, Piper quickly ducked under the creatures swing and nailed it in the chest with her now complete staff, knocking the wind out of it.
Not stopping, she then reversed her stance and swung it around behind her, hitting the creature in the back just as hard.
What she didn't notice was that the sound of her blows was loud enough to be heard across the entire village.
"Great, I can hurt it now, but that's only going to tick it off even more. And I still need to check up on the others. They might need a hand…what am I saying; of course they need a hand!"
Feeling a hole opening in the bottom of her stomach, Piper shuddered. She knew what she had to do; she just didn't think she would ever have to, not again.
"It's like back at Rocky Fall's. I don't have any other choice."
Jumping away from the creature, she twirled the staff around her several times and pulled the crystal energy she felt around her into her staff.
"At least now I know why Aerrow does all those crazy moves with his daggers, I owe him this one!"
Seeing the creature rising, she knew her time was almost out.
"Here, it, goes!"
Jumping into the air, she slammed her staff down like a sledge hammer in the direction of the Deathclaw, sending out a whitish blue wave of energy that washed over the creature.
Tigger watched as her friend fought…well, fought wasn't quite the correct word here, dominate would be far more accurate than anything else, the Deathclawy that had been chasing her earlier.
Shadow had an eerily calm expression on her face, almost like she was actually bored and not worried in the least that she was fighting a creature that as far as they could tell only existed to destroy.
Using the flat side of her crystal…executioner's ax, she had hit the creature like it was a baseball into a small grouping of trees, after smacking it around like used basketball for a good solid three minutes.
"No one hurts my friends and gets away with it." Shadow said calmly as she pulled back the ax with one arm and threw it towards the group of trees the Deathclaw had fallen into.
Tigger watched in awe as the ax passed through the trees like a hot knife through butter, and then imbed itself into the ground behind the creature.
Looking back at Shadow, she saw her nod towards the direction of the trees, and grin.
"He's all your Griffy!"
"Griffy? What are you?" Looking back towards the trees, she saw Griffy charge, leap into the air, then head butt the tree on the outmost edge.
"TIMBER!"
Then, like dominos, the tree's knocked over one another until they all collapsed inwards on the Deathclaw, pinning and crushing it at the same time.
Looking back at her friend, Tigger saw her shaking slightly and her hands clinch into fists. Running towards her, she grabbed Shadow by the shoulders and shook her, trying to 'wake' her up.
"Come on Shadow, we're ok, you can stop now!"
Shadow looked at her friend and started blinking rapidly before rolling her head back then forward.
"Ti…gger…what…what happened?"
Before she could say anything, the 'shroud' that had enveloped her friend vanished like it had never been there to begin with, and her ax returned to its original form.
Shaking her head, Tigger grabbed her friend by the arm and started pulling her.
"Come on, we need to help the others, I have an idea but I need your help for it to work!"
Feeling like her arm was going to be pulled out of its socket, Shadow tried to keep up, but she still felt like she had just woke up from a very bad dream just seconds ago.
"Tigger, what's going on? What just happened back there?
Biting her lip, Tigger decided to tell as much of the truth as she could, while at the same time not worry her friend too much.
"I'm not sure myself. But whatever it was, it saved me. Now come on!"
Shadow decided that for now she would have to accept her friend's word, but at the same time, she couldn't shake the uneasy chill going up her spine.
Starling surveyed her surroundings quickly, trying to get a feel for the pace of the battle. For the most part, the Deathclaws were now on the defensive. The scant few villagers that were able to fight had figured out fairly quickly that their claws, while normally effective against most enemy's, were pretty much useless fighting these things.
So, they improvised.
She watched as one of the transformed villagers wielded a roofing rafter like a baseball bat, while another hurled large stones from a house that was under construction.
"It looks like we have the advantage in numbers and overall fighting ability, but why is it I cant shake this feeling? Something's missing, but what?"
Sudden movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. What she saw made her face turn white.
"KAI!"
Body in motion before she even knew what she was doing, Starling did a small hop before rolling into a forward handspring, throwing herself into the air.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Kai, who had been watching from inside the hole in the wall couldn't have seen the Deathclaw that was on the roof, about to pounce down and attack him, but Starling had, and just in the nick of time too.
Both Kai and the startled Deathclaw looked up in time to see Starling in midair charging up her special move.
Raw crystal power crackled in the air, and pulses of purple energy gathered around her swinging arm into her nun chuck, focusing and condensing into a single tiny point on their surface. Starling then swung the charged weapon downward and nailed the Deathclaw with the force of a stampeding Wallop, stunning it for a brief moment.
Not wasting the little time she had, Starling continued with the movement and landed on her free hand, using it to push herself off and onto her feet behind the towering creature that was using its unclawed hand to hold its head in pain.
"I don't have enough strength to crush it, but I might be able to…"
Normally, she wouldn't have liked the train of thought that was going through her head. Truth be told, she had never even considered doing something like this before. But for some reason, right now, it didn't bother her in the least.
With narrowed eyes, the woman jumped into the air once more, this time landing on the creatures back. Wrapping her legs around its waist from behind, she quickly slipped her nun chuck around the creature's neck, twisted it behind its head, and pulled back with every ounce of strength and body weight she could muster.
Kai, who had at least figured out what was going on and had moved to a spot where he could see what was going on, was shocked to say the least.
He was one of the very few people to know that despite how good she was at it, Starling actually hated fighting. She preferred to use skill and finesse to avoid it whenever possible. But right now, she looked almost like, she was enjoying what she was doing.
And that frightened him.
"What's happening to her? She's never acted like this before!"
Not sure what to do, Kai was surprised for the second time that day to see HIS ship suddenly appear overhead. Not only that, but the tips of the wing mounted turrets were glowing.
"They're about to…they don't see Starling!"
Grabbing onto the frame of the overhang, Kai pulled himself onto the roof and charged towards Starling and the Deathclaw she was fighting.
"Star! Let go! They're going to shoot!"
Instead of letting go, he could have sworn he saw her grip tighten a bit more and her scowl deepen.
Not knowing what else to do, Kai mover behind his friend and quickly struck two pressure points on her back, making her let go.
The Deathclaw dropped to one knee, gasping for breath but Kai didn't even think about trying to fight the beast. He just grabbed Starling by the waist and pulled her off the roof along with himself.
Sure enough, the second they started moving downwards.
VEEERR PEEAAAR
Two quick bursts of crystal fire reduced the creature to atoms.
The ship then turned and began firing on the other Deathclaws that remained, quickly reducing their numbers.
Groan
"Kai? What were you thinking?!"
Looking up with a very annoyed expression, Kai spoke as calmly as he could.
"I could ask you the same question Star."
The purple haired Sky Knight glared. She didn't know why, but his tone and expression seemed to sting her.
"I was TRYING to save your life you ungrateful." She was stopped by his shocked expression.
"SAVE ME!? Star you almost broke that things neck! I could hear the bones starting to give! What the heck happened to you!? Your face looked like mine when I found that Arygyn Voodoo doll!"
Starling blinked, and then blinked again. But before she could even try to answer his question, a cough followed by a clearing through caught their attention.
"I'm not disturbing anything am I?"
Kai looked up to see Majah looking down at them with a small smile and a raised eyebrow.
"What are you talking abo.." Kai looked back, and saw that in their fall, Starling had (most likely out of reflex) maneuvered herself so that she wouldn't land flat on her back.
Resulting in Kai landing on his.
And her on top of him like a cat falling out of a tree.
The two figured this out at about the exact same time, resulting in her rolling off to the side 'gracefully' and back on to her feet, and Kai….
Well, Kai sputtered and cursed at the old man for even thinking such a thing.
"Kai! Are you alright!"
All three looked around for the voice, only to find it by looking up?
Sure enough, floating above them was Kai's ship with the landing ramp lowered and Shadow waving down at them.
"Shadow? What the…that was you!?"
The ship moved around a bit before landing in front of the 'hospital' which now seemed to be the meeting point of the villagers.
Kai, Starling, and Majah made their way through the crowd of people that had surrounded the ship, and found Tigger, Shadow, and surprisingly, Radaar standing proudly at the bottom of the landing ramp.
"Ok, so that's three, where are the other two?" Majah asked with his usual 'grouchy' voice.
"Here and here!" A very pleased and familiar voice called out.
Turning, Kai saw Marina strolling her way towards them with one arm around Piper's shoulder. She was grinning widely and seemed to be carrying something very large with her other hand.
Kai felt a sudden wave of sickness wash over him as she got closer, while Starling, who seemed to be on the same brainwave, spoke for them both.
"Marina, please tell me that's not…"
If anything, Marina's grin just got larger.
"You bet it is! You didn't think I would go back home without getting me at least ONE souvenir did you?"
Starling shook her head, while Shadow and Tigger, who had been watching suddenly, covered their mouths and turned away.
Piper seemed to be taking it in stride, that or her mind was so far away she wasn't even registering what was less than a few feet from her.
Kai, like Shadow and Tigger turned away.
Griffy and Radarr however…
"Oh dear ga!? MY SHOES!"
Marina frowned at the others reactions. The villagers themselves didn't seem to not mind it very much…well, aside from the two that now had 'Cambles chunky soup' covering their footwear. But she guessed that they just had a similar set of customs.
"What?"
With his back still turned to her, Kai spoke.
"Marina, that THING is NOT coming onto my ship!"
Instead of giving up her new 'trophy' the redhead just shrugged. "You're free to try and stop me. But next time, what I bring on board might be ever worse."
"What could be worse that a severed han…she wouldn't!" Whipping his head around, Kai paled when he saw her grin.
"She would."
"Fine, but put it in a bag or something….and keep it out of sight!" Kai shouted.
"Will do, captain!" Marina said cheerily as she tossed up her 'trophy' into the air, and caught it.
Kai shuddered, now knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had let a madwoman onboard his ship, but accepted it given how much she had helped them in the past.
"Now that we have that all sorted out. Would someone explain to me what just happened?" Majah asked carefully.
Piper was the one to answer his not so obvious question. Or rather, all of them.
"It was a test. A first strike to see what kind of resistance the village had left."
"Left? You mean those things knew about the Red Claws?" Majah asked skeptically.
Piper, seeing the looks of the people returning to the 'unfriendly' glares from before, walked up to the old man and asked if there was somewhere they could speak privately.
Several minutes later, the group, along with Majah, Kanin, and two men they hadn't met before were standing around a moderately large single story wooden house. It looked like something out of the dark ages, but it wasn't half bad.
"Now, would you mind explaining what you meant by 'testing' the villages strength?"
Piper swallowed before stepping into the middle of the large room. Everyone else was leaning against one of the walls, but she decided that she needed to appear as confident and respectful as she could here. Knowing that they weren't going to like what she had to say.
"The reason I said that it was a test, was because it wouldn't make sense otherwise. Those creatures were smaller than the one we fought earlier. They also seemed to be a bit…dumber too. That makes me thing that they were younger and less experienced."
"Wait a minute, why are we even listening to a girl who can't even be sixteen?"
Kai snorted.
"She might be young, but her mind is sharper than Kayleghs tongue. Its one of the reasons I recruited her to help me. Now shut up, I'm trying to listen."
Rondana and Marina were the only ones that seemed to notice that the younger male actually listened to Kai's order of shutting up without giving it a second thought. Both knew that there was a bit more going on than they had been told, but decided to file it away for later.
"But why send in your youngest fighters for something like that?" Kai asked. Genuinely curious about what she had to say.
Piper turned to face him when she answered.
"Because they are expendable, that's why."
That one sentence made the room become several times larger it seemed.
"Wait a minute. You think that there are more of those things out there?" Kanin asked, knowing that no one wanted to hear the answer, despite already knowing it.
"Yes, I think there are more, a lot more."
"What did the book say?" Kai asked, figuring that she must be drawing her theories from somewhere other than just blind guessing.
He was surprised to see Piper's face turn an odd shade of green.
"It said that…this terra was a drop off point for…failed experiments. They were brought here to be studied and then destroyed afterwards."
The group's eyes widened, but Kai's were for a different reason.
"She knows!?"
"I think they somehow survived, and multiplied over the years. I don't know why they just started appearing now after all this time, but it's the only explanation for why so many would exist, and why no one from your village has seen them before, and why Kai doesn't know anything about them."
Marina pushed herself off from the wall and looked over at Majah. "Have there been any Atmostquakes lately? Even just a very small one?"
"Yes, about a month ago there was a tremor, it's why I have been away. I was investigating to see if it had caused any major damage to any of our sister villages or tribal sights. I was just on my way back when I ran into you," Kanin replied.
Marina pinched the bridge of her nose.
"There's your answer. The same thing happened about a year ago on terra Gerudo. Only it was a sudden rise in Peahats that were…different than normal. I'll bet that the lab we're looking for was sealed, but the quake opened or at least loosened the seal enough for them to break free," Marina said knowingly.
"Ok, say your theory is correct, and these things are the decedents of failed genetic experiments that somehow survived for several thousand years. Why are they attacking the village? And what does this have to do with the Red Claws?" Rondana asked, trying to keep things moving.
Piper bit her lip.
"I think that…I think that the Red Claws were poisoned, and that this was a test to see if the village still had any capable fighters left. I don't know why they would attack the village though. It doesn't really serve any purpose that I can see."
"NO PURPOSE! How is an open declaration of war meaningless!?"
"You will hold you tongue Kanin, or I will remove it for you so you can do so literally," Marina threatened.
Trying to keep things from heating up any further, Piper continued.
"What I mean is, there is no real value or reason to take your village. It has nothing unique about it, it has no apparent defensive value and gives no real advantage in wasting the time, effort, or power to do so. If your Red Claw's had been able to help us, it wouldn't have taken a quarter of the time it did for us to repel them. Look at it from a strategic stand point. What I am assuming to be your best fighters are out of the picture, aside from them you have only a few guards and a bunch of woman that have never even struck a fly, let alone fought. You're almost completely defenseless. Heck, I'd actually bet a good sized bag of gold that had we not been here, you wouldn't be breathing right now."
"Telling them what they asked, telling them what they need, and at the same time rubbing some salt in their wounds. Not bad Piper, I'll be free in no time at this rate," 'New' Piper said with a smirk as she watched from the depths of Piper's mind.
"That being the case, what should we do? If we all go and try to find the lab, the village will get overrun. But if we stay here, then they will just keep coming and coming until we are eventually worn down," Tigger said pushing her glasses up.
"I don't like it, but our only chance is to split up. Most of us need to stay here and try to buy the other group as much time as possible and draw as much attention as we can," Piper said looking suddenly gloomy.
"We? Piper, your one of the best candidates for the lab group, shouldn't you," Shadow was cut off by Piper.
"NO!" Seeing everyone's shocked expression at her outburst, she explained, while at the same time looking away from the others.
"I…have issues with enclosed spaces. I'm alright as long as I can see the sky, but in a cave…"
Kai narrowed his eyes for a moment and took a whiff of the air.
She was being mostly honest, but at the same time he could detect that there was more to it than a simple case of claustrophobia.
"Alright, if Piper's staying, that means I have to go."
"What? Kai, you can't be serious. You're still healing, and you're in no condition to fight right now," Starling said with a deadpan tone.
Closing his eyes, Kai smirked. "Uh, Star, unless anyone else here can read Ancient, you've got no other choice. I might not be able to read it as well as Piper can, but I've dealt with enough of these things to know what to watch out for. Besides, the only other expert dungeon diver we have is Marina, and she needs to be here to help the others."
Marina didn't even try to object to that point. It was no secret that despite all of the others abilities and powers, she was by far the best fighter they had. She was almost as strong as Junko and was as good with her blades as Aerrow. Added to that she was almost as knowledgeable about crystals as Piper. Nearly half the Storm Hawks skills and abilities rolled up into one person was a nice thing to have when trying to hold of an army.
"Ok, so Piper and Marina are out. There is no way Shadow or Tigger can go, and I would hope your not thinking of taking our medic with you. Who else are you planning to take with you?"
Kai grinned. "No one. I can, and have done this kind of thing on my own before, remember?"
Starlings jaw must have hit someone on the other side of the globe.
"You're injured, and have next to no power left in you, and you expect m, us to just let you go off to your death? Forget it, I'm coming with you."
Kai almost fell over on his face.
"WHAT?! Star it's a suicide mission! You can't expect me to…."
Starling's glare seemed to burn a hole right through him. There was no need for words, but everyone present knew they would be spoken later.
"I will accompany you as well. I refuse to allow my peoples lives to be in the hands of a Mad Claw and a woman," Kanin said stepping forward.
"Then it is agreed. Kanin will accompany you two and the rest of us will mount a defense until you are able to destroy these creatures hive."
Everyone (other than Kai, Kanin, and Starling) gapped at Majah.
"YOU'RE THE CHIEF!?"
Majah covered his laugh with a cough while Kanin rolled his eyes. Starling and Kai however seemed to be having a 'glare match' with neither side willing to give in.
"Ok you two; you'll have plenty of time to stare at each other later. Right now we need to get you set up for this mission." Rondana said grabbing Kai by the arm and dragging him away. Marina did the same with Starling, while the others respectfully bowed and left for the ship.
The walk to the ship was a quiet one. None of the group wanted to say anything given the recent revelation of their friends attempt at 'something stupid', but at the same time, no one was able to find a suitable distraction.
Kai entered the ship first, followed by the others, but as soon as Starling entered she found herself being led to the cockpit instead of the storage area.
"Starling, we need to talk," Rondana said crossing her arms in front of her. Behind her was Marina, blocking the only exit from the ships cockpit, and standing in the same stance as her comrade.
"Alright Kai, since your already in pretty bad shape, you'll need to avoid direct combat as much as possible. So I suggest you use ranged…hey, Kai? Hello! Are you listening to me?" Tigger was growing extremely aggravated with the boy. With each passing terra she felt more and more out of place, not having been able to help directly a single time, and not really doing anything other than fix the ship. Along with that, she had to endure seeing her closest friend be subjected to a horrible curse not once, but TWICE in only a few days. Then there was all the issues with Kai, which could easily fill several medical journals (at least that's what Rondana had told her) and now to top it all off, he was ignoring her.
"Kai, I swear if you don't start AH!" Tigger jumped and let out a startled squeak as gears started groaning loudly from the wall Kai was facing.
"If you think I'm going to spend the next week fixing whatever you broke you've got another thing coming buster!"
Kai looked over at her with a small smirk as he pushed in what looked like an ordinary section of wall with one hand.
The result was the wall suddenly lowering into the ground and another wall rising up like a draw bridge behind it. Tigger and Shadow were gobsmacked, but Piper's breath hitched at the sight.
"No"
Everyone present was too fixated on the sight to notice Piper's reaction, but instead of pride (like Kai) amazement (Shadow) or grinning at possibilities (Tigger) her face wore an expression of fear and dread.
"Not bad eh Tigger? I dug this little beauty up a few months back on my last little trip to an Ancients tech lab."
Held in place onto the wall by several straps crisscrossing its frame, was a gleaming black and red suit of armor.
"Kai, is that…that's not a…"
Looking up, Kai noticed Piper's worried expression, or to be more exact, her focus on the inert purple crystal lodged in the center of the armors chest piece.
"Yeah, it's a Medulla crystal Piper. One of the rarest and most powerful crystals in existence."
"Kai, why didn't you destroy that thing? Do you have any idea what it is? Do you know what it will do if you try to pilot it?" She hissed.
Shaking his head, Kai reached out and grabbed the crystal with one hand.
Immediately, the crystal glowed and came to life, pulsating like a heartbeat.
"Piper, you disappoint us. Surely you don't think I would use something without understanding it did you?" Kai's voice sounded strange. Not like when he used the Shadow crystal, but it was an odd reverberation to it.
Piper took a step back, prompting Kai to twist the crystal and pull it free from the armor.
"Here, if it makes you so nervous, then you hold on to it. But don't even think about trying to destroy it. If you do, you owe me another one alright?"
Piper blinked, and then scowled. "I thought you had respect for these Ancient things enough to know not to treat them like toys! Do you even have any idea at all what that thing is!?
Kai held the crystal out to her with one hand, almost like he was giving her a peace offering.
"Yes, I do, but at the same time, I know how far to take things," Kai stated calmly.
"The Suit of Untold Vengeance is NOT a toy! It shouldn't even exist anymore! We destroyed it! I ground this crystal into dust myself!"
"Looks like I touched on a nerve there. Better set things straight," Kai thought.
"First of all Piper, this is NOT an S.U.V."
Piper looked at Kai like he had just asked her what two plus two equaled.
Sighing, Kai wrapped one arm around her shoulders and moved her closer to the armored suit.
"While the S.U.V was a formidable weapon, it had far too many drawbacks to be considered a true success. I still wonder why the Ancients saw fit to mass produce the thing. They must have been out of their minds."
Piper's eyes widened.
"MASS PRODUCED!"
Tigger and Shadow, neither of whom had seen an S.U.V, but had heard the story at one point or another took a step away from the contraption.
"Yeah, didn't know that did you? I found a lot of them a while back. Hundreds of them as far as the eye could see. I'm not sure what the terra's name was though, I'd have to check my records. I think it was Pence or something like that."
Piper looked over at Kai to see if he was joking, but she could see that he was honestly telling the truth, which made her shiver.
"You mean there are more of these things?" Tigger asked, wondering if she could get a hold of one to take apart in her free time.
"Given the number of them I found? Probably yes. But what would lead a group of people to construct, let alone mass produce such a fueled inefficient lumbering beast is beyond me." Seeing Piper about to speak, Kai continued. "It might be able to outrun a skimmer, but it can't outfly one. It has no turning or maneuverability what so ever. I also found by…accident that it only takes a relatively weak blow to the crystal chamber to set one off like a firecracker."
"How did you find that out?" Shadow asked stepping forward to get a better look at the armor, and noting that it seemed Kai had personalized this thing quite a bit. It had some very ornate engraving on it, and, as far as she could tell, was expert level craftsmanship.
Kai grinned nervously and scratched the back of his head.
"Well…I kinda sorta…accidently shot one because I thought it was some creature about to jump me. When I found the chamber they were buried in, there was one right there at the entrance. I shot it, and it went up with a big, and rather entertaining boom."
Tigger and Shadow snickered a bit, but Piper only seemed to be put slightly at ease.
"If it's not an S.U.V, then what is it?" Piper asked with her usual serious and no nonsense tone.
Now that she was standing right in front of it, she was able to tell that it was roughly similar to an S.U.V, but at the same time, it was very much different. It didn't tower above them, actually, it couldn't even stand on its own. She only thought it could because her sight was focused on the crystal when she first saw it.
The S.U.V was an armored vehicle that a person climbed into and piloted. This thing was closer to appearing, and apparently functioning like an actual suit of armor. It consisted only of an armored chest piece, two gauntlets that went from the wrists to the elbows, a pair of boots that were about knee level in height, and a set of…
"Are those wings?" Piper asked, reaching out towards the strange pieces on each side.
"Yes and no," Kai answered.
Piper glared at the older teen, causing him to smile a bit.
"He's trying to calm me down," Piper realized.
"They are worn like wings, but they don't really give you much in the way of flying ability. It more of less lets you jump really far, or hover in place. But no, not fly."
"You still haven't answered my first question. What is it?" Piper asked, trying to get back to the point. If there WAS a point that is.
"From what scant little information I could dig up, it's called the: Interconnected Neural Powered Omni Response Tactical Suit. It was built by one of the other groups of Ancients that the creators of the S.U.V were at war with," Kai explained.
"So…if it was mass produced just like the S.U.V, why don't you just call it an I.N.P.O.R.T?" Tigger asked bluntly.
"Because the full name sounds cooler," Kai said with a completely deadpan expression.
All three girls rolled their eyes at that, Piper even muttered something about boys with their vehicle obsessions.
"Anyways, it should keep me safe through this mission. I just wish the darn thing actually COULD fly like the S.U.V can," Kai muttered.
"Oh my lor…Kai! Are you pouting?" Tigger asked, barely able to suppress her laughing at seeing the older teens face.
"I am not pouting, I just…was testing to see if the muscles in my lower jaw were working, that's all," Kai defended.
"When we get out of here, I could take a look at it for you if you want me to," Tigger offered. To her this would at least give her SOMETHING to do outside of repairing the ship. She still couldn't help but wonder why Kai had asked her to join in the first place. But knowing him, he must have something planed for later…
Kai seemed to do a one eighty at hearing her request, and perked up like Finn at the candy store.
"Thank you!" Kai shouted with a wide beaming grin.
"Hey! You kids ready or what? We need to try to get some kind of defenses for this backwater hole in the wall of a terra ready before the next wave of Deathclaws decides to attack!" Marina shouted from outside the hanger.
Kai turned to the girls and grinned. "Sorry kids, but looks like mommy said play times over. Could you give me a hand with this thing?" He asked motioning towards the newly christened I.N.P.O.R.T.
At the back of the ship, a very annoyed Kanin watched an equally annoyed Starling. The difference between them however was that Starling was also sporting what appeared to be a sunburn on her face and was muttering under her breath about people needing to mind their own business, especially when they didn't know what they were talking about in the first place.
A hiss and groaning sound told them that the rear hatch of the ship was lowering and to get out of the way.
First came Shadow, Tigger and Piper, each with their weapons in hand, several belts with crystals hanging by hooks attached to them and bandoleers with various charge crystals crisscrossing their chests.
"Where is," before Starling could say the name, they heard the sound of metal on metal marching towards them.
"Hey Star, like the new me?" Kai asked, holding out his arms to show off the armor a bit.
Starling just gave her former ward her usual bored expression before turning to Piper.
"Any idea where we will find the lab?"
Kai actually DID pout at the lack of ANY reaction out of her, but then again, she had known him for quite a few years, and was most likely now immune to being surprised by anything he did.
"If it was uncovered by a tremor, then your best bet would be to search near a mountain or a canyon. Kanin, are there any of those near us?" Piper asked.
Kanin closed his eyes in concentration for several moments before opening them again and nodding.
"Yes, the Lunar canyon is not too far from here. Only a days run in human form. Not sure if the woman will be able to keep up, or Kai with that…contraption of his though," Kanin jabbed.
Kai growled, but kept it low enough that he though no one would hear it.
Marina smirked and shook her head, but said nothing to the boy. This was his problem to deal with, just as it had been from the start. The only reason she stepped in with Rondana was to level the playing field so to speak.
"This 'contraption' as you call it is just as fast as you, and I know for a fact that Starling can easily keep up with me, so I would remind you that until we get back, the two of us are the only things that might help you out of a jam," Kai threatened.
"Both of you, enough!" Starling ordered with her 'in charge' voice.
"Kai, we can't use our skimmers because there are too many trees, are you sure that you will not slow us down with that…armor of yours?"
Piper stepped forward and actually vouched for him, surprising both him and Starling.
"Starling, I checked it out myself. If anything he should be able to run faster with it than without it. He'll do fine."
The older woman studied the armor clad teen for a moment before taking a deep breath, and turning to Kanin.
"Very well, Kanin, we need for you to lead us to the Lunar canyon. Can you take us there?"
The white haired young man nodded before turning and walking towards one of the village's gates, Starling following at a discrete distance. Kai turned back to the others with a grin before following.
"Ya'll be careful till we get back you hear!?" Kai shouted as he started towards Kanin and Starling.
"You too! And remember to behave while you're with Starling out there!" Rondana shot back.
Kai actually DID trip over his feet and fall at that one, but quickly got to his feet and caught up to the other two.
Shadow turned towards the taller teen with an impish grin. "So you did see what happened before we landed?"
Rondana scoffed before reaching into her flight suit and pulling out a Kodak crystal.
"In politics, one quickly learns that when opportunity is spotted, action must be taken," Rondana replied with an equally playful smile.
"Ok girls, there'll enough time to pick on the lad when he gets back, but for now we got work to do," Marina said trying (unsuccessfully) to snatch the Kodak crystal from the younger girls hand.
Chapter 20 end
AN: And there you have it! Chapter twenty is now finished! This marks the halfway point for the complete Winds of Change series, and a turning point in the dynamics of the story. I now have SOME level of confidence (read as very, very little) in writing mild romance. What does this mean you ask? Well, it means several things. First, you will now see a change in how the team treats some (read as two) of its members. Second, you will get a taste of a whole different brand of humor on my part, and lastly, the block that was preventing me from writing TDT has been lifted! I didn't feel comfortable at the time writing romance, and while I still don't, I at least CAN to a degree. And since we know romance plays an important part in the latter half of TDI it stands to reason that it will be important in the latter parts of TDT as well.
Also, yes, the whole joke about the SUV and Import was a bit of a car joke, but there are some key differences between the two. I DO have a DA account, I've just never used it. That might change in the near future however as I will TRY to do a few works of various sorts. Can't promise that it will be soon, good, or even ever will happen, only that I will try. Also, just as a heads up, yes, the I.N.P.O.R.T is one of the things I had planned from the beginning that Nerd Corps beat me to the punch in getting out. It is one of the four 'armored suits' I have in this series, the second one to be shown to be exact. You've already seen the first one in action a few chapters back *grins* the last two will be a bit later down the road though. While the S.U.V is nothing more than a repainted copy of White Glint from Armored Core 4Answer, the INPORT is loosely based on the Epyon Gundam, but only the torso and wings, the rest is my design.
That's all I have for now, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and that it wasn't too random or all over the place. I don't have a name for the next chapter yet, but I think I'm going to end book II at around chapter 22 or 23, ending with this terra. Book III will start with the next terra and will cover two additional terra, then book IV will be the last terra. Why an entire book for one terra? You'll have to wait and see. But as Kai always says, 'Trust me.'
Till next time, Ja Ne!