Chapter 7: Mechanic

Star

Okay, now I really wished that I didn't ask "Where to?" because we became totally lost. Even Enga was being helpless. I really thought that Avrin's bruise on her stomach irritated her. Zylup wasn't even telling me to shut up or anything! Personally, I think that it's the end of the world.

I was told that we were in a town called Canosse. (I was asleep on Zylup's back when we had arrived.) It was next to the southern bay of Serdio. Just great. Get ready to get sick, Star.

Carrying a bucket with me, I followed Zylup to the woods so I wouldn't have to throw up on someone's lap again. However, it seemed that Zylup had other plans.

"I hate you-" I exclaimed sorrowfully, but then I interrupted when I ejected my stomach fluids into the bucket.

He brought me to the shore!

"I know," Zylup remarked, grinning.

The ocean had always made me sick ever since I was five. Just one smell of salt water and I end up throwing up everything that I ate in the last twenty-four hours.

"I'm gonna get you for this..." I said between barfs.

"Not in this sorry state that you're in," Zylup said.

"Hey!" someone suddenly shouted at us. "Do that elsewhere!" I looked up and saw a kid standing there with his hands on his hips. He had a monkey wrench in his hand.

Looking dumfounded, I mumbled, "What?"

At first, he appeared as though he was going to outburst at us, but then he paused before muttering, "Please go. The captain of this ship is kind of in a bad mood." I looked behind him and noticed a giant, almost pirate-like ship parked along the shore. I also noticed someone was standing by it as well.

"Raven?" the lady behind the kid called.

"Uh-oh..." the kid murmured before turning around to face the person. "Yes, sis?"

Raven

I wasn't afraid of my sister or anything, it's just... She had been a little bit scary, lately.

As she walked up with her cane (she doesn't need it; it was for decoration), she asked, "Are you disturbing our guests?"

"T-they..." I began, but then I paused for a moment. "... Not at all, Niki."

"... Wait a minute..." the guy with the silver hair said. Apparently, a realization came to him. "You're... Niki Simoné, right?"

"I guess my business is widely known," Niki remarked. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Zylup," the guy said, "and this..." He sighed, glaring at the sick girl with the bucket. "This is Star."

Niki walked over to the girl, Star and held out her potion, saying, "Here, take this. It will calm down your nerves."

"I will," Star began, but paused for a moment. "... when my stomach says so."

We were brought back to the inn, and it just so happens that Zylup and Star's group's rooms were next to ours.

"So," this girl, Avrin said, "you're name's Raven?"

"To me, that's a girl's name," Star muttered.

"Hey!" I yelled that her. "It's my mom's middle name, and if you insult me, you insult her." I wasn't exactly one that was able to stand up for many things, but if it was personal, then I was able to do so.

"Whatever..." Star mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"You only live with your sister?" Avrin asked.

"And a couple of friends," I added. "Ever since our mother died, we began living her dream by sailing over the oceans and creating new merchandise for our business."

"You're an inventor?" she questioned me.

"Heh, no," I admitted as I scratched the back of my head, "I'm only a mechanic. My sister's the inventor. For an example..." I looked at Star, "that potion that you drank? Niki made it for some seasick mates when we were at the great flower city, Donau. A lot of rare herbs are located there, and she used all that was necessary to create it."

Coincidentally, Niki approached us, saying to me, "We'll be boarding the Crusader tomorrow." I nodded, but then she walked past us, entering our room.

I looked at Avrin and Star, asking, "You'll come with us, right?"

"Sure," Avrin answered. "We don't exactly have a specific destination to go to at the moment."

"Also, only if you have any more of those potions of yours," Star added.

"Good," I said, "because... my sister. She hasn't acted like herself lately. She doesn't act how she normally does. Not even around myself or Romeo." I paused when I noticed their confused expressions. "A family member. It... It would just be nice if you could help..."

Avrin crouched down to my level and nodded, saying, "Don't worry. We'll help."

The two guys of their group, Zylup and Enga, got back from... wherever they were.

"Alright, Avrin," Zylup said, holding a bag, "here's the ticket-thingy that you wanted. What's it for, anyways?"

I noticed that Avrin smirked when she said, "See, Star? I told you."

Suddenly, Star changed from her gloomy mood and tackled Zylup, exclaiming, "Yes! I accept!"

"What the hell?" Zylup questioned, trying to push Star off of him. However, Star dragged him down the hallway.

"Have fun!" Avrin called teasingly.

"What? Where?" Zylup shouted before he and Star disappeared.

We stood at the port- Niki, Avrin, Zylup, Enga, Star, and myself. We stood there, waiting for the Crusader to arrive. I thought about what happened the previous night. I woke up sometime at midnight by the argument coming from Zylup and Star outside. I found Niki sitting beside the window. She told me to go back to bed, and that she would as well in a moment. Although, through the last half an hour of being awake, she still sat by the window, looking outside.

"I can't believe that I have to wait five minutes just for the potion to kick in..." I heard Star mumble.

"Here it is," Niki announced. I looked up and what seemed to be a mile away was the Crusader- the most beautiful, yet fastest ship there ever was.

"Whoa..." Avrin breathed.

As soon as the Crusader boarded, someone threw the anchor into the water. When someone brought out the plank as a transport between the dock and the ship, we walked on board.

"Captain!" the whole crew saluted. "Good to see you again!"

"Let's discuss our next destination," Niki merely said bluntly. As she took two more steps, she stopped. "Oh, be sure to make our guests a place to rest." She entered the captain's cabin, followed by a few other of the crewmates.

"I might have found something more bizarre than Star," Zylup mumbled.

"Wait," Avrin said. "Where is Star?"

Star

"I said help!" I shrieked loudly.

Okay, really, I can explain. One minute, I was debating with myself whether to go on board or not. The next, I realized that they had pulled the plank board in, so I had to hurry and jump for the ledge before they took off. Suddenly, this evil monkey popped out of nowhere and began slipping my fingers off one at a time. My life was hanging on a moving ship, over the sea, and it was in the hands of a monkey.

After a few more pleads for help, someone finally called, "Hey, Romeo! Quit it!" As small hands picked the monkey up, pulling it away, another pair of hands grabbed my wrists and pulled me up. Safe on the solid surface, I began gasping for air, for I've been through hell and back.

"If you plan on getting on, then do it with everyone else!" my rescuer pointed out.

After my breathing had regulated, I jumped up and tackled him, exclaiming, "Zylup, you saved my life!"

"Get off, squirt!" he shouted, trying to get out of my grip.

As I let him go, I heard the Raven-kid say, "Don't do that, Romeo. That's our new friend."

"That thing," I slowly said, pointing at the monkey, "is Romeo?" Raven nodded slowly, having a blunt face. After a moment, I blurted out, "You said it was a family member!"

"He is," Raven remarked.

"Well," I began as an eyebrow twitched, "I guess Romeo and I will be the best of friends." I glared at the monkey with all of my might, hoping that he would receive my threatening message.

"You do realize that you're threatening a monkey, right?" Enga pointed out.

Yeah… I thought. The monkey of pure evil.

When it had become midnight, when the Moon was at its highest point in the sky (ah, who am I kidding? The Moon never moves), I walked out in the salt-filled air, ran over to the ledge, and… Well, you already know about my seasickness.

Suddenly, someone approached me from behind, saying, "You know, if you keep throwing up like that, you'll ending up puking out your guts."

I turned my head, looking like I just came face-to-face with the Grim Reaper, and saw Zylup. He was holding a vial of the Miracle potion, as I call it. I immediately took the potion and drank it. I shuddered as the nasty taste ran down my throat.

"What are you doing out here, anyways?" I grunted, being very cautious. It wasn't like Zylup to just help me like that. "Did you poison it?"

"Nope," Zylup answered, shaking his head.

"Swear it?" I questioned.

He lazily saluted, saying, "I swear it."

All right, now something was definitely wrong with this picture. Zylup was being nice. What was he up to…?

"Night!" he said as he walked back to the cabin.

After a minute of silence, I thought, Did he bring something on board from last night? I shrugged as I headed for the cabin as well.

While walking back to Zylup's room, which was where I was also staying at, I noticed that a plain white blanket sat just outside the door. As I approached it, I noticed that it was vaguely familiar. My mind clicked as I realized that it was my blanket. Zylup kicked me out. I was about to shout angrily at the door, but someone covered up my mouth.

While struggling to set myself free, the person whispered harshly into my ear, "Shh! Listen!"

After calming myself down, I turned around, realizing that it was Zylup. He had a serious expression on his face. He held a finger up, telling me to keep quiet. Despite wanting to argue with him, I did what he said. Slowly, he approached a door down the hall, which led to the captain's cabin. I followed him to the side of the door, which was slightly ajar. I saw a glimpse of Niki Simoné, and she seemed to be talking to herself.

"Just… leave me alone," she said. "This is my ship, my body, and my mind. You have no right to take control of any of my possessions!" A pause came. "What? Transporting? You mean… You're holding prisoners on my ship?" Another pause came. Then, she looked over at the door and spotted. "… N-no!"

Suddenly, a voice behind us commanded, "Now, kill them."

Raven

I immediately woke up when I heard a thump. It sounded as though there was a fight happening on deck. I hoped that it wasn't a raid, because that would be very bad. Despite that, I slid my hat and shoes on, grabbed my iron rod, and ran up to the deck.

As soon as I opened the door, my eyes widened at the scene. Niki was attacking Star and Zylup with her rapier.

"Niki…" I breathed, losing all belief that Niki was still there.

"Those two will soon be disposed of," someone suddenly said next to me. As I jumped, I looked up and saw a lady with black hair and violet eyes. "Then we will continue our voyage to our next destination." I stared at her, then back at Niki. I had realized that Niki's eyes were glowing a violet color as well.

Looking back at the lady, I asked, "Are you… controlling my sister?" She didn't answer, but I knew that it was a definite yes. "Leave Niki alone!" I demanded, but then someone grabbed me from behind, picking me up a few inches off of the ground. As I waved my arms and legs, attempting to get out of their grasp, I looked back to see another lady in a lavender dress.

"Quit the irritating chap, aren't you?" she asked, having a smug look on her face. She looked at the black-haired lady, saying, "Can I dispose of him too, Janet?"

I immediately noticed the trouble that I was in. I still tried to swing my way out of her grip, but to no avail.

"Hey kid!" someone suddenly called. We looked up and saw that it was Zylup, who was cleverly multi-tasking, blocking Niki's attacks while keeping his attention on us. "What are you doing?"

I didn't really know how to answer him, so when I noticed that the two ladies' attentions were on him, I brought my feet up and kicked the dress lady to get out of her grip. I collided with Janet, but I stumbled back, successfully getting away from the two. I must have interrupted her concentration, for her irises faded to yellow. After a thud, I looked back and saw that Niki had collapsed. I ran over to her to see if she was all right.

"Tch, damn brat," the other lady said.

"Heatshade," Janet suddenly said. "Jatan has called for us."

Sighing, Heatshade stated, "He's always calling us away. Does he want the girl or not?" As Zylup and Star appeared to get ready to attack them, she asked, "Explain to me how we are going to get off the ship."

"Gerald will be here in five seconds," Janet explained, "so we jump."

As Zylup went ahead and advanced on them, the two ran and jumped off the side of the ship. Thinking they were crazy, I ran over to the ledge along with Zylup to look over, but they were gone.

"Here we are," Niki stated, "the country of Tiberoa." We were in the Aquaria Coral Reef, parked at a port near the town Fetta. "Again, I'm sorry for all of the trouble that I've caused you."

"Despite what happened," Avrin began, "it was worth the ride… I guess." Yes, they didn't necessarily need to ride a ship to a neighboring country, but at least it had saved them some energy.

"You're just saying that because you were sleeping while we did all of the work," Zylup mumbled.

Before they began to walk away, Niki whispered to me, "Go with them."

I looked up at her as my eyes widened. "W-what?"

"What is the one thing that you want to do?" she asked me.

After a moment, I answered, "I want to get stronger."

"And you can do so by assisting them on their journey," Niki remarked.

"B-but what if those people come back?" I asked. "What if they brainwash you again?"

Chuckling, she explained, "I highly doubt that. They only did so because they wanted them. I have a feeling that they'll still follow their trail." Bending down to my level, she sat a hand on my head and smiled as she said, "Besides, I'm your older sister. I'm the boss of you, and you have to listen to what I say."

Despite not wanting to leave her, I really did believe that going with Avrin and the others would help me in becoming stronger, so I can keep Niki safe. Grinning back, I said, "Alright, boss!"

End of Book 1.