~Chapter 6: Of Alchemy, Creepers, and New Destinations~

Luckily for the inhabitants of the Butterfly they had sailed into a cooler area than that of Mistral City. Another lucky occurrence was that everyone had a opportunity to sleep in which they took. The Butterfly was mostly automated and the only thing that had to be repaired was the communications. Most of the recruits though were all up and moving come early morning. Though come the afternoon, the next town had come into view.

The next town was named Finalch and it was not as big as Mistral but not at all small. It was actually big enough for the army to restock themselves easily! The town itself was ringed by imposing mountains pocketed by various ores and caves. By midday, the ship slowed to a halt and the recruits were swarming the town.

Most of the generals and officers of higher ranks were looking for things for the ship as a whole, things such as coal, iron, and diamonds as well as various food items. Individual recruits were looking more personal items. The dynamic trio of Miki, Darren, and Annie had already gone off into the town, looking at the sights.

Annie had led them to an alchemy shop and exclaimed, "Hey, guys! It's an alchemy place! These places are rare as diamonds! Let's go in!"

The alchemy shop was dim, lit by a single redstone lamp. Orderly shelves lined the walls, withholding strange objects which Annie squealed over. She taped the glass of one, which held a red object with a single hole in the middle. The redhead yelled like a puppy, "A Destruction Catalyst!"

Darren raised his eyebrow as he muttered, "Sounds dangerous."

Annie didn't answer but pranced to the counter to look at more of the strange objects. Suddenly an ominous man swept from the door in the back and demanded, "What are you kids doing here!"

Annie piped up, "I would like to know how much the Destruction Catalyst is?"

The man scanned her and growled, "For one of the Sky Army, more than you can afford."

She frowned,"Are you sure!"

The man literally roared,"Get out!" which caused her to scramble out of the shop.

Miki's eyes narrowed. Darren, seeing this, said,"Come on, Miki. Let's go join Annie."

He placed his hand on her shoulder and shoved her through the door for he could see she was ready to scream. Once out, Darren talked to Annie, "Annie, he's just some old man who dislikes the armies of Minecraftia!"

Annie whimpered, "I wanted that. It's so rare too."

Suddenly a girl ran out of the door, her dark blond hair a-flying and her purple eyes full of determination. She stopped in front of the recruits and asked, "Who wanted the Destruction Catalyst?"

She was a little shorter than them, with dark blond hair swept back into a ponytail and purple eyes full of life. A pair of googles held back her bangs but a few strands of her hair escaped. Her hands,protected by purple gloves, were in the pockets of her dark grey jeans. Flapping in the slight wind was her trench coat, black as night, and under it she also wore a shirt dark purple in color.

Annie stepped forward and whispered, "Me."

The girl handed her it along with a cylinder full of glowstone dust. She declared, "There you go! One Destruction Catalyst and some glowstone dust!"

Annie fingered them with silent admiration. She finally asked, "What would your name be?"

The girl grinned as she declared, "Anna!"

Annie giggled, "That's close to Annie!"

Anna looked over the other two of the trio and asked, "Who might these people be?"

Annie introduced them, "This is Miki and Darren!"

The purpled-eyed girl slapped a hand on Darren's back and greeted him, "Hello, Miki!"

Darren growled, "I'M DARREN." and shoved his kerchief up above his cheeks to hide his blushing.

The three girls laughed. Though this happy moment was shattered by a shrill alarm the penetrated everything and caused everyone to yelp in surprise. Anna gritted her teeth and covered her ears.

Anna yelled over the alarm, "That's the alarm!"

Darren, also yelling, responded, "You don't say!", sarcasm dripping from his words.

Anna shot him a gaze that could kill. An explosion shook the ground, furthering the panic. Miki drew a sword, asking, "I imagine we're on attack mode now, correct?"

Anna drew her own weapon, a sword of obsidian, the blade a dark purple. She exclaimed,"This is my town and no one attacks without a fight!"

The attacker, or dare I say attackers, revealed themselves in their usual hissing rage and permanent scowl for they were creepers. Anna gave a high war shout and leapt on one, severing its head from its body with her obsidian blade. The trio, having drawn their weapons, started the assault as well. Their main objective was to make their way to the city center so they could find the other Sky Army recruits and Sky himself. Creepers were everywhere, blowing up entire holes in Finalch. The group leapt over the holes, slaying creepers left and right until they reached a building that they scrambled onto. Miki loosed arrows, giving the others time to think. Luckily they had enchanted her bow with one of their enchanted books giving it the Infinity enchantment. Darren turned to Miki and said, "Me and Annie will go see if we can find any of the others! Anna will stay here to keep you safe in case you miss any creepers!"

They hopped off and ran into the city. Darren turned a corner and scanned the surroundings. No creepers were about. This was good. Suddenly Flame came barreling down the alley with Night in tow. Annie called to them, "Are you two alright?"

Flame answered back out of breath, "Yeah. Night got shocked at all the creepers and I had to drag her somewhere isolated."

Darren cut in, "Have you seen any others?"

Flame shrugged as he replied, "Yeah. The problem is that there so much panic we can't organize and attack well. Whoever did this must have know we were coming because to be truthful an army of creepers don't attack some random town...much less an organized army of creepers."

From on top one of the buildings came the greeting call of Miki as she yelled,"I think they're falling back!"

The group looked at Miki and asked, "Really?" in frightening unison.

Miki nodded as Anna commented, "Creepy."

To their surprise this was true for instead of the heavy influx of the green monsters, they were few. Anna strode with the group of recruits saying out loud, "I hope my father is alright!"

Annie replied, "Well if he's an alchemist he probably has the ability to fight back!"

Anna murmured, "He is saying he's getting old and he's almost worried he losing his touch. He says a lots of things nowadays. It's hard because out here his alchemy is not very appreciated. Not when you can automate everything with technology."

Annie exclaimed, "Really?"

The purple-eyed girl closed her eyes briefly as she sighed,"It all depends where you are in Minecraftia. Sometimes you have a place where technology is big or maybe magic is everywhere. It's also the time we're in. With talk of Israphel rising and prowling around, many blame magic for that and thus are afraid of it. Not to mention you have our own kind turning against each other, killing and bringing unneeded fights! To add on to that, there's the mobs but they've always been here. We're living in strange times my friend. Strange times indeed."

With that speech from their companion, they entered the shop and saw a terrifying sight. Bending over the alchemist, grinning was a creeper. A sandy-colored creeper standing on two legs and in real arms holding a TNT block specifically. In fact, Night's sudden gasp brought its attention to them. With no order and a high war cry, Anna leapt forward then disappeared. After a second she reappeared behind the creeper and swung her sword at its neck with a mighty crack. It seemed as if the world stood still until the creeper back-slapped her sending her reeling into a glass case. With no time to waste she withdrew what was in the case, a dark-colored sword that was a deeper black than her regular obsidian sword, and ran again, wielding both the swords with terrible ferocity. The creeper hissed its displeasure as it dodged and ran out of the store. Seeing it gone, Anna immediately asked, "Father! Are you alright!"

He pulled himself and dusted himself off. He nodded and said, "Yes. Just a bit shaken."

He glanced at the recruits and asked, "Now what are you doing here, you mongrels?"

Anna protested, "They saved me! And I helped them!"

He narrowed his eyes, "You know, Anna. I don't want you to go off and put yourself in danger."

She shrieked, "I'm fifteen! Most are allowed to go at this age here!"

The man's smile revealed itself for a second as he mused, "Though on your sixteenth birthday after a few weeks of training..."

Anna scowl faded as she grinned, "My birthday IS in a few weeks!"

The man bowed his head to hide a warm smile. He directed his attention to the recruits, "I thank you and the rest for defending this city and my daughter. She may not be mine by blood but she's all I have. Thank you."

Darren murmured, "Yeah, thanks." where the others did likewise.

Anna grinned and exclaimed, "See you in a few weeks!"

In the city square the commander was rallying his army, ready to go on. He himself had ended up having to get a map and compass for the fact his newly engaged wife kept pointing out that he had to have something he could keep on hand. It appeared that no one was killed in the recent fight but there were a few injuries. He was glad. In addition, most of the recruits were grouped in the center and they were about to make for the ship. A recruit stopped by him and panted, "We're all here!"

Sky grinned and shouted, "Recruits! Move out!"

Once on the ship, they continued to head north. Sky seemed to have a hidden goal but he never revealed it to anyone, so one could only wonder where their final destination would be. Though they had a good idea on where they were heading. On the tower in the middle of the ship, Sky had tacked up his map and said to the recruits who were listening, "We have a nice few days flight until we hit civilization. That civilization is a vast area many call the Tekkit Territories. You may have heard of some of the inhabitants of there. You know. Spacemen and dwarves and scientists and mages and such. After that we have a few small towns before we hit the coast. After that, unless we get a map of what's up there, we're flying blind. Don't worry about that though! We're going through the Tekkit Territories! We may even be able to snag a few upgrades to the ship!"

From the crowd, Dimitri growled, "And maybe get the communications fixed!"

That's exactly what he ended up doing in the few days of flight they had. Thus Sky was able to get in touch of his friends, Deadlox and TrueMU, first of all. On the third day away from Finalch he was talking to Deadlox. Deadlox had congratulated him on proposing and teased him on taking so long. After this they started chatting about parkour and squids and crazy events in the world. It was rumor that around the area of the Tekkit Territories a massive earthquake was felt, not to mention the Voltz territories too. In addition the squids were said to be rising up and more sightings of squidmen were being reported. To this Sky replied, "That's unholy, Deadlox. Unholy I say! We have freaking Herobrine sightings here and there and now Squidmen! What's next? Something that could devour the entire planet!"

Deadlox replied his usual low voice, "I don't know Sky."

Suddenly one of the ship engineers burst in his room. He asked, "Sky did you see it!"

Sky replied, "What?"

The engineer repeated, "Did you see that crater?"

Sky shook his head and the engineer literally dragged him up to the deck while chattering, "Did Deadlox tell you about an earthquake being felt around the Tekkit Territories?"

Sky nodded and asked, "Why? Are we crossing in to the Territories?"

Once in the engineer room the engineer said,"Yes and look."

What loomed on the ground in front of the ship made Sky take off his glasses, revealing butter-colored eyes and whispered, "Mother of Notch."

AN: I'll give you three guesses on what it is.

Anna belongs to BlessedMC.