Chapter 3

The Battle

As Coro came to, she opened her eyes and looked at the concerned faces of Q and May.

"What's wrong?" Coro asked as she saw Harrow stand up and tried to do the same.

"Exile can't get out of the tree." Q said concerned, "It means that you don't have a ship to use."

"Apparently not… Exile has been making a second ship for Coro and has just finished it with a tunnel out." May said as she came into the room.

"Let's go to the cargo hold and see your new ship then!" Q said excitedly to the group as he led them through a door.

When the group entered the darkened cargo hold, Coro asked Q if he had any advice for her on piloting a new ship, "I took the liberty of giving you and Harrow all of my experience with the powers when you were unconscious incase something like this happened. So you can use them as if you had practiced for years with them." Q had replied.

"What do you mean 'incase something like this happened'?" Coro asked as May yanked on a switch and the lights started to snap on over head.

"I mean, Exile can't move so we, May and I, can't go anywhere with you. We are bound to Exile." Q explained as the lights slowly illuminated a massive sailing ship with four masts and opening in the deck that stretched the length of Exile's cargo deck. The smart looking ship had a set of twin stacks sitting in the center of the ship, side-by-side, and two stories of upper decks in the back, with a copy in the front that was three stories high.

"Exile has fitted it with all the necessities you will ever need, and a complete book of all worlds that can be visited." May said as she walked to the group and stood next to a surprised Harrow.

As Coro looked at the new ship with growing pride, she noticed the name plate at the bow of the ship, "The Midnight Sky?" she asked with surprise.

"Dont look at us Exile named it!" May said defensively as they boarded the ship and Q ran both of them through the controls.

As the quartet walked onto the bridge of the Midnight Sky, May heard a boy say in her mind, 'Welcome to the bridge captain.'

'Hello Midnight Sky and thanks' Coro thought back to the ship's entity.

"Well that pretty much sums up the tour." Q said as he faced Coro and Harrow.

"Now, both of you go have a big adventure like me, your father, and our friends did." May told the two as they walked out of the bridge and onto the main deck.

"Ok! And thanks for the ship!" Coro said back as three sets of airo-pods came out of the sides and began revving up, slowly pushing the massive ship out of the cargo hold.

"Coro! You should get to the bridge!" Harrow yelled at her as they slowly climbed into a large cavern carved above them and started to slowly surge towards a small tunnel to one side.

As the Midnight Sky gained speed, Coro gripped the wheel as she suddenly realized, 'At the end of this tunnel is a solid wall of ice! We'll crash to a crumpled pile of wood and steel!'

'Don't worry! The ice wall at the end of this tunnel is only a inch thick. it will be like breaking glass.' Midnight sky told her as they continued to gain speed and Coro saw the approaching wall.

'Thanks for calming my fears Sky. And I think I'll call you Sky for now on it's easier.' Coro thought back as the wall rapidly approached.

With the crash of shattering glass, the wall in front of them burst open as the tip of the bow hit the ice and Coro was blinded by sunlight as she spun the wheel hard to one side. When Coro finally got a look around, she noticed that all the sails were out and billowing, taunt, on the masts.

"Lower the sails!" Coro ordered instinctively as she lined up a course that brought them in next to one of the huge branches.

Sky slowed and bumped gently against the branch as people ran over to them. After several people had tied Sky onto the tree, Coro jumped off the deck and landed squarely on her feet with a thud several hundred feet below.

"Coro? Is that you? How did you get this ship?" Several of her friends asked as they looked at her before stopping at her back and exclaiming, "Coro! Your mark is moving!"

"I'm not the only one." Coro told them before turning around and shouting at the ship, "Come on! You will land gracefully!"

Suddenly a figure ran off the edge of the ship, arched several feet out farther than Coro, and landed with a thud. As he landed, a small crater formed along with cracks running through the branch. As Coro's friends looked at the figure, he turned and said to them, "I can't believe it.. Coro had actually found Exile and her real parents."

"Harrow? Is that You?!" Coro's friends cried in astonishment.

"At your service." Harrow said as he took off a snow white hat that he had found somewhere and bowed deeply.

"Coro!" A man roared with rage in the crowd, causing her to flinch as she recognized the voice.

"I'm so dead." was all Coro could say as Zoro came out of the crowd and faced her.

"If you think your going to go off on an adventure, then you're going to have to defeat us!" He bellowed with rage as he pulled out his three swords.

"Us?" Coro asked fearing where this was leading.

"Zoro, Deryn and Alex, Asuna and Kirito, and May and I. In that order and all powers open." Coro heard Q say as she saw him step out of the crowd as it parted in astonishment at the return of the lost captains. As Q stepped forward wearing his full 'uniform' he was followed by the rest of the crew that he named off who were also wearing their best clothes.

"Begin." May said as everyone pulled out their swords and Zoro charged at Coro. Thinking quickly, Coro jumped high into the air and brought her swords down on Zoro. As the two connected, Coro bounced off and just barely avoided her step dad's signature attack, dance of the glass blades, as she landed on the tree limb. Seeing an opening in Zoro's form as she avoided his attack, Coro sprang forward and swiped her blades against the ground as she knocked Zoro's legs out from underneath him.

As Coro brought her sword to Zoro's nose and started to cry at defeating her step father Zoro looked at her and said with a smile, " So, the torch is passed to the next generation. You did good Coro."

"Our turn next." Deryn and Alex said as they stepped into the ring and Zoro left.

With ease Deryn jumped into Alex's hand and was launched overhead of Coro. As both charged on either side of her, she held her ground until the last moment possible before moving. With stunning speed, Coro blocked both attackers and knocked them to the ground and brought her swords to their chests.

"Good form, need to work on your timing a little." Alex said as Deryn and him got up and walked away.

"Our turn." Kirito and Asuna said at the same time as they walked onto the ring.

As Coro faced them both and she attacked, she was amazed as both moved at the same time and attacked the same. But as both came to hit her a second time, she nimbly sliced through their swords and defeated them.

"Now.. let's see how you do against your mother and old man." Q said with a smile as they took their place in the ring.

As Coro faced them, she heard a cracking sound. As she glanced down, in a small square, the spot she was on began to sink into the branch. As she jumped to the side and watched it sink, Some one from the crowd yelled, "A section of the limb just fell down!"

As Coro inched to the hole she was surprised, and scared to see a long drop to the ground below through the hole.

"Nice trick." Coro said playfully as she returned her attention to the fight.

"One of many" Q said as he jumped forward and attacked.

Coro quickly deflected the attack from Q then spun around and stopped an attack from May who had snuck behind her. Concentrating on blocking the attacks, Coro felt like energy was slowly condensing inside her as she defended herself from the attacks of the two opponents.

…

Deep inside Sky, Harrow walked along the banks of levers and pressure gages, checking to make sure they were all working properly. As he got to the last gage on the pillar of pipes that connect to the boilers, he stopped and saw that the pressure was quickly approaching the meltdown zone. Then, the lever next to him unlatched and rattled all the way up. Harrow watched as the banks of levers started to dance up and down, all the while the pressure was almost at the meltdown point and rising.

Cursing to himself, Harrow ran over, grabbing the pressure release valve lever, and tried to open it but the lever wouldn't budge for him. As Harrow wrestled with the lever, the massive engines started up but Harrow didn't notice. Suddenly, the whistles in the twin stacks bellowed loud and long, startling Harrow. Only then did he realize that the engines were slowly picking up speed.

'It's working on its own! I have to go and see Q and May about this!' Harrow thought as he raced out of the room.

…

As Coro felt the energy condensing inside her, she noticed that Sky's stacks had started to belch steam rhythmically, high into the air, a sure sign that the engines were starting up.

Suddenly, as Coro felt the condensed energy inside her reach its maximum and she saw an opening in Q and May's attacks, the twin whistles on Sky's smoke stacks bellowed long, hard, and loud. The blast was so loud that people in the crowd covered their ears in pain however, Coro didn't notice as she launched her attack on May and Q.

She brought her right sword up and her left one back, she felt the energy travel from her body, to her right arm, and into her blade just as it hit May and Q's swords.

…

Deep in Sky, as Coro hit May and Q's swords, the pressure gage on the column of pipes reached it's maximum and cracked as the needle passed the maximum pin.

…

Coro watched in surprise as her sword electrically arched to the ground as the energy discharged. As she pulled her swords away from May and Q's, Sky's whistle quieted down to a whisper before stopping.

Q and May held their positions a second longer before Q coughed and said, "She definitely takes after you May. But …man, you never hit me that hard."

"Yeah, **cough** you never shocked me." May replied as she sank to the ground.

"Alright Princess, give your parents a goodbye hug, we know when we're out matched." Q said as he put his swords away with a smile.

"Don't call me that!...Oh! I forgot! Harrow is coming with me too!" Coro said as she hugged her parents and stepparents.

"Harrow Sharp! Front and center!" Alex bellowed towards the ship.

Harrow jumped down after a minute muttering to himself as he walked over to his parents. As he passed Coro he turned to her and muttered sarcastically as he passed, "Thanks for volunteering me in public!"

As Harrow stopped in front of his parents, Deryn asked him, "Are you sure you want to go?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Coro needs someone to be her engineer, you know clueless she is with machines." Harrow said as he hugged his parents goodby and Coro boarded Sky.

…

As Harrow boarded Sky, Coro ran to the bridge and yelled goodbye. When Harrow had entered the engine room and fixed the broken gage, Sky slowly lifted off the branch and shot off.

After a few minutes of sailing, they jumped for the first time and Coro thought as they entered the jump, 'On to adventure!'