Tree!
As Sky exited the jump from the previous world, Coro looked around the new world for a landing spot. All outside the windows was black as Sky raced for a spot to land. Suddenly, Coro spotted two towers with wind mills on it.
'We need to land near there.' Cor thought to herself as she steered for the lights.
'We're out of time!' Sky told her suddenly as the front right aero-pod exploded in flames.
…
Nausicaa, Princes of the valley of the wind, was brought to the top of the wind castle by her mentors, Meco and lord Upa.
As she arrived, Meco told her, "Call has detected something on the wind!"
"I can't find it, but it's there." A old man with white eyebrows and a grey beard yelled against the wind.
"There!" Lord Upa, a old man with two swords and brown cloak shouted and pointed towards the ocean.
Slowly a rumble grew along with several lights as the object approached them.
"My God! It's an airship! And it's damaged!" Meco said in surprise as he spotted the sails billowing in the wind along with a jet of fire coming from the side of it.
A blast rocked them as another aero-pod exploded.
"It's going to crash in the jungle!" A boy shouted, scaring the old men.
"Prince Asbel! What are you doing here?" Meco shouted as Nausicaa climbed onto her glider that was mounted on a launcher several feet away.
"No time! Come-on Asbel!" Nausicaa yelled as Asbel climbed onto her glider with her an launched.
…
Coro woke up and looked around, She was in the wheelhouse of Sky, who had crashed last night in a storm after Harrow's repairs had failed. As she took in more detail, she heard a massive groan. Outside she saw a tree several hundred feet high begin to collapse forward across the deck of Sky.
"Oh no you don't!" Coro said to herself as she raced out of the wheel house and onto the deck, just catching the massive tree. Instantly, Coro sank several inches into the deck as the weight of the tree pressed on her.
"Someone...help...please" Coro groaned as she felt herself drop a few more inches into the deck as the structure of the ship tried to hold the weight.
'I'm not going to last very long. I need to find some help.' Coro thought to herself as she tried to hold the tree.
…
Nausicaa and Asbel rushed to the plume of smoke of the wrecked ship.\
"Look! That lone person is holding back the tree!" Asbell yelled to Nausicaa.
"We have to move faster!" Nausicaa replied back. Suddenly they felt something like a blanket had been thrown over their minds, 'Help me please! I can't hold on forever!' interrupted their thoughts.
"Did you just hear that?" Asbel asked as they rushed to help.
"Look! Ohms!" Nausicaa replied as she pointed to three massive bugs that had crashed out of the forest and raced towards the ship.
As the Ohms arrived at the ship, each one reared up with their jointed legs and pressed against the tree.
"Incredible! That person got them to help her like they could understand her!' Asbel marveled as they landed the glider and the Ohms finished pushing the tree back upright. As Asbel and Nausicaa ran to the large ship, the Ohms receded back into the forest.
"That was strange." Nausicaa said as they found a ladder on one of two large ski like rods at the bottom of the ship, and began to climb.
When they reached the top deck of the ship, they spotted the person who held up the tree sitting on a crate resting.
…
'That was close.' Coro told Sky as she sat on a crate.
'Umm, Coro… we have guests.' Sky replied back.
Coro stood up and said, "If you're here to help then sit out of the way." as she turned to a boy in brown, padded clothes and mask, who was carrying a large glider and a girl in a blue suit and matching mask.
"But how can you be alive? This air is toxic, you should have been dead two minutes ago!" The boy asked through the mask as he set down the glider.
"No it's not-" Cor said before she saw the slight haze hanging in the air.
"We'll find out later, which way to the valley of the wind?" Coro asked as she dusted herself off.
"Straight through the sand desert." the boy said as he pointed over his shoulder.
"Sky! Hoist the sails and head east We'll make repairs when we stop!" Coro ordered.
"By the way, my name is Coro, I'm captain of this ship, the Midnight Sky, and somewhere around her is Harrow, my engineer, San, my tracker, and Ashitaka, San's helper and protector." Coro said as she saw amazement on the boy and girl's faces as the sails began to unfurl by themselves.
"My name is Asbel." the boy said as he snapped out of his amazed shock.
"M-my'n is Nausica." The girl said after Asbel elbowed her.
"Let's head to the bridge and get settled, we have a little while." Coro said as Sky began to move on its sand skis.
As Coro, Asbel, and Nausicaa entered the bridge, Harrow came out of one of the doors with his face blackened, oil on his white coat, and hair blown back.
"That looks good on you." Coro said teasingly when she saw Harrow.
"It's twice as much damage as before." Harrow reported, ignoring Coro's comment.
"Have you seen San and Ashitaka?" Coro asked, worried as she realized that they were missing.
'They are currently in their bunks sleeping.' Sky told Coro as they sped east.
"Harrow, clean yourself up and worry about it later." Coro instructed him as she realized that he was black with soot.
"What about us?" Asbel asked as Nausicaa walked along the windows.
"Enjoy yourselves." was all that Coro said as she walked out of the bridge and headed to one of the crow's nests.
…
After about three hours, Coro spotted the entrance to the valley that held the small kingdom, a large sand dune that swept down between two high sea cliffs was being buffeted by a strong wind from the valley.
Coro climbed down from the Crow's nest and walked to the bridge as Sky drew closer to the large dune.
"Lower the sails! Harrow fire up only the two middle aero-pods!" Coro ordered as she took the wheel and was joined by Nausicaa and Asbel.
Slowly, Sky moved up the bank propelled by the lone pair of pods. As Sky crested the top of the dune, Coro heaved on a lever and swiveled the pods till they faced the back of the ship. Sky picked up speed as gravity pulled it towards the mouth of the valley, Coro ordered the pods brought to full power, slowing the speeding ship as it passed between the two sea cliffs.
When they had passed the edges of the cliffs, Coro saw the valley spread out in front of them with a large grass plain extending to the sea.
"Drop stern anchor!" Cor ordered as they approached a castle with two large windmills.
As the anchor clattered out the back, Coro killed the engines and swung the ship next to the castle until the deck was level to the gardens at the square before the castle. As Sky stopped, Nausicaa, followed by Asbel with her glider, ran off the ship and into the arms of several of the villagers. Coro followed but stopped at the edge of the deck, before being joined by Ashitaka and San.
"Feeling better San?" Coro Asked as she saw the relaxed look on San's face.
"Yeah." San said calmly as Coro looked around for Harrow.
"Now where is Harrow? He is always late." Coro said she turned around.
"Coro~!" Coro heard Harrow shout from somewhere.
"Do you see where he is?" Coro asked San looking around and not seeing Harrow.
"Coro~! **crack**, Lookout below~!" Harro cried from somewhere as the mast behind Coro, cracked three feet up from the deck and began to slowly fall towards the square.
"San, Ashitaka, save the people." Cor ordered the pair calmly.
Coro jumped off the ship and stood in front of the falling mast while San and Ashitaka cleared the people in the blink of the eye. Coro caught the mast with her hands, stopping it level with the ground. With a thud, Harrow fell out of the crows nest in a heap.
"Found him." San said as people gathered around in shock as Coro's strength as she turned around and held the mast by one hand.
"Harrow… What, were you doing?" Coro asked annoyed.
"I, umm, fell asleep in the crow's nest." Harrow muttered.
"Well...Take the mast and set it next to the stump." Coro said as she whacked him on the head with the mast before he picked it up and walked to the ship.
"Coro, this is Meco and Call, my advisors." Nausicaa said as she introduced two aging men to Coro.
"I need to talk to all four of you." Coro said, gesturing to Asbel too.
"Then let's head to the castle." Meco said.
…
Meco led Coro, Nausicaa, Asbel, and Call into an underground chamber with several chairs and a table and gestured Coro to sit down.
"Now… What is it you want?" Call asked Coro as she pulled off her hat and sat on a chair.
"Unfortunately several things, materials to repair my ship, and… Nausicaa and Asbel." Coro replied.
"Why do you want us?" Asbel asked quizzically.
"It's a long story." Coro replied.
"Meco likes long stories." Nausicaa replied.
"Well, my parents are the king and Queen of Exiles and the original captain of Exile. several incidents occurred and I've been given the task of taking my ship to pick up members of my crew who will help me defend all the worlds in this universe. Nausica and Asbel are the lucky two." Coro explained.
"Will they be able to visit us? Or is it permanent?" Call asked.
"They will be able to visit from time to time."
"What do we get for joining you?" Asbel finally asked.
"Power, abilities, friend, and more."
"I'm in." Nausicaa replied simply.
"Whaa!" Meco looked at Nausicaa.
"But, But Princess!" Call stuttered.
"Then I'll go too." Asbel replied without missing a beat.
"Then it's settled, once the ship is repaired we'll be leaving. There is even a room for you garden Nausicaa." Coro said after the rapid fire interrogation as she stood and exited the room.
…