Episode 02: Ghosts of the Past
Chapter 02
With no time to waste, Sea teleported them sideways a few feet. A shot rang out in the forest for a bullet to strike into the tree directly where Wy's head would have been. As nearly instantaneous as the spell was, the pair were barely able to prepare themselves for the next attack when Canada leapt down from the branch, hammer in hand. Sea and Wy were forced to dodge in separate directions as the hammer came down between them.
Another shot, and another bullet narrowly missed Wy as she tore off into the forest to find that sniper, jumping from branch to branch as soon as she was able to. Sea allowed himself to slide down the slight incline to the flatter area below. Canada was not far behind the whole while.
"So, you're a magic user, too," Canada proclaimed, stopping just five meters away. Indeed, switching focus to be able to see magic revealed that Canada glowed with the same bluish tint all things magical had. He didn't seem concerned that Sea was pointing an AK-47 at him. Somewhere off in the distance, another gunshot rang out. "That gun isn't going to do you much good in two seconds."
Sea gave him a confused look before a strange yet minute flash of light drew his attention to the ground. Lying between them in the leaves was a small sphere. Before he had time to react, the object sent out a shockwave of magical energy, but left everything unscathed. Checking his gun, Sea swore as he noticed that the e-clip had been drained. Tossing the useless thing to the ground, he pulled out the hook swords hidden in the storage device, and readied himself for combat.
"I can't allow CS dogs like you to escape. I'm sure you understand," Canada said, shifting into a fighting stance himself after putting on his goggles. His frown was still in place, but there was something decidedly more electrified about it. He was looking for a fight. "It's a good thing you brought along a melee weapon. I was worried it would all be over too soon."
"Trust me, it will be," Sea retorted, holding his ground. He wasn't going to initiate the fight, since they needed Canada to trust them for this mission to be a success. Still, he wasn't about to lose.
"Such sass, for a human," Canada commented before rushing forward to swing at Sea from the right. Due to the inhuman strength possessed by Nations, the weight of the hammer didn't slow him down at all, allowing the North American Nation to close the gap between them in half the time it would take a human. Despite his own strength, Sea wasn't exactly equipped to catch a hammer's strike with ease. His own move was to duck and dodge to the side. Clearly confused at his opponent's matching super speed, Canada's resolve appeared to waver for barely a second.
"Who said I was human?" Sea responded, dodging another strike. If only he could get close enough to Canada, he could knock him out with the Sensory Deprivation spell. As it was, Canada was keeping up a formidable defensive circle. The hammer relied on well-placed swings, any one of which would break bones easily. Stepping within that radius at the wrong time meant a truckload of pain. Narrowly dodging another strike while he searched for a weak spot, Sea realized there was only one place Canada could not easily defend. He had to get behind the other Nation.
As Canada swung the hammer down for another strike, Sea made his move and teleported. But when he reappeared, he was forced to jump back from the downward blow aimed at his head. How? Unless Canada was psionic and speed-reading his intentions, there should have been no way he could anticipate such a move…
The goggles! They must have been magicked somehow, allowing Canada to read the trail of magic from the spell faster than his own abilities. Checking again for magic, Sea noticed that the goggles now also glowed light blue. That shouldn't have been impossible; Canada had had no time to cast an enchantment on the item, and there were no runes on them. Another strike, and Sea teleported himself up onto a nearby branch, far enough from the hammer's reach.
Was Canada…casting spells through inanimate objects?
"Get down from there, you cowardly traitor!" Canada shouted from down below, clearly incensed. Out of one of his pockets he grabbed another one of those little spheres, and threw it at Sea. Out of the sphere emerged a magic net, a nearly inescapable spell. The younger Nation jumped eight feet up and to the right to avoid it, catching another branch with the hooked ends of his swords and swinging himself up onto the branch.
"The only traitor I see around here is you," he replied. Canada looked confused at his comment. It was pretty clear from the Canadian's standpoint that he was not the one in the wrong. More assured that his plan might work, Sea continued. "Honestly, Canada, attacking your own kind in cold blood? That's harsh."
"That's…not my name," the Canadian said with an edge of doubt in his voice.
"Isn't it?" Sea asked. The two stared each other down, fighting a silent battle of wills before Canada cracked first.
"Enough of this crap," the Canadian practically growled, slamming the hammer down on the ground and shouting, "Kre'inik dreyat!" From the small impact crater that had formed, a crack appeared in the ground and began to thread its way unevenly towards the tree Sea was standing in, growing wider as it went. A shockwave preceded it, nearly managing to shake the younger Nation off the branch. Just as the crack was snaking its way through the roots of the tree, Sea teleported back down to the ground. As he reappeared opposite Canada, the tree he had been standing in groaned and collapsed into the meter-wide chasm that had appeared beneath it. The boom of the fallen tree echoed through the forest.
"I'm not here to fight you," Sea stated, raising his swords. It was clear that the only way to end this was for one of them to win. Running wasn't in the cards for either of them, strategically and personally. Maybe it would take longer to gain his trust, but perhaps winning the fight would earn Sea Canada's respect. It would at least stop him long enough to talk.
With her back flush against the tree trunk, Wy paused for a breather. Climbing and jumping around from branch to branch as she was and at the speeds she was going was tiring work, even for the superhuman. Glancing at her right calf, Wy took note of the trickle of blood travelling down her calf. Whoever this sniper was, they were either good or using spells. She also took the moment to study the bullet hole planted in the branch just three feet from where she stood. From it she gleaned what she could concerning the possible location of the sniper. She was certain she was getting closer.
Glancing around, Wy discovered another large branch just below her current location. From there, she could jump across to the tree on the left, then to a slightly lower branch before jumping down behind a cluster of rocks. The modest ditch, carved from a dried-out brook, would provide the cover she needed to shimmy down closer to the knot of trees she believed the sniper to be hiding behind.
As silently as possible, she dropped down, fumbling her footing slightly as the bark proved somewhat smoother than anticipated. Concentrating on her destination, she jumped out from behind her cover, ignoring the sound of a gunshot. As she jumped again to the third branch, she allowed herself a second to gaze out at the forest just as a second bullet lodged itself in the tree she had just left behind.
There it was! The unnatural glint of sunshine hitting polished metal, and from that one group of trees, too. Now that she knew, she just had to make her way there and capture that sniper. The trip from tree to rocks to ditch proved easier and more silent than the first leg of that journey.
Navigating down the ditch proved difficult, as the fallen leaves that had taken refuge within it were adamant about being as noisy as possible whenever she moved. Nonetheless, Wy assumed that the natural noises of the wind flowing through the forest were enough to mask those which she made since no more shots were made at her. Slowly but surely, she made her way closer to the knot of trees…
Before a nine foot tall, dark blue mechanized armour suit stood up from behind the group of trees, it's massive rifle pointed straight at Wy from where she lay on the ground. "Enough games," a serious female voice called out through the suit's speakerphones. "You're coming with me."
After a brief second of further shock, Wy jumped up from her position and began running back towards where she'd left Sea. A bit of back-up was in order, maybe even a retreat, and, hey, she had done her job so it wasn't like running away was a complete failure on her part. With the mecha hot on her heels, though luckily hindered somewhat by the closeness of the forest all around them, Wy ran faster than she had in a long while.
Swinging the hammer low, Canada used the spike of the hammer to lift a bit of dirt from the ground, his shout of "Gefnel dregyit, fo zavik!" twisting them into small, sharp projectiles that he sent hurtling at Sea. The needles turned into rock-hard javelins as they picked up extra earth along the way. Sea stood his ground this time, even if it wasn't conducive to his fighting style. They were matched for strength, and maybe even for speed, but who was better at magic?
Quickly casting his own spell, Sea murmured "Zavik mikra'hn," and sent forth a bolt of lightning towards each javelin of rock, shattering them to pieces and sending the debris careening harmlessly to the forest floor. The one problem with Sea's magic in this kind of situation was that he had to fight fair. This negated most of his spells, spells that could easily take out Canada in one go, but that would do nothing to get the Nation on their side. While Sea's lightning was destroying the rock javelins, Canada had used that time to take out another one of those small spheres. Sea blocked the advancing wall of fire with a wall of his own, one made of wind, which herded the tendrils of flame out to the sides harmlessly.
As the last of the flames evaporated, Sea was barely given enough time to switch into a defensive stance and bring his swords up for a block, catching the staff of Canada's hammer during its downward swing in the crook made from the crossing blades. "How do you know who I am?" the North American Nation asked, sounding strained, perhaps, even, a touch desperate. Their weapons remained locked, both using all their strength to fight off the other.
"It's a long story," Sea said. "Best reserved for off the battlefield." Shifting his body out of the way, Sea let the strike continue on its collision course with the ground to dodge out of the way. Canada was not unbalanced for long, and was quickly swinging the hammer around again, likely for Sea's ribcage. Sensing the hammer was charged with a spell, Sea dodged that strike, too. While rolling forward, he caught Canada's ankle with the hook of one of his swords, and used his momentum to pull the older Nation's foot right out from under him as he stood.
Spinning on his heels, Sea was too late to stop a shard of rock that had been sent his way. It sliced through the skin of his cheekbone before flying off into the forest. He staggered back from the surprise, but counted himself lucky that Canada had been unable to take advantage of the situation then. The older Nation had only had enough time to stand up.
"You can't trick me with your words, spy," Canada stated, rushing at him once more. Fed up with being accused of being a spy, Sea was damn well prepared to end the fight with a little temporal magic when suddenly the forest behind them erupted in a cacophony of noise. It even made Canada stop his charge. Something, something big, was crashing through the trees towards them. Hearing Wy shout his name, Sea spotted her bounding through the underbrush, running from a mech.
"I found the sniper!" she yelled, jumping over a fallen branch and running to his side, glaive at the ready. The mecha, a nine foot tall Glitter Girl complete with assault cannon (an over-sized assault rifle, this one decked out for sniping), mini-missiles, and rail gun, barely seemed to notice the thinner branches it ran through to get to them. When everything finally settled down, the scene was left with Wy and Sea on one side facing off against Canada and whoever was in the mech suit.
"Great timing, Wy," Sea commented to her, and her alone.
"Thanks," she responded, a little breathless. "Did you figure out a plan yet?"
He nodded. "You're going to have to trust me."
"I hate it when you say that…" she replied, but, otherwise, didn't protest. His ideas usually worked out.
"Alright, we surrender!" Sea called out to their opponents, putting away the swords. This brought an exclamation of disbelief from Wy, and a sceptical look from Canada. "I'm not stupid enough to try and pick a fight with a Glitter Girl, especially not one with a rail gun. However, we retain the right to be arrested instead of executed for surrendering peacefully." He gestured at Wy to put away her weapon, and although frustrated by the defeat, she followed his lead anyways.
Canada and the person in the mech shared some unknowable look before the former began to approach the pair. For a second it seemed that he might just try to end them right there and then, but a glance towards Sea stopped him somehow. Placing the hammer on the ground with the shaft of the weapon sticking vertical, he began to speak in an official tone as he handcuffed them using actual handcuffs spelled with Forcebonds.
"You are hereby arrested by the Lazlo Volunteer Militia for Refugee Aid for being suspected of spying for the Coalition States…"
Author's Note: Homecoming will now be updating with one new chapter every Sunday. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Special thanks goes out to Tomafyre and addicted1357. My apologies for not updating with new content sooner.