Battle of the Worlds
Ch. 4
By: Cutegirlmayra (This is the second to last chapter, hopefully/maybe (still unsure how long my next chapter will be or if it'll cover everything needed), please enjoy as our heroines and gent embark to take on the next chapter of this epic tale!)
Myrna got the gang all together, waiting at the docks for any sign of Griffen's ship.
"Are you sure this, Griffen guy, is coming?" Asked Crazy Maya Cringle, not sure if waiting around was the best option.
"It's all he told me, wait at the docks, I'll explain." Myrna informed her, showing in her tone that she was kinda skeptical too. "I hate waiting…"
"Ohh.. can he really be trusted? What if he is a…" Roslyn looked around, sheepishly. "A hacker?" she whispered into the gang's direction.
"He's not a hacker!" Myrna glared slightly back at her friend, defending him. "He's just… well… he's… hmm… stumbled upon something he must not fully understand." Myrna looked back out into the sea of winds, seeing ships move by, but none really docking.
She folded her arms, sighing.
She didn't want to believe her friend from so long ago, with all their many daring adventures together, would somehow be a bad guy…
"…Sounds like he stole it to me…" Dreaming Jewel Kidd looked up and nodded, believing her theory to be correct.
"He's no thief." Myrna defended again, almost at the point of rolling her eyes, but she just moved her head to show opposition to the theory.
"Pirate." Jewel opened her arms, looking to Myrna like she was the fool. "It's part of the job description, mate."
Myrna sighed, "He was a Wizard first, and Wizard's-"
"Alrighty then, I think you two should stop bickering and just ask the nice man about how he acquired this strange object himself, hmm?" Maya stepped in, putting on her best 'peacemaker' smile and having her hands behind her back, leaning in between the two girls.
"I'm sure he'll be here any minute, fingers crossed!" she waved her crossed fingers around and with a huge, probably faked smile, moved down and away.
"…What did he say his flag looked like?" asked Roslyn, apparently seeing something over yonder.
Myrna shook off the frustration she was feeling and folded her arms again, having untangled them to fight off Jewels and her words, but now was looking back out to the skywinds.
"A Neon Pink fox, with black stars in a bloody red sky behind it." She explained.
"PFFT, pink?" Jewel snickered, "Oh man… HAHA!"
"…Tough guys love pink. At least, that's what I hear…hehe." Maya joined in, laughing with her buddy as they both held in their laughter.
Myrna just rolled her eyes, "Such children."
"I remember when you were like that, but the worlds have made you tough, it's such a shame." Rosyln commented, placing a hand on Myrna's shoulder.
"Anyway, he's over there." She moved her hand back and used her thumb to point to a ship that was docked far over to the right, almost making itself unnoticed by passersbys.
"Wow, talk about stealth mode." Jewel teased, and walked over with a bit of a stride in her step.
"Can't wait to meet your love, Myrna."
"What?" Myrna snapped back, getting offensive. "He's just a friend!"
On the way over, they all had gotten to know each other and exchanged names.
But the rivalry of, 'who was better? Wizards or Pirates?', was still as strong as ever.
"You tend to defend him like he was a little more than a friend,… and by the way you're reacting, I'd say it might be more than a crush…" Jewel smugly replied, looking back with a happy but questioning look on her face to Myrna. "He can't be all that-"
"Ahoy, Wizards!" A beautiful boy stood on top of his ship's mast, taking a rope, he cut it and 'woohoo'd' as he swung skillfully down.
Rolling, he appeared right in front of the girls, as he slowly got up and bowed.
"Pleasure to be meetin' ye once again, land lovers! Haha! And who are these girls?" He asked, moving closer to Jewel's face.
She looked shocked, to say the least, and blinked a lot of times.
Looking back at Myrna with a faint blush on her face, she shrugged, "Eh. He's alright."
She lied.
Obviously thinking he was more than that.
"A bit of a show off though."
"Hey, Alright? Show off?" Griffen said, smiling cockily with a bit of fun humor in his voice.
He tried to act offended, and put his hands on his hips before looking over to Jewel, "I happen to be quite the pirate, and if they told you the plot twist yet, a wizard too!"
He took off his pirate hat and replaced it with a Life Wizard's hat, Winking.
He took off his hat and bowed with both hats once again,
"Pleasure to meet ye, I'm the Pirate Wizard. Call me Griffen."
He put his wizard hat on and stroked the side of the hat quickly, like Indiana Jones.
"…." Jewel just stared, a big blush on her face as she cleared her throat and walked back to the other girls.
Tapping Myrna's shoulder she replied, having her back facing Griffen, "I may have judged you on your taste; you may repeatedly use this moment against me in the future."
She looked away then while turning around, and grunted; shaking her head while not making eye contact with Griffen in her embarrassment.
Griffen curiously looked to her but didn't question anything; he just glanced back to Myrna.
"So then, you want to learn more about the Spiral stone?"
Roslyn nodded, stepping up.
"Yeah! And how you got it too!" she was ready to accuse him of wrong doing at any minute, placing her hands on her hips, and looking at him as if ready to be the judge at his trial.
"Haha! Spirited aren't you? Or is that just courageous spunk?" he teased, "Step into my office, ladies~ Have I got a story to tell you!"
He walked up to the portal of his ship, stood in the middle, and let it teleport him up to the main deck.
The others followed, but Roslyn looked a little shaky about it, not thinking proper magic existed in this world, and worrying about the consequences.
Immediately after she was studying it, Jewel pushed her in it with a good stubborn kick, making her squeal in fright and get teleported.
Jewel then sighed, not feeling in the mood to mock as she frowned and entered the portal too, however Maya was laughing hard enough for the both of them.
"This is my ship, The Smiling Creeper." He led the girls into his captain quarters.
"Please, sit and relax!"
He jumped onto his captain's chair, and then kicked his feet up on his desk. "I told the men to take a day off in the Pubs, drink as much Yum as they could possibly contain! Haha! So tell me, where would you like me to start?" He took his feet off his desk, and put his hands together as he moved up to a more sinister position.
"How-"
"Are you a hacker?" Roslyn let out, making the others look at her and frown.
"Ooookay, bold. But no, I'm not." Griffen answered, "You were saying, Myrna?"
"How did you get the stone?"
Her look was one of concern, she desperately wanted to trust her old friend, but didn't know exactly where he stood…
"Right, Well. Ambrose's talkative Owl was showing it off at a lecture I was at." He began, leaning back in his chair. "When he left it unattended after describing its potential and praising its craftsmanship, well,… none to say the least I… couldn't help myself."
He smiled, wiggling his fingers in the air.
"Ha! TOLD YOU HE STOLE IT! I CALLED IT!" Jewel stood up in her chair, pointing at Griffen and then Myrna.
"Your boasting rights have been reprieved!" she informed her.
"A-and I said he was no good! S-so…" Roslyn tried, but she didn't really have the gusto to get her justified glory.
Jewel sat down with renewed confidence and mojo, having her usual personality back and not being depressed anymore.
"So love, I got a question." She suddenly said, putting her hands behind her head and crossing her leg over the other one.
"…Got a girlfriend?" her hat slightly tilted as she slyly smiled toward his way.
"Umm…" Griffen comically raised an eyebrow to her, and tilted his head slightly, not sure if he wanted to answer that when Myrna forcibly stood up.
"That's not something to be asking right now!" she stated, blushing and glaring angrily at Jewel.
"The second I thought I had power over you…" she muttered under her breath.
Griffen looked to the two girls and then to Roslyn and Maya, pointing to the feuding duo, as his finger waved back and forth.
"Have they been bickering this whole time?"
"Pretty much." Maya spoke honestly, but Roslyn just rolled her eyes, still not trusting the so-called, 'Pirate Wizard'.
"Well, if that's it. Then I best let you all know of my intentions." Griffen got up, and then walked over to a cupboard that hung on the wall.
Opening it up, he took out a box and blew the dust off it, stroking it as he placed it on the table.
"Lassies…" he teased, "Gather around…"
The girls looked to each other, then excitedly and very quickly ran over to his desk, peering down at the box.
He played with them a bit, holding the suspense as he moved his hands around the box, then wiggled his fingers and slammed his hands on the sides. "I present to you…."
"Oh, get on with it then!" Jewel anxiously cried out.
"Haha… BEHOLD!" he lifted the box's lid, and a bright stone was in the center of it. It shone translucently, having so many colors within it.
A clear swirl spun within its depths, with dust of magic as it moved beautifully around, it looked like the Spiral itself.
"The Spiral Stone… a coveted artifact that, if used properly, could connect The Wizarding world with the Pirating one! A fusion that could be magnificent!… a side affect however-" he closed the box, making the girl's blink and kinda shake their heads at the entrancement the stone had over them.
"It uh… heh. Needs Ambrose's 'speech' to activate it." He stood above the box, looking slightly upset in a humorous way.
"Yeah… and Ambrose isn't just gonna 'unite worlds!' on a whim. Something about 'all the ways it could go wrong!' Blah, blah, blah, BLEH! The old man's just chicken is all…" Griffen grumbled, stepping away from the box.
"Hey! Don't say that about Ambrose! He's-"
"Wow… such a tiny stone could merge the two worlds? I thought travel between them was already possible! I mean, I know a horse that said something about wanting me to get some ingredients for his Wizard friends?" Jewel commented.
Once again, Roslyn's contribution to this story was overshadowed and abruptly interrupted.
She frowned and just 'humph'ed as she folded her arms and looked away, pouting her disapproval of being over looked and ignored…
"Yes, well, there's still trade." Griffen replied, turning around.
"But it's still far off in the Spiral! Far apart from the other. A completely different system of worlds from The Spiral's galaxy. No, no. I mean, actually, physically, pushing the worlds together. So Wizards and Pirates could interact more freely in the new multiple worlds we already know and love. Even having the possibility to moderate between being a Wizard, or a Pirate!" He pushed his fingers together to show the worlds becoming one, then he put 'Wizard's' in his left hand, and 'Pirate's' in his right. He shook them for effect, and then putting them beside each other.
"Right now, Magic is forbidden in the Pirate world. Thanks to those Armada fiends. But with this-" he held up the box.
"Hold up! With that, you would be unleashing the Armada on the Wizard's too!" Roslyn connected the dots, seeing that fatal error.
'I may be a low level player… but that doesn't mean I'm gonna be underestimated and looked down upon!' she thought to herself, getting confidence to say more.
"Maybe that's why Ambrose sealed up the Worlds to be so far apart from each other in the first place! He didn't want our planets being destroyed along with yours! Dimensions would be meaningless if all the worlds of the spiral were obliterated!" She protested.
"Maybe that's why he refuses to use the Spiral Stone to connect the worlds."
"Good argument, let me write it down on the paper of 'Party pooper's petitions'." Griffen teased.
"We've been fighting Malistaire already, think of the experience we could muster up if we also fought the Armada too?!" Griffen excitedly stated.
"Wait, wait… then.." Myrna pulled out her stone. "This… this isn't the Spiral stone?"
"No, I forged a fake one through alchemy and sent you that. That was just to see if some of the Spiral stone's power could really bring Wizards over here." He explained, "I actually used it to be a Wizard and a Pirate! Pretty cool, right?"
"Hacker!" Maya coughed out, as Rosyln 'yes'd to the side with her arm.
He gave them a slight glare with the corner of his eye, clearly not having done anything out of game rules expect jump boundaries.
"Admit it. You use your Wizard cards in combat, don't you? Don't you, you little cheater." Jewel said, seeing Griffen look down only to then smile and look up and claim, guilty. "Darn, you're so cute."
Myrna quickly intervened after the two shared a moment of light, wicked smiles, "Alright, it's true that what you're saying is a bit delusional and slightly diluted." Myrna admitted.
"Doesn't that mean the same thing?" Jewel turned to Griffen, taking the moment to try and make herself look better than her, and lean against his captain's desk.
"But it's true it sounds good too. Maybe Pirates and Wizards could team up and help fight one another's adversities." Myrna continued, not hearing Jewel's light side comment.
"Exactly!" Griffen stepped up, pointing to Myrna and then moving his hand away, showing he liked where she was going with this.
"All we need is a plan. Somehow, we have got to get Ambrose on our side…I suggest we-"
Suddenly the doors on the captain's quarters were barged into and kicked open.
Clockwork fiends raced the scene, cramming themselves in the room as a higher officer clockwork entered in.
"Guns ready." He ordered, as the men did so.
"Uh….oh…" Roslyn let out, stepping back and away from them.
"..Grr….GRRRR…" Maya was starting to go crazy again, but Jewel got over to her quickly and started rubbing her arms, trying to calm her down.
"Not yet, love… not yet." She muttered, looking around her at all the clockwork fiends.
"Telling the crew to have a day off,… might not have been the best idea." Myrna sarcastically motioned her statement to Griffen.
"Well… you know, now that you mention it.." Griffen replied sarcastically back, but acting more innocent in his interpretation.
Then looking back at her, he stated, "Thank you, Captain obvious."
"Your welcome, Lieutenant sarcasm." Myrna spoke back, making Roslyn turn around, having her hands up in a surrendering look.
She looked puzzled at Myrna's come back.
Myrna looked back at her, and remembering what she said about her changing, she immaturely stuck her tongue out at her, making Roslyn gasp in delight, and giggle.
"Happy you're somewhat back." Roslyn teased.
"I was taking a break from silly humor, but I suppose these guys need a fine tuning." She stated with a fierce grin on her face, narrowing her eyes, and really getting into the spirit of it all now.
She had refused to let her silly side out for a long time, but she figured this game was meant for fun, might as well….
"Hey! Those kind of jokes are reserved for me in this script!" Jewel angrily responded to her joke.
"Withhold your ridiculous banter. I shall now read to you of your crimes."
"Don't really need too, if we committed it, we'd already know it." Jewel rolled her eyes.
"Shut up, it's part of America." Myrna shot back at her.
"Some people who play this game might not be from America!" Jewel shot back.
Before nodding her head comically and shrugged, saying, "…But I am so, can I plead the fifth on this one?"
"You're lucky America still acknowledges criminal's rights." Myrna teased, referring back to her being the true pirate around here.
"Why you little…" Jewel looked back at Myrna, and smiled, liking the challenge of a new jokester in town.
She looked back at the Clockwork Officer and hollered, "a-MER-ica!" pulling out her staff and getting ready to summon her crew…
"You are hereby sentenced to death on account of withholding valuable information from the Armada, displaying magic, ceasing justice, unwillingness to be contained and imprisoned, and stealing."
"Was that in order of appearance? Or severity?" Questioned Myrna, tilting her head.
The Armada placed his paper back down, and with mechanical accuracy replaced it with a gun.
Seeming to not answer Myrna, as if it could be offended by her impudence.
"Talk about switch of the hand…" Commented Jewel, now massaging Maya's shoulder, keeping her calm.
"I'm guessing he doesn't want to calculate that."
"Or can't." Griffen grinned, joining the fun.
"You know, you could be right. If he's a robot, why does he need to read words on a piece of paper? Can't he just… I don't know… memorize it?"
"I'll say, how long was it sense you were oiled?" Myrna stated, "I think these guys were created last in that broken factory they call Momma."
"OOOh, I like that one!" Jewel popped her head up, and gave a high hive to her.
Seems they came to some accord through their humor…
"Enough of your foolish, organic social gestures. I will now give you a chance to be pardoned of your heinous crimes. Hand over the Spiral Stone, and your lives shall all be spared." The clockwork officer moved some joints in his arm, having it extended to the small gang.
"YEAH RIGHT! LIKE YOU HAVE THE MERCY TO PARDON US!" Maya shouted out, being held back by Jewel, who was struggling to keep her at bay.
She remembered the poor Rat back on Mooshu, who she was imprisoned for standing up for.
"You wouldn't pardon him… so you won't pardon us either… you'll just take what you want and throw us away like were nothing but varmints!"
"So, is he asking for a deal, then?" Roslyn questioned, looking at everyone.
"Yeah… to bad we pirates don't make them that easily…" Griffen smiled, "We have trust issues."
Then he looked to Jewel after seeing Maya's state, "Hey, is she okay?"
Maya was literally losing it rapidly, the immense issues of her past causing her to mentally drown out reason, leaving only anger in the form of violence.
"Okay love,.. NOW!" Jewel let her go and dashed away, having Maya take out her best Swashbuckler weapons and moves and start slashing through the men, her crew teleporting and listening to her shouted orders of hysteria.
"Let's go, mates! It's time to see more of that hocus-pocus nonsense!" Jewel took out her staff, and twirling it skillfully around, created a Skeleton minion from the bones that flew out around her, who then went around slashing the clockwork men too.
"The area's to filled for my crew, I'll have to fight alone." She informed the others.
"Resistance, this time, is futile. You are surrounded. We will never cease the advance. We will fight till you've exhausted yourselves, and even then, the reinforcements will still be coming."
"Oh, shut up." Myrna summoned her heck hound card, as it roared a mighty flame thrower in his face, melting the clockwork officer before disappearing in the spell circle.
"Burn, baby, burn~"
"Hiya! Haha! Take this!" Griffen seemed to be using guns, and Jewels picked up on it quickly.
"You're a musketeer!" She stated, excitedly.
"Yes, and…" he suddenly flipped up a card, having a giant Forest Lord destroy many of the Clockworks around him.
"Life… is but a delicate thing to control." He said it so poetically, but you could tell by his summoned monster, it wasn't so delicate at all!
Jewel sighed, batting her eyes. "I think your wicked skills are making me fall for you, sir."
"So sorry, didn't mean to aim for your heart." Giffen teased, half joking as he fired at another clockworker, but before that, had faked shooting her with a wink.
"Oh, would you two get a room, plus, watch out. I know a few girls who've told me this guy's a heartbreaker." Myrna spat out, wishing she could summon her dragon, but the space was barely enough for the Forest Lord, which almost hit her too in all this confusion.
"Pirate!" Griffen shouted out, rushing along the sides to aim and attack before letting bombs fly down around him.
"Well, we got a ship." Jewel teased, shrugging.
"And what does that say about you?" she referenced Myrna's crush, and her old comment of Griffen being a heartbreaker.
Myrna then stepped back a bit and glared at Jewel's cocky grin.
"Is it wrong to live dangerously?" Myrna whispered to her as she ran by, having her fire elf shoot multiple Clockwork fiends as he followed her behind.
"Whatever floats your boat, hun." Griffen slyly spoke back to Jewel, not hearing Myrna's response. "But this is my ship, I'd rather have a say in who can stay." He winked to Myrna, who blushed for a moment in surprise, but then shook it off and rolled her eyes, believing he was joking.
"I've never ran around during a fight!" Roslyn admitted, holding her wand close to her and freaking out over ever clockwork fiend that aimed and fired at her, but she would quickly swipe her wand and a Storm card would deal with them as she scurried away in fright and slight tears.
"This game isn't meant to be so scary!"
Myrna suddenly got enough strength and boldness to summon a fire cat, not very damaging, but fire on a ship could be deadly, she didn't want to risk too much.
However, the clockworks were burning, melting easily and shutting down quickly. So she assumed it was super effective on them.
Roslyn just tried to defend herself the best she could now; she was too weak a level to take them all on at once, plus the fact that her lightning wasn't hurting them very much at all.
They made her faint in seconds after her mana got low, and then when Crazy Maya wasn't hacking in their general direction, they fired on her and knocked her out too, her crew vanishing due to being forcefully teleported out of there.
Maya always considered safety over anything else, and her crew's protection meant the most to her, even in her deranged fury she thought of them.
Sadly, the clockworks kept Maya from teleporting, and picked her up along with Roslyn.
"They've got our mates!" Jewel hollered, but was then hit upside the head with the heel of a clockwork's gun hilt, knocking her out too, as her skeleton minion disappeared from gun fire as well.
"We're surrounded! And they're not thinning in the least!" Myrna seemed to be losing her childish behavior again, reverting back to her serious nature out of fear for the imposing situation that was at hand.
Defeat…
"I think your right, but we can't let them get this stone!" Griffen argued, still shooting, having the box with the Spiral Stone tucked under his other arm.
Shooting with one gun, he felt the feeling of defeat sinking in on him already.
"I just wanted to unite the worlds, not doom them!"
A new clockwork officer was hanging out outside the room, his second in command looked to him. "Sire, their weakening, it won't be long now till their in the custody of the Armada."
"…It's going to slow…This battle."
"Sire?"
"We wouldn't want our Leader hearing this report and feeling like we are insufficient in reprehending fugitives of our perfect law. Perhaps… even find us ineffective."
"…What will your orders be, sir?"
"…Bring to me the detonator."
"….Sire…. They're just puny rodents!"
"Nevermind their worth, it's the stone we want. Obey your initiative."
"Uh oh!" Myrna vaguely heard the conversation up top, and then looked to the clockwork men, all ganging up on the two.
"Did you hear that!? They're gonna blast you without a second thought to get us!" The clockworks kept attacking, "They're betraying you!"
"For the good of the Spiral, we shall perish in pursuit of perfection and justice!"
"What?!"
"It's no use, Myrna.."
Griffen pushed a clockwork that was pinning him against the wall away from him, and ran to her side, as he was again pushed up on the wall next to her. "They don't feel. They don't care." He explained.
A Clockwork grabbed at the box, and Griffen struggled to hold on, "NO! I've 'borrowed' this and you better be certain I'm planning to bring it back!" he tugged on it again, putting away his gun quickly he got another hand on it.
Sadly, a Clockworker saw this and shot at his hand, making him pull back as the Clockwork ran out with the box.
"Drat…" Griffen spat out, holding his shot hand with lightning burn marks.
Suddenly, the bomb was tossed in, and Griffen looked sorrowfully at it fusing, "Not my ship!" he moaned humorously, and then the explosion went off.
(Whoop! Exciting no? I hope you all feel for Griffen as fast as Jewel did xP)