Chapter 25- illegal gold has been dug up
The team glared at the puffs of Golden Glitter Gas rising lazily from the open main doors and the window of the Gathering House like smoke from a fire that had just been extinguished. The Stingerfan that Moana had hacked at with her dagger was beginning to slow its release of the gas but still, even a small puff of the stuff in low concentrations was enough to affect a Talking Beast or Magical Creature. Ozone stood back, not wanting to get a glimpse of the insidious gas but he explained to the others.
"That stuff is the EXACT same stuff Kurama uses to whip the congregants up into an ABSOLUTE emotional frenzy during the worship services back in Asgard," the Cloud-Man explained.
"What Moana struck was definitely a Golden Stingerfan," said Quaoar.
"It had that vivid yellow body and tendrils and golden fan of its stem," added Caesium.
"I'm SO glad Yong Bao showed us a picture of one before our quest," said Momotaro, "Otherwise we'd have not known what it was."
The others nodded in agreement and with that, they got their phasers and phaser swords prepared. Quaoar and Moana had fiery abilities like fire breath which the Golden Stingerfan was also susceptible to but to use them, they had to be right near the plant-animals. This was what the Kitsumiho and Azure Dragoness wanted to avoid as it was too risky. If the Golden Stingerfan detected a threat, it will release a burst of Golden Glitter Gas at them and they were able to detect the direction of the threat and fire their gas their way and the last thing Quaoar and Moana wanted to face was becoming under the influence of that stuff again. The gas affected different individuals in different ways at different times but some were more prone to some affects than others. Moana was more prone to becoming high under the stuff while Quaoar's vulnerability was a vivid waking nightmare that was so real that it blurred the Kitsumiho's ability to distinguish between the real world and hallucinations. This made him behave in potentially dangerous ways and Quaoar wanted to avoid this outright, especially after what he had almost done to Weywot during the previous time. So like everyone else, they will use phasers and phaser swords for the job. Quaoar had the option of his foxfire but he even benched this as he did not want to risk the lives of his teammates with his foxfire again, or his own stamina as overuse of foxfire weakened a Magical Fox, even Nine-Tailed individuals.
"Okay, now that we have finally found Kurama's source of his Golden Glitter Gas," said Quaoar, "We're gonna need to destroy it," the Kitsumiho then glared at the thin locks of the gas snaking out of the building's door and window, the concentration dropping as the Golden Stingerfan inside slowed its production, "But we cannot do that without some form of protection. We do NOT want to breathe that stuff in again... certainly NOT myself."
"Yong Bao did mention a device that would counteract the effects of that gas," said Inu who was on the back of Stingray with Momotaro and Saru once again, "The filter mask."
"But the question is, where can we get those masks?" asked Saru. Then Ozone felt an idea fly into his head.
"There's a shop that sells those devices nearby," he said, "It's called the Shop of Protective Equipment."
"Then that's where we're headed," said Quaoar. He then checked his satchel to make sure he had enough cumulonimbi (the Sky Domain's currency) to buy those masks. The others did the same. As they did that, Caesium glared indignantly at the thinning clouds of Golden Glitter Gas.
"Why in NARNIA would ANYONE allow such a DANGEROUS plant-animal to roam the House of Aslan!?" the Chroma Cat asked angrily.
"Is that why that gathering house has not been used all these months?" asked Inu. Then Momotaro felt suspicion well within him.
"There's only one way to find out," the Peach Elf said, "But we cannot do that without protection."
"Okay, Ozone, take us to that shop you mentioned," said Quaoar, "You should know where that is if you've been here before."
"Right," Ozone replied and with that, the tall white Cloud-Man turned and led the way. Quaoar, Momotaro, Inu and Saru on Stingray, Caesium and Weywot followed while Morla, Moana, Aang, Thunderbolt and Heather stayed behind to wait for the masks.
"Do NOT enter that building until we have brought back those masks and other forms of protection against that gas," Quaoar commanded.
"Stingray here will need some protection as well," said Momotaro as the steed carried him, Inu and Saru along like a horse, "We can't have him inhaling that stuff again either."
"The shop should sell adaptable masks for various mounts," Ozone called as he continued to lead the scouts in the direction of said building. Quaoar and the other scouts followed while the remaining members of the team stayed by the Gathering House, the Golden Glitter Gas streams thinning out.
"Naihanchi's team will need some masks as well," Caesium reminded. Then Aang pulled out a DV communicator to report to Yong Bao and Cielo back in Nuvola of their findings.
A little while later, the scouts were at the shop Ozone remembered, the Shop of Protective Equipment. As Quaoar, Caesium, Momotaro, Inu, Saru and Weywot entered the shop (which was open to their gladness) with Ozone and Stingray waiting outside for the former was too large to enter the building and the latter, disallowed due to being a dumb beast (just like how we in our world have 'No Dogs Allowed' signs in most of our shops and buildings), they began to browse the variety of protective devices on offer.
"I'm surprised that this store is open," said Inu.
"I thought that the shops were shut too," said Saru.
"No, the shops seem to be open but I believe a VERY strict curfew has been put in place," said Momotaro. He then began to look around for the shopkeeper, hoping they were present. As the Peach Elf did that, Caesium began to browse the facial protection devices.
"Filter masks, filter masks, where are those filter masks...?" the Chroma Cat mumbled to himself. As he did that, Quaoar began to shout for the shopkeeper which was a Talking Purple Tetrapteron and his family, alongside some Roachcutter Flutterbird assistants.
"Hello, are you in?" he called. Nearby, Caesium's Cat's eyes landed on the item they were looking for.
"Bingo," he cried. Immediately, Quaoar, Saru, Inu and Momotaro came over as the Chroma Cat picked up a filter mask. It resembled a human's gas mask but had an adaptable face shield to suit the wearer's species, the glass being magically imbued to be mouldable to suit the wearer. This meant that it could be worn by a Peach Elf or a Magical Fox for example and the magic shape-changing glass would adapt to their head shapes. However, it did not suit every creature like Giants and Cloud-Men. Quaoar smiled.
"Well done, Caesium," the Kitsumiho, "Now let's buy these and return to our team. Don't forget to get some of these for Naihanchi's team as well."
"They're gonna need them," said Inu. With that, the scouts took the appropriate number of filter masks with Momotaro buying three Breath Bubbles for Bentley, Ozone and Stingray for the shop also sold these. After all, despite the immense adaptability of the filter mask with its magical shape-changing glass, it cannot meet the demands of large creatures like a Giant or a Cloud-Man or be worn by an Arrow-Tongue. Breath Bubbles, however, could and though they were used by air-breathers to breathe underwater, they can also be used to enter non-aquatic environments that were un-breathable like a LOT of smoke. Once the group had the appropriate number, they went to the counter to pay for them. However, the Purple Tetrapteron shopkeeper and his family and assistants wouldn't come to the counter. They were huddled in their living area behind the shop, too terrified to come out.
"Hello, we would like to buy these filter masks and Breath Bubbles," called Weywot. Still no answer; the shopkeepers refused to show themselves. Quaoar then turned to his teammates.
"Hand me those masks and Breath Bubbles," he commanded. Caesium, Weywot, Inu, Momotaro and Saru did so and Quaoar began to mentally calculate the prices on the devices. Being an extremely intelligent Magical Fox, Quaoar had immense mathematical skills and was able to do mental calculations quickly. Once he had added up the prices of each mask and Breath Bubble and had come to the total, he asked the other five for their cumulonimbi but combining them with his own, he saw that the total wasn't enough to cover the cost of the devices. So Momotaro went outside and asked Ozone to contribute which the Cloud-man did. Ozone's contribution brought the total number of cumulonimbi to above the total cost of the masks and Bubbles. This done, Quaoar bagged up the coins and gave the payment to the shopkeepers; he placed the bag outside their door. He did not want to waste any time waiting for the frightened shopkeepers to come out and claim the payment. While the Kitsumiho did that, Weywot and Momotaro bagged the filter masks and the Breath Bubbles.
"Take this before anyone else takes it. It's our payment for some filter masks and Breath Bubbles," Quaoar called and with that, he left the bag of the payment and left with his group with the masks and Bubbles. The adult male Purple Tetrapteron who was the husband, father and head of the household, then moved. He nervously went to the door, quickly opened it and found the bag Quaoar had left with the payment for the masks and Bubbles. The Tetrapteron then took the bag and closed the door.
Quaoar's scout group hurried back to the others with their bags of filter masks and Breath Bubbles. Ozone carried the bag of them while Momotaro, Inu and Saru rode on Stingray.
"That shopkeeper didn't come out to meet us face to face," said Caesium, his gaze back at the shop, "Under the terror caused by some imminent invasion of that Sky Arachnoid I presume."
"I believe the presence of that Golden Stingerfan in the Gathering House is the reason why this city is in lockdown," Quaoar said, a hunch gnawing at him, "I think this city has been tricked by someone into thinking that a swarm of Sky Arachnoids is coming, prompting a moral panic resulting in the citizens barricading themselves in their homes and shops. I'm surprised that protective equipment shop is open at all."
"You believe that the Sky Arachnoid threat warning has definitely been faked?" asked Caesium.
"Then how is that connected to the presence of that Golden Stingerfan in the Gathering House?" asked Weywot. Quaoar gazed at the Chroma Cat and Insect Rabbit-Dog, his hunch clearly showing on his face. He had some idea of the REAL reason why Nuvem was sent into lockdown, an idea he did NOT like but he refused to mention it right now. Putting that aside, he and the other scouts continued their return journey. They arrived back at the Gathering House and once they regrouped with the other team members, they began to distribute the filter masks amongst them.
"Have you got your phasers and phaser swords ready?" asked Quaoar as he donned his filter mask. The others apart from Ozone, their faces also covered by their filter masks, raised these weapons to confirm that they did. Quaoar smiled, his mouth covered by the nozzles of the filter mask. Nearby, Ozone stood back and looked after the remaining filter masks and two Breath Bubbles in the bag; he will give them to Naihanchi's team once they returned from their search of the Sky Arachnoids in the rest of Nuvem. Stingray wore one of the Breath Bubbles, his wedge head surrounded by the magical bubble. However, it came at a trade-off in restricting the Arrow-Tongue's ability to smell with its tongue but Momotaro did not want to risk him becoming exposed to the Glitter Gas.
"Excellent," said the Kitsumiho when he saw that his team was ready, "Now let's get to work."
"I've reported our findings to Yong Bao and Cielo," said Aang, his face also covered by his filter mask, "And they have commanded us to find some form of protection and set to destroying those Stingerfans."
"As we're about to do," said Quaoar, "Thanks for reporting our findings, Aang. Now let's GO!"
With that, the group re-entered the Gathering house through its main doors, their phasers and phaser-swords prepared. They came across the first Stingerfan, the same one Moana tried to kill with her dagger only to cause the eruption of Golden Glitter Gas and the subsequent chaos with some of the members including herself. A large portion of its photosynthetic cap was missing, the result of Moana's dagger attack. Immediately, Quaoar aimed his phaser at the creature and fired a beam at it. The orange beam slashed through the air and struck the yellow and golden creature standing near the pulpit area. The creature writhed a bit as the phaser incinerated it but after a few seconds, it was obliterated, pieces of flaming materials from the creature flying everywhere and coming to rest on the floor. Immediately, Weywot darted in, pulled out another device resembling a small fire extinguisher device (from our perspective) and sprayed a stream of ice at the flaming embers to put them out and to prevent a fire from starting within the Gathering House. Knowing that using phasers and phaser swords would be a fire hazard, he had brought this device, an ice sprayer. He then nodded to the others and they proceeded deeper into the Gathering House while he continued to extinguish more of the flaming remains of the Stingerfan. Because the phaser blast had given a quick death to the Stingerfan, it did not have time to react defensively with its Golden Glitter Gas which made these weapons effective against them, unlike using a blade like a sword or a dagger which would only damage a Stingerfan and prompt it to release a HUGE eruption of the gas to defend itself.
While Weywot sought to the remaining embers that were the remains of the first Stingerfan, Quaoar, Morla, Moana, Aang, Thunderbolt, Caesium, Heather, Momotaro, Inu and Saru entered a doorway into a corridor. Saru took out his Urulite war hammer and boomerang.
"If any of these doors are locked," said he, "We may want to break them down. The cost in damages to this place will have to wait."
"Everyone spread out and search the place up and down," Quaoar commanded, "If you come across any Golden Stingerfan, destroy it with your phasers and phaser swords immediately."
The others replied and with that, the group split up. Weywot joined them after extinguishing every last ember from the destroyed first Stingerfan. The team split into three smaller groups with Momotaro, Inu, Saru, their mount Stingray, and Thunderbolt going down one corridor; Morla, Aang, Moana and Caesium going another way down another corridor, and Quaoar, Heather and Weywot staying behind to try and enter a door to a room.
Quaoar's sub-team tried to enter the door only to find it locked. Quaoar commanded the other two to stand well back and as soon as they had done this, the Kitsumiho carefully flared one finger of his front right paw with a small amount of foxfire and zapped the door's lock, destroying it. This done, he guided the Insect Rabbit-Dog and Gold-Fleeced Ewe into the room. Elsewhere, Momotaro's team continued down the corridor, their gazes raking every square inch of the area for anything suspicious. Thunderbolt's eyes landed on something.
"Guys, look," the Raiju called to the Peach Elf and the Talking Macaque and Dog on their Arrow-Tongue Steed. The three came over to him on Stingray, his head covered by transparent wobbly helmet of the Breath Bubble, and Thunderbolt pointed to his finding.
"A yellow tendril," he said, "And it's snaking out of that room."
"Then let's follow it," said Momotaro and with that, the four and Stingray did so. They continued to follow the yellow snake until finally, they came to a room but what they saw almost made Momotaro, Saru and Inu fall off Stingray's back and Thunderbolt release a spark of startle. Stood before them in the big room which Thunderbolt deduced was a children's teaching area of the Gathering House was not one, but a whole mini-forest of yellow pitcher-shaped creatures with yellow roots and golden caps. The floor below wasn't solid building material but a carpet of white and yellow Sky Domain dirt. Being part-plant, Stingerfans needed dirt to thrive and the Golden variety was able to make use of different dirt types from different Domains, such as Sky and Land. Somewhere in the forest was a water supply and in the roof above was a sky window, a skylight. Sunlight poured in through this skylight and provided the part-plants the light they needed. Then after recovering from the shock of seeing this mini forest, Momotaro formed a glare.
"Looks like the illegal gold has finally been dug up," he said indignantly.
"Just as some of us thought," put in Inu.
"This part of the Gathering House has been turned into an illegal Golden Stingerfan farm," said Thunderbolt, "We'd better destroy these and report it to Yong Bao back at Nuvola right away."
Immediately, Inu got down from Stingray's back, pulled out a crystalline communicator which was shaped like an octahedron and set it down on the floor. He did this with his back turned to the Stingerfan farm so that Yong Bao could see the farm for himself. The octahedron then glowed, ascended and transformed into a flat screen and as Inu prepared to report to Yong Bao, Momotaro and Saru on Stingray, and Thunderbolt went round the Stingerfan farm to turn off the water supply. However, they delayed destroying the farm with their phasers and phaser swords until Inu has reported the find.
The crystalline screen flattened and within moments, an image of a chimeric Kotobuki with chipped Ox's horns and a few scars on his Rat's face appeared.
"Yes, Inu," the Kotobuki, Yong Bao, spoke, "What have you to report?"
Inu immediately stepped aside and showed Yong Bao on the crystalline screen the farm of Golden Stingerfans.
"Take a look at this, Yong Bao," the Talking Dog said, "We're in one of the rooms of the Gathering House of Nuvem, the area where the children go to learn about Aslan. This whole, room's been turned into a farm for this illegal plant-animal and the source of the Golden Glitter Gas."
Yong Bao gazed at the creatures intently and raised an etch-pod.
"Stay out of the way, Inu," he commanded and had the etch-pod quickly sketch a snapshot of the finding. Then Yong Bak commanded Inu to take the crystalline screen around so that pictures of the farm can be taken from different angles. Inu did so and Yong Bao had his etch-pod sketch more pictures. This done, Yong Bao put down his etch-pod and gazed at Inu sternly.
"Excellent find, Inu," said he, "You have just unearthed some key pieces to our puzzle regarding Nuvem. Where is the rest of your group?"
"Some of us are searching the city up and down for any Sky Arachnoids while we're here about to destroy the Golden Stingerfans," Inu explained, "We have just brought some filter masks and Breath Bubbles as you can see, and we have entered this Gathering House and have divided into subgroups to search the place for more Stingerfans," he gazed at the Stingerfan farm, "Looks like someone has DEFINITELY turned this room and possibly one or two other rooms of the Gathering House into a growing area for the Golden Stingerfan to harvest its Golden Glitter Gas and possibly its honey-wine sap as well..."
As Inu said this, Thunderbolt called him. Immediately, Inu took the crystalline communicator screen and took it to Thunderbolt, Momotaro, Saru and Stingray's location. Thunderbolt then picked up some sort of equipment which included a needle attached to a funnel of some sort, and a few containers. He carefully handled the needle-funnel to avoid pricking himself on the spike. Inu held the communicator screen carefully to allow Yong Bao to see the equipment pieces. Immediately, the Kotobuki picked up his etch-pod and had it take sketch snapshots of the objects.
"I believe these things are used to extract the fluids from the Stingerfan's vessels, the honey-wine," said Momotaro sternly. He then examined the needle and saw that it was built to pierce the tough skin of the Stingerfan and the funnel part, to allow the golden honey-like liquid to flow out of the Stingerfan's vessels and into the containers. The needle was hollow, obviously, to allow the fluid to flow through it. However, the subgroup wasn't sure how this illegal farm was connected to Nuvem's entering into lockdown but there HAD to be a reason somehow. It was just hard to find at the moment. Then after he finished taking etch-pod pictures of the equipment, Yong Bao put his etch-pod down and gazed at Inu once again. In the background behind the Kotobuki, a male Acqua, possibly one of Cielo's sons or nephews, was taking the call of someone else also through the crystalline communicator. However, it was unclear to Inu due to the positioning of the screen on Yong Bao's side but the Talking Dog assumed that that Acqua was possibly talking to someone from Naihanchi's team.
"Right, now you set to destroying that farm and make sure that every single one of those Stingerfans is COMPLETELY obliterated, along with the equipment used to extract its fluids, the honey-wine," Yong Bao commanded, "I'm gonna send these images to Ombro's team to confirm that illegal Golden Stingerfan cultivation activity has been occurring in Nuvem. If you come across anything else suspicious such as ties to your findings to Nuvem's lockdown, report to us right away or Ombro's team, okay? Also, keep Xenon updated on your progress."
"Okay, Inu out," Inu replied and with that, the pair shut down the crystalline screen, Inu's screen collapsing back into an octahedron which he took and put into his satchel. He then turned to the other three and Stingray and pulled out a phaser.
"Right, let's destroy this farm and the equipment," the Talking Dog said and with that, he left for one area. Saru dropped from Stingray's back and went to another area with his phaser and phaser sword; Momotaro on Stingray went to yet another spot and Thunderbolt remained. As soon as the four were in position, they began to flood the room with phaser lines and swipes from their phaser swords at the farm of Golden Stingerfans. Pieces of the yellow and gold organisms, some of them ablaze, flew absolutely everywhere as the illegal cultivation was hacked, slashed, fried and blasted apart by the four's phasers and phaser swords. Thunderbolt also used his phaser sword to destroy the honey-wine extraction equipment to a pile of molten Narnian metal and materials. Some golden liquid flew everywhere as some of the Stingerfans' stems were slashed by the energy swords. This was the so-called 'honey-wine' extracted from the Stingerfan's vessels and was like an alcoholic beverage-like counterpart to the Golden Glitter Gas. As Momotaro, Thunderbolt, Inu and Saru continued destroying more and more Stingerfans, some of the intact ones, sensing a threat, began to flood the room with their Golden Glitter Gas to deter the attackers. However, because the four and Stingray were wearing filter masks and a Breath Bubble, they were completely unaffected by the Glitter Gas this time. Thunderbolt and his sub-tream continued swiping their phaser swords and shooting phaser beams from their phaser devices at the Golden Stingerfans until eventually, every last Stingerfan and pieces of equipment was reduced to nothing more than a charred pile of ashes, embers and pieces. As the Stingerfan forest disappeared completely, the production of the Golden Glitter Gas which flooded the air and smothered Thunderbolt's sub-team, the five protected by their filter masks and Breath Bubble, dropped to zero. Momotaro quickly opened some windows to the children's classroom-turned-Stingerfan farm to dispel the gas quicker while the other three examined their work.
"Good job, team," said Thunderbolt, "That's possibly one Golden Stingerfan farm dealt with."
"It REALLY gets my Great Dane that this place, which is SUPPOSED to be a place for worshipping and learning about the Lion King, has been turned into some sort of illegal Golden Glitter Gas and honey-wine making unit, I can tell you," Inu growled indignantly.
"If Aslan were here right now, he'd have gone UTTERLY ballistic and set to destroying these Stingerfans and driving out the farmers," said Saru.
"Aslan did NOT create the Golden Stingerfan, which is after all one of his creations, part of the Stingerfan kind and family, to be used and cultivated like this," said Thunderbolt, "They belong in the wild and should STAY there. As much as I hate destroying such a beautiful Stingerfan, it has to be done for the sake of safety."
The Talking Dog and Macaque nodded in agreement as Momotaro came in with Stingray.
"Right, I think we're done here," said the Peach Elf as Inu and Saru remounted Stingray with him, "Let's search elsewhere for any more Stingerfan farms."
With that, they and the Raiju left, leaving the destroyed remains of the Stingerfan farm to lay in ruins, the embers slowly burning themselves out. Because they had landed on the dirt, they were not a fire hazard. The cleanup will have to come later.