Chapter 26- it's been a fake and deception
Somewhere else in the Gathering House, Caesium, Aang, Moana and Morla had come across another Golden Stingerfan farm and had destroyed the Stingerfans there. The room was smaller than the children's classroom; it was a prayer room and it, too, had a skylight in its ceiling. As the smaller Golden Stingerfan farm lay in burning ruins, the Stingerfans hacked, slashed and incinerated to burning pieces by the four's phaser swords and zapped by phasers, the Chroma Cat, Azure Dragoness, Black Tortoise and White Tiger began to look around for anything that could provide important evidence. All four wore filter masks and their destruction of the Stingerfans had caused one or two of them to spew out Golden Glitter Gas but this time, the four were protected from the effects of this insidious stuff. Caesium had turned up the vents to rid the gas by pumping it through the vents to outside.
"I just cannot BELIEVE that someone would use this place, meant for honouring Aslan, as some sort of Stingerfan product factory," the Chroma Cat grumbled, "I'd hate to think if these are cultivated for..."
"Hey, guys, look," called Moana and she pointed into another room, Morla, Caesium and Aang came over to the Azure Dragoness as she entered through the door and into the room. The three looked on as the Dragoness then dragged out some devices. One was a wheeled device and its body was a flat board made from Sky Domain wood while a couple more appeared to be bottles.
"Looks like one of those transport slabs and two of those storage bottles," Moana whispered in wonder. She then examined the straps tied to the slab, binds designed to hold items to the slab during transport. Morla, Caesium and Aang examined the transport slab and the destroyed Golden Stingerfans, switching their glances between them.
"Could these things be used to... possibly transport those plant-animals and those bottles, their juice, the honey-wine?" asked Aang in a low voice. As he asked this, Caesium pulled out his DV communicator from the satchel to contact Yong Bao of these findings. Then Morla felt it dawn upon him. He gazed at the ruined smaller Stingerfan farm and then back at the Azure Dragoness and White Tiger and also at the transport slab and the two bottles.
"What if someone has turned this Gathering House into a Golden Stingerfan farm place, grew these Stingerfans here and had some of them shipped out of Nuvem to elsewhere using these transport slabs?" the Black Tortoise asked, "And transport their honey-wine juice in those bottles?"
"Well, since cultivating Golden Stingerfans is illegal in so many places up and down the Sky Domain and in most of the other Domains in Narnia without a special permit like conservation due to how dangerous their defence mechanism is like what we experienced when I tried killing that one in the congregation area with my dagger only to make it spew its gas," Moana said, "Then that means one thing... what if Nuvem... has been put into lockdown over some imminent Sky Arachnoid swarm attack... so that someone can use this place as a Golden Stingerfan farm?"
"Then that would ensure that all eyes are removed from such activities," said Aang, "And once those eyes are removed, this illegal business can be carried out unwatched and unmonitored."
"And based on that theory, I believe that's what's been happening here," said Moana, "Let's hope that Naihanchi's team can confirm that this Sky Arachnoid invasion is a fake."
As she said this, Caesium came in, having finished speaking to Yong Bao and reporting their findings. He packed away his DV communicator and gazed at his teammates.
"Let's move on," he said and with that, the four left the destroyed smaller Golden Stingerfan farm and the transport slab and bottles and continued their search.
Meanwhile, Quaoar's team had managed to break into another important area of the Gathering House, its library. Quaoar, Heather and Weywot had to destroy two wandering Stingerfans on the way here with their phasers and phaser swords and Weywot had to put out any large embers to prevent a fire with his ice sprayer. Now that they were in the library, they began to investigate it.
"Well, can't find any more Golden Stingerfans in here," said Quaoar, his gaze raking the book storage area, "But I must assume the other two teams have."
"Doesn't look like there's anything suspicious here, anyway," said Weywot. As the Insect Rabbit-Dog said this, Heather spotted something on a nearby desk. Immediately, the Gold-Fleeced Ewe walked over to it and began to examine it. It appeared to be some sort of collection of sheets of paper arranged in a neat pile.
"Quaoar, Weywot," the Ewe called. The pair quickly walked over to Heather as she began to look through the sheets.
"Looks like a record of something," Weywot commented when he saw writing on the sheets. Quaoar took a sheet and began to examine the writing closely.
"Looks like... dates and times and..." began Heather as she read some of the writing which were numbers. Quaoar then glared at the Ewe and Rabbit-Dog.
"Not just dates and times," the Kitsumiho said, "These are records of you-know-what such as the number of them planted, grown... and shipped out of this building."
Shock tore through the other two.
"So that means this place could be a..." Weywot began. Quaoar was about to nod but then someone else called his name.
"Quaoar, this place has DEFINITELY been turned into an illegal Golden Stingerfan farm."
Quaoar, Heather and Weywot turned and saw Momotaro and his team enter the library.
"The children's classroom had been turned into a growing area for this source of the Golden Glitter Gas and honey-wine," Momotaro spoke as he entered the room on Stingray's back with Inu and Saru. Thunderbolt followed behind the three and their mount.
"We have destroyed every last individual Stingerfan and piece of equipment with our phasers and phaser swords," said the latter, the Raiju, "but not before Inu reported to Yong Bao and showed him via a crystalline communicator the farm and the honey-wine extraction equipment."
"Excellent work, you four," Quaoar congratulated, "We've just found this record of the growth and care of the Stingerfans as well as their shipping out of here," he nodded to Weywot to report those findings to Yong Bao as well and the Insect Rabbit-Dog left to do that, pulling out his DV communicator for the job.
"We've found evidence of transportation device too," said another voice, Moana's, "They're transportation slabs with straps and bottles which we believe may be for the honey-wine extracted from the Stingerfans."
Quaoar and the others apart from Weywot looked up and saw an Azure Dragoness, Black tortoise and White Tiger enter the room. The Black Tortoise bore a glare on his face.
"And I have drawn the possible conclusion regarding Nuvem's lockdown," said Morla, "Someone may have caused moral panic here in this city by taking advantage of the Great Sky Arachnoid Plague of the 1020s and making them barricade themselves in their homes and have used that as a distraction so that they could cultivate those Golden Stingerfans illegally here with the risk of getting spotted removed."
"We have come across a prayer room turned into a mini Stingerfan farm and have destroyed every last Stingerfan in there too," added Moana. Quaoar was about to reply when suddenly, his DV communicator emitted a sound. Immediately and hoping it was Xenon, the Kitsumiho took the device out of his tails, pressed the 'receive' button and began to talk to the caller.
"Hello," he said.
"Quaoar," cried the caller on the other side. It was female so it obviously wasn't Xenon. It was instead Naihanchi.
"Naihanchi," Quaoar said, "Naihanchi, are you and your team alright? Did you find any evidence of Sky Arachnoids in the other areas of Nuvem you have investigated?"
"No, not one insectoid whatsoever," said Naihanchi, "But we did find more posters warning of the insectoid stuck up on various posts and walls. Every area of this city we have investigated is completely quiet, the inhabitants completely hiding in their homes save for one or two wandering the streets to get some supplies. However, they were doing it in a hurry. The shops are still open as well but the shopkeepers wouldn't emerge to meet us. We have also investigated a minor Gathering House built in this area of the city and have come across some bright yellow plant-like creatures with golden fans atop their stems..."
When Quaoar heard this, he flinched in alarm but kept his composure.
"I hope you have NOT attempted to kill those Golden Stingerfans with your blades, arrows or spears haven't you?" he asked severely, "Moana attempted to do that with one with her dagger and got some of us including herself smothered by that deadly Golden Glitter Gas in the Gathering House of Nuvem. Some of us have managed to purchase some filter masks and Breath Bubbles but Ozone still has yours on hand. Please do not... I repeat: do NOT even TOUCH those plant-animals until you have received those masks and Breath Bubbles or you'd be smothered by its defensive gas unprotected."
Moana exhaled as the shame and disgust over her stupid behaviour and finding that trip from the Golden Glitter Gas pleasurable boiling within her. In fact it made the Azure Dragoness UTTERLY sick to the stomach and she hoped that she would NEVER go through that stupidity again. Quaoar continued.
"I'm VERY serious Naihanchi," said he, "That stuff is hallucination-inducing that severely scrambles your perception of the environment. I ended up on a vivid nightmare trip and almost killed Weywot with my foxfire when I tried zapping a monster in my waking nightmare. That stuff is honestly WORSE than phobofluid and Red Sleeping Gas Potion and if you get even as much as a small puff of it into your system through your mouth and nose without the protection of a filter mask, you could end up unable to distinguish between what is real and what is generated by your own afflicted senses by the gas to say the least."
"Uh-huh," Naihanchi replied, "We didn't touch those Stingerfans but we went to tell this to any of the citizens we could find."
"Excellent move, Naihanchi," Quaoar congratulated, "That's just what you should do during your investigations."
"So you have managed to purchase some filter masks and Breath Bubbles?" asked Naihanchi.
"We have, we got them from a protective equipment shop," Quaoar replied, "Ozone has your filter masks and Breath Bubbles for you guys when you return to us from your task but in the meantime, stay WELL away from those Golden Stingerfans and do as you did; reporting their illegal presence to any citizens you can find."
"That's good to know," said Naihanchi said, "And trying to find a citizen to talk to us is what we've been trying to do. However, it took a lot of perseverance as the citizens here are VERY timid. We tried interviewing some citizens getting supplies for their families or themselves but they just bolted. We even tried talking to some of the citizens barricaded in their homes but they refused to answer. Eventually, we managed to find the city leader's building and have been trying to persuade Nuvem's leader, a male Ropen named Rhamphus to come out of his building to speak to us. However, he, too, and his family were too terrified to emerge but we refused to give up. But when we mentioned that they had a few Golden Stingerfans in their local Gathering House, that made Rhamphus immediately relent, shed his fear and he did come out to meet us. After all, it seems that he knows the infamy around that Stingerfan species."
"It's excellent that you have managed to convince the city leader to come out of his lockdown shell to talk to him, Naihanchi," Quaoar said, "What did you manage to get from him?"
"He told us that someone had reported of some imminent threat of a Sky Arachnoid swarm coming upon Nuvem so he ordered an immediate lockdown of the place with everyone barricading themselves in their homes and shops and to ONLY go out to get basic supplies but they have to do so quickly," Naihanchi explained, "He had also sent his higher-ranking assistants to keep an eye out for any Sky Arachnoids and to exterminate them should they find any while everyone else remained in their homes. Rhamphus had kept that curfew on his city for a number of months and when we asked him who warned him of some imminent Sky Arachnoid threat before he put Nuvem into lockdown, he wouldn't say who," Naihanchi then paused a little and gazed at three of her teammates nearby, Adamans the Fengcock and his wife Iridia, and Glitterwing the Cherub as they continued to talk to a large black Pterosaur with green and yellow bioluminescent markings on his body and wing membranes, a large spike on his head, a beak filled with teeth, ridge down his back and a long tail ending in a tail spade, also bioluminescent, about drastic actions. This Ropen was Rhamphus and he was the current leader of Nuvem City and he was UTTERLY FURIOUS at being deceived for so many months. Naihanchi resumed her conversation with Quaoar, "As I can see, the Ropen leader is UTTERLY furious but he's keeping his composure. He's now speaking to Adamans and his wife and Glitterwing and they are telling him about Asgard Sky City and its situation with Kurama's egregious Cult of the Lion while close by, Orchid is reporting to Yong Bao via a crystalline communicator everything that we have done including talking to Rhamphus..."
Suddenly, the large black bioluminescent Pterosaur came in and asked Naihanchi to see if he could speak to Quaoar.
"Is that your Kitsune friend on the other side of that DV communicator?" he asked, unaware that Quaoar was actually half-Kitsune and with the Fenghuang couple and Glitterwing standing behind him, "Can I speak to him?"
Naihanchi immediately handed the telephone-like device to the Ropen and he took over. Naihanchi herself went to Orchid and the crystalline communicator to tell Yong Bao of her team's findings as well.
"Hi, this is Rhamphus the Ropen, the leader of Nuvem City. Are you Quaoar?" Rhamphus asked. The Ropen was clearly boiling with anger but he knew he had to keep his composure to think clearly in order to deal with this outrageous revelation.
"It is," Quaoar replied, "We're currently in the main Gathering House of your city, the Gathering House of Nuvem. We have been doing a few investigations of our own in here and we have uncovered things NOT good. The Gathering House of Nuvem has been turned into a major Golden Stingerfan farm. However, we have already reported our findings to Yong Bao the Kotobuki back in Nuvola (he had been sending spy teams to investigate your city for the past number of months) and have destroyed the two Stingerfan 'gardens' and any wandering Stingerfan within this building."
When Rhamphus heard these words, the Ropen went ABSOLUTELY silent. He was reaching breaking point at what has become of his city and the more bad revelations he received, the higher his fire of anger rose.
"Rhamphus?" asked Quaoar.
"I-I think I'd better send your sub-team back to you, Quaoar," Rhamphus said, his attempts to restrain his temper from erupting barely containing it from doing so, "First, I'll let my anger out in a controlled way and then I'm gonna be gathering my inner circle members to talk this over with them but first, I MUST vent. Your Nekomata assistant and her group's sudden revealing to me about the illegal Golden Stingerfan is bad enough as it is but the fact that the MAIN Gathering House in my city has been turned into... oh, I can barely keep it in from what I've been told..."
"Okay, hand me back to Naihanchi right away," Quaoar said, understanding the Ropen's situation. Immediately, Rhamphus called for Naihanchi and as soon as the Nekomata came over, he handed the DV communicator back to her and left to vent and blow off the excess steam of his rage. Orchid tried to call the Ropen over.
"Rhamphus, Yong Bao would..." the Golden-Egg Goose called but Iridia put a colourful wing on her shoulder and shook her head to nonverbally tell her to leave the Ropen alone for a bit, seeing he was at his breaking point. Then Orchid, together with Glitterwing, looked on as the Ropen began to let his temper explode violently in a clearing, safely away from everyone else.
"It's understandable that he would be UTTERLY furious," Glitterwing said, her arms folded, "He and his inner circle and entire city have been deceived and for a good number of months."
"I've arranged a spy group to go to Nuvem to meet Rhamphus face to face and to assist him in clearing out his city of those dangerous Stingerfans," Yong Bao said on the crystalline communicator screen, "But I cannot send them off until I have spoken to him," the Kotobuki then flinched a little when he heard the screeches of an ANGRY Ropen in the background but he wasn't surprised, "I can feel the heat of his wrath back there even though I'm not there in person. I know, it's UTTERLY infuriating what has been done to Nuvem for the past number of months and the fact that someone so HEINOUS would use the Great Sky Arachnoid Plague of the 1020s along with the diseases that insectoid pest to their advantage to cause moral panic resulting in everyone barricading themselves into their homes so that they can turn Nuvem into an illegal Golden Stingerfan cultivation centre RIGHT under their noses AND in those Gathering Houses... and perhaps in other important buildings makes the wound even deeper. It must have been a LOT for that poor Ropen to take in."
"Rhamphus has told us that he will be setting up an extermination squad to go throughout the city and help kill these Stingerfans," said Orchid, "And he is glad that Quaoar's team has made a start in clearing out the Gathering House of Nuvem, the largest gathering house in this city."
Yong Bao on the crystalline screen nodded in agreement. Then one of the spy members, a Falcon, called him.
"We're ready to go to Nuvem, Yong Bao," the Bird of Prey said. With him were various Flying Birds but there was an Ahool, a small band of Fairies, a Fairy Dragon and a Blue Bat-Bird Winged Dragon as well. Yong Bao shot him a glance.
"Okay, Comet-Claws, just stay there until I give the command," the Kotobuki said to the Falcon before returning his gaze back to Orchid, the Fenghuang couple and Glitterwing, "I would like to thank you and also Quaoar's sub-team for uncovering such a LOT of answers for the past few hours. Most of my and Ombro's spy force teams had been reluctant to enter the Gathering Houses out of respect for the city when they visited Nuvem but you have managed to get past that barrier and penetrate deeper into the ground to unearth those rotten roots. And that ties in closely with our spy teams' investigative reports they had brought back from Nuvem, especially at night, suspicious intruders entering the city."
"Did any of the members of those teams identify what species any of those intruders were?" asked Orchid. In the background from Yong Bao's perspective, Naihanchi continued talking to Quaoar and providing him with updates.
"None of our spies have managed to get close enough to get that piece of information," Yong Bao replied, "But one of Ombro's spy teams, the Deathgleaner and Flying Fox team, have managed to report that one band of intruders they managed to spot entering Nuvem one night had simple body plans, almost like a Sunling but more stout and without antennae."
Glitterwing, Orchid and the Fenghuang couple exchanged glances.
"That sounds like the basic description of the Yellow Homunculus and his female counterpart, the Blue Homunculette," Glitterwing said, "There are a lot of them back in Asgard Sky City and many of them serve under Kurama as his assistants, often at the grunt level."
Just then, Rhamphus returned and politely asked if he could speak to Yong Bao. The four stepped aside and allowed the Nuvem city leader to take over and after greeting the Kotobuki, the conversation between them began. The four came away and gazed at each other as the others in their sub-team apart from Naihanchi came in. Spock the Pegasus, Red the Scarlet Macaw, Bentley the Giant and Griffin the Occamy gathered around the first four.
"Rhamphus' plans are to call together his inner circle to discuss this serious situation and also to set up an extermination team to help eradicate all the Golden Stingerfans that have been grown in Nuvem by these intruders," Adamans said, "But he also has other plans."
"And Yong Bao is going to send one of his spy teams to serve as our assistants while we sort out this HUGE mess Nuvem has been plunged in," put in Orchid. Red then broke away from the group, walked a few steps away and entered into thought, his wing on his chin.
"Hmm, I'm wondering if the turning of Nuvem into a Golden Stingerfan farm could be tied to Kurama and his cult in Asgard Sky City," the colourful Parrot with mostly red plumage pondered.
"How do you know, Red?" asked Iridia. Red turned to the others and gazed back at them.
"Well, if you think about it, Kurama has to get his supply of Golden Glitter Gas from somewhere," he replied, "So I'm wondering... what if he could have plunged Nuvem into a state of moral panic by exploiting their bad memories of the Sky Arachnoid Plague so that he and his cronies could plant, grow and harvest farms of Golden Stingerfans to use its gas defence mechanism for those wild worship services Ozone and Glitterwing described to us. After all, didn't Yong Bao and Ombro's spy teams report intruders entering into this city during their investigation trips to here? I mean SOMEONE has to leave Asgard to get those Stingerfans, right?"
The others gazed at the Scarlet Macaw in wonder but then Glitterwing felt an idea light up in her head, but it was thorny as well and she began to weep. However, she kept her composure.
"It makes sense," the Cherub woman said, "Kurama frequently sends scout groups out of Asgard on various tasks such as those hunting parties on the Land Domain as we have seen from Obi Wan's Flying Saucer before coming to here. Maybe those intruders Yong Bao and Ombro's spy teams saw could be some of Kurama's cronies and they are harvesting these Stingerfans to take back to Asgard?"
"Well if that is the case," said Bentley the Giant, "Then..." the Giant's face then contorted into a look of anger, "Then that means Kurama is..."
The others gazed at him, especially Glitterwing. They DREADED to think of the DIRE consequences Kurama and his cronies would face if what Red and Glitterwing had deduced was true, and it won't be just from the authorities of the Sky Domain. Just then, Rhamphus came in with the octahedron, the communicator screen collapsed back into that after he had finished speaking to Yong Bao and had ended the call with him, and handed it back to Naihanchi's group. Orchid took the device and returned it into her satchel.
"Yong Bao the Kotobuki is going to send one of his teams, an-all winged one capable of flight, to here to one, help with eradicating those Stingerfans and two, catch some intruders for interrogation," the Ropen said, calmer this time though his rage at being tricked still boiled within him, "And I have also told you of my other plans as well such as setting up an extermination team for these Golden Stingerfans grown possibly by those intruders up and down our city..." he then put a wing hand on his head and exhaled stressfully, "I just HONESTLY cannot BELIEVE we have been DUPED LIKE THIS! Whoever has DONE this is as GOOD as reversal to a DUMB BEAST..."
"We're SO sorry for all this trouble, Leader Rhamphus," said Glitterwing. Then Naihanchi came in, having finished her talk with Quaoar and the DV communicator to him packed into her satchel.
"We're sorry indeed, Rhamphus," she said, "Especially with the faking of the Sky Arachnoid threat using the Sky Arachnoid Plague which has left deep scars etched into your city's memories..."
"It's not your fault," said Rhamphus firmly, "And neither is it Yong Bao, Ombro and their teams. I am actually glad that they sent their spy teams to here and help investigate what's been going on but we have been thinking that they were just checking our city to make sure that we stuck to our lockdown and weren't aware that this whole thing was a fake."
He then turned back to Naihanchi's group and thanked them for their help.
"I'm also grateful that Glitterwing there who has managed to miraculously escape from this EGREGIOUS cult this evil Kitsune has set up from Asgard Sky City with Ozone the Cloud-Man, has also given me some VERY important details," he added, his gaze on the Winged Woman with shining white hair, clothes and metallic blue underwing feathered wings, "But I am also VERY concerned for her family and that of Ozone but that is another subject. I'll let you guys go and return to your Magical Fox leader and I'll carry out my plans. Also not forgetting Xenon, the nephew of King Lightning-Bolt who was sadly caught up in that mess over in Asgard; he deserves my thanks too."
"I reckon you've found that you could not visit Asgard Sky City because of Kurama and his cult," said Spock.
"Yes, Kurama has COMPLETELY imprisoned those within Asgard in an Incluser Bubble metaphorically speaking and will NOT let anyone in or out except those groups," said Glitterwing.
"That Kurama Fox is HONESTLY more trouble than we thought," Rhamphus spluttered disgustedly, "Anyway, you'd better go."
Naihanchi, Adamans, Iridia, Orchid, Bentley, Spock, Red, Glitterwing and Griffin nodded and shook hands with the Ropen before leaving to return to Quaoar and company.
"We'll meet you again and help you to catch some intruders once we get our plans in motion and when Yong Bao's spy team arrives," Griffin added, "It's a team of all-winged members and they will help us out."
Rhamphus smiled that he got that message as he left while Naihanchi's sub-team continued their journey, all of them taking to the air with Naihanchi twisting her tails to enter flight and Bentley taking bigger steps to increase his speed. Because he was a Giant, he had MASSIVE steps and was able to keep up with the smaller flyers.
A little while later, Quaoar and Naihanchi's split groups had regrouped outside the Gathering House of Nuvem. Naihanchi explained everything that had happened to Quaoar including Rhamphus' plans, reinforcements arriving in the form of one of Yong Bao's teams and, most importantly, the fact that the Sky Arachnoid threat was an ABSOLUTE fake, confirming Yong Bao and Onbro's suspicions especially after they had also not found a single Sky Arachnoid. Quaoar congratulated the group and Naihanchi and her team received their filter masks and Breath Bubbles from Ozone. Quaoar also reported everything that has happened to Xenon via his DV communicator.
"That's excellent," Xenon had replied, "Now the next thing you've gotta do is liberate Nuvem by destroying those Golden Stingerfans and lifting its lockdown, and try and catch some of those criminals for interrogation."
Quaoar replied and after hanging up upon finishing the conversation, he returned the communicator to his tails and got his group, now regrouped, to prepare for the next step: eradicating more of the Golden Stingerfans. Now that Naihanchi and the others that went with her had protection in the form of filter masks and Breath Bubbles, they can now help to deal with these dangerous plant-animals.