Return of the Emblem Chapter Fourteen: Fight

[scorri]

Lumi reached out towards Thales as he left but let her arm drop without saying anything. He had better things to do than babysit her right now. Taking a few more steps into the infirmary, she wrapped her arms around her stomach instead and quietly asked, "Uhm... I just need a place to sit. Or lay down. I just can't be up on deck right now. I'm sorry... Is it ok if I stay here? I'll stay out of the way, I promise."

Hoshi chuckled slightly at Haruhi's reaction. <"Yes, that one is our friend too. His rider is named Eva. The big one is relief to see. I was afraid they had been caught up in all of that mess earlier. So do not worry. It looks like things are calming down for now. Let us hope it stays that way.">

[Phoenix]

Time for the Next Step

"We can't go, yet," Amon said, struggling to keep his balance, "Haythem, I'm going to need your help with this."

Haythem smiled worriedly. "This is about that ship, isn't it?" He helped Amon steady himself after getting an affirmative nod. "We're ferrying people over, right?"

"That's it, exactly," Amon nodded again. "I need to bring the ship back so we can use those guns."

Soldier On

"I'm fine," Malik said before the old woman could chime in. "Actually, there's no point in staying in here with more people coming in."

"Oh, you'll be alright as long as you don't go for another swim," the old woman grinned, giving Malik a dismissive wave of her jewel laden hand.

"Thank you," Malik said, warily. He still wasn't sure how he was treated, but he felt fine, now. He'd still be dying for a long nap after this was over, but for now he was ready and willing to soldier on.

Comrades

Lev couldn't help but smile as the remaining water dragons helped the survivors onto their backs. The Ursians were keeping their distance in the meantime, even the nearby pegasus knights. Why the pegasus knights were keeping their distance was obvious, Lev's team was in position to intercept them if they tried anything. The fact that they weren't being fired on by the ships, on the other hand, was a miracle. There were hundreds of men in the water, and though some had already lost consciousness, the dragons gathered up everyone with the hope that they could all be saved if they made it back to the fleet quickly enough.

By the time they had finished the work, Lev began to wonder what had happened to Edith. She might have been picked up with everyone else, but he didn't see her anywhere. Granted, there were hundreds gathered on the backs of the water dragons; he could have easily missed her. Still, his gut told him she was unaccounted for. She was likely dead in that case. <"Poor misguided girl ...">

The dragons started off and Lev's squadron followed. Despite the Ursian fleet all but ignoring them, the dragons created powerful spells to hold off the water just in front of them as they retreated. This created long trenches that they used to cover their escape while keeping the survivors out of the water. At first Lev wondered why they weren't just using bubbles and submersing entirely, but it quickly dawned on him that his squadron was being provided cover as well. He ordered his men to follow the dragons closely, using the water trenches for cover. Together, they headed south as fast as they could manage.

[Toogee]

Seeing more people rushing into the infirmary and no news of what was happening on deck, Jam decided to follow Thales up to the deck. She was afraid of what she would find. Imagine her surprise when Amon and Haythem were hanging out on deck. Exhausted perhaps, but far from dead. She would have gone to them to make sure they were truly there. Her first thoughts were toward Malik, however.

"That jerk! He told me they were dead!" Whether Malik actually said that was irrelevant, for Jam interpreted his conclusions. The dancer turned around and headed back into the infirmary, fury in her eyes. After getting past furniture, Lumi, Mavis, and the nurse, she immediately smacked Malik in the back of the head. 

"You big jerk! You told me Amon and Haythem were dead! They're standing on deck!"

[Phoenix]

Proposal

Amon sheepishly approached Lexi at the helm while Haythem stood by. He was only needed for ferrying people over to the Basilisk when it appeared, so he and Isis didn't need to move or do anything else, yet. "You're the captain, right?"

Lexi smiled appreciatively. "Wow, I'm usually not the first guess for captain~ You must see a lot of women running things."

Goodness, she has no idea, Amon thought, slightly flustered. "Listen, I need your help. We're going to try to stop the 'skotian fleet from attacking." Amon went on to explain in more detail what he had in mind, from summoning the Basilisk in front of the Deadly Dandelion to ferrying over a gun crew to fire the giant caduceus cannons the ship sported. The plan felt like a ridiculously optimistic bit of posturing as he explained it, like something Jamilla would come up with, but that was right up Lexi's alley.

"No problem," Lexi nodded, "just give me fair warnin' when you're about to drop that thing in ... I'll avoid the crash."

"By the way," Amon stopped halfway as he turned to head toward the front of the ship, "are you an emblem wielder?"

"Emblem what, now?"

Amon glanced away, not sure what to make of the response. He could feel the emblem's energy coming from her just like he did from Joanna's box. There was likely a piece on her somewhere ... but this wasn't something they really had time to get into, he realized. They were on the clock, now. "Never mind. That isn't important, right now."

Show Me

"That's certainly not going to help him get back to work," the old woman chuckled as Malik rubbed the back of his head.

He was about to go off on the short blonde when she said her piece. Now it made sense ... "Show me," Malik said irritably, not willing to get his hopes up until he'd seen his fellow sancturans with his own eyes.

Meanwhile, the old woman spotted the most likely next patient. "You there, the big one," she smiled, jutting her jewel endowed finger at Mavis, "come over here and let me have a look at you and that old tree branch you call an arm."

Edited March 26, 2017 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

"What-- you can't? Ugh, whatever, I'll get him to come up!" Eva shouted back as she headed down, Sasha squeezing in after her. Jam rushed past her quickly after that, very quickly running back down, and her shrill voice could be heard shouting about Amon and Haythem from where Eva had collected her things. Guess that's going over well...

"<Sasha, over here!>" Is what she wanted to say, walking over to her pile of things and not at all spying the chunk she'd bought for him. "<Where is... Right. Alright, Sasha, wait here, okay?>" The wyvern groaned and collapsed near her things, as she walked off to the infirmary and stuck her head in.

"Malik, she's right. Are you good to walk on your own, or should I help you up top?" He didn't look great, still, but he wasn't coughing up water anymore. Or... Not right now, at least. But where's Thales?

Meanwhile, tired as Sasha was, he could still smell that hefty slab being carried around. Turning towards the smell brought him to Thales, who he plodded up to, jabbing his snout into his arm, if almost to stay drop it.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[Xinnidy]

Jam darted past him in a moment's notice, and quite frankly the boy just wasn't able to keep up the pace. Shouldn't have tried... to carry all that at once... Stubbornly, he continued to carry the hefty slab of meat, but his torso and arm demanded a momentary break, it was too much weight on the side of his body. Ghh, damn it, I can do better than this... Huffing, he entered a side corridor and dropped the slab of meat on the floor for a moment, arching his back. It's just... the size, yeah, that's it. Awkward to carry. That Eva just had a better time because she was taller, totally.

A small break done with, and Thales heaved the slab of meat again, swishing awkwardly as he moved back the main way up. It didn't take long until his slow movement was caught up with a certain oversized lizard, an alien snout poking him, turning his head and...

"Hyahh!" Thales jumped back, tripping on the floor, dropping the slab of meat between him and that wyvern. "Ah... Eva's wyvern? Goodness... T-that's your food, take it." Bringing himself up on his knees, Thales pushed the meat towards the wyvern, hoping it was enough to get Sasha eating. I certainly don't want to feed it by hand...

Edited March 27, 2017 by Xinnidy

[Dandragon]

Mavis perked up as she heard the old woman call to her. She slowly moved over and raised her injured arm. "Not sure how much you can do, unless you're one of those magic healers. But anything's better than nothing." She was eager to get some sort of healing done on her. It was annoying to not be able to use her arm, and she was right-handed, too. And if she couldn't use her dominant arm, then what was she gonna do when she fought Seoung-lei? Nothing, that's what.

[Toogee]

"See?!" Jam said to Malik as Eva confirmed that Amon and Haythem were on board. "Now come on!"

Jam grabbed Malik by the hand and started dragging him out of the infirmary, pushing aside people as she led the way. Upon traversing the hall, she had to squeeze by Thales and Sasha.

"Excuse us," Jam quickly requested as she stayed close to the wall to avoid bugging the wyvern. All the while, the dancer dragged Malik through all obstacles, hungry wyverns included.

When they arrived on deck, Jam looked for Amon and Haythem where she last saw them. Hopefully, they were still around and not flying around to do something stupid.

[Phoenix]

Grabbing

"For the last time, I'm fine," was all Malik had time to say before Jamilla, more convinced than ever, dragged him out of the infirmary.

The old woman watched the rexians leave and then smiled at Mavis. "Your arm's still there, so I'm sure I can help, at least a little. Now then ..." she reached out with both hands, taking Mavis' arm by the wrist and the lower part of her bicep. She was careful, but there was no avoiding a spike in pain when handling a broken limb. Noticing the dislocation soon after grabbing the arm, the old woman smirked. "If only those mercenaries could get a look at this, heheheh."

Hey

Haythem stood by Isis while waiting for Amon and Lexi to do their respective parts. Lexi was still at the helm, and Amon had moved to the very front of the ship, trying to get the right vantage point for what he was about to do. <"Please, Lady Aisha ... help him,"> Haythem uttered a quiet prayer. A moment later, he noticed Jamilla show up, and she'd brought Malik with her. The first thing the latter noticed was Isis.

<"H-hey!">

Haythem waved. <"Hey.">

Fight

 

Time didn't seem to have any meaning anymore. Had it been five minutes, an hour? Edith couldn't tell, but she was beginning to fear she might never know anything else. Just before the fear began to encircle and destroy her calm, two lights appeared right in front of her, and pushed her over the edge. They began as faint red lines, but quickly grew into intense shining orbs. "What's that?!" She couldn't fully right herself in the seeming void, and could only struggle to get Yggdrasil pointed between the two glowing masses.

"Tell me, what is your name?" came a deep distinctly male voice. It sounded like a humble request of all things.

Edith froze. Only her eyes moved, darting frantically between the two lights. When she realized that these weren't just lights, but the eyes of a giant, she started shaking slightly. "M-my name? It's ... Edith."

"... Edith," the giant of the void tried the name, himself, "Edith Maas?"

Edith pulled Yggdrasil in, closer to herself. "Not exactly," she said cautiously. "It's just Edith."

"I see, though you are a descendant of that line," the giant concluded, "Interesting that you haven't all died out. I'm pleased with your actions, today, Edith."

"Why?" Edith winced, "and who are you?"

"I am the creator of that lance," the giant explained, "Yggdrasil. It was intended for Clan Devlnos. The lance was taken and modified so that it would only obey those of the Maas royal bloodline, a petty slight against me ... and now here you are, tearing down the ambitions of the Neviskotian Empire. I'm pleased ... because these deaths all serve a grand purpose. Do you want to know how many lives you delivered into my hands, Edith?"

Edith felt a chill run down her spine. "N-not really," she admitted, "I just want to know where I am."

The giant laughed a boisterous laugh. "You are so fierce on the battlefield, yet so weak in the face of the unknown. You are safe, Edith ... for now. Please, accept my thanks."

"You're thanking me for doing my job?"

"The lost spirits of well over two thousand beings have come into my care due in no small part to your efforts. You account for just shy of one quarter ... and as my thanks, I will return you--unharmed, to your people."

Edith frowned. Something about all this seemed quite sinister. "What about the Ursians that died? Are you some sort of death god?"

"I do rule Purgatory, yes," the giant began bluntly, "The Ursians are doomed like the rest. If you wish to save those still living ... you might consider killing more of the imperials."

It was starting to make sense, now. This giant, whatever it was, was gathering the souls of the dead somehow. What Edith couldn't figure out was why. She doubted she'd get a meaningful answer, but she wanted to know what she'd unwittingly participated in. "What are you doing with those people?"

"Nothing good. Let them go, Edith. If you knew my true intentions for the dead, the weight of your actions would crush you. Let the damned go and focus on the living, those you must protect, and those you must destroy. I will be watching you closely from now on."

Edith gritted her teeth. This was sinister alright, downright evil if she'd heard him correctly. "You can't expect me to just let this go ... I didn't know the people I killed would wind up with you! What are you going to do to them?!"

"The same thing I will do to you or anyone else foolish enough to fall in my presence," the giant answered coldly. "Don't let the dead or my actions rule your thoughts. Focus on surviving. Focus on the living. Destroy your enemies."

"You think you can just tell me all of this and then have me forget about it?! You're using me to kill people! I don't want any part of this!"

The giant's red eyes narrowed ominously. "You are a part of it. You are too weak to serve me directly, however, you do possess Yggdrasil. So long as you do, I will allow you to live. If you lose the will to fight, if you throw away the lance ... or if you foolishly take your own life ... I will be there to catch your plummeting soul, just as I was today. Only next time, I will not let you go."

Edith's heart skipped a beat. She'd been saved, though by the worst person she could imagine. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what else to say. The threat struck her at her core and left her in a helpless stupor. This giant with red eyes, this monster cloaked in darkness, was fully intent on adding her to his collection the moment she ceased to be what she'd been today ... a fierce warrior. Never in her life had she wanted so badly to not be one, to simply throw away everything and disappear. She thought of the orphanage and all of her siblings there. That was one place, cold be damned, new faces aside, she would gladly go back to in order to be free of this nightmare. She couldn't go back there, though, not ever. That was even more true now, knowing that this monster was watching her, waiting to claim anyone he could. Just the same, there had to be a way out of this ...

Sounding pleased, the giant concluded the exchange. "Go, Edith. Fight. Fight to keep those you care for out of my hands. Fight to earn more time ... just be sure to fight."

"I don't ..." Edith stopped short, feeling a tear stream down her cheek. The next drop came from the strait itself, and every ounce of water after that threatened to crush her. Edith flailed desperately, trying to reach the water's surface, breaking through just in time.

Safety

Captain Catalan was relieved when two of his men helped Edith onto the King's Brand. She was soaked, naturally, her locks clinging to every part of her, and she held Yggdrasil in her left hand with a reversed grip while struggling to salute him with her right--the appropriate hand, in the Ursian Navy. "At ease," Catalan said, noticing how ... frankly, damaged Edith looked. Physically she was fine, but Catalan had seen far happier people at funeral services. "Are you alright? I'm sorry it took us so long to get to you."

Edith slowly let her hand down, using all of her willpower to remain composed and focused. "I'm ... f-fine."

"I take it your pegasus didn't make it," Catalan frowned, "The King's Brand is finished for now. We're leaving the combat zone to resupply. Hopefully we can make it back in time to help drive off the main fleet ... or at least keep a path of retreat open. Your squad mates are here as well, so they'll take you back to the Castor. You can fill Captain Gram in on the situation." Pausing to glance over at some of his men, he noticed they were all holding their tongues. They likely wanted to know what happened to the Basilisk. Edith was there; she was the only one that might actually know. "Speaking of the situation, your squad mates didn't have anything useful to say about the Basilisk. It simply 'disappeared'. Is that right? You were there, weren't you? What did you see?"

Edith's expression darkened. The giant left her thoughts momentarily and she looked straight through the captain and into the past. She remembered everything, that insufferable wyvern rider, the jaws of his wyvern clamped around her head, the blond Rexian that caused that massive light, and the large wyvern that appeared out of nowhere and whisked him away afterward. "The one riding the big wyvern ... he made the Basilisk disappear. He's the one you have to find."

Catalan grimaced. "Do you know what he looks like? None of our people were close enough to see inside the maelstrom."

Edith nodded. "I spoke to him before he did it. I could point him out easily."

Edited March 26, 2017 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

That certainly was just their luck. The port they were leaving Ursium from was caught in a battle on the water with the Neviskotian Imperials. Ursium and Neviskotia were at war, but a battle of this magnitude right outside of Urquium on this particular day? What were the odds of that happening? Given Norbert's experiences the past couple months, the odds were very good, actually. And, of course, all his remaining hope that the group was somewhere still in the city had died as soon as that one, massive ship had begun glowing that all-too-familiar hue before it disappeared. Great. That was why he'd begun angling in that direction. After all, people he knew tended to be in the epicenter of those sorts of things, and if he could help, he was going to.

Having ridden Rizen at pace suited for distance over long stretches of time both aground and in the air from Ursaea, he was only just arriving at the port city. Or rather, he was just coming over the place. That didn't mean he hadn't witnessed much of the battle from its start, though. Urquium was a city built right by the strait, and the land sloped down toward it from its nearest mountain and said mountain's foothills. Rizen had been gliding down from the mountain's altitude towards it for some time, now. So, despite the distance, Bert had had a good vantage point. He was frustrated that all he could do was watch as he tried to get closer, however, and there was Rizen's stamina to keep in mind, too, so he couldn't press her too hard. There had been that cloud of wyvern riders, the glowing ship, dark spots in the water, that weird whirlwind, and what he could only assume was a bunch of casters throwing magic at each other. He'd heard the cannonfire from the start, though.

Now, things seemed to have calmed down some. Or, at least, there was a lull in the combat and the weird magic. The sun was beginning to disappear, too, in the west, behind the rider and pegasus. They had also dropped altitude enough, now, to be flying at a more normal height above Urquium, though Norbert paid the place little mind. He doubted the group was still there. Instead, he was aiming to fly out over the strait, and look for signs of them there. Because of course they'd get involved in all that...and probably didn't plan on returning to the town to wait for him, instead sailing on to Kigen.

No, that's not really being fair. They wouldn't have necessarily just left me to find my own passage to Kigen. ... Though...they did leave me behind in an Imperial-held bandit encampment during a battle. Norbert frowned in annoyance at the whole ordeal. He'd just have to ask them if he found them if they planned on waiting for him in the city. I wonder if Fizza rejoined them yet.

[Nanami Touko]

Why are you shouting, small creature, was a thought that passed through Sasha's small mind, as he began to eat the meet that Thales had dropped, poking his snout around the wrappings. He paid little attention to the man after that, more than content to rest and enjoy his incredibly well earned meal.

----------

Eva let Jam run Malik off with little resistance, hoping that the girl could help if he collapsed, but she seemed to not be having issue. With a sigh, she headed back towards Sasha and Thales, patting him on the shoulder. "Thanks, Thales. Sorry for being so rude when we met. You're not all that bad... We've just, uh... Been stuck in some really tight situations recently... As you're probably seeing right now."

Edited March 31, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[Dandragon]

This is gonna get uncomfortable... Mavis thought as the old lady started to work her magic, or lack thereof, on her arm. And then the pain started. Mavis cried out, having not braced herself for what was coming alongside this temporary fix. But all the aches and pains she got from training and injuring herself were nothing compared to this. But, she figured that the pain was gonna be the least of her problems. Getting hit with swords and the like were gonna hurt a lot more than this, and she couldn't bear it now, then what good was she gonna be when fighting him of all people. He who stood by her father in every battle took part in. So, she grinned, recovering from the initial shock, bearing it as best she could, her teeth clear and on display as she steeled herself.

"I'm...fine. Keep going."

[scorri]

Hoshi let out a small sigh of relief as things seem to have settled down for the moment. It looked like the battle had stopped for the foreseeable future, and so she looked over at their new companion and nodded. <"Lets see if we can get you some food now. And I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have while we do, ok?"> She figured the girl would respond positively, so she started to make her way towards the ship's kitchen, hoping that things would remain calm long enough to get Haruhi fed. If she didn't eat soon, the casting she was doing was going to catch up to her in a nasty way.

Lumi slumped against the wall in the infirmary, arms wrapped tightly around her waist as she stared dully at the floor. She was an embarrassment. All her talk of how she was going to fight and how easy it was going to be and yet here she was, taken down by fear. She couldn't even go up onto the deck of the ship, much less actually be useful. Pete was right... I don't belong in this group. I'm not strong enough to protect myself in battles like these. All I do is become a burden... The tears were starting up again, but she was doing her best to keep quiet, not wanting to attract anymore attention than she already had.

[Xinnidy]

Well, that was a mission accomplished, apparently? I guess, of all things that happened today, a hungry wyvern is the least of my problems. Huh. Sighing, Thales took his time sitting up, watching the wyvern as it forced past the wrapping and into its meal. "Well, fill yourself up, buddy..." It felt a bit silly to have reacted towards the wyvern in such a way, now. Or maybe that was the adrenaline talking. Probably the adrenaline talking. Not my fault today's been a mess, for once.

As spontaneously as the wyvern's appearance, Eva seemed to appear out of nowhere... or rather, from the infirmary side, where Thales was walking from. Maybe I should have gotten some help lugging that around... "Ah... well, I can see that much, yeah." 'Not all that bad'? Give me some credit here you... "Think there's a lot I ought to ask to... whoever your leader is." The lack of any information about the group he joined with had finally hit Thales pretty hard. To some extent, circumstances were to blame. It was fair to not expect a sudden Neviskotian invasion during the middle of helping the group that showed interest in him load up to a ship. It wasn't like the group's abnormality was a bad thing, considering Thales would be dead if this were any other ship, but it still left a lot of questions hanging. More specifically, what had he roped himself into? "So... yeah, as soon as we're out of this, I wouldn't mind leaning how things work with you guys. Right now I just want to know what's happening outside." It seemed they were free of enemy fire, but was it even going to last?

[Nanami Touko]

Sasha was tearing the slab apart, entirely content. Eva gave him a smirk, reaching over to pet his head as he ate. "<You did good today, Sasha. Rest and relax.>" There was Thales to still talk to, as much as she wanted to sit down and spend some time relaxing with her wyvern. "Leader right now? Probably Amon... I think Haythem is the most mature out of all of us, but... Amon is, well... He's the Emblem guy. Him and Joanna... Shit, I wonder how-- they can fly, Eva, come on." She sighed, tired.

"How it works with us? ... I don't know, really. Honestly, I'm pretty new to this group. I was looking for work, met them, met... Angelica," she said with a small clearing of her throat, "and now I'm being dragged along to Kigen. I mean... I could leave at any time, I'm not on contract, but... Well, I like these people. And I like the danger. I'm not going to get to experience things like this anywhere else, I can feel it. Then again, that's likely due to all the Emblem exposure we've seen. No way that won't be exciting... And what's happening outside, huh."

Eva scratched her hair, sighing again. "Amon said he had to do something, though I have no idea what. We can go see, if you want. I'm just grounded for the rest of the trip. Not gonna push Sasha any further than he's been pushed, today. Shall we, then?"

----------

"<R-Right...>" The ship had disappeared, or sunk. Something had happened... Right now, though, her stomach was roaring for her to eat something. All that magic draining and regaining had left her... Spent. More than spent. Her legs wobbled as she followed after Hoshi. "<S-So, what's there to eat on this boat, anyway? And... How much can I have?>"

[Phoenix]

The Power

It's my power, Amon told himself, continuing a long pep talk as he stood at the front of the Deadly Dandelion, eyes shut tight. Lexi had agreed to cooperate, so all Amon had to do was summon the Basilisk back into the water, somehow. I claimed it for the restoration of Sanctuary ... so I can bring it back here, too. Amon wasn't entirely certain of that, but he had to at least believe as much. The fact of the matter was, Joanna was counting on him, now. If he couldn't find some way to bring the Basilisk back onto the field, her plan to end the battle would almost certainly fail.

Amon slowly opened his eyes, fully expecting to see nothing out in front of the ship. Surely if the Basilisk had appeared, he would have felt a disturbance in the water. Sure enough, he didn't see anything in front of the Deadly Dandelion but a large fleet of imperial vessels. His gaze fell in disappointment. That was when he noticed a tiny golden particle wafting in front of him, at just about waist height. It was like the many others he'd seen when Haythem appeared ... and like when the Basilisk first disappeared. Amon quickly noticed another. And then another. Ten more. He looked around, seeing hundreds of the little lights popping into existence at a time, all drifting far off in front of the Deadly Dandelion in a large swarm.

"This is it ..." Amon's heart began to race. Whatever he'd done, it was working. He quickly turned to face the rest of the ship. "GET READY!!!" He didn't have time to explain exactly what they should get ready for, but at least with Lexi already preparing like they'd agreed, they wouldn't have to worry about colliding with the Basilisk.

Grand Summon

"Emblem wielder ..." Lexi pondered the words Amon had left her with. "Hmm, eh, who knows? Maybe that's what all of this is." She'd been given a pretty interesting battle plan, one she was sure her men would find some way to complicate, but at least her part in this would be simple. She continued to watch from the helm as Amon stood at the front of her ship. She waited, keeping the Deadly Dandelion on course with the rest of the fleet, though slightly ahead of the other ships. After a couple of minutes, she began to notice faint lights at the front of the ship. They reminded her of her own magic. The words came back to her. "Emblem wielder ..." Her head tilted slightly as she pondered the meaning. "Emblem magic. It's the same kind of magic we use," she realized.

"By Leviathan, that's gonna come in close," Lexi exclaimed, grabbing the wheel and willing the Deadly Dandelion to slow down as hard as she could. Lexi had reacted well ahead of her crew, and the entire ship began to slow down as the ghostly image of the Basilisk returned. It was right in front of the Deadly Dandelion, towering over the bulk of the ship. When the battleship fully materialized, a wave of water was sent cascading out in all directions, striking the Deadly Dandelion head on and violently rocking the ship.

Lexi sighed in relief as her ship passed the wave and settled less than a hundred feet from the target. "Well, that's half my part done with ... alright listen up!" Lexi had to act quickly to keep her men from freaking out. She couldn't do anything bout the nearby Ursian ships, but they were just far out enough to be powerless to affect the situation, at least for a few minutes.

A Quick Fix

"Here we go," the old woman said, carefully lining up the broken bone in Mavis' arm. She began to tighten her grip bit by bit, and the tighter her old hands got, the more the pain seemed to be choked out of the area. "That's about right, I think," she said, releasing Mavis' arm. The broken bone had been mended and the only lingering pain in the area was from the bruised muscles and Mavis' shoulder. "Right, onto the shoulder, then," the old woman chuckled, "Now, do you want me to surprise you or are you just going to brace yourself?"

Suddenly the entire room rocked backward, as if the ship had struck a tall wave head on. "By the Sea King, what's that girl doing up there, now?"

Boarding Party

Haythem watched as the little golden heralds made way for the returning Basilisk, and as soon as their own ship recovered from the resulting tidal wave, he prepared to do his part. "We need help manning that ship's cannons," he called out across the main deck. Amon was already making his way over. "We're going to chase off the imperial fleet with them ... right?" he checked in with Amon just as he arrived.

"Right," Amon nodded. "We can only take around four people over at a time, but as long as the other ships don't try and stop us."

"We'll be quick," Haythem promised.

[Mercakete]

Then, there was a steadily-growing golden glow. Yep. That was definitely them. As Norbert changed direction in order to follow that glow, said glow began to reveal that weird ship from before. A look of confusion and wariness crossed his face. Wait. Is someone on that ship an emblem wielder? Is that how it's sort of...warping around? It didn't look like Raquel's warps, but that didn't mean it wasn't the case. Though Bert was a little more cautious now, he still didn't see a better place to at least look for the others. I'll just try to keep a safe distance. By now, he'd passed the city, and was flying toward the appearing ship, over the water.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Mercakete

[Toogee]

Jam was a little disappointed in Malik's reaction to Haythem being alive. She was really hoping for hugs, confessions, and giant man tears from both of them. A casual "hey" did not cut it for the dancer. Before she could react however, the ship rocked violently. Jam was knocked onto the deck, but luckily, she wasn't sent into the sea. When she looked up, a giant golden ship was ahead of them. From what Amon was saying, it was on their side. All it needed was a crew to man the cannons.

"I can help," Jam declared, picking herself off the ground. She knew nothing about cannons, but it would end this conflict sooner, she'd learn.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Toogee

[Xinnidy]

"Uh..." That raised a lot more questions than it answered, if she was new too. The Emblem guy, what? "Well... I guess I'll get my answers off of him. Let's go--" Suddenly, the ship was rocked again, throwing Thales against a wall. Thankfully, he didn't take a hard fall, but the impact was still unpleasant.  "Argh, come on..." This was what, the third time he's been juggled around the boat over some external force? "L-let's go see what's outside." Before I'm thrown off my feet without warning again, please...

[Nanami Touko]

"Whoa! Geez... Ugh, are we seriously not done yet?" Eva sighed. "Yeah, let's... I'm gettin' pretty tired of this boat ride." With a grumble and a frown, Eva rushed back up to the deck, to--

"Wh-What the--!?" The Basilisk was back... It looked unmanned, but it was back. "A-Amon!" she called after him, hoping he had some sort of answer. "What's going on here?" She was tired, she was confused, but most of all she just wanted to be done with this ship.

[Phoenix]

Ship Now Please

Amon blinked. Jamilla not only volunteered, but she had been the first to do so. Without waiting for approval, Haythem waved the dancer over. As this would take multiple trips, and there was no telling exactly how many it would take to operate the cannons on the Basilisk, they needed to hurry up. Amon had questions to answer, as well, from the sound of things.

"What did you do?!" Shadrak threw in his own inquiry as he made his way over, "how did that ship get over here?!"

"We don't have time for this," Amon shook his head at Eva and Shadrak both, "we have to get people over there and use the main cannons to chase off the 'skotians before they get here. We also have to do this before the Ursians catch up and try to take the ship for themselves. If they board us, I'll have to use the emblem to make the ship disappear again." He remembered falling toward the bottom of the maelstrom when the Basilisk first disappeared. "I don't want to have to do that while we're up there. Trust me, it's not fun, so hurry."

Progress

Joanna sighed and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. She'd been hard at work, following the Goddess' instructions as precisely as she could. That was fifteen captains she'd warned about the Basilisk and its affiliation in the past few minutes. She had many more to inform, particularly on Ursium's side of the battle, but what was most important here was that the Imperial armada be thoroughly shaken when the Basilisk fired on them. If they recovered from the initial shock, the plan would fail. Of course, by this point, Joanna wasn't worried. These were the Goddess' instructions. She just had to follow them and they would succeed. Her part in this certainly felt like it would be the most demanding, but she hadn't considered the fine details of what would be happening on Amon's end until now. He had to somehow get enough people for those guns, come to think of it. He didn't even know the exact number he needed, or if their own group had enough people. They would figure it out, of course, but she was beginning to appreciate their challenges the more she thought about them.

"Onto the next one ..." Joanna steeled herself for another authoritative warning.

[Xinnidy]

Thales flinched at the sight of the humongous battleship again, taking a moment to realize its state. What is all this... these... sparks? Furthermore, the thing seemed no longer manned. That was beyond confusing.

Tailing behind Eva, things became a bit clearer as she spoke to a Rexian looking man. So this is Amon? Thales eyed him quietly, tilting his head. There's something off here... He acted like a leader, alright, but there was something about him that felt... unnatural. I guess it has to do with what Eva said... will he answer if I ask about it?

It took another moment for Thales to realize he'd been staring without saying anything.

"Ah." He straightened himself up, "Uh... hey." Unsure how to introduce himself to mercenaries --they were mercenaries, right?--, Thales almost saluted, but held his hand back. No, that's military protocol, I'm jumbling it up "Name's Thales, got scouted by some of your guys. I... can handle guns." Short and easy to understand did it. If they needed the help, they'd ask him now, or ignore him. Can't be harder to handle a gun from that ship than when boss brought us that damned rusted ballista.

[Ether]

What had been intended as simply a moment's rest while she caught her breath had turned into an actual nap, of all things. Angelica took a moment to snap awake as her consciousness returned, shaking her head. Had exhaustion caught up to her so quickly? How long had she been out? How embarrassing... standing up quickly and taking in her surroundings, things were... strange. Very strange. Locating Eva as quickly as she could, the rider seemed about as distraught as she herself was... but at least she had been awake.

"Eva, what happened? I shut my eyes for a second and passed ou-" Angelica began, only to finally take notice of Amon barking orders among it all. Well, he was alive, that was good. But it only added more questions.

"Amon? You're alright, that's good, but what's going on?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Ugh, more! Fine, fine! I'm in this for the long haul-- but Sasha's too tired to help! I hope Isis is fine with multiple trips." She would've head off without another moment of hesitation, but it seemed like Angelica was awake now. "Amon says we gotta get over onto the ship and chase off the 'Skotians, so let's do that! Are you still too tired to magic, or are you good to go? If you're good, fly over. You can talk to him more there. Not gonna think about it anymore, just gonna do it!"

Now hesitation was gone, heading over to Haythem. "Alright big guy. Let's get people loaded onto her and start this operation, huh?

[Phoenix]

A Hit to Morale

Captain Catalan, Edith, and virtually everyone else aboard the King's Brand with a view stared in horror as the Basilisk reappeared ahead of the Ursian fleet. It had been too much to hope that the accursed ship had fled the battle for good. Worse still, it was completely unharmed. There wasn't a trace of the damage from Edith's strike on the command tower. Even at this distance, any destruction would have been discernible. The hulking gray giant was briefly surrounded by golden particles that quickly faded as the ship settled in the water. "What kind of power ...?"

What kind indeed, Edith wondered? "If that thing can repair itself and move around like that, how are we going to destroy it?"

"I don't know," Catalan admitted, his tone somber. "This may be the work of the gods themselves." He couldn't let his men hear him all but giving up like this. "Stay on course. We'll await orders from the Castor."

Autonomy

Amon nodded at Thales. "Head over to Haythem and he'll take you over." After letting Eva explain the situation, he chimed in, as well. "The same cannons they attacked the Ursians with are the same ones we have to get running, so focus on figuring those things out. This is Joanna's idea, though. We don't need to hit any of their ships." That was the part of the plan he felt dubious about. Regardless of this being one big gambit, Amon didn't want to kill off hundreds of people if he didn't have to, especially not as an amendment to a plan Joanna came with. He'd never be able to face her after demonstrating that kind of callousness.

"A few more, Amon," Haythem called over, drawing Amon out of his prior thoughts.

"More?" Amon glanced back as Haythem helped Jamilla up onto the large wyvern. "Are you sure?"

"It's not going to be a long flight," Haythem assured him. "I'm going to stay here and help him out," he added, addressing Eva. "Isis'll take you and the others over and save a seat in the process. We can probably get around ten people over at a time this way." From the look on the wyverns face, she seemed a lot more docile and focused than usual, as if she was waiting for some kind of signal. Haythem's plan itself was a bit odd, as he was implying instructions that were too complex for wyverns to follow impromptu. Still, Isis had an air of readiness about her, and seemed to be tuning out much of her surroundings as she waited.