Chase
I watched in awe as Tsushima Island exploded, it was the only word I could think of that could describe what happened to it. Trapped inside a magical bubble and floating several miles away from the former island, it just exploded into the atmosphere, raining rock, forest, and metal down onto the ocean below.
"Tsushima wakes! It needs the call of the Star farm crystal bearer!" I heard someone in one of the bubbles around me exclaim. I frowned and looked in the general direction of the voice and saw all the villagers floating in that direction bowing towards me.
"This seems like the beginning of a slippery slope…" I muttered softly to myself.
The ocean began to bubble and quake where the island had formally been and where the remains of the island were still raining back down. Something began to rise out of the water. It stretched into the sky while sea water cascaded off its form, revealing the head of a giant turtle. Well more like an enormous turtle, the head was about half the size of the island by itself. Crystalline growths sprouted from its jaw like a beard and covered its neck all the way to where it disappeared below the waves.
The turtle evo reared its head back and let out a deep, guttural roar so loud and powerful that the water around it was forced away, revealing the rest of its body hidden beneath the waves. The turtle shell was composed completely of crystal and had cannon shaped barrels sticking up towards the sky. Six reptilian legs stuck out from its shell, not quite turtle genus but I couldn't place what they belonged to. A thick whip-like tail with a crystal club the size of a mountain at the end pultruded from the back.
The evo stood to full height, more than three times taller than the tallest mountain on island with just the shell. Its neck extended another nine hundred feet past the top of the shell. As the waves that were pushed back by the sheer power of its voice returned the water only splashed against the tops of the evos knees with it standing at full height.
The enormous island turtle evo turned its head and looked out towards the sea, seeming oddly sluggish and confused. It started walking towards the deep sea, each step making waves as high as eighty feet tall that I knew somehow was going to wreak some poor sailors day later on. As big as the evo was it didn't take it long to reach the open sea where it actually started to sink into the water. Everyone around me watched as the majestic evo giant slowly disappeared beneath the waves, illuminated only by the light of the moon which was no longer reflecting the rainbow waves that had been coming from me when I was singing with Hoshi in hand.
Everything was quiet for several minutes after the evo disappeared beneath the waves. You could almost forget that there had once been an island in front of us, almost.
"CHASE GAELBORG KINGSTON!"
I flinched instinctively as I heard Iris and Jane's voice; while muffled by their bubbles; boomed. I looked in the direction they came from and saw Iris in a bubble with rainbow Sparkles and Mawt Huwl, floating next Jane who was in a bubble with Ayia'liah. Both girls looked pissed and like they would hit me the first moment they got.
"Jane…Iris…" I said sheepishly.
"Don't start making excuses and start getting us out of these bubbles!" Jane snapped.
"And what? Fall to our deaths and crash into the ocean?" I asked pointing to the miles of ocean below is.
"Ummm, Starlight ya might want ta take a better look around ya." I heard Grandpa Seamus say. I turned towards the sound of his voice and saw him floating inside a bubble with Colossus not too far from me.
"GRANDPA!" I exclaimed and lunged towards him.
Unfortunately I did it without thinking and the tip of Hoshi poked the bubble I was in and it popped. I stayed aloft for a fraction of a second then started to fall. Instinctively I channeled gravity attribute mana throughout my body started flying.
"OKAY NOBODY POP THEIR BUBBLES UNLESS YOU CAN FLY!" I yelled to everyone.
"No shit!" I heard Bo yell back from somewhere within the sea of bubbles.
I frowned then took a good look at the sea of bubbles. I quickly found grandpa Seamus and Colossus bubble but saw they weren't the only ones bubbled up beside Jane, Iris, and Bo. Everyone on the island that wasn't a member of the armies that attacked us were bubbles. Even Reagan and my evos were bubbles up, though it was hilarious to see Bahamut and Grimm-Guard confined in a bubble large enough to swallow mountains.
Looking around I frowned when I noticed a few people that weren't here. Jade, Angie, Louie, KC and Anders. I felt my panic started to rise until I heard a sharp and unmistakable whistle.
"Ain't that the King's Glaive down there?" Nate asked, pointing down at the unmistakable crystal mana train gliding just over the surface of the water and heading our way.
"Wait King's Glaive wasn't on the island?" I exclaimed.
"That's a good thing! It would have been destroyed otherwise." Jane snapped.
"Master Kingston, a word please!"
I turned my head towards the sound of a new voice and found Hideyoshi floating inside a bubble of his own near the outskirts of the bubble cluster. He was dressed in his military uniform that was slightly torn with blood stains shattered across it.
"Hideyoshi Ascred, you look terrible." I said casually. He looked at me seriously before nodding.
"You don't look so good yourself…" He said, his tone both humorous and stale.
"Yeah, they will happen when five countries try to kill you…" I replied, sounding more weary than I meant to.
"Well master Kingston I would hate to impose further on you but I have a request on behalf of my country and the inhabitants of Tsushima Island." Hideyoshi said.
"I'll get you and your people to the mainland Hideyoshi." I said, already having guessed what his request was. Hideyoshi looked relieved and bowed to me.
"We are forever in your debt. Are you sure you can carry all these people back though?"
"Easily with Bahamut and Grimm-Guard but the ride would be terrible." I admitted then glanced over my shoulder at the King's Glaive.
"Luckily we still have some containment cages stored on the King's glaive, we could fit all the inhabitants of the island inside the Solaris Wolfen biome comfortably."
"I see…I'll leave the details to you then….though there is another matter I would like to have your ear about later…" Hideyoshi said softly. I nodded curtly at that, having an idea on what the other matter was also.
***
"By the gods that took forever!" Jane groaned as she stretched.
"There were thousands of people living on the island Jane. We're lucky it only took that long." Iris commented.
"The fact it could be done at all is a miracle!" Hideyoshi praised.
I was back on the King's Glaive inside the control car with Jane, Iris, Sin, Grandpa Seamus, Colossus, Damon, Astrid, Alberto, Reagan, Anders, Madilyn, Haws, and Hideyoshi. All of us were huddled around the navigation column. Angie, Louie, Nate, Jade, Bo, Indy, and KC were either in their rooms or inside the containment cages helping people settle in for the ride back to the mainland.
It took a little over an hour to get everyone out of their bubbles and into the containment cage for transport. There were over twenty-five thousand people living on the island and we managed to get all of them inside safe and sound. Luckily there wasn't any loss of life among the civilians however the Japanese military forces stationed in Japan took heavy losses.
"Master Kingston, Princess Jane, and Lady Philari, all three of you are aware of my true identity." Hideyoshi said, gaining everyone's attention. I nodded slowly and crossed my arms.
"I am aware." I admitted. Hideyoshi locked eyes with me for a few seconds, unblinking and stern. He then pointed at Hoshi, sheathed and strapped to my hip.
"Master Kingston, under the veil of my true identity I traded that sword for several more Lugaloths to be delivered at a later date. It was most fortunate that I did, if you had not been in possession of that sword then I would be dead along with many more citizens of Japan." Hideyoshi said. Hideyoshi's eyes flashed with rage as he clenched his fists. His arms shaking with a combination of fury and helplessness. "My country was attacked! You might have been the target Master Kingston but my people died as a result! Military officials from foreign countries dared to plan military actions on my land! This slight, no…this total disregard of respect cannot be ignored! Such disrespect must be paid back in blood!"
Hideyoshi was panting at this point. The normally calm, collected, and reserved man was coming apart at the seams. Years of discipline, culture, and societal etiquette came crashing down as the ruler before me thought about the slights, losses, and deaths suffered this night.
"You want me to supply Japan with shaped evos." I said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement of facts. Hideyosh nodded slowly.
"Seven thousand RJSDF personnel died tonight! My own life was nearly taken by a opportunistic assassin! France, China, Scotland, England, and America will all feel the wrath of Japan for each and every death! For that I need the best equipment and the strongest evos! Both you and your company sell!" Hideyoshi barked.
I stayed quiet for several moments. Not for dramatic effect or to leave Hideyoshi guessing but because I was getting swept up in the Shogun's anger. It had taken everything I had to keep from breaking down in front of everyone earlier when we were in the bubble once I realized the fight was over. Instead of giving Hideyoshi a immediately answer I channeled mana into my void pocket ring and gingerly and respectfully reached inside and pulled Fours corpse from inside.
Jane, Iris, and Sin all gasped when they saw my dead Gravegyle. I heard Haws and Grandpa Seamus breath both hitch in their throats while Astrid whispered a soft "No." on seeing him. My expression was blank as I slowly lowered Fours onto the ground in front of Hideyoshi then met the eyes of the hidden ruler once again.
"My company has suffered losses today too. I know because of your upbringing that the loss of a evo might not be as impactful as the loss of a human but…Fours was member of my family…he died protecting me. Gargesh was Bo's second ever successful splicing attempt…he was also family to him and he died protecting Bo's mom. These countries tried to kill my friends, family, and employees and all in an attempt to kill me!" My voice was raw, shaky and full of the rage and agony that refused to be buried. "I want the King of England's head on a spike! I want the Divine Emperor of China eviscerated at my feet! I want the King of Scotland to beg for mercy as he's eaten alive by Liger sharks! I want the Queen of France's corpse paraded through the capital! And I want The Zionic States of America to tremble in fear as they watch all their allies fall one by one! If you can promise me that then…I'll sell you as many evos as you need for a fraction of the price!"
Hideyoshi stared at me for several moment, unblinking and silent. His eyes shined with a quiet understanding as he extended a hand to me in a handshake. I quietly took his hand, cementing the agreement between Japan and Sho'lajah Artifact Company.
"Hideyoshi Ascred…" Jane spoke up, grabbing both Hideyoshi's and mine's attention. "…as the crown princess of Egypt I can guarantee that Japan will not stand alone against these threats. It was only mere luck that my father and mother had left the island before the attack. Once they hear about the attack and attempt on my life you can be sure that Egypt will stand beside you!"
"I will take your word as gospel then, Crowned Princess Jane Solomon." Hideyoshi said respectfully then looked back at me. "The presence of a crystal merged being in the battlefield would be a great boost to moral for the coming battles."
"I will only give that spell to people I trust, Hideyoshi." I said sternly, understanding what he truly meant by that statement.
"And if I were to take the battlefield?" He asked.
"Then Japan would have a boost in moral."