Battle Upon the Briny Blue

“DUCK!” screeched Marco as he jumped back down into the hull below. Smaz only had time to look up from his position to see a large, shining, cannonball against the glittering night sky. Which was about the point Smaz shouted three words.

“Everybody duck down!”

There was a thunderous smash as splintered wood threw itself all around the deck – the cannonball colliding with part of the ship from such ferocious speed; it left itself embedded on the other side of the ship. The force had thrown Smaz back, from impact, and right against the small wooden railing of the ship, stunned.

Aera immediately jumped back on her feet and smiled a little. This was the perfect opportunity to open the small box amidst the confusion. She snuck into the small cabin as Smaz regained his composure.

“Marco! Are you all right down there?” Smaz called out, his left hand stabilising his body on the rail. A rather hearty chuckle replied at a strangely high pitch. “Marco?” However, before Marco could say anything more, a huge bang was heard which deafened the skies around. Smaz swivelled to see several more cannonballs whizzing towards the ship at lighting speed from the ships in the distance.

Marco popped his head up from the hole once again.

“Arrr.. this ain’ good…” he sighed.

There was more than one thunderous smash this time as a cacophony surrounded Smaz, blasting him further back, and past the barriers as they smashed to splintering pieces. Wood sprayed everywhere as the cannonballs lodged themselves into the deck.

Smaz was barely holding on… his left hand clasping the rail as his body dangled above the water’s edge.

“I knew it would be one of THOSE days.” Smaz gasped as he tried to pull himself up. The muscles in his left arm tensed under his grey fur, which ruffled lightly from the convectional wind currents. His muscles weren’t bulky, but more so thin with his natural stature, and still somewhat sturdy from his knight days with the King… but try as he might, Smaz could not muster enough strength to pull himself up with one arm.

“Smaz, where are ye, good knigh’?” Marco called out above the roaring of more cannon fire.

“Down… here… you great balalaika!” wheezed Smaz, his grip slipping. If only he could use his levitational powers now… but he knew not of how to use them. Last time they came almost naturally.

Marco seemingly didn’t hear the knight as the wind picked up and the cannons roared some more. This was it – Smaz would have to face the ocean and be swept under the currents to drown.

Smaz closed his eyes, sighed and felt a sharp vibration rip down the ship as another large cannonball rocked the ship. That was all he needed… the railing broke… Smaz fell… only… Smaz didn’t feel the cold wind wash against his body as he fell.

Confused, Smaz opened his eyes to spot he was in the same place, his arm raised and holding the railing in his left hand. He smiled a difficult smile. He had done it again and activated his levitation ability.

That was what he initially thought, anyway, before he looked down to see a cannon below him. Smaz then realized he had fallen. Only a few inches. It was enough, however, to make a certain pain strike him.

His eyes slanted and his lips quivered with pain – his legs were out-stretched around the cannon. He had fallen on his male area.

“Indeed… one of… THOSE… days…” Smaz wheezed to no one in particular.

“FIRE!” roared Marco from behind the cannon. A large bang exploded from the cannon’s end as a huge cannonball hurtled towards the enemy ships, now only 13 yards or so away.

The explosion had been more than enough for Smaz’s rather delicate ears at such a place right then, and his head rattled with intense pain from the explosion. Not to mention the cannon had heated up from the bang, warming Smaz’s male area oh so tenderly.

“GOODNESS. When I WANT saving, I WANT saving in STYLE.” Smaz roared to Marco, as he shakily crawled along the heated cannon towards the ship, again.

“Oh, I didnee see ya there, ol’ knigh’!” Marco sheepishly smiled. Smaz wore the expression that could only indicate anger, although secretly he was relieved that something had saved him, even if it wasn’t his levitation powers.

**********

“At this rate, the untold treasure shall be mine! I don’t need either that drunken pirate captain or that emotionally stony Smaz to get me by… this will do… perfectly…” The tone in Aera’s voice was somewhat mad, but was in a quite hush tone. She evidently wanted the treasure of the seas most badly, and was prepared to ditch the crew for her own personal needs.

She twiddled a small piece of thin wire in the box lock. Having done so since running off into the cabin when the catastrophe started, she was now becoming agitated and impatient.

“Why won’t this revolting thing open?!” Aera growled. She twiddled around with the lock some more with a small iron wire, but could not budge the box’s lock at all.

She had little time. Smaz and Marco were sure to notice her absence soon, and without the box open, she was no sooner finding out the location of the treasure than she was to becoming an Aero. Man, did she detest chocolate. Especially chocolate with bad puns on her own name.

“Blast that Smaz… that name is going to stick, I can feel it! Curse him! Yet…” A notion formed in Aera’s head. “I was able to play on his emotions before… but… why on Yarth did he have such an affect on me?” Aera was puzzled. She never had told anyone of her past before, and some of those tears were very much real, from her eyes. Smaz was stony faced, but yet he could not help but caress her face.

She placed the box on the table, momentarily, her thoughts circling in her mind. She could easily play on his affections…

There was a huge crack as a cannonball smashed through the wooden cabin walls. Aera gave a short shriek as the crash made her jump wildly. She jumped onto the table, which stood in the room, and grasped the box before turning to see a mass of splintered wood and a cannonball fall onto the floor.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and Smaz stood there, his cape now ruffling in the wind.

“Aera – we are going to need you and your abilities if we have any hope of surviving this onslaught of impracticality!” Smaz commanded, the wind blowing his cape across the open door wildly.

“Great, boy, but why is it impractical?” Aera snorted.

“A heavy wind is brewing and that just makes everything so much more cheerful when battling a very large fleet of battle ships, does it not?” Smaz’s tone was very much sarcastic.

“What do you need me for, anyway? I’m my own agent unless coins are involved.”

Smaz sighed slightly. “I hope you realise…” Smaz started as he grabbed the door with his right hand, “That to obtain any form of coins or treasure, you will have to work as a team with us.” He slammed the door after him, leaving Aera to look on, stunned.

“Baaaaaaaaaaaah…” she snarled, and stormed out onto the deck.

**********

Within minutes, the wind had picked up vastly and the seas became more vicious. It was blatant that this new fleet, marked with the King’s emblem, had chosen to attack when they new a storm would hinder the enemy’s ship more than theirs. Smaz stood his ground, teeth clenched and his beloved Moonsuya Sword drawn, awaiting the inevitable battalion that would ensue after the cannonball charge.

Aera had taken position next to Smaz, her eyes narrow as the ships drew near.

The only ship firing cannonballs now was the very one the three stood on, with Marco firing them from below. It was fruitless, however.

“GAAAH! At this ra’e, we’ll run ou’ o’ cannonballs!” Marco flustered from down below.

“Use whatever else you may in store down there, Marco. We want to slow them down as much as possible.” Smaz shouted over the torrents of wind and darkened night sky. The grey clouds had started to cloud over, blocking part of the Moon’s glow away. Whatever happened, Smaz needed the Moon out.

“Arrr, yer righ’, Smaz!” Marco shouted back up, firing what appeared to be the last cannonball. There was another thunderous shake as the cannon erupted a large cannonball at the closest ship. It did its damage, but so far no ships were close to sinking.

“There’s no point, you foolish imbeciles – your balls aren’t doing anything. It’s time to stand our ground and fight.” Aera snarled out loud.

Smaz turned to Aera.

“Let the man do what needs to be done. It is slowing the enemy down-” Smaz started, but was rudely interrupted.

“YES, but NOT stopping them. Honestly, I don’t know what you’ve been thinking for the past few minutes, but to get the better of the opponent, you have to think ahead, and sometimes go head on into the thick. Got that?” Aera’s tone was very much angry and she had thrusted her head towards Smaz in a violent manner that was meant to back Smaz away.

Only, he didn’t.

“Marco, stop firing those pumpkins.” Smaz commanded Marco without taking his eyes away from Aera’s rather close face.

“Arrr… but I like firin’ those pumpkins… I ‘ate them so much…” Marco retorted.

“Aera is correct; we have to stop delaying and start attacking where it really hurts. Come up.” Smaz said loudly. He then turned the tone of his voice down to a quiet one. “You should show a non-defensive face more often, Aera… it makes you look rather…” Smaz stopped and turned around as he heard a grunt felt the blade of a cold scimitar reach his back. “Too many times this has happened to me. Too many.” Smaz commented.

“That’s because you turn your back on the enemy too often.” Aera added, as Smaz lifted his arms up.

“Arrr, jus’ in time!” Marco shouted as he popped his head up from the hull’s hole in the deck.

A loud bang shattered the air. This time, however, it wasn’t a cannonball fire – it was much too high to be of that calibre. The blade from behind Smaz fell to the ground swiftly, as did the body of the enemy. Smaz turned slightly to see Marco’s smiling face and a pistol in his hand.

“I love mah pistols.” he smiled.

“I love the fact you all should pay much more attention. Look sharp. They’re here.” Aera snarled and immediately darted forward as the first ship docked next to them, throwing a horde of enemies on board. She swiftly tapped into her main attribute of speed and accelerated past two opponents, only to come back as swift as she past them, knocking them at the back of both of their heads with her elbows.

Smaz then set to action, as swiftly as he could as twelve or so swarmed around him. Sorry, eleven. Sorry, ten. Marco was putting both of his pistols to great effect by shooting at the enemy from a distance, near the wheel of the ship.

“I do not even get why you guys are attacking, but this is OUR ship and YOU are not welcome!” Smaz roared and whizzed forward to knee the first enemy in the stomach. Front this close, he could see that these were the very same other knights and army of the castle, which was what he was very much hoping they wouldn’t be.

“I thought so. You knights want me for ‘killing the King’, correct?” Smaz asked a guard to his left.

“You are a traitor to the kingdom! You need either to be killed or sent to prison for a lifetime for your crime!” the small male shouted back.

“You seem to have it all wrong, however - I did not kill the King with intent.” Smaz explained, his hand lowering from his sword.

“What makes you think we should believe you? YOUR sword was found in the King’s body, TRAITOR!”

Smaz placed his hand back on the Moonsuya sword, waiting for the dark clouds to swiftly dart by and out of the way of the moon.

“It was a big mistake. I did not know what I was doing, since I was being attacked by the King and …”

“LIAR!”

“Oh for goodness sakes, you deserve to die if you are that ignorant of your own King and will not let me finish.” Smaz angrily rolled his eyes as he said this.

“TRAITOR!”

“Silence!” Smaz scornfully shouted and jumped high into the air, with one of his particularly splendid jumps. As he did so, the clouds began to clear and the full moon shone directly down onto the ship. Smaz smiled to himself as he pulled out his Moonsuya blade once again – the moonlight shimmering off of the blade as he did so, and shouted: “Moonsuya Zantetsuken!”

“Moowhatter?” the guard inquisitively asked, but it was too late for him. Smaz landed on the ground swiftly and darted forward – his blade now shimmering from the moon. There was only time for the guard to have one final glimpse of life as Smaz’s blade darted directly through the guard and his armour. Directly through.

His fingers tensed and curled slightly as his face showed utmost pain for a brief second before the top part of his body disconnected from the bottom half, sliding down onto the ground in a rather astounding way. Moments later, blood poured out from the part where the two halves split and coated the deck.

“Arrrrrrr – meh ship… she be coated in blood!” Marco cried out when he saw what Smaz had achieved from his position. All he was doing was firing more successful shots into less armoured areas of the guards.

“No worries, Marco – you shall have more blood from now onwards. With the Moonsuya blade powered up by the full moon’s glow, it will decapitate any person it is slashed at.” Smaz explained as he turned to the other guards, who now were in awe. “No one is safe from the blade. No one.”

Smaz then charged at two guards at once with his blade shining the Moon’s light off of it, hammering it against the sword of another guard’s.

**********

Meanwhile, Aera was on the ship closest their own, darting around at incredible pace with her magical power, her own blades twirling around her as she swiftly moved them with her arms.

“Try to keep up – I DARE you all! You shall become a bloodbath of sweet pain!” Aera laughed as she darted. Her vision was of complete fuzziness and blurred action. Despite moving so fast, she could somehow tell where she was perfectly by using the air’s currents around her. “Here’s one I made earlier…” She sniggered, lightly, pulling out several darts from her belt.

“Death Tempest. Remember that name – since it’s the last you’ll ever hear!” She shouted, amusingly punning the earlier conflict against Smaz. She immediately ran up of the enemy mast, her speed keeping her on the mast perfectly without falling until she was near the top, in which she did an amazing back flip, somersaulting into the air. With this done, she faced towards the ground and threw many darts towards the ground. She smiled maliciously.

As the darts flew ship-bound, they split into several smaller pinned darts… which split again… causing…

“That’s right – you’re all screwed!” Aera chuckled as the several thousands of pins created, now scattered down at such ferocious speed, they impaled the guards below in no time, impaling several hundreds of them, below. It really was a tempest of death.

She landed on a guard’s body, which lay dead from being struck in the heart with a fine needle. The impact was taken away from the high jump by her kneeling as she landed, and her arms outstretched for balance.

“That looked almost like you were bowing from a circus show...” a rather sweet voice answered.

“Huh?” Aera looked up to see a rather young looking female, wearing a long, white dress. She was very beautiful. At a hazard of a guess from Aera’s view, she was only 16, and looked very delicate. Aera did not feel threatened at all from the innocent face that looked down on her.

“So what’s next?” the young girl asked, smiling.

“Your demise!” Aera laughed and darted out to attack her with her blades. Only… she darted directly through the girl as if she wasn’t there. “So you can move quickly, eh? Time to die!” She shouted out again and raced back through the girl. To no avail, of course.

“It’s useless, since this is only a hologram.” The girl laughed kindly.

“WHAT?! A holo…what?!” Aera roared, certainly angrier than before from not being able to hit her. Not knowing what a hologram was, she darted at, and through, the girl once again.

“A fake projection of the real object, allowing no harm to come to the user.” The girl sweetly replied, her large blue eyes eventually causing Aera to slowly stop her running towards the hologram, again.

“…Who are you?” Aera could only find herself capable of saying after being confused, somewhat.

“My name is Mirru. Heh heh!” She laughed rather sweetly. Her next sentence was almost comical from how unthreatening it was from such a sweet voice, but it was very much real. “I rule this fleet and you… are to die.”