Chapter II
Arising to
new Adventure!
The
water began to stir, interrupted through the starry night, bubbling with rise
of something great. Strands of moonlit sparkling water poured on the sides of
emerging object. An
Ryujin, Roan and Aleeya lived in a two story cabin, hidden near the woods, while facing the base of the cliff where the ocean could be seen brushing up against the bottom.
The moon hung clear above the stars and clouds.
Roan was sitting under the constellations, at the edge of the cliffs, wearing only a pair of shorts and a tunic. His legs were folded and his cattail swayed from side to side. A small round laptop, shaped like an apple, sat on his lap, while he pondered away with his typing. The colorful enigmatic lights of the small monitor bounced off of the lens of his glasses.
“This is amazing!” He said happily to himself with a grin. “The magic power I’m recording is OFF THE SCALE!!!”
Suddenly the scuffling of feet diverted the young cat-boy’s attention.
“Jin,” Roan raised an eyebrow, “you’re up late.” He said skeptically.
Ryujin stood only in his black pants. His shirt and shoes were off. The wind ran smoothly over his muscles as he crossed his arms over his chest. Occasionally it would ripple his red hair to the side.
“Couldn’t sleep.” Ryujin said. “Besides it’s a pretty warm night for it to be near fall.”
Roan turned around focusing on his laptop again. “This is the year of that day and legend.” He continued rapping his fingers at the keys as if he were playing a piano.
“What day and legend?” Ryujin asked.
“You know, the one ever two-thousand years.”
“Are you talking about that Floating Island?”
“Yeah,” He nodded his head. “That one. For a couple weeks now, I’ve been monitoring the actions taking place out in the ocean. Less than a few days ago, I designed a new invention that I installed in my compu-top.” He referred to his laptop.
“So, what’s so special about it? Should I care about the invention or…” Ryujin trailed off in mid-sentence.
“Well, let’s see…” Roan stroked his chin, showing his fang on the side of his lip. “I let the analyzer take read outs do North of here. The results were partially off scale, but now,” He cat-boy moved to the side and sat his compu-top on the grass.
Ryujin’s
eyes widened. “Damn!” He ran over and overlooked the monitor. The read-outs
were on a graph like screen, and as Roan had said, the read-outs had gone off
scale. “Roan, is this because of that
“It has to be.” He said, while cracking his neck. “Before, we weren’t so technologically advanced like we are now, to understand a Floating Island if it did exist. We’re lucky to be around when it happens now. Wouldn’t you think so?”
Ryujin
focused his sky blue eyes on the vast ocean. The moonlights reflection jumped
around in the water. “There was once a place called Eurania that could
fly. So if this is really a flying
“Even if it exists?” Roan glanced at him.
“Pretty much.”
“But,
what you’re not understanding is the
Ryujin shrugged “It doesn’t scare me any.” He coughed. “But, I’m still confused. What the hell is so magical about this place?”
Roan placed his glasses over his eyes once more and grabbed the compu-top, grinning. “I don’t know, but I can you there’s this word someone used to say to describe things like this.”
Ryujin gave Roan a crossed look.
“It’s MAGICALLY COOLIES!!”
The boy nearly fell backwards out of surprise. “Ahhh, what the hell does that mean!?”
“I don’t know,” Roan, scratched his head with a smile. “I just thought it would be cool to use right now.”
“Well do me a favor,” Ryujin frowned. “Don’t say that dumb phrase again.” He then began walking back towards the cabin.
Roan snatched his compu-top and followed after him. “Fine, ok I wont use that again, but can we go check out the island tomorrow morning?” He nagged.
“Nope.” He muttered.
“C’mon, Jin! This would be so cool and we might find something!”
“You want to take your chances with an island that’s a hot potato then go right ahead.” Ryujin stopped and beamed a dark stare at his friend. “You’re always the one saying we can’t do this because we don’t have the budget, remember?”
Roan twisted his lip to the side and began to gnaw on it. His face turned happy again and he gave Ryujin an optimistic smile. “C’mon Jin, pleeeeeeaaaaaseeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
“So does that mean we’ll go.”
“Nope.”
“Jin!!!”
A large spacecraft grazed the depths of black space along with the stars. It was roundly shaped, with a huge dome over the cover. Inside was a blue emerald colored castle, with mini shuttles flying about.
Space dust and other offerings beaded off of the dome only to be disintegrated by the engines on the bottom.
Inside a brightly lit throne room, a fixture of twirling chandeliers twinkled with a red delight. The walls were a porcelain light blue glass color, along with the floor. A red carpet unraveled from the glass like door all the way towards the floating round like throne sat. It was turned backwards, with a girl’s head showing. Her two purple ponytails, tied by red knockers, swirled upward. Her blue boots clicked against one another.
The mirror like door slide open and a brown skinned man with a green colored goatee that resembled something of an Egyptian of old and eyebrows, stepped in. His long dark green robe scraped against the red carpet. His golden staff placed a wrinkle in the carpet with every step he made. A green color headrest sat atop his head, with a symbol of a pharaoh. The yellow designs along the black seams of his robe took on a momentous shine.
“Your highness, Queen Acapella.” He broke down, kneeling, bowing his head, and resting the darkened black staff he had in hand, upon the ground. “I have come with great news.”
Queen Acapella giggled like an innocent child. “Please tell me, Ati, what is this important news?” She asked, while keeping her back showed towards him.
With his head still bowed he spoke. “We are approaching the magical planet of Orcania. As soon as we land, I will send out special recruits to retrieve the Songstress.” He murmured.
“Where exactly will we be landing?” She asked, as her voice echoed throughout the large room. One had to wonder, why it was so quiet?
“For safety reasons your highness we will land in the a remote area.”
The chair slowly whirled around. Queen Acapella’s light purple skin gleamed with the shades of red like from the chandeliers. She gently licked her lips, careful not to dampen the dark blue lipstick. She had no pupils, only glowing white eyes. She looked no older than sixteen.
“Fine, as long as we get the job done.” She clapped her hands together and four women dressed in Egyptian like garbs all ran before her, kneeling. “Ati, I’m going to take my bath now.” She said and stood on the ground, her long blue robe slightly opened near the chest.
Ati was polite enough to keep his head bowed. “I’ll handle everything for now, you’re highness.” He assured her.
The young Queen began walking away with her servants and Ati gave a hateful grin as he looked at her out the corner of his black eye. “Everything will be handled, but I will be the one getting what I want.” He lured his face at the throne once more, stood to his feet and frowned. “Let’s find my dear Shadow…” He mumbled.
Aleeya flapped her little delicate wings up the wooden flights of steps in the cabin, shouting out Roan and Ryujin’s names. It was as if they weren’t there. “Roan, Ryujin, what are you two doing?” She pushed open a door to their bedroom and saw both boys sleeping soundly. Roan was sprawled on the sheets, snoring, while on the other bed, Ryujin lay flat on his back with the covers hanging off of his legs.
“Figures, boys will be boys!” She grumbled and zipped over towards Roan. “Hey Roan,” She whispered in his ear lightly. “Time to wake up big boy…” She giggled. “Breakfast is on the table.”
Roan rolled over and smacked his lips, smiling. “Not yet, just a little more, five hours mor…zzzzz…zzzzz…”
Aleeya thrust her fists upon her waist. “Roan Nighthawk, wake up right now!” She yelled. He still paid no attention to her. She shook her head and sighed, then made her way over towards Ryujin. She let her feet fall upon his bare chest. She overlooked his muscles with an eye-raising brow of approval and then at the boy’s child looking face as he slept.
“Ryujin…” She spoke. “Ryujin,” She said again.
“Not yet, Maria is about to invite me to her bedroom tonight…fun…mmm..zzz.”
“FUN!?” Growing angered, she soared over towards his face and kicked him in the nose.
“YEOUCH!!!!” The boy jumped up, staring Aleeya in the face with his red eyes. He rubbed his nose and groaned. “Aleeya, what’s your problem?”
She shut her eyes and with her arm over her stomach, she raised her right finger in the air. “You’re even a Sleaze bucket when sleep. I need to spy on you two more often.” She glanced over at Roan, smiled evilly and waved her finger in the air. Sparkles of magic formed around a small can and a knife. It floated over towards the sleeping cat-boy and in mere seconds began to clang together into a loud noise that made him sit straight up.
“I’m up…I’m up!” He huffed.
Aleeya moved to the center of the room, looking from left to right at both boys. “What the heck did you two do, get drunk or something? Roan you know better than that too!”
“No…” Roan yawned. “I didn’t get drunk, I was observing something late last night.”
She gave a beaming stare at Ryujin as he shifted both his hands upon his cheeks while leaning on his knees. “Yeah, well I’d hate to know what Casanova over there was observing. Anyhow, get situated, breakfast is on the table. Now, up, up, up!” She ordered.
“Hey,
Jin,” Roan rubbed his eyes. “You still wanna go to the
Ryujin smiled and stood to his feet. He twisted his body into a relaxing stretch and then looked at the cat-boy. “Nope, nice try though. I’m half sleep but not sleep.”
Roan sunk his head down and grumbled.
The two were dressed and ready for breakfast after a near half hour. Aleeya served her famous oatmeal to the boys, while eating some out of a tiny bowl for herself. They slurped their breakfast like a bunch of anteaters, drank their juice and went about their business, leaving the poor fairy-girl to deal with the dishes.
“Sure, I’m the new hired maid around here.” She said sarcastically. “I think not!” As she was about to leave out the room she gave the room a disgusted look and sighed. “ROAN, RYUJIN, GET YOUR BUTTS BACK HERE!!!!!” She shouted.
Without a doubt, both boys were forced to wash and dry the dishes. Aleeya watched them from an outside window while putting sheets and clothing on a line to dry. Everything seemed so much easier for her; being little when all she had to do was point her finger and use magic to move things around.
Later on that day, Roan was working on his Compu-top terminal, while in a little storage room in the basement. It was lit with a blue fluorescent light and there were all types of different trinkets and objects that he’d been working on. Mechanic equipment was lying on the wooden floor and many other things.
“Hmmm, I wonder if I could just…” He mumbled to himself and continued typing away. “Ah Ha! Perfect construction, easy lighting, now let’s see if it works!” Happily, he wheeled his computer chair over to another table, pressed a button and a green marble fell materialized in a microwave like object. He opened the door, took it out and pressed the marble down. It then changed into a flashlight. “Yes! Perfecto!” He rejoiced.
Aleeya was humming to herself as she finished hanging up the last batch of clothing. They were mostly all boys’ underwear. She turned around and saw Ryujin leaned against the sidewall of the cabin.
“How long have you been standing there?” She asked.
“For a while.” He murmured. “I’ve been thinking about something.”
Her eyes lit up. “Oooo what about?” ‘Please say me,’ she thought.
Ryujin walked near the clothesline, and ducked under it, staring at the fairy-girl. His cut off blue glove gripped the rope. “Roan talked to me about some type of Floating Island last night. That’s mostly why we slept so late today.”
“Oh,” She frowned. “I figured that much. Well for his part I mean, you I could of thought other wise.”
“You get mad whenever I talk about a girl so why would I bring one up now?” He asked.
“Who’s Maria?”
“I don’t know.” He dared not to look her straight in the eyes.
“You’re so unbelievable at times.” She sighed. “But I guess that’s what I love about you. So what was so important about this island?”
“I believe I can answer that!” Said a deep indistinct voice of a man who walked from the side of the cabin with a blade in hand. He had a scarred face and a black robe. His long black hair fell down his back.
“Who the hell are you?!” Ryujin growled. Aleeya scooted behind him, resting her hands on his shoulders.
Another man, dressed in the same manner, except with a hockey mask, ran up to the man and whispered. After nodding his head, the hockey-masked man ran off again.
“You’ve got five seconds to get off my damn property or I’m gonna stick my foot so far up your ass-“
“I don’t think so, Mr. Aishou.” The man smiled.
Ryujin shut his mouth with a gasp. He and Aleeya were surprised when they saw two more men carrying Roan by his green vest. They threw him in front of the scarred man.
“Hey, that’s no way to treat people, you bastards.”
The scarred man picked Roan by the throat and rested his blade upon his neck.
“Roan!” Aleeya cried.
“Listen, and listen well.” The man said. “I am called Garnak. I have heard much about this so called…” He looked at the cabin. “Thieves Guild, but could never find it.”
Roan tried to struggle to get free, but Garnak shook him still.
“You let him go!” Ryujin ordered him.
“You’re in no place to strike an agreement.” Garnak’s voice sounded very snake like. “Of course,” He hissed. “I could save us both the trouble as long as you did something for me.”
Finally the group of hockey-masked men, six in all, walked up behind Garnak, with swords, knives, and axes in hand.
“What if we don’t agree? Are you gonna chop us to death?” Roan asked blatantly.
“Roan, shut up for a minute.” Ryujin said. “Listen, we don’t have to see any blood shed..not yet anyways.” He frowned.”
“Good,” Garnak released his blade from the Cat-boy’s neck and pushed him forward.
“Bastard!” Roan struck a hateful stare at the man.
“Unless you want your head to roll I’d go over there with Mr.Aishou.” He uttered.
Roan said no more and stood next to his friend while rubbing his neck.
“What is it you want?” Ryujin asked.
One of the hockey-masked men walked over towards Garnak, giving him a small square box. He nodded his head, looking at Ryujin, Aleeya and Roan. “I’ll make this simple and short. I’ve heard about your recent antics over the years. Robbing people blind, hired by others to do so. You get a decent sum and everyone is happy.”
“Yeah, what the hell about it?” Ryujin clenched his teeth.
Garnak
stared intently at the red-haired boy and grinned. “Well you’re about to be
hired for something else, quite different than you’re used to. Refuse and I’ll
make sure your little hide out is easily discovered.”
Aleeya blinked rapidly. “How
did you find this place anyhow?”
“My secret…” Garnak put a finger near his lips. He then tossed over the box. It brushed up against Roan’s brown boots.
The young cat-boy kneeled down, picking the box up into his hands. What showed next was a hologram of the Floating Island. It spun around in a dizzy circle, slow then fast the opposite way. The joy of adventure sparkled in Roan’s eyes.
“The Floating Island!” His mouth gaped open rigidly.
Garnak’s crooked teeth jangled in front of the three like a couple of loose bells in a church. “Would you mind pressing the button on the side?” He asked Roan.
Roan’s finger found a soft button that he gently pushed inward. The hologram of the island faded out. Seconds later, a cave shaped like a Dragon’s head was shown. The darkness led in to what looked to be a mouth.
“So, that’s the cave Roan was talking about.” Ryujin mumbled. Aleeya’s tiny fingers brushed off of his shoulders and she flew over towards the hologram slowly circling it. The light refracted off of her green hair and eyes.
“Pretty.” She smiled.
Garnak laughed once again. “It sounds like you fools already know of this place.” The grin on his lips wrinkled the scars on his square looking. “Inside of that very cave rests ancient artifacts from thousands of years past yet,” He walked back and forth, all three companions were giving him hateful stares “that is not what I am searching for. Long ago there was a king who bore an emblem of pure emerald. His individuals found it within a cave.”
The screen faded once more, only to show a jade green emerald spinning in place.
Aleeya paused and took in its glowing beauty, while dropping her mouth wide open with surprise. “Now that’s what I call pretty. Could we ditch you and nab that for ourselves?” She asked.
Ignoring her comment, Ryujin crossed his arms in front his chest and clenched his teeth. “So let me guess, you must want us to find that for ya.”
Garnak grinned and nodded his head. “Smart boy!” He snapped his finger.
“But that Island! It…”
“Yes I know,” The man interrupted Roan as he was talking. “It could sink at any moment.” He shut his eyes while continuing to grin. “Sadly it wont be my loss if you die. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha…”
“Grrrrrr, That’s it!” Ryujin went to dash after Garnak when Roan grappled him around the waist, seeing that his hockey masked henchmen were waiting for the attack.
“Jin, calm down, he’s not worth it!”
“Get off me, Roan!” He struggled to move forward, nearly dragging the cat-boy. “He can’t force us to do this!”
“Umm…guys…” Aleeya’s shrill voice fell into a quaky undertone of worry. “I really hate to interrupt your little squabble, but you’d better take a look at this.”
Both boys turned around, looking at the newest holographic feature.
“Ahh!” Roan let go of Ryujin and fell backwards with surprise. “That’s us!” He exclaimed.
An excited wind blew around them all, playing with their clothing and hair.
“Blackmail?” The fairy-girl frowned at Garnak. “Is that what you’re trying to get at? Well let me tell you, you ugly overgrown pimple, I’ll have you know, there’s no way you’ll get away with this!”
“You think?” He raised a steady eyebrow. Then he looked at Ryujin and Roan. “I thought you might like that. Now you can understand that it’s either my way or the highway. The bounty on your heads would help me greatly, and since no one knows exactly where you’re at, I could turn you in! I’d say next time be more careful when pilfering someone insanely rich!” He and his men broke out into a fit of laughter, angering Ryujin to the point of his face turning red.
“Jin?” Roan glanced up at his friend.
The boy lowered his head in shame. His ponytail and bangs were beaten by the fierce winds. “…Fine…” He muttered. “We’ll go…” His words held an indecisive reluctance.
Aleeya and Roan only stared in anger at the sinister Garnak.
“Good,” His voice slithered. “I knew you’d see it my way. Now,” He turned around to face his men. “Get their Wind Cruiser read and hurry!”
“What!? NO!” Roan shrieked. “Not my Star Blaze, I just got done fixing her up!”
“You’re in no position to negotiate feline.” The dark man said lowly. “Stay quiet and let’s go. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for your demise if that dear old island suddenly decided to…sink! Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha…”
~End
