Chương 75: Phase 64: Depths
Stopping short of one mistake led Colin down a path of consideration. {What about Junrei? Was it right to give HIM away? Lynn demanded of me a sacrifice, but was it the right thing to do? And what of the others?!}
Satrox found him still at the tree, head in his lap with both hands curled around it and groaning to himself. "Hey, Colin! Are you all right?!"
"I'm not giving Foxie away. Or Ardent. Or Glide." Colin told him. "It's not right to give Comrades away just for better chances at winning a competition."
Satrox heaved a sigh of relief. "So, then, what's bothering you?"
"It's those other Comrades I've already given away." Colin said. "Did I make a mistake?"
"Did you?" Satrox asked. "The first time you gave them to Katrin, was it a mistake?"
"No. Katrin was so… so…" words failed him.
"I know." Satrox said. "So that wasn't a mistake, was it?"
Colin said nothing.
"Then what about that other one, the Desert Wolf. Was that a mistake?"
Colin groaned. "I don't know! I mean… I love the Forest of Legends. I want to be a part of that! And I understand Lynn, when she told me to keep only Forest Comrades. I felt it was something very important, even though I don't know why! And it feels right to only have Forest Comrades. But to give Junrei away…"
"She demanded a sacrifice, didn't she?" Satrox mused.
"She did." Colin said.
"Couldn't refuse her, could you?"
"Couldn't. After everything she's done for me… and knowing I could help her somehow… help the Forest… I wanted to be a part of all that."
"Then you made a choice. Was that wrong?"
Colin groaned. "No. But still…"
"It was a sacrifice." Satrox said. "Here's one more mistake you're about to make."
"What's that?" Colin asked, fearing the worst.
"You're beating yourself up about things that you can't change." Satrox told him, nudging him with his foot. "It's over and done with, you can't do anything about it. Get over it and do something about the things you can fix."
"Oh."
***
Colin was a bit surprised when Satrox flew west instead of north when they took off from the Dark Forest. "Hey! Lamico City is that way!"
"I know!" Satrox replied. "Just… hold on for now."
"Where are we going?" Colin asked. "There's nothing but ocean that way! Don't tell me you're trying to fly back to the Crescent Continent!"
"I'm not!" Satrox said. "I'd be going north if I wanted to do that! I'm heading out to the open sea!"
"What's the point of flying off to sea?!"
Satrox laughed. "You'll see."
With all his Comrades and Tames in formation, they swooped over flocks of gulls, schools of fish, and the occasional ship in the water. Sailors waved up at them, and Satrox waved back.
"The water's clear, isn't it?" Colin mused, looking down.
"It should be. These have to be the cleanest and richest seas in all Nakama World." Satrox said.
"What do you mean 'have to be'?" Colin asked.
"The person who rules them likes to keep things clean."
Colin heard a bell ring in his head. "That sounds familiar."
"It should." Satrox said.
"Who rules these seas?" Colin asked.
"The one we're looking for." Satrox answered. "Someone who's able to help me bond my Comrades without the use of a Comrade Home."
"Who can do something like that?" Colin blurted, but even as the words came out, he knew who it was.
{Lynn could do it. It was an older form of Bonding and a stronger one. It could be done by her, because Lynn is the Forest Princess.}
{And if we're headed out to sea…}
"Is there such a thing as an Ocean Princess?" Colin asked.
"Yep." Satrox answered. "We're about to go visit her."
Colin waited, looking around and seeing less and less ships, more and more fish. {Where exactly are we going? An island? Underwater? Can Pegasus swim with feathers and all?}
Then he saw it. He almost missed seeing it, since it was blue and seemed to be made of crystal, but when they got closer, it became clear that the structure wasn't in fact some trick of the eyes.
It was a tower. Very elegant, very tall, and it stuck straight out of the water. Colin whistled. "Does it go all the way to the bottom of the sea?"
"See for yourself." Satrox said. "Let's go."
A four-winged gull came to meet them. There was a girl on its back. "Ho! Visitors! What brings you to Ocean Tower?"
"We come to seek the Princess' aid." Satrox called back.
"Who are you that dares seek her aid?"
"I am called Satrox."
"And the other?"
"He's under my watch."
The girl seemed a bit uncertain what to do about that. She made a call on her watch and spoke briefly. Then, she nodded and said, "Land on the lowest ring!"
The Tower, Colin soon found, had three landing rings, like balconies. The lowest one was the very largest, with docks for ships. There were no ships around now, though.
Satrox landed Pegasus and all their Comrades landed after them. The girl sentry landed also.
"Sorry, but can you bring me to the Home Warp?" Satrox asked. "I'd hate to bring my entire army barging in on the Princess like this."
Her eyes narrowed. "This isn't your first cycle, is it?"
"Nope. I'd hate to send my Comrades Home without the ability to Warp them in." Satrox said.
Colin gave Satrox a questioning look.
"I've been a Purple Badge before. Even though I'm Blue now, I still have the Purple Badge abilities." Satrox explained. "Like how you were able to set a Home Base even though you went back to Yellow."
"Oh."
The Home Warp was on the north side of the balcony, a very large, very open space. It was a ring about the size of a houseset into the floor. Satrox sent all his Comrades in, keeping only the Tames back.
"Why can't you just Warp them back the way you Warp them in?" Colin asked, as yellow light flooded the area and Satrox's Comrades vanished.
"That's the way it works. We can call Comrades to us, but sending them home is hard. That's why we almost always Travel around with our Comrades. Otherwise, people would just summon their Comrades to fight and send them back immediately afterwards."
"That's exactly what I had in mind." Colin confessed.
"Then they wouldn't be Comrades, would they? They'd be just weapons. Comrades were meant to Travel with Dreamers, Colin. You should know the difference by now."
Colin fell silent as their guide led them to an elevator. "This way."
She went in and hit the bottom button. The elevator went down, past the balcony, and under the waves.
"Wow." Colin whispered.
For a long minute, he turned into a statue. Eyes wide and staring, barely remembering to breathe, he didn't move an inch.
"Like the view?" Satrox guessed.
Colin didn't need to reply.
The water was clear. Dazzling clear, and the crystal of the tower was totally transparent. Colin could see the fish, the corals, and the Wilds of the ocean for distances he couldn't even calculate.
There was that huge whale with flippers so big, it looked like it could almost fly. There were a pair of Sea Tigers, striped orange, black and white, with tails and flippers that wouldn't normally be seen on tigers. There was that Giant Electro Eel, swimming around surrounded by sparkles of electric current.
There were Flying Dolphins, who came in for a landing with a series of concerted splashes. There were green sharks, probably Sonic users, as big as elephants and much, much faster. There was that black lurking figure far, far back with long tentacles and glowing yellow eyes.
"That's Grand Kraken." Their Guide told him. "He's not seen around here often. He's a lot bigger than he looks. Don't mess with him."
"He looks huge." Colin said. "And you say he's bigger than he looks?"
"Much bigger." She nodded. "See those other, smaller Kraken around him?"
Colin saw. "Aren't those children?"
"Nope. Those are adults. They're as big as ships."
Colin gulped. If that was the case, Grand Kraken might be as big as a town. "That's got to be the biggest thing I've ever seen."
"You won't be saying that," she answered, "if you've seen Leviathan."
"Really?!"
"But then again…" she paused. "If you've seen Leviathan, you probably wouldn't dare go into the ocean again."
Colin stared.
"Want to see him?" she offered. "We could take you there."
"I'm satisfied just seeing pretty fish and corals, thanks." Colin said quickly.
"Help yourself." She shrugged. "There's plenty out here."
She was right. Colin found no end of marine life to gaze at.
All too soon, spires covered his view, and Colin glanced down to see what was best described as an underwater city. "Where are we?"
"No, it's not Atlantis." Satrox grinned. "Just Riptide City."
"Riptide?" Colin thought about it. "That sounds dangerous."
"It is." Satrox said. "Careful, Colin, even within the city walls, you might get swept away."
"Is the water that deadly?" Colin had to ask.
"Not as deadly as the people." Satrox replied.
"The city was named Riptide because of its protection." Their guide cut in. "It uses graviton technology to create a powerful controlled current around the city that protects it and makes marine life nervous about getting too close."
"Really? But I didn't see anything like that." Colin said.
"It's on a low setting now, so there's nothing to see. But if things get serious and we set it on high, you won't be able to see anything else."
Their guide led them down crystal corridors decorated with corals and shells. Colin was surprised to see more people here than there were in Lamico City.
"Yep. It's a busy place." Satrox nodded when Colin mentioned it. "Why do you think seaports are still in business when we have airports and spaceships?"
"Most modern spacecraft have submarine ability." Their guide said. "It's not just the seacraft that come here."
"True, but most modern spacecraft wouldn't even come to Nakama World." Satrox pointed out. "The point is, Colin, there's a whole undersea economy that's just as strong or stronger than the economy on land."
"Troxy!" another girl's voice said.
Satrox turned and waved. "Iylara! You're looking well."
"Where are you headed?" the girl who met them had dark blue eyes and long black hair dyed a matching blue at the edges. She wore a white gown, of all things, and had a white Seal following her around.
"The throne room, I believe."Satrox said.
Iylara turned to their guide. "I'll take them from here."
Their guide simply nodded and headed back. Iylara led them on, asking, "So, what brings you here? Scopic Pirates proving too much to handle?"
"We haven't really bothered with them much, actually." Satrox confessed. "We've been too busy clearing the Frenzieds out of the towns the Green Men attacked."
"Ah. Nasty business, that." Iylara shook her head. "I wonder if those flying saucers would be able to come here."
"I wouldn't be surprised. I think they use Graviton drives for flight. They should be able to function underwater. Their weapons won't be as strong and they wouldn't move as fast, but they should work."
"And we'd pound them into seafood." Iylara said, leading them into a hall with a red carpet running down the middle, several seats on the sides and a crystal throne at the end.
The throne at the end was empty, and there was just one guard at the end, but Iylara led them straight down the hall, and the guard didn't say a word.
Colin poked Satrox. "She's the Ocean Princess, isn't she?"
"Of course." Satrox shrugged. "But just for the fun of it, pretend to be surprised."
"Forget it." Iylara told Colin. "Just… chill out. Anyway, Troxy, if it's not the pirates, what brings you here?"
"It's a long story, but in short, I need to bond these Tames without anyone on the Lamico Continent finding out."
Iylara eyed Satrox's trenchcoat and sighed. "Third cycle?"
"You know it." Satrox grinned.
"You're going to retire, just like your teacher, aren't you?" Iylara scolded. "You're going to get bored and leave the rest of us here wondering where you've gone."
"Maybe." Satrox shrugged. "But it's better than just hanging around never going forward."
Colin scratched his head.
"Well, then, tell me the long story. Tell me what brings you here in such secrecy." Iylara sat down on a bench, patting it to indicate Satrox should sit with her. "Tell me what you've been up to."
"This is going to be a very long story." Satrox mentioned.
"You're in no position to hold back." Iylara pointed out.
"Fine."
Satrox started telling his story from yesterday night, back when everyone started getting jumpy about Colin's Comrades and the danger they posed if they went Frenzied. Colin, already knowing all the details, skipped out on it altogether and went to join Shiro and the rest as they greeted Iylara's white seal.
"Hey." Colin waved. "What's your name?"
The seal glanced at him once and grinned.
A thought whisked past Colin's mind, indicating the nature of the seal's name.
"Frisk?" Colin nodded. "Nice to meet you."
Frisk made a happy jump onto Colin and almost clobbered him with his flippers.
"Yip!" Shiro laughed. He seemed to say [Calm down!].
"Have you introduced everyone to him?" Colin asked Shiro.
Shiro shook his head, and did exactly that with a series of short barks. Frisk greeted them all with pats to the nose. Foxie patted his nose right back. For some reason, that made Frisk feel embarassed.
"That's hardly fair." Colin pointed out. "You're patting all their noses. Why shouldn't she pat yours?"
This seemed to issue a challenge of who could tap whose nose, and very soon there was a whole tangle of yipping, mewing, chirping and yapping Comrades all trying to tap each others' noses while keeping their own clean.
"Hey! Quiet down, will you?" Iylara was suddenly looking over Colin's shoulder. [What's gotten into you, Frisk?]
[Sorry.] Colin apologized. [I think it was my fault.]
Iylara stared at him, eyes wide. "You…"
"Colin, what have you done this time?" Satrox asked, wearily. "We haven't even been here an hour yet and already…"
"Nothing! Well, I mean… we just…" Colin trailed off. "Sorry."
Iylara studied his Comrades. "Colin, that Storm Swan is beautiful. Have you given thought to bonding more water-based Comrades? You might find it very rewarding. You should try exploring the ocean depths. It could be a very rich experience for you."
"Sorry, princess, my Comrades aren't quite suited for that." Colin pointed out.
"You can always get more. In fact, I could help you get a pure water-type group. We have lots of needs in the ocean that you could really help us out in. The seas are wealthy, Colin, and I'm sure we can reward you to your satisfaction. I'll even let you set this palace as your Home Base."
Satrox's words came to mind. {Even within the city walls, you might get swept away…}
"That's… very generous, princess." Colin managed. "But well…"
"You're right. Those other Comrades won't be able to do much under water." Iylara nodded wisely. "You should get rid of them."
Colin froze.
{This sounds like Lynn. This sounds EXACTLY like Lynn. What's WITH these princesses?!}
[Iylara…] Colin spoke to her in his thoughts, the way he spoke to Lynn.
[Yes?] Iylara sounded pleased.
[Lynn's already… well…]
Iylara took another look at his Comrades. "Wolves, cats… Noble Shadow Hawk? {Lynn}!" Iylara growled, turning away. "She's already gotten to you, hasn't she?"
"Uh… yeah."
Iylara sighed. "Oh well. I have that other one anyway."
{Other one…? What other one? What's she talking about?!}
"Whatever. You've got a Tournament to get to. Let's get this done with." Iylara said.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực