The Voices
(Saturday, 10th of Dancing Fool Moon, 2021)
"HOLY HELL'S WIT."
"HOW IS THIS SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE?!"
Jack and Simo were in awe of the sight before the two of them. The ship was forced to go between two cliffs to reach the island where the fruit was growing, which was an island on a lake that was on another island. Luckily, the lake and ocean were connected thanks to a large lake that was large enough to allow the ship they were on to pass through. Just one problem, a series of bandits with jet packs were shooting at the group from above with assault rifles. Weirdly enough, there were some bandits overhead at the edges of the cliff, firing mortars at the group. Yet before the mortars hit the ship, the ship itself began to...change. From the sides of the upper deck, sheets of metal in the shape of roots shot off the ship and into the rocky cliffs. Jack, Simo, Jojo, Valerie, Ned, James, Thor, and Cheng stood at the front of the deck, while Mary sat in the control room with Lorelei and Gaia. Thor stepped up in front of the group, and raised his hammer high into the sky.
"THOR TIME!" Thor gripped the leather strap at the end of his pummel, and he spun the hammer by the strap. "THUNDER!"
Dark clouds began forming in the sky, and Thor swung his hammer up into the sky, sending himself along with it straight into the air. Thor swiftly flew past the edges of the cliffs and held his hammer high, and lightning struck the hammer. Thor appeared to absorb the lightning, his eyes glowing cyan whilst lightning was sparkling in and out of his body. Meanwhile, the rocks around the mortar users connected themselves to the mortars, and the mortars suddenly fell onto their sides. The mortars fired without anyone triggering them, hitting their fellow bandits on both sides of the cliffs. Rocks were about to fall onto the ship, but a slab of stone shot out from the cliff, blocking the rocks from the ship. From the slap of stone, a person emerged with crystal hair. Jack noticed how they were holding onto a stone rod protruding from the bottom of the slab. The stone pole lowered itself until it was in front of the group, and Jack saw that their hand was physically connected to the pole.
"Hello, I am Gaia." Gaia introduced themself in this new form, which could have passed for a man or woman. "I am a golem creation plant that gained consciousness thanks to a science experiment."
"You can control whatever earth or metal you're connected to?" Jack asked, noticing how the rocks were only able to move after the ship's metal connected into the earth. Gaia nodded. "Dope. So that's why you can't move by yourself."
"I could, but to do so, I would need to put in more effort and may accidentally cause unnecessary collateral damage." Gaia then looked up. "Ned, support Thor, I'll keep doing what I can."
Ned took out his banjo, and he began to strum the strings of the instrument as the canopy of stone moved to reveal Thor flying through the air, swinging his hammer down onto one of the jet pack bandits holding a golden shotgun. The force of the swing sent that bandit straight down, colliding with another one of his allies in the process. His ally held a golden machine gun. The force of the strike sent both the bandit and his alley crashing into the ship, causing the unconscious bodies to fall right in front of Jack.
"Oh hey, the golden shotgun is Golden Bull and the golden machine gun is Jackal Spring." Cheng informed Jack, and he wasted no time in picking up the two guns.
Jack watched as Thor swung his hammer through the sky, with each strike causing thunder to strike down all around him. Jack noticed how six bandits were about to flank Thor, so he aimed both Golden Bull and Jackal Spring at them and fired. Both the shotgun shells and machine gun bullets fired out explosive bullets, which created small explosions with contact. The bullets made contact with four of the bandits' chests, and the explosions caused their jetpack equipment to blow up, sending them spiraling downwards. Before Jack could shoot down more bandits, he suddenly ran out of bullets.
"Golden Bull and Jackal Spring are the only gun artifacts that run out of bullets, so you need to toss them at your opponent." Cheng ordered, and Jack pulled his arms back.
"DOUBLE HANDED YEET!" Jack threw both of the guns at the two remaining bandits, and they blew up midair, sending both bandits into the nearby cliff. After the two guns blew up, perfect copies of both guns appeared in Jack's open hands. "Holy hell, I love explosives."
Before Jack could fire the guns once again, pillars of stone shot out of the cliff side, and began forcing bandits against the opposite cliffs, making a web of stone above the ship. Thor landed on one of these stone columns, and two bandits landed on either side of him. The bandit in front of him fired his assault rifle at Thor before firing. Thor spun his hammer in front of himself, creating a wheel of lightning before letting go of the strap and throwing the hammer straight at the bandit with the AR. The hammer collided with the bandit's chest before returning back to Thor's hand. Thor grabbed the hammer and jumped into the air, swinging his hammer down atop of the bandit behind you with a thunderous crash. There were no more bandits left behind now, and Jack watched as what little survivors there were began to run away. Jack's group decided it would be best to let the survivors run away as Thor hovered down to the ground using a gust of wind while Gaia changed the ship and cliffs to the states they were in before the fight began. Thor's eyes went back to normal, and the orc let out a hearty laugh whilst hoisting his hammer high into the air.
"GYAHAHAHA!" Thor laughed triumphantly while Mary started the ship up again once more and began traversing between the cliffs once again. "Thor is once again victorious!"
"I'm gonna head to the control room and thank Gaia." Jack sent Jackal Spring the machine gun and Golden Bull the shotgun back to his room.
"Check on Mary and Lorelei for me will ya?" James asked, and Jack nodded. "Thanks man."
Jack walked from the front of the ship towards the center of the ship, where the control room was. He had to enter through a steel door and walk up a flight of steel stairs before arriving at yet another steel door. Jack opened the door and entered the control room, with Mary effortlessly switching between console to console. Lorelei was sitting in an office chair, while Gaia's plant form rested on one of the consoles.
"Hey guys, you alright?" Jack asked, and Mary stopped running around the room to look at Jack.
"Yeah, just setting the course for the island." Mary sat down in a different office chair and left out a breath. "We'll arrive in around five minutes, so we can talk for a bit if you'd like."
"If it helps pass the time, sure." Jack leaned his back against the wall next to the entrance. "So what's up?"
"Well there's this dance coming up next week." Mary reminded Jack of this dance. "It kind of reminds me of prom, but I think Herakles is doing it to act as a kind of break for us to help relax."
"Last I heard, he's doing it because he's a romanticist and wants to make romance happen." Jack joked with a slight grin on his face.
"Are you going with anyone?" Mary wondered while she wheeled herself in the chair towards the main console of the ship. "You know, romantically?"
"I ain't going, I'm probably just gonna stay in and play video games with Simo." Jack thought about the dance, and he noticed a confused expression on Mary's face.
"Jack, you do realize attendance is mandatory right?" Mary asked, and Jack went silent, surprised by this fact. "Unless you're sick or on a mission, then you don't have to go."
"Well then, I guess I'll go alone." Jack shrugged. "Maybe I'll dance with someone, maybe I won't. I don't know."
"Well you'll have to hold that thought, because we finally arrived at the island." Mary informed Jack, and he looked at the front window of the ship and saw the island.
The island itself was pretty much just a disc of sand. However, the irregularity came in the form of a massive tree shooting out of the sand and its branches spreading over almost the entire lake, making shade with the help of its leaves. Jack couldn't see it, but Mary pointed out that there was some kind of fruit at the top of the tree. Mary handed Jack the binoculars she was using to see the fruit, and when he looked at the fruit, he saw that it was a meter tall apple with rainbow colored skin. Jack left the control room after Mary set anchor close to the shore of the small island, and they both left the control room with Lorelei. The three of them exited the control room and reached the front deck where the others were waiting for them.
"So...how do you all suppose we get up there?" Ned questioned whilst looking up at the tree. "That's at least one hundred meters up, I doubt Jack, Thor, or James can get themselves up there."
"Yeah, my limit is 30 meters straight up, after that I risk destroying my other leg because I wasn't careful enough." Jack knew his habits, and was still working on them.
"Thor can go into the sky, and that's it." Thor looked up at the tree, or specifically, the clouds. The tree surpassed in height.
"Yeah I'm honestly not sure how to get up there." James rubbed the back of his neck. "Any ideas?"
"We could try cutting the tree down." Ned suggested, and everyone hated that idea.
"I could turn into a bat and get the fruit." Valerie suggested, and it was the best idea the group had, so Valerie turned into a bat.
Valerie's bat form was small, so it became difficult to watch him ascend up the tree, so Jack summoned Robin Hood the sniper rifle and used the scope of the rifle to try to find Valerie. After adjusting the scope a bit, Jack did find Valerie at the top of the tree thanks to Robin Hood's seemingly limitless scope range. Valerie was struggling to bite the stem off the fruit, but when he did, the fruit began falling towards the ground. Jack's entire group knew that the fruit would be completely obliterated even if it landed in the water. Jack and James looked at each other before nodding. Jack dawned Beowulf and summoned Changeling before using his leg to jump onto the trunk of the tree, plunging Changeling into the tree before changing the weapon's shape into roots, grounding Jack into the tree as he held onto Changing with one hand. Jack extended his palm towards the boat below with his spare hand, and James threw his anchor at Jack. Thanks to Beowulf's strength, Jack caught the anchor in one hand. James clutched onto the chains that the anchor was connected to with one hand while dropping his cannon from the other. Jack swung the anchor and James was pulled along with the chain, being sent towards the falling fruit. James and the fruit met midair, and James caught the fruit using his free arm after letting go of the cannon. He held the fruit close to his chest as Jack swung James back onto the boat. Jack jumped from the tree and back onto the boat, deactivating his armor in the process.
"That was some nice team work, you two." Cheng complimented the two of them as Jack high fived James. "Herakles clearly isn't falling behind the previous headmaster."
"Sorry I dropped the fruit, everyone!" Valerie apologized as he flew down from the tree. "I couldn't lift it in my bat form!"
"It's okay, come on, let's head back home." Mary suggested, and Jack obliged, wanting to sleep in a bed once again.
(Meanwhile, in Hinode)
Alice, Mifu, Rico, and Nico were just completing their own mission in Hinode, which was to hunt and kill a wild troll that has been wreaking havoc on the rural countryside of Hinode. Alice had summoned a golem made of sleek, black marble to carry the corpse of the troll to the nearby guild, where they will be paid for their services. The four of them were walking along the hiking trail of a forest, with shrubbery and trees blocking them from outside view. The weirdest thing however was that Mifu had her hair tied up in a bun while her face was covered by an oni mask and the rest of her head was covered by a white cloth hood.
"I still don't get why you're wearing that mask." Rico walked backwards whilst his hands rested against the back of his head.
"I have my reasons for not wanting to be identified here." Mifu's tone of voice was always formal, yet it was somehow welcoming. Yet when she spoke this time, her voice was almost cold and paranoid. "I do not wish to be rude, but may we please get this bounty over with?"
"Sure thing, but you have to tell us why after this, you got it?" Alice asked, and Mifu begrudgingly agreed. "I'm also grateful we got this mission over with, I've been getting a lot of headaches lately."
"You should really talk to Elizabeth about that." Nico suggested while Alice rubbed her forehead with one hand and placed her spare hand on a tree to balance herself. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Alice didn't move for a couple moments before she regained her balance and began walking again. "Come on, let's just turn this bounty in."
With that, the group of four reached the rural town's guild hall, which was bustling with people. The sound of people talking, drinking, eating, and singing filled the halls as the four guardians walked through the hall, the hall slowly became more and more silent as more and more people began to look at Mifu, or more specifically, the longsword on her back. By the time the four of them reached the receptionist table, the room was completely silent, aside from the whispering of Mifu's blade, Sakura. Breaking the silence, Rico spoke up to speak to the receptionist.
"Hello Ma'am, we came here to collect the bounty of the troll bothering you guys." Rico ignored the mood of the room, but Alice took notice of the various warriors beginning to stand up.
"Kill them all, they want to hurt your friend."
"Huh?"
Alice turned at the sudden voice, only to see no one speaking to her. She couldn't pinpoint where the voice was coming from, all she could tell was that it was close and that the voice was incredibly faint.
"Kill everyone in this room before they even have the chance to draw their swords."
"Hey guys, do you hear that voice?" Alice asked her allies, and all of them shook their heads to deny hearing the voice.
"You there, with the longsword, take off your mask." One of the warriors, a samurai looking fellow. "We know you are Mifu Musashi, traitor of Hinode and robber of the Blade Sakura belonging to the Musashi clan."
"Mifu, what the hell is going on?" Rico wondered as Nico turned into a mirror and wrapped itself around his brother's leg.
"Mifu Musashi is a traitor against all of Hinode by choosing to protect lowly demihuman servants over her own master's prized possessions, resulting in hundreds of countless objects being lost in the process!" The samurai man shouted whilst pointing his katana at Mifu.
"The world will be better off with these people dead, don't you agree?"
"Oh right I forgot Hinode citizens were xenophobic as hell." Alice sighed whilst clutching her head. "Mifu, what the hell happened?"
"I was assigned to guard one of the palaces belonging to the Emperor of Hinode when I graduated high school." Mifu explained whilst taking off the mask, now finding it useless. "A fire broke out, and instead of grabbing the Emperor's possessions, I evacuated the palace. After that, all the servants fled to Dhahabu while I fled to Sanctuary as a refugee. Then I was given the chance to enroll as a student, and here I am."
"See, Mifu did nothing wrong yet these people want to kill her, so we should turn their insides out!"
"Shut up..." Alice began clutching her head tight and tighter as her knees began to buckle beneath her. Alice fell onto her knees whilst clutching her head.
"Alice!" Rico was concerned about the status of his friend.
"Silence Witch, or we shall order your hanging, Herakles be damned!" The samurai shouted as he walked towards the group, and Mifu placed her hand on the hilt of her longsword. "Mifu Musashi, if you wish to preserve what honor you have left, then you shall remain still and accept your fate."
"I know a ritual you can preform that will save all your friends and kill all your enemies."
"SHUT UP!" Alice shouted, and her sclera were now pitch black with glowing red irises.
Black energy shot out from Alice, knocking the samurai and other warriors back and forcing them into the walls on the other side of the room. Black energy surrounded Alice for a moment before her eyes went back to normal and Alice fell face first into the ground. The golem that was carrying the troll carcass fell apart, dropping the corpse onto the ground. Unsure of what just happened, Mifu picked up Alice and nodded towards Rico. Mifu dashed out of the door while Nico made both himself, Rico, Mifu, and Alice invisible. Despite their confusion, Mifu, Rico, and Nico were all feeling the same thing.
Concern.