Ch. 12: Ripping Winds

Scarlett searches her dungeon for her Sun Relic fragment.

I saw that I was high up in the air, and I panicked. This is kinda dumb, but I'm scared of heights.
"Don't freak out, Scarlett." I reassured myself. "You're fine."
I looked around at the airship. It looked kinda like if an Akuma turned into a flying boat. I was at the very back of the ship. My guess was that the fragment was at the front or inside somewhere. The ship also seemed to be crawling with...
"Akuma." I said while clinging to a nearby wall.
But... something wasn't right. Frank explained that they all looked the same except for the bigger ones, but there looks like two different types of them, both around the same height. There was the type that Frank and John and Anna said, but there were also different ones.
These other Akuma looked like the original ones except they had claws that went down to their calves, and no top horns. They also looked slimmer, and had less hair.
"I guess I'm the first one to see this kind." I thought to myself. "I'm sure they're pretty easy."
I peeked around the corner and threw a wind blade at one, slicing it, but not killing it. This made a bunch of Akuma face my way and run at me. I wasn't scared though, because I had a plan.
The Akuma grouped up and ran at me. As soon as they got to me, I shouted, making them fly off of the airship. The remaining few Akuma in that area I was in ran at me. I took out my daggers and stabbed the enemies that attacked me. The last one was one of the long-clawed Akuma, the only one that didn't go overboard. I was prepared to stab it, but it's claws were longer than my daggers, and it's sliced my stomach before I could injure it. I backstepped, trying to get away from it, but it kept chasing. I needed to think of something else.
Just then, I heard a whoosh of air come from me. I looked down, and saw that I was invisible! The Akuma looked around, confused, then walked off. While its back was turned, I jumped on its back and shoved my daggers into its neck, killing it and revealing myself.
"I love this new power!" I celebrated. "I think I'll call it... Wind Vanish!"
I continued my way through the airship. I found a little room with a hatch in it, so I opened it up. Inside was a ladder that led to a lower part of the ship.
"Ugh." I said to myself. "It smells like Akuma down here."
I looked around. There were a few normal Akuma, so I threw a wind blade at one, slicing its head off. This alerted the other Akuma. Luckily, since I had my new move, I turned invisible, which made the Akuma get confused and walk off.
"This seems a little TOO good." I said aloud.
However, when I said that, it revealed me! The Akuma ran at me, but I shouted, knocking them back to keep my distance. I finished them off with a few wind blades, then continued forward.
A bit of walking and Akuma killing later, I found a door that was labeled "Power Room", which surprised me because it was in English.
"I guess the Akuma use English." I said to myself. "I mean I guess that would make sense since Kobun was speaking English."
I opened the door. Inside looked different than the rest of the under-ship. It was just a steel room. In it were a few control panels, levers, and a huge glass cylinder with yellow stuff in it.
"If this is the 'Power Room', then THAT" I looked at the cylinder, "must be what's keeping this ship in the air!"
Just then, a few Akuma walked in. The second I heard them, I turned invisible. I figured I could try spying on them to see what they do when there aren't any threats around.
"Just don't talk." I thought to myself.
The Akuma looked around the room, but it didn't seem like they knew what they were doing.
"These things are pretty dumb." I thought. "Kinda remind me of Seth."
They were looking at the cylinder. One of them, one of the long-clawed ones, dinked the glass with one of its claws, which made the yellow stuff in it turn orange and move around. This caused the Akuma to jump back
"What the..." I thought. "These Akuma don't even know how that thing works! Was this not an Akuma ship at first or something?"
The Akuma screeched, and slashed at the glass, scratching it. This made the cylinder's contents turn red-orange and move around very violently.
The ship started to shake.
"Uhhh." I thought. "Don't do what I think you're gonna do."
The Akuma got even more startled, and he made a noise to the other Akuma.
The Akuma all started slashing at the glass.
"Wait, no!" I shouted, revealing myself. I ran for the exit, but it was too late. The Akuma broke the glass, causing the yellow stuff to turn red and explode. The blast sent me flying into a wall, and blew a hole in the bottom of the ship, sucking the Akuma into it. It was about to suck me into it too, but I quickly pulled out my daggers and stabbed them into the floor, or at least tried to. It turns out that knives don't stab through thick steel very well. I was sucked in the hole...
I don't know what happened, but just as I started falling, my body was pushed back into the hole in the ship with a gust of wind! Without questioning, I grabbed the handle of door while still on the floor before I was sucked back in the hole, pulled myself out of the room, and shut the door behind me.
"Ughh..." I groaned, The impact with the wall must've broken something in my back. "How... did I do that? Was that like... a new ability or something?"
I turned invisible so no Akuma would find me.
"I need to rest." I mumbled, curling over.

JT and Lucy had been training for about 11 months, since JT trained for about 4 by himself. They now knew how to fight together, and pretty well at it, too. They finally stopped, and walked up to Tanaka's hut, where he was snoozing in a chair.
"Hey Tanaka, I think we're done." JT said.
Tanaka looked up.
"Hm?" Tanaka woke up. "You want to go now?"
Lucy barked.
"I'll take that as a yes." Tanaka laughed, standing up. He shot a portal out of his cane.
JT was about to step through it, when...
"Wait." Tanaka said.
JT turned to Tanaka.
"Mhm?"
"Take care of yourself. And Lucy."
JT smiled and nodded his head.
"I will. See ya!"

JT and Lucy arrived at the southern tip of the forest.
"Hm..." JT looked around. "They don't seem to be in the immediate area. Guess we'll have to look around."
Lucy barked and ran off.
"Don't get lost!" JT shouted. "Man, I've got such a cool dog."
They began to search the area...

I woke up after what seemed like thirty minutes or so. I got up, although my back was still hurting.
"Warning." A voice said.
"Hm?" I looked up. "Was that an announcer?"
"Warning." It repeated. "Back-up fuel depleted. The ship will crash in approximately five minutes."
"OH CRAP!" I began to run. "I slept all through the back-up power!"
I continued in the Akuma hallway, past the power room this time, to find a ladder that led up. I climbed up it, but not before Wind Vanishing, because I heard a few Akuma at the top of the ladder. Once at the top, I looked around. I was near the cockpit of the ship. As I suspected, there were a few Akuma. There were three of the long-clawed ones, and one of the big ones that Frank talked about. Luckily for me, I can reach their heads no problem.
"The ship will crash in approximately four minutes." The intercom stated.
I jumped onto the back of one of the shorter Akuma, dug my daggers into its neck, and threw a wind blade at the big Akuma. The Akuma I was on, as well as the big Akuma puffed into smoke, and I was revealed. The other two were no problem thanks to my invisibility. I looked out a side window. I could see that the ship was gaining speed downward.
"The ship will crash in approximately three minutes." The intercom stated.
I gulped. I still didn't know where the Sun Relic fragment was. Regardless, I continued forward. There was a short set of stairs that I ran up, Wind Vanishing as I ran. At the top were two big Akuma. I quickly threw a wind blade at the first one, revealing myself, and another at the second one. However, the second wind blade hit the first Akuma because it didn't die quick enough. The Akuma threw its giant ball-and-chain at me. Luckily, I dodged it, and the ball-and-chain hit the wall and fell into the stairway. I threw a wind blade at the other Akuma after regaining my balance.
"The ship will crash in approximately two minutes." The intercom stated.
I looked around to see where I was. To my surprise, I was in the cockpit.
"If only I knew how to control a ship..." I started, looking out the front window. "No, the ship's moving too fast, there's no way I'd be able... to..."
There it was, the Sun Relic fragment. It was sitting on the front of the ship, at the pointy bit. The cockpit seemed to be in about the middle of the ship, closer to the front. The area in front of the cockpit was swarming with all three types of Akuma, and a few cracks, which according to Frank, is where the Akuma come from.
I ran down the stairs, or at least tried to, but the ball-and-chain from earlier was still blocking the stairway. I tried moving it, but it must've weighed a ton.
"Those big Akuma sure are strong." I grunted. "I'm surprised I'm able to kill them so easily."
I gave up on it, and went to the back of the cockpit, past the stairs, to see if there was a way down. Unfortunately, the back of the cockpit didn't have any way down. I walked back to the front.
"The ship will crash in approximately one minute." The intercom stated. "Evacuate immediately."
"I guess I have no choice then." I sighed.
I stepped back, braced myself, and charged into the mirror, smashing it. I shot myself forward even further with wind(which I named Second Wind) while falling to get across as much Akuma as possible. I also Wind Vanished in midair, but it wasn't very helpful, because I landed on an Akuma in the middle of a group of them. They all started attacking at me, but I shouted, pushing them all off of the ship. The ship was pointed pretty far down, and was moving very fast. I practically slid down to the fragment, shouting at Akuma as I went, until I made it to the Sun Relic fragment, which was in a glass case. I began shattering the glass with the butt-end of my daggers. While doing so, I looked down. The ground was getting closer and closer. Luckily though, I was able to grab the fragment right before the ship crashed and was teleported to the room with everyone else.

Scarlett teleported to her section of her room with her fragment in hand. She looked rather beat up though. Her shirt was tattered, her hair was burnt the ends, and she had scratches everywhere.
"Hey." Tara waved. "How was it?"
"It was REALLY stressful." Scarlett explained. "My place was an airship, which is bad enough 'cause I don't like heights, and then some Akuma destroyed its power source and it was gonna crash, but I was able to get the fragment before it did! Also there was this new kind of Akuma with super long claws that attack really fast!"
"Airship, huh?" John thought aloud. "Yeah, that goes with my theory of the areas matching the elements."
"Hey Drew." Frank said. "You should show Scarlett that paper about the fourth Sun Relic piece."
"You know where it is?" Scarlett asked.
"Here." Drew took it out his pocket and pressed it against the glass that separated himself and Scarlett. "Look for yourself."
"Hmm. Antarctica." Scarlett read. "I guess we should all bring coats to our next mission."
"Hey, that's what I said!" Seth exclaimed. "I guess smart minds think alike!"
The door in front of John opened.
"Good luck, bro." Brenden said. "Try not to get hurt too b-"
"You needn't do that." John smiled. "I'm the older one, so I should be the one looking out for my brother."
Brenden laughed and nodded.
John grabbed his swords, and walked through the door, which slammed behind him.
"I can do this." John said. "I HAVE to do this, for everyone."