139 Phase 121: Preliminaries (1)

{What's been happening to me lately?} Katrin pondered at the massive arena as they waited for things to get started.

They arrived at Skycrown itself about five minutes ago. The route up was tough; many groups faltered near Icewind, often breaking up and merging with other groups to make it through. The winds were fierce, the Wilds were fierce, the trail was steep, and the price for transportation services had skyrocketed.

Sora, being a Mountaineer himself, had gotten them through with little trouble. The Wilds actually left them alone. His group had grown exponentially with each passing outpost until at last, they arrived at Skycrown peak itself with over a hundred other Travelers, all of them entirely willing to pay him a little something for getting them there.

"Want to go down and do it again?" Lucy asked, eyes bright when she saw how much money he was making.

But Sora shook his head. "Lucy… I can't. This is too important."

"What do you mean?" Lucy blinked and then stared. "Oh."

Sora nodded. "I didn't come to watch the Tournament."

"You came to join it?"

"No. I came to win it."

That incited Satrox to join; he didn't want the title himself, it seemed, but he was going to fight just because Sora was going to be in it. "It won't be fair to let you win without a proper challenge, now, would it?"

"Hey! Wait for me!" Henry exclaimed, and before Katrin knew it, all the guys in their group had signed up to participate in the Tournament.

Katrin had gone to join the girls at the audience seats only to realize that the entire audience consisted of girls. In all the groups before them, every guy had had the same idea; if the Tournament was an Open one, why not take part?

This held true for every group to arrive after them as well. There was a participants list that grew by the minute as more and more people arrived. Girls were cheering on their supported guys before anything even began.

"You cheer too!" Rita nudged Katrin. "Our guys are all in there, right?"

"Yes, but…" Katrin paused. "I don't know. I mean, I came to watch, but to cheer…?"

She owed it to him, she supposed. The boy with the yellow scarf had saved and helped her so many times already. Still…

{I have become an accessory. A cheerleader for someone else.} Katrin thought more sourly than she felt she had a right to be. {How did this happen? How did I come to be here, always being led by someone else, constantly relying on others?}

She had no chance out here on her own. She knew it and the fact made her grimace. {I'm really weak. I'm down to almost nothing. At this point, I can't even help myself. What good am I to a group like this one? Rita's right. About the most I can do is cheer them on. I'm useless.}

It was unfair on the others, of course. They wouldn't think of her that way. But she reserved the right to think that way of herself. {I have to buck up. I have to snap out of this. I have to get over my losses and move forward.}

"I need to use the Comms Room." Katrin told Rita, and went to find it.

What she was about to do put a lump in her throat. She didn't like it, but already, she realized, it needed to be done. {Colin, I'm sorry.}

She made the call. At the Hot Springs J-Knight Outpost Comrade Home, someone picked it up.

"Larissa." Katrin greeted her with a wan smile.

"Katrin. Checking on your Comrades?" Larissa's mouth twisted. "You've been treating them very badly. You shouldn't just leave them behind like this. I know they can't fly, but even so…"

"I know." Katrin straightened. "Larissa… I'm letting go."

Larissa was silent. "You're sure about this? All three of them?"

"Yes." Katrin answered.

"Care to explain yourself?" Larissa asked archly.

"I'm sorry. I have my reasons." Katrin shut her eyes. "Please don't make this any harder than it already is."

"You're giving up the last of your Comrades! Are you quitting Nakama World?"

"Not really." Katrin said evenly. "And those three aren't the last of my Comrades."

Larissa stared. "You've found new ones? Are you starting over or changing your theme or…"

"Goodbye, Larissa. Thank you for your services." Katrin said, more coldly than she intended, and ended the call.

Cold. More than the cold of this mountain, Katrin felt it in her heart. The suit kept her warm despite the mountain's best efforts, but the cold inside her was a different matter. {I had to do it. I know that now. This World has become more than just a playland for me. I'm not a farmgirl any more. There are things I need to do, debts I need to repay. And I have priorities now. I can never go back to the farm.}

Her priorities were simple enough. There were only two.

First, she had to keep her friends safe. This applied most to two very specific guys, both of whom she owed a lot.

And second, she was going to make the Cult of Gaia pay.

***

About that time, Alicia was at Icewind Outpost. She had found a comms station, and instantly decided to call Larry.

"Gotta make a call." She told Colin over her shoulder. He didn't answer, and she wasn't sure whether he even heard her, but she went on anyway.

Warning signs were posted around Icewind Outpost. Things like 'Beware of Gray Wolfcats!', 'Don't Provoke the Rockatauri!', and most importantly, 'Remember to set your Temporary Respawn Point before continuing!'.

{I should remember to do that. I don't want to end up back at Burrow Hollows if I die on the way up.} Alicia told herself as she entered the comms center and made her call.

Larry came on screen. He was riding atop his biggest bunny and the scene kept bouncing around behind him. "Alicia! Hi! How are things?"

"Cold." Alicia said, wincing. "You?"

"We're headed over to the Forbidden Mountains and the Crystal Lake. Jonah wants to Tame Hoarfrogs, and maybe a Crystal Golem, if he can. There was this girl who had one, and she really…"

"Larry! Shut up about that!" Jonah's voice shouted angrily from the side.

"You're headed to Tame Hoarfrogs?" Alicia was surprised. "I thought you'd be on the way up Skycrown Mountain to see the Tournament."

"Uh… no. I don't think we'd make it." Larry lowered her voice. "The girl won. She challenged us both, and then Jonah went at her with everything he had. She called three Comrades out. Just three. And she wiped him out."

"Wow. That's… impressive." Alicia said. "I'm on Skycrown Mountain myself. I'm gonna watch the Tournament."

"Jonah says it's a waste of time." Larry winced apologetically.

Alicia, however, did not want to talk about Jonah. "Have you heard from Dad?"

Larry shook his head. "No. You?"

"Sort of. Colin called his dad, and ours was there too. He… he seemed okay."

"Dad's always okay. Nothing ever happens to him." Larry said confidently.

{And how would I know?!} Alicia wanted to bark. {How {could} I know?}

"Where did you go? I saw you for a moment there at Soft Snows Airport…" Larry mentioned.

Alicia put on her a smile, put a finger to her lips and said, "It's a secret."

Larry paused. "You're with Colin, aren't you?"

"What?" Alicia stared.

"I mean…" Larry hesitated. "Right now?"

"No." Alicia said honestly enough. "I'm alone in this room. If you want to talk to him, you'll have to find a comms room and call him or something."

"Uhoh." Larry's attention turned to something on one side. "Um… Alicia, I gotta go. Talk to you later, okay?"

Alicia felt like something inside her shivered. But all she said was, "Okay."

The screen went black, and Alicia stared in silence at it for a long, long while.

***

When she got out, Colin was gone.

"Where'd he go?" she asked Shinji as more and more people around them gathered to head up the mountain.

"I have no idea." Shinji said. He glanced about. "I don't think he's around here any more. Want a lift?"

Alicia didn't see much of a choice. Colin had vanished, probably gone on ahead already, and everyone else was about to head out too. Shinji generously offered her his third Storm Swan for free.

"We knights gotta stick together." He winked. "We're allies, right?"

"Thanks." Alicia grinned.

Shinji grinned also, and then he turned to the gathered crowd.

"From here on out," he said, "We might have to fight our way through. Everybody ready?"

"Ready!" roared half a hundred people. Somehow, their group had gotten merged with a whole lot of others.

{Larry's totally left out.} Alicia sighed inwardly as she thought of the things they spoke of over the comms. About of that girl he spoke of. They might have beaten her together, Alicia thought. If they fought as a team the way they always had, if she'd been there with them, Jonah, Alicia and Larry could have overwhelmed her together.

Alicia frowned. {Why didn't Larry help Jonah? He could have. She DID challenge them both at once. If he had called out all his rabbits, they might have held their own, even without me.}

But tonight was a night for queerness and change. Like the passing of one season into the next…

{No, surely not. Nothing that permanent. More like… an exception. Just a single weird night. Everything will go back to normal tomorrow night. Or next week. Or… someday. Right? Right?!}

The wind howled in response, the only answer she received from anything or anyone around her.

"Hold together! Keep an eye out for those Pterodactons! They're a lot bigger than they look!" Shinji warned.

The warning was timely. Two minutes afterward, a flock of those gigantic Wilds swooped in and tried to eat their convoy for a midnight snack.

"Incoming!" Shijin shouted, and people started calling out commands to their Comrades. Shields were raised; long-ranged attacks were launched. Alicia estimated about twenty Pteros coming in, and only two went down during the opening volley.

There was no second volley. The Pteros were too fast, too sudden for Shinji's convoy to do more. They pounced and they wrought havoc as the battle turned into a mass melee.

"Ode. Taps. Wist." Alicia called her short ranged fighters into the fray. "Guard me!"

Wielding the shovel she'd borrowed from George, Alicia leapt off Shinji's storm swan and charged for the nearest Pterodacton.

The shovel was a godsend, Alicia soon realized. The idea of getting close enough to stab a giant, beaky flying lizard with a sword was a dismal one, but she wasn't quite so freaked out about whacking it over the head with a shovel. The shovel packed more power, employed more weight, and had more than twice as much reach. On top of that, when the Ptero got mad enough at her for bashing its head and tried to peck at her head in turn, Alicia almost instinctively used the flat of the shovel to block it. The impact sent her tumbling away from the front lines, but it did save her face.

Not many Travelers here had Import Links. At least ten of them died their way back somewhere before they could do much more than try to run. Alicia wondered if they'd set Icewind as their respawn point, otherwise they'd either have to miss the Tournament or make a very, very long journey all over again. {Scrap. I should have done that myself. Skycrown counts as a hostile zone with safe spots. Those outposts offered Temporary Respawn Points. I should have remembered…}

The battle was over by the time she got back to her feet. The Pteros were downed or chased away and about thirty-five Travelers continued on their way up the mountain trail, fighting winds and steepness with every step. Somewhere in the fight, Alicia's mount had vanished, probably died back to Shinji's Home Base. He offered her a lift on Rain.

The Rockataurs attacked next. There were only three of them, but they were tough. Alicia called in her long-ranged fighters for that one, quite content to sit behind Shinji and take the role of fire support; she wasn't keen on fighting those things with George's shovel.

Twenty-eight of them made it to Skygate, all of them too tense and wary of ambush to really appreciate the beauty of the ivory archway that marked the entrance of the outpost. Defenses here were much more pronounced; the walls were higher, the towers more heavily equipped, and there were guards on the walls, plant-type Comrades who were soaking up the increasingly intense sunlight.

"We're gonna need sunglasses or visors." Shinji said. "When the weather's cloudy, we'd be fine as we are, but with the sun this bright, well…"

Alicia sighed and joined the queue at one of the enterprising shops selling useful gear for the final leg of their climb to Skycrown.

"Is that a Lina Visor?" Alicia pointed, recognizing the kind of visor that Colin used.

"It's an older type, with less functions built-in, but it'll save your eyes." The seller girl said honestly.

"I'll take it." Alicia decided, more for the girl's honesty than anything else.

There were two other groups of similar size already there at Skygate. By mutual consent, all three of them joined forces for the final push to Skycrown. Now part of a group of over a hundred Travelers, all of whom had their Comrades out, Alicia made her way to the top of the mountain in a crowd so big, she could barely see anything behind them other than people and Comrades.

"Incoming!" Shinji called again, and Rain swerved. Alicia grabbed on to the straps as they charged straight for their attackers.

{Lizards.} Alicia shivered when she saw them and it had nothing to do with the cold. {Lizards with fur. Who ever heard of such a thing?}

"Burrlizards!" the cry was going out and long-ranged attacks were flying. "They're coming straight down the mountainside!"

"No! They're coming {up} the mountainside too!" another voice said.

"They're {behind} us! We're surrounded!" yet another cry came up. "They're coming at us from all directions!"

"FIGHT!" came the general consensus and Shinji went into overdrive.

"DO something!" Alicia ordered her Comrades and then it was all she could do to hang on as Shinji's Rain swooped, spun, swerved, struck, pounced, dodged, and basically did everything imaginable as if to throw Alicia off her back and down the mountain.

And then she lost her grip and went flying. Flying through the air with nothing to hold on to and no clue which way was up or down.

For some reason, it reminded her of last night, and getting tossed out of a grav-car in an ejection seat without a safety harness on. Alicia found herself screaming all the same, and even more queerly, just like last night, she found herself furiously screaming a name.

"COOOLIIIIIINNNNNNN!!!!!!"

***

Colin himself, unfortunately, couldn't hear Alicia's screaming. Maybe he was near enough to help. Maybe not.

The truth was, he had no clue where he was. The tunnels had stretched on and on, and at every turn, it always looked like there was sunlight on the other side, and he was just about to emerge...

Except the sunlight was just a reflection of the next bend, the next corner, the next gleaming wall which reflected yet another gleaming wall. Colin had to put on his Lina Visor in the first half hour and lost all track of time as Kirin flew him through tunnel after tunnel after tunnel.

At least he wasn't getting lost. These tunnels weren't a maze; there were no junctions, no side-trails, no other turnings to get mixed up with. The fact that there was sunlight being reflected down here was proof that these tunnels did, eventually, lead out into the open air.

But boy, did they go far.

***

Her five ravens caught Alicia from falling. Shinji's storm swan did the rest of the saving.

"Sorry I'm not Colin." Shinji said, with more than a tinge of humor in his voice.

"Shut up." Alicia said. "Thanks."

They swooped down on a pair of Burrlizards trying to push a familiar figure off the cliff. {Hey… is that… Amina?}

Shinji opened up with water and wind attacks. Alicia sent in her ravens, and then walloped the nearer lizard over the head with her shovel as they passed. The blow didn't seem to hurt it very much; her arm, however, started to ache.

"I need a better shovel…" Alicia rubbed her arm.

The lizards counterattacked while Amina made a dash for safety. A shimmering sphere of powerful winds burst near to Rain's tail. Alicia made a mad grab for the saddle, absolutely refusing to get blown off again as Rain herself tumbled through the air for several seconds.

They righted themselves and turned back to the battle just in time to see Amina killed. {Oh, Amina, I'm so sorry… I hope you set the last outpost as a Temporary Respawn Point.}

Ode, Taps, and Lament were all out of the fight already. Wist and Whim had long since vanished. Alicia was left with a shovel, an aching arm, Requiem and Dirge. Before she could call out any instructions, however, Shinji took Rain into a heart-stopping dive and then Alicia was too busy holding on to do anything else.

It ended as suddenly as it started. The last two attacking Burrlizards dropped at the same time. Nobody tried to Tame them or anything. The entire convoy just picked up and regrouped, reorganized those who had mounts and those who lost theirs, and then continued up the mountain.

"Don't let your guard down." Shinji warned them all. "There's bound to be at least another couple of those before we reach the top."

{Assuming we'll ever get there.} Alicia thought.