158 Phase 129: Seas and Skies (1)

The seas were churning as Colin and Alicia got on the boat from Turtle Island to the Uber Marshes.

The captain of the 'ship' (pretty much a wooden ferry with three motors, really) greeted them like honored guests and was, oddly enough, thrilled at the idea of going to the least wanted destination in these bad conditions.

"Everybody else chickened out." He spat aside. "A real man of the sea fears nothing!"

He would have looked cooler if someone's Arachnid hadn't hopped past him just then and the sight of it sent him shrieking and leaping out of its way.

Colin sighed, still unable to send a letter, completely mollified by the fact that Turtle Island didn't have a functioning comms tower. Apparently a recent squabble damaged it in the crossfire and now comms around the entire island was down.

"Here we go!" Captain Courageous (as he called himself) announced as he gunned the engine and gave the Arachnid back on the docks a dark look.

The Arachnid shook its head as if giving up on these crazy people who took to sea in such weather and sauntered away from the docks.

The sea seemed to agree. At first, it seemed to pause, as if considering whether or not to give these nutcases a break, but then it started shaking as if laughing out loud. The waves tossed, the boat tilted crazily, and Colin started to think that this ferry should have seatbelts when...

"Bluergh!" Alicia threw up on him. Her face was totally green.

"{Again}?!" Colin summed up his protest in one word. {Why? Why me? Why is it always...?}

Alicia didn't reply, she just gave him a sickly look, but from under the waters, someone else stirred. [Colin?]

[Iylara?] Colin grimaced. [Is there any chance that…]

[NO! Colin, you can't join the Tournament!]

Colin blinked. [Tournament?]

Iylara paused. [Sorry. I thought you wanted to take part in the Ocean's Tournament of Ascension.]

[Um… actually, I just wanted to know if there was somewhere nearby I could get cleaned up.]

Again, a short pause. Then, Iylara said, [Come on down.]

Colin wondered about that, but sitting in a small boat in the midst of a turbulent sea, he didn't think it was a good idea to ignore the Ocean Princess' instructions. So he turned to Alicia and said, "Um…"

"I heard." Alicia told him, then had to suppress another heave. She didn't wait for him to say any more. She just stumbled over to the side and jumped off.

"HEY!" Captain Courageous jumped. "Man overboard! MAN OVERBOARD!!"

"It's…" Colin began, getting to his feet.

Just then the whole boat surged upwards about six feet, and Colin stumbled right off the deck.

"TWO men overboard!!" Captain Courageous roared, as Colin plunged into the depths of the great sea.

It was then that he saw at last the real cause of all the turbulent water. The shapes hadn't been very clear from up top, with the waves frothing and all, but now that he was underwater, he could see with utmost clarity the true reason why the waters of the seas around here were churning.

It stared at him with huge red eyes, each eye large enough to swallow Edward's entire farm. Tentacles reached out across untold distance, each one quite capable of smashing Sunshine Town to bits entirely on its own.

{Grand Kraken}. Colin gulped to see the greatest of all the Kraken directly below him, so massive, those Doom Whales swimming across it looked like tadpoles.

Looking at it now, and seeing the vastness, the absolute vastness of the ocean, Colin began to feel very small. Very, very small indeed.

The ocean was huge. No, huge was a massive understatement. It was unbelievably, mind-bogglingly shock-inducingly HUGE.

As was that gigantic form below him. Grand Kraken could literally flick Captain Courageous' little boat right out of existence without any effort if it just decided to stretch a little. There were other Kraken around, monstrous forms large enough to drag whole ships under, but compared to that thing, they looked like puppies at their mother's side…

{I hadn't thought of it before, but looking at them now, I wonder...} Colin paused. {Isn't Grand Kraken one of the Lords of the Wilds?}

[He is.] Iylara told him simply. Colin turned to see her calmly walking underwater as if she was strolling in the park. She didn't appear to have any trouble breathing or moving at all.

Colin suddenly remembered that he was human and humans didn't usually breathe underwater. The Ocean Princess was one thing, but he was just an ex-forester of a fugitive and had none of the Oceaneers' powers. At all.

But Iylara was there next to him, and she touched him on the head and said, [Breathe].

Colin hesitated, even then, but then he realized that his face was dry. Completely dry, and that there was air around his head, not water. So he took in a relieved breath and looked around for Alicia.

She was there, eyes wide and staring at Grand Kraken, but she had an air bubble around her head too, and appeared to have no trouble breathing either. At least she didn't look green any more. Here in the water, she looked kind of blue, but that was just because the waters were blue and getting bluer the deeper they got.

"Hey…" Colin blinked. "We're going… {down}?"

But he wasn't even moving, or swimming or anything.

"I command the currents and tides, remember?" Iylara pointed out, her words coming to him by mind and across the water without any distortion.

"Nobody said anything about that!" Colin protested. "I mean… I didn't know…"

"Regretting your choice already, Colin?" Iylara mused. "Now that you see the Ocean's grandeur and the power that I wield, even over Grand Kraken?"

Colin stared. "Wait. You're saying Grand Kraken is here because…"

"I commanded him to be here." Iylara said. "This is the power of the Ocean Princess, Colin. This is the power you so casually turned down. It's too late now. You can't join my Tournament of Ascension."

"Turned down…?" Colin blinked. "Wait, you're holding a Tournament of Ascension? You're going to pick the Ocean Prince?"

"I have to." Iylara said, softly. "I need one. Ever since the Cult came, I've overextended myself. Things have gotten rather out-of-hand."

{She needs help. The kind of help mere Oceaneers cannot afford her. She needs an Ocean Prince. I'm still not sure exactly what the Prince does, whether he's just her combat champion, or her military general, or something… but it sounds to me like he's definitely more powerful than the average Oceaneer.}

{Just last night, Casiphia called the Mountain's Tournament of Ascension, and Sora became the Mountain Prince. Tonight, Iylara's calling the Ocean's Tournament of Ascension, except hers isn't an 'anyone who shows up can join on the spot' Open Tournament like Casiphia's. Apparently it's too late to register.}

But Iylara was looking at him, stunned. "Colin… you have no idea…?"

"What?" Colin blinked. He glanced down at himself and found puke dissipating from his clothes into the clear, beautiful water of her ocean. "Agh! Oh, no! Your water…! I'm so sorry…"

"It's fine. The Ocean has endured a lot worse than this." Iylara waved her hand and a sudden current swept at Colin. He suddenly found himself understanding exactly how clothes felt in a washing machine for about half a minute before the sudden current left him feeling raw and wobbly, but very clean indeed. "There."

"Uh… thanks. I didn't expect to get cleaned up by the Ocean Princess herself." Colin said, scratching his head.

Iylara laughed at that. "It's you, after all. It's fine."

Colin felt even more bewildered at that. One minute, Iylara sounded like they were enemies, or she was offended at him for something, and the next she was talking like he was her little brother or a good friend.

"Did you come to watch?" Iylara asked. "The Tournament is half done already. There are only six candidates left."

"Six?" Colin glanced about. "Wait. Are you saying the Tournament…"

"It's here." Iylara said. "This is the Glass Sea, the clearest and deepest water in Nakama World. It's also the nesting ground of the Kraken, so Grand Kraken comes by every once in a while to look after his Clan. That, I think, might be why the water's so clean. Not many people would fancy sticking around the nesting ground of the Kraken. Except for a few crazy shippers, almost nobody sails across this sea."

{Crazy shippers. Like Captain Courageous.} Colin glanced up to see four or five liferopes and floaters being thrown into the water around them. The good captain was even lowering anchor, though it didn't reach down very far. Several of the smaller Kraken eyed it like they were wondering where the bait was on this hook.

Iylara's white seal shot up at them just then, startling Colin with the speed of his ascent from the deep. [Iylara! The preliminaries are over! Only four remain!]

[Good! Give them five minutes to rest. We'll be right there.] Iylara replied. Then she turned to Colin and Alicia. "Are you coming?"

"To watch the Tournament?" Colin hesitated, glancing at Alicia.

Alicia glanced up, turned slightly greener, glanced down at all the untold species and kinds of marine life around the clearest waters of Nakama World and made her decision instantly. She gave Colin a firm nod.

"Shouldn't we let Captain Courageous know?" Colin wondered. "I mean, we can't have him waiting up there…"

Captain Courageous came splashing into the water right then, looking mighty determined to save the brave souls who dared the turbulent seas on his vessel. But then he saw the Grand Kraken, and his eyes went as wide as they could go. His whole face changed and turned white.

"Relax!" Colin waved at him. "It's the Ocean's Tournament of Ascension!"

He stared at him for a brief moment, then saw Iylara. His jaw dropped and he tried to bow or kneel or something, but that didn't work out quite so well in the water. He ended up almost tumbling over before Iylara sighed and touched his head, saying, "Breathe."

The first thing out of CC's mouth was "P-P-P-Princess!"

"Calm yourself." Iylara admonished. "You who bear my guests are my guest also. You will accompany us to witness the rise of the next Ocean Prince, and then you shall continue on your way undisturbed."

"W-w… uh… I mean… that is…" CC coughed, then straightened. "It will be an honor, Princess! A true honor!"

"Good." Iylara said, and then the waters swirled and an overpowering current bore them down and to one side where the crowds of sea dwellers were thickest, and at last Colin saw hundreds of humans likewise witnessing the event as the semi-finalists prepared to fight for the title and power of the Ocean Prince.

The first person he saw was Phillip.

"WHA-?!" Colin choked though no water had yet entered his mouth. "W-why…?"

There was Phillip, blue bunny, yellow scarf, and a blue winged horse with him. How that horse managed underwater was a mystery far beyond Colin's understanding. Colin glanced around Phillip, but saw no other Comrades.

"Isn't that Phillip?" Alicia whispered. "How…?"

"I have no idea." Colin replied. "A winged horse and a blue bunny in the Ocean's Tournament of Ascension? I haven't the foggiest idea how he got through the preliminaries or how he intends to win this."

"Does he even intend to win, or did he enter for the same reason you and Satrox entered the Mountain's Tournament of Ascension? Just for fun?"

Colin paused, observed Phillip briefly and said, without any doubt. "He intends to win. He is determined to win."

"But the Cult… they're going to see this…" Alicia began.

"No." Iylara cut in. "You didn't know this was happening here, now, did you?"

Colin thought about that. "No. Nobody told us anything. There was nothing on the news about it."

"Exactly." Iylara said. "Everyone here is here by invitation only. Most people don't even know it's happening, much less where or who is involved. Phillip will be safe from the Green Men. They still do not know he is here, and if he wins, he would have the power of the Ocean Prince to contend with them. Just in case, though…" she glanced about at all the assembled Ocean Wilds.

"You brought Grand Kraken and all his Clan and all these Doom Whales and Mortartles and who knows what else…" Colin didn't even know what most of these Wilds were called. "Just in case the Green Men found out Phillip was here?"

"To protect all the contestants against interference." Iylara said pointedly. "You see that boy there? The one with the eels?"

Colin saw. "The boy with the eyepatch visor and the harpoon crossbow thing?"

"That's Little John Silver." Iylara said. "He is on the list of the J-Knights' Most Wanted, as you are. Unlike you, he has never destroyed a settlement, but he is rather better known by shipping companies. They fear him more than they fear Scopia."

Colin remembered Scopia. It was a bit difficult to imagine anyone fearing this short boy more than her, but then remembered how much trouble he himself had caused and he, too, was shorter than Scopia.

"Then there's Neptone." Iylara pointed to another contestant. "The boy with the trident trumpet."

{That} was a rather unusual weapon/instrument. The main shaft was shaped like a trumpet, but had three spikes portruding around the central horn at triangle points. The guy himself looked like he was wearing blue scale armor with fins. He was taller than Little John Silver, taller than Colin, but he wasn't as tall as Scopia either.

"Is he on the J-Knights' Most Wanted list as well?" Colin asked.

"No, he's a Knight of the Silver Helm." Iylara said. "So, you see, we have his friends on one side, and Little John Silver's friends on the other…"

Pirates and Knights in the same audience. {That explains Grand Kraken.}

"And we have the fourth Oceaneer." Iylara nodded to the last guy, this one looking a bit older and seemed to be carrying a surf board…

"Wait. {Fourth} Oceaneer?" Colin frowned. "You mean they're all Oceaneers?"

"Of course." Iylara said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. "This is the Ocean. I can't imagine anyone without the power of an Oceaneer managing to defeat an Oceaneer in his home terrain."

"But that means…" Colin spluttered. "{Phillip} is an Oceaneer?!"

"Of course." Iylara said, looking a bit surprised to find him so bewildered.

{Phillip is an Oceaneer!} Colin reeled at the revelation. {The reason why nobody had any idea where he was… was because we were looking on land! He's been underwater this whole time! What was it Satrox said…? "Go underwater and those Green Men wouldn't even know you were around."}

Phillip did exactly that.

"And what's this about home terrain…?" Colin asked.

"Obviously, Oceaneers and their Comrades have formidable combat bonuses when they fight in the water. It is the same for Mountaineers who fight in the highlands, and for Foresters who fight in the woods." Ilayn said. "Depending on which Comrade and which waters exactly, the bonuses could mean the Comrade becomes twice as strong. In this sea, that highest bonus applies most universally. Almost all Oceaneer Comrades get maximum bonuses here, and the few who don't still get very large bonuses."

Colin hadn't thought of it before, but now that he did, it really made sense. That explained why almost all the semi-finalists of the Mountain's Tournament last night had been Mountaineers. {But Satrox and Shinji and I made it quite far too…}

Though, thinking back, Satrox and Colin only gotten through the preliminaries before the Green Men interrupted. They never actually fought other contestants in the Tournament. Shinji did – but he was wiped out in his very first match.

Colin found himself smiling.

"Why the grin?" Alicia prodded him. "You're thinking something selfish, aren't you?"

Colin scowled but he had to admit it. "True enough. I was thinking that when it comes time for the Forest's Tournament of Ascension, I'd have the advantage of a Forester's home terrain."

"Except that you're not a Forester any more." Alicia pointed out.

Colin's face fell. Iylara burst out laughing, drawing surprised looks from her three guests.

"Princess!" a girl came up, yelling. "There's a fight between Silver's crew and Neptone's lieutenants!"

"Excuse me!" Iylara said and hurried after her before the fight could escalate.

***

About that time, Katrin, Shinji and Swift were approaching the Hourglass Continent.

"Swift! Swan!" Coming to meet them were three other Knights on three different birds. Katrin took one look and guessed at once that all three were from the Order of the Wind.

"Heron. Raven. Hawk." Shinji waved. "What brings you out here?"

"Just a heads-up." Heron shrugged. He was a tall guy, with long arms and legs, and he wore wind-resistant jeans with a long-sleeved turtleneck, both of varying shades of gray. Amber eyes twinkled under a yellow mohawk. The bird he stood on was a Saber-Heron with a ten-foot wingspan and six feet to its height, white edged with red in the wings, and a beak like a blade. "Val said to warn you; the Green Men are headed your way."

"We know. They're a couple minutes behind us." Shinji said.

"Not those, Swan. I meant the rest." Heron gestured around. "Every last Saucer in this Dreamworld is headed our way right now, and they're hurrying like there's no tomorrow."

"But we're ready for them, right? Our forces at Hourglass…"

"Our forces at Hourglass are junk." Raven barked a laugh. He wore a black leather hoodie and a black visor, and thick khaki slacks over spiked brown soccer boots. "They're thicker at North Hour than South Hour, but both sides have been exchanging shots with the Cult fortifications at Midway a while now, and the Green Men are having the better of it."

"The Cult fortified Midway?" Shinji blinked.

"We expected more volunteers to join the fight." Hawk scowled. He had a fierce face, with bushy eyebrows, and short black hair. He wore a plain leather vest, no shirt, and leather bracers and leather pants. His shoes, however, were comfortable sneakers. "But so far, there haven't been many."

"You're telling me we're losing?" Shinji stared.

"Yep. And you're headed right towards their stronghold!" Raven laughed.

"We're not losing." Heron shook his head. "They're not exactly attacking us back or anything. They're just turtling up. But we're not making any progress."

"{Right}. They got no reason to attack the knights. They want her." Raven pointed at Katrin.

"So we're here to make sure they don't get her!" Hawk said fiercely.

"And how are we gonna do that?" Swift asked, stretching almost as if bored.

"We fly." Shinji said. "We fly and keep flying."

"Right." Swift said. "Which way, though?"

Katrin saw what they meant now with more than a twinge of fear. The Saucers were closing in on them in every direction.

"Three to the north, two to the north-east, five to the east, three to the south-east, three from the south, two to the south-west, four to the west, two to the north-west." Heron cocked his head to one side. "I think north."

"Not north-east or north-west?" Katrin asked. "Only two each."

"They'll come after us, sure enough. We'll have to break through all seven to get past." Hawk reassured her, with a smile as if it was a good thing. "And there's no telling how many more will be behind them."

Shinji squinted. "The northies are fresh?"

"Fresh as cucumbers." Raven cawed.

"And we have no allies that way?"

"Not a one." Raven said, laughing.

"Then forget the north. Forget Hourglass. We have to turn back." Shinji said.

"Turn {back}?" Swift protested. "Why?"

"The southies are at least worn down a bit. We have over a hundred allies back that way." Shinji said. "Hourglass is no good. Going farther north would only invite more and more saucers to surround us until we have nowhere left to run. We either have to go to ground or put up a fight somewhere."

"Ground." Swift and Raven said just as both Heron and Hawk said, "Fight."

Katrin glanced at Shinji. His would be the deciding vote, and they didn't have much time.

But Shinji looked back at Katrin, of all things. "The risk is yours, Katrin. What say you?"

"Me?" Katrin gulped. She only had half an idea of what was going on, but he was right; she was the one at risk here. What do I do? Where should I go?

The last time she felt this lost, she had been thrown into command of an army at Lamico. Back then, she had simply called Satrox for guidance. {I can't call Satrox now. Comms all over Nakama World are down. But what would Satrox do?}

Then again, Satrox had never been chased by the Green Men. Only eight of them were chased, and almost everyone else had been caught already. There were only two left besides her. {What would Phillip do? What would Colin do?}

Colin. How did he escape last night? What was it Henry said?

And then Katrin knew. She knew exactly what she was going to do to escape.

"We go north." Katrin said.

And smiled.