Marines' Incursion

Present day.

Yumiko held back Léa's attack. Their blades were shaking. "Léa Celice... the connoisseur of the agents. Have you come here to judge my swordsmanship or as a constituent of the SM Agency?" Léa pushed her sword deeper, attempting to break through Yumiko's guard. She, however, struggled.

She noticed her struggle, "What's the pest? Is there something on my face?" Yumiko inquired, overcoming Léa's assault and driving her back to the Wandering Moon's handrail.

Léa seized the edge, seeing Yumiko straightening. She witnessed her spinning her right-handed sword intensely. "Impressive, swordswoman. I guess those two years didn't go to waste." Léa drove herself into a short-distance dash, slashing sideways.

Yumiko backed away, guarding nonchalantly and feeling the shake at their swords' collision. "Tsch..." Léa yanked back her sword, sweeping it around her torso and cutting toward Yumiko's neck.

Yumiko ducked underneath, slamming her sole into Léa'S abdomen and bashing her against the handrail. "Back down, Léa." Fanny intruded as the marines dropped their anchor in the water.

Yumiko and the others raised their heads and locked their view onto the agents. "What do you want this time?" Kyora inquired, somewhat nervous around their foes.

The woman observed them from their ship, "Admiral Fanny, you decided to initiate them in combat." Léa looked up at her, holding her sword firmly. "I did," she fixed her hat, "but I want to ask them a few questions first. Starting with, where's your captain, the white-haired pirate Timothy?"

Aurora stood behind everyone, too concerned to respond. "Why should we answer? I don't think it would be smart to suggest our captain's location without his permission." Ralphie leaned his back against the wall, folding his arms. "Because of his interference in the auction at Winterpeak Island seven days ago. He stole an expensive antique without payment. The auctioneer notified the WPDA and the world government about his assault."

They became startled and mostly puzzled in thoughts, "I'm sure he had a good reason to steal it. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that artifact was manufactured or of higher significance." Ralphie claimed, "...or stolen, just like you're known to do, SM agency."

Fanny kept her composure, "I sense hostility. If I recall, the agencies united into WPDA. I'd appreciate it if you accepted the analytics." Her unfazed eyes inflamed Ralphie, but he chose to stay silent. "I'll give you another warning. Point me in your captain's direction and tell him to return the artifact, or we'll ransack your ship and bring you into custody."

Ralphie pouted with his mouth, pocketing his arms and footed in front of everyone else, "And we're clear over here. Threaten us all you want, but there's no way we'll tell you where he is."

Yumiko readied her swords while Tarot reached for his back, pulled out his spyglass, and extended it into a pole, spreading his legs to keep stable.

Kou enveloped himself in mint energy, and Kyora readied her combat stance. "I was sure it wouldn't come to this, but if you won't speak, then so be it. Commander Troy! Officers! Initiate combat sequence." The marine officers ran across the deck and descended upon the Wandering Moon, "There's not one day without WPDA on our rears." Yumiko cursed, a blue energy lasso swathing itself around her left wrist.

-

Tarot's nimbus cloud continued speeding through the air at an incredible pace. Timothy managed to learn how to balance on the cloud appropriately and noticed a small island shrouded by bubbles that wafted from the surrounding water.

"There's an isle. I think that's the zone Hywel coordinated us to." Chiaki pointed out while Timothy steered the nimbus cloud to descend on the island.

As they neared the floor, Chiaki hopped and splashed into the water while Timothy screamed and crashed into the trunk of a tree due to the nimbus cloud's high speed.

He rolled on the ground while Chiaki swam to the surface and looked throughout the area. "Looks like we found the entrance sooner than foreseen," she remarked, but she couldn't see the Sanctum Islands anywhere.

Timothy sat on the floor, rubbing his head from the pain, and gossiped, "Ow, that didn't go as planned," he shook his head to retrieve his vision and looked in the air, "Why's it so hot around here?"

He helped himself to stand up and tried to gather intel from the island while the nimbus cloud hovered beside him, "Nimbus, return to the others and brief them about our whereabouts." The nimbus cloud orbited around Timothy and flitted back from the direction they came.

One of the giant bubbles floated in front of Chiaki. She tried popping it with her finger, but instead of bursting, her hand slipped inside the bubble, and she could easily pull her arm outside. "These bubbles are permeable. You could ride one if you wanted. I think this soggy grass forms them."

Chiaki explained, but Timothy figured it out beforehand. She noticed Timothy standing inside one. His arms and legs seemed to spread outward. He used the bubble to roll and drift through the air, "Whoa, this is super duper fun! Come on, Chiaki! You'll love this." She observed him nonchalantly, acknowledging he was *very* amused.

"Would you get out of there?" She requested, quickly turning unimpressed by Timothy's childlike nature, and sighed, "We're supposed to find a way up to the Sanctum Islands."

Timothy became ticked off, his eyes whitening from his reaction, "Oh, come on! There's nothing wrong with having some fun!"

-

The marines' incursion propelled the crew into fighting back. The marine officers delivered their attacks against them, but even their high numbers weren't enough to keep their enemies back.

Despite pillaging their ship, Yumiko and the others swamped them. She [Yumiko] fought against Léa, and both threw consecutive slashes, fending or evading them in the process.

The rest of the officers attacked, but commander Troy prioritized Ralphie as his opponent. "I remember you. You were on that ship admiral Yules set on fire." Ralphie grew irritated and practically bit his cigarette, "Yules... I remember that name. He's the reason Zumo died in those ashes, the person who saved my life." Ralphie said in frustration, "Don't think I forgot what you marines did seventeen years ago."

Troy kept his smile hidden, "I was a mere soldier back then, and Yules was a mere 'most-trusted' agent. But we both earned a promotion since then. And I can still see some of the belief in your eyes. Do you honestly think your friend survived an eruption like that?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. And if Zumo survived, I *will* find him," he replied, "it's what I hope to achieve." Ralphie held a grave yet determined countenance to attain his goal.

As they conversed, Kou fought back the forthcoming marines, punching or kicking through them, decreasing their numbers by knocking them into the seawater.

Tarot grinned, smashing his spyglass into the marine's head, pushing him away, and poking another. One of the marines swung the cutlass toward his chest, but Tarot backed away, blew out a white cloud from his mouth, and formed his duplicates.

His two replications attacked with their poles, beating them in the bodies and chucking them off the deck. Kyora, on the other hand, punched with her arms, and from out of her palm shot out a wind blast.

The wind captured multiple marines and tossed them overboard, their shrieks resounding throughout the area. Kyora strode forward, swinging her arm from behind her hip over her shoulder, and manipulated a whip of water, slapping one of the marines in the face. She circled the water around her body and kept vigilance on the enemies.

"Tarot! I think it's time to use that boost you told us about in Acropolis." Tarot ducked under the slash and banged his spyglass into a streak of marines, "You got it, boss!" he saluted with a broad smile and used his spyglass to vault down to the deck and hurried down into the cabin while the others held back the marines.

Kou leaped into action and used an outstretched leg to kick one of the marines in the face. He maintained his airborne position by using the officer's head as a rebound and then used a roundhouse kick to strike the second attacker behind him with his heel.

Kyora knelt down and consecutively jabbed the marine's muscles using her knuckles, rendering him paralyzed. Another was tossed over the board by a kick she passed behind her that released wind.

Yumiko exchanged slashes with Léa and managed to outsmart her. She backed away as her blades disappeared into blue particles and suddenly vanished from Léa's vision, "Where-" Léa couldn't finish her sentence and suddenly felt a tight rope wrapping around her body, squeezing her together, while Yumiko emerged behind her.

She held onto the lasso's point and grinned, "I learned that technique through blade dancing." Léa yelped in anger but felt energy zapping her, causing her to wail in pain and tumble to her knees.

Kyora smacked one of the remaining officers over the handrail and shouted with an inquiry, "How much longer, Tarot?!"

Instantly, Tarot pulled back a lever and opened a trapdoor under the keel, expanding a long propellant into the water, "Hold on tight! We're about to blast off!" he charged up the power, absorbing the water as fuel and an impulsive oscillation soon got discerned by the others.

"Here! We! Go!" he pulled the lever again, but this time the propellant started spinning faster, and instantly, a sudden explosion activated beneath the ship. It imparted a motion into their vessel, and with Tarot's warning, everyone held on tight.

The ship accelerated at an extreme velocity. It knocked Léa and Troy off balance, throwing them into the water. The Wandering Moon darted and suddenly burst over the water like a missile. Everyone apart from Tarot yelled in astonishment. They felt their bodies getting pushed forward by speed and force.

Fanny observed the bubbles and tidal waves left behind. She felt hot sweat trickling down her brow. Her eyes twitched, knowing her targets covered three miles in a few seconds. "What does their new ship have built into it? There's no way we can catch up to them now." Fanny fixed her hair, seeing the officers swimming in the ocean. "Physics doesn't make sense to me anymore. They had to formulate a propellant we haven't heard of before."

-

The Wandering Moon retrieved its gradual speed as Kou and Kyora lay on the ground while Yumiko covered her mouth and glanced overboard, "So, how did you like my fantasy? I think it's a pretty good addition to the Wandering Moon." Tarot laughed, but he received his answer after Yumiko puked into the water, dizzy and sick, "I need to lay down..." she claimed, hanging her torso on the handrail.

To be continued...