Warriors of Sky, Part 1: The Rise of God Skaios

Spirit World

Spear Pillar was not often a peaceful sanctuary. The Gods of Time and Space would often shake the universe with their petty squabbles. There would be a black hole there and a time rift there… but one thing that was very uncommon was wind and lightning. This was a new phenomenon as a great conflict was transpiring atop the pillar. With one final, blinding flash of lightning, he took off flying: an infant-sized being whose skin matched the sky and clouds, clothed in only dark-red shorts and a matching bandanna. His yellow eyes brimmed with victory as his great angelic wings stroked the air. (Play "Dark Pit" from Kid Icarus!)

"Into the shining dawn, to fight another day." The imp swiftly dodged the Centurion guards with ease. "The world keeps fighting on, and I see black and gray." Rayquaza tried to ensnare the imp, only to be repelled by a bursting air bubble. "Before the night falls, I'm gonna take flight," the imp deflected Cresselia's Moon Blades with barrel-rolls, "and then I'm gonna find my WAAAAAY!" The imp dove through the surface of the Spirit World like a wind drill, then was in the Underworld.

"Into the fading dawn, I'll beat all the odds." He flew headfirst through the City of the Dead, his hurricane demolishing all buildings. "The world keeps fighting on, so I scream to the sky, DAMN THE GODS!" His wind carved through Groudon and Kyogre like tissue paper! He glided 'cross the Sanzu Sea as a heavenly light granted him passage to the Living World.

"Soar through the sky… on cherubim wings." Crossing the mortal ocean, his wings split the sea, sinking passing ships and nearby shores. "They look at me, think they know everything." Giant battleships blasted the imp, but the ammo was sent right back by titanic tornadoes. "All alone, but now I'm free! You can't buy my loyalty!" Shaded figures tried to shoot him and cut him to no avail. "If this is my worst you see, welcome to the darker side of meeeeeee!"

Wanted posters scattered in the wind, making his likeness known to the worlds: "FREE BORN" SKAIOS – 58,000,000. As years passed, more posters flew: 97 million, 125 million, 250, 790, 18 billion, 94 billion, before ultimately settling with, "Your Own Planet."

"THE DARKER SIDE OF MEEEEEE!"

"SHYAH!!"

"Huh?!" Skaios whipped around with a gasp, too late to dodge as the swordsman brought down his blade. (End song.)

Pacific Ocean; two years ago

"Let's kill merrily… We don't need adults. Can we make a hundred corpses? Let's have a competition!"

Rumors have begun surfacing of a brand new band of pirates, and any sailors who hear their carefree shanty would soon meet a terrible end. It sounded fun and inviting, like children playing on a playground, but any Japanese-speakers who could understand the lyrics would feel repulsed. "If there's Monokuma, we are invincible! Let's play with Monokuma, always."

They sailed on a traditional pirate ship, its sail black and white as it flew the colors of a monochrome bear. The elementary grade crewmen were dressed in school uniforms, except they were torn and ragged, and they reeked as if they hadn't bathed in weeks. The six kids were a green-haired girl in a wheelchair, a pink-haired girl with large pigtails, a pale-eyed boy whose head was covered by a brown ugly mask, a blue-haired boy, a red-haired boy, and a brown-haired boy, who seemed to be two years older than his crewmates, and his bare chest was covered in tribal designs.

"Let's kill with a smile, let's kill them all! Gather corpses and make mountains, graveyards of adults!"

The red and brown-haired boys locked arms and danced on the deck, the others singing along to the shanty. "Hunt! Hunt! Monokuma! Torment! Torment! Monokuma!" The others threw stuffed monochrome bears into the air. "If we all sing together, the blood will overflow. With Monokuma, let's all smile."

The song abruptly finished when something whizzed through the clouds and into the sea, rocking the Spark of Hope. "Oh my gosh! It's a shooting star!" the pink girl exclaimed. "Yuta, dive under and catch it! I wanna make a wish!"

"Aye!" The brown-haired boy dove into the sea. The object in question had already sunk several meters into the depths, but Yuta was like a merman as he swam further and further in no time at all. What he found was not a meteor, but an impish creature, peaking his curiosity as he caught it in his arms. Channeling chi to his feet, a whirling current returned Yuta to the surface, rising as a geyser so the 10-year-old could set foot on deck.

"That's not a shooting star!" the pink girl complained.

"Aw, man." The masked boy moaned in a depressed tone. "I was gonna wish to be a hideous, disgusting bug. Then everybody would hate me…"

Yuta bent the water out of the creature's lungs. "Whatever it is, there's no way it woulda survived a crash like that. You'd have to be a-"

"GOD, I never been so drunk in my life! !" The imp sprung up into the air before landing on the deck. "Arr?" The imp surveyed the area around him, along with the six humans that dwarfed him in size. "Well, shiver me timbers! Ay never thought I'd meet a band of fellow pirates."

"You're a… pirate?" the blue boy asked.

"Why, of course he is, Nagisa." the crippled girl replied with a cute smile. "Just look at his eyepatch." She indicated the patch covering his right eye. "That's the mark of a true pirate."

"Then who is he?"

"I be Captain Skaios!" The imp stretched a tiny arm to the heavens. "Sailor of a thousand galaxies! The most wanted criminal in the known universe-sah! And who be you scurvy dogs?"

"Avast, Cap'n Skaios!" the red boy declared with a grin. "I be Masaru Daimon, Captain of the Hope Pirates! With my firebending, I carry the flame of victory! And if that not be enough, I'm known as the 'P.E. King.' I trampled all me mates from gym class and Ay'm the fastest in me hometown."

"I'm the vice-captain, Nagisa Shingetsu." the blue boy followed with a toneless frown. "I don't have an element, but my intelligence more than makes up for it. They call me the 'Ultimate Academic.'"

"My name is Kotoko Utsugi." followed the pink girl. "I'm called the 'Dramatic Demon' because of my love for acting, cuteness, and peeled chestnuts. I'm not a bender, but I'm an extremely capable fighter. One time, I beat Masaru so hard that he cried and wet his pants."

"Only 'cause I trained her well!"

"On the contrary, he was the one who needed training." Kotoko winked.

"And I'm Jataro Kemuriii…" The masked boy drawled out his ending vowels. "I'm reallyyyyyyy good at art. I can paint, I can sculpt, I can draw… I'm an earthbender, too, but I'm sooooo bad at it. I don't think I'll ever improve. And my pirate name is 'Ugly.' Just Ugly. My face is so horrible that your other eye will melt, and your ruined eye will grow back. I also wanna be a priest when I grow up, but I don't think that'll ever happen…"

"Um, and my name is Yuta Asahina." followed the dark-skinned boy with a peppy tone. "My waterbending makes me a super pro swimmer! I can dive under the ocean in search of treasure, so that makes me the crew's salvager. I'm actually half-Japanese and half-Adabat, which you can tell by my skin tone! My people are natural-born waterbenders. My tribal name is Yutax, so that's my moniker."

"And my name is Monaca Towa." the green-haired girl spoke last. "My legs got squished by my parents on an 'accident.' Now everyone gathers around me in pity. Have you ever heard of Free Time, Skaios? It's a special period where people are free of burdens and can spend it with friends and families. When our friendship grows stronger, our chi becomes stronger as well. Monaca is so happy to have friends. She is also a psychicbender, and they call her 'Li'l Hope.'"

"So, do you have a crew, Skaios?" Masaru asked.

"I be a lone wolf, maties! Ay'm too fast to follow and too fast to catch. Millions have tried to cut down ol' Skaios, but all have failed! All 'em… except fer one lucky dog." The imp lifted his eyepatch and revealed the dry, decayed socket underneath.

"AAAAH!" the kids yelped. "Who did that to you?!" Kotoko asked.

"A scurvy dog ran me through with 'is sword, he did. But since then, ol' Skaios suffered nary a scratch. The fool had not long for a second act before I blew him down to Davy Jones."

"That's so amazing!" Masaru's eyes sparkled. "I never thought someone so small could be that strong!"

"He doesn't look that strong." Nagisa said. "How do we know this isn't made up?"

"I can do this." Skaios said before stirring the wind around the ship and creating a tsunami that threatened to drown them.

"AAAAAAAAH! WE BELIEVE YOU WE BELIEVE YOU WE BELIEVE YOU!" they cried (except Monaca).

Skaios protected them with an air bubble. "Har har! Skaios wouldn't dare drown his new mates. Pirating is the best thing the gods created."

"Hey, Skaios, since you don't have a crew, you wanna join ours?" Yuta asked.

"Huh? No one's ever asked me that… I-I mean, what makes ye think ye are worthy of the great Skaios?!"

"Um, I don't really know, but…" Masaru scratched his head, "but your eye was taken by an adult, wasn't it?"

"So what if it was?"

"Well… we don't like adults either."

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU BRING THE POLICE HERE?!" Mr. Daimon thundered, beating his son with a bat. "You were supposed to bring the alcohol, dammit! What good are you if you can't even do that?!"

"I'm sorry, Dad, please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

…

"Mom, why can't I take my mask off? It's starting to smell and rot…" Jataro asked.

"Because you were my greatest mistake and you're better off forgotten! And if you say another word, I'll stick a cork in your mouth!"

…

"Sigh, the subject isn't showing any improvement." Mr. Shingetsu sighed. "He keeps stopping to rest his eyes. Perhaps we should try for a new one…"

Nagisa sat at his desk in silence, eyes practically glued to a dozen books as a cord pumped drugs into his blood.

…

"Look at all this money you've brought us, Kotoko! And it didn't even hurt at all, did it? I told you those men were gentle."

"Y-Y-Y-Yes…" Kotoko curled up on her bed, shuddering from an incurable chilling feeling. "G-G-G-G-G-G…Gentle…"

Skaios' pupil shrunk to a nano size. "What the fuck… Aren't you human kids? I thought human parents were… nicer than that?"

"Yeah, well, we're different." Nagisa stated. "Our parents were the worst of the worst. Even the local KND sector wouldn't help us. That's why we took to the sea and escaped, robbing their treehouse of some weapons and material so we could build this ship. 'Course, Monokuma was a big help, too."

"Monokuma?"

"Monaca's family owns an electronics business." Monaca explained, holding up her monochrome bear. "These special Monokuma robots were designed as servants, but Monaca repurposed them a tad."

"I see… Wait, what about you?" Skaios asked Yuta.

"Oh, yeah. You see these carvings on my body?" He showed both sides of his bare chest. "My dad cuts them on me as part of a tribal tradition, and he makes me take baths in steaming water so they always stay fresh. He says it helps me mold my chi."

"Arrrr… well, it's settled, then: ye all are part of me crew now!"

"We are?!" Kotoko exclaimed. "But that's not right! We're supposed to be our own crew!"

"It's all right, Kotoko." Monaca smiled. "Skaios will be a wonderful ally for us. After all, we can't just keep aimlessly sailing the ocean forever. We need to make a name for ourselves and set an example for all children. I think we need to rid this world of all evil adults."

"But we only took to the sea to be free from the evil adults." Yuta replied. "I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I'm kinda happy like this."

"But don't you think it's unfair?" Monaca frowned in a mock pouty fashion. "There are so many kids who don't get to be free because of mean adults. But if we're in a big crew with Captain Skaios, we'll have the strength to liberate those kids."

"Well, then why don't we just join the KND?"

At that instant, Monaca began swinging her arms crazily. "Monaca! Told! You! The! KND! Don't! Care! About! Us!"

"I-I know, I know, you said they concern their selves with bigger problems. But we can be a sector that helps kids like us."

"No! KND! Are! Biased! Cannot! Trust! Them! We are the answer, and we need to accomplish what the KND have forgotten to do! We must kill the evil adults! Every! Single! One!"

"Yeah! Kill the adults!" Masaru cheered. "Captain Skaios, will you help us in our noble quest?!"

"BLEEEEEHHHH!" The pirate threw up into the sea. "Huff…huff… Note to self: rum is an overrated pirate drink."

"How old did you say you were again?" Nagisa asked.

"Ay don't know. Anyhow, I sympathize with your stories, mates. Ay've had me own misadventures with adults; tryin' to lock me away because I was too 'important' or 'free spirited.' Then, a couple years ago, I decided that a pirate's life was for me."

"Fascinating. But you mind explaining why you fell from the sky? Where were you before now?"

"Well, I were drinking in some sort of bar in space, and I think I got swept up in a wormhole after I flew out."

"You flew through space without a ship?" Jataro asked. "But you can't even use airbending in space. I think he's lying…"

"Wanna bet?" Skaios immediately enveloped the ship in an air bubble. With wide and panicked eyes (though Monaca was unfazed), the children rose beyond the clouds, screaming as they bypassed the stratosphere.

"NO, PUT US BACK, PUT US BACK!" Masaru screamed. "We're gonna suffocate, we're…?" Stars glittered the universe and they could see either end of the Earth. Their little vessel was adrift in space. "We're not… suffocating."

"I can't believe it!" Yuta said. "There shouldn't be any oxygen this high up! How are you airbending?!"

"Hold on…" Nagisa thought back to what Yuta said before. "A-Are you… an actual god?!"

"Yar har har! And what if I am, maties?!"

"B-B-But… what are you doing here?! Why…"

"Who cares if I am, ye scurvy dogs? Who cares if I'm a god and you're mortal? The fact is we're all pirates! As far as I care, yer all equal to me. You're either above me, or I'm above you." He hovered over them. "And I Skaios, the Free God, accept you as my friends."

"Ufufufufufu! This is delightful!" Monaca raised arms and telekinetically spun her wheelchair. "Monaca already has the perfect idea. Her family owns a ship that's much more ginormous than this tiny boat. And with Skaios' help, we can carry it through space. We'll destroy dozens of adults and towns with Skaios' help, and find more children and pirates to join our cause! And we, the Warriors of Hope, will rise as the Warriors of Sky!"

"Wow, what an epic name! You're brilliant, Monaca!" Kotoko beamed.

"And with our power, we'll form a new world!" Masaru announced. "A world where everyone is free to do whatever they want! That will be our goal, and it'll be AWESOME!"

"YAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Yuta's cheer, however, was more forced, his heart filled with worry rather than joy. Making friends with these kids might have been his greatest mistake…

Towa City

Upon returning to their hometown, Skaios blew through town like a missile, leaving cars crashed and people half-dead on the streets. Yuta lashed Water Whips at cops and Masaru molded fireballs in his hands, throwing them like baseballs to set cop cars ablaze. Jataro channeled Earth Chi to his chiseling knife to cut chunks of earth out of the road and throw them at more cops. Kotoko was light as air as she swiftly dodged stun guns and kicked them into submission.

The same fates were to befall the employees of Towa Corp.. Skaios' airbending was too powerful for the humans or the guardian robots, and before long, the seven pirates were at the top of the tower, basking in the marvel of a tremendous airship that had a mansion built on its deck. "Ufufufu! That ship is Towa Corp.'s pride, the Light of Hope. Monaca's parents are so conceited. It was designed to deliver our products to other nations, but it's chockfull of weapons and perhaps certain 'illegal' goodies."

"What kind of illegal goodies?" Nagisa asked, armed with a 4x4 laser rifle.

"Monaca recalls her father mentioning a man called Dr. Clown."

The storage area on the Light of Hope was indeed filled with weapons, but what really drew their eyes was a crate from Bang Gas Industries. The crate contained four strange fruits with odd swirly designs. "What sorts of delicacies be these?" Skaios asked.

"These items are Devil Fruits." Nagisa replied, reading a paper that came with the package. "Supposedly, consuming them will grant us a metahuman power. Its only drawback is that we'll lose our ability to swim."

"I can never swim ever again?!" Yuta exclaimed. "Count me out! No no no!"

"Me, too!" Kotoko stomped her feet and stuck her tongue out. "They look oh so icky! Yuck yuck yuck!"

"Suit yourselves." Masaru replied. "What say the rest of you? No objections? Great! Then let's decide which fruits we want."

After Nagisa read the fruits' descriptions, the kids decided: Masaru ate a watermelon that was swirly like a portal, Jataro ate a large pear, Nagisa ate some red grapes, and Monaca ate a round black apple with a long stem (it looked like a bomb). "ULP! It's so awful." The kids gagged.

"So, how about we play around with our new powers a bit?" Monaca asked. "I bet Jataro's would be especially useful."

"Really? But how?"

"Let's take this ship to the stratosphere. I bet the view is amazing!"

Aboard their new and superior vessel, the Hope Pirates and Skaios gazed over the entirety of Towa as though it were plastered on a giant map. Jataro conjured a camera from his own chi and snapped a photo. The camera printed out an image so clear, one could reach inside it. Jataro rolled up his sleeve and stuck his hand into the image.

Screams erupted through town when a godlike pale hand with filthy long nails descended from the clouds. With a devilish smirk, Jataro dug his nails into the earth around Towa, using a tiny, yet focused amount of Earth Chi to separate the entire city from the planet itself. He lifted the city off the world, holding it as though it were a small rock.

"SHIVER ME FREAKIN' TIMBERS!" Skaios' eye nearly popped back into being from bewilderment. "What kinda magic is this?!"

"Jataro ate the Window-Window Fruit." Nagisa recapped. "A Nen-class, it allows him to take photos of an area and stick his body through it, magnifying himself in relation to the photo's perspective. The bigger the area, the bigger the result. Here are the weaknesses: first, only Jataro's body can enter the photos; nobody else, and no objects can enter either, including his clothes. Second, he can only affect the area within the photo, and nothing outside its border. If anything like a person or this landmass exits the border, it'll be safe from his giant range."

"But I can pick up giant chunks of earth and throw them at enemies outside the border." Jataro informed. "What I'm wondering is, can you do with this landmass what you can with our ships, Skaios?"

"I say we find out!" The impish captain soared down and orbited the landmass several times, creating a windy bubble over it. Within minutes, the city of Towa was uplifting into the stars. Towa had become its own planetoid with its own Oxygen Zone.

Skaios and his friends viewed their accomplishment with pride. "This…This is the beginning." Ambition was fueling Skaios. "This is the birth of our kingdom. This is… THE FREE KINGDOM!"

Skaios led his crewmen to all the best places he visited in the universe. Soon, news channels were raving about multiple planets losing chunks of their worlds. Skaios and the Hope Pirates gained infamy and popularity amongst pirates and criminals alike.

In the headquarters of the White Lotus, Vice-Commander Annie Wilconson studied a news article of the growing threat. "This Skaios person looks a lot like Vaati. His goals are kind of similar, too."

"Vaati's been missing since the battle at Mariejoa." replied Officer Katniss Everdeen, a black-haired woman with a bow. "Do you think there's a connection?"

"Perhaps we should pay this Skaios a visit. At the very least, he does seem like somebody Vaati would be attracted to."

Aboard the Halberd II, Meta Knight read the article. "This kind of power feels oddly familiar. Perhaps I should arrange a meeting with this Skaios."

In an unknown area, a red-eyed ninja read the article. "So, this is the one? Indeed… this Skaios might prove very helpful to our plan."

Somewhere on Earth, another band of pirates read about them on an Intergalactic Newspaper. Their ship was white with the figurehead of a clown, had dice pattern decorations, and its sail bore the Jolly Roger of two diamonds: one resembling a divided face with a red smiling half and sad white half, and one with an "E" inside a square "C", with the name DICE written beneath.

The crewmen all wore white straitjackets and clown masks, and their purple-haired captain was a scrawny boy in a purple cape and general's cap. "This Skaios guy actually seems pretty fun." Captain Kokichi smiled. "Maybe we oughta give him a call."

Planet Avalar; Evermore (five months ago)

King Evan stood upon the castle balcony and addressed his people. Legions of faithful citizens cheered for him: he who ruled Evermore and led the Union of Ni no Kuni. For a 14-year-old to accomplish this much was an amazing feat. And Tani was so honored to be able to stand beside him. It was an odd feeling, but being around Evan, it felt as if butterflies were fluttering over her heart. Tani must have been going cuckoo to think that. Still, who would have thought that a raggedy band of pirates such as her own could be a part of it?

And that's when a shadow was cast over the kingdom. A tremendous galleon composed of alien technology loomed over their peaceful domain like a cloud of death. "QUICK! EVACUATE THE CITY!" Evan cried.

"YOU HEARD HIM!" one of the guards yelled. "All citizens, EVACUATE!"

People were screaming and fleeing the town, but fortunately, the pirates only cared about storming the castle. Lasers fired down, blowing holes open as the pirates descended, and Evan and Tani did their best to cut the cutthroats down, sword and spear in hand. That was when a great gust of wind blew into the castle, taking the form of a dark-cloaked figure with silver hair and a red eye. "Wh-Who are you?!" Evan asked.

"My name is Vaati of the Sky God Pirates, and I am here to put an end to your reign. Knowing you are a kind ruler, I will not kill you, but I must demand that you abolish your government and ensure true freedom to your citizens."

"My citizens are already free! And in any case, I WON'T let you HURT THEM!" Evan swung his sword at his neck, but Vaati's Logia wind body was unaffected.

The wind mage grabbed Evan by the neck and soared outside. "EVAN!" Tani shouted, trying to chase them. However, an earthquake suddenly transpired, and the ceiling above Tani collapsed. "AAAAAH!"

"TANI!" Her father, Batu swooped by on an aircraft and grabbed her.

As Vaati carried Evan outside, the king was horrified as his precious castle was demolished by a tremendous tornado. The symbol of his kingdom, pride of Evermore, was slowly crumbling under this raging wind. "This is the power of Emperor Skaios." Vaati said. Within the cyclone was a bright blue glow, and Evan could see a tiny, shadowed figure in the center of it. "His wind blows with pure freedom, and soon it will sweep across the entire universe! If you refuse to accept freedom, King Evan… we must enforce it!" Vaati raised the Declaration of Interdependence, which bore the signatures of all the continent's united kingdoms. The wizard burned the Declaration with a simple spell.

"Mmm…ugh…" Light slowly returned to Tani's eyes, and she found herself in her father's arms. "D-Dad? What happened?"

"We couldn't beat them, Tani. I had to get you away from there."

Tani viewed across the fields, mouth agape as their castle was a crumbled shell of its former self. "W…Where's Evan?"

"They took him, Tani. Took him aboard their ship. But don't worry. I 'ave a plan to save him."

"You…You think we should JOIN them?!" Tani shouted after hearing his proposal.

"Only until we have a chance to save Evan! It'll be fine, Tani; we'll just make up a little fib and with any luck, they'll let us be their allies. Now, do ya want to save Evan or don't you?"

"…" Tani faced the kingdom with passion in her eyes. "Orright. Let's do it, Dad."

Current time

For as long as we at Intergalactic News can record, the young and mysterious pirate known as Skaios has evaded the law and terrorized hundreds of planets. Recently, not only has Skaios amassed hundreds of followers into a powerful crew, he has currently "stolen" a total of 21 landmasses from multiple worlds, a record-breaking feat for any criminal. Governments have ranked him among the universe's worst criminals, and the pirate community have officially given Skaios the title of "Emperor."

According to reports, Skaios' primary goal is to demolish governments and assimilate nations into his "Free Kingdom." He has stolen the capitals of Evermore and Artemyra from Avalar, Inkopolis from Mushroom World, and an island of mutant animals from Superbia, to name a few. They continue to invite more people to join their free world.

A lone pirate ship with a raccoon figurehead was closing in on the Free Kingdom. "Are you really sure they're gonna let us in so casually?" Mason Dimalanta asked.

"'ey, there's no one freer than Sunny-Fist Sheila." replied their raccoon captain. "They should be begging for a girl like me to join!"

"I just hope they'll be willing to make an alliance with us." Chris said. "Or if they're even safe to make allies with."

"Yeah, but they may be our best chance at stopping the other Emperors." Aurora replied. "Sigh… I wonder if Cheren would approve of this."