Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Le Maree Della Guerra (The Tides of War) ❯ Emotionless Sage Doku ( Chapter 5 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: MellyN 
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.02.2015 | Updated On: 08.30.2015 | Pages: 13 | Words: 8.0K | Visits: 246 | Status: Work In Progress
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.02.2015 | Updated On: 08.30.2015 | Pages: 13 | Words: 8.0K | Visits: 246 | Status: Work In Progress
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Le Maree Della Guerra ( Tides of War )
By: Melissa Norvell/ Revamp
Movement 5: Emotionless Sage Doku
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“Let’s get to it,” Doku held out his hand and with his palm flat out and summoned forth his first attack, the Kinetic Wave. A rush of warped, clear energy rushed at the swordfish, who shouted ‘no’ and quickly threw her arms up in the x-position as she desperately tried to block it. There was no way that she could have moved out of the way due to the speed of the wave.
The wave crashed into her body with such force that it knocked her off of her feet and propelled her backwards through the water. It felt awful, like being hit with a blue whale swimming at super speed. It nearly blasted the filtered water from her body.
“Well, this isn’t going well,” Ketzel smiled from the stands with one leg crossed over another and a hand propping up his face.
Nagi blinked a couple of times. Sure, Doku was strong, but wasn’t starting off the battle that way just a bit of overkill?
“How did he do that? He’s hell on offense,” the cat shark commented. Even though Ketzel knew a few spells, he could never comprehend Doku’s strength and how he managed to make a basic attack like Kinetic Wave so damaging.
Percuss took the sword, tightening her grip around it as she held the blade to her face and concentrated on it. She could feel the energy surging through her body as she gathered it, it coursed through her and gathered into her focal point. Spinning around, Percuss drew the sword back and completed her circle as she formed a ring of sea foam green energy around her body. It rotated and moved up above her head, spinning at the tip of her blade before the swordfish drew back and threw her arm forward. She launched the ring at her foe as it spun across the ground and neared the sage, threatening to rip him apart on contact.
“Take this!” She shouted in determination. Surely, that attack had to hit him.
Doku still kept the same expression on his face, as cool, collected and nonchalant as ever. Using the same hand that he commanded the first move with, he turned his palm up and commanded the second attack. “Let the world be ripped asunder,” the octopus commanded as a black and blue warp ripped into the air and sucked up the energy ring she just made with warp speed.
Percuss watched in marvel for a few moments before her face twisted in irritation. “That’s not fair!” She shouted at the sage, who was unaffected by her words.
“I’m not here to care about your feelings,” Doku was as cold as ever. Why did she think this guy would change?
Percuss frowned deeply at him.
“Whatever she does, he’ll just suck it in,” Ketzel pointed out how fruitless her plans were. There was no way that the swordfish was going to win their fight with those tactics.
“I need a different strategy,” she knew that the cat shark was right. If she wanted to win this fight, she was going to have to step up her game.
“Jaws of Death,” Percuss summoned her attack as she charged at him, gaining speed as the negative space between them closed. Doku just stared at her as she gained momentum, her magical blade glowing brightly as she swung it back to strike him.
“Water Spout,” the mage said simply as a burst of water hit Percuss forcefully in the gut and catapulted her backwards, knocking her off of her feet and nearly making her drop her sword. She landed on her back several feet from him.
“Damn,” Percuss cursed under her breath as she laid flat against the ocean’s sandy ground. Catching her breath for a couple of minutes, she hopped up and charged at him again, charging the blade for a different attack.
Aching the octopus she tried to strike him multiple times, swinging the sword back and forth, but Doku effortlessly dodged each strike. The more that he moved, the more irritated that Percuss grew. Forming a bubble at the tip of her sword, the swordfish swung again.
“Take this! Aqua Bubble!” With that, she swung her sword again, creating a cluster of bubbles that launched themselves at Doku.
Once more, Doku casually dodged all of them, as if they were no real challenge. They shot past him like accelerating, flexible cannon balls. “I have everlasting patience,” he told her, not even breaking a sweat. Granted, they were only beginning the battle but he should have at least been a little worn from producing those attacks and moving around.
Was this guy even normal?
Determined, the swordfish lunged at him again, and Doku turned to the side. She delivered a swift kick to his ribs that made him bend over. Percuss axe-handled him in the back. As Doku lay on the ground, she created another glowing ring.
“Nautical Ring!” She propelled the ring forward again as the sage hopped up and held out his hand, creating the same vortex and sucking her attack up for the second time. What made her think that he had forgotten about how to rid himself of it?
‘Mental note: I want him to teach me that attack.’ Since Percuss might be part of the Seventh Infantry, learning a vortex like that would benefit her.
“Make your move,” he was still waiting for her to do something that challenged him. Didn’t Angla think before he nominated this girl to join their ranks? Just what did his leader think of this new recruit? As far as he’d been fighting her, Doku would see nothing that made her worth considering as a member of their Infantry.
“Energy Burn!” Not giving up, Percuss concentrated her energy on sword, causing it to glow and surge with electricity. Lightening ran in currents and danced over the top of it as the swordfish continued to gather more and more energy. Then, she charged at the emotionless sage with her sword drawn and called out the words ‘Blasting Zone’ as the ground around her was consumed in an orange energy blast that expanded in all directions. The radius was so big that it nearly consumed the whole battle ground.
“Illumination,” Doku called forth his attack as his deep, red eyes glowed with bioluminescence. Just then, a bright, blinding light flashed. It burned Percuss’ eyes as everything was consumed in white.
Percuss’ eyes darting wildly around, she could only see white no matter where she looked. There were no stands, no Doku, no nothing. It was as if she was in a white void all by herself. She could still hear noises around her, but was robbed of her sight. ‘What’s going on? I can’t see!’
“Your efforts are futile,” Doku’s voice resonated in her ears before he called out the name of his next attack, Seaside Buster.
Holding his hand out, a light blue, neon beam was fired from the octopus spell caster. Percuss, unaware of the danger approaching her, just stood there looking around. She was still blinded by his last attack and didn’t connect what was about to transpire. ‘I can’t see him. Where did he go? This is bad. It’s really bad. What am I supposed to do? I can’t sense him.’ She felt herself gathering more and more anxiety over her situation and a sense of hopelessness overcome her. Percuss knew that if her eyesight didn’t come back soon, the battle would be over.
The beam hits her again as she went flying off of her feet. The blast hit her with such force that she felt the burning sensation and landed on her face a few feet away.
“Had enough?” Doku asked. If she was doing this badly, it really was best that she gave up.
Percuss pulled herself up off of the ground and stood. Her body was shaky and her vision was still skewed. She couldn’t see the sage, but maybe she could find him by the projection of his voice. There had to be some way to defeat this guy. Pushing off of the ground, the swordfish charged blindly at him, but before she could get very far she felt a tentacle wrap around the dorsal fin on her head and drive her face into the ground again. Harsh sand brushed against her skin, and her long nose hurt from the contact.
Doku gazed down on her with a cold, disapproving stare. “You’re too weak to defeat me.” Why doesn’t she just give up already? This fight was as good as won.
“Ugh,” Percuss grabbed at her still-aching face as she opened her eyes. She noticed that the white had mostly gone away, but everything was still blurred in blotches of color.
“He’s really laying into her. Just what I’d expect from Doku,” Ketzel didn’t like the guy, but he knew that the octopus sage could fight. He wasn’t a Grand High Sage for nothing.
Percuss was hit in the middle of the back with Doku’s tentacle. It felt like being pummeled with the belly of a boat. Again, she fell to the ground.
“Uh-oh…” Ketzel’s eyes were locked onto the fight down below. The stands were silent as he and the other members of the 7th Infantry watched.
A black, heeled boot struck the assassin in the back of the head as she lay on the ground.
“I thought she’d stand more of a chance,” Nagi sighed a little to herself. She was disappointed with Angla’s choice as well. Usually, the Fish King had great candidates for the Infantry, but Angla fell short on this girl.
The dark red tentacle with white suckers and a single line of white, pearl-like structures down the sides picked Percuss up by her arm. The swordfish dangled there like a rag doll and squinted at him, trying to make out his form through the blurs.
“That’s not at all what I thought would happen,” Rin thought she would give Doku more of a challenge.
“I’m beginning to feel like I misjudged her,” Angla was a little down on the issue as well. Maybe Percuss wasn’t the great warrior he thought her to be.
‘I can win…It’s not going to be easy but I know I can win.’ Percuss had to keep telling herself these things. She had to do something about this bothersome octopus, or he was going to wipe the floor with her. “I can beat you.” The words were ragged, which made them hardly believable, but she still held a glimmer of hope.
“Do you think that?” Honestly, she was clearly losing. If Percuss thought Doku was just going to let her off easily, she was wrong.
The swordfish mustered up the most determined look she could as she glared him down. “I’m dead serious.” Then, she brought her foot up and kicked him square in the chest, causing the sage to be propelled backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t release her and only took a few steps backwards before gaining his footing again.
A small smile crossed his face, but Percuss only saw it momentarily before she was slammed head first into the ground again.
“Remember, you can’t kill her, Doku!” Nagi shouted from the stands. The Coconut Octopus looked like he was having a little too much fun down there and giving her so many head injuries would more than likely lead to death if he didn’t stop.
“I’m not,” Doku replied simply, “I’m just having a little fun with her.” After all, she wasn’t dead yet.
“Ugh…” He could hear the swordfish groan below him.
“Do you have a concussion yet?” He really hoped he did. Doku had better things to do than waste his time with some neophyte.
“I’m not sure who’s more mechanical, you or Oro,” Percuss had always thought Oro was especially emotionless but this sage had him topped in that department. Was he even a form of sea life? She’d never met a denizen so constantly cold.
“It doesn’t require emotion to fight. I’m not fond of showing my emotions,” Doku was definitely not going to show it to someone he felt was unworthy of it.
She dug her claws into the muscle of the tentacle, tearing through the red, pulpy flesh. Dark blue blood welled up to the surface as she continued to tear away at it. Percuss freed herself from its grasp as Doku watched with the same expression he had before.
Attempting to get the severed limb from her neck, Percuss blinked a couple of times at him. He had no reaction whatsoever! All she could do was stare, dumbfounded as blue blood clouded the water around her.
“How?” She could barely ask the question.
“I don’t have pain receptors,” Doku decided to inform her on his special case of congenital insensitivity to pain. “In fact, if my limbs get infected, then I just rip them off myself and grow new ones. That tentacle will react up to an hour after being ripped off.”
In other words, that piece around her neck would remain that way. Shock ran through her body at the realization that even when his tentacle was chopped off, it could still hold her. She never knew much about octopi, so this was all new to her.
It didn’t help that Doku was even a rarity among his kind.
“I am nothing like a fish,” he was sorry if she thought otherwise, but that was her own
downfall.
“How is this possible?” Percuss couldn’t believe that this was happening to her. Of all of the people to fight with, it had to be Doku. Now it was clear to her just how unfair this fight truly was. Why did Angla even let him fight against her, knowing his power? Was this how strong the members of the Seventh Infantry were? What about the others? Were they just as strong as Doku? After all, Angla did note that they were the strongest members of Nautica’s society apart from the Sea Kings.
“I have 130 million IQ-raision neurons on my body. This allows my tentacles to function separately as if they have minds of their own. The acetylcholinesterase in my body allows me to regenerate my appendages. They are still efficient longer after they’ve been severed. In a sense, they each have their own brain,” Doku decided to school her in just how an octopus worked. What a pity that she didn’t know these things beforehand, they really could have helped her right now.
“Why did I expect this to be fair?” Right now, Percuss felt like the dumbest thing in the sea. In fact, she probably was the dumbest thing in the sea.
“I’m not here to appease you,” Doku was making that painstakingly clear.
“If I have to pay for it, then I will,” with all of her might, the assassin ripped the tentacle around her neck to shreds, making sure to render it useless.
“Defiant to the end, I see,” Doku wasn’t fazed by her actions.
“I’m going to defeat you,” Percuss didn’t know how she was going to do that, but she was going to find a way. She couldn’t let Angla down, not when he had so much faith in her.
“This is the most exciting thing I’ve seen in a while. Doku is truly shining today,” Ketzel couldn’t help but be impressed with the fight. That octopus was putting on a great show. If Doku didn’t win, he’d be really shocked.
“You’re lucky that the rules of this fight are that I can’t kill you. I don’t have a problem crushing you,” Doku wouldn’t mind eradicating a useless sea creature. It made no difference to him, especially because he was one of the many predators of the sea.
Percuss grabbed her sword and ran at him, swinging her sword. Doku dodged the strike and Percuss head butted him in the side, then flipped backwards and round house kicked him with such force that he flew backwards and landed in a formation of coral. The bits and pieces his body impacted broke and floated down around him.
Doku showed no signs of pain as he rose. He merely placed a hand on his back as he sat up. Percuss wasn’t about to let him just get away with pummeling her, and she damned sure wasn’t going to let him win so he could have something else to gloat about. She charged at him and sliced upwards. Doku barely evaded that attack. As his body began to go past her, she turned and drove the hilt of her sword down into the top of his head. The Coconut Octopus fell to the ground and she stepped on the side of his head to make sure that he stayed down. The tip of the blade of her sword was pointed inches from his pretty, red eyes. In case he wanted to think about doing something else, he’d have a reminder of why he shouldn’t move.
“You’d better stay down if you know what’s good for you,” she warned with a stern frown.
“You think by fighting here that you’re proving anything?” What was with this guy? Did he really not feel the slightest sense of anything?
“Should you be saying that when my foot is on your face?” Percuss wanted to remind him of who was on top right now.
“I’m impressed that you managed to get hits on me,” the corners of Doku’s mouth stretched as an impish smile crossed his face. “Cyan Blast,” he summoned an attack from his position on the ground.
“Oh no you don’t!” Percuss was caught off guard at first, but as soon as her form glowed in blue she quickly sent a wave of energy down on him, cancelling out the attack.
Or so she thought.
Doku held out his hand and froze her wave, creating a layer of ice between him and Percuss. Then he shot up with such force that he smashed the ice barrier. Percuss stumbled backwards as the octopus shot up before her, pieces of ice glittered as they fell around him.
The swordfish tumbled backwards as spires of ice shot up from the ground. She barely moved out of the way of being impaled on one of them. Then she charged him again, her body nearly blurring with how quickly she was speeding through the water. “High Velocity Attack!” She shouted as she quickly neared the sage.
However, the attack proved ineffective. Doku raised his hand, brought up a wall of ice and she slammed into it, injuring herself as she bounced off with great force.
“Shatter like glass,” Doku instructed simply as he snapped his finger and the ice shattered into sharp pieces that resembled daggers.
Percuss tried to dodge them, but there were far too many, coming from too many different angles. They pierced her skin and drew blood as they cut her. The force of the angle caused her to fly back into one of the bigger spikes and pin her to it, looking like a crude crucifixion. The assassin called out in pain as blood ran from the open wounds on her arms, streaming down and staining the ice red.
‘I can’t move…and my arms feel like death. This guy is going to end me. What do I do now?’ It was hard to concentrate due to the amount of pain that she felt. Her arms pulsated and throbbed and her mind swam. It was all she could do to keep from passing out, much less thinking of a plan.
“A crucifixion for a fallen angel,” Doku mocking her didn’t help, “how befitting.”
“Typhoon!” Percuss used an abundance of her strength to summon the water cyclone.
“What?” Doku was caught off guard by it. He tried to get away from the fast-paced tides, but he was no match for them as they overpowered him and swept him away. “Damn it,” he cursed to himself as he was spun around in the currents. The typhoon grew in size and became more violent.
Ketzel and the rest of the Seventh Infantry were all holding onto the stands for dear life. “She’s going to tear this place apart,” the cat shark said as he clung to his seat.
“I can’t believe she actually got him. Doku doesn’t usually fall for that,” Nagi was a little shocked he’d be so easily sucked into a typhoon.
“Lightening Strike!” Percuss then used what little magic remained to summon her second attack. The lightning struck Doku and bounced around inside of the rushing waters, jutting out randomly as they struck the land around them. The octopus cringed at the contact of the energy, but otherwise was immune to any power it could have caused.
“Damn…” his body locked up as he continued to spin around in the attack.
Percuss pulled the ice from her bloody limbs and got herself out of her crucifixion. Moving her hand up, she shot the octopus out of the typhoon and sent him crashing to the ground. He laid there for a while, not moving. ‘Oh come on. Did he really not feel that?’ As if by command, Doku rose back up and seemed unaffected by what just happened. The assassin could hardly believe her eyes. ‘What is he? Immortal? Indestructible? Does anything hurt him? Does he know what pain even is?’
Before she could react, Doku spun around, hitting her with each of his tentacles before he uppercut her. She was knocked backwards again as blood streamed down the right side of her mouth. “I’m getting real tired of this,” she muttered and wiped the blood away. The taste of copper was still prominent in her mouth.
“Then stay down,” to Doku, the answer to her irritation was quite obvious.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Percuss already knew the answer to that question, and she wasn’t going to give him any time to answer it. She charged at him again, ready to attack him once more.
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Oro, Otsune, Cyra, Orzo, Isatsu and Onco all stood in the Sea King Meeting Hall. Usually, there were more denizens in that room, but today it was far less crowded. Even so, the tension was so thick they could hardly breathe in there. Everything was silent for a few minutes, until Onco spoke up.
“So, you haven’t seen her, either?” He asked as he glanced to Otsune for an answer.
The albino angler fish shook her head. “No, I thought that she would have been with you all, commanding the Beast Army.” After all, it was usually where the penguin was. It was pretty concerning that she had been gone all of this time and no one knew where she was.
“I hope that she hasn’t gotten in trouble,” Cyra was worried. There was too much going on for Symphony not to end up being caught up in something. They were on the brink of another war. It wasn’t a good time to go missing.
“She’s the best alchemist in all of Nautica. I’m sure that penguin can handle herself,” Isatsu seemed to just wave off the problem at hand. It bothered Oro.
“Is something wrong, Shark King Oro?” Otsune noticed that he gave the orca a look and said nothing. That was usually his silent communication that translated into the fact that he felt uncomfortable with Isatsu’s nonchalant attitude.
“I feel like something is going on,” in fact, Oro has felt it for a while. He couldn’t prove anything yet, but there was something much more sinister happening and no one seemed to question it.
“Of course there is- a war,” Isatsu pointed out the obvious.
“Now that, you idiot,” Oro sighed in irritation. “Something is going on under our noses.”
“Do you think someone has betrayed us?” Orzo had a feeling he knew where this accusation was going. He didn’t really like it, but Oro’ words were definitely hinting at an inside job.
“How else would they get through undetected?” Isatsu agreed with the shark, as much as he didn’t want to. It only made sense that someone could murder Earlkonig so easily. That stubborn ball of spikes wasn’t easy to take down.
“We can’t rule out magic,” Cyra reminded them all of that key factor. “We’ve banished people here who had exceptional magic powers.” There were those who knew spells that they were not supposed to know and had to be sent away. Their enemy could have been one of them for all they knew.
“They’d love to kill us, no doubt…or that’d like to subjugate us to their rule.” That’s what Isatsu would do given that scenario.
“It feels like an inside job,” Oro was just going to say it out loud. It didn’t matter what his peers thought of him, it was someone in Nautica who had betrayed them and the facts were too obvious to act naïve about.
“I wouldn’t like to think that someone in Nautica would be a traitor,” Orzo really didn’t want to believe one of his loyal denizens would go back on their word. The people of Nautica loved him. It would be the ultimate betrayal if the tope shark was right.
“It doesn’t seem odd to me,” Isatsu could see how that could happen. There were hundreds of thousands of denizens in Nautica, and Orzo wanted to believe they were all kissing his ass? That was a severe case of blindness the narwhal had.
“It’s not like you care about Nautica too much,” Onco glared the orca down from his position across the room. “You were happy that Earlkonig was dead.” In fact, there was something fishy about that in its own right. Why would a Sea King revel in the breach of his own defenses?
“Oh, so you’re going to use my hatred for one person to dictate how I feel about an entire kingdom?” Isatsu knew exactly what he was getting at. That damned shark better know his place before he pummeled him into it. Normally, the orca didn’t care what they accused him of but they weren’t going to label him as a traitor.
“You’d backstab is all if it benefitted you,” Oro knew Isatsu was capable of things like that. If anyone were to invade from the inside, then it would be he and his orca army.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Isatsu was pissed. Now he was being backstabbed by people he was in a peace treaty with. That was just great!
“Do you even care about anyone besides yourself?” Oro really wanted to know. This guy was a jerk and a sadist. If he wasn’t acting boorish, he was killing people. Did the peace treaty Nautica had with the orca even hold any ground?
“Why are my prerogatives so important?” Isatsu didn’t need to account for every action. If they wanted him to do that, they were out of their damned minds.
“We all love it here in Nautica…everyone but you. Don’t you frequently go out into the Deep Sea?” Out of all of them, the orca actually interacted with those in the Deep Sea. Oro was getting a little suspicious of his activity.
“Maybe you should remember who the hero is of the last war before you go sticking your fins into my territory.” Why would he nearly die in the last war, save everyone in Nautica and check up on it constantly only to come back and want to destroy it? If he wanted to destroy it, then he wouldn’t have made a pact with it. Do these sharks think he’s an idiot?
“You do frequent the Deep Sea,” Onco couldn’t let that one fly.
“I’m an offshore orca,” Isatsu explained his species type, “I hunt for my food. When I agreed to make peace with Nautica and give you alliance from the orca, which you should be happy you got, considering we’d all eat you, I said I’d stay here and hunt in the Deep Sea. Are you asking me to murder denizens here and eat them?” That is a pretty fucked up thing for someone who wanted peace and unity to tell him.
“That’s true,” Oro thought it made sense, “the orca are our allies, as much as I detest them. I don’t think Isatsu is the traitor.” It wasn’t completely out of his mind, but he was going to let it rest for now.
“Assuming there is a traitor among us,” Orzo wanted to point out the fact that a traitor being a denizen from Nautica was never established in the first place.
“That makes things interesting,” Isatsu smiled as he glanced around the room, “maybe the traitor is in this room.”
Onco was offended that he’d turn that issue around. “What are you getting at?”
“I don’t like where this is going,” Oro wasn’t too happy, either.
“A coup d'état, huh?” The orca winked playfully at them. “Better watch out or you’ll get murdered.”
Those seemingly playful words sent chills up Otsune’s spine. She looked visibly disturbed by the orca’s words.
“Don’t joke around like that,” Cyra warned and placed her hands on her hips. That was uncalled for, and it made him look worse after fighting so hard to prove that he wasn’t a traitor before.
“He likes your fear,” Oro already knew about his sadism. They were feeding right into Isatu’s perverted ways.
“That and he doesn’t care what happens to our kingdom,” Onco wasn’t going to let that one fly. That remark alone showed him Isatsu’s true feelings.
“You should waste your time finding the real traitor before you put your feet in your mouths,” Isatsu was going to give them all one warning. One warning and that was it.
“Reverse psychology,” Oro wasn’t buying it.
“So is being the one to break the news,” Isatsu pointed out the flaw in Oro’s logic. “’Oh, since I said it, no one will think it’s secretly me.’”
“Are you calling me a traitor?” Oro was angry for several reasons. It wasn’t just the fact that he couldn’t stand the orca; it was the fact that the orca was calling him a traitor and trying to turn his arguments around on him.
“You hate everyone more than I do,” if Oro wanted to accuse someone, then he really should look at his own flaws. What made him so perfect that he was above suspicion?
“I’m loyal. I would never betray Angla,” Oro didn’t plan on it, either.
“That’s what you want us to think.” Honestly, using that excuse was cliché and boring. Isatsu didn’t believe that crap for a second.
“You didn’t care that Earlkonig died,” Oro was going to shove that back in his face. The fact was the fact and Isatsu couldn’t combat an incident everyone saw him react in.
“So what?” That defined nothing.
“Arguing with him will get you nowhere,” Onco just wanted the fighting to stop. They didn’t have solid evidence to prove anything, and he was getting tired of hearing Isatsu’s voice.
“Stop accusing each other,” Orzo demanded, “this gets us nowhere.”
“Underhanded-“ Isatsu was cut off by a warning glare from the narwhal.
“Orca King,” Orzo’s voice was stern.
“Fine,” Isatsu grumbled, “have it your way. I’ll be tolerable for now, but if I need to kill someone, it’ll be you.”
“This seems so pointless,” Otsune shook her head. This was only driving them apart. She hated all of the distrust that was going around.
“Everyone’s just on edge about the war. We don’t know who started it or if there even is a traitor. What I’m worried about is Symphony. I hope that she’s okay,” Cyra wanted to concentrate on the immediate situation at hand. The door slammed loudly as she finished her sentence. The anglerfish glanced at the door as she caught glimpse of the Orca King making an exit.
“Do you really think the Orca King would betray us?” Orzo wanted to know. He didn’t want a biased answer, either. If there was something that he should know about Isatsu, he wanted to hear it.
“Someone did,” Oro was certain of that.
Cyra looked down with a distressed visage. “Why would they do such a terrible thing?”
“I’m not sure…but I know someone did.” There was no other explanation for what was going on. Oro hated to admit it, but Isatsu was the most likely candidate. However, even then things didn’t make sense.
“It’s best that we have proof before we have this discussion again. We don’t want false accusations floating around.” Orzo wanted to put a stop to the suspicion. Things like this only brought about more hate, and that didn’t need to exist until they could find evidence that someone had betrayed them to breach their gates.
“I know it’s premature,” Oro took responsibility for bringing the topic up, “but I felt inclined to say it. I want everyone to be aware that our enemy may be closer than we all think. We should watch our backs.” It was a very serious matter. While the Shark King didn’t want to cause paranoia, he did want them to be cautious. He refused to believe that someone they didn’t know was able to destroy Earlkonig so easily.
“I don’t like thinking this way, but I suppose you’re right,” Orzo closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his sides. It hurt him to feel like he should accuse anyone in his royal court or his kingdom at all. “However, there’s nothing we can do until we find out who the traitor is.”
“What if the traitor has Symphony? What if they killed her?” Onco brought a whole new set of probabilities into play.
“I hope not. Now, I’m worried more than ever,” Cyra didn’t want to think about that. Now she couldn’t get her mind off of the grim possibilities.
Just then, a gray and white Great White Shark swam in. She shook her fins and swam in circles erratically, trying to get their attention. Unlike all of them, she was in her fish form. “You all look so serious. Did I interrupt something?” Her young, child-like voice cut into their conversation as worry crossed her face. They looked as if they were talking about something serious.
“Ah, Moegi, we’re just discussing civil matters,” Orzo waved away their discussion for the moment and gave the shark a small smile.
“Isatsu seemed really mad,” Moegi noted with a frown. “He stormed down the hall and punched me into a wall.” It wasn’t a very nice experience. She could still feel the infliction in her ribcage from the confrontation.
“Well, that sounds typical,” Orzo could only imagine what he felt. After all, he did get accused of being a traitor.
“We made him angry,” Onco noted a reason for his violent behavior.
“He always does mean things to me,” Moegi sighed. “Once, he fired me out of a canon. Oh yeah, and he threw me at soldiers to knock them out. Actually, he throws me all of the time. He also left me on the shore and I had to roll back into the sea by myself. I almost got sunburned and all the humans saw me and ran. He’s a mean, mean orca.” The shark’s face alternated from sad to annoyed when she listed off the numerous things the Orca King did to abuse her. She wished someone would do the exact same things to him one day. Just thinking about him struck her the wrong way.
“Moegi, have you seen Symphony?” Oro decided to ask his fellow shark to see if they could gather any new clues in the penguin’s case.
“No,” the shark blinked. “Is she in danger?”
“I don’t know.”
“Should I go and search for her? Is something going on?” This all sounded really bothersome to the Great White Shark.
“We fear their might be a traitor among us,” Otsune frowned and lowered her head. Her sights befell the green, layered dress that she wore.
“You mean someone’s letting Accord in?” Moegi couldn’t imagine why someone would want to do such a thing.
“We don’t know for sure, so for now, keep it to yourself,” Oro didn’t want things getting out. Besides, he promised Orzo he wouldn’t egg things on when there was no proof. It would keep hysteria out of the kingdom.
“But, do the other Sea Kings know?” Moegi was a little confused.
“No one knows besides us,” Onco could only hope that Isatsu wouldn’t say anything about what happened.
“Oh,” the Great White Shark trailed off. “I won’t tell, not even to Lord Angla and she’s my best friend.” It was a feat when Moegi refused to even tell someone like the anglerfish. She told the Fish King everything.
“We’ll keep it to ourselves until we know for certain,” Onco believed that was the best tactic for now.
“Should I find Symphony?” Moegi asked.
“Don’t get caught,” Oro warned her. “They’ll kill you without a second chance.” He didn’t want to see someone like her decimated on the battlefield.
Moegi’s face hardened in determination. “You can count on me! I’ll make sure she comes back safe.” With a new found sense of urgency and bravery, the little shark swam out of the room and off to search for the missing Beast King.
XxXxXxXxXx
Blood ran down Percuss’ arms, and her body felt the searing aches of her afflictions. She panted, tired from exhausting all of her energy. She couldn’t understand how things ended up like this. The swordfish could barely focus and there was the octopus, standing like an impregnable tower before her. He wasn’t visibly tired, even after being slammed into coral and beaten up. She tried to convince herself that she wasn’t this bad at fighting; her opponent was just that hard to beat.
“Are you even alive?” Percuss panted out the words. Even for a denizen, Doku seemed superhuman.
“You know nothing,” the octopus told her what he had since the beginning of the battle. Did she really think that she was going to win, even after all of this? Optimism only lasted so long before it lost its flare.
“I get it,” Percuss was sick of hearing that line, “we’re two different creatures. There’s a massive gap between you and I. You’re the most sadistic octopus I’ve ever met.”
“It’s simply in my nature,” Doku told her. He was a predator, and that would never change.
“You should give it up, Percuss,” Ketzel shouted from the stands. “You know you can’t win, right?” Obviously, the battle was one-sided. There wasn’t any need to continue it beyond this point. Doku had her in his grasp and she wasn’t going to get out.
“Thanks Ketzel,” Percuss dead panned, “I love how much confidence you have in me.”
“It’s the truth,” Dokuro hung her head. “Doku is super strong, like a sea god.” She knew of her brother’s powers, and how hard he was to defeat. She didn’t aspire to be like him for no good reason.
“God of what? Void?” Percuss couldn’t see him as anything else. If Doku was ever a god, he’d be an evil one. She was convinced of that.
“N-no…” Doku feebly argued the point.
“He’s got you beat by strength alone if nothing else,” Nagi pointed out the assassin’s blaring mistakes in battle. Doku was decimating her, and he was going to continue to do so until she gave up. The urchin was pretty sure that her octopus friend was just toying with her on top of that.
“Hey Doku, what would you be god of if you could be a god of something?” Dokuro had still been thinking about that god question.
“Nothing,” her brother’s reply was simple.
This shocked his sister, “I thought you’d say everything.”
“I’m not conceited,” Doku frowned. What kind of person did she think him to be?
“It’s not conceited,” Dokuro pouted.
“Power isn’t everything. It took me a while to realize that, and nature is indifferent to good and evil.” There was more to life than things like that. His sister should have realized that by now. Then again, since he had been protecting her all of this time, she managed to retain some form of innocence. Doku couldn’t fault her on that. In fact, he wished, to an extent that he had done the same.
“Apathy is the glove that evil wears,” Percuss was quick to point out Doku’s character flaws.
“Even the purest of hearts has a split second of darkness. When they blink, I am that darkness,” his tentacles wrapped around the unsuspecting swordfish. “I’ll rip you asunder and drag you into the depths of hell.” Holding his hand up, several red strings of energy shot up from the ground and latched onto her, wrapping around her legs and neck.
“What? What’s this?” Percuss tried to struggle against them, but it was futile. They felt like fishing line around her limbs.
Ketzel blinked a couple of times in shock. “I didn’t think he’d use this move.”
“The red strings of fate aren’t always a bond of love. They can also be a bond of perish and suffering.” A harsh scream pierced his sensitive ears as energy urged through his prey’s body. Her body spasmed as the voltage increased slowly, and then in a burst it blasted her backwards. The red strings catapulted her body across the battlefield. They slammed her into the ground several times before letting go of her. Percuss went sailing through the water, her body impacting several coral formations. It tore through each one, bursting through them and causing the broken pieces to rain to the ground. She then hit the barriers that Doku designed as parameters of the field and shattered them. The green energy busted like glass as she landed outside of the field.
“There are no long-term victories, just ups and downs. As long as we blink, there is a bit of darkness in our lives that not even the light can reach. We do not fight it; we merely acknowledge its existence.” Doku turned and began to walk off of the field. ‘Foolish girl, even in the most garish light, you’re quite dim.’
“You have a lot to learn, assassin.”
…To Be Continued
Le Maree Della Guerra ( Tides of War )
By: Melissa Norvell/ Revamp
Movement 5: Emotionless Sage Doku
XxXxXxXxXx
“Let’s get to it,” Doku held out his hand and with his palm flat out and summoned forth his first attack, the Kinetic Wave. A rush of warped, clear energy rushed at the swordfish, who shouted ‘no’ and quickly threw her arms up in the x-position as she desperately tried to block it. There was no way that she could have moved out of the way due to the speed of the wave.
The wave crashed into her body with such force that it knocked her off of her feet and propelled her backwards through the water. It felt awful, like being hit with a blue whale swimming at super speed. It nearly blasted the filtered water from her body.
“Well, this isn’t going well,” Ketzel smiled from the stands with one leg crossed over another and a hand propping up his face.
Nagi blinked a couple of times. Sure, Doku was strong, but wasn’t starting off the battle that way just a bit of overkill?
“How did he do that? He’s hell on offense,” the cat shark commented. Even though Ketzel knew a few spells, he could never comprehend Doku’s strength and how he managed to make a basic attack like Kinetic Wave so damaging.
Percuss took the sword, tightening her grip around it as she held the blade to her face and concentrated on it. She could feel the energy surging through her body as she gathered it, it coursed through her and gathered into her focal point. Spinning around, Percuss drew the sword back and completed her circle as she formed a ring of sea foam green energy around her body. It rotated and moved up above her head, spinning at the tip of her blade before the swordfish drew back and threw her arm forward. She launched the ring at her foe as it spun across the ground and neared the sage, threatening to rip him apart on contact.
“Take this!” She shouted in determination. Surely, that attack had to hit him.
Doku still kept the same expression on his face, as cool, collected and nonchalant as ever. Using the same hand that he commanded the first move with, he turned his palm up and commanded the second attack. “Let the world be ripped asunder,” the octopus commanded as a black and blue warp ripped into the air and sucked up the energy ring she just made with warp speed.
Percuss watched in marvel for a few moments before her face twisted in irritation. “That’s not fair!” She shouted at the sage, who was unaffected by her words.
“I’m not here to care about your feelings,” Doku was as cold as ever. Why did she think this guy would change?
Percuss frowned deeply at him.
“Whatever she does, he’ll just suck it in,” Ketzel pointed out how fruitless her plans were. There was no way that the swordfish was going to win their fight with those tactics.
“I need a different strategy,” she knew that the cat shark was right. If she wanted to win this fight, she was going to have to step up her game.
“Jaws of Death,” Percuss summoned her attack as she charged at him, gaining speed as the negative space between them closed. Doku just stared at her as she gained momentum, her magical blade glowing brightly as she swung it back to strike him.
“Water Spout,” the mage said simply as a burst of water hit Percuss forcefully in the gut and catapulted her backwards, knocking her off of her feet and nearly making her drop her sword. She landed on her back several feet from him.
“Damn,” Percuss cursed under her breath as she laid flat against the ocean’s sandy ground. Catching her breath for a couple of minutes, she hopped up and charged at him again, charging the blade for a different attack.
Aching the octopus she tried to strike him multiple times, swinging the sword back and forth, but Doku effortlessly dodged each strike. The more that he moved, the more irritated that Percuss grew. Forming a bubble at the tip of her sword, the swordfish swung again.
“Take this! Aqua Bubble!” With that, she swung her sword again, creating a cluster of bubbles that launched themselves at Doku.
Once more, Doku casually dodged all of them, as if they were no real challenge. They shot past him like accelerating, flexible cannon balls. “I have everlasting patience,” he told her, not even breaking a sweat. Granted, they were only beginning the battle but he should have at least been a little worn from producing those attacks and moving around.
Was this guy even normal?
Determined, the swordfish lunged at him again, and Doku turned to the side. She delivered a swift kick to his ribs that made him bend over. Percuss axe-handled him in the back. As Doku lay on the ground, she created another glowing ring.
“Nautical Ring!” She propelled the ring forward again as the sage hopped up and held out his hand, creating the same vortex and sucking her attack up for the second time. What made her think that he had forgotten about how to rid himself of it?
‘Mental note: I want him to teach me that attack.’ Since Percuss might be part of the Seventh Infantry, learning a vortex like that would benefit her.
“Make your move,” he was still waiting for her to do something that challenged him. Didn’t Angla think before he nominated this girl to join their ranks? Just what did his leader think of this new recruit? As far as he’d been fighting her, Doku would see nothing that made her worth considering as a member of their Infantry.
“Energy Burn!” Not giving up, Percuss concentrated her energy on sword, causing it to glow and surge with electricity. Lightening ran in currents and danced over the top of it as the swordfish continued to gather more and more energy. Then, she charged at the emotionless sage with her sword drawn and called out the words ‘Blasting Zone’ as the ground around her was consumed in an orange energy blast that expanded in all directions. The radius was so big that it nearly consumed the whole battle ground.
“Illumination,” Doku called forth his attack as his deep, red eyes glowed with bioluminescence. Just then, a bright, blinding light flashed. It burned Percuss’ eyes as everything was consumed in white.
Percuss’ eyes darting wildly around, she could only see white no matter where she looked. There were no stands, no Doku, no nothing. It was as if she was in a white void all by herself. She could still hear noises around her, but was robbed of her sight. ‘What’s going on? I can’t see!’
“Your efforts are futile,” Doku’s voice resonated in her ears before he called out the name of his next attack, Seaside Buster.
Holding his hand out, a light blue, neon beam was fired from the octopus spell caster. Percuss, unaware of the danger approaching her, just stood there looking around. She was still blinded by his last attack and didn’t connect what was about to transpire. ‘I can’t see him. Where did he go? This is bad. It’s really bad. What am I supposed to do? I can’t sense him.’ She felt herself gathering more and more anxiety over her situation and a sense of hopelessness overcome her. Percuss knew that if her eyesight didn’t come back soon, the battle would be over.
The beam hits her again as she went flying off of her feet. The blast hit her with such force that she felt the burning sensation and landed on her face a few feet away.
“Had enough?” Doku asked. If she was doing this badly, it really was best that she gave up.
Percuss pulled herself up off of the ground and stood. Her body was shaky and her vision was still skewed. She couldn’t see the sage, but maybe she could find him by the projection of his voice. There had to be some way to defeat this guy. Pushing off of the ground, the swordfish charged blindly at him, but before she could get very far she felt a tentacle wrap around the dorsal fin on her head and drive her face into the ground again. Harsh sand brushed against her skin, and her long nose hurt from the contact.
Doku gazed down on her with a cold, disapproving stare. “You’re too weak to defeat me.” Why doesn’t she just give up already? This fight was as good as won.
“Ugh,” Percuss grabbed at her still-aching face as she opened her eyes. She noticed that the white had mostly gone away, but everything was still blurred in blotches of color.
“He’s really laying into her. Just what I’d expect from Doku,” Ketzel didn’t like the guy, but he knew that the octopus sage could fight. He wasn’t a Grand High Sage for nothing.
Percuss was hit in the middle of the back with Doku’s tentacle. It felt like being pummeled with the belly of a boat. Again, she fell to the ground.
“Uh-oh…” Ketzel’s eyes were locked onto the fight down below. The stands were silent as he and the other members of the 7th Infantry watched.
A black, heeled boot struck the assassin in the back of the head as she lay on the ground.
“I thought she’d stand more of a chance,” Nagi sighed a little to herself. She was disappointed with Angla’s choice as well. Usually, the Fish King had great candidates for the Infantry, but Angla fell short on this girl.
The dark red tentacle with white suckers and a single line of white, pearl-like structures down the sides picked Percuss up by her arm. The swordfish dangled there like a rag doll and squinted at him, trying to make out his form through the blurs.
“That’s not at all what I thought would happen,” Rin thought she would give Doku more of a challenge.
“I’m beginning to feel like I misjudged her,” Angla was a little down on the issue as well. Maybe Percuss wasn’t the great warrior he thought her to be.
‘I can win…It’s not going to be easy but I know I can win.’ Percuss had to keep telling herself these things. She had to do something about this bothersome octopus, or he was going to wipe the floor with her. “I can beat you.” The words were ragged, which made them hardly believable, but she still held a glimmer of hope.
“Do you think that?” Honestly, she was clearly losing. If Percuss thought Doku was just going to let her off easily, she was wrong.
The swordfish mustered up the most determined look she could as she glared him down. “I’m dead serious.” Then, she brought her foot up and kicked him square in the chest, causing the sage to be propelled backwards. Unfortunately, he didn’t release her and only took a few steps backwards before gaining his footing again.
A small smile crossed his face, but Percuss only saw it momentarily before she was slammed head first into the ground again.
“Remember, you can’t kill her, Doku!” Nagi shouted from the stands. The Coconut Octopus looked like he was having a little too much fun down there and giving her so many head injuries would more than likely lead to death if he didn’t stop.
“I’m not,” Doku replied simply, “I’m just having a little fun with her.” After all, she wasn’t dead yet.
“Ugh…” He could hear the swordfish groan below him.
“Do you have a concussion yet?” He really hoped he did. Doku had better things to do than waste his time with some neophyte.
“I’m not sure who’s more mechanical, you or Oro,” Percuss had always thought Oro was especially emotionless but this sage had him topped in that department. Was he even a form of sea life? She’d never met a denizen so constantly cold.
“It doesn’t require emotion to fight. I’m not fond of showing my emotions,” Doku was definitely not going to show it to someone he felt was unworthy of it.
She dug her claws into the muscle of the tentacle, tearing through the red, pulpy flesh. Dark blue blood welled up to the surface as she continued to tear away at it. Percuss freed herself from its grasp as Doku watched with the same expression he had before.
Attempting to get the severed limb from her neck, Percuss blinked a couple of times at him. He had no reaction whatsoever! All she could do was stare, dumbfounded as blue blood clouded the water around her.
“How?” She could barely ask the question.
“I don’t have pain receptors,” Doku decided to inform her on his special case of congenital insensitivity to pain. “In fact, if my limbs get infected, then I just rip them off myself and grow new ones. That tentacle will react up to an hour after being ripped off.”
In other words, that piece around her neck would remain that way. Shock ran through her body at the realization that even when his tentacle was chopped off, it could still hold her. She never knew much about octopi, so this was all new to her.
It didn’t help that Doku was even a rarity among his kind.
“I am nothing like a fish,” he was sorry if she thought otherwise, but that was her own
downfall.
“How is this possible?” Percuss couldn’t believe that this was happening to her. Of all of the people to fight with, it had to be Doku. Now it was clear to her just how unfair this fight truly was. Why did Angla even let him fight against her, knowing his power? Was this how strong the members of the Seventh Infantry were? What about the others? Were they just as strong as Doku? After all, Angla did note that they were the strongest members of Nautica’s society apart from the Sea Kings.
“I have 130 million IQ-raision neurons on my body. This allows my tentacles to function separately as if they have minds of their own. The acetylcholinesterase in my body allows me to regenerate my appendages. They are still efficient longer after they’ve been severed. In a sense, they each have their own brain,” Doku decided to school her in just how an octopus worked. What a pity that she didn’t know these things beforehand, they really could have helped her right now.
“Why did I expect this to be fair?” Right now, Percuss felt like the dumbest thing in the sea. In fact, she probably was the dumbest thing in the sea.
“I’m not here to appease you,” Doku was making that painstakingly clear.
“If I have to pay for it, then I will,” with all of her might, the assassin ripped the tentacle around her neck to shreds, making sure to render it useless.
“Defiant to the end, I see,” Doku wasn’t fazed by her actions.
“I’m going to defeat you,” Percuss didn’t know how she was going to do that, but she was going to find a way. She couldn’t let Angla down, not when he had so much faith in her.
“This is the most exciting thing I’ve seen in a while. Doku is truly shining today,” Ketzel couldn’t help but be impressed with the fight. That octopus was putting on a great show. If Doku didn’t win, he’d be really shocked.
“You’re lucky that the rules of this fight are that I can’t kill you. I don’t have a problem crushing you,” Doku wouldn’t mind eradicating a useless sea creature. It made no difference to him, especially because he was one of the many predators of the sea.
Percuss grabbed her sword and ran at him, swinging her sword. Doku dodged the strike and Percuss head butted him in the side, then flipped backwards and round house kicked him with such force that he flew backwards and landed in a formation of coral. The bits and pieces his body impacted broke and floated down around him.
Doku showed no signs of pain as he rose. He merely placed a hand on his back as he sat up. Percuss wasn’t about to let him just get away with pummeling her, and she damned sure wasn’t going to let him win so he could have something else to gloat about. She charged at him and sliced upwards. Doku barely evaded that attack. As his body began to go past her, she turned and drove the hilt of her sword down into the top of his head. The Coconut Octopus fell to the ground and she stepped on the side of his head to make sure that he stayed down. The tip of the blade of her sword was pointed inches from his pretty, red eyes. In case he wanted to think about doing something else, he’d have a reminder of why he shouldn’t move.
“You’d better stay down if you know what’s good for you,” she warned with a stern frown.
“You think by fighting here that you’re proving anything?” What was with this guy? Did he really not feel the slightest sense of anything?
“Should you be saying that when my foot is on your face?” Percuss wanted to remind him of who was on top right now.
“I’m impressed that you managed to get hits on me,” the corners of Doku’s mouth stretched as an impish smile crossed his face. “Cyan Blast,” he summoned an attack from his position on the ground.
“Oh no you don’t!” Percuss was caught off guard at first, but as soon as her form glowed in blue she quickly sent a wave of energy down on him, cancelling out the attack.
Or so she thought.
Doku held out his hand and froze her wave, creating a layer of ice between him and Percuss. Then he shot up with such force that he smashed the ice barrier. Percuss stumbled backwards as the octopus shot up before her, pieces of ice glittered as they fell around him.
The swordfish tumbled backwards as spires of ice shot up from the ground. She barely moved out of the way of being impaled on one of them. Then she charged him again, her body nearly blurring with how quickly she was speeding through the water. “High Velocity Attack!” She shouted as she quickly neared the sage.
However, the attack proved ineffective. Doku raised his hand, brought up a wall of ice and she slammed into it, injuring herself as she bounced off with great force.
“Shatter like glass,” Doku instructed simply as he snapped his finger and the ice shattered into sharp pieces that resembled daggers.
Percuss tried to dodge them, but there were far too many, coming from too many different angles. They pierced her skin and drew blood as they cut her. The force of the angle caused her to fly back into one of the bigger spikes and pin her to it, looking like a crude crucifixion. The assassin called out in pain as blood ran from the open wounds on her arms, streaming down and staining the ice red.
‘I can’t move…and my arms feel like death. This guy is going to end me. What do I do now?’ It was hard to concentrate due to the amount of pain that she felt. Her arms pulsated and throbbed and her mind swam. It was all she could do to keep from passing out, much less thinking of a plan.
“A crucifixion for a fallen angel,” Doku mocking her didn’t help, “how befitting.”
“Typhoon!” Percuss used an abundance of her strength to summon the water cyclone.
“What?” Doku was caught off guard by it. He tried to get away from the fast-paced tides, but he was no match for them as they overpowered him and swept him away. “Damn it,” he cursed to himself as he was spun around in the currents. The typhoon grew in size and became more violent.
Ketzel and the rest of the Seventh Infantry were all holding onto the stands for dear life. “She’s going to tear this place apart,” the cat shark said as he clung to his seat.
“I can’t believe she actually got him. Doku doesn’t usually fall for that,” Nagi was a little shocked he’d be so easily sucked into a typhoon.
“Lightening Strike!” Percuss then used what little magic remained to summon her second attack. The lightning struck Doku and bounced around inside of the rushing waters, jutting out randomly as they struck the land around them. The octopus cringed at the contact of the energy, but otherwise was immune to any power it could have caused.
“Damn…” his body locked up as he continued to spin around in the attack.
Percuss pulled the ice from her bloody limbs and got herself out of her crucifixion. Moving her hand up, she shot the octopus out of the typhoon and sent him crashing to the ground. He laid there for a while, not moving. ‘Oh come on. Did he really not feel that?’ As if by command, Doku rose back up and seemed unaffected by what just happened. The assassin could hardly believe her eyes. ‘What is he? Immortal? Indestructible? Does anything hurt him? Does he know what pain even is?’
Before she could react, Doku spun around, hitting her with each of his tentacles before he uppercut her. She was knocked backwards again as blood streamed down the right side of her mouth. “I’m getting real tired of this,” she muttered and wiped the blood away. The taste of copper was still prominent in her mouth.
“Then stay down,” to Doku, the answer to her irritation was quite obvious.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Percuss already knew the answer to that question, and she wasn’t going to give him any time to answer it. She charged at him again, ready to attack him once more.
XxXxXxXxXx
Oro, Otsune, Cyra, Orzo, Isatsu and Onco all stood in the Sea King Meeting Hall. Usually, there were more denizens in that room, but today it was far less crowded. Even so, the tension was so thick they could hardly breathe in there. Everything was silent for a few minutes, until Onco spoke up.
“So, you haven’t seen her, either?” He asked as he glanced to Otsune for an answer.
The albino angler fish shook her head. “No, I thought that she would have been with you all, commanding the Beast Army.” After all, it was usually where the penguin was. It was pretty concerning that she had been gone all of this time and no one knew where she was.
“I hope that she hasn’t gotten in trouble,” Cyra was worried. There was too much going on for Symphony not to end up being caught up in something. They were on the brink of another war. It wasn’t a good time to go missing.
“She’s the best alchemist in all of Nautica. I’m sure that penguin can handle herself,” Isatsu seemed to just wave off the problem at hand. It bothered Oro.
“Is something wrong, Shark King Oro?” Otsune noticed that he gave the orca a look and said nothing. That was usually his silent communication that translated into the fact that he felt uncomfortable with Isatsu’s nonchalant attitude.
“I feel like something is going on,” in fact, Oro has felt it for a while. He couldn’t prove anything yet, but there was something much more sinister happening and no one seemed to question it.
“Of course there is- a war,” Isatsu pointed out the obvious.
“Now that, you idiot,” Oro sighed in irritation. “Something is going on under our noses.”
“Do you think someone has betrayed us?” Orzo had a feeling he knew where this accusation was going. He didn’t really like it, but Oro’ words were definitely hinting at an inside job.
“How else would they get through undetected?” Isatsu agreed with the shark, as much as he didn’t want to. It only made sense that someone could murder Earlkonig so easily. That stubborn ball of spikes wasn’t easy to take down.
“We can’t rule out magic,” Cyra reminded them all of that key factor. “We’ve banished people here who had exceptional magic powers.” There were those who knew spells that they were not supposed to know and had to be sent away. Their enemy could have been one of them for all they knew.
“They’d love to kill us, no doubt…or that’d like to subjugate us to their rule.” That’s what Isatsu would do given that scenario.
“It feels like an inside job,” Oro was just going to say it out loud. It didn’t matter what his peers thought of him, it was someone in Nautica who had betrayed them and the facts were too obvious to act naïve about.
“I wouldn’t like to think that someone in Nautica would be a traitor,” Orzo really didn’t want to believe one of his loyal denizens would go back on their word. The people of Nautica loved him. It would be the ultimate betrayal if the tope shark was right.
“It doesn’t seem odd to me,” Isatsu could see how that could happen. There were hundreds of thousands of denizens in Nautica, and Orzo wanted to believe they were all kissing his ass? That was a severe case of blindness the narwhal had.
“It’s not like you care about Nautica too much,” Onco glared the orca down from his position across the room. “You were happy that Earlkonig was dead.” In fact, there was something fishy about that in its own right. Why would a Sea King revel in the breach of his own defenses?
“Oh, so you’re going to use my hatred for one person to dictate how I feel about an entire kingdom?” Isatsu knew exactly what he was getting at. That damned shark better know his place before he pummeled him into it. Normally, the orca didn’t care what they accused him of but they weren’t going to label him as a traitor.
“You’d backstab is all if it benefitted you,” Oro knew Isatsu was capable of things like that. If anyone were to invade from the inside, then it would be he and his orca army.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Isatsu was pissed. Now he was being backstabbed by people he was in a peace treaty with. That was just great!
“Do you even care about anyone besides yourself?” Oro really wanted to know. This guy was a jerk and a sadist. If he wasn’t acting boorish, he was killing people. Did the peace treaty Nautica had with the orca even hold any ground?
“Why are my prerogatives so important?” Isatsu didn’t need to account for every action. If they wanted him to do that, they were out of their damned minds.
“We all love it here in Nautica…everyone but you. Don’t you frequently go out into the Deep Sea?” Out of all of them, the orca actually interacted with those in the Deep Sea. Oro was getting a little suspicious of his activity.
“Maybe you should remember who the hero is of the last war before you go sticking your fins into my territory.” Why would he nearly die in the last war, save everyone in Nautica and check up on it constantly only to come back and want to destroy it? If he wanted to destroy it, then he wouldn’t have made a pact with it. Do these sharks think he’s an idiot?
“You do frequent the Deep Sea,” Onco couldn’t let that one fly.
“I’m an offshore orca,” Isatsu explained his species type, “I hunt for my food. When I agreed to make peace with Nautica and give you alliance from the orca, which you should be happy you got, considering we’d all eat you, I said I’d stay here and hunt in the Deep Sea. Are you asking me to murder denizens here and eat them?” That is a pretty fucked up thing for someone who wanted peace and unity to tell him.
“That’s true,” Oro thought it made sense, “the orca are our allies, as much as I detest them. I don’t think Isatsu is the traitor.” It wasn’t completely out of his mind, but he was going to let it rest for now.
“Assuming there is a traitor among us,” Orzo wanted to point out the fact that a traitor being a denizen from Nautica was never established in the first place.
“That makes things interesting,” Isatsu smiled as he glanced around the room, “maybe the traitor is in this room.”
Onco was offended that he’d turn that issue around. “What are you getting at?”
“I don’t like where this is going,” Oro wasn’t too happy, either.
“A coup d'état, huh?” The orca winked playfully at them. “Better watch out or you’ll get murdered.”
Those seemingly playful words sent chills up Otsune’s spine. She looked visibly disturbed by the orca’s words.
“Don’t joke around like that,” Cyra warned and placed her hands on her hips. That was uncalled for, and it made him look worse after fighting so hard to prove that he wasn’t a traitor before.
“He likes your fear,” Oro already knew about his sadism. They were feeding right into Isatu’s perverted ways.
“That and he doesn’t care what happens to our kingdom,” Onco wasn’t going to let that one fly. That remark alone showed him Isatsu’s true feelings.
“You should waste your time finding the real traitor before you put your feet in your mouths,” Isatsu was going to give them all one warning. One warning and that was it.
“Reverse psychology,” Oro wasn’t buying it.
“So is being the one to break the news,” Isatsu pointed out the flaw in Oro’s logic. “’Oh, since I said it, no one will think it’s secretly me.’”
“Are you calling me a traitor?” Oro was angry for several reasons. It wasn’t just the fact that he couldn’t stand the orca; it was the fact that the orca was calling him a traitor and trying to turn his arguments around on him.
“You hate everyone more than I do,” if Oro wanted to accuse someone, then he really should look at his own flaws. What made him so perfect that he was above suspicion?
“I’m loyal. I would never betray Angla,” Oro didn’t plan on it, either.
“That’s what you want us to think.” Honestly, using that excuse was cliché and boring. Isatsu didn’t believe that crap for a second.
“You didn’t care that Earlkonig died,” Oro was going to shove that back in his face. The fact was the fact and Isatsu couldn’t combat an incident everyone saw him react in.
“So what?” That defined nothing.
“Arguing with him will get you nowhere,” Onco just wanted the fighting to stop. They didn’t have solid evidence to prove anything, and he was getting tired of hearing Isatsu’s voice.
“Stop accusing each other,” Orzo demanded, “this gets us nowhere.”
“Underhanded-“ Isatsu was cut off by a warning glare from the narwhal.
“Orca King,” Orzo’s voice was stern.
“Fine,” Isatsu grumbled, “have it your way. I’ll be tolerable for now, but if I need to kill someone, it’ll be you.”
“This seems so pointless,” Otsune shook her head. This was only driving them apart. She hated all of the distrust that was going around.
“Everyone’s just on edge about the war. We don’t know who started it or if there even is a traitor. What I’m worried about is Symphony. I hope that she’s okay,” Cyra wanted to concentrate on the immediate situation at hand. The door slammed loudly as she finished her sentence. The anglerfish glanced at the door as she caught glimpse of the Orca King making an exit.
“Do you really think the Orca King would betray us?” Orzo wanted to know. He didn’t want a biased answer, either. If there was something that he should know about Isatsu, he wanted to hear it.
“Someone did,” Oro was certain of that.
Cyra looked down with a distressed visage. “Why would they do such a terrible thing?”
“I’m not sure…but I know someone did.” There was no other explanation for what was going on. Oro hated to admit it, but Isatsu was the most likely candidate. However, even then things didn’t make sense.
“It’s best that we have proof before we have this discussion again. We don’t want false accusations floating around.” Orzo wanted to put a stop to the suspicion. Things like this only brought about more hate, and that didn’t need to exist until they could find evidence that someone had betrayed them to breach their gates.
“I know it’s premature,” Oro took responsibility for bringing the topic up, “but I felt inclined to say it. I want everyone to be aware that our enemy may be closer than we all think. We should watch our backs.” It was a very serious matter. While the Shark King didn’t want to cause paranoia, he did want them to be cautious. He refused to believe that someone they didn’t know was able to destroy Earlkonig so easily.
“I don’t like thinking this way, but I suppose you’re right,” Orzo closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his sides. It hurt him to feel like he should accuse anyone in his royal court or his kingdom at all. “However, there’s nothing we can do until we find out who the traitor is.”
“What if the traitor has Symphony? What if they killed her?” Onco brought a whole new set of probabilities into play.
“I hope not. Now, I’m worried more than ever,” Cyra didn’t want to think about that. Now she couldn’t get her mind off of the grim possibilities.
Just then, a gray and white Great White Shark swam in. She shook her fins and swam in circles erratically, trying to get their attention. Unlike all of them, she was in her fish form. “You all look so serious. Did I interrupt something?” Her young, child-like voice cut into their conversation as worry crossed her face. They looked as if they were talking about something serious.
“Ah, Moegi, we’re just discussing civil matters,” Orzo waved away their discussion for the moment and gave the shark a small smile.
“Isatsu seemed really mad,” Moegi noted with a frown. “He stormed down the hall and punched me into a wall.” It wasn’t a very nice experience. She could still feel the infliction in her ribcage from the confrontation.
“Well, that sounds typical,” Orzo could only imagine what he felt. After all, he did get accused of being a traitor.
“We made him angry,” Onco noted a reason for his violent behavior.
“He always does mean things to me,” Moegi sighed. “Once, he fired me out of a canon. Oh yeah, and he threw me at soldiers to knock them out. Actually, he throws me all of the time. He also left me on the shore and I had to roll back into the sea by myself. I almost got sunburned and all the humans saw me and ran. He’s a mean, mean orca.” The shark’s face alternated from sad to annoyed when she listed off the numerous things the Orca King did to abuse her. She wished someone would do the exact same things to him one day. Just thinking about him struck her the wrong way.
“Moegi, have you seen Symphony?” Oro decided to ask his fellow shark to see if they could gather any new clues in the penguin’s case.
“No,” the shark blinked. “Is she in danger?”
“I don’t know.”
“Should I go and search for her? Is something going on?” This all sounded really bothersome to the Great White Shark.
“We fear their might be a traitor among us,” Otsune frowned and lowered her head. Her sights befell the green, layered dress that she wore.
“You mean someone’s letting Accord in?” Moegi couldn’t imagine why someone would want to do such a thing.
“We don’t know for sure, so for now, keep it to yourself,” Oro didn’t want things getting out. Besides, he promised Orzo he wouldn’t egg things on when there was no proof. It would keep hysteria out of the kingdom.
“But, do the other Sea Kings know?” Moegi was a little confused.
“No one knows besides us,” Onco could only hope that Isatsu wouldn’t say anything about what happened.
“Oh,” the Great White Shark trailed off. “I won’t tell, not even to Lord Angla and she’s my best friend.” It was a feat when Moegi refused to even tell someone like the anglerfish. She told the Fish King everything.
“We’ll keep it to ourselves until we know for certain,” Onco believed that was the best tactic for now.
“Should I find Symphony?” Moegi asked.
“Don’t get caught,” Oro warned her. “They’ll kill you without a second chance.” He didn’t want to see someone like her decimated on the battlefield.
Moegi’s face hardened in determination. “You can count on me! I’ll make sure she comes back safe.” With a new found sense of urgency and bravery, the little shark swam out of the room and off to search for the missing Beast King.
XxXxXxXxXx
Blood ran down Percuss’ arms, and her body felt the searing aches of her afflictions. She panted, tired from exhausting all of her energy. She couldn’t understand how things ended up like this. The swordfish could barely focus and there was the octopus, standing like an impregnable tower before her. He wasn’t visibly tired, even after being slammed into coral and beaten up. She tried to convince herself that she wasn’t this bad at fighting; her opponent was just that hard to beat.
“Are you even alive?” Percuss panted out the words. Even for a denizen, Doku seemed superhuman.
“You know nothing,” the octopus told her what he had since the beginning of the battle. Did she really think that she was going to win, even after all of this? Optimism only lasted so long before it lost its flare.
“I get it,” Percuss was sick of hearing that line, “we’re two different creatures. There’s a massive gap between you and I. You’re the most sadistic octopus I’ve ever met.”
“It’s simply in my nature,” Doku told her. He was a predator, and that would never change.
“You should give it up, Percuss,” Ketzel shouted from the stands. “You know you can’t win, right?” Obviously, the battle was one-sided. There wasn’t any need to continue it beyond this point. Doku had her in his grasp and she wasn’t going to get out.
“Thanks Ketzel,” Percuss dead panned, “I love how much confidence you have in me.”
“It’s the truth,” Dokuro hung her head. “Doku is super strong, like a sea god.” She knew of her brother’s powers, and how hard he was to defeat. She didn’t aspire to be like him for no good reason.
“God of what? Void?” Percuss couldn’t see him as anything else. If Doku was ever a god, he’d be an evil one. She was convinced of that.
“N-no…” Doku feebly argued the point.
“He’s got you beat by strength alone if nothing else,” Nagi pointed out the assassin’s blaring mistakes in battle. Doku was decimating her, and he was going to continue to do so until she gave up. The urchin was pretty sure that her octopus friend was just toying with her on top of that.
“Hey Doku, what would you be god of if you could be a god of something?” Dokuro had still been thinking about that god question.
“Nothing,” her brother’s reply was simple.
This shocked his sister, “I thought you’d say everything.”
“I’m not conceited,” Doku frowned. What kind of person did she think him to be?
“It’s not conceited,” Dokuro pouted.
“Power isn’t everything. It took me a while to realize that, and nature is indifferent to good and evil.” There was more to life than things like that. His sister should have realized that by now. Then again, since he had been protecting her all of this time, she managed to retain some form of innocence. Doku couldn’t fault her on that. In fact, he wished, to an extent that he had done the same.
“Apathy is the glove that evil wears,” Percuss was quick to point out Doku’s character flaws.
“Even the purest of hearts has a split second of darkness. When they blink, I am that darkness,” his tentacles wrapped around the unsuspecting swordfish. “I’ll rip you asunder and drag you into the depths of hell.” Holding his hand up, several red strings of energy shot up from the ground and latched onto her, wrapping around her legs and neck.
“What? What’s this?” Percuss tried to struggle against them, but it was futile. They felt like fishing line around her limbs.
Ketzel blinked a couple of times in shock. “I didn’t think he’d use this move.”
“The red strings of fate aren’t always a bond of love. They can also be a bond of perish and suffering.” A harsh scream pierced his sensitive ears as energy urged through his prey’s body. Her body spasmed as the voltage increased slowly, and then in a burst it blasted her backwards. The red strings catapulted her body across the battlefield. They slammed her into the ground several times before letting go of her. Percuss went sailing through the water, her body impacting several coral formations. It tore through each one, bursting through them and causing the broken pieces to rain to the ground. She then hit the barriers that Doku designed as parameters of the field and shattered them. The green energy busted like glass as she landed outside of the field.
“There are no long-term victories, just ups and downs. As long as we blink, there is a bit of darkness in our lives that not even the light can reach. We do not fight it; we merely acknowledge its existence.” Doku turned and began to walk off of the field. ‘Foolish girl, even in the most garish light, you’re quite dim.’
“You have a lot to learn, assassin.”
…To Be Continued