CH∆PTER I: ∆drift
The Ryzyng Tyde theme song
The tide will rise to lift your spirits high
With this power, I promise you will never die
Are you ready and willing to take on this task?
Then come on, my friends, and fill up your flask
This is a whale of a tale to tell
He stole the fire from the pits of hell
He's a mighty beast who can eat a feast
He's Ferrick Vatten, the man whale
He has a shell harder than a crab's.
Your blade will break if you take a stab
There is no telling with his black eyes
The biggest man is twice his size
He's from a land down under the sea. Bold and strong and handsome is he. He has no hair, and he does not care. He will kill you brutally
The happy ending to this story may be sick and a bit gory
but have no fear, my little dear, we did it for the glory
Ferrick Vatten piloted the Golden Syndicate’s mission plane, the Vorcom Jet, over the Pacific Ocean. He looked below him through the hypno glass windows. He could see the rolling clouds, every moment catching glimpses of the ocean below. They had been traveling for 5 hours to their destination, the Mariana Trench, Japan, seeking the Hydro Empyro.
Ferrick thought back to his meeting with Master Neoen. “The Hydro Empyro has chosen you to pilot it. You have been picked from billions of people to be the warrior of the Golden Syndicate. But the Empyro is not just a weapon or an artifact of power; it is a living biological android, with its own consciousness.”
“Once you don the spirit armor, it will syncopate to your biological rhythms; you will become symbiotic champions of the light.” Master Neoen put his slender fingertips to his lips. Neoen was a high elf by birth; the stories claimed that he was an immortal messiah. Ferrick had not even believed in Neoen before he had seen him with his own eyes, before the rest of the group. Even now, as Neoen spoke, he had an otherworldly and mystical nature to his words and manners.
“However, even the shadow forces assemble to thwart our efforts to restore balance. Make no mistake, now that we have acquired the Earth Empyro, Harkane and his legion of darkness will make every move to kill the Golden Syndicate and capture the Empyros.”
Ferrick thought of all that had happened to him, remembering his escape from Alcatraz, Jaypar coming to his rescue. Until that moment, Ferrick had been a prisoner with a life sentence; afterwards, he discovered his destiny to be an elite warrior in the war against the Repticons. “Why am I the chosen one? What makes me so special?” Ferrick asked cautiously.
Neoen answered with his reassuring grace and non-attachment. “You were chosen to fulfill this task before you were born into this world. Every moment of your life has prepared you and shaped you for this task.”
Ferrick’s mind returned to the present moment. Sabria Masue entered the cockpit from behind him. She flicked a few overhead switches and studied some readouts, taking a seat in the co-pilot chair. “Not much longer until we cross the Pacific Ocean.”
Ferrick was at the helm of the ship, and Sabria was riding shotgun. Jaypar and Bantam were goofing off in the back seat, and Kolobar was in deep meditation.
“Bantam, watch this,” Jaypar said with a giggle. He took a feather from his hair and turned invisible, then slowly edged the feather towards Kolobar's nose. Kolobar's eyes were closed, and before the feather reached his snout, it caught fire. Jaypar quickly stomped out the flame. “Whoa, you’re good mate, there’s no shaking you.”
“Just because I don’t see you doesn’t mean I can’t sense you. Don’t ever interrupt my trance, or you will suffer dire consequences. I could have caught your whole body on fire as a defense mechanism.”
“Well, thank Neoen you didn’t. I don’t think I’d have much success with the ladies if I had third-degree burns all over my body. Maidens can be so shallow. I’m one to talk, though; I’m pretty shallow myself. A prize catch like me can’t be seen with a frumpy frump.”
Kolobar cut him off. “Has anyone ever told you you talk too much?”
“I can’t help it if I’m so interesting and I have a lot of global bohemian wisdom to share with the world. Am I right or am I right, Bantam?” He nudged Bantam, and they both giggled together.
“Oh, I love it when we practice laughter yoga, brother. It keeps us youthful and fit.” Bantam chuckled.
Sabria looked back and said sternly, “You’re both over 100 now, you should have reached mental maturity. You should leave childish games behind.”
“Not if you wanna be forever young, babe like the Rodinator,” Jaypar said.
“I believe it was the late great William Hicks that said kids are the smartest people on the planet. I don’t know one kid who has a job and kids.” Bantam said.
“Spoken like a true globo. Prime creator rest William Hicks’ zombie bones. The Repticons took him out for speaking infinite wisdom and truth to Alkayans. We were the ones who avenged his death.”
All of a sudden, a red dot flashed on the Vorcom screen. “We’ve got five bogies on our tail!” Ferrick shouted. “Bantam, hop in the turret.”
“You got it, big blue.” Bantam went to the back of the Vorcom jet and hopped in the turret. It rose and locked him into place. “They’re coming in fast,” he shouted. There were five of America's top fighter drones closing in on their Vorcom. They were flying in a V formation, then the outside jets flew closer and surrounded the Vorcom and began firing a volley of bullets. Ferrick took evasive action and rose straight up, dodging the attack.
“Hold on, everyone.” Ferrick bellowed. He pulled hard back on the controls and did a loop with the Vorcom jet, landing the crew right behind one of their assailants. Bantam immediately gunned it down with his razor-sharp aim. It spiraled down and disappeared beneath the clouds.
“ONE DOWN, FOUR TO GO!” Bantam shouted.
Ferrick flew in a serpentine pattern, but it was impossible to shake the four remaining drones. They focused their fire on the vorcom, and it was impossible to dodge. The left wing of the Vorcom was clipped by the machine gun fire, and they spiraled out of control. Ferrick tried to remain level, but there was nothing he could do. “We’re going down, guys, hold on!” He bellowed. The water came rushing up to meet them. “Brace for impact!”
The vorcom hit the surface of the water like a ton of bricks. Thankfully, they were all strapped in, so no one was seriously injured. “Everyone, we have to get out now before they loop around and hit us again!” Ferrick shouted. The crew scrambled out into the open water and began swimming away from the crumpled Vorcom jet. Just as Ferrick predicted, the drones looped around and launched a missile at their dilapidated vessel. “Everybody dive down!”
The missile struck the Vorcom and exploded, sending a fireball into the sky. Shrapnel and debris launched outward, thankfully, no one was struck because Sabria had formed a holy bubble around them. They remained safely underwater in the bubble till it ran out of oxygen,
then they had to resurface. When they breached the surface, there was no sign of the enemy drones.
“Who were those guys?” Bantam asked puzzlingly.
“No doubt they were unmanned drones being operated by an aircraft carrier somewhere close to our proximity,” Ferrick replied. “Let's try to piece some debris together for the lady to float on.” As he gestured at Sabria.
“Thank you, Ferrick. Plate armor is not easy to swim in.”
They grabbed what was left of the chairs and strung them together with some wiring. Sabria was able to sit on top of the makeshift raft while the four Empyro hosts held onto the edge as they tread water.
“How long do you think it will be before we’re rescued?” Kolobar asked.
“I already sent out a distress signal to Kinetica, so who knows how long before they respond,” Jaypar answered.
“Hopefully not too long... I don’t want my fingers getting all pruney.” Bantam said.
“Well, good thing we have Ferrick to protect us from any sea monsters that may try to trifle with us,” Sabria said.
“Oh god, there’s a shark fin!” Bantam exclaimed.
Ferrick swam down and let out a fierce, piercing bellow. The shark quickly retreated. “Sharks are nothing, it’s Shark men you have to be afraid of. They’re always looking to pick a fight.” Ferrick said.
Hours passed as our team was baking in the hot sun. Neoen was unable to teleport them because they had to be touching solid ground. There was nothing but blue water as far as the eye could see.
“I’m sorry I let the team down. I should have been able to outmaneuver those drones.” Ferrick said solemnly
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Blue. We were merely overwhelmed and outgunned. They need to design the Vorcom with better defenses.”
“Do you see that bantam?” Jaypar asked. He pointed to a dot on the horizon. Bantam looked through the scope of his rifle and then started to laugh in excitement.
“We’re saved! It seems to be an all-female cruise ship! Kolobar sends off a flare.” Bantam said. Kolobar pointed his staff in the sky and shot a fireball straight up about half a mile high. It trailed down and landed in the water 50 yards away from them. Minutes later, they heard a cruise ship horn ring out across the water. “Yes, they’ve spotted us and are heading in our direction.”
“Oh my, I can’t wait to hit the buffet,” Ferrick said.
“I can’t wait to make the ladies swoon when we sing karaoke, Bantam,” Jaypar said.
“Yes, that will be delightful. I can’t wait for room service if you know what I mean.” Bantam said with a wink.
“I can’t wait for a hot shower, I’m sick of being salty,” Sabria said. “I can’t wait to be dry again,” Kolobar said.
About 20 minutes later, the cruise ship was right on top of their makeshift raft. They lowered a life raft into the water, and our team all crawled inside. When they rose to the top of the deck, instead of being greeted with flowers, they were greeted with guns pointed in their faces.
“Oh no... ” Ferrick sighed. “These are the infamous Pirate Princesses.”
Before them stood Princess Auachiosagata, a beauty to rival all others. Despite her missing left eye, the Princess was still breathtaking. She wore an elaborate flower-patterned kimono with a black bathing suit underneath. Jaypar and Bantam stood silently entranced by her beauty, and that of the other princesses; each was a shining gem, as pretty as the most gorgeous actresses, models, and dancers. Princess Auachiosagata stood menacingly over them with her assault rifle.
“Quite a motley crew we have here, ladies?” She shouted in a powerful voice to the heroes in the water, from her high vantage point on the massive, gleaming white cruise ship. Her silk blue robe fluttered in the breeze. “Don’t move unless you want to be shark meat...” Her remark was now directed to the heroes as her voice sharpened.
“Please, may we have safe passage aboard your vessel?” Sabria asked with no hesitation in her voice.
“We only grant sanctuary to those who join our crew and work for us. You must swear allegiance to Mayjena if you want to come aboard.”
“We'd better do what they ask, right fellas?” Sabria whispered to the rest of our golden syndicate. At first, Ferrick was hesitant, but he soon realized their predicament and solemnly nodded his head in agreement. The rest of them gave a nod as well.
“Alright, we swear allegiance to Mayjena!” Sabria shouted back to Auachiosagata.
