Gwen’s Gaiden

            Fanfare blasted from the exotic instruments onstage! The crowd exploded into clapping and cheering. The man on stage cleared his throat and tried to calm the audience like someone swimming against the current of a wave. He was a strange man with smooth aquatic skin the color of sapphire and with two long slug-like antenna atop his head and curled back. He wore wise robes and brass adornments across his wrists and fingers. He was a touch portly and gave a joyous smile, overwhelmed but pleased. The audience formed a calm tide for him.

            “Well, that was the most applause the beauty contest has ever gotten!” He laughed heartily and took a thick swig of his tankard he had snuck on stage. “Ah! Well, I’m sure all these girls will be happy with this much enthusiasm! With that in mind we really shouldn’t hold off any longer! Let’s take flight!” He raised his arm into the air and let excess beer dribble from the side of his mug.

            The enthusiasm was contagious and the audience roared just as proudly as before. The faces in the crowd were of a wide variety of similar slug like people with a traditional human mug for every 3 of those who shared a race with the man on stage. These were Ahu-agoo, also known as Slugfolk by others, and here they were enjoying their festival on their humble island in the sky. In fact, most people nowadays were living on islands in the sky ever since everything was shattered. Festivals like this helped the cultures flourish after the wounds formed two hundred years ago. The audience went quiet as the ambience changed and the first clicks of heels told them the show was about to begin.

            She was a shining beacon. A woman walked on stage in a flowing frilly dress dark as night and covered in swirling gorgeous constellations made by careful painting hands. She was wall with flowing cyan and pink hair and soft subtle pink skin just as aquatic as the other Slugfolk but hers was softer, shinier. She was Cynthia, and Cynthia was an Ahu-agoo who had grown in fame. They say her singing was haunting and could bring you to tears and laughter within the same minute. Just as well regarded was her charisma and charm, capable in conversation and courteous with her attentions.

            Again the crowd exploded! The roars of their excitement eclipsed anything this little stage in a little village ever could have prepared for. Cynthia was actually not a native to this aisle and was more along the lines of a traveling bard. For a while now she had been chartering and bargaining for rides from isle to isle, leaving a pretty cobble pavement and song and infatuation everywhere she went. Her words weaved hopeful songs of love and truthful tragedies and just as well weaved silken tight knots around countless hearts. With all those lines tied to so many folk it was natural she would have convened quite a caravan! In fact, most of the people in that little village beauty pageant crowd were from countless other islands, traveling just to see Cynthia and cheer for her.

            One person watched from the comfort of a hood. They wore it loose and flowing, observing with statue like conviction. No words and shade to hide their face, their intent. Cynthia spun into place, taking her turn to speak before the crowd. Without amplification her words were lost to the initial uproar but her boastful hands that both begged the audience to quiet and confessed how much they loved that they wouldn’t spoke volumes. The hooded figure remained in place, not reflecting any of the energy the audience was showing.

            “Thank you all so much for coming to see me! I really do appreciate it, especially for the sake of this village. As you know, they don’t have much! Not too long ago a fire wracked the very hall we stand before,” She gestures behind the stage towards a hillside where a once proud building laid corpse serene in ashy oblivion. A single iron crow silhouette stood with a red flower ribbon tied around it. “They need money and help to rebuild what they lost! When I heard their plight and how hard they worked to make a show to gather donations for such a selfless feat, why, I couldn’t stay away!” Cynthia confessed in that showman’s way. Equal parts sincere and larger than life. “So please, if you enjoy the show, please oh please! Donate all that you can safely and comfortably! Think of your own first, but then please place bread in their basket, coin in their hats, and comfort in their families!”

            Right away the audience exploded! Oil to the fire, food for the starved! More, more! They laughed and cheered. A woman next to the hooded figure spoke openly to her friend: “She’s so selfless. I wanna be just like her!”

            Her friend replied, “Yesterday you wanted to bed her!”

            “Yeah?! Sometimes you want to both bed and BE a person if they are that good!”

            “Then how about when we pay or share we tell her that hmm?”

            “If you tell her any of that,” She feigned a fist. “I’ll fill your pillows with rocks.”

            The hooded figure tilted its head at that comment. Behind the black veil it didn’t speak… but seemed genuinely lost at the expression. What would be the benefit of rocks in the pillows? Does one sleep more like a rock when surrounded by them?

            Cynthia held out a jar for donations letting one person after another come up and leave their coin. Guards remained by her side of course. She was quite famous and needed the protection. From afar the sound of an approaching airship gathered attention. The edge of the isle was just barely visible and apparently this ship was going underneath the island. It made sense, there was an airship sized donut hole in this floating isle and it made for good transportation if you wanted to carve through, a sky canal in a sense.

            Something louder clicked inside of the jar. Cynthia looked down at it curiously and lifted a strange thing. It was the size of a small orange and was a pale, haggard brown in coloration. She lifted it up and—

            Thwoosh.

            Cynthia was gone.

            The audience was purely silent. The man who deposited it inside of her hat lifted a similar device and went to activate it. The audience around him was carved through, charged past like a bull in the stadium bleachers. A metallic hand SQUEEZED his wrist hard, a thumb jamming parrel atop the center and put pressure between the bones until he dropped the orb. Another hand caught it. It was the robed figure who had lunged at him.

            “W-what the hell!?” A cry came from someone. “What just happened?!” The audience was in shock.

            The figure turned towards the crowd that was rapidly opening up. A soft and high pitched feminine voice spoke from the robes. “They were using a Veteris Relic. Short range teleportation. They’re going to sell Cynthia.”

            “What?!” They cried in unison, save for a few that pondered “what is Veteris?”

            The announcer ran out. “How can we stop them? And who are you?” The guards were already arranging for a rescue but the figure quickly sprinted.

            They knew to keep pace with the airship flying below. They could hear the rumbling of the airship below the island. They held the orb in their hand. Black goo emerged through the plating of their metal hand and swallowed the device whole: vanished. They sprinted across the island keeping pace with the sound of airship engines beneath the ground they stood on. Faster, faster! The edge of the island rapidly approached with a stalwart wooden fence just there to state the obvious.

            Crash! The wooden fence was tackled through and the figure LEAPT across into the sky below just as the eclipsed ship came into view. The figure braced and fell.

            Wooden floor boards buckled and a burst of dust was launched around the figure. Five men were aboard on the top deck, two of them holding Cynthia down and pushing her towards the cabin. One of them was a Slugfolk with four antenna and a spindly skeleton skinny body and pale purple skin. He brandished a knife and pointed it at the hooded figure. “Hey! Who the hell are you?”

            The figure just stood there. “Hello. You kidnapped someone. That is lame. Please give them back to me and no authorities need to be involved.”

            The man growled and threw his knife dead at the figure’s neck. They caught the knife on the blade’s side. The man growled and lunged straight for them and threw a haymaker. The figure dodged to the left and with eerie reflexes caught his hand by the wrist. The figure’s own wrist began to spin. The man squealed as his wrist was twisted to the breaking point. He tried to tug away but this grip was STRONG.

            Another crook aboard the ship was huge and human and he grabbed a metal hammer and ran straight at the figure. He swung and bashed into their back. A bell gong rang out. The figure twisted around quick and swung the other man at him, wielding him like a weapon with his wrist as the hilt. The figure threw the man aside and stared at the other three who were still stood. Two were holding Cynthia and the last was garbed in military apparel and with pale red Slugskin markings and was now pointing a crossbow covered in strange technology at the figure.

            Again, the figure spoke. “Please, I do not need to hurt you. Just turn the ship around and give Cynthia back to the festival.”

            “I think you’re a bit confused about what it is we’re doing here,” The well dressed man smirked. “You have some good moves but you’re outnumbered. And if you think we’re going to turn this ship around just for you, you’re wrong.”

            “Yes, that is exactly what I am suggesting,” The figure insisted. Her voice was… naïve. “I am saying you need to turn around the ship for both me and for Cynthia! It’d only be polite!”

            “Polite?!” He laughed but never swayed his crossbow away. The two punished men were back on their feet as the one did damage assessment on his bruised wrist. He couldn’t make a full fist. “We aren’t here to be polite, you fucking idiot! We’re here to make money, and there are plenty of freaks and bleeding hearts who’ll pay money for a beauty like this Cynthia slug lady.”

            The figure shrugged. “Have you tried getting a job?”

            The man shot a crossbow bolt. The figure caught it. It exploded!

            Robes caught flame. The big man lunged forward with his hammer and began smashing over and over! He beat the figure in the robes and filled the air with anvil and hammer bombast! Everyone burst into laughter. As the smoke cleared the large man’s laughter was broken as a cold metal hand squeezed his throat. The smoke dispersed.

            Metallic hooves stood atop their deck smothered with little evidence of the flame save for the burning robe blossoms landing around them. Their legs were shapely and strong with exposed buffer between highs and hips. Their hands and arms were metallic and armored heavily with a sleek dark grey shimmer. A soft woman’s face stared emotionlessly at the bruiser she held effortlessly. Pink eyes glowed with a sort of electric ambience and short dark hair flowed in the wind, two nubby horns with glowing pink symbols shimmered with a little extra light as she squeezed.

            She looked back to the group. “You owe me a robe.”

            “I owe you a grave!” The sky pirate barked. “I SHOT you with an explosive bolt!”

            “Yes, I know this,” The metal woman said.

            All the while, the man she held was rapidly losing air. The two holding Cynthia finished a firm knot around her wrists and lifted a sword and an axe and came running to surround the metal woman. All four men were around her now, blades at the ready and aggressive stares.

            The two who tied Cynthia nodded at each other and SPRINTED at the metal woman. They pushed but were unable to move the heavy android. When the others saw they broke out into a sprint and PUSHED! Four was enough! Her grip on the large man was unbroken but all the same they pushed her off the side of the ship and she went barreling towards the oblivion below.

            “FUCK!” The skinny man gasped. “That was HAROLD! We pushed Harold off! She still had Harold you dumb fucks!!!”

            “Frank, shut the FUCK up!” The captain screamed. “What the hell was that thing!?”

            “What am I going to tell Harold’s parents you IDIOT!?” Frank, the skinny man, squealed. “I’m friends with his dad! I’m going to see him after this mission.” The captain loaded the crossbow and pointed it at Frank.

            “You’re going to tell him that he raised a fat fuck who couldn’t break a choke hold to save his life. And then, once you get done counting the money you get from selling the bard you’re going to stop giving a fuck!”

            The others groaned but they understood. Frank laid there on his knees until he was finally able to get back on to his feet. “Shouldn’t Tero have teleported on yet?”

            “He probably got caught,” The captain said. “Maybe that Teleport Seed didn’t work or wasn’t paired with our ship right?”

            On cue.

            The android instantly teleported back on the deck. “Um… you dropped this?” The android dropped Harold, pale as a paper, on the ground of the ship. “That was reckless! The large man might have gone all splatted!”

            “WHAT?!” The captain yelled.

            “The hell is this girl?!” Spoke one of the other two.

            “Harold!” Frank cried and sprinted right for him. The android did nothing to prevent their reunion.

            “I am sorry! I did not intend to take him down with me!” The android explained. “My grip was just too tight in the moment and I wasn’t expecting you to overwhelm me like that—” An axe was slammed into her cheek. She paused mid speech and looked over. The pirate stared at her in disbelief. He was punched in the gut and LAUNCHED into the wooden wall of the cabin. “I was speaking.” The android huffed. She turned back to Harold and Frank without much more of a reaction. “Again, my apologies. I will try to avoid collateral. Are you two done kidnapping maybe?”

            “Um…” Frank narrowed his brow at the captain. “Yeah, sure, haven’t seen a coin from the shit yet.”

            “YES.” Harold said like the face of death.

            “Good!” The android beamed. “Kidnapping is illegal, so it was already a poor decision!”

            All that was left was the captain and the other man.

            “Really?! Are you kidding me?!” The captain cried. “I just need one damn payday, and the one heist I pull with relics and everything has a god damn super soldier land on my ship?” He was pissed. “So, what’s your deal? Is that an armored suit? You look like you’re decked out in Novus grade shit. Or is that Sanctus? What tech farm did you rob to be so heavily armed.”

            “Oh, no!” The android shook her head. “I am not wearing Novus! I am made of Novus!” She showed her hand. The metal seams began to spill black goo. And then her hand turned into black goo. “See? I am called an android!”

            The captain went ghost white.

            The android returned her hand to normal and cracked her knuckles. “See? So yes you are right, I am a relic!”

            “Good,” The last subordinate said. The man combed back his dreads and pulled a switch on his sword. The blade began to shake and shimmer as runes emerged along the surface of the blade. “Was afraid I wouldn’t get to use this!”

            “Oh?” The android looks over. “A relic blade?”

            He answers by zipping at her at the speed of wind and slicing at her. She doubles over, the sword carving a small wound in her armor. He then slashes at her again at near instant speed. She quickly figured out what the sword did. Speed boost of some sort and he certainly used it a lot to be able to use it like this.

            She ran straight towards the edge of the ship. The man zipped at her again. With his speed her reflexes wouldn’t be able to keep up at all as it would take just a bit too long to move out of the way. As well, he was going for torso blows! She can’t jump over or duck fast enough.

            He got one more good slice at her back before she made it as far as she had to go. He grit his boots into the ground and wiped an OCEAN of sweat from his head. He slices twice in a display of swordsmanship. Cynthia remained unaroused. He then did another lunge at full speed! And Gwen vanished.

            Skrrrttt! His boots grit against the edge, stopping just short of the edge of the ship. “Where did she–?” Gwen appeared behind him, grabbed him, and pushed them both off the edge of the ship.

            “Sorry!” They went over and began falling. “Had to break my promise not to push you off the sides anymore, but don’t worry, I have two fun facts to make up for it!”

            “EKLGJEKGHJ?!” Asked the man as terminal velocity turned his face into a rag of wind and poor bulldog impressions.

            “My first fun fact is when I absorbed your friend’s relic I was able to double how many uses it has from 2 to 4! And as for the other fun fact, something you might not have known about this Anchor Teleport Relic! You see—”

            Flash! They teleported back with the android hoof pounded into the twister samurai’s gut! “Momentum is preserved between warps!” The airship itself buckled from the blow. The android stepped aside from the pirate and cracked her neck staring dead on at the captain now. The captain was all that was left of those willing to fight. “Alright!” The android pointed her finger at him and held the dash blade in her other hand leaned against her shoulder. “I have no idea how to fly an airship! I really hope you don’t want to fight too because we are running very short on people who can pilot!”

            The captain fell to his knees… and ran for the edge. “Oh fuck me!” The android yelled in frustration. She leapt through the air, caught the captain and pushed him against the side of the ship. She used the blade to pin him to the side of the ship, using his coat as the anchor point. She then warped back on the ship. “There! You can come back up when you stop being stupid!”

            The android turned to Cynthia. She just stared in disbelief. “Who are you?” She had to know.

            “Oh, I’m Gwen!” She beamed. “Hey! I am sorry you were kidnapped. It was very inconvenient considering the show was going so well! But, we should be able to get you back.” She turned to Frank and Harold. “Can either of you drive us back?”

            Frank sighed and nodded his head. “Yeah… I’ve piloted this thing before. I’ll get us turned around.”

            “Rad!” Gwen gave a thumbs up. She said it just a bit off, like she had the spirit but not quite the fire.

            The airship was turned around and was parked aboard the isle’s sky dock. Gwen explained what she had to do and who they were and their intent. Cynthia was grateful as anyone but more so was curious. She wanted to know so much about Gwen, but the android insisted she wasn’t very interesting and would really prefer to get back to the show. But before that, Gwen did ask a question in return.

            “Yes?” Cynthia raised her brow.

            “Why would someone put rocks in someone else’s pillow?” Gwen asked.

            Cynthia giggled. “A prank! If the rocks are small enough they won’t be able to tell that their pillow is filled with rocks, so when they go to lay down, BAM!” She smacked her fist into her hand. “Their head gets real hurt.”

            “Oh!” Gwen holds her hands to her face. “I see! That would be a very cruel prank.”

            “Er, not cruel but definitely a bit extreme!” Cynthia explained.

            The show returned and Gwen watched with pleasure. A drop fell on to the ground around her. She raised her hand. Black goo was leaking from her. Her eyes opened wide and her alert heightened. Without alerting anyone she marched out from the crowd and vanished behind a building.

            More and more goo squeezed out from the edges of her armor. She buckled over and fell on to her knees and winced through it, steam ejecting from her sides and pouring out around her…

            The last drop was spent and she was enveloped in a cloud. She laid on the ground face down and her eyes slowly slid shut.

            Gwen was an Android finding her past. It was out there somewhere. But in a sense it was always with her. With her or without her knowledge it haunted her. If only she knew…

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