[meteor] A HELPING LIGHT

A helping light

 

The monsters continued attacking the ship relentlessly, and Zokuro and his crew were at their limit trying to deal with this problem. They were almost all out of cannonballs, and one of the sea monsters, a five tentacled kraken, had destroyed two of their cannons already. It didn’t help that they were attacked at night, and having lost a couple of lamps, lightning was a clear disadvantage to them, but not to the monsters.

             

—Captain, if this goes on, we’re gonna lose the ship! —screamed a crewmember who was now battling a giant crab at the deck of the ship

 —The ship AND our lives! —screamed another member at his side.

 

Zokuro, adeptly slicing some tentacled monster appendages with his sword near the rudder, started to think. They could fight all night and won’t be done with them. They attacked past midnight, a group of giant crustaceans and tentacled monsters of all sizes who immediately went for their food sources. They dealt with the first and second wave of monsters with cannons and guns, but then the third and fourth wave demanded more close-quarter combat as the number of monsters increased. By the sixth wave, it wasn’t clear HOW many monsters were there, and now he began to think that maybe they were on top of a sea monster’s nest; but, with poor lightning and not a second’s rest, there was no way of knowing.

 

—We have to hold on, and, uh… keep shooting and slicing and everything in between! —screamed Zokuro while he finished dealing with the tentacled monster and a crab, advancing little by little towards the cargo door. They WERE running out of bullets and cannonballs, but there was one thing they hadn’t tried yet.

 

Among the sound of battle, Zokuro finally got to the door and entered as quickly as he could, shooting to the monsters that tried to get inside. He almost didn’t make it, but other crew members started attacking the monsters, felling them one by one while they were distracted.

 

—We got ‘em, boss! Are you getting more ammo?!

—Maybe some, but I think it’s time we brought out some explosive action!

 

The crew members looked at each other for a couple seconds and then nodded.

 

—Ok, we trust you, boss!

—Nice, be careful and watch the entrance!

——Aye aye, sir!!

 

 He went down quickly and started going from room to room. Suddenly he realized that… he didn’t remember where the explosives were, even if he was the captain. He saw other crewmates passing him, going up with more weapons.

 

—Hey, you three!

—Yes, captain! —the three were surprised at first to see him, but then got into attention.

—We need to take some of our explosives and get them outside to combat this threat.

—Explosives, sir…? But we can’t…! —protested one of the pirates.

—We need those to pry open the Caves of Wonder on our next destination, ¡and they’re hard to get! —said another, raising his voice.

             

Zokuro understood their concerns; indeed, they were saving those for their next adventure, and they were a pain to get. But…

 

—Don’t you think I know that?! But right now, the situation is escalating horribly, and if we don’t use them, well… We may never get the chance to even GET to the Caves of Wonder. So, let’s go to the explosive’s storage, I’ll follow you! —yelled Zokuro while raising his sword.

 

His crew nodded with enthusiasm and started running deep to where the explosives were, followed by Zokuro, who sighed internally with relief.

 

Soon they were in the room, and they stood at the door for a moment. There were barrels, small charges, and a couple of crates with painted skulls. Those were the biggest explosives.

 

—All right, take some barrels and all the smaller charges, let’s go!

———Aye aye, captain!

 

The pirates and their captain took as many explosives as they could in some bags, and a couple of barrels between two of them.

 

—Ok, let’s go! Time to blow those barnacles to kingdom come!

———Yeeahhh!!

 

They hurried as fast as they could, but when they were in front of the door…

 

—AGGHHH!!

 

Another crew member came through the door, and behind him, the pincer of a giant crab.

 

—Quick, you and me, let’s deal with it, and you, take the injured out of here! —screamed Zokuro to the other crew members that accompanied him. They all nodded, putting their stuff down for a moment and doing as they were told.

 

Soon the crab was out of the door, and outside the battle still raged on. Zokuro and the other three hurried inside to grab the explosives with the help of another crewmate from outside. They hurriedly set up a perimeter, and Zokuro didn’t want to waste any more time.

 

—Let go some of the small charges, let’s aim carefully to the air above them! Get clear of the main deck, people!— said Zokuro why he prepared one of his charges and, taking out a small pin from a side, threw it to the dock while everyone hurried to his position.

 

The monsters began to run in their pursuit but were quickly blown away when the charge exploded a couple of centimeters over their heads. Some of the monsters were decimated, while others fell into the sea by the impact. These charges were such that they created an explosion without fire, so the ship, which was made of steel and sturdy wood, wasn’t affected by it.

 

—Ok, that was effective! C’mon, take some of the charges and take out the ones behind us! We’ll win this!!

—Aye, captain!

 

Soon the sound of gunshots and swordfights were joined by some explosions here and there, and the monsters’ numbers began to dwindle significantly.

 

“Yes, ¡we’re doing it!”, thought Zokuro while fighting a crab with his sword while throwing another explosive to some monsters that were just climbing along starboard, blowing them to sea.

 

They had a moment of respite while the crew finished dispatching the remaining monsters, and some of them went below to get more ammo for their guns. That’s when the monsters returned in force.

 

Suddenly, from all around the ship came a surge of giant crabs, tentacled monsters, and, from the front of the ship, covering most of the main deck… a giant monster squid.

 

All around the sounds of gunshot and explosives came again, but this time the attack was on another level. For each group of monsters that blew away another one came to occupy their place almost instantly.

 

—Ok crew, don’t panic! It’s time to use the barrels! Big guy, throw that one straight to that squid’s mouth! —directed Zokuro to one of his bulkiest crewmates, who didn’t hesitate to take one of the barrels and throwing it with force towards the giant squid. Zokuro took aim and shot the barrel at the exact moment that it was over the monster’s mouth and exploded all around it and the other creatures.

 

—That’s our captain!!

—Way to go captain, finish them all off!!

 

The crew screamed in delight while continuing to take down monsters. The monsters in the dock all blew up, and the explosion seemed to take out a good chunk of the giant squid body. But, when the smoke cleared up… It was evident it also took out a piece of the ship. This one was a little TOO powerful.

 

—Oh no, the ship! We can’t use those explosives to take out the monsters!

—Dammit… They keep on coming, what are we gonna do?!

—D-don’t lose hope yet, people, we can do this! Just… just have to find a way…

 

The pirates were starting to panic, and Zokuro tried to reassure them; even though, inside, he was losing his own cool. They needed something, anything that could turn things around…

 

What came next wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but it was just what they needed. Zokuro and the crew, in their struggle to survive this night of horrors, had forgotten what day it was. This time around it was the Lunisolar Festival, and yes, that meant… Meteor Showers!

 

One by one, streaks of light began appearing in the sky until the dark of the night was illuminated by a big arch of multicolor light. The crew could finally look clearly at the monsters and their surroundings, and the monsters, aware of the strange phenomenon in the sky, froze in place for a moment, seemingly afraid of the lights.

 

Zokuro and his crew weren’t gonna waste this opportunity.

 

—They’re scared, captain!

—This is our chance, drive ‘em to the briny depths! Use all the ammo and small charges you can!

 

Beneath the light of the sky arch, Zokuro and his crew began shooting and throwing explosives to the monsters, now with more accuracy. The monsters began to back down, and a member of the crew made use of this opportunity to quickly climb the main mast and look around. In doing so, he immediately found what was causing all those problems.

 

—Captain… I can see it! I found the monster’s nest!!

 

Zokuro turned to the pirate and, without missing a beat, hurried to where he was to look for himself; and, lo and behold, there it was. About fifty meters from their position, jutting out from the sea, was a gaping hole in the sea, surrounded by some land. The hole was kinda big, and the monsters coming out of the sea cave and surrounding water were the obvious indication that it was the monster’s nest. It was plainly visible to them thanks to the light of the meteor shower.

 

“Thank the heavens… literally!”, thought Zokuro with a smile while he climbed down. They could finally end this horrible siege.

 

—You, big guy, and you two, come with me! We need to take out the big explosive crates and finish this! Everyone else, cover us and keep driving the monsters away!

——Aye aye, captain!! —hollered everyone in high spirits.

 

They could fight properly now, and even use some of the barrels to explode the creatures that were approaching them before they could get to the ship. Still, the creatures kept on coming, and at some point, they would run out. Time was of the essence now.

 

Zokuro and the other pirates went below to the crates, and realized that, and a couple of barrels, were the only explosives left. They watched their precious cargo for a moment, unable to move. Finally Zokuro went to one of the crates and pointed to the other members to help.

 

—C’mon, dirtbags, let’s do this! We can always get more explosives, but we only have one life, aye?

 

The other crewmembers nodded and helped lift the crates, and slowly began to ascend until they were on the deck again.

 

—All right, bring the Z-Cannon!!

—Aye, captain!

 

The Z-Cannon was their biggest cannon, and only used to fight the biggest and most fearsome of sea monsters. It could take multiple cannonballs, as well as special ammo larger than the usual cannonballs. The crew brought the cannon and, with Zokuro’s direction, aimed it at the monster’s lair.

 

—All right, put one of the crates inside, hurry!

 

The biggest crew members moved the crate and put it inside the cannon. Zokuro took the controls and aimed carefully at the objective, clearly seen thanks to the meteor’s arch lights; managing and aiming cannons was one of his specialties, along with swordplay.

 

He stood there at the cannon’s ignition, looking at the objective and thinking about the explosive crate inside. It took months to get that quantity of explosives, and it was rumored that some passages in the Caves of Wonder couldn’t be opened without this big of a charge. Still… He remembered his own words. They’ll need to get more once again, but first… they had to live!

 

—Here goes nothing… COVER YOUR EARS! —With a slash of his sword, he ignited the cannon. —FIIIREEEE!!

 

The cannon made a loud “booom!” sound, and what came next was even more boisterous that he even imagined. The crate fell just at the big hole’s entrance, and…

 

KABRRROOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

 

 Made the loudest and biggest explosion any of them had ever seen. The light coming from the meteor shower almost paled in comparison to the fiery spectacle.

 

—Holy sh… shimmering stars, that was… something… —whispered Zokuro while looking to the other pirates, who were all dumbfounded. And then…

 

———YEAAAHHH, CAPTAAAIIIN ZOKUROOOO!!

 

All started to cheer and, motivated, attacked the monsters with even more fearlessness and impetus, driving the rest of the monsters outside the ship.

 

—We still got one crate, captain. I think we can get out of this with something! —said one of the pirates with a hoping smile, and Zokuro agreed.

—Yes, and looking at the explosion, maybe that and a barrel or two is all we’ll ever need…! —Zokuro replied with a smile.

 

The victory was at their grasp, when a scream came out from above the mast.

 

—Captain… Captain, we have an emergency! T-there’s something else coming out of the water, something… something big…!

—What?!

 

Zokuro climbed as fast as he could to stand beside the crew, and saw it, too. From around the now collapsing sea cave, emerging little by little from the smoke and fire, were about four tentacles of the size of the giant squid that had attacked them before.

 

—I t-think t-that’s… a… a… a real kraken…! —said the pirate with a fearful face.

 

Zokuro saw it and couldn’t help but agree. The creature, who was still underwater, maybe inside or around the cave, was probably ten times the size of those enormous tentacles. There was no way to combat that. They had to finish destroying the cave and the surrounding area, and there was only one way of doing it.

 

—We can’t stay here much longer; we must do this quick! All of you, listen to me! —said Zokuro while descending from the mast. —You three, put the other crate on the Z-cannon, quickly! —ordered the pirates that had accompanied him to get the explosives.

—You, get all the barrels and explosives you can and put them at the back of the ship! On my signal, ignite them and throw them into the water! —signaled to a group of pirates who were fighting the monsters. And finally… —And you, prepare the wind magic instruments and unfurl the sails, were gettin’ out of here! —said to a group of pirates near the mast. —Everyone else, take care of the remaining vermin!

———Aye aye, cap’n!!*

 

Zokuro aimed carefully the Z-Cannon once more and, saying goodbye to the last cargo… shot the cannon towards the monster’s nest.

 

KABROOOOOOOOOMMMM!!

 

The explosion roared in the night, and, watching the cave and sea around it in chaos, Zokuro yelled the next orders.

 

—Now, activate the wind magic instruments and blow the explosives!!

 

The pirates did as they were told and, amid the destruction of the monster’s nest and the wave of the explosions, the ship started to move in the opposite direction of the big monstrosity.

 

The ship moved at good speed thanks to the explosion and the wind magic, and Zokuro watched the monster’s nest, illuminated by the light of the meteor storm and the remnants of the explosion. All charges, lost… It would take months before they could attempt to raid the Caves of Wonder, but they were alive.

 

“Thank the heavens”, thought Zokuro with a big sigh of relief, watching the beautiful spectacle in the sky. All around him, all the pirates were watching the sky with him.

 

—It’s… beautiful…

—And it’s thanks to the stars that we got out of that pesky situation, eh?

 

The pirates agreed between them and smiled. Zokuro turned around and watched the crew and, smiling triumphantly, raised his sword to the sky. The sword glittered, reflecting the arch of light in the sky.

 

—Today it’s a victory for us, scallywags! We have to gather more explosives, I know, but we came out on top, with our lives and food unscathed!! (Mostly…) —the crew started to yell n agreement, clapping, high-fiving, hugging and fist-bumping each other with a big smile. —We may as well celebrate, under the beautiful lights that saved our lives! I think we even have some caprisol wine and comet candies, on the ship…! We’ll have our own lunisolar festival to celebrate our victory!!

 

The crew yelled in agreement and began to prepare for a fest like no other on the high seas. Below the glittering night sky, Zokuro and his crew celebrated the stars, life, and the miracle of being all together, like a family.