DE21: Sky Soldiers Session

Darren murmured, "Let me sleep..." as Miki shook him awake the following day.

Miki told him, "Wake up, you lump! We have plans to make and people to talk to!"

He sat up, bleary-eyed and said, "I'll meet you out in a few."

A few minutes later, he met Annie and Miki outside under the apple tree, where Miki was hanging in one of the tree's branches. She threw an apple, which Darren deftly caught. Annie commented, "A few recruits came before you and one came last night. He's not from the ship but he heard of what happened, both about the ship and Sky. Just...keep open-minded."

Darren turned around to see...a squid and a humanoid squid at that. Humanoid squids weren't a common sight so Darren was surprised and confused. Despite this, he trusted his instincts and quickly drew one of his swords, growling, "And who is this?"

Miki grabbed his shoulder and explained, "This is Arduk...yes, he is a squid. Though he's a bit different."

The squid, Arduk, had blue-grey skin and a mostly human face, except his mouth was filled with razor sharp squid fangs, which he displayed proudly by grinning. Two tentacles protruded from his back but were at ease. He wore a simple black toga. He greeted Darren, "Hello. You're probably wondering why I'm here...and why I've chosen to affiliate with the Sky Army."

Darren nodded, shooting the squid a glare. Arduk sighed, "Do you really think I'm going to stand my chances in the Squid Army...against the brunt of the Sky Army? I know you guys are weakened, without a leader or a proper base, but I came here when I found the broadcast the hooded girl was sending out, to your recruits."

Miki asked Darren, "Do you understand? Can I let you go now?"

Darren nodded again and asked Arduk, "So you're the only one who arrived here?"

Arduk nodded, "Of my kind? Yes. Most squids aren't all that smart, even the humanoid ones. And we're praised for our more developed brain than our more squid-like brethren. That tells you much about most of our society there."

With that he walked away. Darren commented, "I did not expect that."

Miki said, "There's a few other recruits here. Their names are Katy, Julia, and Randi."

Darren frowned, "Not that many."

Annie hopped up from her sitting position, "Let's go say hi then!"

In one of the sectors, the earth one to be specific, there was a room that the Skylords used for potion brewing. Despite the art being nearly dead, they kept it around and let Katy inside, who was perusing the ingredients with wide eyes. The trio walked inside, Darren sneezing one the different scents hit his nose. Katy looked up from what she was doing, which was mixing a dark blue potion with some fermented spider eye. Annie asked,"What are you working on?"

Katy chuckled, "An interesting potion, for sure!"

Annie walked closer, examining the new potion, which was light blue, almost gray. Katy watched her closely as Annie attempted to take the potion off the brewing stand. The stand, being an older kind, worked differently and all Annie accomplished was dropping the potion on top of both of them, rendering them invisible. Katy said, "Do you think there's any milk around? It nullifies the effects."

Annie replied, "Maybe...but how would you talk to anyone like this without scaring them? Wait...that gives me a plan!"

Katy laughed, "I think I know where you're going with this."

With the sound of footsteps, they were gone, off to spread mischief for a couple of minutes.

Miki commented, "Let me present to you the army that holds the world's fate in their hands."

Darren shrugged and commented, "We could always ambush Enderlox with water balloons."

The two looked at each other and burst into laughter. Miki stopped laughing first and said, "Let's go find the other two!"

Julia wasn't that hard to find, for she was currently yelling Katy and Annie who were annoying her. It all came to a peak when she picked an apple and threw it in the direction of their voices. A yelp of pain told her that one was hit and the frantic footsteps told her they were running away. She laughed as Darren and Miki approached her. Miki commented on her impressive throw, "Brilliant throw!"

She nodded, tears coming to her eyes as she laughed hysterically. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of the white hoodie she was wearing and nodded, "Thanks! I've been trying to doodle something but they wouldn't leave me alone! I had to get rid of them somehow!"

She picked up her pink backpack off of the ground and placed some of the pencils haphazardly back in it. She handed Darren a sketchbook and asked, "Want to look?"

Darren took it and nodded. As he flipped through it, he noticed a lot of them were people from the places they had visited. He stopped on one page, Martyn drawn on it. He complimented her, "This is good work here!"

After more flipping he came upon more drawings from recent times. Here there was a quick sketch of Enderlox, growling at whoever looked upon the paper. Another was Herobrine, with a quizzical look upon his face. The last drawing in the book was a bunch of messy doodles of the people on the Skyhold: Skylord Lysander, Skylady Amber, Arduk, Katy and the rest of the Sky Army recruits. Darren handed her the sketchbook and asked, "Have any idea where Randi is?"

Julia shook her head, "She seems a little standoffish. She actually came here, not because she's a Sky Army recruit but because she felt she should help us."

Said person, Randi, came from behind the tree, saying, "I heard my name!"

Julia jabbed a finger in Miki and Darren's direction, "Miki was showing Darren who was here at the time being. Have you heard from those two tricksters, Katy and Annie? You won't be seeing them, I'll tell you that!"

Randi shook her head but perked up as Arduk ran by yelling, "Get away from me!"

Annie and Katy's voices could be heard giggling. Randi sighed, "That's what you mean. I hope not."

Miki watched Arduk jab at them with a butter sword, a dark blue aura surrounding it. She finally said, "It will wear off eventually. Hopefully they'll be far, far away from Arduk when that happens!"

As if on cue, the potion wore off and the two tricksters froze. Annie hovered in the air with the aid of her ring and Katy stood below her. The two locked eyes and ran away from the now annoyed squid who walked off, sighing.

Miki said to Darren, I have to go up to the radio tower here. I'm going to try to contact the Dead Army again and maybe the Stars."

The radio tower loomed high above the Skyhold, almost in the clouds. The radio signal had stayed to the same frequency, which was very close to that of the Dead Army's frequency, as gave off by their ship. With a little bit of fiddling, Joshua's voice came through, a little crackly. He asked, "Hello? Who is this?"

Miki told him, "This is Miki, a Sky Army recruit! Are you with the Dead Army?"

He confirmed this, "Yes, I am the leader as of now and until Deadlox returns."

Miki asked, "You guys are okay, right?"

Joshua exclaimed, "We're really good! We're redesigning the ship so that's why you probably couldn't reach us. We just reinstalled the communications! Where are you broadcasting from?"

Miki told him, "Due to the fact that we could be listened on I'll tell you this: I'm at the place in the North with that holds my leader's name."

After a few seconds of silence, he laughed, "I know where you are! A couple of your officers are here. They have some convoluted plan involving dragons! I have no idea what it is, I just sent some of the recruits with them."

"Dragons?", Miki echoed.

"Yeah. According to him, there are actually peaceful dragons in the mountains we are docked at. I imagine he'll want to tell you guys when he gets back."

Miki said, "Okay. I'll call back later. Talk to you later."

The signal went out and she leaned back but not before an ethereal light flashed.

Daren had been right next to where this ethereal light wold shine when it did, and it blinded him. He stepped back and blinked. A figure stood there but the temporary blindness prevented Darren from seeing who he was. The figure tipped his hat, maybe it was a fedora? He spoke in a booming voice, "Hello, Sky Army recruits! My brother told me about you!"

Meanwhile, in darker lands, a man was slammed against a wall by a tall winged evil. He looked at his captor through broken sunglasses. One side had lost its lens altogether whereas the other was shattered. The evil was no other than Enderlox. He hissed at his prisoner,who was Sky, "Why not give up, commander? I crashed your ship, scattered your army, and have you. What is there to live for?"

Sky croaked, the lack of water in the End making his voice crack, "There's still a chance that this will turn out right in the conclusion."

This earned him an slap in the face which he winced from. A lot of the slaps and scratches didn't hurt anymore, though he HAD conditioned himself not to show weakness. It irritated the Ender who lusted for the screams. If anything, the lack of water here was true torture. He did get water, but only enough to keep him alive. Same thing with food. He honestly had no clue why he was being kept alive but he didn't deny the fact he wanted to live.

Enderlox hissed again, this time a hair breath away from Sky's face, "What use is there to living?"

Sky didn't say anything but glared with butter-yellow eyes. Enderlox stared back, unblinking. Finally he grabbed Sky by the neck and roared. Sky frowned but still didn't say anything. Enderlox slammed him against the ground and roared with frustration, "Do something! Yell! Scream! Plead!"

Sky propped himself on his elbows but collapsed when Enderlox's clawed foot slammed upon his leg with terrible force, crushing it. Sky held back a yelp of pain. That really hurt and put him out of commission if his leg was broken. It probably was but he didn't want to move to check. Enderlox growled, "Fine. I'll be back. Hope that leg doesn't hold you back too much."

Arduk belongs to Naginos LaSerpe from FF (and DA)

Randi belongs to Randi-monium from FF

Julia belongs to E09378 on DA