The Airship

In a small corner of forest, animals start to scurry away and large, mutated trees start to get blown away as The Airship begins landing, the ground rumbling in it's wake. There's a deafening crunch as the hulking vehicle comes to a complete stop in the wooded outcrop. Just inside of the ship's doors stands the crew, awaiting the opening of the doors.

"So, what're you gonna do MAPI? Are you gonna sneak around the base and give us info and stuff? You're pretty small, you can do a lot with that." Corry brings up.

"Unfortunately, no. I am programmed to stay inside of the ship, if I were to leave, I would most definitely shut down." MAPI explains.

"Ah, bummer. Oh well, I'm sure we'll win either way!" Corry says, clearly determined.

Noland and Chris stand together, just looking out the window together while Pool sits next to MAPI, twiddling her thumbs.

"So... Where's the base, Chris? Didn't you say it was somewhere around here? I'm not seeing it." Noland states. 

"It's hidden by an illusion." Chris says.

The rest of the group look at Chris, confused.

"An illusion?" Pool asks curiously.

"An optical illusion. There are devices all around the base that refract the light in a way where nobody from above or outside of the devices range in general can see the building, all that's going on is manipulation of the surrounding light to play tricks on us." Chris explains to the group.

"You know where the base is, right? So you can just lead us all there?" Corry inquires.

"Yeah, I know the way. It's a good thing we parked the ship far away from it, we can get the jump on them. It'll be a bit of a walk, so get your legs ready." Chris says.

As Chris finishes speaking, the doors open, revealing the green forest outside.

"Alright crew, let's get a move on!" Corry says enthusiastically, running out the door.

Chris nods and follows Corry out. Pool is third to leave the ship, now wearing sandals so as to protect her feet from the rough forest floor. Noland walks up to the door after everyone, gulping.

"They don't seem nervous at all... This is dangerous they should be at least a little more concerned about this...!!" Noland mumbles to himself.

"Good luck Noland, I'm sure all of you together will come out victorious." MAPI says cheerfully.

"Ah... Well... R-Right I guess..." Noland stutters, following the others out.

The crew trudges through the forest, staying on guard just in case there were any patrols in the area. It was a beautiful day, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, it was the perfect day to relax, but that was far from what's on the mind of the crew right now. They are determined to take down Techway at any cost. Chris leads the group, the hood of his vibrant blue jacket now over his head. He had his hands in his pockets, and a dark look on his face. Corry follows right behind, enjoying the scenery as he went. A bird lands on his hand, which gives Corry a big smile as he giggles lightly. Pool is behind Corry, watching her every step so as to avoid the large pointed roots of the mutated trees that were poking up out of the ground. Pool was enamored, she had never seen what nature was like above the ocean floor, so this was a completely new experience for her. Finally, Noland trails a small ways behind the group, anxious for the battle that was to come. He grips his Proto-Pistols tightly, looking like he could just start blasting at any minute. Eventually, the group finally steps out from the overgrown forest into an open field with long, flowing grass as far as the eye could see. Corry, Noland, and Pool all look around confusedly.

"So where is it?" Noland asks, crossing his arms.

"I never said we were out of range, keep walking." Chris mutters.

The rest of the crew look at each other worriedly before continuing to follow Chris. They end up walking about 700 feet before finally... A large building appears before them, with several Techway airships behind it. 

"This is it-!?" Pool squeaks.

"It's a wonder they were able to hide it for so long..." Noland says, awestruck.

Chris looks back at the group, pulling his hood down.

"Alright Corey, you got those explosive charges?" Chris asks.

Corey smirks and pulls out 4 explosives.

"Got them right here." Corry says smugly.

"Right then. Like I said, you and Pool will cause a distraction by blowing down the door, but remember, you'll most likely have the entire building's worth of personnel on you, are you ready for that?" Chris questions.

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Corry says enthusiastically.

"I-I'm a little scared, but I think we'll be fine..." Pool says, smiling nervously.

"Ok then... Noland and I will go in through the back vent and sneak into the Headmaster's office. Take this radio, I'll give you the signal for when to detonate the charges." Chris explains, pulling out a radio transceiver to give to Corry.

Corry nods his head and looks at the rest of the crew.

"Best of luck to all of us." Corry says reassuringly.

Corry nods his head to Pool and they both run over to the front door to the building, it was a big metal sliding door with no visible windows. 

"Let's go Noland." Chris tells Noland.

"R-Right!" Noland replies hesitantly.

Him and Chris run around the building, ducking and diving out from sight of cameras that were on the walls of the building. Eventually, they come up on a large dumpster, a big vent right above it.

"Alright Noland, let's get on that dumpster. You'll push me up and I'll pull you in with my legs." Chris explains.

"Sounds a bit unorthodox, but ok then I guess-" Noland accepts.

Back at the front of the building, Corry had just finished setting up the explosive charges against the big door, and now him and Pool were backed up a good distance for when they were set off. Back to Chris and Noland, Chris was standing on the palms of Noland's hands, climbing into the vent. When Chris gets in a good ways, Noland grabs his legs and gets pulled in as Chris crawls further into the stuffy duct. Once the both of them were inside, Chris slides his radio up through his jacket and speaks through it.

"Now's your chance." Chris commands.

Back with Corry and Pool, Corry receives the signal and smiles, pulling out the detonator.

"Got it, let's go Pool!!" Corry shouts, pressing the button.

Upon the pressing of the detonator, the bombs explode, creating a large hole in the door as scraps of hot metal fly every which way. Corry holds onto Pool to prevent her from being blown away before looking out towards the hole in the door, smirking.

"There's our opening!" Corry yells, unsheathing his sword and running ahead.

"Oh dear... Here we go!" Pool squeals, running behind Corry as her palms start to glow blue.

Inside the base, soldiers scramble through the halls to confront the intruders that had blatantly invaded the enemy base. 

"What's going on!?" One of the soldiers asks to one of his comrades.

"It's an attack! It must be those guys that the Headmaster warned us about!" The other soldier replies, continuing to sprint ahead.

Feeling the rumbling of the building, that was Chris and Noland's signal to push forth. They begin to clamber through the vents, being able to hear the shouts and pounding footsteps of the Techway personnel below. Meanwhile, Corry and Pool had run into a lobby of sorts, only to be met with a volley of laser fire. Corry yelps and grabs Pool, sprinting over to a large table and flipping it forward as a shield.

"Looks like they're happy to see us!" Corry jokes.

"W-What are we supposed to do!? That's a lot of people!" Pool panics.

"Chris said you could probably utilize the plumbing for your water magic! You can use the water to throw them off!" Corry suggests.

"The plumbing?" Pool asks.

"Yeah! Pipes in the walls and floor that distribute water around the building!" Corry explains.

"I see... Then I'll try it!" Pool exclaims.

She closes her eyes and holds her glowing palms out. Slowly, but surely, the walls start to rattle, causing the soldiers to look around in confusion. Eventually, water starts to burst out of cracks in the walls and floor, slipping up the guards as it fills the room. Corry yelps as he climbs on top of the tale to avoid the wave of water.

"That was amazing, Pool!!" Corry shouts, but then gasps.

Pool had her legs turned back into a fish tail as she floated through the water.

"I-I'm back to normal...??" Pool asks with a quizzical expression.

"Oh!! You must go back to being a normal merperson in the water!! That's really nifty!!" Corry realizes.

"I-I suppose so, yes!" Pool squeaks, throwing her hands forward to generate more waves in the building.

Corry smirks as he jumps off of the table towards the distracted soldiers, knocking one of them over the head with the blunt side of his blade. He does this multiple times to other enemies, zooming around the room like an indoor missile. Back in the vents, Chris and Noland are still pushing themselves ahead.

"How much longer until we're there?? It's starting to get stuffy in here..." Noland says.

"Stop your whining, we're almost there." Chris growls.

"Geez... No need to get so angry..." Noland mutters.

The guards that were in front of the doors to the Headmaster's Quarters hear the noises in the vents, quickly looking up.

"Jack, they're in the air ducts!" One of them calls out, aiming his gun.

"I can hear them!" Jack calls out, following suit.

The two guards start to fire, causing multiple holes to get blasted through the vents.

"Oh shit, they've noticed-!!" Chris yells.

One of the bolts shoots up through the bottom of the vent and hits Noland right in the arm, causing him to scream in pain.

"I-I'M HIT-!! THEY GOT ME-!!" Noland screeches.

Eventually, the holes in the duct cause it to give way under Chris and Noland's weight, causing them both to tumble onto the floor. Chris looks up at the guards angrily while Noland holds the scorch mark on his arm. As soon as the guards see Chris, they freeze.

"Christopher... What are you doing here now?" Jack asks.

"Huh...?" Noland looks up at Chris.

"Jack, Joseph. I'm here to see the Headmaster." Chris says.

"Yes sir, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you..." Joseph states.

Chris picks up Noland and slings him over his shoulder.

"C-Chris? What's going on here-!?" Noland says frantically.

Chris doesn't respond as he walks ahead. The guards open the door to the Headmaster's office, revealing a lavish office with bookshelves lining the walls. At the end was a desk with a fat old man sitting at it, Headmaster Bellows.

"Ah, Captain Chris... Perfect timing!! Who is this person you've brought to me...?" Headmaster Bellows asks in a sly voice.

"Captain... No... W-Wait, Chris....!" Noland whispers, staring in horror at Christopher.

"....One of the traitors. I've brought him so that we can send a message to the others." Chris says darkly...

To be continued...