“What in Nash’s name is that!?”
Megrez gaped as the monster raised its head and roared. Midnight-black flames expelled from its breath and broke through the clouds in the sky. Megrez’s ears rang; it was like a bell had just sounded right near her head. That voice was so utterly powerful it made the blood in Megrez’s body pump all the more faster. She could feel the heat of its bellowing flames from all the way on the measly ground. When she glanced at the water club in her hands, it emitted a trail of steam. Maui’s great blue ocean, what in gods’ names had happened!? The monster roared again and this time, jet-black fire went soaring right over Megrez’s head. The flames were nowhere near her but she still ducked for cover with concern that she’d be singed to a crisp. The obsidian inferno turned orange as it greedily devoured the underbrush and trees of the jungle and bits of the market.
“Megrez! Megrez, are you alright?”
“Ay, Kenshin!” Megrez scrambled to her feet. “I’m fine. Where in Maui’s great blue ocean are Kai and Takeru!? And what about Sandra and Harper?”
“Takeru should be with Harper, but I’m afraid I don’t know where the latter is. Christophe peeled off from us suddenly so Kai went to pursue him. I’m afraid I don’t know Sandra’s whereabouts. I’ve just finished evacuating the last civilians in the area. We must find them!”
“Which direction did that bastard Christophe run off to?” Megrez growled.
“This way. Come!”
It didn’t take long to arrive at the marketplace. Two people remained, causing them to stick out like sore thumbs. Megrez was relieved when she realized it was Kai and Takeru. They stared up at the monster, jaws wide open, and eyes bulging and horrified.
“Pops!” Takeru gasped.
“Are you alright, Son?” Kenshin asked, helping Takeru to his feet.
“Kai? Kai, you’re not hurt, are you?” Megrez confirmed.
“Don’t worry about me! We got bigger problems to deal with!” Takeru insisted.
“I am fine; my injuries are at a minimum,” Kai said. “However, Takeru is right. We must figure out a way to—”
“Oh, hippocampus dung, and that’s right,” Takeru slapped a hand to his forehead, “Sandra!”
“What? What about Sandra?” Megrez asked. It was then she noticed a pool of red surrounding a familiar figure dressed in black. “No… Oh, gods, no… Sandra!”
Megrez rushed over to Sandra’s side. An arrow was lodged in her upper right chest, leaking a steady stream of bright red blood. Megrez wasted no time in ripping a strip of fabric off her dress. She bundled the cloth together and applied pressure onto the wound before yanking out the arrow. The white rag instantly became soaked in scarlet. Using her elbow to keep it in place, Megrez tore off another length of fabric and used it to dress the injury, wrapping Sandra’s shoulder and stopping the bleeding. When she checked Sandra’s pulse, it was faint but steady.
“She’ll be fine for now,” Megrez sighed a breath of relief, “but she should definitely see an apothecary.”
“She can see one later!” Takeru interjected. “At this rate, there’ll be no point because everyone in the Poseidon Islands will be dead!”
“I’ve never seen a monster like that before,” Megrez said while biting her lip.
“Kai, how do you propose we handle this?” Kenshin inquired. The king began pacing.
“I… I don’t know,” Kai admitted helplessly.
“Well, we can’t stand around and do nothing!” Takeru pointed out. “C’mon, anybody got any suggestions?”
“I suppose,” Megrez hesitated, “I suppose we have no choice but to simply try and kill it.”
“Absolutely not,” Takeru said immediately. “We’re not killing it. No way. Out of the question! That’s Harper.” Megrez looked at him as if he were an octopus with two heads and dolphin flippers.
“Son? Are you alright? Have you hit your head someplace?” Kenshin questioned. “Speaking of which, where is Harper?”
“There! Right there!” Takeru pointed at the monster. “Weren’t you listening to me!? Rrgh, how do I explain this? Look, believe it or not, that’s Harper. I don’t know how but some way or another, he turned into that giant monster. There’s no way in gods’ names we’re killing him and that’s final.”
“It’s true,” Kai vouched. “I saw it happen. I agree with Takeru: if possible, we should try to refrain from resorting to such extreme measures. If only we had a way to return Harper back to normal…”
“If I may, Kai,” Kenshin said, “perhaps it’s possible to calm Harper simply by knocking him unconscious. Shall we brainstorm some method to do that?”
“Yes, absolutely!” Takeru agreed.
“Very well.” Kai nodded. “But we need a solution and quickly. Shall we try tripping the monster and then pinning him down?”
“In what universe is that going to work?” Takeru retorted. “Look at the size of that thing! It’s almost as tall as a baby blue cetus and probably packs more of a wallop than an adult one! The only thing your plan will end up doing is throwing Ali’i straight under the waves! Try again.”
“Then how about we lure Harper into the ocean?” Kenshin suggested. “From there, Kai and Megrez can use their magic to subdue him.”
“Oh, ay, sure, if you want all the damage to hit the coastline and the people over there!” Takeru scoffed. “Besides, wouldn’t Kai and Megrez run out of juice by then? Next!”
“What if we got a sea monster to fight Harper for us?” Megrez pondered. “Once they wore each other out, we could probably defeat both of them!”
“That is by far the dumbest thing suggested yet,” Takeru said flatly. “Forget drowning Ali’i, there’ll be nothing left of Aupuniotiaki if we go through with that! C’mon, people, we’re running outta time!”
“Then what if we just fought Harper head-to-head?” Megrez asked desperately.
“Do you have a death wish!?” Takeru snapped. “Ain’t no way in Maui’s great blue ocean that’d ever work! For Nash’s sake, don’t any of you guys have some suggestions that’d actually flipping work?”
“Oh, that is it! I have had it with you!”
“Huh!?”
Megrez grabbed the front of Takeru’s shirt. She yanked him close so that he could feel her angry breaths on his skin and bored into his lavender eyes with her own ocean blue ones. Takeru gulped and Megrez saw his throat bobble. But he narrowed his eyes and puffed out his chest, meeting Megrez’s striking gaze. She felt a vein pop in her temple as Takeru did so and her grip around his shirt collar tightened.
“You have done nothing of value this entire gods-forsaken time,” Megrez hissed, spitting in Takeru’s face. “All you’ve been doing is rejecting our ideas without offering any input of your own! You’ve been absolutely no help when we’re in the middle of a flipping crisis!”
“It’s not my fault your suggestions were all worth hippocampus dung!” Takeru protested. Megrez socked Takeru in the face. She felt his jawbone screech under her fist as he rocketed away from her and collided into a heap with the cold, hard earth. “Ow! What in Nash’s name was that for!?” Takeru winced as he clutched his now-bleeding and sore cheek.
“Now,” Megrez roared, “is not the time to be acting all high and mighty! We’ve got an oncoming disaster on our hands and unless you’re in the mood to actually help out, walk right up this mountain and go home! You heard me! If you’re not gonna be productive and try to solve this massive problem, then don’t even bother standing here at all!”
“Megrez, Takeru did have a point,” Kai said. “There were obvious flaws in everything we suggested. If we’d gone through with them, we might have caused more damage than we’d solve.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to say! We need to do something and we need to do it fast,” Megrez cried. She jabbed a finger at Takeru. “This colossal piece of hippocampus dung has done nothing but waste our flipping time! No matter what we do, it’ll be a lot more helpful than sitting on our arses talking like we’re at a gods-forsaken tea party! Forget a plan! Forget suggestions! We should’ve confronted the monster by now! Think of all the lives that might have been taken by now. Think of how many Tiakians must be crying because we wasted precious time. We either defend Aupuniotiaki to our last breaths doing whatever we can or we simply die trying. That’s all there is to it. And if you all just plan to stay here doing nothing, then I’m going alone.” The Fearless Princess turned on her heel and stared up at the monster.
“Megrez, wait.”
“What is it?” she growled. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Takeru rise to his feet slowly rubbing the side of his face. He stared at the ground, refusing to confront Megrez with his gaze. Takeru sighed before taking a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I just… No, I’m not gonna make any excuses. You were right. This isn’t how a knight of Aupuniotiaki should act. I’ve done nothing but make everyone’s lives harder. But I’ll take full responsibility for it.” Takeru finally looked up. A fiery glint burned in his eyes. “I have a plan. I’m going to save Harper.”
“Let’s hear it, then.” Megrez finally turned to face her brother. “I’ll put my faith in you and this plan of yours, Takeru.”