The Aquatic Garden

Alistor and party continues pursuing Reither as he tries to make it back to Captain Vachani. He makes his way downhill believing he lost them. He made his way down to the field only to be confronted by the party waiting as he was cornered once again.

“We have you now.” Pointed Alistor.

“Darn you!”

Then reinforcements suddenly teleported down last minute from thin air. A flashing green light teleports down behind the pawns as the team stepped back.

“You called for reinforcements?” Whispered a voice for Reither to turn around.

“Better late than never. General Daiyumasa, what took you so long?”

Alistor couldn’t see who was behind all the pawns as the winds picked up. Daiyumasa walked casually through the pawns taking his time.

The general came into their view, his appearance puzzles half the team. Alistor remained focused on the mission.

“In this world time matters not for me. Flows swiftly like an arrow that can be spent but never refunded back. I myself don’t have any dreams. How can you say? I am the dream.”

Daiyumasa flicked a few strands of his hair.

“And who may you be?” Asked Alistor.

“Daiyumasa. General Daiyumasa of the fourth platoon.”

The team drew their weapons as Maigashi had his bow ready on him. Daiyumasa was astonished to see them ready to fight in a hurry.

“Time passes like the rivers flow. From the moon to the sun, this depressing world sets on you.”

Alistor was lost with his words. Reither gives Daiyumasa the status and details on their mission.

“Success is only light years away to failure. Be on with your way now.” The general ordered.

Reither didn’t hesitate to leave the scene.

“In this cursed world, the mad are the only sane. The world is its own art to express inner emotions. What are your ambitions?”

“Enough already…” Alistor yelled but was stopped right in the middle by Daiyumasa.

“What is the feeling? Your inspiration? Show me. Show me this ambition you harness deep within. I feel it all inside every one of you.”

The general draws his blade out.

Alistor sighs at the sight of the rest still mystified in a dreamy state.

“You try too hard. I sense a potential held back. If you cannot yet express your inner self then you are not ready to face me yet.”

Alistor felt mocked as he first charged at Daiyumasa. The general had his back turned as he simply stopped him with a simple wave of his sword. Wind materializes into flower petals drifting away.

“This feeling is not there yet. Maybe you can prove by battling them. Pawns attack!”

Thirty Baronia pawns charged in at Alistor and party to fight while Daiyumasa spectates. Alistor hacked away with the spirit at his side while Maigashi shot off rounds of arrows at range.

“No time for holding back.” Zolhalla followed.

Lightning and wind smacked down more pawns as Alistor left himself vulnerable from behind for a moment. Zolhalla shot a bolt of red Lightning in the form of a javelin to save Alistor.

“Watch your rear!”

Tannen scattered the ones surrounding him as Sairori breathed out a line of flames from his pipe at the pawns.

“Wind whip slash!”

Auroa pushed the pawns into the flame with his winds as the flames got bigger. Alistor takes down the last remaining pawn.

“Not bad at all…”

Daiyumasa congratulates them. Not surprised to be flattered as he took his bow of leave as he was stepping down from the fight.

“Wait…Where are you going?”

Alistor was somewhat astonished to see a general stepping down.

“My job was to merely melt the clock. These Pawns are only expendable.

For now I feel you are not ready to face me.”

Daiyumasa came to a halt for the moment.

“There is an ambition living within all of you. Don’t let it die out. It was something I lost a long time ago.”

“Hey wait!”

Daiyumasa vanished instantly within a veil of green light. The party continued on going after Reither through the Aquatic Gardens within the Glacier region.

“No time to waste. Follow me!” Sairori hollered.

Sairori lead the way for the team through the Garden deep within the Glacier Mountain. Located on the dead end of the other side as they advance through Mathias field.

“This passage will save us some time.”

The party takes the secret passage to get to the underground garden. They caught up with Reither in a matter of minutes.

Reither was yet in another dilemma as he was distance away from the main area.

“No backing down this time.” Reither pointed to Alistor. “One on one! Show me what you got.”

Alistor was up to the challenge. Daiyumasa’s words crossed Alistor’s thoughts in his mind.

“What’s taking you? If you won’t strike first, then I will.”

He started off firing a flaming star from his palm. Alistor takes the first damage as Reither fired again with more waves of stars. On the defensive, he hesitates to fight back.

“Come on! Fight back already.” Maigashi pestered.

“Stop making us look bad.” Tannen added.

The other members of the party watched Alistor and Reither fight from a distance. The flames melted away some of the snow causing some stalagmites to fall. Daiyumasa’s words still crossed his thoughts.

“Am I really not ready….My inner spirit, full potential….Damn I can’t believe he swiped me away like I was nothing.”

Memories of his first attempt to fight the Baronia King crossed his mind. Getting smacked away after minutes before Katty’s death.

“What’s the matter? Scared? You need your spirit to protect you like a coward?” Mocked Reither.

“What is he waiting for?” Asked Maigashi.

“He’s not calling out Rose Warrior? Something must be bothering him. ” Auroa noted.

Reither got close to fire another shot, but Alistor reacts with a swing.

“I can do this on my own.”

A determined look was on his face.

“So you have a little fight in you.”

Reither continued to fire away more stars of flame as Alistor attempted to deflect them with his sword. Thoughts of his final promise to Katty crossed his very mind.

“I will avenge you Katty.”

Reither’s stars bounced back at him as he took damage.

“Enough with the sob story. It’s pathetic!” Reither yelled.

He jumped up for a meteor attack as he dived down at him. Alistor got knocked back from his impact as he continued on with blunts of the assault.

“Come on! Remember your training.” Sairori pointed.

Alistor took another two hits from Reither’s technique.

“Don’t let your training with Katty be lost in vain.” Maigashi added.

A spark quickly lit within his eyes as Reither dived right in. Alistor catches Reither with his bare arms as he is pushed down to his knees. Reither continues to put on the pressure.

“You can’t stop my meteor!”

Within a split second, Alistor tossed him off to the other side. Reither is sent rolling across the pavement.

“Darn you! I won’t lose to you. You’re nothing without your Rose spirit.”

He charged up another flaming star.

“Another star should do the trick.”

Reither took notice at Alistor charging his blade.

“You’re bluffing! You don’t have any special attacks. You’re nothing without that spirit.” Reither mocked on.

Reither fired his attack, but it gets disintegrated. A protective aura surrounds Alistor as he unleashes all his energy in one shot.

“Wait what?”

“Star Breaker!!!”

“Ahhh!”

Reither loses conscious as the battle was finally over. Alistor and party moves on leaving him behind.

“To the Garden.” Tannen spoke.

The temperature shifts dramatically within the first few steps as they took a moment to look at all the organic life around them. They explores the garden as the sounds of springs flowed by.

“There’s a large fountain just ahead of us.” Auroa pointed.

Maigashi and Auroa made it to the fountain first. Coins were also soon spotted in the fountain, Sairori toss a coin from his pocket for the heck of it.

“A wishing fountain. Want to make a wish Alistor?” Sairori asked as he handed a coin.

Alistor toss his coin in the fountain. More Pawns from Baronia arrived down to block the path.

“These ones are coated green?” Alistor noticed.

“Another type of Baronia soldier. Let’s see if they are any different from the red and blue ones.” Auroa said.

“Here they come!” Maigashi yelled as everyone got ready.

The green pawns charged in at fast speed as Alistor didn’t had time to pull off a charged attack. His sword clashed with one as Maigashi had difficulty gaining some space.

“These guys are quicker.” Tannen noted.

Sairori, Zolhalla, and Tannen stood their grounds knocking them back one by one. The green pawns started bursting out a force of air pushing the three of them back a bit.

“My arrows are useless against these things.” Maigashi nodded.

Alistor got back up as the pawns were ready to go at him again. Auroa emerged from behind to tear three pawns with his whip. The group of pawns fired away their ranged attack again. Alistor could only think of bracing himself for the worst.

“I got this.” Auroa assured to him.

Auroa stood his ground in front of them as the attack approaches them.

The bursts of air impacts Auroa as he lifts his arms open.

“What are you doing?” Alistor wondered.

In a matter of moments the attack was neutralized.

“You can do that too?”

“I had the time to pick up a few tricks or two. Now stand back.”

Auroa released all the air he absorbed from the palm of his hands.

“Spirit Hurricane!!!”

The army of pawns were quickly blasted into nothing. The remaining pawns retreated away from Sairori, Tannen, and Zolhalla as the party continue in search for the captain. Daiyumasa suddenly creep out from a distance behind a statue as he had his eye on them.

Captain Vachani is seen obtaining the last ingredient. He tries contacting the Doctor but there was no response as he waited.

“I won’t be able to get back. They must be under the mass production damn it.”

Alistor and party made their way to a plat forming section of the garden that requires a combination of their teamwork. Maigashi and Zolhalla started off with their attacks to activate platforms to get them moving. With ease Alistor and party made it through. They suddenly come to a dead end with a high wall blocking the path.

“How do we get over this thing?” Alistor asked.

“Auroa! You can float to that switch can’t you?” Maigashi reminded.

Auroa tries reaching for the switch put was abruptly pushed back from a protective barrier around it.

“It seems I can’t get through this one.” Nodded Auroa.

Rose Warrior summoned itself as it told Alistor and party to follow it.

“Where are we going?” Asked Alistor.

“There is something I’m feeling. It’s emitting the same energy I have.”

They reached to the room with a large stone relic.

“Reach out for it with that sword of mine.” The spirit ordered.

Alistor reaches out for the large stone relic with its sword as it came in contact. The stone relic started to glow as it exploded to everyone’s surprise as Alistor fell back on his behind. He got back up noticing Rose Warrior grasping to a large thorny whip.

“My lost ability has now returned thanks to you. My Rose grasp technique can pull or grasp on to objects at distance.”

The spirit demonstrated its technique to Alistor and party giving them an idea how it works.

They returned back to the wall as Rose Warrior used his Rose Grasp ability that was strong enough to penetrate the barrier protecting the switch as the wall came down. They moved on ahead as with yet again another wall in their path but with no switch this time.

“Another wall…”Sighed Maigashi.

They tried hitting away at this wall with their weapons but it was no use as the best they did was leaves a crack mark on it. The spirit came out yet again with Fighter this time detecting another power close by.

“Another relic with the Rose symbol.” Alistor spoke out as the spirit read out from the encryption.

“This was Rose Fighters Explosive Shot ability. Baronia have taken it away long ago.”

Rose Fighter demonstrated the move. An explosive projectile impacts the wall crumbling it down. They now arrived through a simple garden maze.

“If Baronia obtains all the ingredients then our info we gave earlier to the kingdom would be in vain.” Sairori sighs.

“During the time nobody knew.” Zolhalla explained. “Back five hundred years water nature warriors were scarce during the time as most of us just went with the flow and improvised when Baronia was at birth.”

They continue moving on patiently through the maze. Auroa and Maigashi walked at the same pace while Sairori took his sweet time smoking his pipe.

“Maybe Baronia just thought everyone was clueless.” Maigashi shrugged.

The party draw closer to the end of the maze while Captain Vachani notices sounds approaching from the distance. He stood his ground make as he waiting for whoever is coming. Daiyumasa tailed behind Alistor and party at a safe distance. He is seen sitting on some balcony top.

“Better move in close to get a view.”

Vachani started to lose patience as he fiddled with the communication device in his hands. Alistor and party arrived at the scene.

“So you finally made it here. Guessing they didn’t had what it take to get the job done.” Snickered the captain.

Reither barges in unexpectedly from the side. Fully injured and damaged as the approaches his captain.

“Captain! IRO, Genta, and Komura are gone.” Stated Reither.

“I’m aware...We will avenge their honor. Come! Join me in battle.”

Captain Vachani starts off with a power boost. He lands the first punch knocking Alistor back a bit. The other members of Alistor’s party started to charge at him.

“I am Vachani! The Tower of the Fab”

The Captain pulls out his fan. With one wave he sends the entire team flying back. The team lands on one another.

“What is with this guy?” Maigashi muttered as he pushed Auroa off.

He begins firing a wave of lightning arrows at the captain.

“This guy is dodging every single of my shots.”

“Well, this is the Captain of the five we’re fighting.” Auroa said as he braced against Reither’s strike.

Sairori gets a hit from behind at Vachani but he counters back. Zolhalla charged right in but gets tripped over.

“Too slow!”

He grabs Zolhalla by the leg and plunges him towards Tannen knocking them both out. Vachani fires an energy shot from his other hand sending the two further back.

“Got ya!”

Alistor gets a stab on his leg, but gets smacked away by his fan.

“Got meh leg pretty you little runt.”

Auroa and Maigashi had their hands full with Reither annoying them with his stars while Zolhalla and Tannen went right back in at the Captain.

Vachani takes damage from Zolhalla, unable dodge every electrical slash. Tannen came in with a wave of darkness pushing the captain back.

“Darn! I better think of something fast or I’m finished.” Mumbled the captain.

Vachani jumped to the sides making a false move as he took most of the blunt of Zolhalla’s force from the lightning vortexes.

“Gah! Ahhh! That smarts!” Screamed the Captain.

Reither stopped in battle, leaving himself off guard for Maigashi and Auroa to knock him down.

The captain made no form of movement as Zolhalla and Tannen overpowers him as Alistor followed along. He didn’t blink as they got close.

“Time to kick things up a notch.”

The captain pulls out a second fan blasting the three back. With twice the power, the captain fired away waves of energy.

“You’ll need more than that to keep me down fools.”

Sairori grabs a hold of him from behind, he plunged his blade into one of the captain’s joints putting a stop to his energy attacks.

“Now’s your chance.”

The captain threw Sairori off as he tries pulling out the blade within him. Alistor called out Rose Warrior to the field as he took his time.

“Alright let’s try this new move. “ Ordered Alistor as Vachani finally got the plunged blade out of him.

“What’s this?” Questioned Vachani.

He didn’t take notice at the vines the spirit unleashed till last minute binding him.

“Damn it!” Raged the captain as he dropped Sairori’s sword

Zolhalla shot out waves of lightning’s to damage Vachani as the vines quickly tighten on him. Tannen called the shot as he had Rose Fighter ready the explosive shot technique. The explosion impact on him causing a huge bang with smoke in the air.

“Arghhhhaaaaaahh!”

The smoke finally clears away.

“What? This can’t be!” Muttered Alistor as Vachani emerged alive. All smoked up with parts of his body cracking.

Everyone kept their stance as the captain quietly laugh while Reither got back up.

“Captain!” Reither hollered.

“Bwahaha! It’s been a while since anyone ever pushed me this far.” Laughed Vachani. “To think this form couldn’t hold out any longer.”

“What are you talking about?” Wondered Alistor.

“It’s time to stop holding back. Consider yourself lucky. No one ever except the Doctor and the King have seen it.” Pointed the captain.

Vachani breaks from his bind as more power started surging through him. The captains grew four times his usual size as the armor around his body shattered away. Walls plunged out of him in the form of bricks creating a tower around his whole body.

“They don’t call me the tower for no reason.”

Vachani shakes the ground as everyone lost balance, He whacks away Alistor and party.

“For victory!” Reither shouted.

Reither still had some fight but Sairori intervene allowing Maigashi and Auroa to assist the rest. The both of them moved to attack Vachani from the side hoping he would flinch. His walls extending out from his body pushing them back.

“Full power!!!”

He fires a massive canon from his chest knocking Zolhalla, Tannen and Alistor far back.

“This guy is ridiculous compared to the chariot we faced.” Muttered Tannen as he struggled to fight on.

Maigashi shot at the Tower monster’s eye stunning him for the moment while Auroa came down with his whip barely cutting through his brick armor.

The spirit helped the team back on their feet.

“I got a plan.” Sairori assured.

Tannen and Rose Fighter smashed away through the walls while Sairori led the charge to distract the captain.

“Think you stand a chance?”

The captain aimed his cannon and fired without hesitation. Sairori makes a jump back as the Captain had his eyes focused on the ground.

“Now!”

Zolhalla hurls Alistor to the top of the captain’s head as the spirit joined along.

“Let’s finish this.” Alistor nodded with confidence.

“Agreed!” Said the spirit.

The two prepares for a final strike at the top revealing Vachani’s weak spot.

“Get off me!!!”

The captain attempts to make a jump causing the grounds to shake while the two held on from the pole.

“Crown Crasher!!!”

The spirit used its finisher plunging through Vachani’s whole body splitting him in half. He explodes into many pieces with bricks crumbling in the background.

“CAPTAIN!!!” Reither screamed.

Sairori quickly finishes Reither off with a slash from his blade.

He self-destructs closing the battle as Sairori sheathed his blade with a cloth.

“The Fab five is finally done for good.” Relieved Maigashi as they went on to look for the ingredients.

The party quickly finds the ingredients safely stored within a large bag as they approached.

“What the?” Hesitated Alistor.

Daiyumasa stepped into take the ingredients that the five obtained for Baronia. Maneuvering easily away from them.

“Not bad Alistor. You’ve showed some potential. The feeling burning deep inside. I like to chat and stay but the Doctor need these. Farewell for now.”

With one wave of his sword he vanished away.

“Damn! He got away with everything.” Alistor slapped.

“What a shame I guess. Oh well, let’s go grab dinner.” Tannen mentions without feeling any disappointed.

Auroa and Maigashi didn’t cared as they looked forward to the meal. Everyone leaves the gardens to return to Emerald village.

Back at the Baronia sky base…The Baronia King is thrilled for Daiyumasa’s return. He hands the bag for the doctor to take.

“So the Fab five failed to destroy them.” Said the King. “Such a shame to see good machines fall. I spent my day overseeing my mass production of fleets hoping Vachani would destroy them, but alas he wasn’t powerful enough.”

“You had Vachani battled on purpose?” Questioned Daiyumasa.

“We had it planned all along. With the serum in hands, the next phase of our plan can soon begin.”

“Let’s hope it’s good.” Daiyumasa dismiss himself.

The king last looks over his holographic chess set.

“Soon it will be checkmate!”