Taking over the Abyss

39- Under The Sea

Kokomi's ambush against the Shogun's forces had panned out exactly as she hoped it would. So far, anyway. Aether effortlessly wiped all of his opponents in Sara's one-on-one fights. You silently cheered him on from your place hiding inside of a bush alongside Leiptr and Osial.

The two armies began to clash with each other, the lesser amount of Resistance soldiers who had been positioned at the fort being quickly overwhelmed. Despite the fact that he was clearly outnumbered and struggling to keep Tenryou soldiers at bay with his bow, Gorou kept yelling commands to keep his soldiers in check. Once the Tenryou army got too cocky and assured of their victory, Kokomi began the preparations to launch her counterattack.

The signal was given when she descended from the sky and announced, "The wait is over, my comrades!"

Gorou was overjoyed to see Kokomi's sudden appearance, even more so when the ambush itself was launched and everybody leapt out of the bushes. Holding Hvergelmir tightly, you used your superior strength to jab the end of the polearm into an enemy soldier's side, preventing him from stabbing one of the Resistance soldiers.

Osial came out swinging, having not brought a weapon of his own. Not that he needed one. You watched as he German suplexed an intimidatingly large samurai. Leiptr stuck close to you, throwing his knives at anybody who got too close for comfort. One of the soldiers charged at you from the side with his spear at the ready. You held out your hand and focused, a compressed rope of Hydro forming in your hands. The Hydro energy wrapped around the soldier's torso, and you swung him into a small cluster of Tenryou soldiers.

Before you and another soldier could clash spears with each other, Sara gave the order for her to retreat. All of her men began to follow after her, leaving their unconscious comrades behind. Once they were a sizeable distance away, you eased up and unsummoned your lance. The fight had barely lasted two minutes, but it had felt longer.

You could see Aether and Paimon talking to Kokomi in the distance and slowly made your way over to them. Osial jogged over to follow behind you after trying to loot some of the unconscious bodies. You heard the sound of mora coins clinking behind you, so you guessed he was successful. You chose to look the other way.

By the time you walked up to the three, their conversation had come to a close. You gave a short wave followed by a casual sounding, "Yo."

Paimon gasped sharply when she say you, then screamed your name and darted at you. Before she could collide with your face, Leiptr stepped in and snatched her by the collar, holding her in place. Leiptr gave Paimon a warning glare, "Quit doing that. The only thing it accomplishes is putting my lady in danger, and yourself by extension. Unless you want to be used as a throwing pillow, of course."

Paimon pouted, "Paimon is not a throwing pillow!"

"Then stop acting like one," Leiptr let go of Paimon and hurried back behind you. He showed a surprising amount of restraint, having only insulted her once. Your boy was growing. Maybe being stuck with Aether and Paimon back in Ritou had helped him out some. Immediately, you were proven wrong when a Resistance soldier accidentally kicked a pebble that hit the back of your boots, and Leiptr clicked his tongue and began to mutter darkly to himself.

Osial popped in over your shoulder, gazing curiously at Paimon, "Hey, how long has this thing been here?"

"Paimon's been here the whole time! You were just busy being a chair!" Paimon stomped around in the air in frustration, ticked off that all these annoying tall men kept hassling her, "It's not Paimon's fault your memory is bad!"

"What a strange creature," Osial came around and began to poke Paimon's cheeks, "Ooh, it's like marshmallows! I want one."

Aether could see that Paimon was quickly becoming fed up and stepped in to get Osial's hands off of her, pulling the fairy out of range, "That's enough. Get your own emergency food."