(Thursday, 3rd of Lover's Harp Moon, 2021)
The air shuttle carried the team of four through the air, and the pilot was the one making sure that shuttle stays afloat in the air. Caroline and Freya were sitting across from Jack and Zane. At their feet were their bags, while certain objects laid in your laps. Freya was sharpening a fancy looking axe, Caroline was reading her phone, Zane was on his laptop, and Jojo rested on Jack's lap. Jack was holding a set of dice in the palm of your hand. Rumplestiltskin.
"What the hell kind of weapon is just dice?" Jack played with the dice for a bit while Zane used his laptop to look up about it.
"Rumplestiltskin; It's an artifact that consists of several kinds of dice, and it can be used to either extremely nerf or buff any action the user wishes with a roll of the dice." Zane informed Jack whilst reading something off the internet. "The higher the number, the better the effect. The exact number depends on the dice, but the lowest number always makes the action its worst possible version, and the highest number always ensures that the action is the most perfect version."
"So basically, it's a double edged sword, cool, won't use it." Jack put Rumplestiltskin into his back pocket, and Jack stroked behind Jojo's ear, feeling how loose her skin was. "Wait, what'd you look up to learn that?"
"Dude, almost all of the artifacts are super well known because they've been around for 2,000 years." Zane informed you. "For 71 of them, I just need to look up a list of artifacts, find one with the same description of yours, and BAM, instant article."
"What about the last one?" Jack asked the boy, who pulled up a Wikipedia article containing a list and small description of every artifact. All the names were blue to indicate it was a link, all except one. An artifact named Happily Ever After. "Happily Ever After?"
"It's the only weapon to not choose a new user after High King Alexander died, no one's even sure what it looks like." Zane informed Jack. "All people know is that it's the strongest of all the artifacts, and it's out there somewhere."
"I wonder what it looks like, and what its ability is." Jack leaned his head against the steel wall. "Especially since Ebony Horse is OP as shit, I'm kind of hoping nobody gets the power of Happily Ever After."
"So you're the guy who's capable of using all the artifacts?" Freya looked at Jack curiously. "You're not the only person here who can use artifacts."
"Wait, that axe...is it an artifact?" Zane asked, and Freya nodded before showing off the axe.
"Giant's Path, that is the name of this weapon." Freya proudly informed everyone, and Zane typed away on his computer.
"Impressive, Giant's Path is an axe with the ability to manifest a giant projection of itself that doesn't weigh anything, but still hits with the force of a weapon of the size it is." Zane read up the description of the axe. "Can you do that?"
"Um...hey look, we're landing!" Freya dodged the question, and Jack could tell that she couldn't.
The air shuttle hovered above a grassy hill, and the four of them jumped off the machine with their respective objects and bags on their bodies. The sleeping Jojo was cradled in Jack's arms, resting for all the intimidation she did the night before. Jack looked around the area, feeling the warm air slap against his face and dance through his hair. Jack looked to the south to see a beautiful Cuauhtli-style mansion with faded blue walls. Jack held the box with the candle inside of it in his hands, and Jack took a breath in.
"Hey look, the mansion's right there, maybe this will be an easy mission after all." Jack took a step forward, only to see a tall woman walking towards him. "Wait...that's the tall, brooding, and muscular woman from the last mission?!"
"You, give me the candle." The muscular woman ordered Jack, and Jack groaned out loud, already annoyed with this.
"No screw you." Jack then remembered he had no idea who this woman was. "Wait, who even are you?"
"Joan." The tall woman informed Jack, and Zane looked pale, with a drop of sweat running down his face. "Now give me the candle."
"Jack, we need to run, NOW." Zane informed Jack before grabbing his friend's hand to start running to the tree line that laid towards the west.
"What? Why?!" Jack asked Zane while Freya and Caroline both followed with concerned expressions on their faces.
"Because Joan died back on 12/12/12!" Zane shouted at Jack, and Jack felt a chill run down his spine.
"There's an area called Devil's Skull nearby, we can hide there!" Caroline informed everyone. "We need to slow Joan down though!"
"Zane, hold the candle." Jack ordered Zane before putting Jojo on his head. Jack then made the 'Amun' symbol with his hands. "Amun!"
Jack used Amun to form a barrier of wind around Joan, who barely noticed. Caroline noticed this and decided to help Jack by summoning storm clouds using her ability. From these storm clouds, blue bolts of lightning struck where Joan was. Both Jack and Caroline expected Joan to at least be damaged, but she looked as though nothing happened, and her eyes were glowing red. She walked straight through the barriers as though they were nothing, so Jack made the 'Anubis' hand sign to summon a jackal head to try and bite Joan, only for her to kick the jackal head so hard that it disappeared.
"Just behind the trees, the Devil's Skull should be behind those trees!" Zane was checking his phone. "Any spells used there will be neutralized for some reason, and it's a massive area that's easy to lose people. So we should be able to lose her no matter what!"
The four of them ran into the tree line and came out on the other side to see a massive boulder. No...it wasn't a boulder, it was a giant gray skull! The massive skull looked as big as a house, and had massive horns growing out of it. Instead of two eye holes, it had six, with the extra eyes being lined up on top of his first two eyes. Its teeth were sharp and the size of whole trees. Zane was the first to jump into the giant skull's mouth, followed by Caroline, Jack, and finally Freya. Inside the skull was a kind of tunnel entrance, so the four of them had no choice but to go inside it. Inside the tunnel was dark, so Zane used his phone's flashlight function to see inside the tunnel.
"You know apparently this tunnel has a legend about it." Zane decided to pass the time by telling you all about the legend. "Apparently, the tunnel will choose people, and those people will be cursed."
"Wow, way to lighten up the mood there." Caroline glared at Zane while you kept your eyes glued at the tunnel entrance behind you. You didn't see Joan.
"Here's the thing: apparently if you're cursed, you gain the attention of a spirit of a random elder god." Zane informed everyone, and Jack suddenly began losing his balance. "These elder gods can either curse or bless you depending on which one you get the attention of."
"Hey guys, are you seeing stars too?" Freya asked, and she looked like she was about to collapse.
Freya took one step forward, only to start wobbling while gripping her forehead. Jack was about to help her, only for him to start losing feeling in his leg as well. Jack placed his hand on his brow to check his fever, only to feel his body slowly burn. Jack noticed his brow was damp with sweat, and you tried to figure out what was going on. Out of nowhere, you suddenly passed out, and landed face first into the ground, with Freya landing on her back soon after. Caroline and Zane were both confused by this sudden development, but not as much as Jojo was. Jojo landed on the ground when you collapsed, and was clearly pissed.
"Freya, Jack?!" Caroline asked as she shook the white haired girl, trying to make her up, only to notice the white haired girl's frantic breathing. "Zane, we need to give them medical treatment, ASAP!"
"Damnit, neither of us know any healing abilities." Zane bit his thumb nail and looked deeper down the tunnel. "We can't risk coming into contact with Joan again, so our best and only bet is to go deeper into the cave. You carry Freya and I'll carry Ja-!"
Before Zane could finish his sentence, Jojo could be seen dragging Jack
by the collar deeper into the tunnel using her powerful jaws. Caroline picked up Freya and carried the white haired girl on her back. Zane tried using a sensor app on his phone to look deeper down the tunnel and possibly find out where Joan was. While Jack was being dragged by Jojo, Jack was unconscious. Jack's body was trying to fight off whatever was happening to it, but to do that Jack must have been asleep. Zane looked at the two of his unconscious friends, trying to understand what was going on.
"Jack...Freya...please be safe."
(Somewhere in the oceans of Western Dhahabu)
A Navy-style ship sailed towards three gunships, all of which had their guns aimed at the navy ship, only for rocks to rise up from the sea to block their view of the navy ship. On the navy ship, one man was piloting the ship while four more people stood at the front deck of the ship. One of these people was a potted plant. The plant appeared to be the one commanding the rocks. Two of the people were dark skinned, looked to be siblings, and each held their own weapon. One's weapon was an anchor, while another's was a cannon. The person standing at the front of the boat was more familiar, with a long black ponytail and silver longsword.
"Gaia, James, Mary, tell Thatch I'll be taking the ship in the back, wish me luck." Mifu jumped off the boat and planted her feet against the rocks. Somehow, Mifu began running up the walls as though gravity had no effect.
"What the hell kind of anime bullshit is that?" James, the male holding the cannon, asked his younger sister, Mary. James wore a standard navy captain's uniform, except his was a bit more loose to allow him to move around a lot more.
"No idea, all I know is that it looks like she may get to those drug smugglers before you do." Mary set the anchor on the deck before running to the captain's deck to join her father in sailing the ship. Mary wore the same as her brother, but she actually wore her uniform like it was meant to be worn. "Gaia! Lower the wall!"
The plant known as Gaia lowered the wall of rocks just as Mifu reached the top of the wall. Mifu lept from her spot on the wall and began falling towards the ship that was the farthest in the back. The other two ships couldn't defend the third ship. Mifu reached into her pocket, and sprinkled cherry blossom petals as she fell towards the ship. The smugglers aimed their machine guns at the swordswoman, only for the cherry blossoms to somehow cut through the barrels of the machine guns. The first smuggler could only watch as Mifu landed on top of him, piercing his shoulder with her longsword as she gracefully balanced on the hilt of it.
"Sakura." Mifu balanced on the hilt of her sword as though it were a stage, all the meanwhile, all the smugglers aimed their handguns at the woman. "That is the name of my sword. A simple name, but it gets the point across."
"Can it woma-" The smuggler's vocal chords were suddenly cut by a cherry tree petal that floated by. The smuggler grabbed his throat and collapsed onto the ground.
"How unfortunate, now, shall we dance, Sakura?" Mifu smiled calmly before jumping off her long sword and grabbing its hilt. "Don't worry, your petals will turn a beautiful red by the time your dance is over."
Another smuggler tried shooting her, only for Mifu to raise the sword and spin it like she was dancing with someone. The simple movement was powerful enough to create a wind current that picked up the cherry blossom petals that were either on the ground or floating towards the ship deck. Mifu slashed at the man who tried firing, only for the blade to miss due to him being too far away. Instead, the bullet was cleaved in two as the cherry blossom petals were sent towards the smuggler who tried shooting her. The man's body was swiftly cut by the petals before Mifu spun her longsword rapidly, gathering the flower petals once again in a wind current, this time in the form of a ring. Mifu looked around her, three smugglers in front of her, and two behind. Mifu leaped towards the middle of the three smugglers in the front like she was a ballerina. Mifu leaped over the three men and landed behind all three of the men. Before the smugglers could turn around, Mifu slashed at all three, and they collapsed before the petals could even reach them. Mifu spun the blade around, and her along with it, causing the woman and sword to spin around one another. The two remaining smugglers were shivering in fear, and Mifu noticed this only to react with a smile.
"And now the spin." Mifu giggled before launching her still spinning blade towards the two remaining men.
The cherry blossom petals swirl around it to form a petal tornado. The blade plunged into the ground between the two men, and the tornado of petals came crashing down on top of them. The typhoon of petals stopped to reveal the two men, bloodied and unconscious. The only thing left standing was the sword, which remained unscathed. Mifu walked up to the sword and picked it up, only to sheathe it on her back.
"Well hot damn, looks like you got competition, James." Mary informed her brother using an earpiece, who picked up the anchor to dual wield both it and the cannon. "Oh, you're doing the jump ship strategy?"
"Yeah, cover me, Sis." James raised the anchor over his head and began spinning it by the chain like a lasso.
"You got it Bro!" Mary reached the captain's deck and instantly went for a control console. "I got cannons, fuck them up!"
James launched the anchor at the ship in the front, not only reaching it, but also tearing into one of the guns of the ship with the anchor. The anchor was hooked onto the front most gun ship, so James used his cannon as a rocket to propel himself off the ship. James was flying over the ocean, but instead of going straight towards the frontal ship, he was exploring the radius around it. James fired the cannon directly in front of the ship, causing a cannon hole to appear in the front of the ship. James was flying counterclockwise off the ship, filling the right side of the ship with various cannon holes. As James reached the back of the ship, he pulled the anchor, undoing the grappling-hook like function of the anchor before throwing the anchor into the main tower of the main ship. This time, James launched himself above the ship and aimed his cannon down below at the ship's crew. The cannon suddenly began raining down a volley of cannonballs, as though it was raining cannonballs. The recoil was keeping James in the air, and when the barrage was finished. James then adjusted the angle of his cannon again so he would be launched back onto the navy ship with Gaia.
"What was that about me having competition?" James smirked as he watched the two ships begin sinking towards the bottom of the ocean.
"James, you do realize we needed the incriminating evidence that were on those boats right?" Mary asked the anchor wielding man, who's little celebration was cut short. "It's fine, I'll just ask Gaia raise the earth underneath the ships before anything takes water damage."
"Excuse me, could I please get some assistance to get back on the boat?" Mifu calmly shouted, somehow, from her boat.
"Give me a minute!" Mary could somehow hear Mifu from her spot at the captain's deck.
Mary and her father, Thatch, controlled the ship to move it closer to the three ships, with the two ships James shot being supported by Gaia creating pillars of rock beneath them. The navy ship was soon close enough for Mifu to jump from her ship and onto the navy ship.
"That was quite impressive my friend, destructive, but impressive." Mifu complimented James as she landed on the ship deck. "You know, I have a friend that can probably take a few notes from you."
"You mean the archeologist guy, Jack right?" James questioned the dark haired woman. "I kinda wanna meet him, see how he got into the school even after he lost against Hero."
"Well to be fair, I think any of us would have lost against Hero." Mary exited the captain's deck. "Well, no time to debate, we still got more envoys with drugs on them to take out, so let's grab the evidence and move on."
"I wonder how Jack is doing..." Mifu looked up into the air, wondering how Jack was doing.
Meanwhile, Jack was still being dragged by Jojo down the tunnel.