Pirates of the Skies

Chapter 6

The Deadly Island

The wide blue azure sea stretched on endlessly. Nothing changed for miles upon miles except for the occasional sight of grey tails peeking out of the watery surface only to propel their owners deeper down into the watery depths. The monotonous blue and white surface was broken by a dot of a floating figure. The figure was a blonde haired boy with a sandy brown jacket, a maroon t-shirt and blue jeans that were submerged underneath the water. His upper body lay on a floating barrel which he swayed every which way and bobbed up and down on the sea surface.

Kai slowly opened is green eyes to look out at the horizon. He sighed to himself in disappointment. He had been floating endlessly in the sea for two days now and there was no sign of land, no sign of relief from the will breaking blue. He was starting to believe that he would perish in the water.

"Kai! Kai!" Kai heard Hazumi said as he flew towards him. Hazumi wore a red t-shirt, with brown shorts and grey sandals. Kai could see his transparent form which made the blue sky behind him partially visible. "Kai, I've found an island!"

Kai managed a weak smile, causing his salt dried lips to develop painful splits. "Where is it?"

"Some distance over there!" Hazumi pointed his see-through finger to the horizon. "A short swim and you should get there."

Kai groaned and allowed his head to fall back onto the barrel. "Hazumi, I'm too tired to do any swimming. Just push me there."

"Come on, Kai!"

"No! I haven't eaten nor had a decent rest for two day and I've been in this water for so long that I suspect that my internal organs have wrinkles! I just… I just can't." Kai complained not bothering to lift his head to look at Hazumi.

"Come on brother." Hazumi said as his hands began glowing silver making them tangible. "You want to survive don't you? Survival is going to need you to work for it!" Hazumi began pushing his brother forward. "Just hang in there!"

/

Kai looked up and saw the land mass getting closer. Hazumi was able to reach the island and push him onto the beach. Kai gratefully crawled over from the wet sand to the much drier sand. He gratefully collapsed onto his back and looked up to the clear blue sky.

"I have never been so happy to be on sweet dry land." Kai weakly said before his stomach began growling. "Now all I need is some food."

"Yes but first, you should take off your clothes." Hazumi said as he pushed the barrel Kai had been floating on further inland.

"What?" Kai said turning over and thus turning his back on his brother. "I'm not taking my clothes off in front of you, pervert."

"Come now, Kai." Hazumi said. "It's not healthy for you to sit with wet clothes. You need to take them off and leave them to dry out."

"Fine." Kai said before he peeled his wet clothes of his body and laid them on the sandy ground to dry. He was down to his red underwear. He began walking away with his back slouched forward. "I think I'm going to find some food before I take a Sayian-level nap."

"What's a Sayian?" Hazumi asked as he floated next to Kai.

"I don't know. I'm so hungry that I'm talking nonsense." Kia said. "If I can find some meat or even a single vegetable, man… I'd be so happy." Kai looked out to the very small island. It would not take longer than a few seconds to walk to the other side. It could only support a single tree which curved to the side as it reached for the sky. The island was a small oval shaped landmass with sharp pointed rocks along some of its circumference. Kai looked up at the tree, shielding his eyes from the sun. He groaned, "I'm too tired to climb the tree. See if you can find something to eat at the top of it, Hazumi."

"What's the magic word?" Hazumi said folding his arms over his chest as he looked at his brother as he dragged his feet along the ground.

"Now." Kai said.

Hazumi shook his head. "Remember, his on the edge of death. You can kill him after his returned to full health." Hazumi said as he floated up the tree.

"I'm going to see if I can find anything on the beach!" Kai reached the end of the island where jagged rocks stood. He looked in between them hoping to find molluscs or muscles or any living being to feed upon. One of the sharp rocks cut his seeking palm. Kai withdrew his hand and looked at the blood as it seeped from his cut. "Man, these rocks are sharp!" Kai said to his brother.

"Strange, this tree doesn't seem to grow any fruit." Hazumi said to his brother while rubbing his chin. "In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a tree like this before."

"And there is no food near the shore." Kai said walking back inland.

Hazumi floated down along the tree, analysing it. Its stem looked like the stem of the banana trees one would sometimes see on tropical climates but the pattern of the bark seemed slightly off and the leaves looked too short. Maybe it's some kind of mutated tree? Hazumi wondered as he floated to the ground where his brother was on his knees, looking tired.

"What should we do?" Kai asked.

"You can try to drill into the tree." Hazumi said. "Maybe its inner parts and sap is edible."

"Why not?" Kai said crawling closer to the tree on hands and knees.

"I'll look under the sea." Hazumi said as he flew past his brother. "Maybe I can catch a fish for you."

/

Hazumi dove under the water. He did not make a splash or disturbed the water as he was still intangible. Peering down into the blue depths, he did not see a single fish. He dived even deeper not content to give up yet. He suddenly stopped when he noticed something strange about the submerged part of the island. His eyes went wide with shock and fear. "No… This island… its… I've got to warn Kai!"

Meanwhile on the surface of the island, Kai picked up a rock and went back to the only tree. He winded the his hand back with the rock in hand. Just after he shot his hand forward to hack into the tree he heard Hazumi shout, "Stop!" as he emerged from the ground waving his arms but it was too late as Kai could not stop himself even if he wanted to. The sharp stone cut into the tree bark and then the island began to shake.

"What's going on?" Kai said as the shaking island threw him onto his back.

"We need to get off this thing!" Hazumi said. "Corporal Mode!" Hazumi's body burst into visible, glowing silver light. His clothes disappeared; his green eyes turned white, pupil and all, and his hair turned into a wisp like smoke rising from his head. Hazumi was now visible as a silver humanoid. Hazumi, in his new form, grabbed Kai and flew up.

Kai's eyes opened wide as the island began folding in half, threatening to trap them within its folds. "Wait, what about my clothes?" As if on que, his clothes fell off the rising part of the island and fell on his face. The island was still closing in on them from all around. "Come on come on come on!" Kai desperately said as the two sides of the island came closer and closer together with them being in the middle. Hazumi was able to fly out just in time as the two folding sides of the island slammed shut!

Kai looked back at the island, which looked like a giant black clam sticking out of the water, with its mouth pointed to the sky.

"What is that?" Kai said looking at the formation.

"It's a Sea Beast." Hazumi said in his ghost like voice. "My guess is that it's a predator which lies in wait for any living being to wander into its mouth, camouflaged like an island. It then snaps its mouth shut, devouring anyone who is unfortunate enough to be on it."

"It's a good thing we escaped then." Kai said.

"Yes, we should be safe now."

The Clam Sea Beast turned its mouth down to reveal its black eyes and proportionally small body, compared to its clam like head. Its body however was still very big. It opened its mouth to reveal the sharp rocks were like teeth and out came the tree or now as they realised, its tongue! The tongue extended to the two brothers like a chameleon catching flies.

"Hazumi, look out…" Kai said before Hazumi looked back at the tree-like tongue speedily heading there way. Hazumi dropped Kai before the tongue struck him in the back. The adhesive surface ensured that Hazumi could nt escape as he was dragged into the Sea Beast's mouth.

Kai fell into the water below with a splash. He resurfaced after a few seconds, only to not see his brother anywhere. "Hazumi?" He shouted out. Realising what had probably happened to his brother, he began swimming underwater to get away from the Sea Beast. However, as he did not have time to prep for a deep water swim and the fact that he was panicking, he ran out of air and was forced to re-surface. He began doing a butterfly swim, not daring to stop to look back or mourn the loss of his brother.

If he had turned around he would have seen the monster swimming after him. The sea beast opened its mouth and out shot its extending tongue. It grabbed Kai, with its green tree leaves-like wrapping around his ribs and pulling him out of the water and into its mouth kicking and screaming. Seconds later, Kai was deposited into the beast's mouth where he was slowly being pushed back to the throat.

Kai struggled, trying not to be swallowed as he travelled closer to the euglena and into the oesophagus. Kai phased out from the bottom of the pink mouth and was surprised to see Kai there. "Kai?"

Kai kept struggling but acknowledged his brother. "Hazumi, you're still alive?!"

"What are you doing here?" Hazumi asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I was bored with my life and decided to take a vacation IN A MONSTER'S MOUTH!" Kai shouted. "I got eaten, you i***t!"

"Not yet. Partial Corporal Mode: Arms!" Hazumi's arms glowed with silver light which partially illuminated the dimly lit mouth. He grabbed on to his brother and helped him fight being swallowed. "I don't think we can fight this thing for long!" Hazumi said, noting that nO matter how much they tried, Kai was still getting swallowed. "You need to make a forcefield!"

"It won't help me not to get swallowed!" Kai said.

"If it's big enough it will." Hazumi said. "You can jam its food or air pathways!"

Kai understood the plan now and tangled his fingers before humming at a high pitch.

"Focus, Kai." Hazumi said, his voice sounding strained. "You can do it. Focus on your humming and internal vibrations. Focus on activating your ability."

A blue sphere began growing from Kai's body as his humming sounded calmer. The forcefield dome was so big that it stalled Kai's movement and sat atop the throat.

"Good, you did it Kai!" Hazumi said, relieved. His silver corporal arms disappeared.

Kai opened his eyes. "Now what do we do?"

Hazumi had not thought things through this far. Now that his brother was not going to get swallowed, he needed a way to help him escape the sea beasts' mouth.

Outside the Clam Sea Beast could feel the obstruction onto its airways. It began making a hurling motion in an attempt to free the obstruction. It gave one last hurl and was able to shoot Kai out of its mouth. Kai sailed through the sea and skidded across the blue water like a skipping stone before his forcefield dissipated and he fell through into the water. Kai resurfaced and looked around for his brother. With his barrel being eaten by the monster, he now had to rely on himself to stay afloat.

"Hazumi! Hazumiiiiii!" He shouted out as salt water would get into mouth and he'd have to cough it out.

Kai floated for a few minutes. His body already feeling tired. His arms and legs began to ache and he found himself failing to stay afloat. He began losing the battle to keep his head above water and was swallowing a large amount of it. His head eventually submerged and he slowly sank down. Bubbles escaped from his mouth as he resigned himself to dying in this watery grave. His vision, that was being blinded by the salt water, began blurring into darkness as death pulled him ever closer to the end. Suddenly a pair of silver arms thrust into the water and forcefully dragged him out onto the surface.

Kai coughed out water as he looked gratefully at his brother's transparent form.

"Hey, little bro." Hazumi said.

"Where's… Where's the Sea Beast?" Kai said recovering his breath.

"It's probably looking for easier prey." Hazumi said smiling at his brother.

"Good, lets avoid small islands with single trees from now on."

"Agreed!" Hazumi said.

"We lost the barrel, so you'll carry me to Oblik Town where we'll meet dad."

"What's the magic word?" Hazumi asked.

"Now." Kai simply said.

Hazumi groaned as he disappeared into the horizon carrying his brother.