"Katrin?"
"Colin. The ships are ready." She told him.
"Great. The transport's just landed at Maro Airport. Two hundred Wilds are coming your way."
They were making quite a scene, Colin noted. Lynn was leading the way, with Nightwind and Fenrix. The Wilds followed her, beavers, moles, squirrels and Megants all, compliments of the Lords of Sunshine Forest, one of whom was the Megant Queen.
{That's roughly fifty of each kind. I'll need to make sure they don't get Tamed too quickly and pick out their new Lords…}
People were screaming and running the moment they saw that exodus, but nobody was panicked enough to attack. They saw Lynn, they knew who she was, and felt obliged to wait and see if she actually commanded an attack on anyone the way that Forester of Lamico was rumored to do.
Colin grimaced. {People would probably start attacking if they knew that was me.}
But Colin, running alongside a full-sized Shiro, didn't attract as much attention as Satrox on his Pegasus, with both Chimera at his sides. People seemed to recognize the Sage of the Ancient Ways and relaxed when they saw him riding along peacefully.
Clearly, there was no danger here.
Katrin was waiting for them at the Seaport, on board the first of four long dark blue ships. "What took you so long?"
"The Air Transport captain had some security issues. Protection for the inner wiring and stuff like that. I guess he didn't trust the squirrels." Colin told her.
Katrin laughed as dozens of those squirrels, pink and yellow and green and brown and gray and blue all scurried onto the loading platforms of the Maro Seaport. The beavers and moles followed, and then the Megants, marching in straight rows under the command of a single Princess Megant and five Drones.
{No question of who's going to be the Lord of the Lamico Megants there.} Colin mused. {As for the beavers, I think I saw three Purple ones. The moles and squirrels are going to be a bit harder to decide from. Do they even have nobles?}
He asked Lynn about them.
"For the squirrels, it's their tails." Lynn explained. "Look for those with two white streaks in their tails. The mole nobles have markings on their bellies that look like shields. But why bother looking? Why not just ask them to show up?"
"I can do that?" Colin blinked.
"Sure you can."
Colin settled the easy issue first. He called to the princess Drone. She let out a short whir of a question. [What will you have of my colony?]
"Board the first ship, please." Colin said. "There may be trouble on the seas, so prepare to defend yourselves. Long-range attacks, if you can."
[Of course.] she answered, and in moments, formations of ants were marching up the first ship.
"You're sending the ants with me?" Katrin grimaced. "I was hoping for the squirrels."
"They're the best at long-range attacks, I think." Colin said. "Remember their spit?"
"Oh. Yeah." Katrin nodded.
The squirrels offered four nobles, a yellow, a gray, a green and a blue. "Who's the best one to be the Lord?" he asked them.
All four of them raised their hands.
Colin sighed. "Shiro?"
"Yip." Shiro scratched his head. He turned to the four. "Yip?"
What followed next sounded like a group interview. Colin left them to it and approached the beavers. They sent out the three purple ones. He asked them the same question.
All three pointed to each other.
"Great." Colin groaned.
"The middle one." Lynn advised him. "He's got the most experience."
"Right." Colin nodded. "Well, then, please get your clan up the third ship!"
It sniffed at him.
"Wait." Lynn got down off Nightwind. She touched the middle Royal Beaver. "Lord of the Lamico Beavers, send forth your clan unto the third vessel! Onwards to your destiny!"
The Beaver puffed up. Colin stepped back as it suddenly grew three times bigger, then five times. Standing taller than Lynn now, it gave her a deep bow, and nodded to its clan. All of them scrambled onto the third ship in less time than it took for Shiro to finish interviewing the squirrels.
"I didn't know there was a ceremony." Colin said.
"I have to touch the new Lords and call them by their new title." Lynn explained. "That's all it takes. But for the ants, we better wait for the princess Megant and her drones to settle down in their new home first. She's doesn't move as easily as a queen."
"Oh."
The moles sent out twenty nobles.
"The biggest one." Lynn advised. "Most of them already listen to him all the time."
The big brown mole became five feet taller than Lynn when she pronounced him the Lord of the Lamico Forest Moles. They scrambled onto the fourth ship just as Shiro concluded his interviews.
Of the four squirrel nobles, only one remained standing. Of the other three, the green was sitting down holding its head, the yellow was face down and unconscious on the floor, and the blue just lying on its back.
"What did you do to them?" Colin asked, staring.
"Yip." Shiro said innocently. [Just asked them some questions.]
"Guess that means the gray one's the smartest." Colin figured.
"Yip." Shiro barked a laugh. [The gray and the blue were about equal, but the gray's wiser.]
Lynn patted it on the head. "Congratulations, Lord of the Lamico Forest Squirrels."
This one zoomed up to about Lynn's height also, and let his clan into the second ship.
"You know," Colin mused. "The new Lords aren't as big as the others."
"Give them some time." Lynn advised. "Now, go on. Your forest awaits its new clans."
Colin waved farewell as she left and called Iylara.
"Ocean Princess, we're ready to move."
Iylara's response was immediate. Out from the sea, great Green Sharks arose, whole formations of giant four-winged gulls overhead, and in the very front, the lurking shape of a dread creature known as a Kraken.
"Wow." Katrin said. "Talk about an escort."
Colin saw it and sighed. "I hope that's enough."
"Enough?" Katrin stared. "That looks like a force to sink an entire fleet."
"Katrin…" Colin said, "You haven't seen Scopia in action."
The largest of the four-winged gulls swooped down to Colin and called out in greeting. [Noble One! I am Maelstream, Lord of the Quadwing Gulls!]
[I am Colin.] Colin answered. [I welcome your clan to our ranks.]
This pleased the huge bird.
"Uh… Colin…?" Katrin looked up at the bird's claws, each one big enough to grab her by the waist. "It's not going to eat us, is it?"
"I think he's the leader of the escort." Colin told her. "I sort of asked the Ocean Princess for help getting us across the sea, remember? She sent Maelstream and all these."
"Okay… if you say so." Katrin gulped. "I don't know what a seagull has to do with sharks and a giant octopus, but…"
A laughing roar sounded from beside the ship. [He does not command my kind.]
Colin glanced down, at an enormous green shark, a creature larger than the entire ship he and Katrin were on. "You must be the one who commands the sharks, then."
It roared back in agreement. [I am Deepcurrent.]
"Welcome." Colin answered. "What about the Kraken?"
The shark roared another laugh. [He goes where he wills.]
"Okay…" Colin gulped. "Well, we're off."
***
The voyage went quietly for half the way there before the Scopic Pirates made their move.
"Whoa, Colin." Satrox whistled. "You really went and did it this time."
Colin gulped. "Is that… them?"
It seemed like an armada was mustered against them, along with a cloud of flyers and enough sea creatures to churn the waters.
"See that mass of green in front of us, directly blocking our way?" Satrox nudged him. "Look familiar to you?"
Colin sighed. "It's her. It's definitely her."
"And she's all ready to greet you." Satrox nodded. "Looks like she brought out everything she's got."
"Can we talk her out of this?" Colin asked.
"I don't think so. Ships this heavily guarded means something valuable. Even if they weren't, letting you past without being bribed to do it just isn't her style. She's all ready for a fight, and by golly, she's going to get one."
"You sound like you're enjoying this." Colin accused him.
"Avast, matey!" Satrox winked and took off on Noble.
Colin growled. "Sound the alert! All ships, all Wilds, prepare for battle! Long-range fighters on deck!"
The first blast from the pirates arced high overhead, a big ball of fire merrily headed right for Colin.
"And here I was hoping they'd talk first." Colin shook his head. He tapped his badge. "Kirin! Raiki!"
Colin's Storm Swan and cat appeared in a flash, warped in across from his Outpost Base on Lamico. They looked around, ready for combat.
"Yip!" Shiro told them. [Shoot down that fireball!]
"Kia!" Kirin called, and Raiki leapt onto her back. They took to the air. "Kirr!"
Maelstream turned to Kirin, hovering right beside her.
"Kirr!" she called to him, and gathered her powers.
A spray of tiny droplets leapt out of the sea, gathering into a stream of rain that swept up into the incoming fireball, extinguishing it in mid-air.
"Yip!" Shiro barked. [Charge!]
"Oh, scrap…!" Colin managed to gasp before every gull above him lunged forward into battle. Kirin and Raiki went with them. Colin gritted his teeth and tapped his badge. "Eclipse! Blackswirl! Glide!"
Colin's Shadow Hawks and Forktail Swallow appeared.
"Yip!" Shiro barked immediately. [Guard Kirin and Raiki!]
They swept off before Colin could say another word. Colin sighed and turned to Shiro. "Anything else you want?"
"Yip. Yip. Yip." Shiro answered. [The Falcons. The Owls. The Twig Lizards.]
"And how am I supposed to get them here?" Colin demanded.
"Yip." Shiro answered. [Summon them.]
"I can do that?!" Colin stared.
"Yiyip!" Shiro grinned. [Summon everyone!]
"I'm not going to call the Oakin!" Colin protested. "This ship's going to sink!"
"Yip…" Shiro winced. [Except them.]
Colin glanced back at the battle, seeing the pirates get closer. "Maybe I should wait until they start to board us before calling everyone. It could get crowded."
"Yip." [Right.] Shiro agreed. "Yiyiyip?" [Foxie, Cour and Ardent?]
Colin called them. Shiro put them on long-ranged defense, shooting down incoming attacks. All the ants, too, went on long-ranged defense.
"Why not attack them?" Colin asked, wondering.
Shiro nodded downwards.
Colin glanced down and gulped.
The green sharks were in formation below. Here in these clear waters, he saw far, far more than he'd seen in the murky waters around Maro Seaport.
"Shiro, why are the gulls attacking when the sharks aren't even moving?" Colin asked.
"Yip." [Wait.] Shiro told him with a grin.
Sonia barked a laugh.
"Since when did you get so cunning?" Colin grumbled.
Katrin was working hard, calling out orders so fast, Colin was afraid she'd bite her tongue. She saw the ants on defense and decided to take the offense herself.
Compared to the flurry of long-range attacks coming their way, however, Katrin's efforts looked rather tiny.
Fighting off the gulls, Scopia's pirates made a direct rush, confident of their superiority. Sea serpents, lurking eels, and fish with jaws three times bigger than the rest of their bodies were at the front of their direct attackers.
"Yiyip!" Shiro called, and the order was passed from bird to bird. The gulls pulled back.
This only served to make the pirates more confident. With bold voices, they started shouting threats and came at Colin's convoy with their entire fleets.
"Yip!" Shiro called down, and the sharks…
"Where are they going?!" Colin spluttered. "They're running away!"
"Yip." Shiro shook his head, grinning all the while.
Colin realized, then, what Shiro was doing. He gave the wolfcat a flat stare. "That's cruel. You're totally merciless."
"Yip!" Shiro barked, wagging his tail.
Raiki and Kirin were strafing the pirates' front lines with three-pronged lightning, compliments of Kirin's Triple Zap technique. They were taking more and more long-range fire from the pirate ships. Colin tapped his watch. "Kirin! Raiki! Get back here! Pull back!"
Eclipse, Blackswirl and Glide covered their retreat, and the Scopic Pirates charged onwards, leaving their slower forces behind for the sake of a quick kill.
"This is going to be messy." Colin told Katrin.
Katrin looked pale. "We're in trouble, aren't we?"
Colin shook his head. "We're fine. Those pirates are about to get completely wiped out."
"Really?" Katrin looked at him suspiciously.
"Well, as long as I don't get killed, that is." Colin figured.
Katrin's response was immediate. "Everybody! Protect Colin at all costs!"
Barks, growls and roars acknowledged her order and her Comrades formed up around Colin.
Sonia and Shiro exchanged glances, then shook their heads.
"What's the matter?" Katrin asked, looking a bit wild.
"Kat… these pirates have a habit of attacking for valuables." Colin sighed. "They'll spot anything specially guarded and attack it, just because it's better protected."
"Oh…" Katrin winced. "Sorry for making you a target. Okay, guys, back to ship defense."
Pirate flyers were coming in now, birds and bats and even a few big paper planes. Shiro barked and the gulls moved to intercept defensively.
"Yiyip!" Shiro barked at the squirrel ship.
The squirrels gathered into lines. Their new clan lord shouted orders and they made ready.
"Yiyip!" Shiro barked up at the sky, and the gulls pulled back. Freed from the interceptors, the pirate flyers lunged at the ships.
"Chiita!" the squirrel lord yelled, and fifty squirrels blasted the pirates out of the sky. Raiki, Sonia, and Colin's other Comrades joined the attack on the pirate flyers.
Shiro meanwhile, looked down at the first wave of the pirates' sea creatures approach. "Yip!"
The Kraken surged forward and struck. Black ink churned the waters, and long tentacles stretched out. Colin tried to see what was going on, but serpent, eel and tentacles all looked alike in that dark water. He had no clue what was happening.
"Yiyip!" Shiro barked.
The beavers, in the third ship, joined the attack on the Pirate flyers. The pirates' second wave of underwater creatures swam into the inky blackness Kraken created, and disappeared into that tangle as well.
"Should I call the lizards?" Colin asked. "They can help our Kraken underwater…"
"Yip!" Shiro shook his head. [Not yet.]
Satrox, meanwhile, had ignored the pirate flyers and was harrying the third wave of underwater attackers. Frost, especially, seemed to be causing a whole lot of trouble.
But the pirate ships themselves, loaded with ground-based forces, were getting near. They looked like they were about to ram Colin's ships.
"Frost!" Satrox called, and the Snow Owl moved. A line of ice formed up across the waves where the owl passed.
The pirates saw it. They changed course to pass by next to Colin's ships and prepared boarding ramps and swinging ropes instead.
"Yip." Shiro told Colin. "Yiyiyip."
Colin stared. "You want us to board them?"
"Yip!" Shiro nodded, grinning. He called to Kirin. "Yiyip!"
"Wait…!" Colin managed before Kirin swooped down, and swept him up. "WHOA!!"
{Kirin's flying… with me on her back! Colin realized. She's strong enough to carry me! I can FLY!}
"Cool!" Colin exclaimed, before Kirin dove down onto the deck of the nearest pirate ship.
He found himself face to face with the logger who swung at axe at his head before.
"Oh, scrap…" Colin said, as the logger's face lit up with absolute glee and he raised his axe.
Kirin blasted him with a triple zap, nowhere near as strong as it was without Raiki's power, but still fierce enough to send him back with a loud shout.
Colin tapped his badge. "Kyubia!"
And with a flash of light, the Lord of the Streak Foxes appeared.