Colin emerged into a scene of total mayhem.
"That's…!" he began when Kirin tugged him down with a wing just in time to avoid a stray stream of fire.
The arena was melting and burning at the same time. Colin didn't know how else to describe it. There was a Frenzied Purple Drake blasting away indiscriminately and its venom had gotten strong enough to melt stone.
Meanwhile, the Lords of the Wilds were scattering. Colin was in shock when he saw them running in all directions. {There are hundreds of them… surely… surely the Lords… surely Casiphia…}
But no. Even as he stared, he saw why the Lords were on the move. They weren't fleeing from the drake, he realized. They were going towards battle, to fight another foe, this one from outside the walls, from outside Nakama World itself. {The Green Men are here too. They're sending their bigger Flying Saucers to the top. The small ones down below can't compare…}
"Over here." Casiphia said from one side. Colin spun to see her standing in what was best described as a war room, in front of a 3D projection of Skycrown Mountain with all the forts highlighted. With her were the Lord of the Stormcats (her Comrade, Raiki's dad), the Lord of the Calculowls, a Comrade that looked like a walking comms booth, Phillip, and his blue bunny.
"Cass, the Frenzied…" Colin began.
"Leave it to Sora." Casiphia said, eyeing the projection. She glanced to Phillip. "What do you think?"
"I think Big Tim is in trouble." Phillip said. "Little Tim, Makoto and Benny don't have much to worry about, and Sora has all the Lords of the Wilds here, but Big Tim will have to hold out with what little he has until his forces from here arrive… and afterward, they'd have the toughest enemies to deal with."
"What are you talking about? The biggest saucers are up here!" Colin pointed.
"Those are B-Swoops. Air Superiority types." Casiphia explained.
Phillip saw the confused look on Colin's face and explained. "They were designed to shoot down other flyers. They're not much better than the drones below."
"Drones? What drones?" Colin blinked.
Satrox's voice floated up to Colin from the walking comms unit Comrade. "That's not important right now. The question is whether Big Tim can hold out for two hours. I don't think he can. What does he have at Icegate?"
"The caretakers of Icegate, some Travelers and those who wanted to see the Tournament but couldn't make it any farther." Phillip guessed.
"In short, the weakest bunch of the lot." Satrox said.
Colin joined Casiphia and Phillip at the projection and glanced over it. He saw the throng of people going down the Mountain, trading shots with passing Saucers as they went down. Some of the faster ones had made it to Skygate already. He noted several named blips on that projection; Sora, Malcolm, Benny, Makoto, Little Tim, Big Tim, Ezri… and Ian, who was leaving the area entirely.
"I'm reading a lot more people and Comrades at Icegate than I expected. Some of them look surprisingly strong." Phillip told Satrox through the comms.
"Really? Who are they?" Satrox asked.
"It's the Celestial Comrade Home." Colin explained. "It crashed just outside Icegate."
"That's such a waste!" Katrin's voice sounded over Satrox's comms.
"No, it's good." Satrox contradicted. "They've got some top-of-the-line Comrades there and a whole bunch of experienced Breeders. I think that will do it. They can hold Icegate, at least an hour."
"The question is whether they can hold two hours." Phillip paused. He glanced at Casiphia, but she said nothing. He cleared his throat. "What about Shinji and the other Wind Knights? Can they bring reinforcements?"
"The Cult has us surrounded. On top of that, they can't fly any higher than Icewind." Katrin reminded him. "But if the Travelers with the big front-line Comrades can make it that far on foot, they can ferry them down to Icegate from there."
Meanwhile, Casiphia was staring at Snowy, and Snowy was staring right back. Casiphia said softly. "You want to take over?"
Snowy whined and lowered her head.
"So that's why the Lord of the White Wolfcats did not come." Casiphia said in a voice too low for the comms to carry over to Satrox and Katrin. "But Snowy, if I make you the new Lord, Cragwatcher and all who do not acknowledge you will vanish from Nakama World."
Colin froze. {Wait. WHAT?!}
Snowy whined again. She shook her head, backed away, but she looked trapped, desperate. Shiro went over to her and nudged her with his nose. She whimpered.
"How can you ask her to do that?" Colin asked, in just as low a voice. "If it means the end of her friends, of her clan…"
"Half her clan." Casiphia corrected, still in a soft voice.
[Most of it.] Shiro sighed. [There are barely a dozen of us left still willing to accept bonds with humans.]
[But this is the core of Nakama World.] Casiphia pointed out in a calm manner. She was neutral in this, neither eager nor hesitant, neither angry nor sad. [If they will not abide by its ways, they have no place here.]
[Then what place DO they have? What do they have left?] Colin asked.
Casiphia paused. [They have options yet. Some may end up Frenzied, and will have to be Sealed… or at least banished to the Uber Marshes.]
[And who ultimately decides what happens to them?] Colin dared ask.
Alicia, who had been watching them quietly until now, finally raised her head and glanced at Casiphia questioningly.
[They do.] Casiphia answered. [All I can do now is confirm the Lord of the White Wolfcats. Everything else will follow the systems of Nakama World. Their fates at that point will be entirely up to them.]
Snowy shrank back some more. [I can't… I know we have to, but… I… I can't!]
Shiro growled. [Snowy…]
"Fine." Casiphia said, and grabbed a white tail. "You're the Lord of the White Wolfcats!"
Snowy froze. Shiro froze. Colin froze. Alicia's jaw dropped.
[Wait! That's the wrong tail!] Shiro protested. [That's MY tail!]
It didn't matter. Already, Shiro began to change, to swell in size. Colin could feel his First Comrade growing in power right in front of him, much the same way as Frenzieds grew in power after Abandoning their Travelers, except this wasn't a matter of going insane. This was a matter of being entrusted with one of the most important positions of power in Nakama World.
[It's not the wrong tail.] Casiphia said, sounding a bit smug about it. She went back to the projection of the battle.
[But!] Shiro protested. [Snowy was supposed to… to…]
Snowy wagged her tail, nosed him playfully. [My lord.]
"Yip!" Shiro barked in abject protest. [WHY?!]
[She didn't want the job, though she knew it was necessary. You knew it was necessary too… except you didn't make any objections.] Alicia pointed out. [Casiphia didn't need the daughter of the last Lord. She just needed a white wolfcat.]
Colin gulped. [So… now that Shiro is the Lord of the White Wolfcats, what's going to happen to him? And what's going to happen to the rest of the White Wolfcats?]
***
At the bottom of the mountain, the event at the top had some downright startling consequences.
It began with a howling unlike any wolfcat howl Big Tim had heard in all his years as a Mountaineer. It chilled his blood, especially when he saw what made the sound. There were at least a dozen of them right there in front of him, scattered across the horizon fighting Breeders or Green Men or the defenders of Icegate… it didn't seem to matter to any of those white Wilds, but now… now…
"They're going Frenzied!" Breeder Andrea shrieked. The overseer of the Celestial Comrade Home started running for the safety of the fort. "All of them at the same time! Everybody, RUN!"
Big Tim grunted. This job just got tougher and tougher.
***
Little Tim, arriving at Icegard, found himself facing what was supposed to be the Green Men's 'smaller' Saucers. Oddly enough, the smallest of those saucers were at least thrice the size of his biggest heavy flyers.
"Why did they send me here?" Little Tim wondered. "Why didn't they ask Ezri to take command of this place and let me lead those running away?!"
They were big, they were really, really tough and there were lots of them. Little Tim was there all alone; either nobody was quick enough to reach Icegard as quickly as he had, or nobody was coming to help him after all. He felt that someone, somewhere had messed up and accidentally gave him the toughest job on the list.
"Why me?" Little Tim cried for a moment, and then straightened. "No, no, this is no good. They're counting on me to keep these Saucers from reaching the top. I can't destroy them or stop them… but maybe I can slow them down."
He tapped his badge and warped in his Comrades. Cloud Columni and their kind, mostly. A Mist Wraith. A Mountain Wisp. Semi-substantials, all of them.
"I need fog." He told them. "I need to confuse all of them until they can't fly straight any more… I need thicker fog above, thinner fog towards us… that way, we'll be the bright side and they'll think this way is 'up'. I want them all flying straight for the mountain and crashing into it. Can we do that?"
They weren't too sure at first. Little Tim wasn't the most confident of Mountaineers and none of his Comrades were more confident than he was. All of them were blown every which way in the wind. But they knew that others were counting on them, and they knew that the Princess and the rest believed in them.
So they tried. They did what they could to do just what Little Tim ordered.
And to their surprise, they actually succeeded.
***
At the bottom of the Mountain, Big Tim was trying to save the Breeders from Frenzied White Wolfcats while gigantic mechanical spiders tried climbing the cliffs and tanks started bombing his fort from afar. Green Men were marching on his position when suddenly, someone dropped a Flying Saucer on them.
"Wha-?" Breeder Andrea gasped beside him as the thing landed smack on top of a platoon of Green Men on the way toward them.
They blinked at it for a moment, completely bewildered as to the nature of this phenomenon when a second Saucer fell out of the sky and squished an offending tank. Big Tim couldn't make head or tail of it; it wasn't shot down by anything he could think of; there were no scorch-marks, bite-marks, claw-marks or other such Comrade-related attack signatures. Instead, on one side, it looked quite… flattened. It was as if the Saucer had crashed at full speed into something very, very big, and very, very hard.
And then one of the falling Saucers tried to make a crash-landing only to slide, swerve, and ram into Icegate's third North Defense Turret.
Big Tim groaned as one quarter of his north-side firepower went poof. "This job just keeps getting tougher and tougher."
***
Makoto, at Icewind, the next fort above Little Tim's, was setting up a firing line. He had asked for light artillery, but so far, only two others had arrived at his position and volunteered to join the defense of Icewind. One of them had Spiky Ostritches, more of a short-range spread-fire solution and not much help out here, but the other one had a varied mix of support types, several of whom could boost a Comrade's attack speed and projectile attack strengths.
"Great!" Makoto beamed and showed her to his Kinebulletons. "Long-range projectile attacks are my specialty!"
There were others coming down the mountain towards them. Not many, not yet, Makoto guessed. Most of them were still around Skygate.
In the meantime, there were some 'smaller' Flying Saucers harrying the trail up and down. Makoto decided it was high time they made it easier for reinforcements to get to them.
"That one!" Makoto pointed, and his Comrades opened fire with all the boosted attack strength granted to them by that girl and her support-type Comrades.
The Saucer tumbled a bit when the shots hit. It wobbled. It hesitated.
And then it turned to Makoto and started firing.
"Get to cover!" Makoto yelled and leapt for safety.
The Saucer charged, intent on closing in at short range.
"NOW!" the boy with the Spiky Ostritches shouted. His Comrades unleashed a storm of spikes spraying wildly in the general direction of the Saucer. There were a lot of them, they hit hard and though completely inaccurate, the size of the Saucer, added to the sheer amount of spikes being fired, ensured that it got hurt. Bad.
{That must be what a fox feels when a porcupine smacks it in the nose with quills. Those Spiky Ostritches are half-porcupine, after all. Except their spikes are much tougher.} Makoto thought, suddenly gaining a huge appreciation for his other ally at Icewind. "Ready second volley! Keep hitting that Saucer!"
Meanwhile, other Saucers were getting past them, but there was nothing Makoto could do to stop them. It was all his forces and fort could do to take on just one of them. At least, until more people arrived.
"There's not much we can do." Makoto muttered. "But by honor, we'll do our best. As always."
"As always." The girl nodded, and Makoto gave her a surprised blink. {How would she know whether I've always…}
"Get down!" she grabbed him and pulled him down as the Saucer started praying green bolts all over the place.
{Fight first. Ask questions later.} Makoto thought, but took a good look at her face so he'd remember her when it was all over. {But I'm definitely going to ask. For sure.}