Our story now continues with Sharaletta and her team, and our heroes are headed toward the Alaskan lands. As hours of flying pass, Aaron becomes bored and tries walking toward Akaio to attempt to have a closer friendship with her. "Hey, Mrs. Akaio, how are you doing this beautiful evening? It feels nice outside with the wind blowing in your face." Aaron asks and states kindly to her. Akaio remains calm and looks at him, "Why yes, Aaron, I'm doing pretty well today. Also, yes it does feel nice outside today, I wish I could experience it without fearing heights and fast-moving planes with your head out the window kind of deal, he-he." Aaron asks and states kindly to Akaio. Akaio remains calm and looks at him, "Why yes, Aaron, I'm doing pretty well today.
Moreover, yes it does feel nice outside today, I wish I could experience it without fearing heights and fast-moving planes with your head out the window, he-he." She responds to him cheerfully. Aaron then sits next to her to begin his conversation; he looks at her eyes, finds her pink eyes wonderfully beautiful, and compliments her on them. She finds his comments sweet and delightful but tries not to get too deeply attached to him; Akaio doesn't want to risk becoming vulnerable and hurt. She feared being used by men and did all she could to avoid tension uprisings; Aaron noticed she was more engrossed in her art and asked her, "Akaio, is everything okay? It seems like something is bothering you internally. Is there something you'd like to talk about?" Akaio remains plain and straightforward with her response and treats it like nothing, "Nah, I'm all good here, Aaron. Nothing on the brain here."
Aaron finds her behavior disputable but decides to move forward from his concerns about her and discusses his experience of the journey he had made up to his current time. Akaio listened to him but still distanced herself from close contact with him. She found his character and attitude fascinating, she tried to lean in carefully, "That's really great to hear Aaron, I'm glad you are having a great time as a knight; however, I wouldn't necessarily call this time we're in fun. However, I know where you're coming from on your statement." She said to him caringly. Aaron then asked her about her motivation to join the knights; this caused her to shrink slightly at his question, "Well, Aaron, I decided to join the knights when I found my close and what feels like my sister, Sesakayla, and me and she was homeless, due to our parents disowning us both. I don't particularly appreciate discussing this, although you were never informed about our past. I do not hold it against you, Aaron. Me and her had a rough and difficult past when we were in Tokyo, Japan. We had to steal food to survive, sleep in old abandoned vehicles, sleep in dumpsters, and do many other ways of surviving on the streets. Then we both found a flyer that led to the knights, and here we are now." Aaron then grew grievous for her pain of the past and grew tender-hearted toward her; he then noticed her eyes were swallowed back into her drawing and was focused on the details of her sketch. He then listened to her voice and her humming from her low Bluetooth music speaker, he found her voice to be attractive and charming and said to her, "You have a very wonderful voice Akaio. I like it."
Akaio then giggles and smiles at his compliment but then denies it, "Aww... thank you so much, Aaron. I appreciate your sweet compliment there. I see what you mean, but I'm not entirely convinced. Not to be rude to you, but I can't see my voice being anywhere close to being nice sounding. I'm sluggish with my words and don't like how it sounds, personally." Aaron then becomes shocked at her response, and his eyes are enlarged and jaw-dropped. Akaio couldn't understand the reasoning behind his response, so he said, "What? I disagree with my voice; it's all weird and sluggish. Most people I've talked to usually turn off my voice and avoid me. I do have a birth defect and all, so my voice isn't the clearest. I'm flattered by your honesty, but I beg to differ. Sorry, I don't mean to offend you or anything." Aaron then responds with his thoughts about her, "Your voice doesn't have to sound perfect or clear. I find it perfect and don't have any issues with how you talk. I hope you understand. I've never liked anyone talking down on themselves, and I try to do everything possible to make him or her happy and comfortable. Furthermore, I don't like that you talked down on yourself like that." Akaio felt nervous around him and looked down with her eyes slightly shut; she then reassured him. The two talk and made conversation for a while, they talk to each other about many topics while listening to her long playlist of early 2000s rock music.
Aaron then decided to ask Akaio a question about a date to better their relationship; however, Akaio replied kindly, "Aaron, I really think you're a great guy, but I sadly will have to decline your offer for the date. I'm sorry, but I have too many plans to do after this is over. Most of my plans are to further my knowledge of my profound interest. I think there's a girl out there for you. I've also had a terrible dating past as well. I've had many instances where I was abused mentally and physically. I don't think you'd do that, but I'm keeping myself safe." Aaron understood her pain and didn't pressure her any further, "No problem... I understand your point. I think we could be great friends, on the other hand." Then on the intercom, Sharaletta announces to everyone about their destination that was soon to arrive.
Aaron then left the room and rushed to the front of the ship deck to see Sharaletta; Aaron reported first, front, and center to his captain. 30 minutes later, our heroes arrive in the cold, freezing, frosty lands of Alaska, they then open the hatch of the ship and only their worst experience of cold weather had engulfed them whole. "Aight everybody, we gona be headed north for about 45 minutes, there we'll remind the chief leader of the village that we're here to begin our search for the stone. Let's all be on our best behavior now and stay positive. I know it be alil chilli out here, but stay strong now." Sharaletta announced to them proudly. The six then moved quickly through the thick snow and windy plains of the Alaskan land to reach out to the chief about their arrival; the people in the village had no association or trust with any travelers who came out toward the mountains that looked down on the villages around.
The weather started to worsen as our heroes traversed further toward the people in the villages; twenty-five minutes in, our heroes persisted in their push. Back at our heroes' ship were two uninvited guests who tagged along with their travel, Lewis and Mikalah. "Hurry and track them, and let me know what they're sayin. This is supposedly where the Heartlin stone lies, up in the mountain. I need to know what it is they're up to." Lewis commanded Mikalah. She then scopes in on Sharaletta and her team to hear their conversations that could be held on their walk. Mikalah then shoots a small audio drone near some buildings to pick up their audio, Lewis was confused at her choices to shoot and questioned her, "What are you doin, you're not to take any shots until I command. I ought to-." He asked her but was then interrupted by her, "You trust me, you know little, I know far more. Your mouth babbles much. I shoot a shot into the wall to hear the conversation as requested. Now, quiet, would you." Mikalah rudely answers Lewis's continuous panic. Mikalah shot her shots into the village walls, which was her guess of where the knights would head to; her bullets were programmed with built-in microphones to pick up audio from nearby voices and voices from far distances. Then, the two waited until the knights arrived in the village to proceed with their evil operation. Back to Sharaletta and her team, 20 minutes later, our heroes had finally arrived in the village hidden in the frozen weather of Alaska.
Sharaletta then walked up to the road map street signs, spotted the main office direction sign, alerted her team, and guided them. Then, one of Mikalah's bullet audio sensors began to pick up voices, and she listened closely to them but failed to retrieve any vital information. Sharaletta and her team continued to walk toward their primary destination, and the entire town was empty. The team felt the village was deserted, like a ghost town with lights still shining throughout the city. Eventually, the knights reached their building and were ordered to approach before any significant operations. Sharaletta then knocked on the door four times and waited; a few seconds passed, and there came no response. She then hit another four times, but it was much more complex this time.
"Hello! Is anyone home? We are the Knights of Asalikith and have come here to retrieve the Heartlin Stone." Sharaletta shouted at the door in the hope someone would answer the call. Some time passed, and there remained no response from anyone in the office building until the overnight worker awoke to the sound of banging on the door. He then rushed over to the door and revealed himself to the people at the door, "Sorry, thanks for being patient, everyone. Who are you people, and what is your business here? Oh, wait a minute. You're the Knights of Asalikith, aren't you?"
The overnight shift worker said to them out of surprise. Sharaletta explained their plans to the man, the man was hesitant about their request to rest on the mountain further out from them and denied their request, Sharaletta and her team grew disappointed in this response from the man. She accepted his answer and ended their conversation shortly after to return to their ship before the weather became worse. Mikalah and Lewis then obtained their information and returned to their hiding place, "So, they are going to rest for the night and make haste for the stone first thing tomorrow, eh? Well, we'll be a step ahead of them beforehand." Lewis stated. Mikalah disagreed with his plan and proposed another idea she felt was better than his own, "No, No, NO! That plan will not work, you brainless fool. We ambush them while the captain takes the stone, and we take the stone and leave. Must I make all the plans, dummy?" Mikalah rudely replied to him. Lewis then ordered her retreat instantly, and the two vanished into the unknown as our heroes traveled back through the thick and freezing weather of the Alaskan region. Later on, our heroes returned to their ship to rest since it had become late at night, Sharaletta had gathered everyone abroad the ship and closed the door shut.
She then looked over at Akaio, taking her thick sweater off, and said to her, "Akaio girl, imma need you to come up with a little shield that could keep us from getting them nasty frostbites; I feel my silly self gonna end up with too many of them. Would ya mind, girl?" Akaio had prepared a unique ability for this kind of moment and turned to her and replied confidently, "I already got our butts covered, cap, no need to fear. It'll be way less painful tomorrow. I can apply a protective shield over everyone using any elements; however, I'll need a sample of something like fire. Taski is nowhere close to us, though, so all I can do is protect us from intense frostbite or any other damage." Sharaletta then developed an idea in her mind, she schemed to partially steal Taski's flame ability temporary. She giggled and responded to Akaio, "Girl, look, I got you covered. I know just the trick that'll do it; lemme take that for a second." Sharaletta had a secondary ability that was used to temporarily use another individuals' ability, she had never really used this or told many people about this. She then snatches Taski's flame aura off his ability force, and Taski could feel this happening to him as she did so. She then holds his flame in her hand and places it into Akaio's hands, and thus, Akaio produces a flaming shield for everyone to keep for warmth.
Over to Taski's side, his body temperature dropped quickly, "God, what the heck?! My body feels so cold. What's going on?" Back to Sharaletta, Akaio, and the rest of her team; Sharaletta then returns Taski's flame to him and giggles uncontrollably. Akaio couldn't understand Shara's reason for her chuckling; she didn't bother her moment of joy and then walked off to her room for the night. Thus, our heroes rested for the rest of the cold and dark night and were determined to conclude their mission the next day. As for Lewis and Mikalah, the two stayed hidden deep in the ship's bottom interior until their perfect strike moment had arrived; our heroes were prepared and ready for anything.