~Chapter 7~338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllIK5lEmwA
The sun began to rise. After Cook and Chill were defeated by two 13-year old boys, the remaining bandits on the island fled to their smaller ships and fled.
Even whiled handcuffed; Cook could use his abilities to seriously hurt people. But there was one place they could throw him that would be safe.
Cook had a furnace that he used to bask in heat. Aero tossed the cruel Mecarne into his furnace and locked him in there. Corri giggled when she heard him shouting, demanding they release him. They loaded the furnace onto Cook and Chill's personal frigate that was docked at the western end of the island.
After looking through the island they came across Cook and Chill's vault, where they kept the valuables they had gathered from their years of thievery. Temp was tempted to keep it for himself, but the kids thought it better to turn it over to the authorities. At least then there would be a chance that it'd be returned to their proper owners. Surely they'd be rewarded for that too.
The children and the Phantine people boarded the massive vessel, and Temp directed everyone aboard it. He took the wheel and the ship headed out to sea, back to the port town of Tortusa.
Nout and his father Cmar looked at the ocean together and admired its beauty. The young Phantine ran his hand across his chest, there was a fist shaped burn that Cook left on him, one that he didn't imagine would fade anytime soon.
"You know; I wasn't sure that I'd ever leave that island alive," Cmar remarked, "Thanks to you and your friends, I'm free. You've grown so much Nout. I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks dad," Nout said, Cmar had no idea how much those words meant to him, "What now? Its not like we can live in the Bog Woods anymore."
"Well first we'll have to fetch your mother and the other Phantine women. They all fled to the Densius settlement on Platt Mountain during the attack," Cmar began, "Then we'll have to find a new home. Perhaps here among the Ralosian isles," Cmar declared.
Temp approached the two, he had been listening in for quite some time, "I could escort your people around these islands. Help you find that home."
Nout raised an eyebrow at the Mecarne, "How much do you want?"
Temp shook his head, "Nothing. I just want to help out a friend."
The vessel pulled into the docks of Tortusa, Temp contacted the authorities and brought them the furnace detaining Cook. After being handed the bounty money, Temp turned them over.
"DO NOT LET HIM OUT!" Temp stressed as he left the furnace in their possession. Cook would be taken to the prison up north, a place for especially powerful criminals. Temp distributed the earnings from the bounty between himself and all of the kids. It was only fair.
Nout figured that since the Phantine women were staying with Densius up on Platt Mountain, and all of his friends were planning on going there to see their families that they'd go together. After spending some time there Nout and Temp would escort the women back to Tortusa, and they'd take off for the Ralosian seas to search for a new home.
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The next morning Aero, Jirro, Corri, Nout, Ruben, and Temp headed eastward with their pets Rojo, Kelvin and Hopper. Cmar and the other Phantine stayed with the frigate docked in Tortusa.
Temp and Nout had never been to Platt Mountain proper. The closest Temp had ever come was when he attacked the three Ralosian kids with Ekor last year. But Aero, Jirro, Corri and Ruben had called Platt Mountain home for years.
Ruben was excited to see his people again. While the the three Ralosian kids were looking forward to see their dads, they also had pressing questions for them. Corri had questions about her mother after learning her name was most likely Bonnie. And all of them wanted to understand their connection to the infamous Sky Bandits.
The grey mountain range was spread out in front of them. The group scaled the mountain path leading up to the Densius settlement. Partway up the mountain was Aero, Jirro and Corri's home. A small building built from stones, shattered to pieces.
"That's strange, I thought our dads would've fixed it already," Aero commented.
"They must still be staying with the Densius at the top of the mountain," Jirro figured.
The group continued further up the mountain until the vegetation was sparse. Soon the the rocky forms of the Densius people could be seen on the mountain as well as the Phantine women of Nout's tribe.
Nout hurried to his people and his mother. Ruben went to see Emer and Dimon as well as the rest of its people. Aero, Corri and Jirro were happy to see everyone, but they found no sign of their dads. The three kids traveled the mountainous landscape, returning to the flat terrain they used to train on. No sign of their fathers there either.
Jirro hurried over to Emer, leader of the Densius on this mountain. "Hey Emer, where our dads?"
The green eyed Densius looked at him regretfully, "I don't know."
Jirro rationalized that they must've simply headed out briefly, "Oh, did they take a trip off the mountain? How soon will they be back?"
Emer hesitated before answering, "Razan and Lucar never came back after the tournament."
"What... Why?" Jirro asked.
"How much did your fathers tell you two about their past?" Emer countered with his own question.
Jiro didn't want to hear it, "What does that matter?"
Corri asked, "Is it because they used to be part of the Sky Bandits? Is that why they left?"
Emer rock brows were raised, "I don't know anything about the Sky Bandits. I just know your parents did some very bad things in their youth and the authorities are still after them. After seeing how strong you were at the tournament, they figured that it'd be safer to leave you kids behind. I told them it was terrible idea, but they wouldn't listen to me."
"My dad would never that! He was framed or something!" Jirro shouted. "He would never just leave me like that!"
Jirro clung to idealistic view he had of his father, but Corri and Aero saw through it. They'd begun to accept that didn't know their fathers as well as they thought.
After Nout told his people how they escaped Cook and Chill's pit, they celebrated. Never one to turn down a celebration the Densius cheered and danced with each them until the sunset.
But Aero, Jirro, and Corri couldn't enjoy the fun. Ruben, Nout and Temp found them bickering with each other.
"Are you all okay?" Nout asked cautiously.
"I can't believe they didn't even bother telling us," Corri shouted, kicking at a rock and splitting it in half.
"They must've had a good reason," Jirro rationalized.
"No point in worrying about it now," Aero voiced, "Whenever we do see them we'll be able to get answers."
"We have to start looking for them," Jirro ascertained, "Between the six of us we should be able to. We can start at the tournament grounds and work from there."
Jirro looked up at his cousins and friends and saw a series of blank faces, "What's wrong?"
Ruben spoke first, "I want to stay with my tribe on Platt Mountain for a while. I think I've had enough excitement since the tournament."
Nout said, "I need to find a new home for my people on the Ralosian Isles."
"And I need help to Nout with that," Temp added.
Corri spat, "After dad ditched us like that, I have no desire to see him anytime soon. Besides, I've been wanting to return to the sky lands. Maybe I'll visit Wilvur's farm again too."
Aero reached into his pocket and pulled out the red floating gem he acquired back on Weld Mountain, "I still need to bring this back to Oopa's tribe. Maybe afterward I could help look for our dads."
Jirro relented, "Well, I'm still going to look for our dads. Even if it's just me."
The six were quiet for a moment. Each of them had their own paths to follow, and they realized that it might be a long time before they were all together again. All of them looked glum at the realization.
"We'll see each other again," Aero said optimistically, "We'll all met up at the next tournament! Right?"
All of them nodded, "Yeah. We'll all be back together then. If not before," Jirro remarked.
The group slept on Platt Mountain that night before preparing to head out in the morning. 338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1QagiKt8F
