Back at the fight near the abandoned city
The eldest razhdarchidae prince sheds tears for his wounded brother. He looks to his side and sees his father wounded as well. The King is being patched up with help from Kapurma.
King Raz looks to Kapurma and tells him, "We've been beaten down twice by this foe my friend." Kapurma says, "Beaten but not killed. So we can fight another day, right?" The King remembers a battle between Kapurma and his elder relatives, and them saying the same thing to Kapurma over a disagreement. He laughs at the irony of this statement and tells Kapurma, "You're right... However, I do see the power in your belief in talking things out first. Seeing my sons wounded like this has me thinking if we were on better terms maybe my tribe wouldn't have been blindsided by an attack and we wouldn't be in a situation like this right now."
Kapurma looks at the King directly as he finishes the last part of patching him up then tells him, "We can think about the maybes and what-ifs after this fight my friend. But I will say this. Through our fights leading up to here. I'm proud some common ground was found." Kapurma extends a hand to help the King up. He gladly accepts.
They both look at the princes. They see the younger one is resting, While the other one is lost in thought. Then the party hears a voice that Kapurma instantly recognizes. The voice says, "Geez... What happened here?" Kapurma and King Raz turn around and see none other than Ryan and Sarah.
Back to the open roads where Maxwell and Bernard fought.
With his vision still in a blur Maxwell hears Bernard trying to wake him up. His voice is faint but can hear him saying, "Max! Wake up! Maxwell! Open your eyes!" Maxwell awakens to Bernard's pleas and hears him knocking on the Ivo Supremeo suit * Clang! Clang! Clang! * Maxwell says, "I'm up! I'm up! Please stop pounding the damn suit!" the eyes of the Ivo Supremeo suit open up signaling Maxwell is conscious.
He sits up and asks, "How's your arm? And what the hell hit me!?" Sullivan tells Max, "The armor took most of the hit. I think something was knocked out of place. I'm gonna need your help setting it back. And what hit you, was yourself. Bernard motions his eyes toward the pillar Max crashed into. Maxwell slightly embarrassed at what he feels is a "rookie mistake" Max gets up and tells Bernard, "Let's check up on Diwata and Kapurma." Once Maxwell gets back on his feet. Max and Bernard hear a loud bang near them. Both recognize this sound as an armored soldier making a landing. They both look toward the side they heard the sound and see just that. Both Maxwell and Bernard instantly take an offensive stance until they both realize the soldier comes in peace. He has his hands up for Max and Bernard then reveals his face. The soldier is none other than Rainer Sparta. He tells Maxwell, "Great seeing you Maxwell." Then tells Bernard Sullivan, "And it's an honor to finally meet you sir." Bernard asks Maxwell, "Who is this guy?" He tells Bernard, "That's Rainer Sparta. Victor's first protege." Bernard tells Maxwell, "Oh so this is him? The ally you said could be the extra help we need..." Maxwell tells Bernard, "Uh huh." Then Bernard answers Rainer telling him, "The pleasure is all mine. Wish you'd have shown up earlier."
Back to the abandoned town
Ryan with a shocked look on his face says, "Whaaat?! Victor is now a droid working with the Warlords! He injured Zach and Supremeo, now you guys are here. And with the damn razhdarchidae!!" Kapurma tells Ryan, "Yes that's pretty much it."
Ryan looks to the King and tells him, "No offense. I don't mind you helping. You just freak me out. The first time we met you tried to eat us for crossing into your territory!"
The King replies to Ryan saying, "No offense taken. Your bewilderment is understandable." Ryan shakes his head and then tells himself, "Oh yeah these guys can talk like Kap." Sarah tells Ryan, "Shall we head to where Diwata and your brother went?" Ryan answers in a daunting manner telling her, "Yeah... Hopefully he'll be in more of a talking mood." Ryan now with a look of sadness on his face tells Sarah, "Last time we met he was too busy to talk about anything."
Kapurma notices the sadness on Ryan's face and asks, "What happened between you two?" Sarah hears this and tells Kapurma, "Oh that's right Kap, You were drawing all the training drills up when we stayed at the village. Ryan would tell Diwata and everyone else how he's the true heir to the pirate empire and how after the war. His brother refused to leave the organization and ended up almost uniting all the tribes."
After surveying the landscape Ryan tells Kapurma and Sarah, "I pretty much know where Erik and Diwata might've run off to. Let's head out. I can fill you in on the little details as we head there Kap." Kapurma agrees.
The entire crew heads into the abandoned town. The elder prince takes one last look at the battlefield and is instantly reminded of the remains of his homeland. Ryan tells the prince, "Hey come on. Don't worry about this. A friend of ours will send a convoy of droids to clean this up. The fires will be put out. The victims will all be properly mourned and buried..."
The prince tells Ryan, "Sorry... This fight just reminded me of what happened at home. We were ambushed out of nowhere by these guys while we were enjoying a meal after a hunt." Ryan tells the prince, "Yeah that is what it looked like the pirates were doing here also huh? Except with your hunts, it's in your nature to do these things. These people had a choice to make. It was either rebuild or take. They chose to take. But does that mean they're pure evil or does it mean they deserve this? No, not at all. They're simply doing what they know best. What they trust in. I couldn't show them a better way." The prince looks toward Ryan. He motions toward the direction the entire party is headed and follows.
As Ryan and the prince catch up to Kapurma and King Raz. The eldest prince thinks about Ryan's words he's shared with him and how similar their lives are. The words said earlier by Ryan, "Show them a better way" ring in the prince's head as he follows the crew into the city.
Back to the open roads
Through Rainer's armor, he scans Bernard's arm. He tells the legendary hero, "You're right sir. Your elbow is dislocated. We should be able to pop it back in." Bernard tells Rainer, "Stop calling me sir. Bernard or Barney is just fine."
Moments later Rainer with the help of Maxwell, popped Sullivan's elbow back in place. He gives his arm a little wiggle and tells both his companions, "Ahh might not be as good as new, but it's as good as it's gonna get."
The trio begins walking toward the direction where Diwata and Kapurma are at. Rainer notices the direction they're headed and asks, "where are we headed?" Bernard tells Rainer, "To the ghost town not too far from here." Rainer says, "Hmm I see... That place is a well-known area for the pirates." Bernard asks Rainer, "Is that going to be a problem?"
Maxwell tells Rainer, "Are you going to tell him?" Rainer answers Bernard saying, "Yeah, but it won't be nothing I can't handle." Sullivan asks Rainer, "What'd you do?"
Rainer answers, "Killed their previous leader. He almost united all pirate factions. Forming an army as large as 100,000 that are against people trying to live honest lives."
Bernard ponders the information he just heard from Rainer momentarily then tells him, "Hmm that is a problem..." Rainer interrupts Bernard telling him, "No! Don't worry sir! They're simple to handle. I can kill!..." Bernard out of nowhere screams back, "HEY! We're not gonna do that at all! The enemy we fought has enough firepower to take down thousands of men with a flick of just one of the abilities of his tech! You see the scrapes on Maxwell's suit!? Only a special kind of blade can put a slash mark like this on this armor! We're not even mentioning how the man under that hi-tech suit also just happens to be your former mentor! If we can go in this preventing deaths I'd rather do that!"
Through Bernard Sullivan's outburst, he realized he just revealed to Rainer they've found Victor. Now frozen in shock. He says to Bernard, "....You found him?.." Sullivan answers, "Yes...and like I was trying to say... The enemy has taken control of him.." Rainer replies shocked, "Huh?..."
Maxwell interrupts both his companion's conversations screaming, "WHAT!? 1.. 113. 1 hundred thirteen deaths?!"
Bernard and Rainer turn their head's toward Max and the pugilist ask, "What did you say?" Maxwell says, "My sister just put a feed through my suit! News reports are saying 113 dead! Found near the outskirts of the ghost town where we're headed! She's sending aiutu units down now. We'll be able to restock on supplies while we're there!" this shocks both Bernard and Rainer.
Rainer with a serious look on his face tells Bernard, "Well see to your companions?!" he nods in agreement. As all three companions head to the ghost town of murdered pirates Rainer thinks to himself, "The Victor I know was always against murder!... What the hell have they done to you Vic!?..."
As the trio head to their destination. Bernard continues to explain, "looks like Victor is off the grid. As I was trying to say, with the 113 deaths in total being an example... WE'RE GONNA NEED MANPOWER! Fighting with ourselves won't get us closer to figuring out the warlord's plans and getting Victor back to us to figure out exactly what these people did to him. Although with this mass murder of people I don't know who'd listen to us if we explain to them Victor was not under the control of his actions when he did this."
Rainer answers by saying, "would it even matter what these pirate trash think about us anyway?..." Bernard tells him, "Of course! I've seen real war, my friend! What's been going on between you lot at this moment pales in comparison to the REAL fight! You of all people should know the advantages anyone can have with a soldier like Victor Hawkins on their side!"
Bernard's words make Rainer thinks to himself saying, "He's right about that..." for the rest of their way the trio mostly remain silent. They all ponder what can happen once they meet with the pirate nation.
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