Phoenix Phire

Delphi was standing at the helm, carefully monitoring the bay in front of her and the timer that was slowly clicking down. At the last minute, Ronnie decided to join the Phoenix, the captain was happy to have the newly minted Scorched Earth Mage.

[Whisper: Ronnie to Nix] I'm going to personally protect your precious Phoenix. So I expect compensation.

[Whisper: Nix to Ronnie] I am open to reason.

[Whisper: Ronnie to Nix] Can I borrow Ducky for a few days?

[Whisper: Nix to Ronnie] What for?

[Whisper: Ronnie to Nix] Not telling.

Ronnie smiled to herself as she strolled across the deck to Mina and her Assault team. She wasn't especially close with the Aquarion but they did know each other. "I'm going to stay on board and protect this ship, Mina."

Mina looked up when she spoke, her coloring had changed only a little given that Ronnie was already dark-skinned. She personally thought that Ronnie was a bit silly but Nix had told her that was only an act. "We will board ships when we get the chance. Do you need me to assign you a Vila for protection?"

Ronnie shook her head. "I'll be fine." She pulled a hairband off of her wrist and tied her hair up in a top pony.

"You are quite beautiful Ronnie." Mina tried not to stare at the dark girl, the changes brought on by the new class only emphasized her dark beauty.

Ronnie took out the bow that Shae had made for her and stroked it lovingly. "Nix thinks so," she smiled slyly before wandering back toward the helm.

[Summon Rock Golem]

A moment later a huge titan made of brown rock appeared on the deck. He was easily seven feet in height and nearly half that wide. He held a shield and sword, both made from shiny black rock. Ronnie patted its rock arm. "You stand in front of anyone who comes at me."

[Command: Defend Me]

A movement at her shoulder warned her that Wilo was present. The tiny Air Lord immediately moved in front of the golem to inspect it. A moment later she returned to Ronnie, utterly unimpressed.

Ronnie laughed at the expression on her tiny face. "Try and get along Wilo. I need you to get to your post now please."

Wilo pulled hard on one of Ronnie's pointed ears, she still was unhappy about the changes. A moment later she flashed toward the mainsail and took a seat on the crossbar.

[Scorched Earth Coating]

Ronnie grinned widely when her bow changed colors, she could feel the power of earth and fire pulsing in it. She turned toward Delphi. "Today you have a Lord of Wind at your disposal, her name is Wilo, please treat her nicely."

Delphi nodded, A Wind Lord? She eyed the timer, only a few minutes until they started. A movement from up above them drew everyone's attention. A drake landed nimbly on the deck, her passenger stepped off quickly.

"Thank you, Fey." Fajii bowed toward the drake before turning toward Mina. "Time for buffs."

[Flaming Rock Wall]

Everyone on deck felt strengthened as a rock barrier instantly became part of their armament.

[Charred Rock Blade]

The weapons of everyone on deck became more dangerous as their weapons were instantly modified to do Scorched Earth Damage.

Fajii nodded to herself and jumped back onto Fey's back. "Those should last for the duration, good luck!"

*******************

Delphi watched the timer until if finally moved to zero. "Hoist full sails! Drop the port cannon doors!"

Wilo waited until the captain started giving orders, then she hovered close to the mainsail.

[Gale Wind]

The Phoenix accelerated off the line, even without help she was the fastest ship in the bay. Delphi charged right into the teeth of the Terran fleet. At two hundred meters he turned hard to starboard.

"Fire top cannons!"

The front ranks of the fleet hadn't space nor time to turn broadside yet as they were shredded by the Phoenix's guns. Delphi steered around the perimeter of the fleet as her crew alternated firing bottom then top cannons.

In twenty minutes they completed a near full circle.

/Allied Sea Command: Jun Li: Good job Phoenix! I want everyone to concentrate on putting the disabled ships down!

By the time they were behind the Terran fleet, a small gap appeared, and the Dreadnoughts could be seen. Delphi saw her chance and took it. "Prepare for deck fighting! We are going in."

The Phoenix threaded the small gap, her cannons continuing to fire as she moved in. The enemy ships didn't dare fire at first because of the fear of hitting each other. Someone must have given the order, halfway through the gap the ship came under heavy fire.

Ronnie shook her head at the forty Vila on deck, someone was going to have a shitty day when they met Mina's friends. Her rock golem moved surprisingly fast, raising his shield to block an attack from the air. A fire mage on a manta had tried a sneak attack on her.

"Good luck with that." Ronnie raised her bow and sent three quick shots into the manta. Apparently the water creature didn't react well to scorched earth damage, it turned upside and dived into the water in an attempt to escape.

Mina set one of her people into the water to ensure the Fire mage was dead. "Your pet is fast Ronnie."

Ronnie took aim with her bow and started targeted the sails of ships as they went by. Scorched earth damage caused everything it touched to burn. "He's immune to flame too, so he's a fire mage's nightmare."

Wilo moved away from the sail and hovered above her companion's shoulder. She was staring hard at Ronnie's bow. She landed lightly on her archery glove and lay both hands on the wrist.

[Twisted Wind]

Ronnie watched her for a moment, she felt the power of wind encircle her glove. She fired point-blank into a deckhand fifty yards away. He instantly exploded, causing the rest of his mates to freeze in horror. "Earth, Wind, and Fire? My little Wilo is the best!"

Ronnie ran up and down the deck one-shotting crew from enemy ships. The Scorched Earth mage's body count continued to climb steadily. Mina and her crew stayed low on the deck, waiting for their chance to board.

Delphi noticed that the Terrans were opening a path to the Dreadnoughts. "They want to deal with us. I can't go broadside with them Mina, they'll light us up!"

"Understood." Mina waited until the Phoenix turned again and fired at the Dreadnought that was still pointing away from her. "Now." Mina, her crew and 40 Vila slipped quietly over the edge.

*************

1400 hours Update:

Sea Farer Fleet Report: 17 Fleets, 118 Ships [69.8 percent]

Terran Fleet Report: 20 Fleets, 144 Ships [67.2 percent]

Terran Dreadnought Captain Felix Sori cursed at the turning Phoenix. "Why is that ship so f*cking fast? The sound of claws raking the deck caused him to turn just before his entire head was chomped off by a Vila. The creature crunched away a few times and then swallowed it whole.

Mina stayed next to the rail and directed her Vila while her melee crew tore into the humans. She wrinkled her nose slightly at the brutality of it. Unlike most Aquarions, she had respect for human life. Except for Nix, it generally took at least two human fighters working together to subdue an Aquarion.

One of her team members speared a sailor through his chest and then flung him over the rail. It was Jersi, the Aquarion equivalent of a tank. He stopped suddenly and glanced toward the hold. Stark terror was written on his face as he spun quickly and charged toward Mina. "Retreat now, Mina!"

Mina trusted her people so she quickly vaulted over the rail of the ship. An instant later the heavy doors of the hold exploded outwards. A huge scaled head pushed upward into the air, it stopped about thirty feet off the deck. Its serpent-like body was greenish-brown and wider than the arm span of three adults.

Ronnie stared at the huge serpent. "The f*ck is that?" She opened fire with her bow, her arrows exploding against its skin didn't seem to do much damage but it turned its black eyes toward the Phoenix.

Delphi froze as the creature glided across the sea toward them. "It's a Leviathan!"

/Allied Sea Command: Ronnie: Big, big snake spotted. The Phoenix is in trouble!

Mina swam underneath the ancient beast. "It's going toward the Phoenix!" Without considering the idea, she flung herself at its tail and grabbed it with both arms. Seeing her example, the rest of her assault team did the same. They may as well have been gnats, the creature didn't slow at all.

Ronnie cursed her luck as she huddled behind her golem. "Don't feel bad if you can't stop that thing Rocky, a big ass snake like that is definitely cheating."

Its open maw pointed toward the Phoenix, the hundred-meter distance closed instantly. Before it could get to the Phoenix it suddenly reared up, thirty feet of its body came out of the water as the creature roared in pain. Ronnie ran to the rail, her jaw-dropping. Every Aquarion in the raid was clinging to the Leviathan. Many of them had impaled it with daggers or spears, even the Vila were clinging stubbornly to it.

Captain Delphi didn't need an invitation, she turned out of the creature's path, going broadside she opened up with her cannons at point-blank range.

Four hundred Aquarions weren't able to completely stop it, but they did slow it down. It twisted and coiled its body, crushing Aquarions by the dozens.

It roared again in anger, its wide mouth opening up showing razor sharp fangs that dripped with venom. Halfway through its roar, a creature appeared in front of it, breathing a thick stream of fire right into its mouth.