Im back. School’s made me busy, and also One Peice. Anywho, here’s the previous part if you want a refresher, Origins of the Whirlwind, part five: Forward
The next elemental stone in Khaita’s sites was the stone of fire. Its guardian was the vigilante hero Captain Tahu on planet Iuglod, an advanced civilization with far too much crime. And there was no better example of how bad the crime was than when Khaita arrived.
Khaita left their ship near enough for it to travel with the planet and began the flight down to the planet’s surface using the Comet’s Tail, as usual. Unlike most landings though, they immediately had to dodge a stray bullet from a battle on the surface. It appeared as though two of the gangs of Iuglod were having a turf war, and Khaita had just flown into the middle of it.
But even as they watched the fight from above, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Guardian of the fire stone, the battle seemed to be nearly over, with on gang having wiped the other out nearly unscathed. After realizing that the gang might try to come after them next, Khaita began flying deeper into the half-destroyed city. It wasn’t long before the local law enforcement found and apprehended Khaita, who gave no resistance. Finally, the law enforcement agents took Khaita to their leader, and who else was there other than the Guardian of fire himself, talking with the city’s mayor.
“We found this stranger roaming the city on a flying device Mr. mayor.” Said the soldier escorting Khaita.
“Identify yourself stranger, and tell us why you’re here!” The mayor demanded in his nasally voice. Khaita looked at Tahu, seemingly ignoring the mayor altogether.
“Tahu, guardian of fire,” they began. “I am Khaita, and I seek the elemental stone of fire. I must use it to defeat the villain collective that has begun wreaking havoc around the universe. Can you help me?” The mayor looked flabbergasted at being ignored, but Tahu‘a eyes widened.
“You must be the hero of legend that is destined to save us.” He said excitedly. “You could not have come at a better time, Mr. mayor, I believe this person can help us with our current plight. With this, the mayor looked even more infuriated, likely at the fact they felt like they were being undermined. However, his face calmed down and became more serious once he remembered the situation he was in.
“You speak of a villain collective?” The mayor asked. Khaita nodded. “I think I know of whole you speak. They are the ones who started this uprising of gangs on our planet. If you are truly against these villains, then please, help us eradicate these uprising gangs.” Khaita looked severely at the mayor.
“Of course, I will do all in my power to help you” they replied.at this, the soldier released their grip on Khaita and gave them their weapons back. Then, as they prepared for the battle with the gangs, Tahu approached Khaita.
“Many of the gang members are weak only to fire, you will need this if we are to survive.” As Tahu said this, he pulled out the elemental stone of fire, and presented it to Khaita. “If we win this fight, you may keep the stone as a role of our appreciation, and to help you on your quest.
“Thank you,” Khaita replied, taking the stone and attaching it to their shield. “Now, let us win this fight, together.” And with that, the battle began.
Khaita was glad for the chance to test out the power of the elemental stones in a real battle, especially now that they had claimed a fourth. They started by activating just one stone at a time, allowing for the use of that element (or enhancing existing elemental control in the case of the air stone). But soon they realized that they could activate multiple stones at once, combining their power and making new elements in the process. They also quickly realized that the more stones they activated at once, the harder it was to control the power, and there were several instances where their attacks hit allies by mistake. Even so, Khaita and the people of Iuglod successfully broke up the last of the gangs, and Tahu and the others wished them good luck.
The next place on the list was an asteroid that flew through space known simply as “The Arena”. At The Arena, all sports from around the universe were able to be played. The ruler of The Arena, was the prestigious champion Pohatu, guardian of the elemental stone of … well, stone. He used the stone to enhance his own control over rocks and stones so that he can shape the Arena to fit any sport, of which he tries his best to master all. But the sport that Pohatu was best known for was of course soccer (or football, as some people call it).
When Khaita approached Pohatu about retrieving his elemental stone, Pohatu was adamant about not giving it up. But Khaita was just as persistent.
“Fine, I’ll tell you what” Pohatu finally conceded. “If you can beat me in a one-on-one soccer game, I will give you the stone.”
“If that is the only way you will give up the stone, then so be it” Khaita replied.”I accept your challenge!”
Khaita had never played soccer before, so they had to learn quickly. The match started off very rough for Khaita, and about halfway through the match it looked like a done deal, and that Pohatu would win. But Khaita’s determination caused them to rethink their strategy, and they caught up in the second half easily. Finally, in the last few seconds of the game, Khaita managed to use their control over the three elements they had to steal the ball from Pohatu, and score the winning goal!
Although Pohatu was angry about losing, he did follow his word and Give Khaita the elemental stone of stone. Now all that was left, was the elemental stone of water.
There was a reason Khaita had saved this one for last. The Guardian of this stone was known as Gali the space marine, and she was a hardened soldier who travels around the universe destroying evil. Unfortunately, this made her incredibly hard to track down, as she was constantly moving around. Khaita had reached out to many contacts around the universe for news of the space marine’s whereabouts, but every lead they followed led to a dead end.
While waiting for any news and searching for her themself, Khaita trained their body to better control and withstand the power of the elemental stones. Now with five stones, the power was so immense that Khaita could rival large space vessels with little effort, as long as they could control the elements they taught themself how wield one stone at a time, but also how to wield multiple at a time, and how to combine their powers to for other powers. They had just managed to control the elements of four stones at a time, when they got a message from one of their contacts. The message said that Gali was approaching the Dirgal system, which happend to be very close to where Khaita was at that moment. This could be my chance! they thought, and they quickly set a course for Dirgal prime.
When Khaita arrived in the Dirgal system, they contacted the person who he messaged them in the area, and learned that, indeed Gali was on Dirgal Prime, but was making preparations to leave already. Khaita flew their ship as fast as it would go, and just as they arrived at the planet, they could see Gali’s ship leaving the planet’s surface. The hailed the ship, hoping to get in contact. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting (though realistically was just a few minutes) Gali’s ship transmitted.
“What business do you have contacting me, I have places to be. Speak quickly!” the woman on the screen answered curtly. There was no doubt, this was the famed Gali.
“Great Guardian of water, I have need of your elemental stone of water. Please, will you lend it to me?” Gali sighed.
“I will give it to you, I have no need for it. Board my ship quickly, but then I must be off.” After she said that, the transmission cut off abruptly. Khaita rushed to the Come’s Tail and swiftly flew over to the other ship. Gali was waiting for them in the open hangar bay, and no sooner than Khaita had landed Gali was pointing her gun at them. Khaita instinctively drew their sword and held their shield up, which turned out to be perfect, as Gali pulled the trigger and shot the elemental stone of water directly into its place on the shield. Khaita felt a surge of power flow through them, almost overwhelming them and causing them to nearly black out.
“Now, off my ship, I need to get going” Gali said, helping Khaita back onto the Comet’s tail. She then kicked the Comet’s tail out of the hangar bay and her ship launched into hyperdrive, all before Khaita could say thank you. Khaita returned to their ship and set their shield aside, needing a break from all the power they had just be imbued with. Finally, the real work could begin.