The whole place shook, and everyone really did cover their heads this time. The walls started to crack and the floor began to open up. Oceania looked about her in shock as the dungeons collapsed before her eyes.
Oceania: What's going on?
Sapphire: Currently your palace is being destroyed by an enraged baby Dragon. But we might be able to persuade him to stop if you do us a favor...
Oceania: And what would that be?
Sapphire: Release all of your slaves.
Oceania tried to give a laugh of defiance, and stubbornly folded her arms.
Oceania: And why would I do that?
Sapphire pretended to muse over it before answering.
Sapphire: Well... It's that, or your fancy house will get blown to smithereens, freeing all the prisoners anyway! I'd take the first offer, If I were you...
There was another explosion, making the ceiling above some of the cells fall down into a heap of stone. Sapphire drummed her fingers on her arm and calmly continued talking...
Sapphire: Tick tock, your majesty. Time is running out...
The queen still wouldn't answer, so Sapphire dug into her bag and started handing out the charms to the sailors.
Sapphire: And you guys, quit cowering and put these on.
Ruby: Why?
Sapphire: Trust me, you'll thank me later.
Ruby shrugged and put the glowing pearl necklace around her neck, as did all the other Vampires. Another rumble from somewhere else sounded, and Sapphire turned back to the queen in a much more deadly tone.
Sapphire: Well, your majesty? Have you decided yet? Or will the Dragon up there make that choice for you?
The ceiling above them started to crumble a bit, making the queen throw her arms up in surrender and practically yell her agreement.
Oceania: Fine! You can all leave, if that's what you so desperately want! Just don't destroy my house!
Sapphire: May I have that in writing?
Oceania: JUST GO!
The remaining guards moved out of the way, letting Sapphire and the others past without difficulty through the wrecked hallway. Sapphire proudly held her head up as she led the way back out into the brighter world.
Ruby: ... That actually worked.
Sapphire: Don't get out the victory soda just yet, mate. I bet any second now she's going to send out her sea dogs to recapture us... so let's get out of here before we do any celebrating!
They found their way out of the dungeons and into the palace. From there, Sapphire guided them out to the open oceans, just as some more of the palace fell behind them.
Sapphire: We're almost out, guys! But now time to shift to high gear, things are going to get serious.
Sapphire darted forward, indicating the others to hurry up and follow her. They all tried to keep up with her, when they began to notice an odd whistling sound. Sapphire's ears perked up, and she tried to keep back a disgusted sigh.
Sapphire: ... I do believe that would be them. BARAK!
A blur of green flashed before their eyes, and something crashed into the sand, sending up a cloud.
Barak: Yes, Sapphire?
Sapphire: Do us a favor and keep the sea army busy for us, could you?
Barak: How?
Sapphire: Stop them from getting near us. Oh, and make sure there's no palace left by the time we reach the boat!
Barak: But didn't Hydra say not to-
Sapphire: I don't care what Hydra said! She can do things her way when were gone, but until then she's going to have to put up with the 'violence' methods we use. Blow the place sky-high!
Barak hesitated a little before going back to finish the job. Sapphire rolled her eyes and ran to the head of the group and started yelling at the others in hopes that this would speed things up a little.
Sapphire: What are you guys doing? This isn't a sunny day at the park! HURRY UP, we've got some escaping to do!
Cole suddenly came up to her, and raised his hand slightly, indicating that he had something to ask.
Cole: Um... Am I allowed to ask you something, Sapphire?
Sapphire: Of course not. Save all questions till after our happy end on board the Lucky SaltyCaramel 2.0, and no sooner! Now MOVE!
Sapphire gave the prince a shove forward, when suddenly they heard a cracking sound.
Misae: ... What was that?
Sapphire: Keep moving, your highness.
Sapphire continued to push Cole when the other charm he was wearing shattered into millions of pieces. Sapphire didn't look back, but assumed by the sound of cracking crystals that the other amulets were also exploding. Sapphire gave Cole another shove when Ruby caught her arm and pulled her alongside.
Ruby: Could you at least tell us where we're going? Who knows, we might just get there faster if we knew where to swim!
Sapphire sighed and pointed towards the direction of the S.A.L.T headquarters.
Sapphire: You see those rocky cliffs? Around there should be our ride out of here!
Ruby: Define ride, please.
Sapphire: A leaky ship with horrible repairs, probably going to sink within the first five minutes of sailing.
Ruby: We're all going to die...
Sapphire pretended to ignore that and continued to yell at everyone else to move faster. When they got to the ship graveyard, Hydra was seen waiting for them on a nearby ledge. She seemed surprised that they were all here, and in one piece!
Hydra: It appears you've made it here after all.
Sapphire: Were you expecting otherwise?
Ruby: Who's your friend, Sapphire?
Sapphire: Hydra. Now, everybody onto the ship if you value your freedom!
The all the Vampires swam up to the deck and waited further instructions from Sapphire. But when Sapphire gave the signal for Hydra to lift off, the dragon didn't seem to see.
Sapphire: Hydra, what are you waiting for?
Hydra: Barak! Where is he?
Sapphire: Finishing the job.
Hydra: I thought we agreed to leave Oceania's palace standing!
Sapphire: No, you and Silver agreed. Me and Barak said nothing about not taking revenge on that brat of a queen!
Hydra: Your kind thinks too much of vengeance and payback! What do you hope to achieve by doing this?
Sapphire: The satisfaction of knowing our enemy will be unhappy.
Hydra gave a disgusted growl and started swimming towards the palace. Sapphire called out to the ancient Dragon, hoping to get her to see to reason.
Sapphire: Where do you think you're going?
Hydra: To get Barak. I'm not leaving here without him!
Sapphire: Are you mad? We need to go right now!
Hydra: I can't leave the future Dragon King behind!
Sapphire: You're being unreasonable! He can easily catch up to us in a matter of minutes! It's almost impossible to 'leave him behind'!
Hydra angrily turned around to face Sapphire, not caring that she accidentally knocked over a statue while doing so.
Hydra: What if he gets hurt trying to demolish Oceania's palace?
Sapphire: He wont. He's tough.
Hydra: He's a
baby!
Sapphire: So? He can look after himself just fine without an adult watching him! Now forget about him and get us to safety!
Hydra was about to go off anyway when they both saw Barak speeding towards them, firing a blast behind him as he went. He called out to them...
Barak: What are you guys waiting for? Why haven't you escaped yet? The queen's army is almost here!
Sapphire: Apparently we couldn't leave you behind for whatever reason... But you're here now, so I don't have a clue why we are still!
Hydra: Neither do I. Let's go!
Hydra grabbed hold of the bottom of the ship and started to lift slowly towards the oceans surface, while Barak tried to keep the oncoming army at bay by firing blasts of fire and plasma alike everywhere, but soon decided it was better to help Hydra get the boat topside. The two dragons carefully lifted the shipwreck higher and higher, while the army of sea creatures tried in vainly to stop them.
Sapphire: We're almost through! BRACE FOR IMPACT!
The ship burst through the salty waves of the sea and into bright sunshine. Almost immediately Hydra began to propel the ship forward at a decent speed, and everyone gave a sigh of relief. They had escaped successfully!
*****
Now that they were all safe, the Vampire sailors relaxed as Hydra carried their boat delicately across the rough oceans, while Sapphire and Ruby checked that all the crew members were ok. Barak was scouting ahead to find a nearby island where they patch up their leaky ship and stock up on food.
After a while, Sapphire found her cousin leaning on the wet, slightly rotten banister of the upper deck. She knew something was bothering Ruby, and wanted to know what. So Sapphire moved towards her, trying to act natural and made an attempt at striking up a conversation.
Sapphire: So... That all happened.
Ruby grunted in agreement, and refused to say more. Sapphire tried again, this time with a little more enthusiasm.
Sapphire: I'll admit, it could've have gone better. But personally, I'm pleased with the result we got!
Ruby: Of course you are...
Sapphire got tired of trying to edge her way to the problem, and decided to get to the point.
Sapphire: Ok, what are you so sour about? Care to enlighten me, or are you going to continue being a grump?
Ruby shot a glare at the blue kangaroo and almost exploded with rage.
Ruby: What am I-... I was
worried about you, Sapphire! And what you did to get us out of there was stupidly risky!
Sapphire: How? That so called 'queen' wasn't much of a threat. I mean, sure, she had an army at her disposal, but-... Ok. I can see your point. There was a lot of danger in that. But the important thing is that we all made it out intact! What more do you want, Prince Charming?
Ruby: Nothing. But what if we didn't get out of there?
Sapphire: We did.
Ruby: What if it went horribly wrong? Where would we be then?
Sapphire sighed in annoyance, but did understand why Ruby was acting this way. After a few minutes of fidgeting, Sapphire finally had to say something to her cousin.
Sapphire: I didn't intend for you to get upset. I'm just-...
*sigh*... Ruby?
Ruby: Yes?
Sapphire took a deep, slow breath and faced Ruby with serious eyes.
Sapphire: ... Where the heck is Midnight?
The was a odd silence as the two cousins looked at each other, and it began to dawn on them that they had left one of their own behind.
Ruby: Ah... We must've forgotten him...
They continued to stay quiet for a few seconds before Sapphire broke the silence.
Sapphire: So... should we go back, or what?
Ruby thought for a moment before smiling slyly at Sapphire.
Ruby: Mm... Let's wait a few more minutes before we send Barak to retrieve him.
Sapphire: Ok. I can deal with that.
**********
And that would (finally) be the end of the Lost Ocean Arch!
Ok, that wasn't what I originally planned, but good enough I suppose. (And just to let you in, I did kinda forget about Midnight when I was typing this, so... yeah. A little bit of a funny true story)
Hmm... You might be thinking "Where do we stand?", now that this adventure is messily wrapped up? Well, you probably forgot that I'm intending to re-write Undercover Vamparoo to be... um... not better, but what I want it to look like (for I am planning to either turn the adventures of Ruby the Vampire into a book or a comic once I've figured everything out, so think of this blog as a stepping stone), and the first try was less than brilliant to say the least.
And I believe myself to be almost ready to start updating Fraener's Past again very soon, so... Yay!
... That's it. You may leave now. Go on, shoo! You must have better things to do now that you've finished reading!
.serutcip dda ot emit evah t'ndid I oS.keew siht si yrasrevinnA s'oorapmaV revocrednU
