Tikehau, another of the islands that consists of French Polynesia, was a popular tourist destination known for its amazing waters and the creatures that live in it. Sadly in this day and age, overfishing has made it more difficult to see fish and other aquatic animals and the chances of anyone sighting one of these majestic creatures has become a rarity.
But it didn’t stop people from their continued effort to fish these waters dry. In a boat just off the edge of the atoll sat a couple of fishermen, lounging on plush leather seats as they eyed the bottom of their bottles and occasionally, their fishing rods, held to the floor with metallic hooks and a round piston, which would help with maintaining control of the rod should something take the bait.
“This blows…” one of them, Rory Reef, said as he tossed his bottle over the side. It landed in the water before being washed up along with more rubbish on the atoll’s shore. “I’m hungry. I need a drink. We’ve been here days now. And we’ve only caught one fish.”
“You’ve had three bottles already. And it hasn’t even been five hours yet,” the other one, Rice Borough said. “I swear, I saw a hammerhead shark earlier, circling the boat.”
Rory turned to face him. “Now you’re the one making stuff up.”
“I’m serious, how can I mistake a hammerhead of all sharks?”
“They’re all gone. The last one was fished up five years back,” Rory continued. “I ain’t seen a shark since.”
“I’m tellin’ you, I saw it!” Rice protested. “I swear on me mum.”
Rory decided to forget it. “Imagine how these waters used to be fifty years ago. Or even a hundred years ago. Imagine this endless blue, teeming with fish, with sharks, rays, whales.”
“Whales ain’t fish.”
“Same thing. They swim in these waters and we fish ‘em.”
“It’s a pity them blue whales went extinct twenty years ago. I still remember the fish whale meat I’d eaten back in the tavern over on Picadilly.” Rice rubbed his belly. “Never had anything like that before, and I never will again.”
There was a tugging on Rice’s fishing line and Rory stomped his foot before pointing at it. “Oi, you got something!”
“No way!” Rice threw his bottle overboard before grabbing his rod and thumbing the button to reel it back in.
The line came back with no resistance and he soon realized why. He grabbed what was left of it as soon as it exited the water and eyed it curiously. “Where’d the rest of it go?”
His fishing line had been cut somewhere in the middle. It was made of a military grade carbon fiber, something that wouldn’t be cut by a fish or even a coral bed.
“What could’ve done this?” He turned to face Rory, but something was wrong.
Rory was holding his hands to his throat and gasping and red began to run down his arms, staining his blue floral shirt, pooling on the floor along his feet. His eyes went wide and his fingers soon fell off from his hand, cut so cleanly that it looked like they had just decided to jump off his body. He tipped back and fell over the side of the boat, disappearing from view, before the railing he was leaning against slid in half as well, dropping into the water behind him.
“What is that?!” Rice shuffled back till his back was to his own railing. He could still see Rory’s ten fingers on the floor, lifeless among his own blood before a clicking sound could be heard at the top of his boat.
Just over the cabin stood a dark skinned man with a really big mouth, crouching down with his arms on his knees. He had on an unbuttoned red shirt with trumpets printed all over it, a pair of white shorts and green flip flops.
He pushed aside a gnarly head of vibrant blonde hair before clicking his tongue against his teeth. “You fishermen are the reason we don’t got anymore fish here. And still you fish. Madmen, I tell you.”
“Wh-Who are you?” Rice grabbed the railing. His trembling hands shook it all the way to the stern. “I ain’t done nothing.”
“Not today, anyway.” The man hopped down from his perch and walked slowly towards Rice, swinging his arms menacingly as he angled his body back. “All you people do is make the world worse. So I’d like to thank you for being here today. So I can kill you.”
He raised a fist and Rice panicked, throwing himself over the side. He figured if he could swim out to the atoll, perhaps he could just lose him on the other end before finding a boat and getting to another island.
But there was nothing more he could do. There was a swish of water and Rice’s body split into seven pieces before it even hit the water below.
Subterra Shiver leaned on a plush leather seat at the back of the new boat Shiho had called in. Even though the waves rocked around them and the wind whistled through her ears, they did nothing to turn down the heat of the sun from above.
From what she gathered, Shiho had this big company called the Crusaders Foundation helping her out with her search for her grandmother. They would provide her with whatever means they could, and that meant boats out here among the islands.
This one had the name ‘Brandy 2’ painted along the sides, a light blue colored vehicle as opposed to Shiho’s earlier white boat. This one was slightly larger, fit with two powerful motors in the back and a glass panel behind the two front seats, ideal for fish-watching, if there were indeed any fish left in the ocean. Subterra heard they were mostly all gone now thanks to humans, but perhaps a few had evaded capture and would eventually multiply again to fill the ocean.
She could only hope that was the case.
Ocellus sat in the back with her, her eyes trained on the tiny islands in the distance as they rode along the waves. Shiho sat at the wheel, one hand on the steering apparatus and the other one clenched around a can of beer. She would occasionally take a swig of the alcohol; Subterra remembered that Shiho had told her that the brand of beer she liked best had switched to biodegradable packaging to help save the environment. It was made of some kind of waterproof wafer that could be eaten once she was done with her drink.
“Anything look familiar to you, Subterra?” Shiho called back, breaking Subterra’s attention on the beer can. “According to my map, there are at least six islands in our proximity.”
Subterra shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m not picking out anything familiar.”
“Well, what do you expect her to do?” Ocellus waved a hand. “Do you think she can recognize anything from this distance? You’ve got to get closer.”
Shiho grumbled, but complied, taking the Brandy 2 towards the closest island. A fairly large wave licked against the boat, splashing up water into Subterra’s face before she ducked back. She wiped what she could away with the back of a hand, but some of it got into her mouth.
“It’s… actually salty,” she said.
“You’ve never been out here, have you?” Ocellus leaned forward, taking her attention away from the sea.
She shrugged. “I can’t… remember anything. I just woke up on Bora Bora and that’s all I recall besides my name, Subterra. I don’t even remember what this TWI looks like.”
“She’s no simple opponent, that I’ll give you,” Shiho said from the front. “I didn’t get the chance to get rid of her the last time and she got away after a tough fight. I won’t be making that mistake again. If not for Spike, I would’ve prevented all this.”
“Spike? Who’s Spike?” Subterra asked.
“Some flipping nobody who put his nose where it didn’t belong,” Shiho snorted. “He had been a friend, just like TWI, but they decided to kill everyone. Apparently he shares his name with some dumb dog who a lot of people have a weird obsession over and have been making attempts on my family because of it. I had to deal with one of these before I left Canterlot.”
“A dog?” Ocellus repeated, looking confused. “Why would people obsess over a dog? Was it a magical dog?”
“Beats me,” Shiho said. “The whole dog thing happened before I was born. Anyway, TWI won’t escape me this time. We’ll find out where she’s hiding and finish her once and for all.”
“Now arriving at Tikehau,” a voice on their boat’s system chimed.
“We’ll look for landmarks.” Shiho turned and rested an arm over the back of her seat as she pressed a button for the boat’s auto-docking function. “Anything that would get you to recognize something, Subterra.”
“What are the chances of TWI being on the first island we decide to look?” Ocellus brought up the fact. “I don’t think it’ll be that easy.”
Shiho narrowed her eyes at the approaching island. “Only one way to find out.”
The boat picked up speed, almost flying over the waves as it got closer and closer. The island ahead was an atoll according to the map, a ring of land around a lagoon. Like with Bora Bora, there was a resort along the edge of the trash-filled shore, another reason why fishes had begun dying out. There was more rubbish in the waters than ever before and it didn’t seem like humanitarian efforts were working.
The group stopped the boat alongside a small pier that led to the resort, walking past a sign that read, ‘Welcome to Tikehau’.
“So what’s the plan, Shiho?” Ocellus was the first to jump out of the boat. She grabbed the rope tossed by Shiho and began tying it to its post. “How are we going to find TWI out here?”
Shiho pointed at Subterra, who was still seated in the back. “We’ll have to jog the kid’s memory. I’m sure familiar sights would trigger some sort of remembrance.”
Ocellus lifted an eyebrow. “Are you sure it works like that?”
Shiho took a swig of her flask. “It’ll have to. There’s thousands of islands out here in the ocean. TWI could be on any one.”
“You’re the boss.” Ocellus just shrugged and carried on down the pier.
“Good grief.” Shiho turned to Subterra and motioned with her head to get out. “Go on. See what you can dig up. I’ll finish dealing with the boat.”
Subterra complied and got herself onto the boardwalk. Following behind Ocellus, she noticed the older woman’s back had all kinds of scars running down its length, healed over time, but still visible. Whatever it was she did, hero or something, she must’ve been doing it for a long time now.
The resort began with a stairway leading up a grimy white pathway, making a sharp left to a lobby made out completely of wood.
“How are so many vacation spots still open?” Ocellus asked herself. With the pollution of the oceans and the decaying ozone layer, she didn’t see much of a market left for tropical island getaways.
She knew the state of this world well. That was why TWI had wanted to right it, but Ocellus didn’t agree with the methods she wished to use. Something had changed in her when she came to this world for her first visit, something that made her hard and cruel, and that was something she and her friends could not accept.
“See anything that looks familiar?” Ocellus asked Subterra. “I have to say that this doesn’t look like the lair of a delusional princess. How about you?”
Subterra looked from the woman behind the counter to a pair of people lounging on plush sofas, then to a cluster of trees just beyond the lobby railing. Nothing seemed at all familiar to her.
“This island is a whole ring, anyway,” Ocellus said. “Perhaps if we walk around it, something might seem familiar.”
“If you say so,” Subterra shrugged and followed Ocellus as she went out of the shade. “What about Shiho?”
Ocellus waved a hand and kept going. “She’s resourceful. I’m sure she can find us when she’s done.”
The two women had to walk through shallow water to get to the next part of the atoll, which was mostly just jungle. They kept to the shore, hoping to see any landmarks that would leave a mark on Subterra’s memory, but there was nothing remarkable out here. That was until they got to a rather bizarre sight.
There was a boat beached up on the shore, looking like it had just sailed through a hurricane. It stood at least a storey up and they couldn’t see most of the deck from here, but the damage was evident. Bits of it were broken off, almost like something had cleanly cut them off. The cabin glass had been shattered and its rooftop seemed to be crumpled; they didn’t see any signs of life on it.
“Now what do we have here?” Ocellus approached it slowly.
“Looks like someone was drunk sailing,” Subterra suggested.
Ocellus shook her head. “I don’t think so. Look at the damage. This wasn’t caused by a crash or bad weather. It’s like someone took a huge sword and hacked bits off it.”
Subterra nodded. The railings had been cut into pieces by something really sharp. There was no way it would’ve broken off on impact. She ran a hand along its side. “This hasn’t been here long.”
Ocellus suddenly pulled her back, then threw them both to the ground as something sliced across the air from the hull of the ship, cutting a straight line through it, hitting the sand hard enough to send particles up into the air.
“Why if it isn’t Subterra Shiver! Didn’t expect to see you here!” A dark man walked out of the smashed cabin, brushing his blonde hair out of his face as he flashed them a wide smile. “I’m lying of course. I knew you’d arrive here eventually.”
“Someone you know?” Ocellus looked at her companion.
Subterra shook her head warily.
The man put his hands on the railing and leaned closer. “I would’ve gotten you if not for this tough woman here. But then if I had gotten you, TWI wouldn’t have been pleased. She wants you back, Subterra. And I’m going to bring you back. It’ll be your choice whether you go back in one piece or without your arms and legs. Surfer Blood and I will make sure of that.”
“So another Stand user, huh?” Ocellus got them back on their feet and stood in front of Subterra. “Who are you?”
The man leaned up and straightened his red shirt with trumpet imprints. “I am Doo Doo Doot, one of the many who has gained the truth working for TWI. She has opened our eyes to the state of our world. You don’t see it, but I see a way of saving it. The world’s destruction is not inevitable, you know?”
“Wait, your name’s Doo Doo? For real?” Ocellus repeated. Then she snorted with laughter. “Wow. Your parents must have really hated you to name you that. Why not just call yourself Manure Man and get it over with?”
In spite of the danger and the appearance of this new enemy, Subterra had to agree with Ocellus on this one. She giggled, much to the anger of Doo Doo Doot.
“I’ll have you know I am named after one of the most famous composers in the world!” The man raged at them. “Laugh all you want now. You, pink hair, you’ll be dead before you know it, and I’ll be off to TWI’s island with Subterra.”
"Counter offer," Ocellus replied, dropping all levity and humor. "You tell us where TWI is, and you get to walk away from here in one piece. In case you haven't noticed, we outnumber you two to one."
"Numbers mean nothing to one so skilled as I," Doot sneered back. "My Stand and I are unmatched in battle. You don't stand a chance."
"Last chance, Fertilizer Face," Ocellus replied as she settled into a gunslinger’s stance, both hands hovering above her hips. "Give us TWI's location and we can all leave here unharmed. Unless of course, you want to catch a beating."
Doot scowled and straightened his stance. “TWI found me at my lowest point when I had just flunked out of my musical career. She opened my mind, gave me my Stand abilities with her arrow. And with these abilities, I will now smear you all over the sands to never be found again.”
From within the hull of the ship, rectangular dents made themselves known before the entire thing burst open, revealing a blue and grey Stand flexing its muscular arms and legs. It had tubes running down its body from its head and where its hands would be were two boxy shapes with rectangular slits at the ends. Its featureless face watched them through a red slit and it raised both arms in one swift motion.
Water began pumping through its tubes before its arms reeled back from firing two disc shaped projectiles at them. Ocellus called up Forest Rangers, who attempted to smack the attack away with its left arm, fast enough to hit it out of the air. Ocellus was about to smile when she noticed her Stand’s arm was completely gone, flying away in the air as the disc projectile dissipated against the sand past them, knocking more up into the air.
“You may be fast, but you won’t be as strong as the water Surfer Blood wields!” Doo Doo Doot began laughing, throwing his head back. “At the speed and power it fires its water, nothing, not even the strongest of metals can stand against it. Water gives life to our dying planet, but it can also take it away.”
Ocellus looked down at her bleeding arm and wiped what she could away. If Forest Rangers had been a solid singular Stand, she might’ve just lost her arm right there and then. She had underestimated her enemy here, but as she looked at Subterra, she knew it wasn’t time to give up, not yet. She still had to find her mother and TWI and this pile of Doo Doo wasn’t going to stop her.
-To be Continued...-