Daring Do Adventures: Daring Do And The Griffin's Goblet

by XombieSlayr

Chapter 9: "Cat and Mouse."

Chapter 9: “Cat and Mouse.”

Off the coast of Zebrica, high in the sky, Daring Do stood on the bridge of the Storm’s Vengeance.

But another warship had just appeared in front of them, bristling with cannons and showing every intention of hostility. Manning one of the cannons aboard the Vengeance, Sergeant Cloud called out.

“Cannon fire bearing 2-0-7!” He called as he turned the cannon to face the warship.

Storm Talon spun the wheel again and pulled levers at his side. The Vengeance jolted into a swift upward climb which sent Daring tumbling over.
She yelped as she rolled over, catching her helmet between her teeth as it suddenly flew off her head.

“Hold On!” Storm yelled as he held the wheel. The Vengeance was extremely agile for its size, darting back and forth in anticipation of where the enemy might aim next.

Cloud loaded the cannon. “Returning Fire!” The cannon let loose its payload and hit the hull of the warship, although it didn’t seem to do any damage.

“Status!”

“We’ve hit them sir, but their armors holding strong.” Cloud called back, reporting the damage they’d done: None at all.

“Sir! Thaumic charge from the enemy ship!” A nearby sailor exclaimed. Suddenly, the air was cut by the sound of crackling magic as a mysterious blue ball of light suddenly shot into the sky above them, and rained down tiny blue sparkles around them. In a split second, those sparkles then detonated like small bombs, as small magical bursts erupted over the entire ship. Daring looked around to see the ship itself was surprisingly undamaged.

“What was that?” She asked.

Storm looked over at her. “They’re disrupting our magical components.” He explained. Indeed all of the dials and machinery that used magic, were now spinning out of control and malfunctioning as blue energy crackled over them.

“Incoming!”

The vengeance shifted to one side. Storm turned the wheel again and tried to steady it, while simultaneously evading the enemy’s fire. Suddenly everyone heard the break of metal as one of their propellers suddenly stopped, and began to spark and smoke. “We lost a propeller. We’ll need to-Comms are down Daring! Get to the third port side propeller. Find sergeant Winder and tell him we need a full reset!” Storm called over to Daring who nodded in reply.

“Got it!” She said.

Daring raced through the ship, hoping she wouldn’t lose her way amongst the confusing corridors. Soon enough, she reached her destination and approached a griffin sailor. “I’m looking for Sergeant Winder. He needs to reset the third propeller.” Daring told him.

The sailor shook his head sadly. “Winder’s unconscious ma’am.” He explained.

“Well can you do it?”

The sailor shook his head again. “Uh…I’m not trained for that.”

Daring sighed. “Great.” There was one thing left to try. She raced back to the brig, grabbed the key off the wall, and unlocked the only occupied cell. Swift Wing stepped out and looked at Daring in surprise.

“Your letting me out?” she asked. There was no time to fill her in.

“I need your help. Follow me!” Daring said as she took off towards the third propeller station with Swift Wing in tow. Soon they reached the propeller. It was sputtering in place, moving back and forth seemingly at random. Swift Wing eyed it and raised an eyebrow.

“Wow. That’s a weird design.” She joked, watching it sputter around.

“Can you fix it?”

Swift Wing put on a serious face. “Alright alright, let me think. Primary torque distribution is down, thermic circuits are inaccessible. The only other way to reset it is…rope.”

“What?”

“Do you have rope?”

“Yeah.”

Swift Wing tied the rope around her midsection and gave Daring the other end. “I’m goin’ up top!” she cried.

“What??” Daring exclaimed.

She was already on her way, racing up the ladder that led to the service hatch above.

She scrambled to unlatch the lock, and the hatch violently swung open as a massive wind filled their ears. Swift wing called down. “Daring! Hold on to that rope!” She called.

Daring looked at her. “You can’t be serious.”

In a flash, Swift scampered out of view. She tumbled along the roof of the Vengeance, the fierce winds constantly pushing her aside. But she was determined, and in a few moments she reached the malfunctioning propeller. “Alright! I’m gonna try a reset!” She exclaimed, not that anyone could hear her over the roar of the wind.

Daring climbed up the ladder cautiously, holding the rope as tightly as she could, she peered over the edge and spotted Swift Wing. Swift clutched the wrench in her teeth as she worked the latch. “Almost… got it!” Suddenly the propeller sprung to life. ”Pull the rope!” Swift called out. Daring pulled downward as hard as she could, and Swift struggled against the propeller’s power. Finally she tumbled back inside and slammed the hatch behind her.

“Wow…that was pretty cool!”

Meanwhile, Storm Talon was still on the bridge. This fight had not been easy for the Vengeance, but its captain was not giving up yet. “Prepare to Fire.” He ordered, as the warship had mysteriously stopped firing. This might be there only chance.

Suddenly Sergeant Cloud called out. “Sir! Look!”

The enemy warship was now firing a new kind of weapon. Its shells burst in midair, creating large puffs of harmless white smoke.

It was standard practice of every Griffin war vessel to have mandatory “Cease Fire Smoke Projectiles” on board every ship. But why had this ship begun firing at the Vengeance, right off the bat? They could’ve just signaled them as soon as they saw them. Something didn’t feel right.
And Storm Talon knew it.

“They’re signaling us, sir.” Cloud reported, as the white smoke wafted over the sky.
Storm narrowed his eyes. He could feel those old war instincts kicking in again. And they were screaming at him to take this chance to sink that bird. But he collected himself as he considered his options.

The Vengeance was a beast on its own. But even it didn’t stand a chance against a Dreadnought in a fire fight. And they weren’t exactly winning anyway. Storm didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t risk the lives of his crew, or Daring. He sighed heavily.

“Hold Fire! Respond with white signal!” He ordered.

The Vengeance fired its own puffs of smoke. The two ships stopped maneuvering around each other, and everything came to a quiet standstill.
Daring got up from her position and watched earnestly as neither ship moved, but hovered in the air. Each one seemingly waiting for the other to do something first. Were they waiting for us to contact them? Maybe we were supposed to just wait for them to contact us?

Or were they faking it? Was this a trick, to try and get the Vengeance to lower its guard, so they would take a surprise attack without any chance to defend against it?

A few tense moments went by with no further action. The battle had suddenly come to an end.

Daring walked over to Storm Talon who was eyeing the enemy vessel, as if anticipating some sort of trick. She looked out at the horizon, as the warship continued to hover in the air. Storm suddenly spoke, and in a tone that didn’t at all ease the tension.

“What in Equestria? First they try to kill us, and now they want to talk.” Storm remarked, still not daring to take his eyes of the Dreadnought. Yeah, something definitely isn’t right here. We got to be ready for anything. Daring thought.

Suddenly a hatch opened on deck of the warship, and a tall wicked figure emerged. Sergeant Cloud was the first to remark.

“They’re sending an envoy, sir.” He called to Storm who was now watching the figure, intently as it suddenly spread its wings and took to the sky.

“Open the external hatch.”

The mysterious figure approached the Vengeance and entered through the hatch. He handed on the bridge, just in front of Storm’s position.

He tucked his wings to his side, and bowed his head to Storm. “Captain. My apologies for the misunderstanding.” The way he spoke was commanding, fierce. And by usual standards, was just plain scary.

Storm’s eyes widened. “CopperBeak?”

Captain CopperBeak, of the griffin Air Navy, stood before him. He was roughly Storm’s age, and in his military service he had picked up a few scars of his own. The feathers around his head were dark and grizzled, but his expression seemed calm. It seemed almost as if he had forgotten about the battle which had ended only moments ago.

Storm’s expression was calm as well but his eyes were fierce. “What are you doing in Zebrica?”

“I could ask the same of you.” CopperBeak replied.

Storm’s expression softened. “It’s a…well, sort of a sightseeing mission.” He explained.

CopperBeak chuckled. “You requisitioned an entire battleship just to see the sights?”

Storm tried his best to mask his hesitation. He cracked a fake smile. “We’ll, you know me, Copper, I’m very attached to this ship. I hadn’t seen her in a while.”

CopperBeak raised an eyebrow.

Daring Do came racing onto the bridge. “Hey, did we win?” Daring stopped seeing the dark and scary looking old Griffin in front of Storm. “What’s going on here?”

CopperBeak turned to face Daring. We’ll more like towered over her. Any other pony would’ve been terrified. But Daring Do was not just any pony.

“Daring Do, is it?”

“Who are you?”

“An Old Colleague.” Storm explained.

CopperBeak bowed to Daring. But not in respect. In fact it seemed he was just alluding to the fact that he simply noticed her, and wanted her to think he cared that she was there. “The name’s CopperBeak. I am captain of the Rising Thunder. And I’m running a security mission for Zebrica.” He stated.

Daring didn’t buy that for a second. Security Mission? Security against what, Dragons? Why would he need that giant warship for a simple “security mission?” She thought, not at all trusting the griffin’s words.

Storm Talon wasn’t buying it either. “Is Zebrica under threat?” he asked.

‘Not Necessarily, no. But it seemed like a good way to…cement our friendship, as it were.” CopperBeak replied with the very slightest of hesitation. Nevertheless his expression revealed nothing of what his true intentions were. He was unreadable.

“Really.” Storm pried. He wasn’t giving up. That old griffin was hiding something. Something he was doing a poor job of hiding. As if he wanted Storm to know he was lying.

CopperBeak gave what resembled a smile, but came across more of a smug smirk. “Well you know how the government keeps talking about reaching out to other races. I’m just doing my part.” He said nonchalantly.

Swift Wing, who had followed Daring, piped up.

“So why did you shoot us?” She asked ,raising an eyebrow.

Storm nodded. “Yes, why did you- “ He stopped and turned to face Swift Wing. “What are you doing here?”

“I let her out.” Daring replied.

“You what?”

“I needed her help. I’ll explain later.”

CopperBeak cleared his throat. “As I was saying, I’m here on a security mission. Your ship approached unannounced, and it was only natural to assume you intended us harm.” He explained.

“You could’ve hailed us and asked what we were up to.” Storm said calmly.

“But we did hail you, Storm. You didn’t respond.”

Storm was first to voice his outrage before Daring. “That’s because your guns took out our antennas!” he exclaimed.

CopperBeak feigned surprise. “How unfortunate! One of my gunners must have been too quick on the trigger. I’ll make sure that he’s reprimanded. In the meantime, you are free to land at Glyphmark at your convenience. There will be no further trouble.”

Storm eyed CopperBeak for a moment. “…Very well. Thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome.”

CopperBeak spread his wings and exited the way he had come. They watched for a moment as he flew back to his ship. Finally, Storm turned to face his crew.

“Sergeant.”

“Sir?”

“Start making repairs, and prepare for landing.”

“Aye, Sir.”

He turned to face Daring and Swift.

“Now, would the two of you kindly explain what’s going on?”

Daring explained everything, taking care to emphasize how Swift Wing had been so awesome when she fixed the propeller.
“…and then she barely made it back alive! She saved the ship Storm!”

“I think we would’ve survived even without her…but I must admit…that was quite a stunt, miss Wing.

Swift Wing perked up. “You think?”

Storm smiled. “If I hadn’t heard it from Daring herself, I’m not sure I’d believe it.”

“You see? There’s no way she’s a spy. And she definitely knows something about airships.

“Oh Yeah! I read the blueprints for this thing like a year ago. Such a weird design. But very effective if you know what you’re doing.” Swift Wing said proudly.

Storm thought for a moment. “Hm. She used to be more effective. But I guess I’m out of practice. In any case we have a new problem to deal with: CopperBeak.”

Swift Wing looked confused. “What, your friend from the Air Navy? How is he a problem? I mean, yeah, he shot us, but that was just an accident, right? It won’t happen again.” She said with a shrug.

Storm narrowed his eyes. “That was no accident. And he’s not a friend. If he was a friend, he wouldn’t have fired in the first place. Griffin ships don’t just shoot each other without good reason.”

Daring put a hoof to her chin. “But if he wanted to kill us, why’d he stop shooting?”

“He doesn’t want us dead. Not yet, anyway. He wants us to be afraid of him. This entire encounter was a show of force.” Storm explained.

“But why would he want us…” Daring’s voice trailed off as the realization suddenly hit her. “the goblet. He’s the one who sent me the letter!” She exclaimed, both surprised and angrily.

Swift Wing turned to Daring. “What letter?”

“Someone sent me a letter saying that it might be possible to find Kamara Mista. It’s what started this whole quest. Copper must have sent it.”

Daring explained.

“How do you know?”

“Aside from his obvious attempt to scare us without killing us, there’s also the fact that he mentioned Glyphmark.” Storm answered.

Daring nodded. “Exactly. This is an off-the-books mission. It’s obvious that we’re going to Zebrica, but how does he know the details? How does he know which particular town we’re heading for…”

Swift Wing’s eyes widened. “Unless he knows what you’re up to.”

“He read the same legend I did. He sent me the letter. He wants his claws on the Griffin’s Goblet.”

“Exactly. And he wants you to retrieve it from the temple.” Storm stated.

“And then what? I’ll just give it to him?” Daring scoffed.

Storm chuckled. “I expect he plans to steal it from you.”

Swift Wing was impressed. “So he brought an entire dreadnought-class warship just to pick your pocket? Wow, Daring, you’ve got a reputation! She exclaimed, smiling.

“Either that, or he has other plans besides pick pocketing.” Storm remarked.

“What do you mean?”

“If were right, CopperBeak is searching for Kamara Mista. And I don’t expect he’s just here for the sights.”

“So he wants the cloud. Flight beyond reckoning; that’s what the cloud gives you.” Daring said, putting the pieces together.

Storm looked out at the horizon, the coast of Zebrica now so close they could see the palm trees from the shipping dock. “Imagine: All of Copper’s men given supernatural abilities. With an army like that, there’s no telling what he might do.” He turned to Daring. “Daring, if I didn’t know you better, I’d ask you to leave the goblet where it is.”

Daring gave a chuckle. “We’ll it’s a good thing you know me, then, cause I am not going back home without seeing this through.” She said, suddenly serious.

Swift Wing nodded with a grin. “Ditto.”

Storm smiled. Their determination was something to truly be admired. “Then we’ll have to find a way to get the goblet for ourselves, without Copper taking it away. Here’s what I’m thinking…”

They talked for another half hour. Finally, the Vengeance landed in Zebrica, and its sailors began the task of repairing the damage which the ship had incurred. As Daring Do exited the gangplank, she looked up to see the Rising Thunder hovering overhead, casting a gloomy shadow all around.