“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Marilyn yelled with frustration. “Did you see what I did to him? Are you certain?”

            “I’m afraid so. I could smell Horbel’s odor on Ryllah when Lucius brought her on board. Now the source of that odor is in cryofreeze, yet I can sense that the odor is somehow growing.” Kembro replied.

            Marilyn started pacing back in forth in the small area that made up the cockpit. “I can’t believe that prick survived that attack! I mean that was some super Thunderfist shit back there! There’s no way I’ll be able to kill him while we’re in space. I’ll end up destroying the ship and killing us all.”

            “I think we can probably find a scenario where that doesn’t need to happen.” He nervously bounced his hands off each other by the tips of his fingers. “As it stands right now, he needs this ship just as bad as we do. I mean, he can’t survive in space, can he?”

            “I honestly wouldn’t be surprised at this point. The guy regenerated from ash. If the engines work, he could potentially care less whether or not all the air escapes out into space.” Marilyn put her thumb on her chin as she often did when she was thinking hard about something.

            “Soo, how about I find us a nice little nearby planet where we can safely sniff him out?” She asked.

            She turned on a hologram of the stars that they were currently traveling through. “Mayhaps this one?” She pushed her finger onto a star and its projection grew larger. It had two planets with breathable air.

            “I’m sorry. Did you just say mayhaps? What in the abyss is mayhaps? I mean I know what it is. Is it really a word though?”

            Marilyn gave him a sour expression. “Yeah, it is. I heard your kind was slow to learn when you hit a certain age.”

            Kembro squinted his eyes and crossed his arms. “That planet will do fine. I’ll just fly above the surface. Hopefully, you can lure him outside the ship.”

            “Sounds like a plan to me! And Lucius thinks he’s such a plan master.”

            “Are you going to tell the others?”

            “I don’t see what good that would do. Phuro and Luli would probably panic. Lucius will do nothing, like always, and go tell all his general buddies that he defeated Horbel himself. So, no. I don’t see any reason to tell them.”

            “Princess, I don’t think Lucius’s ambition for glory overrules his morale fiber.” Kembro said cautiously. He did not want her to think that he would ever side with him over her. He also did not want to die in space because of a prideful princess.

            “Alright, alright.” Marilyn exasperated. “Go get him.”

 

            After explaining the situation, Lucius stared into space with a furrowed brow. His mind racing for solutions. Each solution he found he would grade on probability of success. Then he narrowed them down until he found what he believed to be the best solution.

            “What do we know?” He asked rhetorically. “He can turn invisible. He can regenerate. He usually regenerates quite fast. He grew his tail back in a matter of seconds. Now we have reason to believe he is much smaller than before. Is he doing this on purpose? Or does it take him longer to regenerate his entire body?”

            Kembro and Marilyn both shrugged and let him continue.

            “If it’s on purpose then it’s safe to assume he’s hiding. The only reason someone as powerful as him would ever hide is because he has a weakness that he doesn’t want us to exploit. A weakness like say, the cold vacuum of space?”

            “So, once we touch down on one of these planets he will come out and face us?” Asked Marilyn.

            “Have you looked at these planets? One of them is completely covered in water and the other is mostly scorched desert.” Kembro said as he inspected the two planets on the hologram.

            “Then we’ll do battle in the desert. What’s the big deal?” Marilyn replied.

            “Hold up. Are there any known inhabitants on the water world?” Asked Lucius.

            “No.” Kembro said bluntly. “At least not with sentient life. It has been discovered for a long time now. This planet sits within the borders of the Farako Quadrant. Though, no one has bothered to settle it due to the size of the waves. Each one would be considered a tsunami on most worlds containing oceans.”

              “So, it is safe to say there are no space ports on the water world.” Lucius explained as he started sounding more excited.

              “Yeah. So what?” Marilyn inquired.

              “Princess! We don’t have to worry about killing him. We just have to knock him off the ship!”

               “No, no, that won’t work.” She said somberly.

               “Why not?” Kembro asked.

               “Because! I want to kill him! Me! My doing!” She shouted.

               “Come on, princess. You will be killing him! We don’t have any idea how far his regenerative capabilities can be pushed. This is a sure thunder way to know that we have defeated this guy. It’s all ocean. He will swim till he drowns. If he can live underwater, then he will be banished here until he dies. No matter what, we win.” Lucius tried to reason.

               “Fine. I’ll just have to kill him before we knock him off the ship.”

               “Whatever you say, princess.” Lucius was just glad the end result would be Horbel getting knocked off the ship.

 

 

            When they arrived on the planet, Kembro flew close to the water as slow as he could. The green waves of the ocean were several stories tall and crashed into each other often.

            Marilyn and Lucius waited atop the ship. The strong natural winds of the planet combined with the g-force made it difficult to move. Which made Lucius nervous that he would get knocked into the ocean himself if he were not careful.

            Marilyn stood firm and unshaking. She believed emotions such as fear and doubt were simply diseases of the mind. Her mind was too strong to fall victim to such a sickness.

            “You think he’ll come out?” She shouted over the winds.

            Lucius hit a button on his wrist band. “Kembro! Lower the inner temperature of the ship as low as you can!”

            Marilyn looked confused so Lucius decided to explain. “He has scales! He doesn’t like space! We might be able to freeze him out!”

 

           

            It was not long before Luli could see her breath. She made her way to the cockpit to see if it was something that she already needed to fix. She had only been the mechanic for a moment, and she did not want to start off on a sour note.

            “Everything okay, Kembro?” She asked.

            “Oh hey! Luli! Come in! Take a seat!”

            Luli saw only the co-pilot’s seat next to Kembro and sat there. She looked over all the buttons, dials, and wires. She did not know when she would need to repair things in here as well. Not many Liplees ever leave Wulfo. Not many free ones, anyway. She did not want to mess this up.

            “Getting kinda cold! Don’t you think?” She asked with a shiver in her voice.

            “Sorry about that. We may or may not have a stowaway.” Kembro pulled the blanket that he kept on the back of his seat off and handed it to her.

            “Thanks. I take it this isn’t planet Farako then?” She asked looking at the giant green waves crashing below.

            “No. We need to make sure the ship is safe to take back home first.”

            “Oh no. It’s Horbel isn’t it?” Panic settled in and she started getting fidgety in her chair.

            “The princess and Lucius are atop the ship trying to coax him out. We were hoping the cold would do the trick.” He explained.

            “I take it Phuro doesn’t know? He’d be wigging out if he did.” She replied.

 

 

            “Come on you big stupid lizard! Quit hiding like a little coward and face me!” Marilyn yelled into the wind. “Want to try turning on the heat?”

             “Don’t bother.” Horbel said from behind Lucius. He was invisible, but as he moved, Marilyn was able to see a shimmer that gave away his whereabouts. He tried to attack Lucius, but she reacted faster. She kicked him in the chest hard enough to knock him a couple paces back.

            “Look who has come out of hiding!” She mocked. “If your race is so superior, then why do you have such cowardly abilities? Sounds like you come from a long line of people who needed to cower away and recover from getting their asses kicked!”

            “I’ve had it with you!” Horbel shouted angrily. His voice cracked, making it clear that Marilyn was getting under his skin.

            “Before I kill you for good this time, how in the abyss did you survive that attack back on Wulfo? I swear there was nothing left for you to bring back!”

            “Takes more than a little bolt of lightning to kill me, princess.” He boasted.

            “Good! I wasn’t done inflicting pain on you just yet!” She dashed toward him and the two exchanged several fast attacks.

            Lucius wanted to jump in and assist, but he could barely keep track of their movements. Let alone actually keep up with them. He had seen Overlord Darex’s top generals fight in exhibitions before, and from what he had witnessed today, Princess Marilyn would have no trouble going up against any one of them. They dashed around the ship as they both unleashed a fury of attacks on one another.

            Marilyn struck a hard punch dead center to Horbel’s face. Her confident smile quickly faded as Horbel countered with a punch of his own. Blood spurted from Marilyn’s nose and she quickly shook off the hit.         

            Horbel tried to take control and came at her with a powerful kick. She recovered just in time and evaded the kick with a counter of her own. She threw several quick jabs into his abdomen until the scaled warrior was brought to his knees. Then she sent a haymaker right into the side of his head.

            His face slammed into the ship from the force of the punch so hard it left a small dent in the metal.

            “Kick him off!” Lucius yelled.

            Marilyn reared her leg back and swung it like a pendulum with as much velocity as she could. “Fish food!” She yelled at the top of her lungs.

            Horbel was sent spinning high into the yellow sky.

            Lucius let out a huge sigh of relief as he saw Horbel sail through the air away from the ship. “You did it, princess! That was amazing!”

            “I know, I know.” She said walking toward the hatch to get back in the ship.

            Horbel’s arms then extended out and stretched to unimaginable lengths. He just barely reached the edge of the ship and grabbed ahold of it. He then started to retract his arms to bring himself back aboard.

            “It’s not fair.” Lucius groaned as he watched helplessly. “I don’t think we’re dealing with a mortal here. He is some kind of monster or something!”

            “Your friend’s right!” Horbel exclaimed as soon as he landed back on the ship. “I am no mere mortal, and by fighting you I will get even stronger! I am truly becoming a god! All powerful!”

            “All your becoming is annoying!” Marilyn blasted lightning at him, but he evaded.

            He extended his arms out again and swung them around. Marilyn jumped over them with no trouble. Lucius ducked the first arm but was struck by the second arm. Knocking him off the ship and into the raging green waters below.

            Marilyn shook her head in disappointment.

 

 

            “Man overboard! What do we do?!” Luli asked. She and Kembro had just witnessed Lucius falling past the front of the ship.

            “There’s a very strong, very long rope ladder in a closet in the living quarters.” He explained as he turned the ship around. “It is very heavy, so get Phuro to help you. Tie it to something secure before you toss it out the bay door. I’ll circle the ship around.”

            “Got it!” Luli rushed to find the rope ladder and came upon a shivering Phuro.

            “What’s going on around here?” He asked.

            “Oh, so you can still talk.” Luli started opening every door she thought could be a closet.

            “Come on, Luli. I’ve been through a lot. I lost my sister and both my parents. In the same day.” He said staying seated in his chair.

            “You’re not the only one, Phuro! I lost everything! Everyone! Mom, Dad, all my siblings. Dead. Don’t forget Kareena was my best friend!” Luli said still looking for the rope ladder.

            “How do you do it?” Phuro said hugging his legs. “What keeps you going?”

            “You think any one of the people we’ve lost would want us to wallow in sorrow?” Luli stood up and spoke directly to him.

             “There’s a time and a place for everything. Now is the time to make the ones we’ve lost proud! You think Kareena would just sit by while someone was drowning?”

            Luli opened the bay doors and the strong winds rushed into the ship. She pointed out at the crashing waves below. “Lucius is down there!” Lightning suddenly shot across the sky above them.

            “And your princess is fighting to save all of our lives on top of the ship! So, what are you going to do?”

            Phuro shot up from his chair. He stood tall and proud as he slicked back his silver hair. “I’m going to help!”

            “Great! Let’s start with this ladder I would never have been able to lift on my own.”

 

 

            Marilyn threw several small balls of lightning that forced Horbel to cover his vitals. She jumped high into the air ahead of the ship and gathered electricity into her hands as fast as she could. She was gathering more than she had ever tried to gather before. What she thought was her final attack on Wulfo was what she had perceived to be the limit of her abilities. After her extended battle with Horbel she was realizing she just needed to be pushed harder.

            Horbel became invisible and Marilyn switched strategies mid-air. Rather than blast him with as much lightning as she could, she directed the electricity through her fingertips and ten bolts of lightning danced around the top of the ship. She was falling fast but trusted that she had anticipated the jump accurately and would land back on top of the ship. She focused on all ten bolts of lightning. If anyone of them connected with something other than ship, she wanted to sense it.

            Just before she landed, she felt the slightest tingle in her left pinky finger. She directed all the electricity she had left into the area.

            Horbel let out a frustrated grunt as he tried to push back the electricity with his bare hands.

            “No way! Not this time!” She started sweating profusely as all her strength and energy went into blasting Horbel with enough electricity to knock him off the ship for good.

            Horbel’s flesh was melting and regenerating back and forth as he started to walk forward. “Is this all you’ve got?!”

            Marilyn’s vision was starting to fade. She was pushing past her limits. Every muscle in her body screamed in agony. If she kept using her energy like this her muscles would start to deteriorate. If she pushed herself too far, she would use up her life force, and die.

            She thought about Ryllah. She thought about her new mechanic Luli and her big furry pilot Kembro. She even thought about Lucius and if he had been swallowed by some enormous sea creature yet. Thinking of these people gave her strength. She could not let them down. This was it. If she failed here, then they would all surely die.

            She gave another excruciating push with the electricity and Horbel started sliding back. She marched forward and he slid back faster. Just as he reached the edge of the ship he stopped.

            “Your mortal body is getting tired!” He mocked. “How long can you keep this up?”

            The electricity started to grow weaker and Marilyn fell to one knee.

            “Hey, Horbel! This is from the Zephyrs!” Phuro shouted. His arms were held up in the shape of an x. He chopped his arms down and a powerful gust of wind rushed forward.

            Horbel’s face said it all. He had gone from a cocky laugh to a look of suddenly realized terror. The gust hit him and the claws on his feet left gashes in the ship as he slid across the exterior back towards the edge.

             “No!!” He shouted.

            “Yes!” Lucius yelled as he added his electricity to Marilyn’s.

            Horbel was then finally sent flying off the ship. The force of all three Elementi combined, hurled him into the ocean so fast he never had a chance to extend his arms out to save himself.

            Marilyn collapsed immediately. Phuro caught her with wind to ease her body down.

            “Nice work, Phuro.” Lucius said in between breaths.

Marilyn slowly sat up and wiped the sweat from her face. “I mean I definitely had him, but I’m glad you guys think you helped.”