Diversion To Urasha
Chapter 21

James felt his body sinking into the cool, gel-like substance. Both his eyes and his mouth remained closed, instinctively protecting him from whatever he had just landed in.

It was silent in this place, peaceful, with not a roar, thud, or shriek to be heard. James wondered if he were in fact dead. His body felt numb, with only the cool little tingles of gel to add to his body’s sensation. Then he realised it, James realised that his lungs were trying to breathe. He realised that his body felt heavy, as if some huge weight were suffocating him. This feeling reminded James of a dream, of a nightmare he used to have as a child. There would be shapes, lots of them in a room, all multi-coloured. Generally, the shapes would start off small, and they wouldn’t be too troublesome for toddler James to carry. But then as James was made to pick up more shapes, the shapes would get bigger, heavier, until it felt, to poor little James, that the shapes were crushing him, restricting his airways, suffocating him.

James let out a garbled moan, swishing his arms through the gunk, swimming his way upwards, until at last, his head reached the surface, popping free from the pool of goo.

The noise returned to James. It was as if he had been on a battlefield, knocked out right in the middle of combat. Only now he had awakened, watching as grenades and bombs launched and exploded right in front of his very own eyes. Machine guns fired everywhere, creating a scene of total utter devastation.

The reality of the matter was this: It was not explosions that James could hear, it was the roars and shrieks of the ganzar. It was not machine guns, but instead, the crashes and the cries of his friends, as they fought desperately to fend off the giant monster.

As James realised where he was, where he and everyone else was, a thought occurred to him. Crystaline had fallen in, only at the time, James had assumed that she was dead, that she had fallen to her death in this pool. James had thought himself, that he were about to die, and that his friends would all perish with him. Only, he was still here. Phil was still here. Zach was still here. Crystos was still here. So surely, Crystaline was still here? Unless she had been engulfed? Like poor reckless Morcees?

Instead of swimming towards his friends, James found his eyes frantically searching for Crystaline. They found her! There Crystaline was, climbing up one of those pillar rocks. She was nearly there, at the peak of the tall structure. James’ mouth gaped open, wondering what she was doing? She would be vulnerable up there? On that thin breakable rock?

As Crystaline reached the summit, she stood herself upright on the narrow structure, panting, her lungs gasping for oxygen. She seized the ganzar with her golden eyes, watching the creature, working out her next move. Ganzars had no ears, yet they responded to sound. Their bodies picked up the little vibrations in the air. That was how they saw effectively. The creature looked like it had two eyes, but those were not eyes, not really. They were just mere holes.

Crystaline watched as the creature thrashed relentlessly after her companions. Something had to be done. They could not perish.

Without placing much thought into her next move, Crystaline yelled at the creature, watching as the creature suddenly paused, and then swivelled around to face her.

Crystaline’s chest was still heaving as she looked into the creature, waiting for it to spurt towards her.

The ganzar let out another deafening roar, and then it hurtled its gunky body straight for her. Crystaline held her ground, waiting for the ginormous creature to reach her. Just as the ganzar was practically on top of her, Crystaline made her first jump, landing on the next rock. She had no time to be still, for the ganzar was now chasing her, breaking up the rocks one by one, as it sailed after her.

James pulled his body up the pillar rock, desperate to do anything that he could to help Crystaline. He could hear the cries of the ganzar. He could feel the rock that he was climbing vibrating and shaking as the monster darted after Crystaline. What was she thinking? Turning the creature on herself like that? It was only a matter of time before it caught up with her. She would only be able to outrun it for so long.

With one final push, James pulled his body over the top of the pillar rock. He stood himself upright, searching for Crystaline. His eyes found her. She was still outrunning the ganzar, jumping from rock to rock as it barrelled after her.

Without thinking, James screamed for the ganzar’s attention, just as Crystaline had. He waved his hands in the air, showing the ganzar exactly where he was.

The ganzar paused, its attentions now drawn to James. He watched as the creature ravenously seized him up like he was a piece of meat that it was waiting to devour. Then the beast gave another reverberating roar, plunging itself away from Crystaline, and towards James.

“Oh crap!” James muttered to himself, realising that he may not be quite as dexterous as Crystaline. He may not be able to outrun this thing at all. Nevertheless, James realised that he only had seconds to make his move, so he ran, to the next rock, and then the one after that, wincing as he heard the ganzar gaining on him.

James made another run and jump, feeling his legs burning, yearning to give up and collapse under their exhaustion. James couldn’t afford to give up. He did not want to end up like Morcees. His legs mustered up another leap, and this time, James felt the ganzar’s fist just skimming him by centimetres. Realising that the ganzar was way too close for comfort, James’ legs gave up on him, forcing him to a standstill. He turned to face the creature, awaiting his death and the grimy fist which was hurtling straight towards him.

James’ lungs let out another scream, just as he felt a solid weight pushing his back, forcing him to fall over onto his rock. Crystaline was on top of him, shielding his body from the gooey fist, which thrust through the air above them.

Just as the ganzar’s fist retracted, Crystaline pulled James back up onto his feet, pointing out the nearby side cliff. Simultaneously together, James and Crystaline jumped straight for the cliff, with Crystaline pulling James into a small sheltered crack, just about big enough to squeeze the two of them in together. They were safe - for now. The ganzar could not reach either of them, for the rocks wedging them together provided the duo with enough protection.

James felt Crystaline’s heartbeat beating frantically against his chest, thumping in time with her heavy panting. He’d never been wedged to Crystaline before. He’d hugged her, and that had been a pretty awesome experience. But being wedged, chest to chest with her, that had just topped the hug - by lightyears!

James searched Crystaline’s exhausted expression, watching how her long brown hair appeared to stick to her pale moist skin. Crystaline was just as gunky as he was, and as James looked down at his own t-shirt, he realised that it was no longer grey. “Damn it!” he panted. “My t-shirt’s turned pink!”

Crystaline slowly raised her head to look at James. “You’re worried about the colour of your t-shirt? When all of this is going on?”

James returned Crystaline’s infectious smile. “You’re not worried about all the gunk that’s stuck to you?”

Crystaline shook her head, unable to stifle her growing smile. “You perplex me, James, do you realise that?”

“And you beguile me,” he whispered, right into her ear.

Crystaline tried to harden her expression, to make it more serious. “We don’t have much time.”

“Can it reach us from in here?”

Crystaline shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s thrashing about out there, looking for us. Once it replaces us, it won’t have any trouble breaking through the rocks which shield us.”

James nodded, fervently searching Crystaline’s eyes. “You came back for me?” he whispered. “You could have escaped. To the other cliff? Why didn’t you?”

Crystaline let out a dumbfounded gasp. “You could have escaped too, with the others. Why did you turn the ganzar on yourself?”

“Why did you?”

Crystaline shook her head, trying to shift the conversation onto more important matters. “Look, James, if we want to get out of this alive, we need to have a plan.”

James’ expression grew more serious, his mind regaining focus on the more important matters at hand. “Right...right...so how? What do we need to do?”

Crystaline winced. “Did you see what happened to Morcees?”

James nodded. “You saw that, too?”

“Yes, I had just began my climb up the rock when I saw him just...jump into the ganzar like that.”

“Is he gone?”

Crystaline nodded sullenly. “Yes, he’s gone, and whilst his death was very unfortunate, it also taught me something. You see the green inside the ganzar? That’s electricity, electricity which will react badly to sworsha electricity, set onto its highest red voltage.”

“So, what? We throw our sworshas into the ganzar to kill it?”

Crystaline shook her head. “No. Our sworshas would not be enough to kill the ganzar. I don’t want to kill anything that we don’t have to. The red voltage might just about be strong enough to shock it, to force it to retreat into its pool. We can’t just throw our sworshas though, we need to have more precision than that.”

“Then what?” James said, shaking his head, trying to work out a feasible solution to all of this. “We can’t just dive into it. You saw what happened to Morcees.”

“I know! I know that we can’t just dive into the creature. But we can jump onto it.”

“Jump onto it? How?”

“The green crusts on its surface. They’re harmless, ever-changing, but suitable target landing points.”

James nodded. This was all starting to make sense now. “So, once we’ve landed, we set our sworshas red and we stab the ganzar?”

“In effect, yes. If we manage to hold our composure long enough, the ganzar should start to retreat. It should sink back into the pool. Then we can jump, back onto this cliff.”

James gave another nod, thinking this feasible after all. “Alright then,” he agreed. “Let’s do this.”

“Are you sure? Because this, James, it’s not without its risks.”

“I know, but we’ve got to do something.”

Crystaline grabbed one of James’ hands with her own, clutching onto him tightly. “We do this together. We don’t let go unless we have to.”

James was stunned by Crystaline’s physical contact, by the little twinkles of pleasure that just her touch caused him. James could barely even articulate his words, so he just nodded, promising that he would not let this stunning princess go - ever!

When James and Crystaline reached the cliff’s edge, both of their eyes were forced to witness the destruction caused by the ganzar. There was barely a pillar rock left in sight, and there was just no way to get to that distant cliff. James did not know what this would entail. He did not know what this would mean for the mission, the healing stone.

The ganzar was still furiously thrashing around, beating its body into the cliff at which James and Crystaline both stood. James had no idea where the other three were. He could only hope that they had gotten away, reaching the cliff’s peak to safety.

James gave Crystaline’s hand a gentle little squeeze. “So, what now?” he asked her.

“We call it over, then we jump. Remember, James, think green, make sure you stay on the green crusts.”

James nodded, eyeing up the green landing spots all over the ganzar. Crystaline shouted for the creature to hear her, immediately gaining the attention of the dangerous animal.

“Here we go,” she whispered, giving James’ hand an encouraging squeeze.

James watched as the ganzar darted straight towards them. He was hardly able to breathe as he watched the being getting closer and closer. James positioned himself ready to jump, until the creature was literally centimetres away. Then he did it. He and Crystaline did it. They both jumped, hand in hand, landing on the largest green crust of the ganzar’s body.

The purple beast roared and writhed, disliking this new sensation of people actually being on it. James fought hard to keep hold of Crystaline’s hand. It was too difficult to stay balanced on this thing. And then the crust, it was shrinking! James’ hand broke away from Crystaline’s, as each of them made a lifesaving dive for new crusts.

“GET OUT YOUR SWORSHA!” James heard Crystaline yelling. He did as he was told, mentally preparing himself to think red. He could see that Crystaline’s sworsha was already red, and James used this, he used this to summon that same strength to his very own sworsha.

As his sworsha illuminated crimson, James could hear, and feel its sheer power. It was as if the weapon were trying to escape from his grasp, just wanting to burst out all that power within it. James fought just to hold on. He could not let go of this weapon.

“NOW!” James heard Crystaline yelling to him, just as he saw Crystaline’s sworsha enter the ganzar. James took one last, deep fighting breath, and then he did it. He plunged his weapon into the animal, feeling the sheer power reverberating its way back up his arms.

The animal convulsed, writhing in agony, as it tried to shake away the pain, and shock of the sworshas. James had to fight. He had to fight just to stay on the thing. The ganzar was sinking...this...this was working.

“GO!” Crystaline yelled to James.

“WHAT?” he called back to her, “I’M NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU DO!”

“JUST GO! NOW! BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! I’LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU, JUST GO, JAMES!”

James was horrified, terrified at the very prospect of leaving Crystaline on this thing. Yet the cliff, it appeared to be rising, getting further and further away from his reach. Without thinking this through any further, James decided to do as he was told, removing his weapon from the animal, as he dived straight for the cliff. Quite conveniently, James had plenty of room to work with now. The ganzar had created a massive slope on the cliff’s face, which James could climb to get at least half way up the tall structure. James placed his sworsha back in his pocket, and then he ran, expecting to see Crystaline overtaking him. When James realised that she had not overtaken him, he turned around, seeing the pool beneath him swirling green with deadly electricity. Then there was Crystaline, still on the creature’s back, sinking away from the cliff.

James didn’t even have to think about his next move, he just dived straight down the cliff, with his back and his buttocks skidding straight down the rocky structure to meet Crystaline in time.

He could see that Crystaline had successfully fought her way to the highest point of the creature’s body. She had already removed her weapon and had placed it back in her pocket. Now all that was left for her to do was to jump. Crystaline made a daring leap for the cliff, only just about managing to hang onto a brittle rock, as the ganzar sank back into its sizzling pool of electricity.

James tried to make himself skid down the rock even quicker. Crystaline was hanging on by a thread. If she let go now, she would die. She would get fried alive by the pool of electricity beneath her.

The rock was going...going... caught! James’ hand had replaced the rock. His other hand was clenched tightly around another rock, but his own grip was slipping on the thing.

“Let go!” Crystaline called to him, realising that James would perish too if he held on.

“No! I promised you, Crystaline, I’ll never let you go!” James’ arm felt weak, it would not hold, it would not hold on for seconds longer. James felt his hand sliding free from the rock, and just as he began to fall, he felt a soft, yet firm hand replacing the sharp brittle rock. Crystos had caught him! And he was soon joined by Phil and Zach, as the three of them pulled James and Crystaline back up onto a safer point of the cliff.

James was the first to be slid to safety, and almost immediately after, James had pulled Crystaline up with him. She landed on his lap, her legs straddling his. James raised his head to Crystaline, tasting her sweet breath as she panted into his lips, hers almost touching his. Her lips were beautiful, moist with lust, with desire. James’ must have looked the same, for he wanted to kiss Crystaline, right here, right now. She was beautiful.

As if remembering that three others were stood watching, Crystaline held her forehead to James’, releasing that frustration from her body, as she pulled herself away from him.

James could only let out a weak little gasp, for he would not be able to articulate any words right now.

James closed his eyes, dunking his head into the clear clean water. He could feel his head cleansing. All that sweat, all that goo was just emptying away from his exhausted body.

Once James was sure that he’d ridded his hair of the purple gunk, he released his hair from the water, giving it a little flick.

The air up here was fresh, free from all that fog. Upon their successful ascent up this cliff, the group had traveled backwards, returning to the river, the smattering of purple grass, and most importantly, safety.

Crystaline and her brother had been the first ones to wash themselves in the river. James had watched as the goo appeared to slide easily off their apparently water proof costumes. Once the siblings had finished cleansing themselves in the river, it had been the turn of the three humans.

James had removed his pink t-shirt, shuddering at the very sight of Phil’s bare chest. Not wanting to have to suffer this sight anymore, James had dipped his t-shirt into the water, wringing out all that goo. To James’ relief, his shirt was beginning to look greyer, and greyer. Grey was such a dull colour, but today, James was relieved to see the mediocre colour returning to his t-shirt. He watched as the billowing clouds of pink just jetted away into the previously transparent liquid.

James lifted his t-shirt free from the water, delighted with the results of his wash. Not even a stain or remnant of pink or purple was left in sight. James raised himself onto his feet, turning to face the two remaining Urashans, who were sat only metres away. James grinned, immediately noticing the look on Crystaline’s face as her golden eyes took in his bare chest. She was impressed, James could see it all over her stunning little face. Cheekily, James made an unbuttoning motion over his own chest, inclining to Crystaline that she was free to go topless herself if she so chose to do so. Crystaline responded with a smile and raise of her eyebrow, patting her pocket where her sworsha was safely nestled. James placed his top back on, his grin growing past even his own cheeks.

Now content that he was fully washed, James wandered over to Crystos and Crystaline, sitting down on the grass next to them. James sighed, remembering the seriousness of the whole situation. He remembered how close both himself and Crystaline had come to perishing. James remembered Morcees, and the poor man’s death. Then there was the stone, and the very fact that the path to that stone had been destroyed. Did Crystaline have a back up plan?

“So, what’s next?” James asked the two siblings, hugging his own knees for warmth.

Crystos shook his head. “I don’t know. I fear that this is getting too dangerous.”

“We’ve already lost three,” Crystaline added. “We can’t afford to lose anymore.”

“So, what are you two saying?”

“I’m saying, James, that this mission is over. We’re heading back to the city.”

James shook his head, not quite able to fathom Crystaline’s words of defeat. “So, the two of you are just going to give up?”

Crystaline sighed. “James, we were only left one map. There was only ever one route which Crystos and I knew to the stone. That one route has been destroyed. There is no other way.”

“Isn’t there?” James whispered, looking into the defeated eyes of Crystaline. “I mean, surely, there has to be another way?”

“Even if there was, we’ve lost too many. I don’t think I can do this, I really don’t.”

James shook his head, shifting his eyes down to the grass in front of him. It didn’t really matter that the healing stone may not be obtained. After all, it was Cryston, the awful king, the awful father who so badly wanted the stone. It was just that James wasn’t a quitter. He never liked to give up, not on anyone or anything. Furthermore, James never liked to see other people give up, especially not those whom of which he cared for. Okay, so Crystos probably wouldn’t give a rat’s arse about replaceing this stone, but Crystaline, she would, James knew that she would. Wanting to somehow get his viewpoint across to Crystaline, James looked back into her regal eyes. “Crystaline,” he gently began. “If there was a way, a way to get to the stone, then would you? Would you go on?”

Crystaline’s lips parted, whilst her eyes searched James’, as if she would replace the very answer to his question by just looking into his eyes. Just as her mouth widened, ready to give her answer, Crystaline spotted something up in the purple sky above her. There were creatures, flying creatures!