A Fun Time, Not A Long Time: Skull Island 1.4 (ch. 4) (Patreon)

"This will be our final battle, Ippo," I informed the gorilla, my arms crossed over my chest that was clad in a pink floral button down that made me look like a tourist on vacation. We stood on a white sandy beach, the very same one that I had woken up on nearly two weeks ago. Behind me was the ship that drew Ippo to us. I almost thought we wouldn't get a chance to say farewell given that he hadn't shown up for a fight the past few days.

Ippo stood across from me, the morning sun shining overhead with not a cloud in sight. A wave crashed upon the cliffside that flanked the beach, his dark brown eyes meeting mine. His hands clenched into fists as he made a noise of distress, to which I simply smiled.

"If you really want me to stay, you're going to have to beat me," I told him, settling into my stance. It was a loose boxer one with my hands up. "So, let's see what you've been working on."

Ippo's nostrils flared before he looked away, out at the sea to see another wave crash against the cliffside. He let out a small laugh before he turned to me, resolve shining in his eyes, before he took a stance that I didn't recognize. His fists were up but he was shifting his weight to his back foot. There was no spoken signal. Yet, as another wave crashed upon the cliff, sending up a shower of white foam, both of them sprung into action.

"Go Ippo! I'm rooting for you!" Kim called out as we met in the middle. We both struck out with a jab, our fists colliding with enough force to push back the sand. I breathed in deeply, filling my lungs with air and I felt my body heat up accordingly. I was still getting used to it, but the hotter I burned, the stronger and faster I got.

Ippo went in with a left hook, rolling out of the way of my right cross and I caught the blow with my forearm. His strength had been increasing, I noticed, going for the classic jab-jab-hook combo. Ippo dempsey rolled me, playing peekaboo before punching at my head with such speeds that Mike Tyson would be proud. I leaned out of the way before tagging Ippo in the gut with enough force that he was knocked back, his feet dragging lines in the sand.

"We believe in you, Ippo!" Momo cheered alongside Kim.

I pressed the attack, going for a low kick that smacked his knee, then another to his side, and a final one to his head. Ippo only managed to block the latter, having learned to protect his head after our bouts. I touched down on the sand, intent to follow the kicks up with a combo of punches, only for Ippo to pivot and deliver a spinning back kick to my gut. I felt the air vacate my lungs with a woosh, knocking me back a good dozen feet.

"Kickboxing, huh?" I asked, taking a deep breath, filling my lungs with air once more. In response, Ippo gave a downright smug smirk before he started to lightly bounce on his feet.

The real fight started then, the girls treacherously cheering for Ippo the entire time. I was quick to wipe off Ippo's cocky smirk. Kickboxing was a surprise, but it was a lot less shocking after the first hit. So long as I remembered to watch his feet as well as his hands, I was able to avoid any more unexpected blows. More than that, I was able to force Ippo on the defensive despite his new tricks.

Some of the kicks I recognized as my own. Others I recognized from TV, meaning that Ippo had created them himself. A true martial arts prodigy. Probably spent the last few days training his ass off to finally beat me. He was already a lot better than he was when we first threw down.

Then again, so was I.

These spars helped me out every bit as much as they helped him. They got me used to the feeling of my knuckles hitting flesh and muscle, sharpened my instincts, and my ability to take a punch in the face. And above all else, they gave me experience. Before waking up on this island, I wasn't a fighter. I barely knew what I was doing. I got lucky the first time because I had the edge in speed and power, and Ippo wasn't as experienced as he was now.

"I'm going to miss you, Ippo," I told him, delivering a powerful right cross to Ippo's jaw. Ippo took the blow like a champ, going for a liver shot that I shifted to take on my abs instead. He backed up a half step before going for a high kick, only to find his heel whipping over my head while I dropped down to sweep his other one out from underneath him. Ippo hit the ground with a grunt, and as he scrambled to find his footing, he found his arm in an arm bar before his back slammed back into the sand.

Ippo struggled underneath me for a long minute, trying to lift me up, but he didn’t have the leverage with my legs over his neck and chest. Lifting up with my pelvis strained his elbow, making him holler in pain. “Tap out, Ippo! No shame in it!”

“You can still win this, Ippo! We believe in you!” Kobeni added and I shot the onlookers a dirty look.

“You can cheer for me too, you know?!” I shouted at them, getting a thumbs down from Kim with a smile.

“We’re rooting for the underdog! Kick his butt, Ippo!” Kim shouted out, earning an annoyed sigh from me. Traitors. Before I could retort, I felt a meaty hand tap me on the leg. Instantly, I let go of the arm bar before rolling off of the gorilla, rising to my feet and wiping off the sand stuck on my back. Ippo didn’t get up, laying in the sand while his face was scrunched up. Frustration rolled off of him in waves and I could feel his disappointment.

He’d really wanted to win.

I smiled down at him, “You did good. Nothing to be ashamed about." I reassured him, but I could tell the words had little effect on him as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked over at the ship with an almost mournful expression, and I looked over to see that the girls were booing me and giving enthusiastic thumbs down.

The ship was a pretty small one, all things considered. We ended up using the hull that had been half finished in the cave, and it was about fifty feet long. With the tools left behind and with the ones that Momo created, we finished the hull and the ship itself. It was an unholy hodgepodge of steampunk and colonial era ship building. Attached to the ship was a dull gray football shaped blimp, which was flanked by triangle shaped sails to help catch the wind. Attached to the wooden hull were more sails, which would act like a rudder in the air. Most glaring of all was the thruster that was protruding from the back of the ship.

It was quite a sight. But, even without the thruster and the engine connected to it and all the doohickeys that went into controlling it there hadn’t been a lot of room in the first place, so most of what we had left was used for storage. A good chunk of it was taken up by the iceburst stone that acted as fuel, the rest being used for food and water. Leaving only two small slivers of space that acted as quarters for the eight of us and a single bathroom to be shared.

Ippo knew what the ship was. What it represented. Half the fights we got in was me protecting the ship from his sabotage.

My gaze met with the others, and I saw approval in enough of their gazes. Enough that I felt comfortable thumping Ippo on the shoulder, "How about you come with us?" I asked him, making Ippo look up to me with a shocked expression. It was hard to see him as just some gorilla. "It'll be a tight fit, but nine people isn't that much more than eight."

I saw it in his dark eyes. He was tempted by the offer, but he looked away. Slowly, he raised to his feet, looking out into the ocean. He seemed to war with himself over the decision but when he turned to me, I knew what his answer was. Ippo shook his head in refusal before he clenched a fist. He gestured to me, and the ship, then the horizon. Then he gestured to himself and then the horizon.

I gave him a broad smile, "Gonna blaze your own trail then?" I asked, earning a resolute nod from Ippo. A chuckle escaped me as I offered Ippo some knuckles. "In that case, I'll be waiting for you on the other side."

Ippo copied my smile -- though his was a little more frightening than mine -- before he bumped his meaty fist against mine. A pact being made. With nothing left to say, I started walking away back to the ship, waving goodbye over my shoulder. The gangplank was brought up after I stepped on board and all the others were saying their farewells and Ippo was waving back at them while I leaned against the main mast. Tinkerbell landed on my shoulder, and glared at Kim as she approached.

"It's time," Momo announced, bringing everyone's attention to her. She looked at me and I nodded, reaching up to the burner that was connected to the blimp. I saw Kobeni bracing for impact and getting ready to jump overboard. The others weren't much better, honestly. With a grin, I yanked down on the burner, and the gas from Mikasa's fuel tank inflated the large nylon balloon until it strained against the wire frame that Momo built. The ship began to lighten, but it couldn't fly. The wood was too heavy, not to mention us and all the stuff that we had packed.

It would be impossible for the ship to so much as rise an inch without the power of make-believe. And I believed. I'm not sure how well the others were doing, but I believed that the ship could fly, and in response to that belief, I felt the ship lurch underfoot as it began to rise into the air. A feeble wobbling attempt at first, but slowly, as the others saw it was possible, they too began to believe. And with our conjoined efforts, the ship lifted into the air as if it were weightless.

"Yeah! It didn't explode!" Kobeni shouted in relief, practically sobbing, and missed all of our panicked looks because we hadn't thought that was a possibility. As she did that, Momo went to the piloting room on the top deck. The door swung open, revealing a room covered in levers. I could hear them shifting as she pulled them, the ship rumbling in response. After the preparations were done, the airship began to surge forward by power of the thruster Momo put in the back.

Momo was all smiles as she poked her head through the door, "The Icarus has taken off!"

"Did she seriously-" Kim began, sounding exasperated.

"Name the ship after the guy famous for flying too close to the sun and crashing and dying because of it? Yeah, seems so," I answered with a shake of my head. Not what I would have gone with, but I couldn't deny the results as the ship made its way forward, over the beach and the ocean. Ippo was watching us go, and he wasn't the only one. As I leaned over the railing, I saw two massive eyes peering up at us from beneath the waves. It was a chilling sight, but the sea monster seemed to accept that we were out of reach. When it turned away, accepting our escape, I found myself drifting to the front of the ship to look at the incoming ocean, and I wasn't the only one.

Mikasa joined me, looking out at the sea with a soft look on her face. Tender.

"What…" Mikasa began, her voice small and gentle, "do you think we'll find on the other side of the ocean?" She asked me, making me cross my arms in thought.

I gazed out at the deep blue sea that seemed to stretch on for forever with nothing but water in sight. Truth be told, I had no idea. For all I knew, Skull Island was the only landmass in the entire world. Everything beyond that small island was a complete unknown, and there was simply no way of finding out short of going out to see what the wider world contained.

"If I had to put it in a single word…?" I trailed off, knowing exactly what I wanted to find on the other side of the ocean. This life? This world? It felt like a dream that I never wanted to wake up from. I wanted to meet people. I wanted to see incredible things. I wanted to do even more incredible things. So, if I had to put that feeling in a single word? "Adventure," I decided, smiling to myself.

Mikasa gave me a look that I could only describe as fond, much to Tinkerbell's frustration. "Adventure?"

"Hm. You?" I asked her, making Mikasa look sad as she turned her attention back to the ocean as the wind caressed our faces.

"I just hope that we don't find enemies."

…

The Icarus was cruising along at a steady fifteen miles an hour -- not exactly fast, but it was a lot faster than our speed of only five miles an hour on the ocean. Which we only dipped down into to resupply our water stores with the water filters Momo had put in. And, for three days, we saw nothing but open ocean. I was reminded of the Vikings in that regard. From a modern view point, it seemed insane how people could not know about a landmass that was only three days away.

Now that I was in their shoes, it made a lot more sense. After three days of nothing but ocean at sluggish speeds that a man on a bike could outpace, doubts started to play in the back of my mind. It was entirely possible that Skull Island was the only island nearby. Possibly in the world. It only started to sink in how little we actually knew about the world now that we were venturing into it. All we had was a compass and a telescope to help spot land.

In any case, three days was enough time for things to settle on the Icarus. For everyone to find their own little nook of the ship to give the vague semblance of privacy.

As I walked up to the top deck, I saw that a rough cover had been set up. To make the illusion that there was more room than there was. Momo sat at a table and somehow managed to make scarfing down food seem elegant -- her thing was making incremental upgrades to the ship. Little things like a mirror in the bathroom, or soap, or earplugs. Across from her was Tae, who was glued to a microscope courtesy of Momo. She was examining plant fibers and making notes in a journal.

The small tent had a flap that led outdoors, where Mikasa was currently doing push-ups. Kim was below deck the last I saw. That left Kobeni, Bocchi, and Tinkerbell. The latter was glowering at the two softspoken girls, with both of them sweating bullets to avoid Tinkerbell’s gaze. “Yo,” I greeted them, “Welcome to boot camp!”

“A-are we going to have to exercise?!” Bocchi cried out in panic, looking at Mikasa with abject terror. Kobeni went weak at the knees, clutching Bocchi for support at the mere thought.

These two were peas in a pod. “Nah -- We’re going to practice flying,” I corrected and heard them both let out heaving breaths of relief. This was my pet project, so to speak. Flying was an incredibly useful ability. Especially considering that we were at the mercy of the ship. So, I was trying to get everyone at least a little trained up.

And, in theory, the more used to flying they were, the more they could believe that this heavy ass boat could fly. The lighter it was, the faster we could go.

Bocchi perked up while Kobeni looked like she was about to be sick. Out of everyone, I was the best flier. Mikasa and Kim were neck and neck for second place. After them, though, it was a mixed bag. Momo was trying, but she struggled with lifting so much as an inch off the ground. Tae didn’t manage to rise up at all, and swiftly shrugged off the entire thing. They struggled because they were smart. They knew shit about natural laws and the laws of physics. I mean, I did too. I just didn’t let it stop me.

And, looking at the two trainees before me, if I had to guess their issue… it would be self-confidence. Kind of hard to believe that you could fly when you struggled to believe in yourself at all. Not really sure if I could do anything about self-confidence, but in my experience -- feel good, do good. It was hard to feel low when you were feeling a high.

"Would you do the honors, Tink?" I requested and Tinkerbell made a show of doing what I asked, sprinkling the two with fairy dust. Based on how both of them averted their eyes, Tink sent a glower along with it. All the same, they got the pinch of fairy dust needed to tell the natural laws to get fucked and they were ready to start training.

Well, in theory.

In practice? Not so much.

In about thirty seven seconds, both girls were laid out, already having given up entirely. Tinkerbell was losing her shit laughing at them both, which further dispirited them. I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Come on, you can't give up after the first try! I believe in you! Do your best-!" I started, only for Bocchi to cough up blood. "O-or give a moderate, non-strenuous effort!"

Hope blossomed on Kobeni's face, "I can do that!" Oi. Do you really have to be so excited about that? She managed to pick herself up and try to fly. Her face scrunched up, and I saw her peek through her clenched eyes, before her face turned red. "I-I can't do it with you watching!" She protested and I swallowed a sigh.

Okay. How about a different approach? Kobeni looked increasingly nervous as I approached, taking a step back, then another, Bocchi retreating with her. Both of their backs hit the railing. "How about this, then?" I asked, and Kobeni realized what I was about to do a second too late because with a shove, I sent both of them overboard.

"KKKKAAainnee..!" Kobeni screamed as they both plummeted. I perked over the railing to see both of the falling towards the cool blue ocean.

"Kaine…" Mikasa sighed, pausing her push-ups to give me a look. I just gave her a thumbs up before tossing myself over the railing. I felt gravity take hold of me, making me plummet down and I shot off like an arrow with the help of Tink. She was killing herself laughing, hanging onto my hair as we raced down towards Kobeni and Bocchi. I had no doubt that Tink would be perfectly happy to let the girls fall to their deaths. She was a jealous creature. But her emotions seemed… shallow?

They changed too easily. I wouldn't even call it bipolar because bipolar people ended up torn between intense emotions that they flip flopped between. With Tinkerbell, one moment she could be incredibly jealous and the next she would be elated with pure joy and the moment after that, she could be hyper horny. There was no real middle ground between her emotions. Honestly, it was like she could only feel one of them at a time and she went all the way in on that one thing she felt, but the slightest change could flip it at the drop of a hat.

As I raced down, my hair blasted back. Even on my way to save my apprentices that were getting some tough love, I couldn't shake this feeling. I loved flying. It was freedom in its purest form. This feeling alone would be all the reason I could ever need to stay in this world. Kobeni was the closest, so I went to her first. Then, I saw what could only be a transformation.

Fat tears rolled down her cheeks until all of a sudden, her expression shifted from complete mind-numbing terror to one of focus. Then, with little warning, Kobeni suddenly stopped falling and I just about crashed into her because of it.

"See! Told you you could do it!" I gave her a broad smile- oh. No. That was an enemy for life kind of death stare right there. I averted my gaze, looking down and did a spit take. Bocchi… well… Bocchi was falling like a rock. She was ramrod straight, not even flailing around, her expression completely blank with unfeeling eyes that felt like they were boring a hole into me.

In a burst of speed, I shot down towards Bocchi, coming in at an angle to scoop her up. Bocchi didn't so much as react as she rapidly approached the water, making no move to save herself. At the last possible second, I managed to swoop in and catch her, my feet scraping the water surface for a brief moment before I began to rise. Bocchi might not have hit the water, but her expression was practically lifeless.

"Well… one out of two isn't so bad," I muttered, feeling a little guilty as I flew up to join Kobeni. She seemed less than pleased to see me, giving me a look I had a hard time meeting. "L-look, it was for your own-" I was interrupted when Tinkerbell began pulling at my cheek, trying to get my attention. As soon as she got it, Tinkerbell began to desperately point off to the side, an expression of panic on her face. Looking over, I thought I would see land or something, but instead, I only saw more-

A wall of wind hit me with physical force, almost as if I had gotten hit by Ippo again. "Tinkerbell! Kobeni!" I shouted as I was flung to the side, clutching Bocchi to my chest while Tinkerbell clung to my hair. I looked around to find Kobeni, only to find that I was going down fast as I was being sent hurling towards the ocean. So, I threw myself to the side to sail back up into the air, but as I did so, a wind current knocked me to the other side, twisting me back and forth like I was on a roller coaster designed by a sadistic madman.

I felt a surge of relief when Kobeni slammed into us, holding on so tight that she nearly choked me out with an arm around my neck. Bocchi seemed to still be in shock while Tinkerbell climbed into my shirt for better protection from the winds.

It was a struggle to make sure that I didn't puke as I was sent spiraling through the air and the darkening skies that had been near cloudless a moment ago. Keeping my eyes open despite the wild ride, I searched the skies for the Icarus but my stomach clenched when I couldn't find it. I had no idea where these winds or this storm came from, but I think that the Icarus got hit by it too. I could only hope desperately that the reason I couldn't see it was because the hull didn't stand out against the dark skies and not because it was knocked straight into the ocean.

Meaning that we were left adrift in the skies.

"Are you okay?" I questioned everyone, still clutching Bocchi to my chest. She was completely out of it, but Tinkerbell poked her head out. She looked like she was handling the ride a lot better than me. She looked scared, so I threw on a confident smile that I hoped didn't look too fake. "We'll be fine," I told her, trying my best to remain still in the air and ended up getting swept away in wind currents that felt like they were at war. "Just got caught up in some turbulence. It's just a bit more intense without a plane to ride it out."

That last bit was more for my sake than theirs, I could admit to myself. I had no clue if this was normal or not, but fighting the air current was messing me up. In the end, the only thing that I could really do was hold on tight and wait for the ride to be over.

It was probably only a couple of minutes, certainly less than an hour, but it felt like the ride lasted lifetimes. I tried to keep track of my position to make sure that I wasn't sent on a crash course with the ocean -- right when I was getting used to the treatment a balloon must endure when it got released into a storm, fat drops of rain began to assault me from all angles. In a moment, I was soaked to the bone and the wind carried a bitter chill.

When I saw a flash of light and heard a loud bang, I was convinced that I had been struck by lightning. Only I never got the pain. Looking to the source of the flash of light, I saw that it wasn't the sky that had flashed. It was the ground.

Through the harsh torrent of water, I peered down to try to figure out what it was, just in time to see it happen again. A bright flash briefly illuminated what lay below, making my eyes widen as I saw an explosion rip through a bunch of wooden buildings. The flash revealed the cause of the explosion -- a cannon on a circus-themed ship.

Land.

And a fight.