Tired, sweaty, and hungry, I point my finger in the direction of the island and gasp, "Land ahead!"
Zuni the Jinko spots the island and says, "Oh thank the gods!"
The two of us begin to make our way for it. Up ahead we notice the copious amounts of Mersharks and Sea Slimes, so we search for a section of the reef that isn't as populated with them. However, as I have no demonic energy on me, the aquatic mamono follow our every move. Wherever we try to find an opening, the school of them just follow along and clog it up.
"Don't these ladies have anything better to do?" I sigh. "Unfortunately, all of them want the same thing," Zuni says as she smacks away a Mershark that tried to get close to the lifeboat. "If I had the ability to clone myself, then this wouldn't be a problem," I mutter as I lower my head. "Stay focused, if we have to, we'll push our way through," says Zuni. "They'll swarm us so quickly," I say. Zuni looks to me and asks flatly, "Are you able to fly?"
"If I was, then I would have already flown us to Hagrot," I mutter.
We spend close to a half hour searching for a clear path into the island. When that proved to be unsuccessful, Zuni says, "Gun it, I'll keep the sharks and jellies off of us."
I push the oar into the water and start rowing for the island as fast as my strength could carry me. The Mersharks and Sea Slimes were already gathering below us, no doubt eager to have a shot at me.
Zuni sat in a combat stance with her claws out, ready to take down any mamono that jumped for me. A brief splash, and a Mershark shoots out with her arms out, zeroed in on me. In one swift motion, Zuni grabs her in midair, and tosses her back into the sea. Two more Mersharks leap out at me, and again Zuni denies them access with incredible skill.
We get past the reef, but our foes are nowhere close to giving up. More attempts are made by the Mersharks to snatch me away, all beaten back by Zuni, who doesn't seem to have broken a sweat. A Sea Slime appears at the front of the lifeboat and grabs my arm. "Come with me cutie!" she pleads as she tries to pull me off, her barbs piercing my skin. I can't help but wince from the pain, but I do my hardest to stay on.
A brown object strikes the Sea Slime in the face and she releases me, sliding back into the water. "Keep going, we're nearly there!" Zuni shouts. Exhaustion has by now taken my breath, but I push on, the sweet embrace of dry sand inching closer and closer.
"The fish are backing off!" Zuni announces as the lifeboat makes the much-needed bump against land. I drop the oar onto the beach, my body limp and completely out of breath. Before I fall, I'm caught by Zuni, who pecks me on the cheek and whispers, "You did great out there."
I can't speak, for my mouth is still exhaling the recently acquired stress. "We'll get through this together okay," Zuni says as she hoists me over her shoulder and steps off of the lifeboat. My drooping body faces the moving sand as I'm carried by Zuni, but I soon hear her say, "Cantaloupes...food!"
She quickens her pace, and soon we're under a palm tree. Zuni sets me onto the ground and uses her athletic feline abilities to scale the tree, tossing up to four appetizing cantaloupes back down to me. I eye those tantalizing suckers as Zuni drops to the ground. "Gonna enjoy every second of this," she says as she cuts open each cantaloupe and hands some of the pieces to me.
I take a bite, and my mouth is washed with refreshment. I can feel my strength returning as I consume those juicy pieces of fruit, releasing a moan of satisfaction. Zuni seems to be enjoying them just as much, as she's chewing them at a methodical pace and a yellow liquid is streaming down her neck and across her breast.
When we finish our pleasurable snack, Zuni clutches my shoulders and asks, "Are you feeling better now?"
I nod and say, "Oh yeah, my tank is full!"
Zuni stands and says, "Good, now lets get to exploring this island, see if we can't find a way off or something that will let us call for help."
We move through the island, shifting through thick vines and tall trees. Although the food was plentiful, we had no luck in finding a boat or some type of communicator. When evening neared however, we stumbled onto a large stone-like structure that was built into the bottom of a cliff. An iron door hung wide open, as if to invite entry.
I step aside and whisper, "Ladies first."
Zuni scoffs and whispers back, "Coward."
She steps in, and I follow with a torch we crafted. It was a dusty, musky, web-infested corridor with metal doors at each side. Some of them were broken in, others were sealed shut. We proceeded through, our footsteps echoing throughout no matter how quiet we tried to be. We reached the door at the end of the hallway and it was partly open. I attempted to open it the rest of the way, but it wasn't budging.
"I got this," Zuni whispers, and with one shoulder charge, busts open the door. We step onto the balcony of a large room. Although the torch could only illuminate a small radius, I could make out an array of tables and a serving line on the side, though the food it provided appeared to be well past the point of being edible. Zuni and I concluded that it was some kind of lunch room.
"Wonder what kind of food they had here," whispered Zuni. "Can't tell, and I don't think I wanna know," I whisper back.
We move across the balcony to a pair of metal doors. I attempt to push them open, but again, they're immovable by my hand. With a powerful kick, Zuni forces them open, revealing another corridor, this one with a two-way at the end. We make our way over and notice two opposite arrows accompanied by two different symbols. The left arrow had a square containing a sword, a halberd, and a musket above it. The right arrow had a rectangle containing a pair of airplanes above it.
I look to Zuni and ask, "Which way should we go?"
Zuni taps a claw against the right arrow and says, "This way, it's a long shot, but if we're lucky we might find something."
I nod and let her lead the way up a short flight of stairs. We take a right and come to another metal door. I smirk and motion to it. It takes Zuni three kicks before it swings open. We step in and feel our breath leave our bodies.
Up ahead, we could see the stars of the coming night. To the side was a large circular container that was merged into the upper wall with a walkway that was leading into it. There were also white stripes that were faded to signify a landing strip and parking spaces for aircraft. To our left was a pair of large metallic gates that no doubt looked worn and rusted over from years of negligence.
One of the gates was partly up, and on the other side was something that made me do a doube-take. It was a steampunk two-seater plane that was used by the defunct Dwarven Empire of Sewtal in their war with the Elves of Rugdialmer during the Ancient Times. Basically, way before mamono were a thing. This complex must have been one of their old air bases.
I simply stared at it, fully in disbelief that it was still intact. "It's beautiful!" I gasp. I grab the gate that kept it behind bars and attempted to pull it up, but no luck. "Hey Zuni, could you help me with this?" I whisper as I turn to Zuni, only to hop against the gate, startled at her suddenly being right up in my face.
"Sweet Beelzebubs Zuni, you scared the crap out of me!" I gasp as I look to her and feel my heart sink.
Zuni was staring at me with hungry eyes, her mouth drooling with saliva. "Z...Zuni," I utter, my chest becoming filled with butterflies. "Need you...need you now...need...need to become pregnant now!" she growled as she got on all fours and stared at me, licking her lips ready to eat up her food.
I grumble in frustration at my own ineptitude. Jinko mating season, how could I have forgotten that.
I slowly back away towards an open room and Zuni stalks after me. "Why so scared?" she mutters from her throat. I step into the room and try to close the door, but it too, was jammed in place. "Time to eat!" Zuni screams as she leaps at me, knocking the torch from my hands and tearing my virginity to pieces.
After about two hours, I was sore, exhausted, and left in total darkness. The torch had burnt out, but I could feel something furry brushing against my cheek. "Sorry baby, I couldn't help myself," she whispers. "H...how are we gonna get through this now?" I ask.
"Don't worry, Jinkos have natural night vision," Zuni replied. "Now, let's see if we can't get ourselves a plane and hope to whoever the god of luck is that it works?"
Zuni pushes open the gate to the plane and we search for a key. Thankfully, it doesn't take long.
We hop in, and we can feel the centuries of dust and other particles explode into the air. I can't help but release a few sneezes. Alas, I stick the key into the ignition and twist. One...two...three...nothing. Looks like we'll have to shoot for a boat.
Then, as if a miracle from heaven came down, the propeller began to spin, the engine sputtering to life and a tiny pair of red lights appearing on the dashboard. "Unbelievable!" Zuni gasps. She rests her claws on my shoulders and asks, "Ever flown something like this before honey?"
I shake my head and say, "This is my first time I'm afraid."
Zuni chuckles and says, "I think you'll do fine, and don't worry, I'll use my night vision to guide you."
She leans into my ear and whispers, "And if we do wind up somehow crashing and dying, then you can at least die knowing that you were no longer a virgin."
I can't help but blush at the statement. I coast the plane out of the gate and taxi it onto the runway. With fear running through my veins, I thrust forward and pull up, leaving the ground before the end of the runway.
I take off into the nighttime sky, amazed that I was airborne. I peer over and can see the earth moving away from us. "Set course for Hagrat sweetheart!" Zuni calls out. I nod and turn the plane in the direction of our destination.
I stare across the night sky, taking in all of its beauty. I never realized how beautiful the dark could be, and I swear I was now feeling something for Zuni.
We were silent as we flew across the ocean, but we would take turns stealing glances at each other. Wow, what a beautiful night it was.