Kent's face twisted as he rose from unconsciousness. He sat up on the hard wooden flooring of the crew's quarters and yawned. One of his hands slipped, sending the nearby empty glass bottles rolling away.
He winces as the glass clinks across the deck. He currently had a massive headache, likely due to the drinking he did before resting for the night.
"Another day, another hangover." He said to himself. Kent stood up from the floor and stretched. He looked around the room. All of the pirates he'd brought were still asleep. Several of them stacked atop one another with more bottles laid around them as they also couldn't help but indulge themselves to some of the delicious nectar!
Kent shook his head. "Pirates and wine! A combo as perfect as the sea and the winds!" He decided that it is about time he go above deck to check on his mother. 'She seemed pretty upset after Eric told his story. Then there was the fact that she lifted a ship of 26 people to the top of a huge cliff with her magic!'
'In fact, she may still be restin'? Well, it's about time that I go and wake her up!'
Kent pushed his way through the hold, not caring who or what he ran into on the way to the deck of the ship. "Up and at em' everyone! Time to get up! There's treasure to find and monsters to face!" Kent shouted. A wave of groaning followed as the sleeping pirates were woken.
When he finally made it up he immediately covered his eyes as Blaze's Domain shined brightly down upon them. "Yeah yeah, I'm up! Calm down ya bastard!" Kent did his best to avoid direct eye contact with the light as he walked over to the Captain's Quarters.
The door of the room was slightly askew but Kent still knocked. Unlike Alix, he had respect for people that were still asleep during the early hours of the day. "Mother! The day's begun! It's about time we got ready to go check out the town, wouldn't ya say?"
No response.
Kent knocked again. "Mother! I know you're awake! Nobody on this ship rises until the Blaze is at its peak while you get up before even it!" Kent waited again but there was still no response. He sighed. This was becoming more work than he thought it would be.
"Alright, I'm comin' in! Don't blame me if ya aren't decent yet, ya should've just answered me!" Kent pushed open the door to the room. The darkness within the room faded as the light from the outside entered with the young man. He looked around the room.
On the desk was a stack of books that the girl had brought to study. There were pens and pencils that she used to take notes or jot down any ideas for new spells in her notebook before actually trying to make them. Her satchel was also there! The bag that she used to carry all of her spell catalysts so, Kent knew that she'd never go anywhere without it.
Kent turned his gaze to the hammock. It hung loosely with sheets covering a distinct shape beneath them. Kent smirked.
"And you always get on my ass for sleeping in." Kent moved to the hammock and, in one swift movement, ripped the sheet away from the figure it was covering. "Rise and shine, Mo-theerr?" Kent was caught off guard when he saw the figure laying before him was not a human but instead the peccary, Trouler!
Trouler looked up at Kent, confused and upset. He snorted at the young man. "My bad, Trouler. I thought you were my mother. Do you where she went?" Trouler's brows furrowed as he looked below him and saw that his savior was nowhere to be seen. His eyes shot wide and he leapt off of the bed, squealing! Kent winced from the loudness of the sound.
"I'll take that as a no." At that moment, Nuka woke up. She flew down from her little perch and landed on the ground next to Trouler. She squawked at the little creature and he snorted back. She gently set her wing on Trouler's back and calmed him down. Kent nodded at the pair of monsters.
"Thanks for that." Kent turned around took a final cursory glance around the room before locking eyes with her satchel. He walks over to it and picks it up. 'Did something happen while we were asleep?' Kent inspected the satchel. He wasn't really looking for anything, he just needed something to focus on. He gripped the bag tightly and left the room with it in hand.
He made it back onto the main deck right as Alisa came scrambling up from below. "Kent!" She shouted.
Kent held up one hand while continuing to rub his brain with the other. "Calm down, Alice! I'm right here!"
"Sorry, I just have a question to ask you and mom!"
"Mother's not here."
"WHAT!!" Kent's entire face twisted and an unsettling feeling came into is stomach as the girl suddenly screamed. "What do you mean mom's gone?! She wouldn't ditch us to go to the town early with Eric, would she? By the way, Eric's gone! I came up here to ask if you or mom had seen where he went when you told me that mom was gone too! Where do you think they went? Probably the town right? But they wouldn't have left without us or at the very least they shouldn't have! That's so mean!" Alisa continued to talk loud and fast as Kent rushed to the side of the ship and vomited.
After releasing the beast within his stomach, Kent shambled back over to Alisa while wiping his mouth with a handkerchief. "Alisa, calm down and stop yelling!" Alisa listened to the boy by holding her mouth shut granting Kent's head some relief.
"Thank you! Now, I don't know what's happened here but, both Eric and Mother are missing. I'd say she woke up early and met up with him on top of the deck then they left together with Mo but her satchel's still here. So there's a chance something else may have happened but I still don't know for sure." Alisa's eyes went wide with panic but Kent quickly motioned for her wait.
While his hands were up Alisa saw the satchel and her eyes somehow went wider. Kent realized his mistake and did his best to reconcile the situation.
"Okay, me having her satchel isn't the best support that things are fine but panicking is still the worst possible thing that we could be doing right now! So I beg you, keep calm and let me get everyone else up so that we can go look for them! Okay?" Alisa nodded with her hands still over her mouth.
Kent let out a breath of relief. "Good. I'll be right back! While I'm waking everyone up, you keep those two busy." Kent pointed over at Nuka and Trouler then disappeared below deck to rouse the crew.
It only took a few minutes for Kent to explain the situation to the crew. They started to quickly fix themselves up as Isabelle also rose, ready for action! They all came to the main deck where Alisa was now running around giggling while playing with Trouler. Kent was the last to come up with a change of clothes and energy!
He wore a black dyed cloth shirt, under a long onyx colored captains coat embroidered with gold lining that was gently blowing in the wind. He had an a pair of beige slacks that his shirt was loosely tucked into and brown boots that slapped against the boards of the ship with each step that he took. His silver earrings shined in the light and reflected against his ebony skin. He deep, blue hair was tussled to one side as he climbed the stairs to the wheel. He stopped at the top of the stairs then turned to face everyone on deck allowing them to see Alix's satchel slung across his body.
"Alright crew, listen up!" The entire deck went still and silent. All eyes were now on Kent. "It seems like we are missing two key members of this here crew! Holiday and my Mother!" A small laugh was shared amongst the pirates as Kent called Alix his mother. One stern look from Kent, however, and they were quick to silence their mockery.
Kent's glare lingered for a bit before he continued with his speech. "It's uncertain what may have happened to them or even where they may have gone! Though the where should be easy enough. There's only one place to go on this godforsaken cliff!" Kent gestured over to the fog covered town in the distance.
"We need to be prepared for anything! The only information we have about our destination is from theories and myths so we must be on guard at all times! Do not for even a moment let yourselves get lost in that mist! I will not lose anyone else! Understood?!"
"Understood, Captain Tyrio!"
"I ASKED IF I WAS UNDERSTOOD!!"
"WE UNDERSTAND, CAPTAIN!!" The crew answered enthusiastically!
"Good! Then grab your weapons and have them ready! We're going to pillage the town of Amal!" The crew roared and rushed into the hold to grab their weapons. All except Alisa and Isabelle. Kent climbed down from the wheel and met up with the two of them.
"I assume, you two are ready?" He asked.
"Oh yeah! I'm so ready! I more ready than when I get all of the alchemy supplies for a new potion that I want to make! And some of that stuff can be difficult to find! Actually, sometimes the potions don't end up working it can get kinda upsetting but I usually have a different idea that I can try next time! So I always get something out of it!"
"That's good Alice." Kent responded, numb to the girl's rambling by now. "What of you ma'am? Are ya ready to go?" Isabelle didn't say anything. She just nodded and walked to the side of the ship to get down. "I guess that means yes?" Kent looked over to Alisa, who just shrugged and followed after Ms. Chancy.
Kent moved his gaze over to the mist in the distance. It was so thick that he could barely see the silhouettes of the buildings through it! Even though Blaze was shining so brightly! It made the town feel just that much more ominous but, he couldn't let himself waver!
He was the leader of the expedition since Alix was missing! It's about time he got back to acting like a captain!
Kent took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. "I just hope that Mother and Eric are okay." With that, Kent and the rest of the crew followed after Alisa and Isabelle to finally make their way to the mystifying town of Amal!