Part 53: Episode LI: Bartholomew Fatima’s Big Friend

Episode LI: Bartholomew Fatima’s Big Friend


Welp, despite the airship everyone was on blowing up in a massive blast after dropping on Bart’s head, it seems Elly has somehow survived fairly intact. And part of the ship’s hull was nice enough to both be surprisingly buoyant, despite being a hunk of metal, and gave her unconscious body a lift.

Elly picks herself up...


“I was with Fei, heading for the rear block... Fei...! Where are you, Fei?"


Elly hears a rumbling sound coming from the opposite side of the deck, so we must navigate her over there to discover the source. It’s worth mentioning that Elhaym has a very silly jump where she cups her skirt to avoid flashing everyone with her undergarments. I dunno...maybe if you wore some pants this wouldn’t be an issue, missy.


Fei leaps out of err...below deck? What part of the Goliath are we on, exactly...?


"Am I awake...? What were you doing!?"
”And what the heck happened?!”
“You know what doc said about being the only person qualified to keep the airship up as long as possible? Yeah...turns out that was stretching the truth a wee bit. Anyhow...”
"I was looking around inside here. There's less than 2 days worth..."
"Of what?"
"Food. We're lucky we even found any."
”...Is there just a single ration down there? How can there only be two days worth of food? Water, perhaps, but...”
“Look, I picked over what was down there over and over. Two days. Tops. And that’s if we have a lean breakfast and skip brunch altogether. It’s gonna be rough...”
“Fei, when rationing food the whole three squares a day thing goes out the window...”
“Oh geez...you’re already getting delirious from hunger. Looking at the sky I’d say it’s around noonish. I think we can maybe afford to skip lunch today and just have dinner and a light midnight snack to even it out.”
*sigh* “We’ll go over everything that is wrong with what you’re saying in a bit... But for now...”
"Where is everyone!? Are we the only survivors?"


”Don’t have a rod...or line...or a hook... Guess I’ll need to do it the old fashion way... Gonna run a few laps around the ship and hop a random battle with a shark pops up. I’ve fought desert and sewer sharks. Gotta hope there are still actually sea sharks left ‘round here.”
"Fei!"
"...They're okay."
"What?"


”But for now...it’s just you. Me. And the ocean. Man, getting kinda hot out here. Must be stuffy in that old Gebler uniform. You might want to shed a few layers...err...ya know...to keep cool and all...”
<What did I do to deserve this...?>

Meanwhile...

Music: Leftover Dreams of the Strong




"We are inside the ship of Bart and his crew. They rescued us after we were shot down in the Goliath."
"Who the heck are 'Bart and his crew'?"
"Let us say...they are bandits...robbing Aveh. Bart is their leader, though he is still a young man."
"A robber in this day and age? A man with an attitude. I like it!!"
”I somehow do not think that attitude will last...but...”
"... Do you want to start off by going to meet Bart?"
*nods* "Hmm... You read my mind!"
"I'm staying here!"
”Yes...that would...probably be for the best.”

Citan and Rico head upstairs into the Yggdrasil’s mess hall and speak with Maison...


“We should've stopped the young master... I am terribly sorry!"
”What is he apologizing for?”


Maison used to be the most dapper ass hustler on the block back in the day.

Rico and Citan head up to the bridge to speak with Bart...


“I see you've finally woken up. I am terribly sorry about what happened... Please forgive me..."
"I have a name, you know...”
”Stop right there. Lemme guess. I’m good at this kind of thing. Let’s see...let’s see...is it...”
“If you say ‘Blanka’ I swear to God I am piledriving you through that computer console...”
“Hah. Of course not! Is it...umm... Jimmy?”
“No.”
“Bob?”
“...”
“Maybe...Larry?”
“Enough!”
“It's Ricardo Banderas... But everyone calls me Rico!”
”Oh...duh. Sorry. The red hair and ergh...interesting....complexion doesn’t really make the Hispanic features easy to detect.”
“So, what are you apologizing to us for?"
"...I suppose I had better stop beating around the bush... I'm not usually this frank or apologetic but, well..."
"What he is trying to say is this... The people who shot us down, and the people who saved us, are one and the same... this ship's crew!"
"...? You don't mean... That Goliath which we were riding in was shot down by...?"


“Actually our Yggdrasil II did a good job in shooting down that monster of an airplane!! It was great! You should've seen it! Wow! My 'Bart Missiles' sure were awesome...!!"
”It was like boom! One shot and ya’ll didn’t even know what hit you before the thing was coming down in flames. Quite the crack shot, eh?”


And so as the scene fades out, Bart gets a Ricardo Banderas dropped on his head. It’s pretty much a running gag at this point...

Back out at sea...


"I knew it...”
“Hold it!”
“I thought this thing was floating unusually... But even knowing that, there's no way we can get them out...right?”
“Get back here!”
“They're right under us, but covered by water and a thick wall."
“Dammit!”
"It's probably Weltall and Vierge. For better or worse, they have stuck by us this far. ...But, they are useless now at this point though."

Elly jumps out of the hole...


“...What're you doing, Fei?"


”They’re way harder to spin-kick than you’d think...”
“This one's been jumping up and down, right in front of me, trying to make me look like a fool..."




"You little punk! I see you!"


”No, I’m gonna catch it and teach it to fiddle...”
"If we don't eat, we're gonna die...... Alright!! I gotcha!!"

Fei kicks that sonuvabitch onto dry land...


"You're not gonna eat?”
“Vegetarian or something? We’re gonna have to let go of that kinda stuff if we’re going to survive. It’s already difficult enough without any salt or pepper for our meals. But we’ll get through.”
“Let me see... We need something to cook it with."
”Hey Elly, can you still do that fire magic stuff? I can shoot fireballs but they don’t really roast things. Wait. Hold up. Lemme find something to burn down below. Don’t wanna flash fry it."
“...”

Fei jumps down the hatch...

"Hey, come on, stop it. I'm not to blame if you get sick and die."
"Don't worry. Once it's in your stomach it's all the same."
”Not if it is full of toxic residue...”
“Like I said, it’s all the same when it’s in your stomach. That’s what stomach juices are for and junk.”
“That is...I... Forget it...I give up...”


"What!? Did the fish get away?"
“Goddammit! I knew I should have broke its...err...hey, Elly. Do fish have necks to break?”

Fei hops back out of the hatch...


“It's still there... What the...!? ... That's...!"


Huh. Nobody said anything about flying saucers in the forecast again...


"It's Shevat... That's its usual altitude."
"Shevat... Where have I heard... Yeah, that's right... That weird masked man! He said my father was in its military... So that saucer is what doc and that masked man said was the country my father and mother lived in?"
"Really? I wouldn't know... It's a country outside the reach of Solaris. Shevat uses the same kind of barrier that Solaris does, so you can't reach it by conventional means."
”Plus...ya know...you’ve gotta fly. Sort of hard for most people... But wait.”
"How can something that flies that high in the sky be a 'country'?"
"Yes. I don't blame you for being so surprised. It usually hovers over the region known as the Aquvy islands area. You probably saw it on some sort of special mission. That's why it was flying so low..."


“Shevat...”










Elly Concept Art