Burning Blue: Boy Meets Honoi

Chapter Ten: The Island

Four cargo ships flew through the clouds steadily above the vast blue seas just off the east coast off the continent. Sunlight glinted off the rippling blue mass for miles around, sparsely interrupted with small land formations occupied by birds and aquatic mammals and reptiles. A travelling flock of tratalies cleared way for the cargo ships, who were carrying precious cargo.

Energy disruptor bands, or nullbands as they were usually called across space, were designed to disrupt the flow of honoi, rendering the host able to properly conjure it for use. Four of these were applied to Joey, one on each limb.

Joey was strapped to a large crate in a cargo ship that sped across the ocean, having left the continent the night the Hexal captured him. Nonetheless, Joey still struggled to free himself, surrounded by crates.

"Cocksuckers," Joey said. "Wait 'till I get outta here." Joey tried to summon his honoi. His hand glowed and sparks flew from then, reversing the flow back through Joey's body painfully. He winced and snarled, and finally relinquished.

"Save your strength," said Yeltsa, lying on a crate as she messaged one of her contacts on her phone. She was right across from Joey.

"Suck my suck dick!" Joey said. "You piece a shit. Sold us out just for a cheque. Lezura was right about you."

Yeltsa said, "A woman usually has good intuition about other women. You should listen to her."

Joey said, "It's a good thing you don't have kids. You'd probably sell them out too."

Yeltsa looked up from her phone, scowling. "It's best you keep your mouth shut."

Joey smiled. "Yeah...I guess you really do have a kid. Dead, right?"

Yeltsa said, "For a hero, you sure make morbid jokes."

"I'm not joking or lying," Joey said. "I did want to help you, but it turns out you're a cunt. When you all kill me, what? You're gonna move onto the next one?"

Yeltsa said, "Pretty much."

Joey said, "I guess your kid would be proud of you, huh?"

Yeltsa didn't answer, deciding to not entertain Joey anymore. The human realized in the midst of things Yeltsa was right, he was wasting energy right now. Astaron had the zallerbrix, but without Joey, it was useless. Joey knew that Lezura would come for him, but they would need time to reach up. Joey would need to give his comrades prep time; a distraction of sorts to stall the mercenaries. But not from his current position.

Energy conservation. That was what Joey needed to be focused on. Having been testing the nullbands, Joey knew he could cause a power shortage and destroy them, but then came the behemoth woman before him. It would eb a task to escape with her hear. They were well aware of his power, and decided not to spare any resources to restrain him.

Joey played it out in his mind. Overpower the nullbands, bust through the shit with a hakto or Jokaboom and make a run for it. Joey was guessing he was over water, and needed to wait until they reached land for him to try it.

But Yeltsa.

Joey watched the woman, still thinking about how she would look naked. He was hoping his disgust for her actions would erase his crush on her, but sadly he was still a slave to his biological functions.

No, fuck that. I won't. I'm getting outta here. I'm not gonna screw over Lezura just for some pussy.

In the meantime, Joey hung his head, his facials expressions hidden from Yeltsa. He kept flexing his fingers and toes to ensure they didn't stiffen when the time came.