Crimson Gold

Part 5: Chapter 20: Finale

3rd Person POV

Asteria's Ship

Ryan really shouldn't have been surprised, but then again, what are you supposed to do with Asteria's wakeup call?

*BOOM!*

Ryan yelped as one of the 18-inch caliber guns fired, sending the shot echoing throughout the ship.

Ryan's legs tangled in his bunk's blanket, and he went down, falling to the hard metal below.

Above him, Alice jumped nearly a foot in the air just short of the ceiling and fell on top of Ryan.

Beside them, Azara burst into flames, incinerating the bunk she was on.

As she floated weightlessly for a second, she muttered, "Son of a—" She dropped, landing on top of Jasper, who failed to get out of the way in time.

The sound of laughter reached their ears, and they all looked up to see Asteria laughing in the doorway. "That never gets old!" she cackled.

"Do you have a snooze button?" Azara asked, getting off Jasper. "Because I'd slap it silly!"

Asteria just shrugged. "I'm impressed, Ryan. Normally, you'd either sleep right through it or send out a Whipfist. You've improved!"

"Ha, ha," Ryan muttered as Alice got up, both of their faces red. "To be honest, I forgot what exactly your wakeup call entailed."

"It was funny though," Asteria pointed out.

"That's it!" Azara tried to charge at her, but Jasper held her back. "Lemme at her! Lemme at her!"

"Breakfast's in three minutes!" Asteria called, darting off.

"And you've gone through this before?" Alice groaned.

Ryan shrugged. "Trust me. It's better than the wakeup call one of her sisters gave me. Nearly blew my ear off."

"What'd she do?" Jasper asked, still holding onto Azara.

"Moved me right on top of one of their cannons and fired it," Ryan grumbled.

Alice laughed.

"I'm fine now," Azara said as Jasper still held her. "You can let me go now."

Jasper slowly did so... only to grab her as she tried to run off again. "I'm going to kill that Battleship!"

"Come on," Ryan said, shapeshifting into his normal clothing. "Asteria may be annoying at times, but her cooking's almost as good as mine."

"Fine," Azara grumbled. "But I'm setting her on fire later."

"Good luck with that," Ryan called as he walked out, Alice behind him. "I've already tried. She keeps flame retardant with her at all times."

"Dang it!"

Timeskip

It had been four days since they first set out, and honestly, Ryan was amazed that Azara hadn't tried to set Asteria on fire yet. Then again, the two of them had actually started to get along... over their love of pranking Ryan, which frankly, the Prototype kind of enjoyed.

"How are you doing?" Alice asked as she came up next to Ryan, leaning her elbows on the railing as the sea-scented air wafted past them.