Wanderlust ✧ (Milo Thatch)

seventeen

There was no time to lament. Milo was hanging on for dear life as the commander pursued. "Ha! Tired, Mr Thatch?" Rourke provoked. "Hyah! Ah, that's a darn shame because I'm just getting warmed up," he swung the hatchet that broke the oval window on Kida's tank. Before Rourke pulled Milo up and got ready to kill him with the axe, Milo grabbed a shard of glass that was glowing a misty blue.

The commander could do no harm to the linguist because Milo slashed his arm suddenly with the crystal-charged shard of glass. "Ahh!" Milo was able to scramble up the metal chains and escape Rourke's perilous clutches after Rourke yelled and released him. Had the commander not been cut, he would've given pursuit yet his time was finished.

His veins turned red and the colour of his skin changed to blue. His human flesh crystallized as the crystal's magic consumed his entire body. His eyes turned yellow and the inside of his mouth caught fire as Rourke let out a ferocious scream. Milo kept on scaling, balancing out himself between metal shafts. He noticed that Rourke, now a statue, was silently staring up at him when he anxiously glanced down.

"Thank heaven," he let out a sigh of relief.

Or so he thought that Rourke was a statue. As he quickly ascended, the commander growled and released red light beams from his body. "Whoa!" Milo scurried backwards. Rourke was compelled to get closer to the fan as the metal pole spun under his body weight. The commander, now a beast, let out one more screech before he was unexpectedly wrecked by the aircraft's propellers, killing him simultaneously.

Milo and Kida's tank fell to the ground along with the metal chains after a blue explosion. He was fortunate to be close enough to avoid serious injury. The tank moved down a soil slope and Milo tumbled directly into the tank. He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck from the impact. Milo gasped, "Oh great!" as he looked up, seeing a huge fireball travelling in their direction.

With all his strength, Milo rolled Kida's tank away into safety before running after it. Taking cover by the metal tank as the detonation dispersed fiery fragments, he survived the crash. Amidst the dust, he noticed something sparkly out of the corner of his eye. Picking it up, he found Challis' ring but she was nowhere to be seen. He carefully tucked it into his pocket and called out for her.

When the ground began to rumble and cracks appeared on the floor, the crew on their flying vehicles made their way closer to Milo. "The volcano...she awakes!" Mole cried out.

"Hey, I had nothing to do with it" Vinny vouched for himself.

"This here would be a good place not to be," Cookie noted.

"No wait. We got to get her back or the whole city will die," Milo grabbed the broken chains that were connected to Kida's tank and hooked them onto a vehicle. "Challis..." his voice broke, "where is she? I need to find her body!"

"I found her. Let's just get out of here!" Sweet yelled. "If we don't get out of here, we'll die!" Audrey warned. "It's the only way to reverse this. Just do it!" Milo shouted.

Before the vehicle sped off, everyone took turns attaching Kida's tank to it. Unfortunately, the tank's hook snapped, necessitating further action from the linguist. "Milo no!" he jumped and swung down to the boiling ground, and Audrey yelled at him. To avoid the lava and secure the chain around the tank once more, Milo ran and hopped as quickly as he could. "Go!" he yelled.

As the team tried to escape, the lava was closing in on them. Milo was sticking to Kida's tank, preparing himself for each knock and scratch. Adrenaline was pumping through Milo's body, and he could almost feel how the boiling lava was burning him. When they finally emerged from the volcano's tunnel and made their way back to the city, the rescue team not only saved Kida but also themselves.

Kida's tank was lowered as the Atlanteans gathered curiously in a crowd. One of the king's guards handed Milo a spear and he drilled it into the side of the tank. "The fissure, it is about to eject its pyroclastic fury!" Mole pointed frantically. "Milo, Mole says the wall's going to blow!" Sweet cupped his hands around his mouth and alerted everyone.

Grunting, Milo was able to force the door open with the spear. Kida controlled the tank's metal, and the Atlanteans gasped as it floated in the air. The once-barren city of Atlantis began to glow blue beneath the ethereal princess. In the cavern, the stone essences of the kings of the past began to gleam and ascended through the concrete floor. They all floated higher into the air around Kida, spinning at a breakneck speed that made the wind howl.

The Atlanteans and the crew watched with wide eyes from down below. Kida shot out a light emission, striking what resembled only a stone, with the exception of it wasn't simply a stone, it was an old stone guardian that stirred with glowing blue eyes. She struck one more and again, after that. The stone guardians formed a line around the city's perimeter one at a time as they emerged from the flooded portions of Atlantis.

Mrs Packard who was taking another picture was clearly the source of the shutter click that could be heard.

Fireballs flew toward the city as the volcano's lava bubbled and spewed. The stone guardians created a force field of protection by joining their rocky hands. The field grew into a domed shape as they extended their arms, completely covering the city of Atlantis. The fountain of liquid magma unexpectedly emitted and the magma spilt out. What would've killed everyone in a moment couldn't cause any harm because of Kida and the stone guardians.

After neutralizing the danger posed by the lava that had submerged the city, the liquid turned into rock. The rock fell into the gorge below as a result of the dome's illumination. The thriving waterfall burst through with each stone guardian. The dome fell away, and the water's misty clouds reappeared.

Princess Kidagakash came gracefully drifting down to the ground. She had been revived and returned to her normal state thanks to the crystal. Milo, being the respectable man he was, caught her in his arms as she breathed out profoundly and the light emission evaporated. Kida groaned with exhaustion, her eyes slowly opening as she processed her surroundings.

"Milo?" 

In her hand lay the bracelet she lost many years ago previously when her mother suffered the same fate. Kida clasped it tightly then she and Milo embraced in a tight hug. Everybody gathered around, appreciating the excellence of Atlantis which was presently resurrected. Milo had succeeded in saving both the city and the princess.

Kida heard him sighing. "Milo, what's the matter?" she asked.

He pulled Challis' ring from his pocket and supported it in his palm. "Challis...she didn't make it," he said as he suddenly dropped to his knees. His heart ached deeply. An existence without her, the lady he didn't get to admit his affection to, was no life by any means.