Unchosen Champion

When Coop finally left the empty fort, having delayed his exit long enough for most of the residents to parade through the main gate, the beach party was kicking off.

The picnic tables that had been staged in the morning were now set up, lining both sides of the main trail. The seating extended from the crossroads, just south of the moat bridge, all the way to the lighthouse on the other end of the island. The tables then continued east from the shadow of the lighthouse, following the path as it approached the mangrove forest, fully wrapping both beaches of the main island.

The sandy beaches and all of the tables were already packed with happy revelers as they joined their previous companions, and caught each other up on the events of the last few weeks, or recapped the entire assimilation for newcomers. While Coop and the others had waited by the civilization shard, others had staged the venue with the help of the contracted residents who had left their shops closed for the occasion.

The party preparations had been extensive, taking the greater part of two weeks, but they still had only planned for a maximum of around 8,000 people. With twice as many phantoms returning, thanks to the settlement upgrading to a Town, the total population of Ghost Reef had ballooned to over 15,000. They were slightly over capacity, to say the least.

The surprise additions hadn’t done anything to damper the atmosphere, though. If anything, the excitement had only increased. They weren’t only celebrating the return of comrades-at-arms, but also welcoming new members to the settlement, and the shouts of jubilation, followed by cheers confirmed the joyous reception they received as the phantoms found their places among the rest.

Music was already starting with a band playing on a slightly elevated stage that had been placed where Coop first engaged the Icon of Mana, with their backs to the cordoned off, night time specific, Ancient Prowler hunting ground. A miniature volunteer concert began and residents danced in the scrubland while others at the tables watched and had a good time eating and laughing, but the band was only entertainment for a small part of the island.

Nets had been set up further along, and volleyballs bounced back and forth as people started casual games with small groups of spectators keeping score. Others played with actual frisbees in the open space, which seemed like a lot more fun and a lot less dangerous than throwing Coop’s shield around. Simple party games, like horseshoes and cornhole, were being claimed by the new arrivals. The residents were seizing the opportunity to put aside their worries and enjoy a real day off on an island paradise. The shining sun and the sparkling shallow sea made the perfect backdrop for a proper getaway.

Between the swiftly filled picnic benches, posts had been installed, and thin sheets partially see-through gossamer fabric rippled in the gentle breeze, providing some relief from the direct sunlight for those that desired shade, with a style that really exposed the planners expertise in weddings. Strips of white fairy lights were strung between the posts as well, but in the middle of the day, underneath the tropical sun, the illumination wasn't necessary. The party was just getting started, though.

Each picnic table had multiple bowls and plates set out with pitchers and grills on standby. It was like a self-serve buffet for those who were seated, and the food was being claimed with some urgency. Coop thought it was lucky that people didn’t need to eat, or they might have had a problem with not having enough to satisfy everyone.

Classic crowd-pleasers, like chips and dip, were the staple of each table, though the chips were an assortment of rainbow colors and the salsa almost certainly alien, at least it was seasoned for human standards. It was a surprise when it was actually spicy, apparently some phantoms had been hard at work cultivating habaneros for the occasion. Plenty of residents opted for the less challenging cheesy dips instead.

Small sandwiches formed elaborate pyramids that quickly shrank as people consumed them one at a time. Chilled bowls of fruit, skewered on sticks, were present as well, with the fruit being at least partially familiar. Pineapple, papaya, mango, watermelon, and strawberries were recognizable, others, not so much, but still visually appealing with bright purples leaves, translucent blue cubes, and vivid green berries in the mix.

For beverages they had a massive number of options, but Coop could easily break them down into three categories. Lemonade with floating slices and unmelting ice, a few cold beer options waiting in ice buckets, and an absolute ton of colorful cocktails. It seemed like they would be conducting a mass experiment, testing the limits of mana’s ability to prevent hangovers. Drinking on a tropical beach all day would certainly put any doubts to rest as to the efficacy of mana, if they woke up the next day at all.

Balor sat with Jones and Olani, at one of the first tables, pounding mugs back and laughing bombastically just like they had in the earliest days, though now they were surrounded by way more friends. Coop heard passing conversations where phantoms regaled the newcomers with overly dramatized depictions of the battles during the siege. Derek had already gathered a crowd, claiming a cocktail bar near the crossroads for himself, where he was sensationalizing his own contributions to the settlement while strumming his guitar to punctuate the events. Coop bypassed them to continue further along the trail.

There were hundreds of small round grills being manned by various volunteers, each cooking meats that Coop didn’t recognize, though they had hamburger and hotdog buns at the ready and they all smelled delicious. It seemed like the Ranch and the various farmers had been the earliest to receive huge commissions for the beach bash bonanza, and they had provided all sorts of ingredients, including alien meats.

Desmond and Maeve took orders, despite being off-duty, cooking and delivering mystery meat burgers with a practiced efficiency that came natural to the demonic pair. They had at least a little bit of experience in that particular arena.

“Ya’ll need to relax.” Coop suggested as he joined the tavern keepers, offering to take over for Desmond, reaching for his utensils.

“There’ll be plenty of time for that, after people have eaten their fill.” Desmond rejected his offer, claiming his rightful position creating meals with the clack of a pair of tongs in Coop’s direction. “Let us have our fun.” The demon demanded. Coop shrugged and moved on, letting them do what they enjoyed.

There were also special meals, cooked by the regular human residents or individual phantoms. They didn’t have the means to mass produce, but instead created enough for a dozen people at a time.

Multiple ceviches competed with each other to see which would disappear first and one of the monstrous pots had made it to the beach, filled with an authentic creole gumbo. The phantom that presented it, described it as the recipe that had been passed down through generations, but in this case, it was cooked up by the original creator. Buckets of fried meat tenders that looked all the world like chicken joined fried lobster, popcorn shrimp, and hush puppies for the taking. Other tables had platters covered in croquettas, empanadas, and papas rellenas being doled out by some of the rejuvenated grannies that had joined Ghost Reef from the mainland. They encouraged every person around them to eat their fill, and it took an impossible person to decline.

Desserts used mana to survive the heat, but that didn’t stop plenty of people from making sure they would be alright and ‘rescuing’ them by eating them first. Key lime pies, homemade ice cream cones, and multicolored fruit popsicles were balanced on trays, near the rest of the food. Coop grabbed an ice cream cone from a rack strapped to the back of an Ancient Defender that tirelessly patrolled its spawn area, making it the perfect butler-style serving staff.

On his way down the beach, licking the smooth vanilla ice cream, he watched Emmanuel high step in waist deep water in short briefs with Madison in a bright red two-piece bathing suit on his shoulders, looking like a pair of swimwear models. Emmanuel feinted like he was going to toss Madison into the water off his shoulders and she was quick to object.

“Don’t you dare!” She shouted, hanging onto his shiny bald head for dear life, with her voice carrying across the water to the shore. Emmanuel bluffed a second time and her angel wings flickered to life before fading as she kept her balance and scolded him for teasing her.

Erasimus had clearly been making a killing, selling bathing suits to all the residents and phantoms. The western beach had been transformed into a spring break advertisement and Coop was sure the eastern beach was the same.

Even Vronk was splashing in the water in a bathing suit rather than a baker’s coat. Coop was amused that the pigs were flying, but it was actually the ogre launching them into the air, letting them splash in the shallows where they immediately swam back for another turn. The pigs were only interrupted when Elly or Olani’s grandkids took their turns.

Hundreds of others were floating around the reef on their backs, racing each other, or lounging on the sandbars in circles, enjoying the company. Coop didn’t think they could have a settlement-wide party like this if the population grew too much further. The island was crowded as it was. Next time, he’d make sure they better incorporated the fort in the festivities. This time, it was strictly a beach party.

The pirate ships lucky enough to avoid being on patrol had arranged themselves near the shore. They connected an elevated boardwalk of planks between the ships, and pairs of pirates, one from each crew, were taking turns wrestling until one of them fell off and hit the water. When one fell, another would rush into his place, challenging the winner until only one remained from either ship.

The rest of the pirates were hanging on the edges of the railing, and in the rigging, shouting and jeering as they placed bets and won or lost in rapid succession. Some of the phantoms were jumping from the opposite sides of the ships, already defeated in the wrestling tournament and having some other competition that had a winner determined by the cheers of residents watching from the water and the shouts of the on-duty phantoms on the walls of the fort.

Coop carefully went around a series of sand castles that gradually evolved into extremely impressive sculptures as magic clearly got involved until he made it to his favorite palm tree. At least, it was a normal-sized palm tree in the location that had his favorite before. It may have needed a reincarnation from Ixia just like the phantoms after the siege.

“Coop!” Charlie exclaimed, spotting him first. She waved him over to the edge of the water where she laid on her back and Camila on her front, sunbathing with their feet in the water.

He joined them, wearing his Under Armor as a bathing suit, and sat in the shady sand underneath the palm fronds behind them. Camila was in a black bikini, confidently showing off her tan, and Charlie wore a contrasting white one-piece that had cut outs on the sides, revealing an even collection of freckles wherever her skin was exposed.

“About time you did something to encourage people to the beach.” Camila commented, before she took a long sip from a straw embedded in the top of a coconut. Coop could easily smell the rum and he wondered just how much coconut was in there. “You should make this a weekly thing.” She stated with her eyes barely above the sun glasses perched on her nose.

“Weekly?” Coop laughed. “I really don’t think this could be recreated in a week.”

Camila raised an eyebrow. “You’d be surprised. A lot of the groundwork has already been laid out now.” She gestured across the shoreline. “Don’t underestimate the appeal of these beaches.”

Coop shrugged. “They don’t need my permission to throw a party, as long as they clean up after themselves.”

Camila nodded and put her coconut drink to the side to fix her hair. “Just got a profession level.” She pointed out to Charlie with a smirk.

Charlie propped herself on her elbows and leveled a withering look at Camila, clearly annoyed. Then she turned her focus behind her, to Coop, instead. “Coop. Hurry up and build my library.” She demanded in an uncharacteristically assertive voice.

Coop put his hands up. “Don’t tell me, tell Marcus!” Coop tried to shift the responsibility of Charlie’s demand away from himself, with Camila giggling at them both.

They were interrupted by the spectacle of Sunny zooming along the shoreline, splashing through the shallow water as he raced a group of phantoms with all the seriousness of a greyhound chasing a rabbit, easily leaving them behind even as they used their teleports. Coop sat in the sand, feeling like they had it made. If they were going to go through an apocalypse, this was definitely the way to do it.

Someone was even using their skills to recreate beach balls, tossing them into groups who bounced them around. Coop gently batted one back up the beach when it made its way toward them.

“Hey boss, want a beer?” Buck stopped by, extending a bottle for Coop to take. Buck was wearing an unbuttoned flower print shirt and white board shorts, genuinely looking ready for a booze cruise.

“Sure,” Coop took the drink and cracked it open. “How’s it going?” He asked the big man after taking a sip.

“It’s nice to have the reminder to take a real break.” Buck admitted, sliding his palm along the top of his buzzed head. “We’ve been dragging other people into our experiments, testing different affinities, but it seems like we only learn more things we can’t do, instead of what we can.”

“Well, you are delving into the unknown.” Coop pointed out. He wasn’t really expecting them to completely solve mana’s tech interference.

“True.” Buck agreed, taking a sip of his own drink and sitting next to Coop in the sand.

“But, you are going to get us proper air conditioning before summer, right?” Camila made it sound like a bit more than a request.

Buck just chuckled. “Something like that. We’ve completely given up on electricity, for now, though. Maybe when we have a better understanding we’ll revisit the idea. We’re basically trying to find mana-based alternatives for individual components to more complicated things. The crafters have had some insight on how to craft what we need, using magical materials to make the parts we’ve broken down to the basics.” Buck tried to keep it simple. “We’re essentially copying the known crafting processes for magical equipment: using reagent materials, mana catalysts, and affinities to make a part, then we’re planning on trying jewels for an array to sync them up into machines.”

Coop thought it was a good idea to start with what they knew worked, and see if they could manipulate the end result into more conventional tech. Coop’s own Under Armor was proof that the factions had been able to get a lot of functionality out of the existing crafting processes.

Buck continued. “Them aliens think we’re absolutely crazy. We’ve broken down what we want out of the AC into four components. Y’know: condenser, evaporator, compressor…” He trailed off as he realized his audience didn’t actually know how air conditioning worked. “Anyway, according to them, each individual part will be worth more than a legendary weapon, and we’re doing it purely for unnecessary comfort. It ain’t like any of us will get heat stroke with mana keeping us going.”

“But if that works, the idea can be applied to other stuff too, right?” Coop tentatively confirmed.

“Pretty much.” Buck agreed. “Just not everything. And the aliens already have much cheaper, simpler alternatives a lot of the time. They could pop an array onto a box that makes things freeze inside, instead of us making a refrigerator, but we’re still testing what can and can’t be replicated. Tiny was still hoping it would be as easy as replacing chemical, thermal, and electrical power sources with mana, but that’s too simple. In some cases it will temporarily imitate what we want, like with the fairy lights, but each of the bulbs will run out of mana and need to be manually replenished in about a day.”

“You boys made those?” Camila asked.

“Sure did.” Buck stated proudly.

“They’re cute.” Charlie added. “I can’t wait to see them at night.”

“It should be a nice effect. Marcus is gonna have us make some bigger, dimmer ones for the fort’s main street if they work alright.” Buck continued. “Someone’ll have to charge ‘em regularly.”

The chiming of a warning bell from the fort’s wall interrupted their conversation. The music quieted and Coop hopped onto his feet, scanning the horizon.

“One ship.” Buck mumbled from his seated spot in the sand, but Coop didn’t see anything.

“Mhmm.” Camila responded with a quiet confirmation, still lounging on her stomach, flicking her feet back and forth as they waited for more chimes. Another pair of bells rang. “Friendly.” Camila declared, while Coop swiveled to find what they were seeing. “Must be the Windchaser, back already.”

“Where is it?” Coop asked, still not seeing any ships.

“Dunno, that’s just what the message was.” Camila responded with a light chuckle as she watched Coop’s confusion.

“Wait,” Charlie stopped them as the music started back up. “No one has taught you the codes yet?” She asked Coop with a bit of pity in her voice.

“What codes?” He wondered, feeling left out.

“The pirates had a system to communicate between ships that they adapted to the whole fort. The bells are giving specific information and instructions.” Charlie explained, pointing to one of the ghost ships that was suddenly leaving port at full speed, straight across the shallow reefs.

“How has no one told me? I thought they were just making noise to get our attention?” Coop was confused. It had been a little while since he was this far behind on something, but he remembered discovering Jett’s level for the first time and was feeling a similar type of way.

Camila had a mischievous smirk on her face. “Actually, we all get together when you’re busy and share information between ourselves, on purpose. Need to have some advantage over our weapon of mass destruction.”

He knew she was just playing with him, but he remained flabbergasted at the plot that had been right under his nose. He looked at Charlie hoping she would deny it.

She looked at her feet and dug her heels into the wet sand as she pulled her knees closer. “Well, sometimes when you start grinding, everyone knows you’ll be gone for eight or twelve hours, at a minimum, and there have been a few town hall meetings during those times.” She admitted quietly.

“Wow.” Coop muttered, looking at Buck, wondering how deep this betrayal went.

“I just want you to be at the top of the leaderboards, no need for you to be there for the nitty gritty.” Buck stated, unapologetically.

He didn’t actually mind in general, that was the point of all of his delegations. “Someone definitely should have taught me the codes, though.” He muttered.

A few minutes of Camila’s teasing later, and Mikey B and Amanda were leaping into the shallow water from the ghost ship that had retrieved them while Windchaser made its way along the channel back into port.

“Yo, yo!” Mikey shouted as he waded the last few yards toward the beach near the port. “Who started the party without me? Beer me!” Someone immediately tossed him a beer from the beach with a clean arc that shot from a crowd. He caught it, opened it, and started chugging in one smooth motion.

Meanwhile, Amanda spotted Coop further down the beach and dragged Mikey to the small group after he absorbed enough cheers from the residents.

“Damn! There’s a lot of people here, huh?” Mikey commented, eyes wide at the crowds.

“New phantoms.” Coop offered the explanation.

“Cool.” Mikey nodded as his eyes wandered. “Mandy, we need to get you a stringy bathing suit, stat.” He decided. She elbowed him.

“Welcome back.” Coop said, surprised to see them given their mission to find Chakyum’s headquarters. It hadn’t even been a week.

“Thanks, Coop.” Amanda responded for them both. “We found the source of our unfortunate guest, but it isn’t really good news.” Coop immediately suspected it would be difficult to reach, remote, and otherwise a pain to confront them.

“He came from a port in unclaimed territory, made a straight line toward us, so it wasn’t hard to find, and we confirmed the slips for the three fishing boats. There was a settlement close enough for my skills to detect. Based on the fact that there weren’t any others, we suspect it to be the Yucatan settlement.” Amanda explained. “We explored part of the perimeter, but it’s protected by thick jungles and quite a few monsters.”

Mikey chimed in. “It’s huge, man, and a bit of a misnomer. Really, it’s more Guatemala than anything if Mandy’s triangulation is right. I guess they get away with it by being at the base of the Yucatan peninsula, but still.” He put his hands up like the name was unnecessarily vague.

Amanda continued. “We didn’t enter their territory, just in case they had some way of detecting our presence, but the shard was at least 100 miles from the edge, probably more. They aren’t on the coast at all, and if their territory reaches any water, they’re closer to the Pacific than to either the Gulf or the Caribbean Sea, so we can confirm it was no accident they came here specifically.”

Coop took in the information while Camila engaged with them, getting more details while sharing what they had missed with the faction’s formation and inviting them to join when they had a chance.

While Coop hoped Chakyum would just be a rogue group operating from within the number one settlement in the world, he had to consider the possibility that they were in charge of the settlement itself. Was he ready to confront a force with that much potential?

Honestly, yes. He thought he was ready.