Feral: Rise of the Wielders

Chapter 6: Test Flight

The next morning started off pretty tame, for the most part.
Shard was reading the Feral Times, and laughed at most of it.
"Ae, guys! Lookit dis." He yearned the team over.
"Heh. Barely been a day, yet there are already conspiracies about us."
Emerald looked at the newspaper. "Hooded criminals suspected to assassinate queens?"
"Hooded criminals of an enemy nation? It's more likely than you think." Ning read.
"Hooded criminals believed to affiliated with rumored criminal gang-" Lyte interrupted himself and look closely at the text. "Who in the everlasting love of the queens are the 'Wingwatchers'?"
Ruby part of the newspaper. "Queens are willing to give mercy to Hooded criminals depending on input. 48.2% of Feralian population disagree with them." Ruby read aloud.

A little bit later, Emerald was trying to mess with his little magic. Everyone watched as he manipulated a small plant, making it a big plant, rich with flowers.
He looked at a small bush in a pot, and turned into a topiary of Shard. Shard raised his glasses and smiled.
"You got moxie, foxy." Shard complimented.
"Nothing less from the hero of Feral, amiright?" Ruby said.
Emerald looked at Ruby. "Now, Ruby. Don't give me all the credit. You played a pivotal role in stopping Daran."
Ruby blushed. "Not as much as you, though." She giggled.
Ning chuckled. "Those two go together perfectly, don't they, Darsy?"
"I do." Darla replied. "Oh! I mean, uh. Yes." Darla chuckled nervously.
Lyte barged through the door. "Everyone! We got something! It's bigger than anything so far!"
Everyone was curious.

"After gaining enough intel at the Blood Tundra expedition, we've finally determined where the Arcana Corporation's base of operations is; the clouds above."
"Wait." Emerald raised his paw. "The sky?"
"Yes, Emerald. The sky. Intel suggests that they're doing planning something. Something BIG. Big enough to affect the safety of everyone in Feral! Which is why the First wants us to act fast! She wants us to infiltrate that Fortress and put a stop to their plans."
"How are we going to do that?" Ning raised her paw and asked.
"There are no travel gates that go there, anywhere across Feral. Which is why, in order to get there as fast as we can... we must fly."
All the Wielders cheered, expect for Emerald and Ruby.
"Fly? How? As far as I'm aware, you're the only one with wings, Lyte." Emerald pointed out.
Ning laughed. "Did you forget what we are?" She closed her eyes and her Spark glowed. Then, wings sprouted from her back!
"Oh right!" Emerald remembered. "Sparks can alter their appearance based their experience, can't they."
"Eeh.. I just remembered." Ruby said nervously. "I don't exactly... know how to change my body with my Spark."
"Me neither." Emerald chuckled nervously.
"That... is understandable." Lyte said. "Wings are hard to create on your vessel, let alone master. Unless you're a Phoenix."
"So what do we do?" Ruby asked.

A few minutes later...
Emerald and Ruby were in Wakai's workshop, sitting in barber chairs.
Wakai was measuring Emerald's Spark, while Gertah was measuring Ruby's.
"Alright, then. Let's get on with it. Gertah!"
"Sabbi?"
"You ready?"
Gertah then pulled out a crystal with a syringe-like needle attached to it via a wire, and walked over to Emerald.
"Now, Mr. Emerald, this will temporarily 'turn off' your Spark while we jumpstart and hope it can create wings." Wakai explained.
Emerald jumped slightly. "Uuuh..."
"This may result in you wanting to flinch, jump, or whatever the not, so..." Wakai then pushed a button, causing the chair to lock Emerald in place. Emerald freaked out needless to say.
"Just... stay still, okay?"
Gertah moves the needle right above Emerald's Spark. "Guassi mer tala..." he mumbled to himself. He aligned the needle with the tip of his Spark, and... jammed it in violently.
Emerald then blacked out.

After a while, Emerald's consciousnesses came back.
"Hey, Emerald." Ruby said. There was something different about her, but Emerald didn't see it... yet.
"Okay, take it easy. You're going to feel like you just underwent surgery, which is perfectly normal."
"Did it work?" Emerald asked.
Gertah pulled a mirror in the room and Emerald looked at himself. He now had two medium sized wings sprouting out of his back!
"Whoa." Emerald was amazed. It felt like having control of two extra limbs, having wings. This feeling was entirely alien to Emerald.
"Looking, good!" Ruby said, also sprouting two medium sized wings.
Emerald tried flapping his wings. He raised out of the chair. The feeling and basic knowledge of flight cam to him naturally, it seemed. "Wow! This is amazing!"
Ruby tried the same. She wasn't exactly prepared for this, but just like Emerald, she hovered above for a few seconds.
Wakai chuckled. "Good job, Gertah."

Later, on a hill outside the base.
All the Wielders were ready for liftoff.
Lyte was carrying Shard by holding with his claws.
Ning used her front paws to grab hold of Darla's hands as she would take off.
Gail didn't have or need wings due to her magic of wind.
"Everyone, we must depart without further ado! The fate of Feral, the future of the people... all these and more may be in our paws! We must go up, find the Arcana Corporation's Headquarters and destroy whatever they got in there." Lyte explained. "Now, intel suggests they're not alone up there. After that little incident, the Feral Royal Guard is offering extra security assistance in all of the Corporation's strongholds. Now, the FRG is much more talented than our corporate friends, so we can't go in, swords ablaze. Do you all understand me?"
"Yes, Lyte!" Everyone said.
"Alright. The First has faith in us that we can do this. We mustn't let her down!"
Everyone got into position.
"Go!" Lyte Yelled.
He ran off the side of the hill with Shard in grasp and flew upwards.
Ning did the same, with Darla in her grasp.
Gail summoned a tornado around her, and used it to fly upwards.
Emerald and Ruby were last. They looked at each other and nodded, and ran off of the hillside. They sprouted their wings and began flying... for about four seconds, before crashing down into a tree.
"This is gonna take a while, isn't it." Ruby said.
After a bit, two tried again and took off with much issue, and moved to rendezvous.
While that happened, a golden fae nodded her head. "Good luck, Wielders." She said to herself.

After a while, Emerald and Ruby caught up with the rest of the Wielders in the cloud line.
"About time!" Gail said.
"Rough start, huh? Happens to all of us." Lyte said.
"Anyways, look!"
Lyte pointed his head to a massive floating complex. It was very bronze in color, and had steam coming out of multiple exhausts on it.
"Now then, we should slip into the fortress pretty easily. Exterior security is limited. Interior, though... that's a different story." Lyte said. "C'mon, follow me!" Lyte flew off, and everyone else followed.
They flied to an air vent on the side of the fortress. It was welded shut, so opening it was a no-go.
"Stand back." Emerald said. Lyte stood back. Emerald used his magic to summon vines from his Spark, and pull the vent off.
"We all can't fit in there. Someone's going to have to go In themselves." Darla said.
Ruby flew up. "I'll do it." She was small enough to fit it. Senris can fit themselves in nearly any tight space. In other words, Senris are liquids.
Ruby crawled through the vent.

She appeared in an empty loading bay of some kind. The lights were on, but no one was there. Ruby walked over to a door and pushed a button, causing it to open to the outside.
The other Wielders noticed and flew in. Ruby closed the door after they flew in.
Emerald and Ruby made their wings disappear, they didn't need them at the moment.
"Alright, team. We must be on guard, for we're in the belly of the beast." Lyte had his spear at the ready. He lead the way out of the loading bay, and everyone else followed.
"Let's do it, Ruby."
"Let's save Feral again!"
The two followed them out of the room.

They're in enemy territory now... how will this play out? Just wait, and see...