Witches Brew Part 19 (Reward Story)

Thank you again, Loona, for being such an amazing supporter! Here's part 19 (This one is a little more lighthearted I suppose)

Witches Brew Part 19

Through the darkness, the Apex drives nose-first towards Nezemica’s Castle. The airship lists and groans as its engines fight to overcome the invisible pressure pushing back upon it.

“Billy, Jimbo?” Lance calls out from the helm. “How are we looking?”

“We’re out of range of the city, but I’m trying to slow any and all Angush advances!” Jimbo cries out, firing her weapons frantically at the ground.

“Not so good ahead!” Billy sounds off. “Several are heading straight towards us. Must be at least fifty feet in size. Maybe nine hundred yards ahead. Lance, I doubt my guns at cut these ones down. We need to go around!”

“No,” Lance shakes his head and aims the Apex directly at them. “I’ll give those things a blast of my super cannon. I’m sure my Apex can handle it!”

Loona, standing at the observation window at the front, looks back over at Lance. “Super cannon?” she chuckles. “One hundred percent you’ve said that to a girl before, haven’t you, Lance….?”

“Hold on tight!” Lance shouts, slamming his finger down on the fire button. “I’m giving it my full load!”

Loona once again chuckles to herself as the Apex groans and the cannon, already once fired, moves into place with a heavy metallic thud. The Apex shakes and the lights dim as the cannon charges.

“Full load,” Loona mutters to herself, before grinning. “It’s like he’s trying to recreate the moment for us in real time….”

As Amused as Loona is, the decks start to shake, and a green flash builds directly in front of the Apex. All bracing themselves for the violent recoil, they grip down hard on anything nearby.

“Take this!” Lance shouts, slamming his fist down on the fire button.

A low rumble builds into a high-pitched buzz, followed by an anticlimactic hiss. Billy, Jimbo, and Loona exchange confused looks. The lights flicker, but no intense beams burst out like before.

“Fire!” Lance shouts, undeterred, slamming the button once again

Nothing but groans and metallic whines

“FIRE!” Lance repeats, now smashing the button with his foot.

Nothing, just a few flickering lights

“Oh,” Loona looks out the observation window to see the two large Anguishes getting closer. “Are we having performance issues, Lance?”

“No!” he screeches, slamming his foot on the fire console. “Fire you, piece of bloated government trash!”

Nothing.

“Lance!” Billy points ahead through the front windows of the cockpit. “We need to turn this bucket, or we’re going to crash. You’re super cannon’s gone flacid!”

“Shit!” Lance grips the wheel, about to hard astern.

“Wait! Loona closes her eyes and listens. “I can hear their hearts. I can hear them crying for help. I know we don’t have a lot of time, but I can help those two poor souls!”

Eyes now wide, scanning the cockpit, Loona looks for somewhere to sit, but all the chairs are taken. Looking at Billy, the closest chair to her, Loona rushes over, flips up the hem of her skirt, and sits directly on his lap.

“L-Loona!?” Billy gulps, unsure what to do with himself as Loona’s ass presses down on him.

“Hold me!” Loona commands, but then looks back and down at him with a cheeky smile. “But don’t get any ideas. I need you to hold my body while I connect with these two souls!”

Closing her eyes tight, Loona’s body goes limp in Billy’s hands. He does his best to hold her as the Apex buffers the oncoming Anguish presence.

“Whatever she’s going to do, she’s gotta do it quick!” Billy shouts with Loona’s back pressed against his face. “I can’t see my console now, but we were moments away from hitting them. Lance, turn this dam ship!”

“I-I….” Lance hesitates, looking at Loona’s body sitting in Billy’s lap. “Don’t you dare touch her inappropriately, Billy, or I’ll throw you off this ‘dam ship!’”

“Oh, like I would!” Billy replies childishly. “I still see this woman as one of my buddies. I don’t want to think of her having… those bits, so leave it out, lover boy. I ain’t touching your gal, okay!”

Lance’s cheeks burn bright red.

“S-She ain’t my—”

“Give it a rest, Lance,” Jimbo giggles from across the cockpit. “When this is all over, maybe you two can actually grow a pair and tell each other how you feel.”

Before any more words can be said, the Apex shudders and groans as one of the two Anguishes ahead disappears into the black of the night. The shock wave almost jolts Loona from Billy’s grasp, but he grabs her tight.

“Got an erection yet, Billy?” Jimbo throws him a cheeky glance. “She’s bouncing around in your lap like those girls did back on tour, remember?”

Billy glares back. “No, I do not have an erection.” A smile tugs at his lips. “Loona’s got such a fat ass she’s cutting off the circulation!”

Lance is about to agree with Billy, before the Apex shudders once again, losing some altitude in the process. Steadying the ship, Lance lets out a wild laugh as the last remaining Anguish in their path evaporates before their eyes.

“Did she do it…?” Billy asks, face still pressed into Loona’s back as he holds her. “I can’t see!”

Loona, now regaining some consciousness, groans.

Billy loosens his grip around her waist.

“Murdered right in front of them….” Loona murmurs, her head still flopping as the Apex lists gently in the aftermath

“Lovely….” Billy complains, letting Loona slide from his lap. “Now, get your fat ass off me and let me do my job, woman. We wouldn’t have gotten away with this back in the core!”

Loona, barely able to stand, holds herself up on Jimbo’s console. “My god.” She rubs her head and tucks her hair behind one ear. “The father cheated, causing the mother to confront him, only to be murdered in front of her twins.”

Lance points out the front of the cockpit window. “Those two huge anguishes were the children?”

Loona lowers her face to the floor as she stands straight. “Y-Yeah….”

“That’s rough,” Jimbo looks across the cockpit. “You okay, Loona?”

Loona wipes a tear from her eye. Then, with her fists clenched, she looks up at Lance and smiles. “Captain!?”

“Y-Yeah?”

“Sitrep!”

Lance looks around at Billy and then Jimbo. He’s still blushing.

“LZ ahead, Captain,” Billy says.

“No immediate threats,” Jimbo says.

“Castle straight ahead,” Lance adds, before looking at Loona. “Are you ready?”

Taking a single step towards the glass ahead of her, Loona peers out the cockpit window and down at the ground surrounding Nezemica’s castle. A faint heartbeat calls out to her below.

“He’s down there, y’know.” Loona looks back at them all with misty eyes but a determined expression. “Gigi, he’s down there, waiting for us to save him.”

“Wait…” Billy looks confused. “I thought Gigi died?”

“N-No….” Loona shakes her head vigorously, “H…He’s deffo down there. I’m going to save him. Like he saved me!”

“Loona…” Lance speaks softly. “Don’t lose track of the objective.

Loona places her hand onto the cold glass of the Apex cockpit. She listens to the faint heartbeat as if it’s music to her ears.

“So…” Billy looks over at Lance, filling the awkward silence as Loona ignores Lance. “Err, how do we actually land this thing? Does it have like retractable legs?”

Lance rolls his lips in thought before giving back a wry smile.

“We don’t have a ground crew,” Jimbo pipes up. “We ain’t got anything for this oversized balloon to tether to, do we? It’ll drift off before we can even hop off the darn thing, surely sending as all to our graves!”

“So…” Billy looks around the room and then shrugs. “What’s the plan then, guys. We didn’t think this far ahead, huh?”

“I’m going to crash it,” Lance says plainly.

“Won't that erm….” Billy leans back in his chair nonchalantly. “Won’t that give us a case of the deadsies?”

“Nah….” Lance waves away Billy’s worries with an awkward, worried smile. “I’m sure we’ll all be fine….”

Lance looks away nervously, like he doesn’t believe his own lie.

“North tower.” Loona takes her hand from the glass to join the conversation. “I can feel her. She’s in the most northern tower. Crash this thing into it and I’ll jump out, do a cool little forward roll….or something, and then I’ll open a can of heart witch woopass on her!”

Lance furrows a brow, glancing between Billy and Jimbo before looking at Loona, confused. “Woop….ass….?”

“Yeah,” Loona smiles and nods. “Remember, that wrestler….?”

Lance tilts his head to one side, utterly bemused.

“Loona,” Billy pipes up. “I don’t think this world has wrestling like ours did.”

“That’s a point.” Jimbo interrupts with a finger on her chin in thought. “What is this world anyway? Are we in like an Isekai or something? Like, I keep wondering if I wander out of the city, would I end up back in the city we used to live in?”

Jimbo raises a finger like she’s got a point.

“Like, the witch before offered Loona her pub, right? So there must be a way of getting back to our own world…” Jimbo puffs out her cheeks and blows a raspberry. “I don’t really get where we are. It’s never been explained to us, has it?”

“Who cares….” Loona flicks back long hair in one dramatic motion. “What’s real to me is the friends I want to save and the stupid talking cat who needs my help.” Loona then steps across to Lance and smiles directly at him, her cheeks blushing a rosy red.

“Who I’m with right now matters more than anything else right now, don’t you agree….?”

Watching her expression, Lance softens in a smile and melts into his seat just at her soft touch. “I agree, he nods, looking her deep in the eyes. “The where doesn’t matter. It’s all about the why. Fuck Logic!”

“Right!” Loona leans across the navigation console and steering wheel, exposing her cleavage to him. She pecks his neck with a kiss and then whispers in his ear. “Let’s do this together! Crash the Apex into the north tower, and we’ll do just as she wants.”

Loona steps back, leaving Lance a little love-struck. Step stops towards the cockpit window and points. “Nezemica wants to end all suffering! Let’s give her a fucking end!”

Loona raises a fist into the air and holds one hand on her heart. “Who’s with me!?