Chapter 176 – Sea battle?

Strange music, seeming to come from all over the place, creaking of the wood, the feeling of swaying floor under her feet, and the loud noise of waves disoriented Lyra as she found herself in the dim room.

She looked around in confusion trying to understand the situation as she repeated the last of her memories prior to this.

She went to bed, there was that incident with someone's gaze that disturbed her. It took her some time to calm down and concentrate on what she wanted to find.

What was it that she wanted to find?

"Seer!" Finally remembered Lyra. She was going to use divination to find the "Seer".

*But how did she come here? And where was she?* Thought Lyra but her thoughts were disturbed by a loud 'boom' sound of explosion after which the floor inclined to a steep angle throwing her at the wall.

"What the hell?" Exclaimed Lyra as the room started to tilt back and she rolled back to the floor.

As she stood up she heard commotion and multiple feet stomping from above as if the crowd of people ran above her. Lyra looked around finding a door and rushed out of the room, finding herself in a hall of a….ship?

*Was she on board of a ship?* She thought in confusion as the floor inclined again and she had to hold herself against the wall.

"Yes, definitely a ship." She muttered walking down the corridor in the direction of the stairs that she saw in front.

The strange music kept playing in the background at the same volume, but as she walked closer to the stairs she started to hear someone's muffled voice singing along in tune with the music.

"Tutu-tududutu tududutum tudum. Tutu tududutu dududutu tudu." Came someone's humming from above, getting louder and louder as Lyra climbed the stairs.

There was someone singing outside and Lyra hoped that this someone could answer her questions as she pushed open the wooden door at the top of the stairs.

A bright light blinded her for a moment until her eyes used to the dim interior of the ship adjusted to the bright sunny day outside. The sound of waves now was a lot louder.

"Ahaa! You finally show yourself, scoundrel!" Shouted the female voice forcefully trying to sound deeper.

"Who…?" Asked Lyra looking around before freezing in place. Her confusion quickly vanished as the situation finally dawned on her. "This is a dream." She said with a calm voice as she watched plush toys running around the deck of a galleon that looked a lot smaller from the outside than it seemed to be when Lyra was still inside.

"I don't know what nonsense you are sprouting, Captain Pippi Longstocking, but your tyranny across the endless paper sea ends today!" Said the voice from the distance.

"Hello. My name is…" Started to say Lyra as she gazed to the side where she saw another ship similar to the one she stood on some distance away.

"I know who you are, Pippi Longstocking! Now prepare to sink to the bottom! FIRE!" Shouted the girl from another ship interrupting Lyra's introduction. Her words were quickly followed by a volley of cannons, sending shells flying at Lyra with whistling noises.

Lyra ducked down from surprise waiting for the impact as the shells flew her way, but what awaited her did not just surprise her. It confused her and made her roll her eyes and sigh a heavy breath.

"Seriously?" Said Lyra standing up and dusting off the feathers from herself after the projectiles shot from the girl's ship, that turned out to be feather pads, exploded from the impact against Lyra's ship's hull, covering her and her whole plush toys ship crew in feathers.

"Are you The Seer?" Asked Lyra looking at the girl on the other ship.

"I don't know who you're talking about, Pippi! I am Admiral Silver Beard." Said the girl dressed in strange red clothes and a triangle hat on her head.

"You don't have a beard." Said Lyra annoyed.

The music abruptly stopped with a disgusting scratching noise as the world froze around Lyra, making their ships stop swinging on the white waves.

"Ooh, don't be such a nudnik. Can't you play along?" Said the girl in a whining voice dropping her deep voice act.

"I am not here to play. I need to find a…" The world started to move once again not letting her finish as the music sounding from all around them started to play again and the ship swung on the waves throwing her off to the side, forcing her to grab the handrail to not fall over into the sea.

"I know who you are after, scoundrel! But I will not divulge anything about the Dream Rabbit until I am defeated!" Shouted Admiral Silver Beard.

Lyra rolled her eyes annoyed with this farce. She pointed her palm at the ship in the distance and silence spread in the world. The playful girl's eyes went wide as the music went gradually silent. No sound except the noise of waves and creaking of the ships could be heard.

"..." Lyra stood blinking in confusion before turning her palm to herself and looking at it in surprise.

"I see. This is your dream, so you can control it. Magic doesn't work here." Said Lyra, nodding at the girl who smiled with a sheepish smile from the other ship's deck.

"Enough playing, Pippi! Fight or Die!" Shouted Admiral Silver Beard and another volley of cannons boomed from her ship. This time shells missed Lyra's ship swinging on the waves and dropping into the sea with a rustling sound and geysers of paper shreds.

*Paper? Rustle sound?* Thought Lyra, taken aback. She bent down looking over the side of the ship and realized that what she at first thought of as white water was actually paper. Mountains of paper that had no end to them, spreading into the horizon, moved with waves as if they were water in the ocean.

"Paper sea." Mutter Lyra, rolling her eyes as she remembered the girl's words. "Of course, it's literally a sea of paper." She said facepalming. She looked at the girl who shouted at her plush toy crew for missing their shot and sighed.

"I guess there's no choice." Said Lyra. "CREW! ABORDAGE!" She shouted in a commanding voice.

"Oooh!" Echoed plush toys on her ship.

"Don't let them get near! Shoot! Shoot!" Shouted the Admiral to her crew before her ship shot another valley sending feathers all over the place as pillows exploded against Lyra's ship's hull.

"Ahahah! Take that scoundrel!" Shouted Silver Beard.

Lyre spit out the feather as her ship sailed out of the cloud of dust, anger taking the place of previous annoyance.

"Shoot at their sails!" Commanded Lyra and a volley of feather pads was shot at the enemy ship one after another soon turning the enemy gallions sails into a sieve.

Lyra smiled proudly as she saw Admiral scowl back at her when her ship lost speed, now slowly swinging on the waves.

"Crew! Prepare for melee!" Commanded the admiral, taking out a pink stick the size of a sword.

"Captain, your weapon." Shouted someone near Lyra. She turned to look at the person and saw a monkey throw some kind of long object at her. She caught it in her hands and raised her eyebrow questioningly.

"What's this? Plush stick?" Asked Lyra looking at the cyan in color foam-like soft stick before raising her eyes back at the talking monkey.

"Yes, Captain. Your cutlass, that you used to conquer the entire paper sea." Said Monkey nodding before jumping away.

*This was getting more ridiculous by the moment.* Thought Lyra, sighing.

When the ships came close to each other, plush toys swung on the ropes jumping to the enemy ship's deck and the fight began. Or…whatever it was.

*Pun. *Plop. *Pipuu. *Bonk. Noises started to sound all over the place as toys hit each other with their toy weapons.

"This is the end, Pippi Longstocking! Only one of us will leave this place!" Said Admiral Silver Beard jumping off the rope, landing on Lyra's deck.

"My name is Lyra."

"Oh!" Said the girl as the music and all the sound stopped with a disgusting scratch-like sound once again.

"Alice." Said the girl smiling at her with a sheepish smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Why do you keep calling me Pippi?" Asked Lyra.

"You are a redhead." Said Alice

"So?"

"And you are the strongest girl, right?"

"Umm, you could say so?" Said Lyra confused.

"You are a pirate and have a monkey in the crew." Added Alice.

Lyra looked around seeing a black jolly roger waving in the wind above the mast of her ship and a monkey that gave her the cutlass sitting at the helm of her ship.

"Ouuukey…" Voice Lyra not sure what to say to all that.

"Well…" Said Alice spreading her hands with an expression on her face that was saying "Isn't the rest of it obvious."

"Listen. Can you just tell me about the Sage?" Said Lyra, changing the topic.

The world started to move again as shouts of fighting plush toys spread around them once again.

"Not while I stand undefeated." Said Admiral Silver Beard. "En-garde!" She shouted and swung her pink stick at Lyra, that made a strange wheezing sound as it cut through the air.

It was obvious the girl was not going to comply until this farce of a play was over, and with her ability to control the setting of this dream there was no choice for Lyra but to play along.

Lyra raised her "cutlass" that also made that strange wheezing sound when it moved and parried, obviously inexperienced in fights, girl's attack with ease.

Their similar foam-like sticks produced a loud *wdgoo* sound at the contact, as if powerful magical energies clashing with each other, which surprised Lyra for a moment. She gazed at the stick with wariness in her gaze but there was no time to think it through for too long as the girl continued to strike at her again and again. Each point of impact of their "weapons" produced the strange, unnatural for soft toys sound of clashing energies.

The girls' attacks were so childish that Lyra rolled her eyes. She's seen kids fighting better than this girl.

"Alright, we played enough." Said Lyra and with a quick move disarmed Silver Beard, throwing the pink "cutlass" into the sea and pointing her weapons at the defeated girl.

The shouts and screams of toys immediately ceased, as they fell on the deck unmoving like normal toys.

"I played your game, Alice. Now tell me what I need to know." Said Lyra lowering her stick.

"Funny Lady would suit your need." Said Alice with raised in surrender hands.

"What?" Asked Lyra confused.

"What?" Asked Alice also confused but in another intonation.

"The Sage. I came to ask about the person with the Sage system. Can you tell me what you know about that person?"

"Oh. I thought you said you wanted to know what you need not what you want." Said Alice.

Lyra raised an eyebrow again, feeling even more confused.

"What I need or what I want there's no difference." Said Lyra.

"But there is. You want to capture my friend - dream rabbit. But you don't need him to conquer paper sea." Said Alice spreading her hands.

"Umm. That dream rabbit who is it?"

"Mr.SmartySmarty, he jumps from dream to dream like a rabbit."

"The sage! You mean the Sage right? Jumps through dreams? He has the power to control dreams? Like you?"

"No one has the same power, like me." Said Alice. "That's my power. He has his."

"Alright. But you met that person? Mr.SamrtySmarty where did you meet him?"

"We met first in the Funny Lady's flower field, they were rolling in the grass with MrSmartSmart when I met them."

"Rolled in the…?" Asked Lyra confused.

"I met him there a second time a bit later, but he was scared and all alone. I helped him so we became friends! He is funny and kind but does lots of stupid things. Like that last time when he lost his way to the library. How can you even lose a way there? Isn't it stupid?"

"Wait. Wait. I don't get a thing." Said Lyra shaking her head. "Do you know where he is?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders and Lyra sighed disappointed.

"Where did you meet him last time?" She asked in the hope of finding at least some clues.

"We played in the Munchkin Kingdom. I grabbed the role of Dorothy. It obviously wasn't for him. I offered him to be the wizard, but he did not like to be Oz it seems. Which is kinda stupid in my opinion. I think it was better than choosing Tin Woodman. But that was his choice. So, oh well." Said Alice shrugging.

"Then he went to the morning wood trees and chopped it all. Chop, chop, chop." Said Alice, showing the axe swinging move with her hands. "You know, as all woodmen do."  She added as if any of this made some sense.

Lyra opened her mouth standing silent for a few seconds before closing it, not knowing what to make out of all of this.

"Listen, Alice. I really need to find Mr.SmartySmarty. Can you help me meet with him?" Asked Lyra with a begging voice.

"I told you, you need to find a Funny Lady with the stickers. But what you want I don't want to help you with. I don't want to let you hurt my friend again." Said Alice.

"Hurt? No, I don't want to hurt him. I want to be his friend too." Said Lyra coming closer to Alice and looking her in the eyes.

"But you hurt him before." Said Alice.

"What?" Asked Lyra surprised. "I hurt him?" She added in confusion. Then her eyes went wide as she remembered the last time she used Divination magic on someone with the Dream power. It could be that she hurt him at that time, but she could not remember what happened back then.

"Alice, that time was a mistake. I did not know it was a dream. I am really sorry about it if I hurt him back then. I wish I could apologize to him. I really hope we can be friends. You, me, and Mr.SmartySmarty. Let's be friends." Said Lyra, hopefully stretching out her hands to Alice as a smile rose on her lips.

Alice raised her hand a few seconds later.

"If that was a mistake, then what was the second time when you hurt him even more?" Said Alice grabbing Lyra's hand but only at the tip of her index finger, holding it between a thumb and index finger.

Lyra looked confused.

"Second time?" She asked, "I never met him a se…"

"You hunted him, tried to rob him, made him see nightmares. I've seen people that say they want to be friends but then give you to nightmares. They are called liars." Said Alice her voice going stern while her hand that held the tip of Lyra's finger raised up a pinky.

"I..I never..I am not lying Alice…I…" Started to stutter Lyra with excuses before looking down at their hands. "Umm…What are you doing?" Asked Lyra.

"Oh, you never saw the Wuxi finger hold?" Asked Alice with a smug face.

"I told you. Only one of us will leave this place. And that's not me. And just so that you know. This is not my dream and I was not the one controlling it." Said Alice in a content-with-herself tone.

"Skadoosh!" She voiced bending her pinky.

Golden light flooded Lyra's view.

The Saintess jerked in her bed with a startle, looking around in confusion. Golden light of the morning sun was streaming into the room through the window.

"Another bad dream?" Asked Trisha sitting at the side of the bed.

"What the fuuuuck!" Screamed Holy Lady falling back on the bed, and hitting her soft pillow with the head. "Why the fuck these people with dream power are so difficult! I fucking wasted another divination!"

"I guess, that's a yes." Muttered Shadow Squad Commander.