The Dream Shifter

Chapter 162

"All you can do is talk!" Seiji charged the same as he had before for Chiharu. He went for a wide swing at her seeing leap away, but was prepared for it having seen her do it enough times while he was getting thrown. 'Got her figured out!' His hand grabbed her ankle and spun her around to her surprise. When he finished he left her denting the wall and shattering the glass of the porthole window. Chiharu fell down to floor having trouble moving. "Not so tough without your speed huh?!"

Seiji grinned in triumph down at Chiharu. She glared up at him with defiance. It took her a while to get the feeling back in her body after being thrown so hard. 'He read my moves… After all of that he can keep going… Damn!' Chiharu refused to bow to him and forced herself back to her feet. However, before she could do anything a person's back filled her entire vision.

"That's enough Seiji! How can you pick on a little girl like that?! I thought you were a better man than that!" Fumiko turned around to check on how Chiharu was doing. "It's okay. I'll protect you!"

Chiharu felt Fumiko hand on her shoulder and turned away from the tall teen. "Tch! I don't need you…" After those words she disappeared out of sight.

"Chiharu!?" Fumiko search around the deck quickly and then ran off to hunt her down.

Seiji was left confused and puzzled trying to figure out why he had become the villain. "But…but…" The blow to his manliness took it the hardest.

Yori leaned at the railing knowing that there had only been two ways for it to have turned out. "That is why you don't do that. You lose and you look like a weakling, but win and you're a bully." He pushed himself off and walked over to Seiji patting him on the shoulder. "It'll be okay, eventually." However, Yori stepped back in surprise seeing that Seiji was completely lost. It had been too much for him to handle. He sighed to himself. 'How are we going to be able to survive like this?'

Travel to the south continued mostly uninterrupted. Ayumi swapped with Yuki in the morning and then again when evening came. It had already become very cold when the evening came and there were not enough winter clothes to go around. Ayumi had only planned on three and the others did not pick for every weather condition. It kept them inside where it was still warm, but it soon became more of a concern navigating the ice field that surrounded the continent.

The cruise ship pressed through cracking the ice along the surface proving again that it was not to be taken for appearance alone. Yori and Yumi stood on the bridge with a view of their destination ahead of them and giving directions to the voice activated ship controls. "If what I'm seeing on the monitor is correct actual land is only a few miles away," reported Yori.

Yumi looked out the window into the thick void of the night where no civilization existed. Only the moon and stars provided light to see by. "Are there any lights we can turn on? Running into ice is one thing, but actual land is going to be too dangerous!"

"Would you like the search lights to be turned on?" replied a soft male voice, the computer that took their inputs.

"Yes! Turn the lights on!"

"Understood. Activating search lights." Across the front of the ship thick beams of light snapped on casting out pools of light over passing icebergs and floating ice debris. A faint glow of reflecting ice in the distance signaled the land that Yori spoke about.

"If there's someone out there they're going to see the lights. I think it's too dangerous to be alerting them."

Yumi thought about it for a moment staring down at the flashing displays of information that she mostly did not understand. "If Ayumi's Atlantis is out there then we've missed them. The coastline looks completely empty."

"Ayumi's people aren't the only ones that I'm thinking about it. Antarctica is regularly used by scientists as well. We don't want them to accidentally see us and then have to explain ourselves to them."

She nodded agreeing with her brother. "You're right, but we also need to be able to see. Can we turn down the brightness enough to see ahead while not being as easily seen?"

"The lights are adjustable. Reduce strength by 80%?" answered the computer.

"Yes!" The repeated questions in response to her queries started get on her nerves. She wished it would just act on her questions rather than second guessing everything. 'I guess I should be grateful that it's some science fiction computer that's smart enough to interpret questions…still very annoying all the same…'

The door to the hall opened up letting in Ayumi. She took a moment to examine the horizon before speaking up. "How long before landfall is possible?"

"A few minutes would be my guess. So long as there isn't any really thick ice to break through." Yori flipped through the displays on the screen starting to become accustomed to the computer. He pulled up their targeted land to show to Ayumi. "You do realize that is over a kilometer high. There are other places we can go that are closer to sea level."

"Height doesn't mean anything. Keep us on course." Ayumi walked out of the bridge returning to the hallway.

The siblings stared between each other a little surprised by how uncaring she was about the conditions. "She's got ice in her veins…" remarked Yori trying to ignore the bad pun that he had just made. He saw out of the corner of his eye Yumi giggling to herself. It forced him back towards the monitor. "We've got two minutes before we run into the cliff!"

"I'll let everyone know!"

Yumi sent out a message over the broadcast system informing them that they had nearly reached their destination. The plan had them gathering in the center where Yuki continued to focus on the ship. Revealed to them late, Ayumi retrieved arctic clothing that she had requested Yuki to include in his ship. Once everyone was dressed for the weather they went out on the deck, Yuki included. His addition made everyone a little nervous, but Ayumi assured them very bluntly that Yuki had range (if nothing else).

"We're going to hit the cliff soon!" yelled Yori looking around at everyone on the main deck in front of the ship.

Ayumi nodded in acknowledgement and nothing more. It had not been until the ship shook violent and nothing happened to them that they started to realize what happened. Unfortunately, their realization led to panic as they floated in the air. "We've got a long way to go. I'd suggest remaining calm." Ayumi stared up at the faintly outlined cliff ignoring anything that might have been said to her or looks received. Minutes passed in almost complete darkness before anything could be seen. Then there suddenly was a glowing light that spread out in front of them from the moonlight dancing upon the snow and ice that stretched out for endless kilometers.

They found careful footing on the ice with their spiked boots digging giving them balance. Fumiko still managed to slip and fall, but there was enough padding that it was not as bad as she thought. She sat up not feeling certain about standing at that moment. "What about your boat?" she thought looking over the cliff.

Her answer came quickly as the previous field had already been dropped and a new one that made them feel very warm. After Ayumi prepared the field Yuki released his own field forcing their arctic wear to disappear, but then doubled up with Ayumi. Once Yuki carried her current task she released her field and focused on retrieving the boat from the ice down below. The whole process took nearly half an hour, but completed Ayumi had her boat and they were safe for the time being.

"Antarctica…" Yuki whispered to himself, scanning the foreign continent. He had always imagined that leaving the country would have taken him to somewhere a little more alive and warm. It left him feeling a little odd thinking about it. However, he knew that he had to focus on the problem ahead of us. "So where's Atlantis? I sort of pictured it being along the coast…"

"We've got further to go inland."