Battle Beneath Steelhead Bay: Extrication

Through the most horrendous series of misfortunes, three members of our family were now helpless and in need of imminent rescue. My firstbuilt daughter Qlipppthic was dissolving in the toxic remains of an ancient abomination on the bay floor. The fallen angel Xavael was nearly consumed by the same substance and withdrew into the body of his mortal host, Velvel Danielovich; who unlike his immortal counterpart required air, of which at the bottom of the bay there was none. My neko son Koen, attempting to rescue Mr. Danielovich in turn, used his hermetic skills of Void Alchemy to pass through the hull of our submerged vessel to rescue him.

However, we seem to be caught in a lethal cascade of failures. We were ambushed by the Illuminautilus, a huge vessel built in the form of a colossal squid, once the centerpiece of my father's pirate fleet and increasingly megalomaniacal schemes. However, I know for a fact that my father is currently in another dimension entirely. Not only does this barnacled juggernaut seem to have risen from Davey Jones's locker on its own accord, but some gigantic organism seems to have filled the cabin and made the ship into its shell.

Our pilots, the gynoids Nova and Six, are trying to wrench our ship free of the monster. As I was hanging onto the rails for dear life, Koen's calculations were thrown off. The Revenge lurched as he phased back in, and his diving suit is now fused into the hull of our ship. I hear him yowling for help through his helmet which leans toward me where it is frozen into the wall!

I lurched forward as Six fired the engines. I wrapped my arms around Koen's helmet. I was barely able to squeeze my fingers between the latch for his helmet. I strained an twisted it free, and the bubble of iron and glass crashed to the wooden deck.

"Do you have Velvel?"

Koen struggled helplessly. "No! I had to let him go or he'd have been sliced in half!"

"Can you squeeze through the helmet?"

It would have been impossible for a human at the odd angle in which he was trapped, but being part cat, Koen was able to wiggle through suit's round metal collar past his shoulders, after which I pulled him free.

"It was either that or the brain jar, son."

"Don't even go there."

"Doctor!" Shouted Nova from the bridge. "Velvel grabbed one of Qli's spheres that floated up from the wreckage and turned back into Xavael! S/he seems to be drawing the rest of the Sephiroth back into hirself!"

I winced at her post-apocalyptic grammar, but my heart sank at the implications of Xavael reclaiming the Sephiroth. Qli's soul was bound to them. If that bond is already severed, will there be anything left of her to save?

Koen grunted as he tried to lift the diving helmet.

"Can ya help me put this helmet back on the suit before..."

And at that moment the ship was battered again. An audible tear an instant later the canvas diving suit flipped inside out and through the helmet, functioning as a mannequin-shaped hose, flailing it's limbs wildly to slap Koen clear across the cabin as it's ripped leg functioning like the nozzle of a hose, pinning me to the wall with a column of icy brackish water which quickly began to fill the cabin!