H09 Vigil of the Golden Guardian

Book cover

**Vigil of the Golden Guardian**, Book 9 of The Golden Age of Adventures series, was published in July 2016. It is the English language edition of the original Chinese comic, **黄金守护神**, which was published in August 2015.

## Synopsis

AIMING FOR THE TOP! ENCOUNTERING EL DORADO!

Now that the Sky Demon has seized one of the mysterious orbs, he has become even stronger. To prevent the remaining two orbs from falling into the villain’s hands, Alex teams up with the Ancient Mariner again in the Pacific Ocean. There, they encounter old foes – and unexpected friends.

## Cast

* Alex
* Lulu
* The Mermaid Queen
* Hank
* Tuklaa
* Leila of the Iara tribe
* Goken
* Ming Kong

## Plot

***Spoiler warning!** Plot and/or ending details follow.*

### Chapter 1: Pirates Ahoy!

Alex introduces Yujiro and Sakura to Hank and Butler. Alex explains to Hank about the Forbidden Orbs and Akhator. A commander reports to them that the Mermaids are under attack. Near the whale with one of the Forbidden Orbs, the Mermaids are under attack by the Shark Riders. Alex releases Fly High's fists, hitting two Shark Riders. Hank attacks several of them, leaving one for questioning. One the Mermaids recognises Alex.

Hank asks the Shark Rider who is his master. The Shark Rider replies Akhator is his master. Ever since he has obtained a Forbidden Orb, he has gotten stronger. He used it to turn the sharks into killing machines. The Orbs can also detect the others. The bridge of the Mothership calls Hank that a Mermaid wishes to speak.

### Chapter 2: Unexpected Encounters

Everyone puts on headphones that translates the Mermaid's words and vice versa. The Mermaid asks why Yujiro is present. Yujiro says he is the reason Akhator found an Orb. The Mermaid explains Ragnarok, the war with Akhator.

With the three Orbs, Akhator can deflect energy directed at him. During Ragnarok, He used them to control nature and the weather, and to create monsters. Many lives were lost, but he was defeated by sheer miracle. Yujiro talls the Mermaid that everyone must put aside their prejudices to work together. The Mermaid, who is the queen, wishes to form an alliance with Hank.

She says there is an item that prevents Akhator from finding an Orb. It is protected by the Iara, the Mermaids' relatives, in the Amazon. This item, the Dusk Cloak, was given to the Mermaids by the Bison Clan, woven from the hair of the Dusk Bison, who appears every thousand years. Whatever is covered by it won't be sensed by anyone.

The plan now is Alex and the Mermaid Queen go find the Dusk Cloak, Hank stays to protect the whale, Butler assists Yujiro to the World Adventure Union. Hank will call a friend to accompany Alex. This friend is at Pier 3 of Manaus Harbour in Brazil.

At Pier 3, Marie Wright is mad by Alex's presence. Ming Kong and Goken are furious at Alex for abandoning them and leaving Lulu. Marie turns out to be Hank's friend. Hank did this because he thinks Alex and Lulu make a great duo, and hopes Alex can make up for leaving Lulu. Marie allows Alex to join, but he must never talk to Lulu. Alex shouts his apology to Lulu, angering Marie even more.

### Chapter 3: River Rampage

Team Cygnus ride on speed boast through the Amazon. Mermaid Queen Yanasha explains to Marie about the Orbs. After Ragnarok, the ancestors tried to destroy them, but it caused an explosion which sank the Mu Continent. Piranhas surround the boats. Yanasha jumps into the river and speaks with them. The piranhas are the Iara's gatekeepers, and they agreed to escort them to the village. They arrive at a dead end, and form an "L". The shape must be cut into four "L"s, no matter if it's inverted or not. Marie solves it, and piranhas act as a key to open the entrance.

Team Cygnus rides down a waterfall. They enter the Iara village, only to see it in ruins. Akhator's forces have attacked. One survivor is found: Leila. She explains the enemies came from above via drilling mole-like beasts. Alex, Goken, Ming Kong and Tuklaa accompany Yanasha to find the Dusk Cloak, the old man and Charlie look after the injured and the rest will go shark hunting.

### Chapter 4: Race Against Time

The Dusk Cloak is protected in El Dorado, where the Iara puts their most precious treasures. The ancestors made decoy cities, each guarded by a giant snake. Tuklaa senses there is another lifeform on the boat, and it is in a bag. Lulu pops out of it. She's here to get away from Marie, but she forgot Tuklaa was on the boat. Tuklaa picks her up and refuses to let go.

Four giant green humanoids appear out of the river. These are the Sacred Guardians, Iara ancestors who have been mummified to guard for all eternity. They are protected by golden aura, except one. To defeat them, the discs they're wearing must be hit in the correct order. The exception was hit first. Goken hits the second, but he is deflected. Alex came to this conclusion: a timer starts when a disc is hit. There are four lights that go off one by one, so all disc must be hit within four seconds.

Tuklaa observes the aura on the Guardians' legs are weak. He destabilises the Guardians. Goken hits the first, Lulu hits the second, Ming Kong hits the third with his bald head and Alex throws his rope to the fourth and Lulu runs on it and hits the fourth. The Guardians stop moving. The team is bounced high into the sky.

### Chapter 5: The City of Gold

Amidst battle with the Shark Riders, Marie cries because Lulu is missing. Rita tells her that Tuklaa has messaged Lulu is with him. Marie orders everyone to go where Lulu is. Jones and Jackal watch from afar. Alex and the team land on a net. They enter a ruin where there is a giant golden box.

The test is to pour exactly half the water within it into the hole. Goken has a way to calculate without instruments: tilting the box 45 degrees. He pushes the button, and the ground descends into a giant room of gold. By being surprised by all this, Alex, Goken and Ming Kong have awakened the Guardian of Light.

### Chapter 6: Faith

Alex notices the Dusk Cloak is inside it. The Guardian also has a protective aura like the previous guardians. Leila says the Iara have a poem that can make the Guardian stand down: "The headless king shall lead, his court shall sing to sleep." Lulu sees a headless statue that has fancy clothing unlike the other statues. Ming Kong, Goken and Leila will go there while the rest fight the Guardian.

Atop the headless king, there are three walls, each having a hole: square, circle and "+". There is a wooden block that says "Use this sacred wood to make a key. It must fit each keyhole on each panel precisely." Goken thinks about the time he went to see his master. His advice was to keep calm and think whenever there is a problem. After some thinking, Goken uses his knife to carve the block into a rectangle with a circle between it (forming a "+" shape). The block is inserted into the three holes.

Spires with rings rise in front of the other statues. The statues start to chant. The Guardian of Light goes back to slumber. Alex quickly grabs the Dusk Cloak, and Lulu, in her transformed state, saves him. Alex tells Lulu he knew she was going to save him like old times.

### Chapter 7: Dead Reckoning

Lulu asks Alex if adventuring alone was fun. Alex says it was a bit boring. lulu forgives him. Now both of them have made up. Suddenly, the Shark Rider boss rips the Dusk Cloak apart. Alex could not believe his eyes. The boss explains Akhator implanted tracer bugs on the other Shark Riders. If any of them are captured and do not escape, they activate. This informed Akhator of the team's plans, which was why the Iara village was destroyed.

The boss hears Leila and hits her. Due to being blind, he wears a device that increases his hearing by ten times. Alex gets Tuklaa to throw him, Lulu and Yanasha to one of the statues. On the statue, Lulu throws her sword at the boss. He jumps towards them. Yanasha sings the Mermaid song through the ring, damaging the boss' ears. Tuklaa punches his face with 200% force.

### Chapter 8: The Return

The boss is still alive, and he is self-destructing. Ropes cover him like a ball. Alex recognises this technique. Jones appears and says the rope can withstand ten megatons. The boss dies for good. He is shaken by hearing Alex. Alex cries. Jones tells him he will explain once the injuries of the team are cared.

Jones faked his death so that he could investigate the Forbidden Orbs in secret. 40 years ago, he came upon the Sacred Elephant Village in Africa with his buddies. The village had a problem with a giant snake. After defeating it, a Forbidden Orb was found. The village chief told Jones and his buddies about Ragnarok. The Sky Demon was presumed dead, until five years ago, when the Shark Rider boss would not let him and Alex take his master's ocean current control device.

Jones had two questions: 1) Unicorn and Desert Ninja were to powerful to be beaten by the Shark Riders, so could the master did? 2) Who made the ocean current control device? He took the device to one of his buddies, who currently is the WAU president. They go back to the Sacred Elephant Village. When the device and the Orb were put together, they resonated, confirming Akhator is the Sky Demon. Jones and his buddy split up to search for the Sky Demon. The Shark Riders were nowhere to be found, they thought they had lost trail.

One day, Jones was informed by Hank about the Forbidden Orb in the giant whale. Alex asks why the WAU president didn't search the Shark Riders with him. It was because his grandchild was just born, the end of the world doesn't matter to him. Goken tells Jones he is from the Sacred Elephant Village. Jones says the current guardian is one of his adventurer buddies. Number One transmits a morse code message, warning that Akhator has arrived at the whale, and Hank is fighting him.