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It was a beautiful day on Expel. The wake from the ferry lagged behind the giant boat as porpoises leapt playfully in the waves. Noel Chandler stood at the bow of the ship, his short, brown hair waving in the wind. Life couldn't get any better. The Ten Wise Men were dead, and he no longer had to bear the guilt of once being part of their group.
He sighed, his eyes slowly wandering to the porpoises in the water. The idea to visit Chisato was greeted with great enthusiasim. Since the destruction of Energy Nede 6 months ago, he hadn't seen his fellow Nedian. Noel could hardly contain his excitement.
His throughts were interrupted as his keen hearing picked up the sound of heavy footsteps behind him. A gruff voice spoke.
"Hey, Elf-boy..." Noel slowly turned around, facing the source of the voice. Behind the man who just spoke stood two smaller men, probably his cohorts.
"Were you talking to me?" Noel asked, a faint hint of annoyance in his voice. So much for the perfect day.
"You're coming with us," the smaller man to the right said blatently. Noel took a step forward.
"And if I refuse?"
"You won't," and with that, the large, burly man pulled out a wooden club and brought it down hard, square in the middle of Noel's head.
Chisato Madison hummed happily to herself as she prepared lunch with anything she could scrape up without having to take that long walk to the grocer's. Celine Jules sat on the couch in the other room, cringing every so often at the loud bang that was emitted from the kitchen.
"You alright, darling?" Celine inquired, not too sure if Chisato's kitchen was still intact.
"Never better!" Chisato replied, almost singing. "Noel will be here in a half an hour! Oh, it will be so great to see him again!"
"Yes, that it will. But, don't you think taking the Synard would have been a lot faster?"
"You know how he is...he wants nothing to do with Nede any longer, and that goes for our Synard and her cubs too," Chisato paused a bit, thinking of the synard, then went back to stirring the chocolate crepe batter.
The first signs of consciousness slowly flowed back to Noel some hours after being clubbed over the head. He moaned pitifully then took a look at his surroundings. Noel figured he was in a jail cell or dungeon of some sort, that much was obvious. The cold stone floor was coated in a layer of dust; only a small spot where he lay was disturbed. The walls of age-worn cinder block were spotted with the spider webs; one side of the walls bore a rusty barred door locked shut with a brand new padlock. A hole in the ceiling let a steady stream of water flow from the rain that trickled in past the wooden rafters. Noel sat up, and rubbed the back of his head where the club had struck him.
"Ungh. Damn it, what did I ever do?" Noel muttered in an irritated voice. He figured the lump on his head could be healed with his powers...so Noel rose his hands into the air, chanted a short incantation, then shouted; "HEAL!"
Nothing happened.
"Eh?" Noel looked puzzled, then tried again. "HEAL!"
Still nothing.
Okay, so that wouldn't work. Maybe he was too disoriented for it to have any effect? No matter, those rusty ol' bars don't look like they can take much more battering... Hmm....
"FOEHN!" The area around Noel became of a sepia tint. From the great spirit realm came a giant wall of water that crashed into the bars, then dissipated. What happened next took Noel completely by surprise.
The spell had no apparent effect on the cell, but Noel instantly felt the same spell he had just summoned rip through his body twice as strong. He screamed in pain, and then fell to his knees, panting.
"Honestly, did you really think that was going to work?" a familiar voice sneered from outside the cell. Noel meekly looked up. "Long time, no see...Doctor Noel."
"Shin," Noel growled, then reached for his serpent fangs in his back pocket. He found nothing.
"Looking for these?" the beast tauntingly dangled Noel's pair of battle knuckles past the barred door and just out of his reach.
"What do YOU want?" Noel hissed, his anger clearly visible.
"Well, well. Is that a very polite way to greet your former partner, oh 11th God's Wise Man?"
"NEVER call me that!" Noel charged the bars and slammed into them with all of his weight. Hundreds of volts shot through his body, and Noel crumpled to the ground after the shock had ended. The bars had been wired to electricity.
Shin gave out a menacing laugh, his fangs glistened in the dim light. "I would settle down if I were you, for your own sake," Shin laughed once more, turned, then left. Noel punched the floor in frustration as he watched Shin's figure disappear into the darkness, then retreated to the furthest corner of the cell, well away from the ever largening puddle of water.