Okay, the next chapter is out! Thanks for the review Sentinel07. I promise I won't disappoint you!
The Star Magician makes his appearance in this story. DUN DUN DUNNNNN! Okay, sorry about that. Read carefully, some incidents here are key-moments to future events.
For those who are interested in the shippings, they should really make their prescence known in the next chapter, which should be out by the end of this week, if not, the weekend.
Okay, ENJOY PEOPLE!
At last, the group finally managed to get back together.
"We didn't find anything special here." Tyrell said, frowning.
"Anything but my staff!" Rief cried cheerfully, waving his brand-new weapon in the air.
"Hmm…maybe this stick will be a best seller somewhere…"
"Don't you dare touch it! Or I will use Neptune-"
"HOLY MOTHER NO!" Tyrell squealed, before diving behind Sveta, and peeking carefully over her shoulder.
Sveta raised an eyebrow and stared at him, waiting for an explanation.
"Tyrell got a taste of Neptune when he was fighting against a Venus Djinn. He got in the way when Rief unleashed it, and…well I think you can make out what happened next." Amiti quickly put the princess up to date.
Sveta looked back the fire Adept. "You're pathetic." She said.
Tyrell looked offended. "Hey, put the blame on the bookworm. He should know when to shoot!"
"And you should know when to get out of the way when there's going to be a summon." Rief countered.
Matthew rolled his eyes. "Look, are we going to stand around all night, or are we going to search for this 'treasure'?"
Eoleo who had remained silent this entire time, spoke. "I doubt the staff was the treasure." He said. "There has to be something else. But what and where…" he shook his head. He suddenly gasped. "Wait, where's Karis? And Kraden?"
Everyone looked around. Tyrell shrugged. "She's a tough one. I'm sure she'll be-"
He was interrupted by an earsplitting scream.
Matthew was the first to react. He spun around, and raced towards the place where the sound came from. He jumped over a barrel, and a couple of sacs that had been left on the ground, not bothering to know if the others were following him, and headed towards the only cabin that was still in one piece.
"Karis! Where are you!" he yelled
"Matthew!" the wind Adept's voice could be heard coming from inside the cabin.
Matthew tried the door, but it was locked.
"Leave it to me!" Eoleo snapped. He slammed into the door, hitting the wood with his shoulder. The rotten material gave in instantly with a splintering sound. The Adepts ran in.
Karis was leaning against the wall, her pale deathly pale. Kraden was standing next to her, slightly shocked.
Matthew hurried towards Karis, and helped her up. "What's the matter?" he asked.
Karis stared past him. "That…appeared out of nowhere."
Matthew turned. In front of him was a king's bed, covered with dust and rotten pieces of wood and other materials. Lying on the bed was the grinning face of a skeleton.
It had turned black with age, but the clothes around it were still present, tattered and grey.
"Ugh…" Sveta muttered. "This thing's gross. Why is it here in the first place?"
"It must've been the captain of this ship. I wonder what happened to him though…" Kraden said. "Use your Spirit Sense psynergy on it. We might get some information."
Ugh…having to use Spirit Sense on a skeleton…Sveta looked pleadingly at Matthew, but the earth Adept wasn't looking her way: he was busy helping Karis back to her feet.
Sveta sighed. She walked towards the skeleton, and brought her fists up to her chin. A purplish aura surrounded her, and she made her mind go blank.
While Sveta was using her psynergy, Rief decided to have a look around ship, seeing that everyone was okay, and that Karis seemed to have gotten over her shock-
"God dammit Matthew! For the last time I'm fine!"
Yeah…that confirmed it. Knowing that Matthew would be smart enough not to push any further, he left the cabin and looked around.
The fog seemed to have lifted slightly, as Brigg's ship was now visible. Rief took a couple of steps around the cabin, before walking straight into some sort of invisible wall.
He groaned and rubbed his head. He was about mutter something about idiots putting masts in useless areas when he saw something quite disturbing.
In front of him was a creature.
Humanoid, it was covered in a blue cloak, and was holding a large blue sphere in his hand.
Rief opened his mouth to ask who he was, when the creature threw the sphere at Rief. The water Adept yelled as he jumped backwards to avoid the hit. The weapon smashed against the rotten wood, sending splinters in all directions.
Rief raised his arms to protect himself. Peering carefully behind them, he yelled "DRENCH!"
A huge cloud appeared above them, and massive droplets of water came falling down, taking the pieces of wood with them, and hitting the creature.
Rief relaxed slightly, and turned. "EVERYONE!" He yelled. "OVER HERE!"
He heard his friends running towards him. Just when his cousin turned the corner, he felt something explode against his back, and throw him forward.
Rief was blasted clear off his feet, smashed against the side of the boat, where he lay there, twitching and groaning.
"RIEF!" Amiti cried, as he knelt beside him and began casting Pure Ply to heal the injured Adept.
Himi spun her staff, and stood protectively in front of the two Adepts. Matthew, Tyrell and Eoleo drew their swords, while Sveta and Karis prepared their psynergy.
"Who are you?" Matthew snapped.
The creature remained silent. He simply raised his arms, and four spheres appeared around him, ready to battle.
Eoleo grinned. "Calling out minions to fight us? This should be easier than I thought." He looked at Matthew, who nodded. "DIE!" he yelled as the three warrior Adepts charged, their assault supported by the Wind Adepts' Spark Plasmas.
Kraden, who had just appeared in time to see the attack, paled. "NO!" he shouted. "YOU'LL ONLY-"
His words were drowned by the roar of Himi's Slaying Dragon, which appeared out of thin air, before jumping on the creature.
The creature merely watched all the attacks head towards him at unbelievable speed. Just before the attacks connected, he spoke. "I am the guardian of water. If you would claim my power, you must prove your worth."
There was a huge explosion, and smoke flew in all directions. Karis yelped as she jumped to safety, Sveta made a leap and landed safely on top of the cabin, while Himi cast Weapon Grace and spun her staff in circles, protecting her from the debris that were thrown in the air.
When the dust cleared, the creature, along with its spheres, stood there, completely unscathed by the numerous attacks.
Before anyone could recover from their surprise and shock, three humans crashed on the ground. Matthew was barely conscious, his entire body covered with scars and his clothes torn. Eoleo had been knocked out, his left arm distorted in a disgustingly way, his entire body had been victim of numerous cuts and bruises.
Tyrell was the one who had withstood the explosion the best. His hair was even messier that before, and he was badly burnt in a couple of areas, but that was basically it.
"How…?" The fire Adept gasped. He raised his Excalibur, and carefully took a few steps back. "Who…are you?"
Rief and Amiti dove forward, and proceeded to heal the injured Adepts. Kraden spoke again. "Don't attack!" he warned. "You can't defeat him by just charging! You need to think first!"
Karis raised an eyebrow. "You talk like you know him. Did you two meet before?"
Kraden nodded. "This is the Star Magician! Even your parents struggled against him!"
Matthew, despite Rief's protests, climbed to his feet. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" he asked.
Kraden never got to answer: the Star Magician fired a Mine Ball, which exploded around them. Kraden, being a good distance away, escaped the blast. Tyrell had just the time to hide behind his blade, and crouch before Eoleo and Amiti, as the attack took place. His legs were scratched by the blast, but otherwise he was unhurt.
Sveta jumped away of the edge of the roof, and avoided the blast.
Karis, seeing the three remaining Adepts in danger, cast Resist. A huge transparent sphere engulfed them, and the blast hit the sphere. It wasn't fully stopped, but it only caused scratches on them.
Matthew got to his feet. "I can see that." He said. Their parents apparently won against this guy? Then they should be able to win as well. He raised his arm. "RAGNAROCK!"
A blade came falling from the sky, and headed towards the Star Magician.
But the greenish-yellow sphere flew high in the air, and a large aura surrounded both it and the Star Magician.
The titan sword slammed against the aura, causing a huge shockwave that shook the boat, but to everyone's horror, the enemy took no damage.
Tyrell looked at Amiti, who nodded. The water Adept drew his bow, and knocked an arrow in it. He fired it, while using his djinn, Claw. The arrow took a dark blue color, and Amiti released it.
It shot at high speed towards the target.
Without missing a beat, Tyrell jumped high in the air, and used Fever. The sword turned magma red, and Tyrell brought I crashing down on the Star Magician just as Amiti's arrow made contact.
Tyrell's flames danced around the Star Magician, while the arrow let out a large scream, and ice began to wrap itself around the Star Magician's legs.
"YEAH BABY! TAKE THAT!" Tyrell cheered.
When the smoke cleared, they were stunned to see that the Yellow sphere had taken Tyrell's hit. Only Amiti's arrow had damaged the enemy.
The Yellow sphere suddenly began to suck the flames from Tyrell's sword. There was a yelp for help, and Fever was sucked out of the sword and into the sphere.
"FEVER!"
The little djinn squealed before vanishing within the sphere with a disgusting slurp.
"Ew!" Sveta said. "Did he just…eat it?"
"That's a ghoul ball! If you use djinn, they'll just absorb them!" Kraden yelled. "In order to save the djinns, you need to take that one out first!"
Tyrell glared at his blade. "Why didn't you say so?"
"I didn't recognize it!" the elder replied defensively.
Karis spun her Magic Rod. "All right, that's enough useless diving around. Clearly the spheres are the Star Magician's support. Take out the spheres, and we'll have a clear advantage."
Matthew groaned. He shook his head. "Rief, how's Eoleo?"
The water adept shook his head. "Looks like he'll be out for a while. Other than that, he's fine."
Matthew licked his lips. "Okay. Tyrell, you're with me. We'll save your friend. Karis, Himi, keep the blue and green spheres busy. Amiti, Rief, have the black sphere remain as distracted as possible."
"What about Sveta?" Himi asked.
Matthew blinked as he realized that he had completely forgotten about the beastgirl.
He was about to say something, when a loud roar could be heard.
Everyone turned to see Sveta, in her beastform, slam her fist in a sphere. The sphere shot out of the ship like a bullet, and disappeared from sight, leaving a tiny twinkle in the distance.
Everyone sweat-dropped.
"I think Sveta will keep the Star Magician temporarily busy." Matthew said. He drew his Sol Blade. "LET'S GO!"
They all charged as one.
The Star Magician saw them coming, and wasted no time in counter attacking. Holding one of its spheres in his hands, he charged it with a turquoise energy, and flung it at the Adepts.
But this time, the group was ready for the attack. Sveta flung herself in the way, and used a speed punch to knock the attack aside. She then lunged at the magician.
The Ghoul Sphere noticed the Earth and Fire Adepts heading its way, and charged. It attempted to slam into Matthew, and to knock him out of the fight for good, but the teen brought up his blade just in time to protect himself from the attack. Tyrell cast Fireball, and launched it at the enemy, before slashing at it with his large sword.
Matthew instantly added to Tyrell's offensive by unleashing one of his Sol Blade's powers: Purgatory. A huge spiral of fire wrapped itself around the sphere.
Karis and Himi both headed towards the blue sphere. Karis instantly cast Spark Plasma, knocking the sphere a couple of feet backwards. Without missing a beat, Himi cast Nettle.
Thick thorns snapped out of the ground, and began to dig in the sphere's material.
The enemy fell on the ground. But it slowly rose back in the air, a blue aura surrounding it. Himi gasped. "It's using Pure Ply! It can heal itself!"
Karis gritted her teeth. She swung her Magic Rod madly, unleashing the Murk power. The attack did relatively low damage, but it distracted the sphere, stopping the aura. Himi instantly
cast Roaring Dragon. A huge dragon leaped out of thin air, and smashed a huge paw of the sphere. There was a flash of blue light, as the sphere vanished entirely as though it had ceased to exist.
Amiti fired arrows one after another, each hitting the back sphere, slowly but surely, damaging it. The archer growled. "All right, try this!" He took a step back, and pulled hard on his bow. "Blue Comet!" he yelled, as he loosened the arrow. The weapon, surrounded by a blue aura, shot towards the sphere, hitting it head on, and blasting it across the ship.
It hit Matthew hard in the back, before falling over. Matthew turned to glare at the water Adept. "Watch it!" he snapped, rubbing his back. "That hurt."
Amiti shrugged. "Shouldn't have been in the way." He stated.
Matthew was about to launch himself on the offending water Adept, when he felt something slash madly against his back.
The black sphere was floating in mid-air, and had cast condemn.
"Matthew!" Rief shouted, as he cast Ice Missile, crushing the sphere.
Just when the tip of the scythe hit Matthew, the skeleton vanished, showing that the sphere had been defeated, and had not been able to finish its job.
Matthew staggered, but quickly straightened himself. "I'm fine." He said. He turned to see how Tyrell was doing, and just in time to see him sink his blade halfway through the enemy's body. There was a loud cracking sound, and vomited a jet of fire.
A tiny being shot out of the sphere.
"Fever!" Tyrell yelled. "You're okay!"
The djinn made a quick victory dance, before allowing itself to be absorbed by Tyrell. The Fire Adepts shouldered his blade "Who's next?" he asked.
Sveta, still in her beastform, jumped backwards, to avoid an attack. She was battered and bloodied, but still in fighting condition. She barked at Matthew's attention.
The leader noticed her. "Everyone, attack the Star Magician!"
Rief ran to Sveta, and began to quickly heal her couple of wounds. But the Star Magician was not going to let that happen. It stretched out an arm, and cast Megacool.
A puddle of ice appeared under the two Adepts, and began to slowly climb up their legs.
Rief lost his concentration and tried to stop the ice by using his own psynergy, while Sveta thrashed wildly with her powerful limbs, trying to shatter the frozen element. But the Star Magician was much stronger than the two, and the ice continued to wrap itself around them.
"Guys help!" Rief shouted.
Karis heard him, and cast Spark Plasma. The electricity hit the ice, creating small fissures in it, and the sparks that danced on the surface slowed the advance of the ice, but did not stop it. It continued up until it was already wrapping itself around their wastes.
"Nettle!"
The ice, weakened by Karis's psynergy attack, was instantly shattered by the large roots that grew quickly from underneath it. Sveta, carrying Rief, leaped to safety. "Thanks Himi!" Rief yelled.
The young priest nodded, now that she knew her friends were safe. She turned to aid the others to fight the Star Magician.
Suddenly, there was a loud, "GET OUTTA THE WAY!" and a massive beam of fire blasted past her, narrowly missing her.
It crashed onto the Star Magician with a huge explosion. Everyone turned and saw Eoleo firing his Searing Beam.
The pirate winked. "I can't believe you guys fought this thing without me!" He ended his psynergy attack, and drew his blade. "Vicious Chop!" he yelled as he slashed the enemy crazily.
The Star Magician let out a loud moan, and fell on his knees, then on fours. He became motionless, but did not die.
Everyone lowered their weapons. "Did we win?" Sveta asked, having returned to her original form.
The Star Magician glowed brightly, and morphed into a large tablet. There was a small flash, and the tablet became hard and real. On it were written some glyphs. It floated down to their height.
Tyrell walked towards it. 'What's this?" he asked.
Rief tilted his head, and readjusted his glasses. "It looks like the tablet that contained the Flora Summon. Remember back at Passaj?"
Karis nodded. "I agree with rief. It must be a summon." She walked up towards it. "It's written in glyphs. Matthew, do you still have the glyph book?"
The blond earth Adept nodded. He knelt down and opened his pouch. After rummaging in it for a few seconds, he brought out a silvery/blue book. He walked up to the wind Adept and gave her the book.
Karis opened it. She began flipping the pages, looking for the words that appeared in the tablet.
"You…defeated…the…guardian…of..." she squinted at a word. "This thing's as readable as your handwriting, seriously Matthew, did the ancients ones give you this thing, or did you write it?" she teased.
Matthew turned brilliant red. "Keep reading instead of commenting." He muttered.
The Jupiter Adept rolled her eyes. "So, guardian of…water. As…a…is that 'reward'? Guess so. So as a reward…you…are…entrusted…with…the…treasure…the…spirit…of…water…" Karis paused. She looked at Matthew, then back at the book. She grinned. "You're not going to like this."
Matthew looked at her. "Why?"
"Cause it appears that the 'treasure', is none other than the summon 'Azul', you were so keen on finding."
Amiti winced. "That hurts. I don't want to be you."
Matthew glared at him. "That wasn't needed." He walked briskly towards the tablet, and placed his hand on it.
The tablet glowed, and began to spiral around the group. It broke into several beams, each one entering the Adepts' bodies.
When it disappeared, the group remained silent for a moment.
Someone coughed. Everyone turned to see Kraden waiting patiently for them. "I must congratulate all of you. That was very well fought. You've done as well as your parents." He said.
Rief looked at the Adepts, then back at Kraden. "Well, for some reason the Kaocho generals managed to figure out Azul's location. I must admit I'm impressed. How do you think they did that?"
Kraden spent several moments thinking. "I'm not too sure, but I have a theory. But first things first: we must get back to the ship. This place remains unsafe, even if the Star Magician is defeated."
And there you have it! Yeah, ever since I've met Amiti in the game, I wasn't too fond of him, but I'm too much of a nice guy to make him just plain mean. So I gave him a role that puts him in a very neutral position with Everyone, except Rief (who he cares dearly about) and Karis (who he is trying to, and failing miserably, to seduce.) He's in this rivalry with Matthew, and there's a bit of tension in between the two. Matthew cause he's the leader and Karis's boyfriend, whereas Amiti is a young Prince who has an ego he wants to stick to.
If you guys have any questions, just PM me, or review!