Wow, another update so soon. :D I couldn't help it; I really love writing this story. XD I'm a little short on time right now, so I'll just go ahead to the review replies now.
pepperdadog: Thank you. :D And thanks for voting, too! :) Thank you; I'd been worried that it would be messed up because I wrote it while I was sick, so that's great to hear. :D Me too. XD Though as you said… Was it accident or on purpose? ;) That should be revealed fairly soon, though, and this chapter might even reveal it… There's a not-really-subtle hint in there. ;)
Inita: :) Yes, not including any minor ones (like the War Mecha Robos). I never really thought that the Jumbo Mecha Robo had been truly defeated, and that's part of why I brought him in here again. You're welcome. :D Alright; thank you. :) And you're welcome again. :) Really? Glad to hear it. :D That's good; I always do my best to check it, but sometimes things slip… Oh… *blushes* Thanks. :D No, definitely not good… I hope so, too… She should find him soon, though. :) Maybe even very soon… ;) (Kluke: Oh, he is definitely going to be hearing from me! …Jiro first, though. *smiles sheepishly*) I think Kluke is more confident than I am about how that scene will come out… But I haven't even written it yet, so maybe it'll be better than I think. :)
Okay; review replies are done! :D There isn't really much to say… Nothing's really changed since the last time I updated. And I don't have lot of time anyway, so… Read on and (hopefully) enjoy! :D
Zola sighed, leaning back against the rocky wall behind her.
Earlier... That had been far too close.
"Lady Zola, look!" Marumaro pointed to the ground beside her feet.
There was a split in the rocky terrain... which seemed to be moving apart.
What now? Zola thought grimly, taking an instinctive step backwards. It seemed likely that it was just another part of this Mecha Robo ambush.
And when a two-pronged hand rose out of the hole, it had seemed even more likely...
But then she saw the rest of the Mecha Robo.
Marumaro almost leapt out of her arms in his happiness. "Yasato!"
"Quickly! Lady Zola, Master Marumaro, you must follow me, before it is too late!"
"We can't leave," Zola stood her ground. "Nene has taken Shu, Jiro and Kluke-"
"I know!" Yasato cut in. "But we cannot stay here much longer! If we do, they will overtake us, and then there will be no one to rescue Master Shu and the others! Please," he outstretched his hand. "We must leave now!"
Zola closed her eyes tightly, then opened them again, holding onto Yasato and letting him pull her and Marumaro out of harm's way.
That had been several hours ago now.
"Lady Zola..." Marumaro sat next to her on the rock. "Do you think Shu and the others are okay?"
She was silent for a moment, then reached out and placed a hand on his head. "I don't know, Marumaro." I hope they are.
I think I'm lost. This was not the first time Kluke had thought this, and somehow, she doubted it would be the last.
Then again, it was hard to tell where you were when everything looked the same.
The only thing that looked different was the door she had initially come out of, being a slightly different shade than the other few that she passed.
It wasn't getting her down, though. Not after she'd made such a wonderful discovery.
She still had her Shadow.
She just didn't know why. If Nene hadn't taken them to steal their Shadows again, what could he possibly gain from this?...
Kluke shook her head. She'd figure it out later.
She stopped as something caught her eye. That door over there... It was a different color than the others...
Quickly running towards it, she paused with her hand on the handle. The reason this door looked different could mean that there was something dangerous behind it...
But she tightened her slackening grip. She was more than capable of handling whatever Nene had to throw at her. Right?
With that, she opened it.
Silence had reigned for the most part, until Yasato reappeared. He had urged them to follow him down the rock tunnel, which was what they were doing now.
"Yasato," Zola spoke. "You seem to know an awful lot about everything that's going on."
"I had heard Lord Nene's plans before I made my escape with the other Servant Mecha Robos," he explained. "I was hoping that I would be able to find you in time, but it seems that I was too late."
"Hey, Yasato," Marumaro piped up. "What is this place anyway?"
"This is an old tunnel network that the Ancients used during their war. They would use it to either safely transport supplies, or to sneak up on the enemy."
"Such a war-worn world..." Zola murmured, mostly to herself. Louder, she said, "Yasato, do you know where Nene took our friends?"
"I do, but..."
"But what?" Zola prompted.
"It's very dangerous."
"That doesn't matter, though!" Marumaro hopped slightly. "We still gotta save them!"
Yasato made a sound like a sigh. "Yes... Yes, you're right." He stopped and turned towards them. "In that case, I suppose I should tell you about it..."
The room was pitch black. She had thought the room she'd awoken in had been dark, but this... It made her feel fortunate.
"There's no way I can search it without light, so..." She raised her hand above her head, palm up, then closed her eyes. She drew on the magic's power, only enough for what she needed; it was so small an amount that it couldn't even really be called a spell. She opened her eyes again just as the small flame appeared in the center of her hand. She brought it close to herself, having no fear in doing so - while it could be dangerous to someone else, the fire was incapable of harming her.
She brought the fire into the room; light leapt across the floor and up the walls.
When she looked to the center of the room, the flame almost went out, flickering as control over the magic slipped in her sudden shock.
Lying on the floor, very still, was Shu.
"How are we gonna fight that? !" Marumaro waved his fists in the air.
"He makes a very good point," Zola leaned back against the wall, arms folded. "Essentially, we're two people facing in army. Three counting you, Yasato, but you're not a Mecha Robo suited for combat. I wouldn't ask you to risk your life like that."
"But..." Yasato started.
"Yeah, Yasato!" Marumaro joined in. "Maro doesn't want you to get hurt, either!"
"Wait." Zola bolted forward suddenly, the idea hitting her suddenly. "Yasato, can you get us to the mechat?"
"Shu!" With a little scream, she threw herself down next to him, grabbing immediately for his wrist, flooded with relief when she found a pulse right away.
"Shu..." Much more quietly, she murmured his name over and over again, brushing her hands over his shirt, shoulder, face. He's alive... Oh, thank God, he's alive... She didn't really know what she would do if he had joined her parents so prematurely.
She could hardly stand him not moving like this. He looked so fragile... It was hard to imagine with how much stronger he was nowadays, but when he'd been very young, he had been relatively frail...
Being asleep now, it was even more reminiscent of his childhood; his face was that picture of innocence that almost everyone seemed to take on when they slept.
She fisted his shirt in her hand, the movement almost involuntary in the sudden flash of anger she felt. If Nene had harmed him, or Jiro, she wouldn't rest until she made him pay.
A soft moan brought her back to the present. She looked down just as Shu's eyes fluttered open.
"Kluke..." Her name was a single breath out, filled with surprise and relief.
Tears stinging her eyes, she hauled him up into a hug, burying her head between his neck and shoulder. "Shu..."
After a few moments, they eventually pulled apart. He looked up into her eyes, searching. "Kluke... Are you alright?"
"I'll be okay," she nodded. "What about you?"
"I don't know..." He moved his arms around a little, wincing. "I think I might've broken something. Maybe a rib."
"You'd be doing a lot worse if you'd broken a rib," even as she said it, she had started checking him. "Does it hurt when you breathe?"
"Just a little." He flushed slightly when she started prodding him. "Mostly, everything just hurts really bad... And I'm kinda dizzy..." As if to further emphasize it, he put a hand to his head. "Okay, maybe really dizzy..."
She dropped her hands. "Well... It doesn't feel like it's broken. Could be a fracture, I guess..." Kluke shook her head. "What happened to you, anyway?"
"I was holding onto that dumb Mecha Robo, and then it kicked out its foot so it would toss me into the mountainside..." Suddenly, he took in a quick breath, eyes snapping open. "Jiro! Kluke, what happened to Jiro?" He looked around the room quickly.
"I've been looking for him, but I haven't found him yet. I was hoping he might be in here, actually..." She looked down. "I was hoping that I wouldn't find you at all, because that would've meant that you'd gotten away, but..."
"No way was I going to run!" Shu glared at her. "Not when Nene was going to take both of you to who knows where!" He reached out, laying his hand over hers. "I can't lose you guys... Either of you... I'd never be able to live with myself."
Kluke swallowed past a lump in her throat. "Shu..."
His hand retreated back to his side. "Come on, Kluke, we should get out of here. I want to find Jiro and make sure he's okay."
"You're right," she stood, then brushed down her skirt before offering him a hand up. "Here."
"Thanks." He took it and pulled himself upright; as soon as he stood on his feet, he grimaced. "Oh, that hurts..."
"Shu, you should use some White Magic; it should take away at least some of the pain. I mean, I'd use it, but yours is much stronger-"
"Wow, wait; hang on a second." Shu held up a hand, looking at her incredulously. "We still have our Shadows?"
She nodded. "I don't know why, but we do."
"But..." His eyebrows furrowed. "What does Nene want with us then? Sure, he wants to pretty much destroy us, but why go through all the trouble of capturing us when he could just send some powerful Mecha Robo or fight us himself?"
"I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out since I woke up. We should figure it out later, though," Kluke took a step towards the doorway. "I'm worried about Jiro, too."
"Alright. Hang on." He summoned his Shadow; the Dragon roared upon appearing before healing Shu. After the Shadow had unsummoned, he gave a quick nod towards Kluke. "Let's go."
"Lady Zola, I'm not sure this is such a good idea-"
"Lady Zola came up with it, so it's gotta be a good idea!" Marumaro interrupted Yasato.
"Come on, Marumaro," she took him by the hand, pulling him towards the tunnel exit. Her eyes fell on the Mecha Robo behind them. "Thank you, Yasato, for helping us. I don't think we would have made it out otherwise."
"I was glad to be of service," Yasato inclined his head slightly. "Please be careful. And please... Please rescue Master Shu and his friends."
"We will. And you be careful, too." She looked down at her smaller companion. "Let's go, Marumaro!"
"Gotcha!" Marumaro raised a finger above his head.
With that, the two of them ran out of the tunnel and into the sunlight. Marumaro stopped to wave at Yasato, who returned it, before following after Zola again, their destination being the overturned mechat.
"I hate this place." Shu groaned.
Kluke tried to ignore how her feet were hurting from walking around so much. "You and me both."
The place was practically a maze.
They had been walking for at least a half hour without finding anything that looked different. For all they knew, they were going in circles.
After a few minutes had passed with no change, something occurred to Kluke. "Hey, Shu... Do you know what happened to Zola and Marumaro?"
"Not exactly. We followed the Jumbo Mecha Robo when it took you and Jiro, but then a bunch of War Mecha Robos ambushed us. There must've been hundreds of them... Anyway, Zola and Marumaro ran, but I kept going-"
"You left them?" Kluke shot him a look, but he was keeping his gaze carefully away from her.
"Zola can handle herself just fine," Shu answered defensively. "And she wouldn't let anything happen to Marumaro. Besides, I already told you, I wasn't just going to let Nene kidnap you and Jiro without doing anything about it-"
"Shu." Kluke stopped walking, and the tone in her voice made Shu still as well. "Up ahead... Is that what I think it is?"
Shu looked at it... And then, the Ancient Hospital Ruins coming to mind, a grin blossomed across his face as he started running towards it. "Elevator doors!"
Kluke rolled her eyes at his exuberance before following after him.
Both of them stopped, startled, a few feet away from it when the doors suddenly opened.
Shu slowly looked over at Kluke. "The ones in the Hospital Ruins didn't do that... did they?"
She shook her head. "No... But maybe these are just different."
"Hey, look," he pointed to the wall to the right of the elevator doors. "There's no button, either."
Kluke forced a smile; she didn't like this one bit, but thought that she was probably just overreacting. "See? These are just different, that's all."
"Well..." Shu kicked at the ground. "If you say so, I guess."
"Yeah," she nodded, mostly to herself, before taking him by the arm and leading him towards the open doors. "I mean, it has to be better than staying in this maze of a place, right?" They passed through the doorway.
Shu brightened. "That's true-"
Both of them gasped as the doors closed behind them.
Shu turned to her anxiously. "Is that supposed to happen?"
Kluke shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea - you're the mechat expert!"
His expression turned exasperated. "A mechat isn't an elevator!"
The two of them yelped, barely catching their balance, as the elevator started moving with a harsh jerk.
Shu caught sight of a panel on the side, moving closer to get a better look. "This must show us where we're going... It's different than what was in the Ruins, but it has similarities." He turned towards her again. "I don't know how far it's going, but it looks like it's taking us up."
Kluke let out an annoyed sigh. "Well, this is just great..."
Shu smirked. "Better than the maze, right?"
Kluke only glared at him.
"Marumaro, you have to hurry!" Zola barely dodged some ammunition fired by a War Mecha Robo, quickly regaining her footing and using a Watera Sword on the same offender.
"Maro's almost got it!" Marumaro grunted with the effort, trying to push the mechat upright with Saber Tiger.
Things had been going well before - they'd almost made it to the mechat - and then the War Mecha Robos saw them. Zola had thought she would be able to hold them off better, so she'd instructed Marumaro to start pushing the ship into its correct position.
It hadn't actually been a very long time since the attack had started, but for Zola, every minute was far too long. She didn't say anything to Marumaro about it because she didn't want to worry him, but she honestly didn't know if she'd be able to keep them back. Every time she destroyed one of the robots, it seemed like there was another to take its place - meaning that their stamina would be practically unlimited, while she continued to tire with every passing moment.
There was a creaking sound, followed by a louder one, one that Zola recognized from whenever the mechat landed.
Marumaro peaked around the now-righted mechat, giving her a thumbs up. "Maro did it!"
After it had gone up about four floors, the elevator stopped, shaking just as badly as before.
Shu pushed himself off of the wall he'd used to catch himself. "I really wish it would stop doing that."
Kluke adjusted her ribbon. "Nene is probably doing it, just to goad us."
Just then, the doors slid open, and both went silent as they took in their new surroundings.
It was a hallway, curving to the right about five feet away from the elevator entrance. The floor and ceiling were made of a pale material, a cross between white and something else. The things that caught their attention, though, were the almost-floor-to-ceiling windows on either side, bathing the ground in sunlight.
"Come on, Kluke," Shu took her by the hand before she could protest. "I bet we can see where we are from here!"
They pressed their hands against the window, gazing down at the landscape below them. "It's..." Kluke started. "It's the sea..."
"There're some mountains, too," Shu gestured to them. "They look like they're covered in snow."
"Could we be near Noluta Village?" Kluke wondered.
"Maybe," Shu amended. "But there were a few areas we've been to with snow; it could be one of those, or maybe even someplace we haven't been to."
Kluke sighed. "Wherever we are, it isn't the Lal Mountains."
"We'll worry about getting back there later," Shu pulled away from the window. "First, we've gotta get out of here. And before that, we need to find Jiro."
"Right. Let's go."
The two continued down the hall, not finding much else of interest. The path continued to curve in the same direction, nothing but windows on the left or right. The view held little more than water and snowy mountaintops, so after a while, they didn't bother to look.
Eventually, they came to a door.
"Shu," she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "I... I don't why, but I have a bad feeling about going through this one."
"We've gotta go through, though," Shu shrugged. "It's not like we can go back."
"I... I guess you're right." Kluke let him go. "Sorry; go ahead."
Shu flashed a brief smile, trying to be reassuring, then reached out his hand toward the door...
It slid open before he even touched it.
"Everything is so weird in this place..." Shu muttered under his breath before going through the doorway, Kluke right beside him.
The room was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time - it looked different, but its decorations...
Bejeweled statues of angels.
Just like in the room that Nene had stolen their Shadows.
"Shu," Kluke whispered, feeling an icy chill take hold of her. "I think we should go back."
The doors closed behind them.
Shu swore colorfully under his breath. Louder, but still in a low tone, he added, "We're in for it now..."
"You have not had any challenges since I brought you here," a voice spoke, a voice they knew well, "until now."
"Until now!"
From behind a red, velvet curtain hanging on the wall, out stepped Nene, Deathroy perched on his shoulder. He had only taken a few steps, when he looked at them, an almost predatory smirk on his face.
Shu rushed in front of Kluke, taking up a defensive position. If he wants her, he has to go through me first.
Nene spoke again. "We'll just have to see how well you will do."
Deathroy pointed at them. "How well! How well!"
With that, Nene looked behind him and nodded. Shu and Kluke were perplexed only for a moment.
Someone else came out from behind the curtain, coming to stand beside Nene. Szabo.
And in his arms, with eyes shut, was Jiro.
Yes; another chapter done! :D That turned out much better than I had thought, actually… I'm still worried about parts of it, but overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it went. :) Next chapter we'll be getting to some of the scenes I've wanted to write out since the beginning, so I'm very much looking forward to writing it. ;) Anyway, if you're able to, please review. :) I'll try to update after 10 hits, but as I've been saying, the real thing that will decide the next update or upload is the poll on my profile. The poll results will be cleared, so please vote again (or for the first time) if you can! :) And… that's all that I've got to mention. See you soon! :D
