"Chaz. Who's that behind you? What trash-talk!"
Jason's clone, behind Chaz and Liam, gave a furious grunt.
"Who are YOU?!" the other Jason boomed loudly.
"I'm Jason, obviously! You're just some impostor, trying to steal my friends away from me!" the one from the steps said calmly, yet still raising his voice at the same time so he could get the message across. He began taking one step at a time, slowly going down the stone steps towards them. "And also..." he added. "...There's certainly something very funny about him... Oh! That's right, he doesn't have my vest!"
The Jason on the steps clarified his point by stretching out the black vest he wore; Liam and Chaz had known that he had always kept it open, wearing it almost every day. Chaz had suddenly remembered that the Jason that had came bustling out of the town hall had indeed not had a vest on. The second Jason stepped forward, scurrying Liam to the side.
"You stole it!" he growled viciously, eyes flaring.
"I stole nothing. You need to work harder on your disguises, my friend!" the other said, relaxed, as he reached the bottom of the steps, setting the cat down. He gave it a shove away with his foot. "Chaz - Liam... Look close at me. Can't you tell that he's a phony?! I've been going to lessons with you and Dragos for years and you don't truly know who's real?"
"Guys!" the Jason in front of Chaz and Liam, now, whispered nervously, sounding irritated nonetheless. "He's the fake! He stole my blood and turned into me!"
"Listen to this tall tale!" the Jason who had reached the bottom of the steps commented, stepping forward. Chaz and Liam had to hold the Jason who stood in front of them back from unleashing onto him. "If I were you, I'd just go back the way you came, and I won't hurt you!"
Jason's double had begun to kick out at his smiling duplicate, Chaz and Liam still restraining him.
"Jason! Stop! We aren't letting anyone hurt anyone until we find out what's going on!" huffed Liam, working hard in holding the large Jason back.
"...get my hands on him..." Jason mumbled, settling down, stopping.
"What's with that cat, Jason?" Chaz said, looking at the black cat, who had begun to circle the other Jason who had been looking right at them.
"He - won't stop following me!"
The cat had sat down again, staring up at him with an unsettling look. The Jason in front of Chaz and Liam had taken a sigh.
"Whatever you're trying to do, it isn't going to work on them!" he declared. "And what's that - the bottle you stole my blood in?!"
He had indicated the small, empty bottle hanging around the twin's waist.
"Was filled with whiskey," the other Jason lightly stated. "As I've told Chaz and Liam."
"Ha! Whiskey! Listen to this, you guys, he's duped you better than a con-man! That bottle was some kind of sleazy potion he used to change into me!"
"This idiot thinks he has you assured, doesn't he, guys?" replied the other, closing his eyes and shaking his head with the slightest smirk.
"You - you bastard...!"
The Jason in front of Liam had lunged himself forward, Chaz missing his grip on him. Chaz had stepped back with a look of shock, Liam mimicking him, perhaps both of them thinking the same thing: maybe the Jason who had been real should fight his own personal battles.
One Jason had become locked into a grapple with the other, each of them trying to overpower the other; eventually, it seemed, the Jason who had came down the stairs previously had stomped onto his twin's foot. An instant later, he had drawn back his arm and gave a punch. Two punches. Three punches, all to the face, stumbling the other. As Liam called out senseless protests, the two Jasons continued their battle. The vest-less Jason had been tackled suddenly, but somehow managed to reverse the other, pinning him down and striking his clone in the same spot, the difference being that this Jason had brutally struck the other more times, ragefully.
"You - like - this?!" he had shouted as he gave his opponent a thrashing. The Jason on the ground had held up a paw and stopped him, pulling a very dirty move; he had bitten the other, scooting himself back as the vest-less Jason had drew his paw back with a grimace, yelling out in pain. The Jason who donned the vest had rushed towards the temple stairs, Chaz noticing something odd about him at that moment. Had his hair just gotten longer, twisting into an orange, straight, fine length? And why did it seem like his shape had grown out of proportion, thinning somewhat around the legs, straightening up as he grew slightly taller? A white glow had covered him as he rushed up, Chaz now realizing that this was in fact the fake, as the real Jason gave chase; the impostor reaching the top and dashing into the complex.
Chaz had almost followed when the cat, too, seemed to be forming into a twisted heap as it stretched out on the ground, growing bigger and more thick until eventually it had stunningly turned into a dwarfish man.
Underdeveloped and troublemaking as he looked, his craggy, cleanly shaved face had been formed into a scared expression as he stared at the other two Lucarios in front of him. His clothes were that of seemingly neglect, reminding Chaz of Manny Gross, the biggest bully in Elbery.
"Ge'back, you two, or I'll haf'ta teach 'ya lesson!" he demanded, pulling out a green-tipped knife. Chaz didn't like the look of the green tip. It could only be poison, sickeningly dripping off the edge.
"What's going on?!" Liam shouted at him. The little man chuckled, flicking his chestnut, coiffured hair to the side.
"I'll give 'ya to the count of fr'ee. A'right?" he squawked. Chaz looked back up at the complex, where he could see nothing. Jason had to be fighting the true face of his impostor inside.
"One," he started. Liam drew his wand, and Chaz his sword.
"Ooh! Look'y likes we've got a fight on 'er hands a'ready! I love that!" the dwarfish man said, swishing his knife at the two of him, swiftly dodging a swing of Chaz's sword, rolling on the ground towards Liam, who had hopped back.
"Do some kind of magic trick like you did in Lan Briar!" Chaz shouted to Liam, chasing the short man all around, who had dodged many of his attacks due to his size, promptly swinging his dangerous knife right at Chaz again.
Liam shot a magic bolt at him before long; the dwarf incredibly cartwheeling out of the way.
"Wha' 'wuz that? An attack?" he called jovially and sarcastically, running towards Chaz again, knife raised. Chaz and he had become locked by the weapon, the knife becoming more and more of a danger as the dwarf tried to punch Chaz in his gut, succeeding, slashing the dagger at him only a hair too late. Hopping back to his feet, the dwarf had engaged the sword-wielding Lucario in a circling staredown. Liam, meanwhile, was unsuccessfully trying his hand at a large spell he could hardly remember, sending sparks the little man's way, trying to remember a spell that could be useful towards this man.
"So, 'yer name's Chaz, is it?! What horrible taste 'yer parents had!" he taunted as he faked a lunge at Chaz, who backed away in fear of getting slashed by the poison knife.
"What's your name - 'worthless henchman'?" Chaz angrily replied, pointing his sword right at the man, who stopped.
"Me name's nun'yer damn business!"
He ducked around, sliding through Chaz's legs; Chaz had been too slow for him this time...
"...Chaz!" Liam shouted, horrified as the small man had triumphed in slicing Chaz terribly on the arm in no time.
Chaz had held his arm in utmost pain, the wound soon sizzling and oozing.
"Heh heh heh heh!" the little man gleefully cackled. "I ain't a guy 'ter play nice! Fancy that!"
He let out another laugh as Chaz kneel to the ground, sticking his sword deep into the earth, feeling somewhat woozy in no time. "God!" Chaz wailed as the burning hot injury had increased in pain with every passing few seconds. Liam rushed over to him.
"Chaz... Please... Hold on..." he trembled.
The dwarfish man wasn't finished. "I've got plenty 'o time 'ter kill, lad," he chortled. "Take 'yer time in dyin'. That there's pure Poison Lavender sap, mixed wit' a little snake venom. 'Me own concoction... On'y a good potion maker or a real skilled wiz' can cure that. And 'yer don' look like eif'er of 'em."
"No!" Liam screamed towards the short man. "How could you do this?!"
Chaz had began to feverishly lay onto the ground, closing his eyes, breathing very hard.
"Chaz... You're going to live... I promise you..." the scared muttering of Liam had been somewhat distant. There was ringing in Chaz's head.
"And 'yer next, lad. 'Yer stupid magicians a'ways handlin' life with magic, eh? Handle this!"
Chaz tried to raise himself up, but he couldn't. His entire body had begun to burn. He had to save Liam. He had to save Jason... This couldn't be the end... Chaz could hear Liam trying to get away from the man. A sound could be heard as the little man shrieked wildly. A few pairs of legs had stomped on the grass around him, also hearing quite a lovely sound as his vision began to blur even more so. Liam was yelling.
Someone else had yelled something afterward. He knew that voice... His brain had even gone foggy... But his vision had started to focus itself, and his brain had become more and more unclogged. He blinked in the sunlight, breathing heavily as the burning ebbed away ever so slightly until there had been none at all. Chaz saw a pair of blue, wonderfully vivid eyes above him.
"Muh... Mr. Dragos?!" Chaz shouted, bringing his chin strip and wrinkled face into view.
Dragos nodded slightly, smiling. "I was just in time Chaz, and a good thing it was that I decided to teleport myself here to see if you had arrived safely. You are safe now... I have cast an anti-poison spell on you. I must thoroughly teach Liam this some day."
He offered Chaz a hand, who took it, shaking, standing up to his feet. Liam was standing there, looking very relieved.
"Dragos... That little man..." Chaz began, but Dragos held a hand up.
"...He won't be a problem for you. Though I wish I hadn't have done it quite like this. He is a very bright fellow. Used to know him back in his prime..."
He turned in the direction that Chaz had looked in before he had been shown; the small man had been knocked out cold, laying on the grass.
"You know him, Mr. Dragos?" Chaz asked.
"He had formerly been my student. Years and years ago... Before you were even born, I believe. His name, I must say, is Oscar Adasi Lundi."
"What?!" Liam exclaimed softly. "He was taught by you?"
"He was the black cat that had been coming in!" revealed Chaz. Dragos's eyes widened.
"Is that so? What a brilliant fellow he is - I mistook him for a genuine cat. But it just goes to show, even the best of us are wrong at times," Dragos said formally, as if he had implanted a life lessons guide in his brain.
The three of them looked at the form of the Oscar Lundi. Liam had glanced up to the entrance to the complex as Chaz had voiced what he had been about to say. "Come on, we have to save Jason!"
Chaz rushing to the stairs, dashing up them quickly. He had reached the top soon enough, coming to a halt as a long hall met his eye. Beyond the hall, from this distance, seemed to just be another large room at the end. Not waiting on Dragos or Liam to follow suit, he had run along the passage, where he heard a voice issuing as he grew nearer.
"...I probably should have taken that Chaz... He has the key on him, doesn't he-" a soured, man's shouts came.
"Shove it, you creep! Chaz and Liam are going to stop you!" Jason's reply came like a sword's stab. Chaz peered inside of the magnificently decorated room, at least, back in the days of old this could be described as "decorated". The symbols on the wall had been meaningful in the days of old, however, they were barely comprehensible today. Chaz had continued along the steadily darkening room as the two of them had come into view. Chaz heard Dragos and Liam rushing along the passageway behind him. There seemed to be a stone doorway that was strongly shut near where Jason and his enemy were. Could the key be used there?
Jason, himself, had been constricted to a large statue by some strange, black, smoky thread. The man had been pointing his powerful-looking, dark sword he had somehow gotten after he had transformed into his human self. Hearing Chaz come up behind him, the man revolved on the spot, knowing exactly what to say as if he had eyes on the back of his head.
"Ah! Speak of the devil, I tell you." the man said, illuminating his face as he stepped forward, into the torchlight. He had looked professionally intimidating; he had a dark circle under his left, mean-looking brown eye. The other eye had been obscured by an eyepatch, a scar running behind it. His vividly orange hair had been well groomed back, tied tight into a ponytail, matching his stubble almost perfectly. Wearing black armor that was apparently the same color as his heart, the very same armor that he had somehow concealed in his "Jason" disguise, a white symbol of an organization that reeked of bad news to Chaz stood out.
Liam and Dragos had appeared, the latter wheezing, out of breath. The evil man snickered.
"Still alive, are you, Dragos? I would've thought you'd have withered away like a vegetable..." he said, hair dangling slightly from behind his shoulder, swaying out.
"Now, now, there. I will have you know that oldness doesn't point to weakness..." Dragos calmly stated aloud.
"Who are you, anyway?" a perplexed Liam asked to the man. "Are you here to hunt the treasures or something?"
"I..." the black knight said, holding his head up high. "...am Sir Knave. I am very pleased to meet you as my true self, and not playing pretend as this furbag." he finished, referring to Jason. Chaz narrowed his eyes, taking a step forward.
"What'd you call him?"
Knave didn't look pleased at all, Chaz thought. The knight more or less looked annoyed, as if they all were flies he was going to play with before he swatted them.
"Why'd you pretend to be him, anyway?!" exclaimed Liam, putting his foot down.
"Where to start, where to start..." Knave questioned to himself. "...I had been informed on these relics by a source - that I won't tell you about..." he stuck in, for he had read Chaz's mind when he was about to ask who.
"...Turning into Jason was an easy feat - I happen to be a masterful potion brewer. Only someone with a knack for this kind of thing can do it right. The ones who have messed up have ended up melting themselves away. Dangerous, it is..."
Chaz had a nasty mental image by that point of himself melting away after drinking a potion of that caliper.
"...Jason was already off. For I had knew he was a student of yours, Dragos, I had kidnapped him, confined him to a cellar of my private knowledge, and..." Knave put on a face of relish, making Jason look sick. "...Forced the information I needed out of him."
Liam gasped. "What did you do to him?!"
"That, I shall keep private." said Knave, defiantly.
The trio of heroes had looked at Jason, who now looked ill, not wishing to even tell them what had gone underway.
"I did, however, inform Oscar, my servant, to remain in Elbery, which he failed to even accomplish, resulting in his punishment..."
Chaz recalled the cat-kicking once again. And the shouting.
"...Yeah, after I knocked his head! Ran away with his tail between his legs!" Jason bellowed. Knave looked displeased, spun around, and clutched Jason's throat. Chaz, Liam and Dragos had simultaneously raised their respective weapons at that moment, all pointing at him. Sir Knave had noticed, for he had released a cursing Jason, turning around again. The three lowered their weapons.
"It is a shame that my servant couldn't join us, however. Did a job on him, haven't you?" Knave asked, trying to swerve around his actions.
"Mad dogs must be put down." said Dragos. "If I remember correctly, half of the time you are abusing Oscar senseless."
"But you forgot, old man, that he serves me well! And no matter how much I want to peel his skin and roast it, he's still loyal to me, and I can't have you disrespecting me like that." Knave hissed his last words dangerously.
"Old man I might be, wiser I must be."
Chaz respect for Dragos rose even more, smiling. He was keeping calm in the face of this malicious villain. Knave had suddenly looked stern.
"But now, we must speak of my business at the current moment."
"Speak it, already!" sassed Chaz, interjecting him. Sir Knave had gripped his hands together.
"I'll ask politely, the first time, my dear, dear Chaz," he said, narrowing his eyes as his lips formed another smile that Chaz sincerely wanted to beat off of him. "Hand the key over."
"Not even a 'please', Sir Knave?" Chaz mouthed, narrowing his eyes right back in steadily growing anger. Liam tried to get a grip on things.
"Be careful, Chaz... He might hurt you..."
Sir Knave nodded towards Liam, as if he had been right. "Quite a smart one, you are. Still, I must say, you are a filthy, wasteful animal, being used by Dragos. Are you rewarded for all the time spent in the company of this feeble, withered-up fool?"
Liam looked aghast, gritting his teeth. "You're a cold hearted wretch! How dare you talk about-"
Dragos had then made himself prominent. "Insult me, I shall let go. Insult my students, however, and a problem will arise."
Sir Knave had gained a smile in a very short time; a rude, cocky smile that told Chaz that he was about to get serious.
"Or what, I might ask?"
Dragos raised his wand again, calmly. "I shall have to make you rue the day you underestimated me. Time and time again."
"Hildebrandt Dragos, the famous teacher. The famous spellcaster. The famous former swordsman, archer... OLD MAN." Sir Knave had put a lot of emphasis on his last phrase.
"I will ask you to evacuate the area." answered Dragos boldly.
"...I shall do no such thing until the key is in my hands and I am through the door." Knave had gotten in Dragos's face. "So - make me!"
You're about to be handled, Chaz thought happily. This would be over in a flash... Dragos stepped back with a sigh, raising his wand...
...Chaz had found that was only half right. It was indeed, over in a flash, ending in a shocked yell of terror from the three Lucarios as their teacher flew backward; his spell had ricocheted off of Knave's shield he had brought upward in half of a second, rebounding it right back into its caster, who crashed to the floor without moving.
"Dragos!" Liam, Jason, and Chaz shouted in chorus. Liam rushed over to him, Chaz tagging along, inhaling deeply, becoming more and more furious at this evil knight. Looking up from Dragos's unconscious body and back to Knave, he had charged forward, as he was still holding his deceased uncle's sword.
"Chaz! Be careful! That sword is infused with magic!" Jason yelled, still constricted.
Knave had raised his sword lazily, striking it against Chaz's as they began to duel. The knight's swordsmanship was truly deadly, Chaz thought as they had struck swords more than once, stabbing the air back and forth, Chaz eventually hitting his enemy's shield hard. Having no shield yet, Chaz hopped back and tried his best to confuse Sir Knave as he dodged two hearty swings with much finesse.
"Hand over that key, and I shall let you walk out still alive," grunted Knave, engaged completely in combat with Chaz.
"No!" Chaz yelled, refusing to allow that to happen. He had avoided yet another swing, catching it with his own sword.
"Ah, look who's arrived! They shall see to it that I am assisted in - getting into the door!" said Sir Knave, happily, hardly breaking a sweat. Chaz had looked back to the entrance to the room as seven or more completely armored black knights from head to toe, all bearing the same insignia on their chest, had approached; Liam was failing to hit any of them with the spells he cast due to their armor. Each was carrying a different weapon; one even held a crossbow.
Chaz couldn't imagine how much worse it could get; he had then devised a plan that would trick Sir Knave into releasing Jason from his bonds. Trying to make him cut the magical cords, Chaz had succeeded shortly after, to the displeasure of his enemy, who had swiped downward in one thrust, severing them as he tried to end Chaz. Jason ran out, Sir Knave looking at him, and then to Chaz, finally deciding that Chaz was bigger priority as Jason went to assist Liam, who had been cowering away from some of the foolhardy black knights.
Knave and Chaz clashed swords again. In the distance, he could see that Jason had succeeded in disarming and dispatching one of the warriors with a combination of unarmed attacks, impressively, stealing the battleaxe that he had been wielding, holding it out to the ones that had started to come for him.
Chaz had increased the grip on his sword, holding it against Knave's with a burning passion of hatred towards this man. Sir Knave began to curl his lip, shoving his iron foot into Chaz's midsection, thrusting him backward and swinging again, only to clash once more as they had a battle of strength. Knave's sword gave off a dazzling blue color as Chaz held on with all his might, also somehow concentrating on the battle that had unfolded between Knave's soldiers and his friends.
Liam had jumped his highest and quickly lifted a visor on the only dark knight that was coming for him, as most of the rest had begun to corner Jason, and unmistakably cast something on him. Liam's victim had wobbled and looked as if he were about to fall asleep on his feet, neck and shoulders drooping, Liam shoving into the warrior as he fell with a loud clang. He backed away shyly, tucking his wand away. Jason had started to take on the larger group by himself, hopping over Dragos's knocked out form as he dodged one of the archer's arrows.
Chaz felt as if his arms would fall off as he kept holding off Sir Knave, backing up and beginning to feel overpowered by Knave as he began to fancily sway his sword into Chaz's. This had been his first true duel with an adversary, and he hadn't messed up yet...
...Sir Knave had been terribly good at this. Too good, Chaz hopelessly thought as he pressed on, seeing the other battle in his peripheral vision as it too, raged on.
Liam had, soon, rushed upward and tapped Chaz's sword a few times; it became embedded with a flaming augment. Knave leaped back, scared.
"It won't last long, Chaz!" Liam called as an arrow came flying from behind him, striking his hat off of his head and pinning it to the opposite wall. The archer had then been caught from behind by an axe swing from Jason, knocking him to all fours as Jason kicked him over onto his back before delivering a final blow.
"So?! What's this?!" Knave shouted, as Liam had retrieved his hat quickly, rushing back to the battle with Knave's henchmen.
Chaz could tell Knave was afraid as he swiped the fiery sword towards the black knight, small flames raging outward. He pushed him all the way back, slashing the flaming weapon at Knave's midsection, which he had been too slow to block, backing away more as his fear of the fire had impaired his defense skills. Sir Knave had began to clash swords with Chaz several times yet again, but as the fire had reached the front of his face he had dashed away once more.
"Scared, Knave?!" Chaz shouted. From what he could see from behind him, Jason had already incapacitated and slain several of Knave's lackeys, with Liam's victim of the sleeping spell still sleeping soundly on the floor. Knave backed away, towards the exit.
"Where are YOU going?!" Jason shouted at him, holding up his newly acquired battleaxe.
Knave held his magic sword up, somehow transforming it into some kind of sharp, scary looking sword-whip as he lashed it at Chaz's ankles, who had not been far away at that point, tripping him up, the fall making his sword fly out of his reach as Knave had began to strangle him, the metal pieces wrapping around his throat, though not cutting in to it.
"Liam - cah... catch Knave's cloak on fire!" Chaz coughed, the other remaining knights dueling Jason as much as he could see.
Knave had been completely scared of out his wits from this statement. Chaz smiled triumphantly as he was released. Sir Knave's biggest phobia was most definitely fire. In seconds, Liam had sent out a small fireball that had chased Knave out of the complex before going out a little ways down the hall. Sir Knave, however, had kept running, drawing something from his side and holding his arms out, talking loudly to seemingly himself once more as he had done in the Jason disguise.
The two black knights remaining looked at each other, not sure what to do.
"Come on!" Chaz coaxed, spreading his stance and picking up his sword from the ground.
Jason had started to come at them again from behind, as Chaz had rushed in to the front. The two knights hurried away after their commander; Jason laughing in victory, and lowered the battleaxe, starting to speak.
"Oh, man, I am so on-edge! I haven't had a good fight like that in my life!"
"I'm glad that we're all together now, guys." Chaz admitted.
"We're a team-" Liam started, smiling.
"That's right. And nothing's going to change that... not some silly bad guy in my skin, or his reject army." finished Jason, holding the axe over his shoulder.
"Did you get your vest back?" Chaz asked out of the blue, staring at the vest.
"I did! That smelly villain may have dirtied it up, though..."
Chaz sheathed his sword, looking around at all of the bodies on the floor, catching Dragos, remembering that he was out cold. Walking over to Dragos, stepping on and over one of the defeated black knights in the process, Chaz leaned over his teacher with a feeling of guilt that he had been the one to want to come here in the first place.
"...Are you quite all right, my students? Nice fight, by the way."
Jason and Liam had approached Dragos with dumbstruck faces, though not as prominent as Chaz's, who had lost his feelings of sympathy.
"Dragos!" said Chaz in a tone as if he were scolding a toddler. "Were you laying there on purpose?"
"Things didn't get too out of hand, I hope?" chuckled Dragos, standing back up to his feet and then ruffling Chaz's hair. Chaz slicked his hair back down.
"But - I thought - you were knocked out, sir!" stammered Liam.
"I wanted to see what you could do without me. Though I saw very little from you and Jason, I must say that your skills are definitely making me proud that I had taken you under my wing."
"But, what about me, fighting Sir Knave?"
Chaz felt very alienated after he had done a great job dealing with a skilled warrior who was over one fourth his size, with no audience to rely upon. Nobody to tell him how greatly he held off the leader of all the enemies Liam and Jason were dealing with. The worst one of them he had to take care of, and nobody saw the battle.
Dragos looked at Chaz. "You as well. I am terribly sorry. I didn't even get to see one bit of action between you and Knave. I daresay you dueled that cad into submission, though!"
"I saw it a bit of it." Liam assured him as put his arm around Chaz, who instantly felt warmer. "You did a great job and I think that guy will think twice about round two."
"I was busy taking care of the others, for the most part, but your swordwork was fantastic, Chaz." said Jason kindly. Chaz smiled and hung his head.
"Meanwhile, that key is quite possibly needed," Dragos urged, striding towards the sealed door. "Perhaps it goes deeper into the complex."
Chaz lifted his head up, sticking his hand into the pouch he carried, once again fumbling around for the key as he did in Lan Briar to show to Knave, who he had thought was the real Jason. He drew it out with a breath, handing it to Dragos, who began to approach the door.
"This is it, my students... Stand back, now, Liam," he called behind him, as Liam had been approaching with him. Liam stepped back.
Dragos inserted the key into the door, which had started to glow in a blinding light, making the four of them shield their eyes. From the little vision that Chaz had, he could see that the door had practically eaten the key, sucking it inside, strangely. The glowing had stopped and the complex had started to rumble. Chaz put away his sword, feeling his eyes themselves tremble.
"Woah!" cried Liam, stumbling ever so lightly as the stone door had started to rise. A very dark passage had been inside; Dragos issued a shining a beam of pure light from his wand that traveled in a ray down the hall as the group ventured in. There had been many cobwebs hanging limply, Chaz himself walking into one of them and angrily wiping it off.
"This is just the neatest place," Jason declared quietly. "Those ancient people must have been outstanding in architecture."
"You have a right mind in thinking so," Dragos said, still shining his ray of light down the ever-continuing passage as the group traveled. "King Jaspanium was indeed a king that deserved a structure such as this. The ones he ruled over simply adored him for his kindness, fairness, and wit. It was quite rare to see such a kind king in his days-"
"Look!" Liam exclaimed, pointing inside. Dragos's wandlight had shone upon a golden tomb. Worn as it was, there had been writing directly above it; writing that was in a language that Chaz couldn't understand. Jason and Liam were undoubtedly as confused as he was.
"What does it say?" asked Chaz aloud to himself, hoping for an answer.
"Lost treasures found, rewarded you shall be," Dragos read, squinting through his spectacles, moving the wandlight along the wall. "Treasures of the present shall become the past in the future. Seek the treasures you may, the Eye of Prehodor shall help."
"Eye of what?" questioned Jason. Chaz had been thinking the exact same.
"This Eye of Prehodor must be an item to help the relics be found," Dragos tried to explain. A picture on the temple wall above the tomb of Jaspanium showed an eye-shaped, turquoise colored object with an eye inside of it. "This could be it." he said as he shined his light on the drawing.
"Strange." said Liam. "Looks a bit strange from here."
Chaz had come nearer, staring deeper at the eye picture. He raised his paw towards the drawing, trying to feel it. The four of them had been surprised for only the thousandth time today as Chaz's paw went right through it; he had clasped a small object that was cold to the touch and felt like smooth, crystallized stone. Pulling his arm back out, he had stepped away in reverse.
"There's something in there!"
Dragos's mouth, too, had been slowly opening. It soon turned into a bright and cheerful laugh as he finished what Chaz had started, pulling the object out.
"What intelligent minds!" he proclaimed. "This, you three, must be the Eye of Prehodor!"
Jason, Liam, and Chaz had gathered around Dragos's hand. A similar looking object that was quite expertly drawn on the wall matched the real thing, though the drawing had been bigger. Made of pure, sparkling jade, a small hole had been present on the back, and on the front an engraved eye was blankly staring for all eternity. Dragos lifted up the eye, staring into the hole in the back.
"Alas, this thing doesn't appear to be working correctly."
Dragos stared at the light beam on his wand though the stone, directly, winking his other eye. "Not one glimmer of light."
"Maybe it was - enchanted only see the relics." Chaz said, wisely. "It might appear dark everywhere else." Dragos thought about this for a moment.
"How incredibly curious." he murmured. Staring around the room, Chaz had been taking it all in as if he were reading a storybook. The place, indeed, was stunningly decorated for a resting place. Dragos had put an arm around Chaz, leading him out as Jason and Liam followed.
"Where are we going?"
"Elbery, Chaz. There are matters that need to be addressed to-"
Chaz had then remembered the gypsy woman, Bethany, who had been upset about her children's disappearances.
"Mr. Dragos, wait," Chaz pulled away. He had, for a few minutes, told the story of Bethany and how he had ensured her that her children would return safe and sound.
"...We have to find them, Dragos." concluded Liam for Chaz, giving a pleading gaze towards their teacher. Jason put his hands on his hips.
"I'm going with you guys. We have to help her out."
"Of course you are!" cried Liam.
"Why would we not take you?" added Chaz, slicking his hair down again.
Dragos had remained silent in all of this time, looking between them as they spoke. Chaz had re-assured him once again.
"I deeply thank you for saving me, sir," Chaz said politely, crossing his arms. "But I really think this is where the real adventure begins."
Chaz could see that Dragos had formed straight face. With a sigh, the Lucario's teacher handed him the jade eye.
"Use it wisely."
Dragos had spoken again before Chaz could mutter a "thank-you".
"I mustn't hold your paws the entire way, you three. Remember that I will be safely in Elbery, no matter where you may be. No matter what stars you are under, I shall be under them as well. And I will always - ALWAYS, be on your side."
With that, Dragos strode off, a sort of sparkle in his eye, holding up his arms as he teleported away in a flash of yellow.