Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated (yes I know I misspelled)

by Black Fenril

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Disclaimer: Media Vision owns Wild ARMs. I don't. Well, I own the game, and I'm proud of it, too. And, I'm making my own shirt with Zed on it, so ha! (Laughs evilly) Anywho, yeah. I think Media Vision is a genius. How else could they come up with Wild ARMs? Khhk. Um, I don't own Fabio either... and I sure as Hades am GLAD that I don't. --

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Chapter 4:

Whoa... That Thing Is Freakin' HUGE!

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Cassie Roughnight is seen, her red eyes bloodshot from all the crying she's done. Looked a bit peculiar, too, when she looked like a fifteen year old boy and crying. Ahem. Anyways, yeah, she was made up as a guy.

All of a sudden, a voice sounds, loudly, "HOLY IONE PAUA! THERE'S BEEN AN ACCIDENT AT LOLITHIA'S TOMB!"

Cassie ran over to the left side of the gate of Adlehyde, out of the way, to let two men run past her, carrying another by his shoulders (well, armpits, to be exact) and his ankles. Didn't look very comfortable either.

"We must notify Professor Alan!" the injured one said.

"No!" the guy holding his ankles objected. "We must tend to the injured first; they are always are first concern."

They run off to the hospital. Cassie walks to this Professor's house. It was the ARM - upgrade place. Cassie knew exactly where to go because she had been there before, before she went to the dreaded village of Surf, to upgrade her ARM to about... I'd say 10 ATP.

Anywho, she ascends the stairs, while noticing the peculiar looking machine sitting behind the kid guarding it. Well, I wouldn't call it 'guarding' but he was there for some reason. Then, she talked to the Professor, noting that he was quite handsome, as was his assistant. But, that's not the case for right now, so just suck it up, all righty then?

Um, how about we give you his appearance?

Professor Alan was wearing a white Professor's lab coat, under it, khaki pants and a gold shirt. He had dirty blonde hair, which went down to about his shoulders. And he also had dark mysterious green eyes. Anyway, he was pretty much Professor Emma, but Alhazad style, all right?

"Whoa, what's all the commotion about?" Professor Alan asked no one in particular. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't-"

The man that was holding the injured dude by his shoulders (armpits!) ascended the stairs before Cassie could actually even get to talk to Professor Alan.

"Professor Alan! An earthquake has occured, and it unleashed monsters that were concealed in a remote place!"

Cassie turned white. Earthquake... Oh, damn it...

"All right!" Professor Alan yelled, pulling Cassie back into reality. "Gather everyone with military experience!" he commanded.

"No freakin' way! Nobody here has ever faced monsters before! You couldn't pay us enough to go in there!"

"Fine. I will do something about the monsters. You start working on the repairs. Got it?"

"All right!"

He leaves. Cassie still didn't have any blood left in her face.

"Hey? Hello? Uh, sir?" Professor Alan waved a hand in front of her face. "Can you fight?"
Blinking a couple times, Cassie replied, "Yes."

"Show me your weapon."

Cassie pulled out her Long Knife sword, and her ARM.

"That's a really nice ARM you've got there. After the excavation, I'll work on it for you. I'll also pay you 500 gella if you manage to slay the monsters in Lolithia's Tomb. You'll also get to keep anything you find in there. Unless... uh, never mind. Bring friends if you can. Do not underestimate Lolithia's Tomb."

"F- Five hundred gella?" It's not much for the job I'm about to do, but still, it's a lot better paying than my last one.

"Yup," Professor Alan replied, as he left for Lolithia's Tomb.

As Cassie left, she was muttering something about Lolithia's Tomb and 'friends'. Then she bumped into Eric Van Burace.

"Sorry," Cassie said while Eric helped her back up. She looked him over, and saw a sword sheathed at his side. "Can you fight?"

"Well, this sword ain't here just for decorative reasons," Eric replied sarcastically.

"You don't have to be rude. You see, I'm in this conundrum..."

Cassie told him the deal with Professor Alan and Lolithia's Tomb.

"Lolithia's Tomb..." Eric trailed off. "Hmm... how ironic. That's where I'm going. All right, kid. I'll go with ya. What are you addressed by?"

"...Rudy," Cassie replied.

With a hint of suspicion rolling around in his head, Eric ignored it. "All right then, Rudy. Let's go."

They walked to the gate of Adlehyde where they found Julian Adlehyde (but they didn't really know who he was) leaning against it.

Wanting to make a good impression on the two (he was going to be introduced as the prince tomorrow, so yeah), he asked them,"How are you two?"

"Fine," Eric replied.

"I'm good," Cassie also replied, as she looked him over. "You a fighter?"

"Well, I can hold my own with magic, if that's what you are inquiring," Julian said, a little irked at the gender - ambiguous boy who asked if he, of all people was a fighter. He looked the part... didn't he...?

Cassie sighed. "Yes."

"I'm Julian," he said while extending his hand out for Cassie to shake. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Cassie said as she shook his hand. "I'm Rudy."

"And I'm Eric. We're going to Lolithia's Tomb to go slay some monsters. You wanna come with?"

"Sure," Julian replied. "But let's get some better weaponry first. I'll treat."

So he led them to the weaponry shop where they got a Long Sword for Cassie, a Chrome Blade for Eric, and a Magical Rod for Julian.

Hmm... this guy looks like a gentleman. I kind of like him. I wish I could show him my real gender... Cassie thought.

"Ah... now let's go. Professor Alan is waiting!" Eric reminded her.

Cassie sighed again. "Right. Let's go."

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At Lolithia's Tomb...

"Great. Now, the three of you should be able to break the seal. Behind the door with the cool demon statue lies a... well... you'll survive. You look courageous," the professor assured them.

While blushing a little, Julian thanked her.

"I don't think I even know your threes' names yet. I'm Professor Alan Hazad. And you?"

"Rudy Roughnight," Cassie introduced herself, lying. "And this is Eric Van Burace and Julian- wait. What's your last name?"

"Uh..." Julian hesitated for a bit. "Light."

"Khhk khhk! All right. Nice to meet you," she said while Cassie and Julian winced at her horrendous chuckle.

As they were walking and blowing up those damn rocks that always get in the way, they just talked and talked and told each other about their lives. In the situation they're in, I'd call it therapy.

Then Cassie felt another cramp in her stomach. Damn it! Damned menstrual cramps... gah. Then she winced again and put her hand to her stomach.

"Hey, Rudy... are you all right?" Julian asked her. "You're wincing."

"Of course I am!" Cassie lied, not being able to control the pitch of her voice at freakin' all. "I'll live. I just got a stomach ache. That's all."

"Okay, just wondering..." Julian said, while his mind wandered other places. Then a peculiar thought came into his mind: Rudy doesn't seem like he's... a guy.

After regaining her composure, and cursing at herself for outbursting again in her mind, she asked Eric a question. "Hey, Eric? What's the mystery behind that torn up green ribbon you wear in your hair?"

"Um, one of my old girlfriends gave it to me," Eric said truthfully. "I kept it because we had a lot of awesome memories..." And half the fact because it's the only thing to remember her by...

"Er... I should stop being so nosy..." Cassie said.

Then a sprite like mouse came out of Eric's pocket.

"Hey, mousy. How are you? You haven't been out in a while." Eric greeted him.

"I've been good," Hanpan replied. Then he saw Cassie and Julian. "Uh, Eric? Who the Hades are these people?"

"Uh, mousy, I'm sorry. The kid with the hat's name is Rudy. And the kid with the long brunette hair is Julian. They're helping me with Lolithia's Tomb. Rudy, Julian, this is Hanpan. I'm used to calling him 'Mousy' so feel free to call him that, too!" Eric introduced them all.

"Yup. I'm one of the few sprites left on Filgaia. I met Eric when he was still a F-"

Realizing that Hanpan might reveal the secret that Eric wished to keep, he put a hand over the little Wind Mouse's mouth (or snout). "Sorry about him. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," Eric said with a frown on his face.

Still a little in awe, Julian asked. "A sprite? Jeez, Hanpan! Can you fly?"

"O' course I can! I am a Wind Mouse after, with MAD WIND MOUSE SKILLZ!" Hanpan said with pride.

"A very klutzy Wind Mouse who uses that Xenogears reference a bit too much, yeah," Eric corrected.

"I am NOT a klutz!" Hanpan cried with offense.

"Sorry, mousy, but it is true."

Then Cassie all of a sudden bumped into something (she was leading the pack, ya know). She looked up.

"Hey, isn't this the cool demon statue that Professor Alan was talking about?" she asked.

Eric then checks it over. "Uh, I think so." Then he notices a button on the back. "Hmm... what's this do?"
Then he pushed it.

4 of the same gold type box thingers that he had pushed in the Temple of Memory a day back appeared in front of them.

"Oh, my Guardians..." Julian gasped. "I suppose we're supposed to put these in some respective place?"

Eric then notices 4 squares in the corners of the square surrounding the statue. "Uh... let me take care of this..."

In about 30 seconds... the four boxes were pushed in place. The demon statue and the four boxes disappear and the energy from it pushes Eric to the ground. A case of stairs builds up, and after that finishes, a bridge extends to the door, which is closed. They go up to the door.

"How the Hades do we open this door?" Eric asked while raising his foot to kick it. He kicks it, but it doesn't even budge. Then he gets pissed off and starts striking at it with his sword.

"Calm down, my overstimulated friend," Julian says while pushing the very much pissed off blonde swordsman away from the door gently. "Let me handle this..."

Julian took out his Tear Drop and held it high above his head with pride and dignity..

"Y- You're the Innocent One?" Cassie asked him in disbelief.

"How did you know that? Er... rather, how long have you known that?"

"Well, only the Innocent One can wield the Tear Drop..." Cassie explained.

"Aw, well..."

The door opens. They try to go through it, but something pushes them back. Then it came out to be... Barbara Streisand? What the Hades? That's not right...

No, no, it was something much worse than that: FABIO!

"What? Who the Hades... wait... Fabio? What kind of demon is this?" Julian teased.

Fabio got pissed off and took on his more frightening form. A Magtourtous. It almost clawed Julian, and would have to, if Cassie hadn't lunged at him from his left side and knocked him over, resulting in her being on top of him (and let's just say in the appearance she's in ((being that she looks like a guy)) well, eheh... you get the picture)

"NO! You could have gotten yourself killed!" Cassie yelled in a high voice; her girl voice. This left Julian uber - confused.

DA DA! DA DA DA Da...

And so the battle begins...

Ah, whatever... I'll worry about it later...Julian thought.

Eric unsheathed his sword while yelling out "PSYCHO CRACK!". His Chrome Blade sliced through the Magtourtous slowly and painfully, causing it to scream (or grunt ...?) in pain. As the sword cracked through it, beams of light shot out from everwhere, and a high pitched 'cree' was heard. Anyways, it did about 200 HP damage to the Magtourtous.

Julian whipped out his staff (er... eheh, the weapon), and screamed out "VALKYRIE!" as the purplish black aura we all know and love surrounded him. The Spiritual Psychedelics crashed into the turtle/triceratops like demon, each hurting a little bit more than the last. Er... cool, I have an exact number this time. 546 HP damage.

The Magtourtous couldn't talk, so it let its EM Laser do the talking. And talk (or attack) it did. 3 lasers were emitted from two of the long horns (...?) coming out of its shell, and one from the long horn on its head. They made contact with the three warriors, and doing about 150 damage apiece.

"ARGH!" Eric yelled. He had gotten hit in the stomach. And the tips of his 'ponytail' was fried, also.

And the cramp was back in Cassie's stomach. She fell to her knees, clutching her stomach.

"You guys! Don't leave me hanging! Damn..."

"Psycho Crack..." Eric said weakly while unsheathing his sword again. As he jumped slowly to the Magtourtous, and brought his Chrome Blade down slowly upon it, weaker lights came out from everywhere, clearly not as bright as the last time. Eric did about 50 HP damage to the Magtourtous, confusing it.

Julian held up his Magical Rod. "Mystic..." he whispered, and he threw a Heal Berry up into the air. Said Heal Berry multiplied three times and healed all three of them 200 HP's worth.

They regained their strength, but Cassie was still at her knees, moaning softly in pain.

"Rudy! Are you sure you're all right?" Julian asked 'Rudy' as he dropped to his knees at her side.

"I can't move..." she gasped out. "The cramp... it's too great. I can't-" then she fainted.

While unsheathing his sword again... aw screw it, I'll just say Eric attacked with Psycho Crack and did about 500 HP damage. "Come on, Julian! Just forget about him for now."

"Fine..." Julian agreed while standing up. Then he looked at the Magtourtous with rage in his eyes. "You did this to him! You're going to pay like my father is going to! I HATE YOU FATHER!" A strong purplish black aura again surrounds him. "VALKYRIIIIIIIIIE!"

He again created the Spiritual Psychedelics and they crashed into the Magtourtous, killing it on contact, doing about 2500 HP damage. It deteriorated until it was no more...

He had expected this power to come up, so he didn't drop to his knees at that this time.

"Rudy!" he screamed out to the unconscious fifteen year old. He dropped to his knees at her side.

"Damn it, Julian, why do you care so much about him?"

"Well... first of all, 'he' is a 'her'," Julian said before taking off Cassie's hat gently and letting her long shiny blue fall down to the ground. "So yeah."

Eric gaped at the blue haired ARMslinger. "But... how did you know that?"

"You heard her yell. Do you not know a girls' scream from a guy's? Seriously, Eric!" Julian chided at the blonde swordsman. "Her face was just too pretty, and her legs- well, they just couldn't belong to a guy!"

After hesitating for a moment, Eric snapped, "I still don't totally believe he's a guy. And I won't until I see for myself."

Not actually clicking in his head what the Fast Draw expert meant, Julian swore, "Damn it! Whatever... I don't care," Julian said while putting Cassie's hair neatly back into her hat. Then he picked her up. "Now let's go check out what's in that next room..."

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Lolithia. The Ice Golem. It wasn't big, it was freakin' HUGE! It stood at about 50 feet or better. Wasn't really something you'd want to mess with, if I do say so myself. It had a big red eye in the middle of its face. Eheh...

"Oh, my freakin' Guardians... Mousy? Is this Lolithia?" Eric asked his little Wind Mouse companion.

"Y- yes..." Hanpan stuttered. "So this is Lolithia..."

"This is way too big! I probably couldn't even lift it! This is the 'Absolute Power'..." Eric then sighed.

"He's mad! But he is right, I probably couldn't even lift it."

"Agh... I don't have any use for this... Come on, you guys. Let's notify Professor Alan about this and get the Hades out of here..." Eric demanded.

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10 minutes pass before they get back to Professor Alan.

"Khhk! I knew there was a golem hidden deep inside this ruin! I knew I had good karma! Well, no use just sitting here! Take some of my crew with you," Alan said, while leaving for the golem.

"Wow, he sure is bossy..." Eric remarked.

"Ah, slave drivers... can't live with 'em, can definitely live without them..." Julian remarked.

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10 more minutes pass before Eric, Julian and the now unconscious Cassie in his arms stand in front of Lolithia. A couple seconds later, 4 of Professor Alan's crew members ran in behind them. Then a few seconds after that, Professor Alan came down, hanging one leg off of the platform that was bringing him down. When he finally gets to the ground...

"All right. Thanks for finding it, Ru- well, now unconscious Rudy, Eric and Julian. Okay, crew! Let's bring her up! And don't worry, you definitely won't break it," Professor Alan commanded.

As the crew were working on chaining up Lolithia...

"Tell me, Julian," Eric began. "Why do you hate your father?"

"I will tell you and Rudy or whatever her name is when I'm ready. The rage I have on my father comes out in the challenges I face. So that's why my Valkyrie spell was so strong," Julian replied.

"All right. I can wait. Even though, mousy here, he gets impatient."

Julian then anime sweatdropped. "Eheh... Hanpan, right. How's he doing?"

"Well, he's sleeping right now. But I suppose when the little Wind Mouse hears his name, he wakes right -"

"Somebody say my name?" Hanpan said while peeking his little mousy head out of Eric's pocket. "Huh?"

"Uh, hello, again, Hanpan. You remember Rudy, right? Well, she went unconscious in the battle we just faced against that Magtourtous..." Julian explained.

"She?"

"Long story..."

"Eheh... right. It's none of your business anyway, mousy..." Eric chided at the mouse.

"Well, if there's nothing for me to do, then I will go sleepy night - night," Hanpan said while withdrawing his head back into Eric's trench coat pocket.

After that brief conversation, Julian stared at Cassie's innocent, pretty face.

Man, Rudy has to be female! A guy having this much beauty is redundant! She has the most unusual red eyes, but they are pretty nonetheless. And the blue hair... I wonder why... Oh, well, that doesn't matter. Why do you hide your gender? What's your real name? And of course, the most important question... Julian smirked arrogantly as he thought the next bit. What's your bra size?

"Okay! Let's pull her out!" Professor Alan yelled, pulling Julian back into reality. He got back onto the platform, and was lifted out, as well as Lolithia, of the tomb.

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30 seconds later, on the mountains above Lolithia's Tomb...

"My Alan - Motor worked! Oh, how I love myself right now! All right, please let me introduce to you, Lolithia, one of the eight golems. Isn't she cuuuute? Khhk. Anywho, this is one of the three golems that are going to be displayed tomorrow at the Ruin Festival. I can't pay you today, since I will be too preoccupied with preparing for the festival tomorrow. Come by and talk to me tomorrow. I'll pay you then..."

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5 minutes later, back in Adlehyde...

"Ah, kay. Tomorrow, we will go to the Ruin Festival together. Then we'll go to Professor Alan and get paid. After tomorrow, Hanpan and I will go on to the next ruin," Eric explained.

"We're parting so soon?" the brunette boy asked the blonde swordsman.

Nah, Julian. That'd be redundant. And plus, this story would probably be a looooooot shorter. (Sweatdrops)

"It's the life of a Dream Chaser. Never to know where you're gonna go next," Eric explained. "Well, let's get back to the inn. We will-"

"Okay, we get it!" Hanpan yelled as loud as his little Wind Mouse voice would allow him to.

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20 seconds later, at the Adlehyde inn...

"Welcome to the Adlehyde Inn," the innkeeper greeted warmly (maybe a bit too much so). "It is 30 gella per night. Would you like to stay?"

"Yeah," Eric replied quickly, while slapping down 30 gella.

"Well, here's Rudy," Julian said, while handing Cassie over to Eric like a baby. "Take good care of her, and don't fall asleep until she regains consciousness, all right? Anyway, I have no clue why I was called to the north ruin. I will join you in the festival tomorrow. I might not be able to see you again after that. I just hope you will respect me as much as I have respected you."

"Bye, Julian."

"Bye, Eric," Julian said while turning on his heel, and walking out of the inn, and reverting his path to Adlehyde Castle, wondering what his father will say to him once he sees him again.

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Later that evening...

Eric had gone out to the Dew Point, a popular restaurant in Adlehyde, to get some food for the two. Or three, if you count Hanpan. Anywho, he left the unconscious Cassie lying on the bed, and of course, she would regain consciousness while Eric was away.

Cassie sat up in bed, holding her forehead with her left hand. Oh, man, what did I do last night? She looked around. "Julian?"

No answer.

"Eric?"

Again, no answer.

Hmm... might as well change into my night clothes since I'm alone... when exactly was the last time I washed this damned white shirt? It itches so baaaaaad!

She undid the binders which concealed her femininity, took the red vest completely off, then set it on the bed. Then she took off the dirty, wretched white shirt. As she was unhooking her bra, you'll never guess who came up the stairs.

Eric, the blonde swordsman we all know and love. Er... well, some of us, anyway. (smiles)

Eric gaped at the blue haired ARMslinger once again (us hoping he won't make a habit out of this). He just stood there for a second with his submaxilla completely dropped. (For those without a dictionary, your submaxilla is the bottom part of your jaw).

Cassie, humming the happy little tune of "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads (the midi of which I am listening to right now) didn't notice the blonde swordsman, and his pervert little Wind Mouse companion also gaping at said 15 year old. She just turned around for a second, looked up, saw the blonde swordsman, and almost screamed.

"Rudy's actually a girl... huh..."

"Eric! I thought I was alone!" Cassie said as she held her beaten red vest in front of her modestly.

"So Julian was right. What's your real name this time? And don't lie!"

Cassie sighed. "I'm Cassie Roughnight. Where is Julian anyway? And how did he know I was a girl?"

"He knew by the highness of the pitch of your voice when you screamed that he could have killed himself."

"Agh... yeah, I guess."

"I didn't totally believe him, but now I know. He also showed me this," Eric said softly as he walked toward her and gently took her (totally dorky) hat off. Cassie's blue hair once again cascaded down her shoulders and fell to 3/4 down her back.

"Does he know my actual name?"

"No. He doesn't yet, but he's gonna find out..."

"Man..."

"Why do you hide your gender, Cassie?"

Oh, great another one of these explanations... "Because if people see me a female, when I apply for jobs, they reject me. But when I'm a guy, they don't. Especially that damned stable owner in Surf Village..."

"I'm not gonna ask about that," Eric said.

"Well," Cassie started. "Would you please turn your back so I can dress myself?"

"Of course," Eric replied brightly while turning around.

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The next morning...

THE DAY OF THE FESTIVAL HAS ARRIVED...

Eric woke up to the sound of Cassie's steady breathing. He had been sleeping on his back, so he turned the direction of his head to the left. There was Cassie, on the other side of him, sleeping soundly. And Hanpan was sleeping on her stomach.

"Er..." he looked at the blissfully asleep ARMslinger for a moment longer, then cautiously got out of bed, trying not to wake her up. He would have, but thank the Guardians that bed was TempurPedic, no?

So, he went into the bathroom to wash his face, brush his teeth, do the three 'S's' and yeah. He went back to the bedroom to find the fifteen year old sitting on the edge of his bed.

She immediately stood up and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, Eric. I crawled into your bed last night because there was a huge crash of thunder last night. I got scared..."

"It's all right, Cassie... come here," Eric forgave, holding his arms out. She ran into them and they embraced tightly.

"Sometimes, I'm just a frightened little girl. I think my ARM is my only protector... but..."

"It's all right, Cassie! I'm here, I'll protect you. Just don't..." Eric trailed off.

Oh, Grandfather, what should I do? I don't want to do this!

Cassie pulled out of the hug. Then Eric said, "Look, we've gotta get to that Ruin Festival thingamabobber. We're running out of time!" Eric reminded the blue haired girl.

All of a sudden, "No Time" by the Guess Who starts playing.

"Right. I'll go take a shower and then we'll get out of here."

After she gets in the shower...

"AHHH! ERIC! WHY DID YOU USE UP ALL THE HOT WATER?" Cassie chided/yelled at the blonde swordsman.

"Sorry, Cassie... eheh..."

Cassie calmed down and then said, "It's all right, I'll live..."

After Cassie was done (with her shower)...

"You know, I don't think I told you how hard Julian worked to get you here... He carried you two times through Lolithia's Tomb and he also carried you from there to here. He made me stay awake the whole night until you regained consciousness. He obviously likes you, Cassie, and he wasn't too sure if you were male or female. I don't really think he cared..." Eric informed.

Cassie came out of the bathroom looking like a whole new person. An orange t shirt with the words "To the love, I left my conscience pressed through the keyhole, I watched you dress, kiss and tell..." was under the battered red vest she usually wore. She had on teal skinny jeans, and the same boots she had on earlier, which almost went up to her knees. Oh, and that dorky hat? She had thrown it away and it was in the trash can over by the desk. Her hair was down, and straight, and it shined like a diamond in sunlight. And her face... the only trace of makeup Eric could detect was... nothing. She liked her face natural. Oh, and yeah, she had her Hand Cannon between her and her belt again.

"Man, Cassie... you look divine. Julian would fall for you in a second..." And so would I... Eric extended his hand for her to take. "Now, let's go reload the ammunition for your ARM... and upgrade it a little... we got like, what, 10,000 extra gella from Lolithia's Tomb, right?"

Nodding, Cassie took his hand. She liked this guy. Eric Van Burace was a really nice man. But... Julian was even more so...

They paid for the ammunition to the guy downstairs. Then... they RAN to Professor Alan's house, up the stairs.

"We want my sweet little Hand Cannon upgraded to 55 ATP!" Cassie exclaimed proudly, while slapping down the 10,000 extra gella Eric was talking about. Cassie had entrusted Eric with the rest of the gella, fearing she might just spend it all on her ARM, and that was gella they wanted to spend in the festival.

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15 minutes later, after Alan's assistant had finished upgrading the ARM...

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Eric asked while grasping her hand again. "Let's crash the Ruin Festival!"

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Meanwhile... Julian was still asleep in his room. His room in Adlehyde Castle. As Adlehyde Castle's theme played, Julian lie blissfully asleep. Then the Water Rune on the left side of him began to glow.

"Innocent One..." Stoldark whispered. Then he yelled "HEY! JULIAN! WAKE THE HADES UP! THE FESTIVAL HAS STARTED ALREADY!"

Julian then muttered something about Rudy Roughnight and chocolate sauce, then Chelsea Winslow, the famous female Dream Chaser who is the current champion of the Ancient Arena, and Magic Carrots.

Ugh... here I go into his dreams... who knows what I'm gonna find in there...

Stoldark's spirit was then transported into Julian's dream.

Oh, my... Really, why couldn't have they hired Dan Dairam, or Stare Roe, or somebody else besides me for this job? I mean... Zephyr help me... they're more patient than I am... and look at this place!

There was chocolate sauce splattered all over the walls, as well as various posters of AFI were in random places. As Stoldark's spirit floats through the place, he finds conditions more and more disgusting. Empty pizza boxes... a roach wouldn't even live there.

Anyway, when Stoldark finally finds Julian, he's sitting on a queen size TempurPedic bed next to Cassie, explaining to her his past, his father, and why he hates him so much. Anywho, Chelsea Winslow was in the corner with Joan Jett, both clinging to each others' shoulders doing the cancan in Magic Carrot costumes.

"Hey, Julian!" Stoldark yelled, trying to get his attention.

"Oh..." Julian looked up. "Hey, Stoldark. This is Rudy, the girl of my dreams," Julian introduced. "What are you doing here?"

"To wake you up! The Ruin Festival has started already," Stoldark informed.

"Oh. Okay. Just give me a couple minutes to regroup. Then I'll wake up."

A few minutes later, back in reality. Well, uh... reality of Filgaia (smiles nervously).

Julian opened his shimmering pool like cerulean eyes, sat up in bed, and stretched forth his arms, while sighing contentedly.

"Ahh... that was a good nine hours of sleep. Heh. Sleeping pill commercials... thanks, Ambien. Agh," Julian scowled. He went to take a shower and et cetera. He came out wearing an AFI shirt, jeans, black NSS's, a gold watch and a smile on his face.

"Let's do this thing."

When he tries to leave, his father (the king, or rather, referred by Julian as 'a bastard') sees him and stops him to talk to him.

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The Ruin Festival. Hustle and bustle all about. Mostly around the golem exhibits. Adlehyde's own Lolithia is at the bottom vertex of the triangle the golem exhibits formed. Diablo, from Arctica to the left, and Barbados, from the Ocean of Sand, to the right.

Cassie and Eric find Professor Alan in the Ruin Festival admiring her work/playing a rather bad game of Strike Ball.

"Khhk! I know I'll get it in the middle this time!" he threw the red striped ball at the middle, but missed by a mile, and it ended up in the beige part, about 10 feet away from the middle. "Damn it!"

"Professor Alan?" Cassie asked him.

"Rudy?" Professor Alan turns around and expects to see the gender - ambiguous boy, but all he sees is the attractive, blue haired girl. "You're not Rudy... but you're very beautiful."

Cassie blushed at this statement. "Eheh... thank you... I'm Cassie Roughnight. There was a reason I hid my gender, but I'd rather not get into it right now."

"Okay, well... here, as promised, is the 500 gella," Professor Alan said while thrusting a tan bag with the gella currency sign on it into Eric's arms.

500 gella acquired.

"Well, hello, Eric, nice to see you again. Khhk, khhk, khhk. Well, I might as well get back to my game. Be sure to check out everything. You just might find something you like. And plus, there may never be another one..." Professor Alan trailed off.

"That's right! Cassie, let's go check out that 'Ultimate Chicken' game. There's gotta be a nice prize in there, cuz I'll be risking my nose..."

Professor Alan slapped 30 more gella down and threw the ball at the Strike target once again. It landed in the middle... but bounced to the beige part.

"DAMN IT!"

-----------------------

After 35 games of chicken- oh, let me rephrase that, Ultimate Chicken (bawk bawk) (Dani rolls her eyes), 30 Magic Carrots, 2 antidotes and 3 potion berries later...

"Oh, man..." Eric gasped. "I'm glad I have a short nose."

"Funny. Have you considered becoming a stand up comedian as your career?"

"Now, you're just being sarcastic. We don't have any money left. Just 4 gella!" Eric informed.

"I know what we should do. Come on," Cassie beckoned while grabbing hold of his hand. She ran to the lady selling Small Flowers.

"Flower? Only 2 gella for one," the Flower Lady offered.

"Sure," Cassie replied while handing her 2 gella. The Flower Lady handed her back a white, pure pretty flower.

"Thank you. Take care."

----------------------

One second later.

"Flower? Only 2 gella for one," the Flower Lady offered.

"Sure," Cassie replied while handing her 2 gella. The Flower Lady handed her back a white, pure, pretty flower.

"Thank you. Take care."

"You gots it," Eric said.

You do realize that I was making fun of the game, right? I hope you aren't that dense. --

Cassie and Eric walked away from the (cough) mechanical (cough) Flower Lady so she wouldn't ask them if they would buy another.

"Well, Eric... now we don't have any gella left. What do you think Julian's gonna say?"

"Julian... where is that guy anyway? I thought he said he was gonna join us for the festival..."

Just then, a really desperate (not that kind of desperate) woman looking for her lost kid ran up to the duo.

"BILLY? Where are you, Billy! Sir, ma'am, would you help me find my child? He's about 3 feet tall, blond hair, brown eyes. He also has a red balloon. Please help me find him..."

"Okay, lady, calm down. We'll ask around," Eric reassured her.

About 5 minutes later...

They had asked everybody and somebody said that he went back into town.

They looked around Adlehyde, trying to find the lost boy.

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Dani: So, that's end chapter 4.

Rudy: That didn't go as bad as I thought it would.

Jack: Okay, tell me, Dani... why?

Dani: Why what, Van Burace?

Jack: You know...

Dani: Oh, yeah. Well, um, that's just my own sick twisted imagination's fault. Heehee... that's gonna blossom into a whole 'nother thing later.

Rudy: Yay for us.

Cecilia: Oooh... boy...