Meanwhile, Jazz, Falsetto, and Viola were still unconscious in battle. The monster was about to finish the trio off when a glimmer of hope shined through at the beast before the finale.
"He who lives among mists and tempests, and travel by riding the wind, answer my call! Orzel Bialy!" The beast was surrounded and engulfed by a pillar of light as beams rained down upon it. A piercing cry erupted from its voice and it collapsed to nothing but dust. When it had disappeared and was forever silent, a man stepped out from behind the trees and approached the unconscious trio. With a wave of his baton, he whispered. "Tri-Clementia." Warm light surrounded the three unconscious, and then they were able to open their eyes. When they looked up, they could see Frederic smiling down at them.
"Frederic?" Jazz exclaimed as Frederic helped them up back onto their feet. "You're awake."
"Yes. I was just awoken when I heard the sound of a cry for help. When I came to, you all were about to be finished off by a savage beast, but I managed to finish it off first," he explained.
"What happened to you? You were supposed to be resting after collapsing in the forest after our training, but the three of us found you wandering outside. And you were glowing!"
"Glowing?" Frederic questioned.
"Yeah, there was a faint blue light surrounding your body. And then when you walked all the way to celestial forest, a beast we've never seen before came out in front of you. And then you collapsed again!" Falsetto told him.
"I…did happen to feel something strange earlier, but before I could figure out anything I must have fallen unconscious. I see…I apologize for causing all of you this much trouble."
"Everything's all right now," Viola assured him, "We're just glad you're okay. And besides, you did save us all back there when we had fallen unconscious ourselves. And I for one have to apologize to you Jazz….I let my guard down and you had to jump in to help me." Viola looked at Jazz apologetically.
"Hmm? Oh, it's fine. It looks like no one got hurt in the end," Jazz waved it off.
"By the way, where are the others?" Frederic looked around to see that it was only them four in the forest. A familiar voice called to them from behind.
"Hey! There you guys are! We finally caught up to you!" A familiar red haired agogo guardian yelled waving at them. Behind her, Prince Crescendo, Allegretto, Polka, Beat, and March came running up from behind.
"Is everyone all right?" Prince Crescendo asked concerned.
"We're all alright, thank you," Falsetto smiled.
"Hey Frederic, you're up! Are you feeling okay now? Should you be up?" Beat asked Frederic.
"Yes, I'm alright, thank you for your concern Beat. And I apologize to everyone for all of the trouble I've caused," Frederic bowed his head in an apology.
"Phew, we're all just glad you're all right now Frederic," Polka sighed.
"Yeah, and back to normal too. It was pretty weird seeing Frederic glowing and walking as if he was a ghost," Viola laughed.
"Huh? Frederic turned into ghost? Seriously?" Salsa exclaimed. Viola suddenly had a look in her eyes.
"Oh yeah. I think he was planning on turning you into a ghost to, Salsa," Viola whispered jokingly.
"No way!" Salsa jumped, "Frederic would never do something like that!" Viola started laughing as Salsa stomped in fury.
"I'm glad that we found out that everyone's okay now, but unfortunately it's already morning," Allegretto announced as he pointed to the rising sun behind the morning clouds. Everyone in the group immediately turned to look at Jazz.
Surprised, he said, "What?
"You're not still thinking that since we're all here we might as well start our training again, are you Jazz?" Viola asked staring at him hard. "Not after all we've been through since last night."
"Well…" Jazz began.
"Yeah, and what if Frederic ends up passing out again? Or worse, what if we all end up passing out, and then who's going to call for help?" Beat exclaimed.
"Um, Beat, I'm not exactly quite sure that the reason for my collapse was from exhaustion-" Frederic tried to explain.
"Yeah, and then we'll be eaten by monsters!" Salsa cried.
"Oh you two, I'm sure it won't be that bad," Polka tried to calm them down. Viola suddenly remembered something.
"And hey! What if we run into something like that beast again? I sure don't want to end up fighting it again," Viola sighed
"Hmm? What sort of beast?" Prince Crescendo asked.
"It seemed to be a type of giant horse, like a unicorn or a Pegasus. Only combined," Falsetto described.
"A unicorn or a Pegasus? I don't recall knowing any monster like that in Celestial Forest," Prince Crescendo thought out loud.
"We didn't either, but it seemed especially interested in Frederic. It absorbed the blue light that had been surrounding him on the way here with its horns."
"So you mean to say that I had been possessed?" Frederic asked. "But I wonder how that could have happened…"
"Ahem!" The whole group suddenly stopped talking and realized who they had been ignoring the whole time. Jazz shook his head with an irritated look and continued, "If you have this much energy to talk, you all should be well enough to tackle Celestial forest and Aria Temple again." Everyone all let out an explosion of whines, complaints, irritated and worried expressions. After a few seconds Jazz smiled at them. "Gotcha," he said and then they all looked confused. "I think everyone has had enough excitement for the day. Let's forget about today's training and all head back to Baroque to relax." With hearing the real truth in Jazz's words, the group rejoiced so noisily that some of the monsters in the forest noticed their presence, causing the group to jump and hurriedly sprint away from the forest.
As the group was madly sprinting for the safe haven of Baroque, Frederic stopped for a short moment. This time, he slowly looked back and whispered to himself, "I wonder if I felt the sadness of that beast's soul earlier."
"Frederic, what are you doing? Everyone's hurrying up ahead," Beat called out to their friend.
"Oh, sorry," Frederic smiled as he hurried on to catch up with him. In his footsteps, a single blue feather laid softly on the snow, shined down upon by the morning sun.
-Fin-
