See? I'm updating at a pretty steady rate now. According to my plans, there will be two more chapters after this. It's finally nearing its end!
Until then, I hope that you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 6: To be undead or not to be undead
The next few days were uneventful, which just made everyone even more on edge. It felt like the calm before the storm.
"When is something going to happen?" groaned Basil as they headed towards the gates after another boring day at school. "Our reflexes are so going to pot."
Nearing the gates, they spotted a familiar figure leaning against the wall. Shara waved at them. "So, what's the latest?" she asked.
"Nothing. Basil here was just complaining about the lack of action," said Cecille as they reached Shara's side.
They were about to leave the school grounds when a motion caught their attention. Marche ducked just in time to dodge a swipe aim at his head. "What the hell, Lyle? Leave us alone!"
Lyle ignored his words and prepared to attack again. Nearby, Colin and Guinness had also arrived to join the fight. This was going too far, even for them.
They glanced at Basil, conscious of the irony. "You were saying?" asked Elvos dryly. Basil shrugged.
"Their eyes..." said Etoile in a concerned tone. She had noticed something that the others had overlooked. "They are not in their right minds."
Everyone looked closely at the three bullies. Sure enough, their eyes were listless and held no emotion.
"Are they possessed?" wondered Ritz in horror, jumping out of the way of Colin's fist. "What's going on?"
"No," Montblanc said. "I think that they are undead. At least, that is what is in their minds, even through their bodies have not degenerated."
"Crap! Are the worlds overlapping already?" exclaimed Marche while attempting to knock Lyle out without hurting him too much.
"What do you mean?" asked Mewt. He tripped Guinness up. Well, their reflexes were definitely as slow as zombies. They shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
"Clan Nutsy encountered these three in Ivalice. They had been turned into undead when the Gran Grimoire brought us to Ivalice," Marche explained.
"...And now that they are showing signs of becoming what they were in Ivalice..." Ritz turned pale. "This is very bad."
"At this rate, the worlds will soon overlap completely. There will only be one world... And chaos will undoubtedly erupt." Montblanc was dead serious. "Monsters will be the least of our problems then."
"But first, how are we going to deal with them? They just keep getting up!" asked Basil.
"We can't even hurt them too much, since this is the real world," reminded Marche.
On the sidelines, Elvos was grappling with Colin. "You just swallow it already!" he said through gritted teeth. He was forcing something into the other boy's mouth. One moment later, Colin fainted.
Everyone paused to stare at him. "What did you do?" asked Montblanc, looking rather worriedly at the prone figure on the ground.
Elvos tossed a bottle to Cecille and she caught it nimbly. She passed it to Basil who fed Lyle with its contents. It worked like a dream.
"Edward, the shopkeeper I'm staying with, gave them to me." Elvos shrugged. "He called them vitamins."
"Do you think that magic now works in this world?" wondered Mewt after they had dumped the trio in a place where they won't freeze to death.
"I think it's worth a try. Montblanc?" Marche looked at his friend.
The Black Mage pointed towards the snow-covered pavement. "Fira." A little bit of snow evaporated.
"...Well, the power might not be much, but it looks like it works now," said Shara.
"Is that a good or bad thing?" No one could answer that.
"I've been thinking that channeling magic into the Gran Grimoire may activate it," said Babus.
Mewt nodded. "Let's go try it out, then."
Once again, they stood in a circle looked at the ancient book. This time, however, they had a plan.
"Lord Swain, Etoile and I will be channel magic into the grimoire. You non-magic users, I suppose, can try to focus your will to it. It's all in the mind," Montblanc told them. Everyone nodded.
Marche, Mewt and Ritz stood to one side as the Ivalicians placed their hands on the Gran Grimoire.
"On my count of three. One... Two... Three!"
There was a blinding flash of light, and the room stood empty.
"Oof!" said Montblanc as the air was squashed out of him. He had unfortunately been subjected to the bottom of the pile.
"What happened?" asked Marche. Montblanc blinked, as he tried futilely to look at the people currently crushing him. Why was Marche here? Further question showed that Ritz and Mewt had come along for the ride as well.
"Could you get off me, please?" he said, half-suffocating. Immediately, everyone scattered, leaving him to breathe heavily on the ground. Recovering, he sat up. "What went wrong?" he asked, staring at the three 'real world' people.
"I think that things are worse than we initially thought," commented Elvos. "This isn't Ivalice."
Dazed, everyone finally took in the well-maintained lawn, the Japanese-styled porch and the strange house that they were next to. Indeed, it wasn't Ivalice.
Please review!
I'm doing a crossover for the next chapter only, but I'll do my best to make sure everyone will understand it. I wonder if you can guess which anime I'm doing the crossover with? ^_^