A/N: Boom! Another chapter!
And I do believe this is the longest one I have written for Thunder Stone yet! The last scene took a little longer than I thought it would, but that's not a bad thing! I really enjoyed how each scene turned out and I think it's one of my favorite chapters so far! I just love the mix of humor and action in it!
Oh! And the song that Aomame sings in this chapter is 'I'm Happy Just to Dance With You' by The Beatles. I do NOT own that song!
I don't have much else to say this time around, so I'll get right to the reviews!
Thank you all for the reviews for the previous chapter!
Zades - Glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!
Joshua1277 - Yes! No one ever expects the innocent one! And yeah, that Fear Magic is quite a doozy for Liam to deal with. And we'll have to wait an see what happens with Sherry and Selena! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
dreadburner94 - I'm glad to hear that the first scene with Akemi and Zell turned out well and that it was like a mystery! Yeah, I decided to introduce Liam's second magic a little sooner than I planned, but an eventual scene popped up into my head and I wanted to use it. And yeah, Aquarius is very much like the lake deity, lol. And it'll definitely be interesting to see what happens between Barnaby and the two women! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
ColdBurn-3 - Glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! And yeah, I like Shaw's magic quite a bit since it has some big defensive perks! And Liam is normally used to Shaw's antics, but since Anna was in trouble, his anger got the better of him. And we'll just have to wait and see what's going on between Selena and Reese :3 LOL! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Reitzel-chan - No worries on the review! But I'm glad you liked Akemi's scene! And I'm glad you're liking Anna's magic! And yes! Liam's second magic is revealed! I had a scene that popped up into my head that I want to write, so that's why I revealed his Fear Magic sooner rather than later. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Benthino - Awww! :3 Well thank you! I'm always glad to hear that scenes are turning out so well! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
I don't own Fairy Tail!
Please enjoy!
Chapter 13
"I…I really don't think it's safe in here," Mahrin-Kah stuttered, looking around the large entrance of the cave her and her team were now in.
"They wouldn't have sent out a request for mages if it was," Kimera said with a shrug.
"And it's so dark," Mahrin-Kah added in a small voice.
"She does have a point there," Terran said, looking around for something that could be used as a makeshift flashlight. It was then he realized that they should have stopped to pick up a few things from Stevie before they entered the cave. It was then that he noticed a few unlit torches hanging from the cave wall, "We should be able to use these to help us see," he said, reaching for one of the torches.
"Wait! Terran! Don't touch it!" Hikari shouted, knowing that anything in the cave could be set up as a trap.
It was too late, though, as Terran had already lifted one of the torches from its resting place. As soon as he lifted it, fire shot out from a hole in the wall behind where the torch had been. He was lucky that Kimera was able to move quickly enough and tackle him to the ground before the fire hit him in the face. The blaze of fire lasted for a moment longer before it finally shut off.
Kimera lifted herself off of Terran and looked down at him, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, thanks for pushing me out of the way," he replied with a smile.
"You stupid idiot!" Kimera shouted, bopping him hard on the head, "Didn't we just make a rule not to touch anything in this damn place?!"
"But I have to touch the floor, don't I?"
Kimera felt her eye twitch before bopping him on the head again, "Smartass," she grumbled before standing up and dusting herself off.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," Terran repeated quickly, rubbing the top of his head.
"Terran, you should be more careful," Hikari chided, helping him to stand up, "And Kimera is right, we agreed not to touch anything in the cave except for the chalice."
"But we do need to see," he retorted.
"Then why not make yourself useful and create some torches for us with your magic," Kimera huffed, still miffed by the boy's stupidity.
"Oh yeah," he laughed, causing Kimera to smack her palm to her forehead and Hikari and Flora to sweat drop, "Nature Creation: Wood Staff," he announced as he smacked his palms together. As he began to pull his hands away from each other, a large wood staff began to appear. When he felt like the staff was long enough, Terran cut off his magic. He then pulled out the dagger that he always carried with him and cut the staff into five smaller pieces, "Here we go," he grinned, "We just need something to light them with."
"I've got that covered," Kimera said, "I always carry a pack of matches with me just in case," she explained, pulling out the matches and lighting one. Once the flame sparked, she lit one torch and then she and Terran quickly lit the rest of the torches with the first one.
"Good job, you two!" Hikari smiled as she took the torch that Terran handed her. He then gave Flora a torch as well.
Kimera turned to give Mahrin-Kah the last torch, but jumped backwards upon seeing the girl. She was lying on the floor, her skin paler than usual with a floating white blob coming out of her mouth and her eyes in large white circles.
"Holy crap!" Terran shouted, "Is she dead?!"
"No, she's not dead," Hikari answered, walking up to Mahrin-Kah and poking at the white bubble, "That fire shooting out of the wall must have spooked her."
"Is that her soul?" Kimera asked as she walked over to join Hikari in poking the white bubble.
"It doesn't matter what it is, just stop poking it," Terran said, shooing the two girls away from the blonde. He easily picked up Mahrin-Kah and steadied her on her feet. He gently slapped her cheeks in order to get her to wake up, "Come on! Wake up, Mahrin-Kah!"
"Huh? What?" Mahrin-Kah mumbled as the white bubble sunk back into her body and her eyes began to focus. A deep red blush stained her cheeks once she realized how close Terran was to her.
"Don't faint again!" Terran shouted.
"B…but why are you so close?" she asked quietly.
"You fainted after the fire shot out of the wall," Kimera answered, "Are you going to be okay?"
Mahrin-Kah looked at the faces of her teammates and saw the worry etched on them. She suddenly felt guilty for making them worry like that. They had accepted her so easily into their group and here she was, constantly giving them trouble. She took a deep breath in hopes of calming herself before she answered, "I'll be okay. I'll do my best not to faint again during the mission, so please don't worry about me."
"Of course we're going to worry about you," Kimera said as she pushed the last torch into Mahrin-Kah's hand before she gave the blonde a wide smile, "That's how it's supposed to be since you're our teammate now."
Mahrin-Kah's eyes widened at the brunette's words and could only nod in response to her.
"Well then," Kimera started, turning around to walk farther into the cave, "Let's get going!"
As soon as she took a step forward, her foot sunk down on a moving stone. Silence filled the cave for a split second as the team waited for something to happen. Suddenly, the floor underneath Kimera began to fall away, causing the girl to drop down with it. It happened so suddenly that she didn't even have time to scream. Before she fell down into the trap though, Terran managed to leap forward to catch her. She was currently hanging over the edge with Terran holding onto her right hand tightly and giant, metal spikes beneath her.
"Um…don't look down," Terran said nervously as he stared at the giant spikes.
"Why?" she asked, now having to look beneath her. Her eyes widened upon seeing the spikes under her, "What the hell?! Pull me up! Pull me up right now!"
"I told you not to look down!" Terran retorted, trying to pull her up, "And stop moving around so I can pull you up!" he added, finally yanking her up with one tug after she had stopped thrashing around.
"Thanks," Kimera said once she was standing on solid ground.
"Yeah, no problem," Terran replied as he dusted himself off, "But how are we going to cross this?" he asked, looking out at the ten foot long gap that laid before them now.
"Oh!" Hikari started with a smile, "Flora could fly us over! You can handle that, can't you?" she asked, looking down at her Exceed.
"Of course," Flora answered with her own smile and sprouting out her white wings, "I just have to take you one at a time.
Soon enough, Flora had the entire team on the other side of the gap; even with Mahrin-Kah having to be forced over the opening. The team began to walk through the cave, things seeming to be okay for a while. They made sure to not touch anything on the walls and kept a constant watch on the floor in order to keep from triggering another trap. Though, it was only a matter of time before they missed a step.
"Watch out for that stone," Hikari said, pointing down towards a block that was protruding from the floor, "It seems pretty obvious that it's a trap."
Just as she was finishing her sentence, Hikari stepped over the stone only to step down onto the one in front of it, which moved down. Hikari's eyes widened at what had just happened, looking back at her teammates to see they all wore the same panicked look.
"It was a set up!" Kimera shouted.
After her shout, loud screeching could be heard coming towards the group.
"What's that sound?" Terran asked.
His question was soon answered as a huge swarm of bats came flying towards the group. Most of the team ducked after seeing the bats, but Mahrin-Kah continued to stand and stare at the swarm in fear.
"Rin-chan!" Hikari shouted, "Get down!"
Mahrin-Kah didn't register the Dragon Slayer's shout as the bats came closer and eventually one smacked into her face. She stared at the tiny creature for a moment. It wasn't until the bat screeched at her that she threw her hands up into the air and ran farther into the cave, screaming.
"Crap!" Kimera shouted, "We have to go after her!"
The other four members of the team began to run after the blonde, smacking bats out of their way. They managed to catch up to her, though, Mahrin-Kah continuously kept setting trap after trap off as she continued to run. The group kept having to dodge arrows and flames and walls smashing together. Luckily, Hikari was able to deflect most things by controlling the earth underneath them to protect them.
"Rin-chan!" Hikari shouted after protecting them from the last batch of arrows, "Stop running! You just keep setting off traps!" she yelled, but her commands didn't stop the blonde one bit.
"That's not gonna work!" Kimera shouted, "We're going to have to physically stop her!"
"I'm sorry about this ahead of time, Mahrin-Kah!" Terran yelled before he tackled her to the ground. The two skidded across the ground for a moment before they came to a stop. Mahrin-Kah had her hands up in the air for a moment before she brought them down with a hard smack. This caused another stone to be pushed down and a rumbling to roll through the ground.
"I don't like the sound of that," Terran said as he pulled himself and Mahrin-Kah up to stand. Soon they all laid eyes on a large boulder rolling towards them at top speed, "I hate this cave!" Terran shouted.
"Enough of this!" Kimera yelled, pulling out her sledge hammer from its holster on her back.
"What are you planning?" Hikari asked.
"Just get moving," Kimera said, readying herself for the boulder, "I'll handle this."
"But Kimera," Hikari pushed.
"Just go. We have a job to do and you need to get that chalice," she retorted quickly.
"All right," Hikari answered, though she was still hesitant to leave her friend behind.
The rest of the team began moving away from the area quickly, Mahrin-Kah being dragged along by Terran. Though, she stared back at Kimera not being able to shake the feeling that it was her fault that the girl had to take down the boulder. She suddenly felt very useless in that moment.
Kimera watched her friends disappear before she turned to look at the boulder approaching her. She readied herself, pulling the sledge hammer backwards in order to swing it forward, "You can do this," she whispered to herself, "You've taken on rock golems before, so this should be a piece of cake," she added as she let out a deep breath. She then locked hard eyes on the boulder before running at it with a loud shout and bringing her hammer forward.
. : + : .
"Ah, I've figured it out," Aomame smiled softly, "This is dedicated to Kokou," she added as she strummed down on her indigo guitar before letting out a high pitched sound wave from her lips. The sound wave moved quickly across the battlefield and hit one of the trolls, causing its body to move backwards and its head to roll back before it let out an angry growl. The rest of the group stared at her in surprise, even Wei being a little taken aback by his teammate making the first move, "Before this dance is through, I think I'll love you too," she began to sing while creating a melody with her guitar, "I'm so happy when you dance with me," she continued before sending out another sound wave at the same troll she hit before.
"Of course she's making it into a show," Wei sighed, "She has an audience now."
"Kokou loves it!" she shouted with a wide grin, "Kokou has missed having music while she's fighting!"
Titan, Tiger and Tejil all sweat dropped at what was happening before turning back to the troll situation at hand.
"Are you ready, Titan?" Tejil smirked.
"Always, my friend!" the Dragon Slayer answered, donning his Stone Skin once again.
"Then let's take the one on the left," Tejil said, "Since it looks like Aomame and Wei have the one on the right under control and I'm sure Kokou will take down the one in the middle all on her own."
"Why does Kokou get one to herself?!" Wei shouted, "What kind of bullshit is that?!"
"Stupid Wei wouldn't be able to handle one on his own!" Kokou shouted, sending the man a devilish smirk. She then sent her katana back to her re-quip space before announcing her new weapon, "Kokou calls out Ramona!" she yelled before a giant mallet twice her size appeared. The mallet's head dropped to the ground, creating a mini-crater underneath it due to the sheer weight of it.
"What the hell is that?!" Wei shouted.
"It's Kokou's heavy hitter, Ramona!" she grinned.
"I wouldn't worry about her too much," Tejil smiled, "We've seen her use it multiple times with no problems," he explained, laughing when he saw Wei's face fall when he tried to push the mallet without any success.
"Don't touch Kokou's weapon! Stupid Wei!"
"I think we should get back to the task at hand now," Tejil stated, "We can't leave Aomame to fight on her own, now can we?"
"I don't want to kiss or hold your hand. If it's funny try and understand. There is really nothing else I'd rather do. 'Cause I'm happy just to dance with you," Aomame continued singing and sending out sound waves after each verse.
"She's going to have that troll beaten before you even get a chance to take a swing at it," Tejil laughed.
Wei's eye twitched at the comment, "Like hell I'll let that happen," he growled, finally turning away from the Thunder Stone mages to face the troll.
Tejil turned towards the troll on the left to see that Titan was already running towards it.
"Stone Dragon's Punch!" he shouted before he jumped into the air and brought down his powered fist on the troll's face, knocking a few teeth from its mouth.
"If you keep making jokes, you're not going to get a turn at the trolls either," Tiger laughed, floating next to Tejil.
The man sweat dropped in response, "Yes, I suppose so," he said before announcing his own spell, "High Frequency Body."
This spell caused the frequencies he could control to engulf his body, which made him glow a faint green color. The magic surrounding his body allowed him to move much faster and create more powerful melee attacks. In an instant, Tejil was fighting the troll with Titan, Tiger barely blinking in the process of it happening.
Kokou rubbed her hands together before grabbing onto the end of the mallet handle. She saw that the middle troll was making his way towards her and she smirked. She shouted as she lifted the mallet high up into the air, waiting for the large creature to get a little closer. As the troll continued its way towards Kokou, it tripped on some upturned earth from earlier fights. It began to fall forward in front of Kokou, the woman jumping and bringing the mallet down on the troll's head. As soon as the mallet hit its mark, the troll was down for the count. Kokou landed on the ground with a triumphant grin while she leaned against the large mallet.
"See? Kokou said she would bring down a troll before Stupid Wei and the rock monster!"
Wei twitched in annoyance again at the woman's cockiness before turning his full attention back to his troll.
"I don't need to hug or hold you tight. I just want to dance with you all night. In this world there's nothing I would rather do. 'Cause I'm happy just to dance with you," Aomame sung, sending out two more sound waves to stun the troll.
Wei charged the troll then, swiping his katana across the creature's chest. With a final screech, the troll fell to the ground, "I got one too," he huffed at Kokou.
"Yeah, but Stupid Wei had Mame-chan's help!" Kokou laughed loudly.
While the duo continued arguing, Tejil continued to land quick combo attacks on his troll, stunning it much like Aomame did to hers, "All right!" he shouted to Titan when he saw the troll was having trouble standing, "Do it now!"
"Stone Dragon's Roar!" Titan shouted, releasing a large attack of power and stone at the troll. The attack easily made direct contact with the creature, defeating it rather quickly, "Hell yeah!" Titan grinned after the troll was down.
"The only good thing about trolls is their stupidity and slowness," Tejil stated as he released the spell on his body.
"Awww," Aomame frowned, "I didn't even get to finish my song."
"Mame-chan has gotten so awesome!" Kokou smiled as she ran over to hug the musical woman, "Unlike some people," she added, sticking her tongue out and pulling down an eyelid at Wei.
"Yeah, well, you're still damn annoying," Wei grumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Hey now," Aomame said, "We just fought together for the first time in years and won. Can't we celebrate?" she asked with a smile, strumming down on her guitar again.
"We'll celebrate when we get the reward for this mission," Wei retorted.
"That reward is ours!" Titan shouted, shoving his face into Wei's.
"Says you!" Wei shouted back.
"We took down two of the three trolls plus more than half of the other monsters! We deserve that reward more!" Titan yelled.
"Boys, boys," Tejil interrupted them before they started a fight that would cause more damage than the monsters, "You're both pretty," he smirked.
"What was that?!" both Titan and Wei shouted, pulling Tejil into a wrestling match.
"It's so good to see them getting along so well," Aomame smiled over at Kokou.
"Kokou thinks they're all just weird," she replied as she called Ramona back into her re-quip space.
"I suppose that means something coming from you," Aomame giggled.
"And what does that mean, Soramame?!" she shouted.
"Oh my, you got it wrong again, Kokou," Aomame said, "Remember it's Aomame, as in green peas, silly girl," she smiled, affectionately rubbing the top of Kokou's head.
"Whatever," Kokou huffed, "That's why Kokou calls you Mame-chan."
"Is it now?" the woman replied with a knowing smile, "Well, how about we round these boys up and go get something to eat in town? I want to catch up with my Kokou before we have to go back to our own guilds. And I heard that Clover Town is famous for their blueberry pie."
"Ew! No!" Kokou shouted, "Blueberries are small, evil demons in disguise! Mame-chan knows this!"
Aomame laughed before she answered the woman, "Yes, I suppose I should have remembered that. I'm sure they'll have something else for you, okay?"
"Okay," Kokou answered before turning on the men, "Stop being stupid! Kokou and Mame-chan are hungry!" she shouted as she pulled the three of them apart.
"He started it!" Titan shouted, pointing at Wei.
"Kokou doesn't care who started it!" she retorted, "Does the rock monster really want to make Kokou wait for food?" she asked with a deep growl.
Titan paled out of fear while Tejil pulled him away from the woman, "Just back away slowly. Any quick movement might set her off."
SMACK
"You suck at predicting what she'll do, ya know," Titan grumbled with little tears in the corners of his eyes while he rubbed the top of his head where Kokou had smacked him.
"Yeah, well, you're the one that's always pissing her off," Tejil retorted, rubbing his own head with his own tears in his eyes.
"Let's go, you idiots," Wei grumbled, walking away from the scene, "I'm hungry now and we need to figure out that reward."
"I wonder," Aomame began, strumming on her guitar while everyone began to walk towards the main part of town, "How did all those monsters even get here?"
"Ink mentioned an explosion that Diesel created from their last mission when I asked him about it," Tiger mentioned, "And it happened to be in Clover Town too."
Titan's eye began to twitch, "So it's all that grease head's fault that we have to share the reward?" he asked with a growl.
"Seems that way," Tejil answered.
"DIESEL!" Titan roared, the shout reverberating through the entire area.
. : + : .
A cold chill quickly ran up Diesel's spine, but it wasn't from the blowing snow on Mt. Hakobe. He looked around the area he stood in with Ink, Walker and Zander as if searching for whatever caused the chill. He simply shrugged as the feeling went away and he turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.
"Why didn't you tell us that you knew one of the mages listed on the request form?" Walker asked, heatedly staring down Zander.
Zander stared straight back at the blonde, anger etched across his face still, "It wasn't really any of your business," he snapped.
"None of our business?!" Walker shouted, "That's just great, Zander! Both Quinn and Yuna have been captured because you decided to play secret agent man! Dammit!"
"Hey! I don't see you going around spilling your guts about your life!" Zander yelled.
"If it had been a situation like this, I would have! God! You're such an idiot!" Walker retorted, grabbing onto the front of Zander's shirt, "Do you even realize what you got us into?! We're supposed to be a team! This is great way to start things off! You know that Norman guy probably set up this entire thing!"
"Diesel," Ink started quietly, sitting on the Dragon Slayer's shoulder, "You need to stop them. We have to go get Quinn and Yuna."
"Tch," was all Diesel replied with as he approached the two younger men. He easily grabbed the back of their shirts and pulled them apart before they started a fist fight, "That's enough. From the both of you."
Walker and Zander stared at the Dragon Slayer for a moment, surprised that he hadn't been standing their shouting with them.
Walker quickly shook his surprise away and narrowed his eyes at Diesel, "Aren't you angry about this at all?"
"Yeah, I am," Diesel answered, "But we've got bigger things to worry about at the moment. Once we have the girls back and we're off this damned mountain then I'll take a swing at him," he explained, pointing at Zander, "But Quinn and Yuna come first. Do you both at least understand that?"
"Yeah," they both huffed as they pulled away from Diesel. Before Zander got too far, though, Diesel pulled at his shirt again.
"And I hope you know that if either of them get hurt, it's going to be your fault," the Dragon Slayer said lowly.
"I won't let that happen, so you can let me go now," Zander replied. Diesel stared him down a moment longer before letting him go. Zander shook his clothes back into place before turning towards the direction that Norman had disappeared to, "Let's go."
It was quiet for a moment before Diesel spoke again, "Both women are going to kick your ass for this."
Even in his anger, Zander still sweat dropped at that thought.
While the men continued their way to the top of the mountain, Quinn and a now awake Yuna were sitting in a large cave at the top of the mountain. Both were currently tied up while staring down Norman. Yuna would have busted out of the ropes with her bear form if it hadn't been for the gun being pointed at her by one of Norman's men.
"A scowl like that doesn't befit such a pretty woman like you," Norman smirked from the chair he sat in, looking straight at Quinn.
"Screw you!" Quinn hissed in reply.
"And such a mouth on you too," Norman laughed coldly, "I can see why Zander likes you so much. Being such a feisty woman and all. It probably reminds him of Sieglinde, considering what a hard ass the woman was when I fought her."
"You keep mentioning Sieglinde," Yuna said, still glaring at the Ice Mage, "Who is she?"
"You don't know?" Norman asked. He watched clueless looks pass across both women's faces, causing him to laugh out loud again, "That's just priceless. Zander got you all to come on this mission and you don't even know why. What a sly, yet stupid dog he is!"
"Well, why don't you explain it?" Quinn snapped, not appreciating all the laughing the man was doing. She also hated the fact that she had been left in the dark about something for the mission. She had been right to feel wary about the entire mission, 'I'm going to punch that idiot from here to Pergrande Kingdom when I see him again,' Quinn thought as a vein popped up on her forehead.
"All right," Norman smirked, "For starters, this 'mission' you're on isn't really a mission. I created that request form myself and sent it to Thunder Stone knowing Zander would take the bait. All he had to do was read my name and it would be hook, line and sinker."
"Why would he care about your name?" Yuna asked, feeling just as angry about the whole situation as Quinn.
"Because, my dear, I killed his first mentor, Sieglinde," he answered, "She was practically his mother figure and the bitch would have lived if she had just given me Twilight Sliver when I first asked for it. But, of course, she didn't give it to me like a good little girl. Instead, she fought back and took my left eye with her. I suppose I still won, though. I did get the sword."
"So you killed a woman for a sword?" Quinn asked, disgusted by that fact.
"You little pretty thing, you," Norman chuckled darkly as he walked towards the women and bent down in front of Quinn. He grabbed her chin tightly so she couldn't turn away from him, "I've done much worse than kill a woman for a sword. You might find out exactly what I can do if your knights in shining armor don't show up soon."
"At least they'd be wearing armor," Quinn retorted smartly, "Where did your clothes go?"
Norman raised an eyebrow at her before looking down at himself. It was then he realized that his torso was now bare of any clothing. The four other men in the cave as well as Yuna began laughing at him, "This damned habit," he cursed under his breath before turning a hard look at his men. They instantly went silent, but Yuna continued to laugh.
Quinn smirked at the man, "It's hard to be intimidated by a man that can't keep track of his own clothes," she said, causing Yuna to laugh again. Quinn was quickly answered with a hard backhand to the face, causing Yuna to go quiet. Quinn stared down at the floor while a dark bruise began to cover her right cheek, "I'll make sure to return that hit tenfold," she growled lowly.
Norman was about to smack her across the other cheek when he noticed a stream of black liquid moving towards two of his men off to one side of the cave. The two men that it was nearing stared at it, unsure of what it was. One of them bent down to touch it, feeling that the substance was thick and slimy.
"Don't touch it, you fools!" Norman shouted.
"Too late," a deep voice said before the click of a gun being cocked was heard. Without another thought, the gun was triggered with the bullet aimed at the black liquid. In an instant, the liquid was set ablaze, causing the two men to shout in surprise and fear as they realized the flames completely surrounded them, "I wouldn't try to step out of the fire either," the voice said as a man stepped into the cave, "You get any of that oil on you and that fire is gonna eat you up."
"Diesel!" Yuna shouted, happy to see that someone had finally shown up.
Ink still sat on his shoulders as Walker and Zander appeared on either side of the Dragon Slayer.
"It's about time you all showed up," Quinn grumbled, "This weirdo started taking his clothes off! I thought I was going to have to scream rape!"
"Shut up!" Norman shouted as he sent a hard kick into Quinn. This caused her to skid backwards and roll a few times before she landed on her stomach. She was stuck that way due to the rope still being tied around her.
"Quinn!" Zander shouted.
"I'm surprised you decided to show up, Zander," Norman smirked, turning to face the group of men, "It looks like I won't be able to call you a coward when I kill you," he added before throwing his right hand out in front of him, "Ice Spike: Rapid Ice Cannon!" he shouted as several icicles were shot from his hand and aimed at Zander.
"Weight Manipulation: Lightweight!" Walker shouted, aiming his magic at the first few icicles. His magic made them much lighter, to the extent where they began floating upwards above Zander. Walker then used his Heavyweight spell on the next group of icicles, sending them crashing to the ground.
"Walker, cover me for a moment!" Zander demanded as he began running around the outer edge of the cave.
"Thanks for the warning," Walker mumbled, but did as Zander asked of him. He ran with the redhead, although, he was running in front of him while he switched back and forth with his Heavyweight and Lightweight spells on the icicles that were still being shot at them. Zander finally stopped in front of Quinn, bending down in front of her while Walker kept them both protected for the moment.
Zander pulled Quinn up into a sitting position, "Are you all right?" he asked before seeing the dark bruise on her cheek. Guilt hit him hard in the gut upon seeing the mark, "I'm sorry," he said quietly as he gently brushed his fingers across the bruise.
Quinn flinched away from the touch, the mark still feeling tender, "It's fine," she answered, "Just get me untied."
"Yeah, sure," was all he replied with as he took his sword from its sheath. He easily sliced the blade across the rope, finally allowing Quinn to move around. She rolled her shoulders a few times to help loosen herself up more, "Here," Zander said, pushing both her sai into her hands.
"Thanks," she said, placing the weapons back into their holsters.
"Ice Spike: Ice Shotgun!" Norman shouted, sending out several larger icicles towards Walker with a forward punching motion. Walker was unable to keep up with these icicles and one hit him on the shoulder. Luckily, it only grazed the top of his shoulder, but it pinned him to the back wall by his clothes, "Sorry to interrupt your little moment, but we still have business to attend to," he said as he grabbed the back of Zander's jacket and threw him into the center of the cave.
Quinn tried to move to help him, but Zander stopped her, "I can handle this. Go help Walker," he said, earning a nod from Quinn before she moved back towards Walker. Zander stood up and faced Norman as the Ice Mage finally unsheathed Twilight Sliver.
"It's going to be quite amusing to kill you with your own master's sword," Norman smirked.
"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Zander asked, "But I'll be taking that sword back with me to Thunder Stone."
"I'd like to see you try," Norman said before he charged at Zander.
While that fight began, Yuna was still tied up on the floor with a gun still being aimed at her.
"Dammit! Why am I still tied up?!" she shouted, angry that she was the only one not able to fight at the moment.
"Just hang tight, bird brain," Diesel smirked as he approached the man that held the gun.
"Bird brain?!" Yuna yelled, "You better hope I don't get out of these ropes, you oil smear!"
"Geez, you try to help a girl and that's the thanks you get, you know what I mean?" he asked, looking down at the gunman since Diesel was currently towering over him.
"Uh…" was all the gunman replied with.
"You know what's about to happen, right?" Diesel asked, earning a nod from the man and a laugh from Diesel, "I really don't think you do," he said right before Yuna transformed into her black bear form, breaking the rope around her. She faced the gunman for a moment before she roared into his face and swiped at him. This knocked the gun out of his hand, causing the man to shout in fear and run into the fire ring with the other two men for protection.
Yuna transformed back to normal, smirking victoriously at her own work, "And that's how it's done."
"Then why didn't you do it earlier?" Diesel asked.
"He had a freaking gun pointed at me!" Yuna snapped.
"That's never stopped you before," he retorted, causing the two to start a full blown argument while Ink sighed heavily from Diesel's shoulder. The Exceed then looked towards the back of the cave to see the fourth man of Norman's group sneaking up on Quinn and Walker.
"Uh…guys," Ink said, "They might need our help," he added pointing towards their teammates.
The two looked where Ink had pointed before Diesel smirked, "Nah, they'll be fine."
"I actually feel bad for the poor bastard," Yuna laughed, "He's gonna take on Quinn's and Walker's anger all by himself."
"If you say so," Ink shrugged before sighing again when the duo started arguing again.
"I can't get this damn thing loose," Quinn mumbled as she tried to wiggle the imbedded icicle free.
"You're just going to have to cut me loose," Walker said, "Use your sai to cut the cloth from my shoulder."
"Yeah, alright," she answered, pulling her right sai from its holster. Before she could cut the cloth, Quinn happened to hear a light footstep behind her. She looked up at Walker, both exchanging knowing looks. She gave the blonde a small nod before she quickly swiped the end of her sai across the hanging cloth. She then pivoted on the ball of her foot, sending a kick at the man behind her with her other foot.
While the man was trying to regain his composure, Walker stepped forward now that he was free, "Too bad about that necklace," he smirked upon seeing the large, silver necklace that the man wore. The man gave Walker a confused stare as the Thunder Stone mage announced his next attack, "Weight Manipulation: Full Force!" he shouted, aiming his spell at the necklace. In an instant the man was slammed down on the ground, unable to move an inch. Walker continued to keep his Full Force spell activated in order to keep the man pinned to the ground.
"Good work," Quinn smiled, high fiving Walker with his free hand.
"You're weak, Zander Ealdwine!" Norman shouted, practically laughing at the younger man and gaining everyone's attention, "You were weak back then and you're weak now!"
"Shut up!" Zander shouted back as both men continued to clash swords, metallic sounds echoing off the cave walls.
"No wonder you couldn't do anything to save Sieglinde," Norman chuckled darkly.
"Stop!" Zander yelled, anger beginning to take over him again.
"You just stood there like an idiot," Norman said as he brought down the Twilight Sliver blade hard on Zander. Zander barely had enough time to swing his sword up to guard himself, the pressure from Norman causing him to step backwards, "And now you're just standing there like an idiot again."
"I'm not an idiot!"
"Is that so?" Norman smirked, "Then why does your pretty girl over there have a bruise on her cheek?"
Rage sparked deep within Zander, causing him to push against Twilight Sliver even harder, "You did that, not me! And I'm going to make you pay for that!"
"I really would love to see you do that," Norman replied, "But honestly, boy, it was your own fault. You were weak and you let her get captured. You gave me the chance to hit her."
"Shut up!" Zander shouted, continuing to put more force into his sword. His anger blinded him from the fact that his sword was starting to crack at the bottom from the sheer pressure being applied to it from both sides.
Norman noticed the crack, though, and his smile widened. He just needed one more sentence to send the redhead over the edge, "You gave me the chance to tarnish both women you cared for. I was able to kill Sieglinde because of you and I'll be able to kill your pretty girl in front of you too."
Zander shouted as he pushed against the swords again, the blade of his sword finally cracking completely. The sword snapped in half, causing Zander to tumble forwards. Norman laughed loudly as he caught the redhead and pushed him backwards. Zander landed hard on his backside, his eyes going wide at being outdone by the man now towering over him. How could he have been so stupid to let his anger control him like that? How was he going to stop Norman now when Twilight Sliver was pointed at his throat?
"I think I'll use the spell that killed your master to kill you as well," Norman said, "It's rather fitting, don't you think? Plus, I've been able to perfect it since I used it on Sieglinde, so it will be a grand finale for you!" he laughed, "Although, it'll be just as grand to use Twilight Sliver on you too. I wouldn't have to waste so much power that way on such a weak boy," he said, thinking on it for a moment before another wide smile spread across his face, "Yes, I'll use the sword. Sword Magic: Darkness-"
Before Norman could finish casting his spell, he was roughly knocked down by Quinn. She had launched herself at the man when she couldn't stand watching or listening to the scene. She saw that Zander wasn't moving and there was no way that she was going to let a prick like Norman take him out. Norman tried to swipe Twilight Sliver at her as they both fell to the ground, but Quinn caught the blade. The metal tore through her right glove and bit into the skin. Blood leaked out instantly from the wound, but Quinn ignored the pain as she held the sword down as well as his other arm with her left hand. She sat on top of him in order to keep him pinned to the ground, staring down at him with a scowl.
"What do you expect to do to me?" Norman asked, "If you let go, I'll kill you."
"You think Sieglinde did damage when she took that eye of yours?" Quinn asked with a dark smirk, "I'll take more than that from you. Remember, I did say that I would return that hit of yours tenfold," she explained, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment. She had to steel herself for what she was about to do. When she felt ready, her eyes flew open and locked with Norman's purple eye, "Memory Take: Complete Extraction," she said calmly before a wave of power and memories hit her mind. Her teeth clenched hard as Norman's memories began to fill her mind as well as his Ice Magic abilities.
"Dammit," Walker cursed under his breath, knowing exactly what was going on. He had seen Quinn use this spell before and he hadn't liked it back then. He was sure that it wouldn't end well this time either.
"What is she doing?" Diesel asked.
"It's called Complete Extraction," Walker answered, "It's the most powerful spell she has. She takes all of an opponent's spells, adding them to her collection."
"That's good right?" Yuna asked, "Then Norman won't be able to use the Ice Magic."
"It would be good if there wasn't a downside to the spell," Walker replied, "She also inherits all of the opponent's memories along with the spells. This allows her to use the spells at their full potential instead of just mimicking them, but the memories tend to take their toll on Quinn's mind, especially if they're bad memories; and I'm going to say that Norman doesn't have the best of them."
The group quieted as they continued watching the struggle going on. Even if they had wanted to stop Quinn from what she was doing, it was too late. She had already started the Extraction spell and it could cause problems if they tried to stop it now.
Soon enough, Quinn came to the final ice spell that Norman had and it was the one that he had used on Sieglinde in her final battle. Quinn clenched her teeth harder upon seeing a woman fall at Norman's hands and a younger Zander standing off in the background. After a few moments longer, the extraction was complete and Quinn released her tight hold on Norman. He pushed her off of him as he sat up, holding his head.
"What the hell did you do to me?"
"I took your Ice Magic from you," she answered, holding her own head, "You can't use that magic any longer."
Norman's eyes went wide and tried to use one of his ice spells, but nothing came from it. He tried it a few more times, but nothing happened, "You little bitch!" he shouted as he stood and began making his way towards Quinn, who was still on the ground holding her head. Her mind was swimming with all the memories and the new powers. She was trying to keep hold of herself, but memories that weren't her own kept pushing to the surface. There was no way of defending herself at that point in time. Right as Norman was going to strike with Twilight Sliver, Zander's voice interrupted them.
"Gunblade: Load," he stated in a hard tone, pointing a new sword at Norman. This sword was made out of a gold metal with a pale blue outline and a blue diamond pattern down the middle of the blade. The gold hilt appeared to look like wings and the gold handle had a pale blue cloth wrapped around it. At the handle of the blade a magic image of a gun trigger appeared as well as small ticks along the hilt that represented the number of charges that the sword had remaining on it. Since Zander had yet to use any magic with this sword, it was fully charged at thirty ticks, "Back down, Norman."
"You decided to play the hero now, boy?" Norman asked, turning to face him. This gave the rest of the team a chance to move in front of Quinn to protect her.
Zander ignored Norman's ploy to get him angry again, "This is my Iced Sword. What was it you said earlier? It's rather fitting to die by your own magic? You won't be able to block any attacks from it now that you don't have that Ice Magic of yours."
"Don't get cocky," Norman grumbled, "I still have your pretty girl," he added, turning back to take down Quinn only to come face to face with three angry mages. Norman stepped back away from the group, being taken aback by their sudden appearance. He looked around for his men to help him, but he saw that they were all down for the count, "Dammit," he cursed.
"Looks like the tables have turned on you, Norman," Zander said, "It'd be better if you just gave up now."
"I told you not to get cocky, didn't I?!" Norman shouted, "I still have Twilight Sliver and the power that comes with it. I'll still kill you with Sieglinde's sword!"
"And I told you I'll be taking it home with me!" Zander shouted back just as the two men charged at each other once again for their final battle.
A/N: There you go! I hope you all enjoyed it!
Like I said, that last scene was a little longer since there was a bunch going on it in and I couldn't find a good stopping point until that last part...obviously, lol. But I figured most of you won't mind the length of it either.
I'll have the next one up soon!
Please remember to review!
Yours Truly,
MyDearWatson