Time to celebrate, everyone! I'm finally back with another chapter for all of you to enjoy. Yes, yes, I'm sorry. I know that I had four updates in a month then nothing for the next month. But I have an excuse! That excuse would be that the end of 11th grade is really hard. Not even joking, I had to write five essays, make two movies, give five presentations, and then take seven final exams. At least it's summer vacation now, and I can chip away at my mountain of summer homework at my leisure.
But enough about me. Let's talk about the story. There's tons of humor, tons of drama, The Look makes an appearance, an epic battle scene, and, at the end, Jessica's "big" secret is revealed. (Note how big is in quotation marks.)
Anyway, here's the boring legal part that we all need to see:
Dragon Quest IX is property of Square Enix and Nintendo and not me and probably not you.
What I do own are the characters that I make up, such as Michael and Jessica.
There. Now we just need to get through the reviews, and then you can start the next chapter.
Sir. nick of dragons: I'm happy that you approve of my decisions. Not that you had any choice in the matter.
Princessdaisy01: Shh! You're going to spoil it, maybe... (*wink wink*)
Luckenhaft: Funny story, I hadn't heard of that character from Dragon Quest VIII until long after I had already created Jessica in my own game.
Yurei Hanatsuki: Thank you for the smiley face. Oh, and you can take Wormwood Creek, but I want Upover.
Act 1 - Part 4: The Wight Knight
(Michael's POV)
The sun had already begun its long descent towards the horizon when Stella and I returned to the Quester's Rest. Stella had thankfully stopped complaining about our mission, but I could tell she was still unhappy about it. Not that I was going to let that bother me, or anything.
Now, given that fact that Erinn had arrived in town only a few hours ago, I was not expecting what I saw when I walked through the front door. During the time Stella and I were exploring Stornway, the inn had clearly opened for business and apparently had become the most popular place in town to stay, as there was now an immense crowd of people inside the inn. I was so surprised, in fact, that I turned around and walked back outside.
"What's the matter, Michael?" asked Stella, who had stayed outside waiting for me.
"Nothing…," I replied, scratching my head while staring at the building. "Just making sure we're at the right place."
"Why? This is clearly Erinn's inn. What else could it be?" Stella asked, annoyed.
"I don't know. It's just weird."
"What's weird?"
"Erinn's inn is already super busy," I explained.
"Wha…How? It must have just opened!" Stella exclaimed.
"I know. I don't get it either."
"Well, she clearly has a gift when it comes to innkeeping. If that's the case, then I guess she'll be too busy to help us find a mage. Let's go somewhere else."
"Nice try, Stella," I replied, easily seeing through her words. "Besides, it was Patty who said she could help us find partners, not Erinn."
"Oh, yeah… How could I forget," Stella mumbled, upset that her latest attempt at stopping me was foiled. "Well, you better go back inside and see what Patty can do."
I smiled. "Thank you, Stella. Now, let's try this again." Turning around, I walked back into the building, now knowing what to expect. After fighting my through the crowd, I finally managed to reach the front counter, where Erinn and Patty were standing. Erinn was swamped with customers, so she didn't notice my arrival. Patty, however, was just standing there doing nothing.
"Hey there, Michael! Did I welcome you to my Party Planning place yet?" she greeted rather enthusiastically.
"Party Planning place?" I repeated, rather confused.
"Yeah. This is the place to hook up with new party members," Patty explained.
"Oh. That's perfect since that's exactly what I need."
"Really? And are you looking for any specific kind of person?"
"Yes, actually. I'm in need of a mage. Do you happen to have anyone who's interested?" As soon as I said that, I saw something flash across Patty's eyes, but I couldn't tell what it was.
"A mage, huh?" Patty repeated. "Well, there just happens to be a mage staying here at the moment. She's a friend of mine, and she might be interested in joining you on your journey."
"Really?" I exclaimed, not believing my luck. "Can you go ask her now? I'm kind of on a time constraint."
"Of course, honey," she answered. But as she was leaving, she paused and turned back to me. "Actually, there is one thing I should mention about her."
"What?"
"She's not exactly a normal mage," Patty explained. "She's a little different than others."
I smiled. "I think a can handle 'a little different.'"
"Yeah? Then wait right here while I get her for you honey," she said in a hurry before running through a back door just as quickly.
'Huh,' I thought to myself. 'She seems a little too excited for this kind of thing. I wonder why.'
(Jessica's POV)
I was lying in bed staring at my ceiling. I wasn't trying to fall asleep as much as I was trying to relax, but that was rather difficult because someone started thundering up the staircase. Annoyed, I grabbed a pillow and pushed it over my ears, trying to block out the sound. Thankfully, it stopped after a few seconds, but just as I was about to get back to relaxing, a deafening pounding from the other side of the door to my room shattered the silence.
"Jessica! Jessica! Are you there, honey?" I heard Patty scream through the door.
"Yeah… Hang on," I answered back. If Patty was this excited for something, I figured I may as well check it out and see what's up. I slowly rolled off my bed, stretched, straightened out my dress, grabbed my wand, and walked over to the door. I opened it to find a super hyper and impatient Patty pacing outside my door. "What is it, Patty?" I asked, hoping it was something good.
"I have some great news for ya! I found someone who'd be willing to let you join their party!" Patty exclaimed, clearly proud of herself.
"I doubt it. It will just end the same way all the other times had, with me coming back here all alone," I decided.
"Not this time, honey. I already told him-"
"What did you tell him!?" I snapped suddenly.
Patty seemed to be a little taken aback by my outburst. "Nothing. I only told him that you're a little different, honey."
"And…?"
"He says he doesn't care about it," Patty concluded.
"I see. And he's waiting downstairs now?"
"Yup."
"Well, I suppose I may as well go and see him. Just let me grab my things."
"No problem, honey," Patty replied. It looked like she was struggling to not break out in celebration. I shook my head, went back into my room and grabbed my bag, which held some food and medicine. Nothing fancy.
"Okay, Patty. Let's go."
(Michael's POV)
While waiting for Patty to return, I was resting at one of the tables in the inn. I was grateful for this moment where I could close my eyes and just relax. It seems like only yesterday that I was fighting the Hexagoon. Wait, it was yesterday. Never mind.
I was also grateful for the fact that I didn't have to listen to Stella's complaining for a little while, since she was waiting for me outside.
"What's taking you so flapping long!?"
Of course. I opened my eyes and, lo and behold, Stella was fluttering in the air in front of me. Keeping my voice low to not attract anyone else's attention, I replied, "What's your problem now, Stella?"
"You're taking way too flappin' long. If we have to do this, I want to get it done with as soon as possible. So hurry up!"
I sighed and looked out the window. "Look, the Wight Knight isn't coming until sundown, and as the sun is still rather high in the sky, I think we have plenty of time to wait. As it were, Patty is getting a mage for us now. They should be here any moment."
"Good. I'm going to wait in here with you until we're all ready to go."
"Great. Whatever. I don't care. Oh, thank the Almighty: there's Patty now. Let's go see what's up." I walked over to the counter where Patty was waiting and asked, "So, does she want to come?"
"She's willing to give you a chance, honey," Patty answered cheerfully. Then her voice suddenly became lower. "But remember, she's a little different from other mages, and she feels terrible about herself sometimes because of it. So, be kind to her, will ya, hon'?
"Of course, Patty," I replied.
"Good. Now let me bring her out here for you." Patty turned around, opened the door behind her and spoke to someone on the other side. "He's ready to see you now. Come on out and meet him, honey."
Patty stepped to the side, and there, standing in the doorway, was the very-red girl I ran into earlier. "Michael, this is Jessica. Jessica, this is Michael," Patty introduced.
"You!" we both shouted in surprise once we saw each other.
"Um…" Patty said, rather confused. "Do you guys know each other?"
"We kind of ran into each other earlier," I explained.
"It's a long story, Patty. Don't worry about it," Jessica added.
"I won't," Patty replied. "Well, my job here's done. Good luck on your travels, honey!"
I thanked Patty for her help and left the inn. Outside, I turned towards Jessica and said, "Let's get going. It's almost sundown."
"Wait, you want to go now?" Jessica asked, surprised. "Shouldn't we wait until morning before we go anywhere?"
"Nope," I answered, already heading towards the gate out of town. "I – we – have something we have to do tonight."
"Fine," Jessica said, following me. "What is it?"
"Have you heard of the Wight Knight?"
"Yeah, I think everyone here has. Why?"
A small smile came to my lips. "We're going to meet him on behalf of King Schott."
Jessica stopped where she stood. "What!?" She screamed that so loudly that a few nearby She-Slimes ran away. "Are you crazy?"
"Possibly."
"That's a terrible idea! Do you know how powerful he is? He took out who squadrons of soldiers!"
Stella, who Jessica couldn't see, appeared next to me. "Yes! Someone who agrees with me! Come on, Michael. It's two against one here. Give it up."
I happily ignored Stella. "Look, Jessica, you don't have to come if you don't want to. You can go back to Stornway whenever you want. As for me, I'm going to meet the Wight Knight. It's your choice."
Jessica just stood there for a moment, thinking. She looked at me, then back at Stornway, then back at me. "Ah, why not," she ultimately decided. "I don't have anything better to do. I mean, who knows? We might actually survive this."
"Oh, come flapping on!" Stella yelled.
"That's the spirit," I said to Jessica. "Now, let's hurry over to Loch Storn. Night won't wait for us forever."
"Lead the way, Michael."
As we walked towards Loch Storn, we started talking about ourselves. Jessica started. "Well, I lived my whole life in the eastern town of Coffinwell until a few years ago, when I left to go adventuring. It's a nice town full of nice people, and my parents still live there."
"That sounds nice," I replied.
"It is. Although, I haven't heard from them in while; but I guess that's probably because the border between Stornway and Coffinwell is closed right now."
"You're probably right. I wouldn't worry too much about it," I supported.
"Thanks. And what about you? Where are you from?"
"Where am I from?" I repeated. "That's a good question. I suppose I never really had a home. I've always been traveling from town to town." I never liked lying to people, but I felt I had to at this point. "However, if I had to choose a place to call home, I'd probably say Angel Falls."
"I see," Jessica replied. "And what do you do during your travels?"
"I go around and help as many people as I can. What about you? What do you do on your adventures?"
"I just go around occasionally helping out other adventurers for a little while," Jessica explained. Then a suspicious smile came to her face. "Nothing too mage-r."
I stopped right where I was and twitched. Stella, on the other hand, began laughing uncontrollably. "The look on your face right now," she managed to get out between laughs. "It's totally priceless. I wish you could see it."
I quickly gave Stella the Look, which caused her to shut up almost immediately. Then I turned towards Jessica, who was clearly struggling to contain her own laughter. "I-I'm sorry," she managed to get out. "I couldn't help it. It was too good of an opportunity."
I just rubbed my temples and turned away. 'She clearly feels terrible about herself,' I thought to myself as I quickly hurried away.
"Hey, wait for me, Michael! I said I'm sorry!"
When we reached Loch Storn, the sun was just above the water, turning everything a beautiful shade of orange. An island could be seen in the distance. The main area we were standing in was a grassy field with large cliffs on either side.
It wasn't quite night yet, so we decided to sit under one of the cliffs and rest while we waited for the Wight Knight to appear.
After a while, Stella appeared again. "This is where the Wight Knight's supposed to be waiting for the princess, right?" Stella asked. "I can't see head nor tail of him. Surely he's not going to stand us up!" She turned to me. "What do you reckon, Michael? Want to give it a bit longer?" I nodded, so that I didn't catch Jessica's attention. "Whatever. I needed some time to relax anyway."
Sometime later, after the moon had risen into the sky and all the monsters except the Drackmages and Winksters had fallen asleep already, Stella reappeared again. "Huh!" she said indignantly. "Still no sign of him! What sort of knight would stand up a lady in a place like this? Why don't we go back to Stornway? We should go back and tell the king the Wight Knight didn't turn up."
"Fine," I agreed. I turned to Jessica, who had also fallen asleep at this point, and started to wake her up. "Wake up, Jessica. We're going back to Stornway now."
She started to stir. "Mm-kay. The Wight Knight hasn't shown up yet, has he?"
"Nope," I answered. "I don't know where he-" I froze.
Stella, who was a distance behind me, suddenly stopped. "…Why do I get the feeling that, if I turn around, he'll be standing right there?" I heard her ask.
"Michael, what's wrong?" Jessica asked, having fully awakened after seeing what must have been pure terror on my face.
Behind me, Stella slowly turned around and turned deathly pale. "Y-y-y-yikes!" she cried out. "I w-was only flapping j-joking!"
Jessica, now fully concerned, followed my gaze to the top of the opposing cliff, where, mounted on a black horse, covered head to foot in black armor, was a knight.
The Wight Knight.
Jessica quickly jumped up and hid behind me, and Stella disappeared to wherever she disappears to. At the same time, the Wight Knight descended from the cliff, jumping from rock to rock on his way down. As he landed directly in front of us, we slowly backed away from him.
"Who are you?" he asked in a deep, dark voice. "I have no business with you. Where is the princess?" He reached behind him and pulled out a huge lance, which he pointed at us. "Release the princess! Release my beautiful princess!" he ordered. His faceplate suddenly flipped open by itself, revealing nothing but a skull with glowing red eyes beneath it. My blood chilled at the sight of it and Jessica let out a tiny scream. He then began to charge at us.
I immediately pushed Jessica out of the way and leapt to the side myself, barely dodging the thundering hooves of the Wight Knight's horse. He quickly pulled his horse around and began another charge towards me; this time holding out is lance. Ready for him, I lifted my shield and readied my sword. When he passed by, he hit my shield with such force that my whole arm went into shock, but I ignored it and swung my sword with my other arm, landing a hit on the Wight Knight's passing leg, creating a hollow ringing sound.
A hollow ringing sound? Was the Wight Knight nothing more than an armored skeleton? If so, then this battle might be a little more difficult than I had thought.
As the Wight Knight made his third charge at me, I realized something was missing. "Hey, Jessica!" I called out. "Anytime you want to help out and throw some magic at this guy, it would be greatly appreciated."
Jessica, who had been petrified with fear this whole time, finally came back to reality. "What? Oh, sorry! I'll try to help out a little more." She immediately followed this by holding her wand up and launching a small fireball from it, which landed a direct hit on the Wight Knight's torso, causing it to become a bright red as it became superheated. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I jumped up and slashed across the front of the hot, soft metal, leaving a massive dent across it.
The Wight Knight, now facing two immediate threats, filled his lance with energy, spun it around a few times and attacked randomly four consecutive times. Three of those times, it attacked me, knocking me back a bit, but otherwise leaving me relatively unscathed. The fourth time, the lance was directed at Jessica, who barely managed to raise her shield in time to defend the attack, the force of which threw her back a few feet.
At first, I was worried about Jessica, but when she stood back up, I could see that she was more annoyed than she was hurt. Before the Wight Knight could attack again, Jessica held up her wand again. Suddenly, the air around the Wight Knight shimmered and warped before igniting in a small explosion, knocking him back and shooting dust everywhere.
Taking advantage of the opportunity once again, I ran up and landed a few more hits across his armor, then got out of the way as Jessica cast another spell, this time creating a large chunk of ice in the sky, which fell on the Wight Knight and shattered, scattering ice all over the field and really pissing him off, but otherwise appearing to have no effect on him.
Enraged, the Wight Knight pulled back to the other side of the field, charged his lance with electricity, and began charging straight at me. Getting real tired of this, I raised my sword and shield and ran at the Wight Knight as well. On my way, however, I slipped on a leftover chunk of ice and fell on my back, stunned. My sword had fallen a few feet away.
Within moments, the Wight Knight had reached me and had reared his horse back, ready to crush me. I held my shield up in the hope it would be able to take the impending impact.
As the horse's legs began to drop, I heard Jessica scream, "Hang on to something!" Looking towards her, I saw that she had summoned a small whirlwind, which was flying across the field. I quickly leapt for my sword and thrust it into the ground as the miniature tornado flew past, almost carrying me off. The Wight Knight wasn't so lucky, getting caught in the twister and thrown across the field into the opposite cliff. He fell on the ground with a loud thump.
After a moment, he started moving again. I pulled my sword out of the ground as he struggled to rise, but he only managed to get to a kneeling position with his head hung in defeat. "I don't understand," he said. His voice was still deep, but it wasn't as dark as it was earlier. "Why would the princess send you in her place? Why has my beloved Mona forsaken me? Does our promise no longer mean anything to her?"
I looked at Jessica, who had walked up next to me, and saw that she looked as confused as I did. Mona? The princess of Stornway was Simona. Stella suddenly appeared next to me, also confused. "Any idea what he's on about, Michael? Who's this Mona? The princess in Stornway's called Simona, right? Not Mona. This knight's got a nail loose, if you ask me."
The Wight Knight turned to Stella. "Is, is that really true?" he asked. Stella jumped a mile upon being addressed, and Jessica just looked more confused.
"Who is he talking to, Michael?" she asked. I shrugged.
"Yikes!" Stella screamed. "How come you can see me? You gave me a right flapping shock there!"
The Wight Knight ignored her. "You have to tell me," he desperately pleaded to us. "Is the girl in the castle really not Princess Mona?"
Jessica and I glanced at each other, than back at the Knight. "No," I replied. "She is Simona, Princess of Stornway."
He looked down to the ground, completely defeated. "Oh, woe is me!" he cried out. "So she wasn't my princess after all. Now you mention it, she wasn't wearing the royal necklace of Brigadoom…" He stood up fully and turned towards the water. After a long pause, he continued. "…I was in a very deep sleep…Then the earthquake happened, and I awoke in this strange land feeling as though I had been released from some kind of…prison…I'd completely lost my memory, so much so that I didn't even remember who I was anymore. Then I saw that princess and it all came rushing back to me. Memories of Mona and I." He turned back to us. "I remembered that I am the Wight Knight. And I remembered that Mona is the princess of my homeland of Brigadoom. Princess Mona and I had sworn undying love for each other and were to be wed."
"So he went and confused Princess Simona for Princess Mona?" Stella asked. "Blimey! They must be the splitting images of each other…" I subtly nodded in agreement.
The Wight Knight looked past us into the distance. "Hmm…" he murmured. "I must do the honorable thing. I must return to the castle and apologize for my mistake."
"Uh-oh," Stella said. "I'd try to talk him down from that if I were you, Michael. It'll probably just make things worse." It seemed Jessica shared the same feeling.
The Wight Knight, who had started listening to Stella again, replied, "Make things worse? Yes, I fear you may be correct. Then perhaps you could take a message on my behalf?"
Jessica, who probably assumed that the Wight Knight was flat out crazy at this point, answered for us. "Sure we can. What do you want us to say?"
The Wight Knight looked at her. "Tell them I won't go near the castle again. I'm sure the real Princess Mona will be waiting for me back in Brigadoom. All I have to do now is find my way home." He climbed back on his horse and rode out of the Loch – thankfully – away from Stornway.
Once he was out of sight, Jessica and I both released a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured me. "I'm more worried about you. You took a lot of hits out there."
"Don't worry. I'm a lot stronger than I appear."
"Yeah, I saw. You looked pretty deadly with that sword."
"Thanks," I replied. "So, what do you think of this whole ordeal, with Princess Mona and Brigadoom and whatnot?"
"I don't know," she answered. "I've never even heard of a place called Brigadoom.
"Me neither. Maybe someone back in Stornway has heard of it. We can ask around after we report to the king."
"Sure," she agreed. "But now, I just want to go back to the inn and rest. I'm super exhausted and just happy to still be alive."
"Yeah. It's a good thing we had your magic. I would have been toast without it."
"I'm just happy I could help," she replied.
"What magic did you use anyway? Wait, don't tell me. I want to see I can still remember what they were called." It had been a long time since I had studied the various types of magic, so it was a little difficult for me to recall what each spell was called. "Let's see," I began. "You used Frizz, then Bang and Crack, and at the end you used Woosh."
Jessica was staring at me with a curious look on her face as I said this, but she didn't say anything. She seemed interested in what I was going to say next.
"Wait a sec…" I said as I remembered one last small detail. "How are you able to use Woosh? Mages shouldn't be able to learn that spell. Just minstrels and luminaries." After I said that, I noticed that Jessica started to frown a little. "What's wro- Oh…" I had a sudden realization. "Is that how you're different from other mages? You know how to use wind magic?"
With a cautious look on her face, all she said in response was "Yup."
"And you feel terrible about yourself because of it?"
Again, she seemed wary of the current situation. "Uh...yes."
For a moment, I stood there in silence, trying to comprehend what I had just heard. Failing to do so, I instead bursted out loudly in confusion. "That's it!? That's preposterous!"
Jessica seemed concerned about my outburst. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Why would you feel bad about having an extra spell in your arsenal?
"Uh...Well...Everyone else I had traveled with had said that...um...I was weird and messed up when they found out about...it. I guess most people just didn't want to deal with...it," she answered.
"Seriously!?" I exclaimed, not noticing the odd way in which she was speaking. I could barely believe what I was hearing as it was. "Are some people really such jerks that they don't even know a great opportunity when they see one!? ...How did you even learn wind magic in the first place?"
"I…don't know," she replied. "I was just practicing magic one day and I suddenly used Woosh. I have no idea where it came from."
"Huh. Anyway, you shouldn't feel so bad about yourself because of this. In fact, you should feel lucky to have this ability."
"Really?" Jessica asked.
"Absolutely," I answered.
"So...you're not going to...freak out on me or...anything because of this?" she asked.
"Of course not!" I replied. "Now let's get back to Stornway. I'm tired."
Jessica smiled, seeming content with herself. "Sure thing, Michael. And let's hurry – sunrise is going to be in a couple of hours."
UPDATE: Alright people. Here are the facts. Originally, the huge reveal of Jessica being able to use wind magic was a whole lot more dramatic than where it currently stands. Considering what it was, that obviously didn't work very well, and many of you readers had told me how you felt about it. As it was, I agreed with most of you guys. As such, I have decided to come back to this chapter and revise that scene so it isn't so ridiculously overdramatic. The overall result of the scene is the exact same, so don't worry about having missed some critical information. It's just greatly toned down to a more realistic level. Anyway, I'll talk more about this in Part 9 of Act 1, which will be the next chapter uploaded after I make this update. I'll see you guys then.
And there you have it, folks: Part 4 of Act 1. I do hope it was worth the wait. And yes, I know. Jessica's secret was super anti-climatic. Or was it? (*laughs evilly*)
Before I go, I want to announce one last thing. In this chapter, Michael met his first partner, Jessica. What I'm proposing is this: I have two other people planned to join his party in the future. I already know who they are, what their vocations are going to be, and what they're personalities are like. What I don't have planned is how they're going to be added into the story. So, what I'm thinking of doing is allowing you, the readers, to make suggestions in your reviews on how either of these two characters will be introduced to Michael (One suggestion per review, please). If I like your suggestion better than what I have already planned, I will add it to the story. Ultimately, there can be any number of winners to this contest. There may easily be none, or perhaps a lot of people all came up with several variations of an excellent idea. Oh, and one last thing: I'm purposely not telling you anything about these characters, so you will have to make blind guesses while writing your suggestions. So, you could easily get their gender or vocation wrong. If you want to take part in this, I wish you luck.
And, as always, please mention any typos, errors, or inconsistencies that you find in the chapter.
If you enjoyed what you read, or if you want to take part in my "contest," please favorite, follow, and review. It means a lot.
Until next time, this has been DScribbleF.
