It's that time of year again, when summer finally comes to an end and school starts back up for another year. It's also time for a new chapter in the adventures of Michael, Jessica, and Allison. Also, apparently, Dragon Quest XI comes out next week in the west, so that's exciting.
This was an interesting chapter to write, and I hope you all enjoy it. So, without much further ado, here it is.
Disclaimer
Dragon Quest IX is the property of Square Enix and Nintendo and not me and probably not you.
What I do own are the characters that I make up, including, but not limited to, Michael, Jessica, and Allison, as well as some of the crazy things that happen to them.
Reviews:
Chronos0305: The fourth party member will join...eventually. Definitely at some point during Act 2. Of course, feel free to speculate about who, where, and why.
Bropower125: I'm aware the disclaimer isn't strictly necessary, but it's not like it hurts the story in anyway. Also, that's an interesting guess.
Act 2 – Part 6: Jona and the Lleviathan
(Jessica's POV)
We ran through the small beach beyond Porth Llaffan's western gate as quickly as we could, killing any Badboon or Cyclown that dared get in my way. I had a terrible feeling something awful was going to happen to Jona, and I wanted to do everything in my power to stop it.
The path soon turned south, and we found ourselves standing on an isolated shoreline, surrounded by cliffs. Michael whistled as he turned and looked up at the expansive network of caves and paths across the rock walls. The morning sun cast the cliffs into shadow, giving it an ominous aura.
"Bryson said that the mayor took Jona to Cuddiedig Cliff, right?" he asked.
"Yeah," I confirmed.
He sighed. "I bet they're up there somewhere."
I shuddered at the thought of the daunting task before us. It could take us hours to find the proper way through the caves, but we had to do it. For Jona.
"It looks like there's only one entrance," Allison pointed out. "We may as well get-" she began to say before she got blasted in the face by a black liquid, knocking her over. "What was that!?" she yelled. "I can't see! It's all over my glasses!"
Michael and I both quickly turned to where the attack had come from and found a bright red Knocktopus jumping out of the water, clearly trying to ambush us.
"Jessica, you go help Allison," Michael quickly ordered. "I'll take care of this guy." Before we could act, however, we were interrupted by two streams of fire from above. I looked up and saw that two Chimeras had come to join the attack. "Shit," Michael cursed. "Go!"
I ran as quickly as I could towards Allison, who was blindly stumbling around, trying to find something to get the black goo out of her eyes. As I got close to her, I felt something grab my leg and pull me onto the ground. I rolled over to see that the Knocktopus has managed to sneak past Michael, taking advantage of the Chimeras' distraction. "Let go of me!" I yelled as I sent a quick Frizz to the tentacle that it was holding me with. The monster hissed in pain as it recoiled from the fire.
Getting back on my feet, I wasted no time running the rest of the way to Allison. As I reached her, I heard a slight whistling coming from behind me. I turned to look and then immediately dived to the ground, pulling Allison with me, as a line of horns punctured the cliff face where we were standing just moments before.
"Jessica, what's going on!?" Allison asked, slightly panicked.
"Nothing to worry about," I reassured. "Just some monsters."
"Monsters? Where?" Allison asked, grabbing her staff.
"Can you even see right now!?" I responded as I sent a Crackle at the rapidly approaching Knocktopus, causing it to bounce into the air before rolling back onto its feet, unfazed.
"…No."
"Then why would you think it would be a good idea to swing your staff around blindly right now!?" I questioned as I frantically cast Boom at the stupid Knocktopus, who somehow managed to deftly avoid each one.
As it got closer, it extended the spikes around its head and jumped, spiraling towards me like a wheel of death. I raised my shield, bracing for impact, when Allison's staff suddenly swung around me and hit the Knocktopus so hard, time seemed to slow down for a moment as multiple snaps, cracks, and pops came from within the monster's body. Time quickly returned to normal and the monster crashed straight into the cliff face, bursting into purple dust and leaving a small crater.
"Sounds like it was a good idea."
"How did you do that?" I asked, surprised. "I thought you couldn't see!"
"I couldn't," Allison replied. "I guess it was mostly luck."
"Luck?" I repeated, feeling my eye starting to twitch.
"Well, I figured it was worth the risk."
"Worth the risk? The risk was me losing my head if you missed!"
"You're welcome?"
"For what?"
"Defeating that monster before it hit you."
I grumbled something under my breath that I think contained the word thanks as I dug through my bag, pulling out a cloth and handing it to Allison. "Here. Use this to clean off your face. I like you better when you can see."
"Thanks," Allison accepted, probably rolling her eyes beneath the ink.
Michael rejoined us as Allison finished cleaning her face. "Are you two alright?" he asked, concerned.
"Yeah," I replied. "That Knocktopus nearly got us, though."
"Sorry about letting it get past me," he apologized. "Those Chimeras ended up being more troublesome than I had expected. At last I manage to grab these, though." He held up his hand to reveal a pair of Chimera Wings. "I'm sure these will be helpful at some point."
"Almighty, Michael!" Allison yelled. "What happened to your arm!?"
Michael glanced down at his raised arm, which was horribly singed and slightly on fire. "Oh," he remarked. "Yeah, I keep forgetting that Gladiators can't use shields. I ended up sticking my arm straight into the Chimeras' fire breath a few times out of habit."
Allison stepped over and grabbed his arm, working on healing it. "You need to be more careful, Michael. We can't risk you losing your arm every time a monster attacks us. I can't heal that."
"We all need to be more careful," Michael corrected, more serious now. "Those monsters caught us completely by surprise, and they almost beat us."
"They're getting smarter, too," I added. "This almost seemed like it was a planned ambush. Like they were waiting for us."
Allison nodded in agreement. "We'll just have to be more aware of our surroundings, then; and make sure that we don't give the monsters any more opportunities to sneak up on us," she said, emphasizing the point by sticking her staff into the ground, which resulted in an odd gurgling sound coming from it. We all looked down towards the source of the noise, revealing a Mudraker that had come out of the ground and was about to grab Allison's leg, but had gotten stabbed straight through the body with her staff before it succeeded. It made one last gurgling sound before bursting into more purple dust. Allison blinked a few times in shock, before speaking. "Okay, starting now, we all need to be more aware of our surroundings.
Progress through the caves were slow. The only way across the monster-infested pools within each cave were thin, slippery stones that happened to form a web of paths between several small islands. Each of us had almost slipped and fell into the water several times already, causing us to be even warier than before.
"There's still no sign of Mayor Bryce or Jona," I lamented as we reached another rock path just barely sticking out of the water. "How did they even manage to get through here?"
"I honestly have no idea," Michael answered. "Is it just me, or does it seem like we're the only ones that have problems going through areas like this?"
"You're thinking about it too hard, Michael," Allison responded. "It's actually quite simple," she began to explain. "You see, we- AUGH!" Before she could finish her explanation, Allison slipped once again, but this time, she wasn't able to catch herself, and she fell into the water.
"Allison!" I called out. "Are you okay?"
"Well, my butt hurts, and my clothes are soaked," she responded from where she was sitting in the water. "Otherwise, I'm just doing fan…tas…tic..." she suddenly trailed off.
"Allison?" I asked, concerned by her sudden silence. No response. I noticed that she had gone completely still, and that her face had become very pale in the dim light. I followed her quivering gaze out into the water, and I immediately understood what the issue was. Sitting a little way away from Allison in the water was a Crabid, who was staring right back into Allison's eyes. "Okay. This again." I bent down and grabbed Allison's arms, and tried lifting her out of the water. "It's just a Crabid, Allison. It's not even a real bug. Plus, it's probably more scared of you than you are of it."
With my support, Allison started responding again and slowly stood up in the water. Halfway there, however, the Crabid, who had continued to lock eyes with Allison, moved a little.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Screaming loudly, Allison jumped out of the water with such force that she lifted me off my own feet a few inches, causing me to lose my own balance. Thankfully, Michael was there to catch both of us before we both fell into the water. The Crabid, also screaming, scuttled away into the darkness.
"What happened?" Michael asked, very obviously confused.
"C-Cra…B-bu…" Allison stuttered incoherently while continuing to hyperventilate.
"Jessica?" Michael asked again, clearly not expecting much more from Allison.
"Right," I responded. "We probably should have mentioned this earlier, but Allison is horribly afraid of Bugs," I explained. "Like, really bad, which you can clearly see."
"But, why was she scared of a Crabid?" Michael asked. "It's not a bug."
"Actually, it is considered part of the Bug Family, Michael," Stella suddenly chimed in, appearing out of nowhere with her Battle Records. "At least, that's what the Battle Records categorized them as."
"What? That makes no sense though," Michael argued. "Are you sure it was recorded right?" Stella stared daggers at Michael with his words. "Never mind. Of course it's right. But I still don't understand why Crabids are considered bugs. They're clearly not."
"Well," Stella explained, "they're still a Bug, even if they're not a bug."
Michael looked like he was just slapped in the face by that explanation. "That makes no sense!" he yelled.
"Sure it does," I argued. "Allison is scared of Bugs, regardless if they're a bug or not."
Michael's eye started to twitch, and he started sputtering, unable to find words. "But- Wha- Tha- No- You know what? I give up!" Michael cried, throwing his hands into the air in defeat. "Next you'll tell me that the Man o' Wars aren't part of the Slime Family. This is stupid, it makes no sense, and I can't believe we're wasting valuable time arguing about something this pointless. We have someplace to be!" Grumbling in frustration, Michael stormed off along the path.
"Allison, are you okay?" I asked, still concerned for my friend, who was finally starting to recover.
"I think I'll be alright," she answered softly, still a bit shaken. "Sorry for causing so much trouble again."
"Don't worry about it," I reassured. "Stella, what's wrong?" I asked, noticing that she had a concerned look on her face.
"Do you think we should tell Michael that Man o' Wars are Aquatic?"
After what felt like forever navigating the depths of Twill Cave, we finally reunited with the sunlight atop the cliff. The sound of the waves crashing along the cliff along with a warm sea breeze made for what was probably usually a really relaxing environment, almost making it worth the effort to travel through the caves below. At the top of the final staircase stood a sign, which read:
Cuddiedig Cliff
PRIVATE BEACH! KEEP OUT!
By order of Mayor Bryce of Porth Llaffan.
"We finally made it," I sighed, relieved, before starting to frantically look around. "But where's Jona and the mayor?"
"I think that's them over there," Allison answered, pointing farther ahead with her staff. "They seem to be standing near the far edge of the cliff. Some of the mayor's men also appear to be there."
"We have to go help her," I said, starting to head in her direction. Michael extended his hand to stop me before I could go too far, though.
"Let's…just make sure she's actually in trouble before we jump in and possibly make things worse."
"Fine," I agreed. "Let's just do it quickly."
We quickly, yet quietly, made our may closer to the other side of the cliff, sneaking around a few boulders that were strewn around. Once we got as close as we could without being noticed, we were able to hear Mayor Bryce talking to Jona.
"There's beautiful, eh, love?" he asked, gesturing across the calm, glistening ocean below. "I fancy you'll be able to clear youer head a bit by here and then we can have a tidy little chat."
The mayor turned to Jona, who lowered her head, staying silent.
Placing a hand on her shoulder, the mayor continued. "You must be awful tired, what with all the summonin' we've had you doin' lately, eh, you pooer thing. Well, I wanted you to know that if you give youer Uncle Bryce the word, I'll see that the summonin' stops tomorrow. I'll just tell everyone in the village that you've lost the power to call Lleviathan. Simple, see?"
Jona looked back up at the mayor, a look of surprise on her face. "Mr Mayor, I…"
"Maybe you were right, Michael," I whispered, also surprised. "Maybe she's not in any real trouble." Admittedly, I was still a bit hesitant to accept it, but I was willing to give the mayor the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
After the moment ended, Mayor Bryce continued talking. "And then you can pop down by here with me once in a while, and we can have a little summon in secret." He turned to face the ocean, his eyes glinting greedily. "There's all kinds of coral and pearls and such at the bottom of the ocean, see. And all that treasure in them sunken ships too." He turned back to Jona. "You could be askin' Lleviathan to bring the likes of that up for you now, couldn't you? Instead of borin' old fish, eh?"
"No, I was very wrong," Michael sighed.
"That is so, so much worse," Allison gasped. "He wants to straight up take advantage of her." I could feel my blood begin to boil.
Jona slapped the mayor's hand off her shoulder and took a step back, a mixture of surprise and pain showing on her face. "Pearls? Treasure? Mr Mayor! I can't believe I'm hearin' this! Outrageous, it is!"
"Now, now, love. Don't get all het up. I only meant every once in a while," the mayor explained. "Whenever youer feelin' up to it, like. Just think how much happier we'd all be. All rich and contented, like."
Jona struggled to look at Mayor Bryce again, even more pain showing on her face. "Rich…? Contented…?"
"That's right, bach," the mayor answered, clearly misunderstanding the question. "And all you have to do is accept that youer father isn't comin' home and let me adopt you, see. Simple. I'll be youer new father, love. There's tidy, eh?"
"No!" Jona cried, starting to panic. She tried to step back again, but she was backed up against the edge of the cliff. "Youer not my dad, and you never will be!"
"Okay, that's it," I growled. "I've had enough of this. I'm putting a stop to this nonsense now."
"Jessica, wait!" Michael warned, trying to stop me. I ignored him without hesitation.
At the same time, Jona continued crying. "My dad's-" Before she could even finish her sentence, the entire cliff started shaking terribly and the once calm ocean suddenly became incredibly violent. It all felt eerily familiar.
Michael and Allison quickly ran over to join me, and even Stella came out to see what was going on. "Er…Guys…" she started to say nervously, but she was immediately interrupted as a gigantic creature jumped out of the water and landed on the cliff in front of Jona and the mayor, knocking both of them over, and scaring everyone else. I could only assume that it was Lleviathan itself.
Mayor Bryce quickly got onto his hands and knees and started bowing before Lleviathan. "O Mighty Lleviathan!" he praised. "Thank You! You heard ouer callin' and You've come to bless us with Youer help again!"
"I don't understand why this guy keeps treating this fish like it's the Almighty himself," Michael remarked. "I don't like it."
"Me neither," Allison agreed.
The mayor paused for a minute to look at Jona, who was still sitting on the ground in complete shock. "Come on, Jona, start prayin'. Ask Lleviathan to go and bring us some treasure by here!" Lleviathan roared loudly at his words, causing the mayor to scuttle backwards in fear, leaving Jona by herself, covering her ears. "Aaah!" he screamed.
In one quick movement, Lleviathan lunged forward and ate Jona. "J-Jona!" everyone screamed at once, horrified at what we had just witnessed. The Lleviathan roared again, and jumped into the air, landing farther up onto the cliff. Mayor Bryce and all of his men quickly got up and ran away past us. The mayor could briefly be heard yelling at us something about trespassing and helping.
"Yikes!" Stella exclaimed. "That was a bite from the blue! Something seriously fishy's going on here…" We all shot Stella a pair of eye-daggers. "Sorry…" she apologized, before disappearing again.
"W-we have to save Jona," I managed to stutter out.
"I don't think Lleviathan's going to give her back too easily," Allison lamented.
"In that case, we'll have to fight it," Michael responded, grabbing his sword.
We gingerly approached the beast, who was closely watching us. "Um…" I began, but I was interrupted by another roar, after which Lleviathan jumped up again and started flying before us.
"Oh, that's not good," Michael remarked before getting headbutted by Lleviathan, launching him back several feet. "I'm fine!" he wheezed from where he landed. I cast a Crackle at the Lleviathan in retaliation, sending a small pillar of ice into its underside. Meanwhile, Allison cast a Buff on Michael to make up for his lack of a shield.
Michael got to his feet and attacked Lleviathan with his sword, leaving a decent gash on it. Lleviathan roared in pain and immediately headbutted me, canceling my current spell, and knocking me into one of the nearby boulders. I could feel a few things crack from the strength of the impact.
"Jessica, are you okay?" Allison asked, rushing over to my side and Midhealing me.
"It's hard to say," I groaned. "All I know is that I'm going to be really sore in the morning." I then noticed that Lleviathan was about to attack us again and I quickly grabbed Allison and rolled out of the way, just narrowly avoiding getting crushed against the boulder, which was destroyed from the attack.
Meanwhile, Michael managed to sneak up behind Lleviathan and land another hit, enraging the beast. Lleviathan quickly swung his tail around, smacking Michael off his feet and throwing him into me, which consequently knocked me into Allison, who, incidentally, fell onto the ground.
"That was a cheap shot," I groaned.
"You're telling me," Michael agreed. After a rapid round of Heals and Buffs from Allison, Michael resumed attacking Lleviathan.
Looking around while trying to come up with a plan, my eyes fell upon the remains of the boulder that Lleviathan had crushed. I suddenly had an idea that I hoped would work. Aiming carefully, I cast a Swoosh on the pile of rubble, picking up some of the pieces and launching them towards Lleviathan, who was about to headbutt Michael again. Unbelievably, the rocks all managed to hit the top of Lleviathan, halting its attack and dazing it.
Michael turned to look at me with a bewildered look on his face. "I can't believe that worked!" I called out, amazed.
"Well, if it works, don't stop doing it!" he yelled back.
Following his orders, I continued Swooshing more rubble at Lleviathan while Michael kept slashing with his sword. After a few rounds of this, Lleviathan flew back over the water and roared once more, summoning a large wave of water and sending it towards the cliff. We barely had time to react before the tidal wave crashed onto the cliff and swept all of us way back to the other side of the cliff, completely soaked and dazed. I heard a roar in the distance and watched as Lleviathan began flying towards our jumbled bodies.
Once above us, Lleviathan roared one last time in preparation of an attack and, without even thinking, I shot a Frizzle straight down Lleviathan's open mouth. The roar immediately cut off and Lleviathan closed its mouth. It then started to cough as puffs of black smoke puffed out of its mouth and nose before falling onto the cliff, rolling onto its side, unconscious.
As fast as I could, I ran towards Lleviathan's body. "Jona!" I called out. "Are you okay!? Can you hear me!?"
The creature's mouth shifted a little in response, revealing Jona standing inside of its mouth. "I…I'm fine…" she squeaked as she carefully walked out of the beast.
I quickly hugged her when she reached me. "Oh, thank the Almighty you're okay," I exclaimed, relieved.
"Youer not hurt, are you?" she asked, concerned.
I smiled. "Ah, it's nothing too bad," I answered.
"Speak for yours-OW!" Michael chimed in before Allison hit his leg with her staff. "What was that for?" Allison nodded towards Jona with a stern look on her face. "Oh, right," he said softly. "Yup, yup, we're all fine," he quickly reassured. "Nothing to worry about. Nuh-uh."
I rolled my eyes at Michael, and Jona giggled a little. The smile didn't last long, however, as there was a sudden flash of light and Lleviathan woke up, roaring at us once again. "Aaaaaah!" Jona screamed as I placed myself in front of her to protect her. To everyone's surprise, however, Jona ran around and stood in front of me, as if she was trying to protect us. "No!" she begged. "P-Please! Don't hurt them!"
Lleviathan immediately stopped roaring and stared directly at Jona. "But 'ey's some of Mayor Bryce's stooges, in't 'ey?" a new voice asked. It took me a moment to realize that it was Lleviathan who had spoken.
Jona appeared even more shocked at the voice, her jaw dropping open. "Y-Youer voice…!" A blue burst of energy appeared atop Lleviathan's head, and the ghost of a tall, muscular man with a beard and mustache appeared. "Da…Dad?" Jona croaked in disbelief. "Dad!" She ran up to Lleviathan to get a closer look at him and fell on her knees.
"Dylan!" Mayor Bryce cried out in shock from behind us. "What in the name of…!?"
"What is it?" Stella asked, appearing once again. "What the flap's going on!?"
Dylan – Jona's dad – turned to address us. "I'm sorry for what I've put you trav'llers through." And then he turned to Jona – his daughter. "And Jona, bach… I can't tell you 'ow sorry I am for all the pain I've caused you. That night of the storm, I was thrown tidy from the boat, like. Then all of a sudden, this golden fruit drops down next to me. Fadin', I was, good an' fast, so I just grabbed hold of it, see. All I could think of was you, Jona, back there on the shore. I was thinkin' 'ow you'd get on without me, you bein' still such a young dab an' all… And out there that day, right in the middle of the ocean, I died. Only, next thing I know… …I'm not dead at all, I'm swimmin' round lookin' like a big old whale. Shocked, I was, I don't afto tell you!"
Jona was at a loss of words, overcome with emotions. "I… I don't…"
"I was bringin' all those fish by the village there so's you wouldn't afto go without, love," Dylan continued to explain before suddenly becoming angry. "I never thought it would bring all the rest of those gannets runnin' like it did…" I could hear Mayor Bryce gasp from behind us. "I've kept out of it 'til now, but enough is enough. Come on, love, let's leave this greedy village and its rotter of a mayor behind. You won't afto worry about nothin' once we're away from by here. I'll take care of you from now on."
"Oh, Dad…" Jona breathed, overwhelmed by everything she was hearing. "I can't. I, I just can't do that. I want to stay by here and help with the fishin', see." She lowered her head. "I afto learn to stand on my own two feet. I've watched you workin' away all these years, and now it's my turn." She looked back at her father, the smallest of smiles on her face. "I'll be the tidiest fisherman Porth Llaffan's ever known, just you wait and see. I'll make you proud, Dad. I can't go on relyin' on you forever. It's time I stared makin' my own way in the world. You understand, don't you…?"
Dylan appeared visibly shocked by Jona's response. "J-Jona…"
"Jooonaaaaaa!" someone suddenly called out from behind everyone. We all turned around to see a little boy run up to the rest of us.
"Bryson?" Jona asked, surprised. "Whatever are you doin' out by here?"
"Are you alright? I-I'm sorry about my dad…" he answered. "I was sick beyond worryin' about you, I was. I had to come after you." He looked up at Lleviathan and gasped. "That's… That's youer dad, isn't it? You can rely on me, sir. I'm no flag. I'll look after youer daughter when I grow up."
"Bryson…" Jona said breathlessly, blushing a little. She turned back to her father and finally stood back up. "Thank you so much for becomin' Lleviathan so you could carry on lookin' after me, Dad. But I'm alright now, see…"
Dylan tilted his head thoughtfully. "Jona…" A cloud of blue sparkles began rising around his ghost. A phenomenon we all recognized. "I was so caught up in worryin' about lookin' after my little girl that I never realized she'd grown into a fine young woman… If I'd only stopped to notice, I'd never afto 'ave caused you all so much trouble…" The cloud of sparkles continued to grow, enveloping most of Lleviathan. "…I know you can do it, love, so I'm takin' you at youer word. I'll be watchin' over you every step of the way, mind. Good luck makin' youer own way in the world, bach. And goodbye…" A bright flash of light blinded everyone for a second, and when it cleared, all that was left was a small ball of blue light, which slowly rose into the sky. "Just remember… I'll always be by youer side, love… Always…"
As the blue light faded away, a yellow light appeared above our heads. "Look, guys!" Stella exclaimed, trying to subtly wipe tears from her eyes. "It's a Fygg!" Michael, who was rapidly blinking his eyes to prevent the tears from escaping, reached out and grabbed the Fygg with his hands.
Before we could say anything about it, Bryson ran over to talk with us, so Michael just put it away in his bag for the moment. "Thank you ever so much. You really helped everyone in the village out."
"You're- You're welcome," I replied softly, sniffling my nose and still actively crying a little.
He smiled at us then turned back to Jona. "Jona. D'you want to head back now?"
"Mmm…" Jona responded as she stared off into the ocean – calm and glistening once again – before turning and walking to join the rest of us. Together, we all began the trek back to Porth Llaffan, with a freshly found Fygg in our hands.
Mayor Bryce had offered for us to sleep in his house after the whole ordeal with Lleviathan; or, at least, Bryson did. The mayor seemed to be in too much shock at the moment to say either way. When we woke up the following morning, we found Bryson waiting for us. "Oh, youer awake, are you?" he asked. "I want to thank you again for everythin' you've done. Youer made of tough stuff, that's for shooer. When I grow up, I want to be just like you." We all smiled at his words, but deep down, I think we all hoped that this child never had to go through what we had. "I'll keep Jona safe," Bryson reassured. "She'll never afto be lonely with me around. I mean, everyone says how tough she is, but, well… She's still a girl, like." Allison and I both raised our eyebrows, but otherwise decided to let his comment slide. Bryson turned to leave the room, but when he reached the door, he turned back to face us. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot. As of today, the ferry's back up and runnin' again. There's marvelous, eh?"
Following his cue, we also decided to grab our things and exit to the village. It appeared that everyone had been told about how Jona lost her gift of calling Lleviathan, although some people were taking it better than others.
"No! I can't believe it!" one man cried out. "I'm shooer that's not it."
"Do you think the village is going to be alright, Michael?" I asked.
"It'll take some time for everyone to adjust," he answered. "But I think things will get back to normal soon enough. Especially since a Fygg is no longer influencing the place."
"Speaking of which," Allison chimed in, "which Fygg do you think this one was?"
"I…don't know," Michael admitted. "It doesn't really fit any of the six remaining curses. Maybe Death or Despair?"
"No, that's not it," I argued. "Somehow, the Fygg managed to get the entire village to take advantage of a little girl. A newly orphaned one at that."
"You're right," Allison realized. "Only one thing could make people act to horrendously: Greed."
"Then this is the Greed Fygg, huh?" Michael remarked. "Interesting. Even though Dylan was the one who had the Fygg, it appears that it was Porth Llaffan that was most affected by the curse."
"Maybe some of the Fyggs can work indirectly," Allison pondered. "In this instance, it gave Dylan the ability to the maximize the greediness of the villagers."
"Well, in any case, we have the Fygg now, meaning that there's only five left hiding around the world," Michael reminded us. "Do you have any ideas on where we should look next?"
"Bryson had mentioned that the ferry was running again," I answered. "Where does it go?"
Allison pulled out her map and began inspecting it. "Let's see. It looks like the next city is Bloomingdale, but the ferry will only take us to Slurry Quay." A look of disgust passed over Allison's face. "That means we're going to have to travel through Dourbridge."
"What's wrong with Dourbridge?" Michael asked.
"It's a city of poverty and crime," Allison answered. "And a generally unpleasant place."
"I don't think it's actually as bad as everyone thinks it is," I lamented.
"I don't intend to visit long enough to find out," Allison countered.
"I guess we'll just see what happens," Michael remarked.
As we reached the east side of the village, we found the same men who had a boat stolen from them the other day were now having a very anxious conversation about how they can't go fishing without it.
Nearby, Jona was standing by some fishing nets, learning how to fix them. She noticed us walking by and ran over to talk to us. "Oh, hello," she greeted. "I, er… I want to thank you. I was worried beyond about how everyone'd take to me sayin' I wasn't goin' to call Lleviathan any more. But it's fine. I still can hardly believe it, even though I saw it with my own eyes, like. To think that my dad was Lleviathan all along…" She sighed. "When I saw him by there, I didn't care that he'd changed into some sea monster, I just wanted to stay with him. To be together. But it's hopeluss feelin' like that, isn't it? I mean, he's gone now. I do miss him somethin' chronic, though." A smile quickly formed on her face as she perked back up. "I'm gonna be strong, youell see!" she exclaimed. "I've got my Mam and Dad watchin' over me, and Bryson's a tidy lad too."
I couldn't help but smile at Jona's optimism. "I know you'll do great," I assured. "I can't wait to come back one day and see how strong you've become."
Jona's smile lessened a little. "Does that mean that youer leavin' now, like?"
"I'm afraid so," I answered.
"We have our own adventure that we have to complete," Michael explained.
Jona nodded her head understandingly, before suddenly running up and hugging me tightly. "I guess this is goodbye for now, 'en." She continued to hug Michael and Allison, as well. "Good luck on youer adventure together. I hope youell come back by here and visit again soon."
"Of course we will," I promised.
A wide grin formed across the young redhead's face before her eyes suddenly widened. "Ah! You should probably hurry to catch the ferry, or youell miss it."
Realizing the she was right, we said one last round of goodbyes and hurried to the ferry, where Bryson looked to be waiting for us again.
"Seems there's going to be a lot of changes by here," he observed. "I'd better start learnin' all about the sea and the coastline and such. Have a safe journey now, won't you? And come back and see us once in a while. Youer always welcome here in Porth Llaffan."
"Sure thing, Bryson," I replied, causing the boy to smile. He waved goodbye to us as we boarded the ferry and headed off towards a new land where, hopefully, we'll find the third Fygg.
Two Fyggs down, five to go. One can only imagine what kind of mishaps await our heroes along the way to finding them.
Jessica's relationship with Jona was not something I expected to develop when I first planned this arc, but I'm happy with how it turned out. The scene after defeating Lleviathan was also something that I did not remember just how emotional it was, especially with the music that played during it. I hope I was able to capture some of the emotion that the game produced in my writing.
As always, if you like what you've read, please leave a review, make a post in the forum, or even just follow and favorite the story. I greatly appreciate all of the feedback I receive, and I always use it as motivation and guidance on how to make the next chapter even better than the last.
Anyway, my senior year of college starts tomorrow, which means lots of fun, difficult, time-consuming classes for the foreseeable future. But, as always, you can probably expect the next chapter to be released a months from now. No promises, of course. ;-)
Until next time, this is D~F.
