Right, so, it's been awhile... *shrug* Life happens, I guess. I wanted to get this out much earlier; but, I got busy. Adulting is fun. Woo. But, no matter, as I still managed to complete another chapter for you.
Well, kinda... This chapter was originally meant to be longer, but I ended up having too many happen in this chapter and, if the Coffinwell chapters have taught me anything, doing too much in one chapter is not good for my health (cough). So, I decided to split it in half and share the first half now so that you guys don't need to wait any longer for an update.
In any case, I still think this is a pretty good half-chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it.
Disclaimer
Dragon Quest IX is the property of Square Enix and Nintendo and not me and probably not you.
What I do own are my own original characters, including, but not limited to, Michael, Jessica, Allison, as well as some of the crazy things that happen to them.
Reviews:
Chronos0305: To be honest, since Metal Slimes show up in the Quarantomb, it was difficult trying to come up with a way to include them when literally everyone was dying a slow and painful death. And I really didn't want to write any more "(cough)"s. But, you're right about King Slimes. There is always next time.
outcast247: This story will keep going until it's done or I die. Even if it takes another 30 years, this story will end. And I'm not sure how much of an explanation I can give for the next boss, considering that it just kinda is what it is. At the very least, I can guarantee that it'll be an interesting fight.
Act 2 – Part 11: A Brush with Death Pt. 1
(Michael's POV)
The news of Ms. Marion Bloome's kidnapping spread throughout the city like wildfire, and the sound of the resulting chaos reached all the way back into Marion's bedroom. I was in complete shock that a kidnapping could've happened in the short time that everyone was away from the manor. In broad daylight, even!
We would've continued standing in silence for many minutes more were it not for the sudden appearance of a familiar blue glow emanating from the far side of the bedroom. The ghost of a young girl had appeared, and she bared an incredible resemblance to Ms. Bloome.
The girl hovered in silence, staring at us with a sad look, before turning away and passing through the backdoor. A soft click could be heard, signifying that the door had been unlocked.
"Was that…Marion?" Allison shakily asked.
"It couldn't be," Jessica reasoned. "The letter said she was kidnapped, not murdered. Unless…"
"There's only one way to know for sure," I declared, gesturing at the door. "And it's through there."
The now unlocked door led to a small courtyard that overlooked the western shore of the Bloomingdale continent. The mountains of Dourbridge could be seen lining the horizon. Two gravestones stood at the front of the courtyard. Both were clearly well taken care of, with a large patch of flowers surrounding both.
The inscription on the gravestone closest to the door read:
Behind every great man is an even greater woman.
In loving memory of a dear mother and a faithful wife.
On the other stone, it read:
In loving memory of a great man,
whose rare business talent brought fortune to this blooming dale.
Gently turning away from the gravestones, I looked around to find where the young ghost may have gone. Instead, I found a third small gravestone, hidden away beneath some trees. I walked over to it to read its inscription.
In memory of my one true friend.
May you rest in peace.
"That ghost was the splitting image of Marion, don't you think?" Stella recalled as my companions joined me near the third grave. "What d'you reckon's going on? You don't think something's actually happened to Little Miss Moneybags, do you…?"
"She is my one true friend…"
"Aah!" Stella shrieked, causing the rest of us to jump. "It's her!"
Clutching our hearts, we looked up to see the ghost of the young girl gently descend onto the grave. She curtsied and introduced herself. "I am Marion Bloome. This is my resting place."
"You're Marion?" Jessica asked, confused. "Then who is the other girl?"
"The girl…" Marion answered. "The poor girl who has been kidnapped is my doll, Marionette."
"Your doll…came to life?" Allison questioned, fascinated.
Marion nodded. "My precious Marionette, who was given life by that mysterious fruit…"
"Oh, no…" I breathed, quickly figuring out which of the remaining Fyggs was given to young Ms. Bloome. Stella appeared to be coming to a similar realization.
The ghost of Ms. Bloome lowered her gaze and began explaining further…
(No One's POV, Several weeks ago)
The sickly figure of young Marion Bloome rested upon her bed. Her only companion present at the time was her precious doll, Marionette, which lay next to her.
"I wasn't like the other children. I couldn't play freely outside. Marionette was my one and only companion."
A small, strained smile formed on Marion's face as she looked at Marionette.
"She was everything to me. We played together every day. I was really very happy, but…"
The soft silence of the bedroom was suddenly broken by the harsh sounds of Marion's violent coughs. Coughs which lasted far too long.
"As my condition worsened, I knew that it wouldn't be long before the Celestrians came to take me away. And then, one day…"
Once more, Marion sat silently in her bedroom with her doll sitting beside her.
"One of the servants brought me a mysterious fruit that was thought to heal all ills. It was a beautiful, golden color like the sun. But it was too late for me. I had already given up hope by that point. I was sure that my life was already over. That nothing could save me, not even that fruit…"
"Look, Marionette, isn't it pretty?" the young girl asked her doll. "It looks just like a star the way it sparkles, doesn't it? And it smells…mmm…delicious! Why don't you eat it with me? I'd like to share it with you."
Marion started to cry softly. "Just imagine, Marionette… Imagine if you could walk and talk just like I can. I would be so happy. If only you could come to life so I could have just one true friend before I… (cough cough)."
Her cough returned, even worse than before. She struggled to find the breath for her next words. "Th-The Celestrians are c-coming…for me… (gasp)."
As her body trembled from her horrible coughing, the Fygg rolled from her lap and landed onto Marionette's, where it suddenly started glowing brightly. When the light had faded, the Fygg had vanished, successfully granting its cursed wish.
Marionette's body stirred and the now living doll looked up towards Marion. "You are Marion?" she asked. "You are my friend." Before her friend's disbelieving eyes, Marionette stood up and curtsied. "I'm so happy to be able to speak to you at last!" the doll cheered.
"M-Marionette! You're… You're really…!" Marion gasped, triggering another coughing spell. Tears began rolling down her face as she caught her breath. "But why now…?" she asked pleadingly. "J-Just when…I am… It's not…fair…"
Marionette gently reached out and grabbed Marion's hand, a confused smile on her face. "What do you mean?" she innocently asked.
"I… I am…" Marion struggled. "Marionette…I leave everything that I own to you. All that is mine is now yours. I…give you my life," she declared through her tears. "If people realize that you're a doll, they, they won't let you stay here. You must pretend to be me." Her hand slipped free of the doll's grip as she lowered her gaze, no longer able to look at what could've been. "I hope…you have a happy life…as Marion…" she wheezed, fighting for each breath. "Live the life that…that I could not…"
"Make…lots…of friends…as I…never…could…"
Marionette stood silently by herself in the courtyard, looking solemnly at a fresh grave hidden in the shade of the trees.
"Marionette made this secret grave for me so that no one would realize that she wasn't me."
Marionette turned and walked slowly towards her bedroom. She stopped only once to take one last glance at the gravestone, before stepping through the door to begin fulfilling her one true friend's final wish.
(Michael's POV, Present Time)
An apologetic look appeared on Ms. Marion Bloome's face. "Noble Celestrian…" the ghost pleaded. "It is all my own doing. I am the only one to blame. Please, don't punish Marionette for this." At a loss for words, I simply nodded. Relieved, Marion made one last request as she herself faded away. "Kind Celestrian… Please, help Marionette. Help my one true friend…"
A period of solemn silence followed our interaction with Ms. Bloome. Despite having heard several similar stories at this point in our journey, this one had no less of an emotional effect on us than the previous ones.
"Let me get this straight…" Stella thought out loud, finally breaking the silence. "One of those Fyggs has turned a lifeless little doll into a moody little madam? Now I've heard it all…" She was about to continue, but seemed to hesitate, biting her lip in uncertainty. Finally, she flew to my side and asked in a hushed whisper, "You do know what Fygg we're dealing with here, right?"
"Yes," I answered succinctly.
"Then you understand," she lamented. "Still, you can't really turn a blind ear to a cry for help like that can you, 'Noble Celestrian?'" I sighed to myself, appreciating Stella's attempt to raise the mood with her charming attitude. "Chop, chop, then! Get to work!" she cheered, ever the optimist. "We've got a doll to deliver from the crutches of doom!"
"Right, well, we better get ready, then," I ordered.
"Ready for what, Michael?" Jessica asked.
"I don't know yet," I answered, "but you can never be too prepared for a brush with death."
The vibrant fields of Bloomingdale flew past us as we hurried towards the mountains to the north. As we traveled, we discussed the plan we came up with overnight one last time.
"I get that our main goal is to rescue Marionette," Stella declared, "but could you run the details past me one last time?"
"We're just going to pay the ransom," I answered.
"Yes, but why?" Stella questioned. "You're just going to let these kidnappers flappin' get away with this!? I figured you'd want to beat the flap out of them."
"You know, I think I actually agree with Stella on this one," Jessica remarked.
I sighed. "Our mission is to rescue Marionette, and the Fygg of Death with her. The less opportunities we have to die, the better. Especially around this Fygg."
"I suppose that makes sense," Jessica admitted. "Do we have enough gold to pay the ransom, though?"
"Well, between all of the gold that we had and all of the gold that everyone else chipped in..." Allison calculated, "…maybe."
"And if we don't?" Jessica asked.
"We don't leave this cave without Marionette and the Fygg of Death," I commanded. "No matter what."
"No matter what, huh?" Jessica repeated. "Well, with a plan like that, what could possibly go wrong?" Those words had no sooner left her mouth than she tripped and fell face first into the ground. She quickly rolled over to see what it was that tripped her and found a single blue Slime sitting amongst the flowers with a dazed look on its face. "Gah! Stupid thing!" she yelled, furiously trying to kick it. The Slime deftly avoided all of her attacks and quickly scurried in front of us, where it gave us the most terrifying glare it could muster while doing a little dance.
"Jessica, calm down," I ordered. "It's just a little Slime, and it was an accident. Just leave it alone. We have more important things to worry about."
"Fine…" Jessica groaned, still angry.
"Hey, guys," Allison called out. "I'm not sure if this is a big deal or not, but I think we're surrounded."
Quickly looking around, we found that the initial Slime had called over some of its friends, and now there were eight Slimes sitting around us in a circle, each with an equally adorable little glare.
I looked back at Jessica with an incredulous look on my face. "Now, I know what you're thinking," she explained, raising her hands defensively, "but, they're only Slimes, and maybe-"
Before Jessica could finish her sentence, the Slimes all jumped into the air at the same time and came back down as a single enormous King Slime, whose trembling form towered over us with a far more intimidating expression.
"Okay, yeah, that's my bad," Jessica admitted. "That's on me."
I sighed, drawing my sword. "That's not important anymore. Let's just get this over with." I ran at the King Slime and slashed at it with my sword. It jiggled angrily and hit me with a full force tackle, knocking me back several feet.
Jessica responded by sending a volley of different spells at the King Slime, gaining its attention. It jumped high into the air before slamming itself back down on the ground, with Jessica just barely managing to dive out of the way of its earth-shattering attack.
The King Slime continued chasing Jessica around with its body slam, clearly still upset about her trying to kick the original Slime. The rest of us chased after it, trying to do anything to get it to stop chasing Jessica. A well-timed rock throw from Stella that dinged the King Slime's crown appeared to do the trick. Unfortunately, the King Slime seemed to have changed its mind while in midair, as it suddenly changed directory and began plummeting towards Allison, who barely had enough time to raise even just her staff before the mighty monster landed upon her, resulting in a horrible cracking sound coming from underneath.
I quickly ran over and stabbed the wobbly fiend, reducing it to the usual cloud of purple dust. As the wind blew the dust away, it revealed a very shaken, but very much still alive, Allison.
"Oh my Almighty, Allison, are you okay!?" Jessica asked, running over and helping her get to her feet. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault," she apologized.
"I'm…I'm fine," Allison reassured. "I don't think anything's too hurt."
"Oh, no! Your staff…" Jessica moaned.
Allison raised her staff to inspect it. Her once straight staff was now horribly curved inward, with a large crack in the wood leaking magic at the point where it was bent the most. It seemed the horrible cracking sound I heard was from the staff taking the full force of the impact, and thankfully not from Allison's body.
"That's a shame," Allison noted. "I guess I'll just have to be more careful with it until I can either get it fixed or replaced."
"Well," Jessica began, "at least nothing else ca-"
"STOP!" all three of us yelled at her at once, causing her to recoil in shock.
"Sorry," Stella explained, "but you've lost your talking privileges for the time being." Jessica just crossed her arms and pouted silently.
The dense forests of northern Bloomingdale provided a stark contrast to the vibrant fields of flowers behind us. A worn, wooden sign stood before the tree line.
The Bad Cave lies immediately to the north of the forest.
"'The Bad Cave,'" Allison read aloud. "It's simple, at least."
"Hopefully, passing through this forest will be just as simple," I remarked. "It can't be too far, based on how close the mountains are."
"Just give me a second to find where we need to go," Stella requested, flying up to look over the top of the trees. "Looks like you're right, Michael," she reported, returning down to us. "The entrance to the cave is located in a small clearing, just a short walk in that direction," she explained, pointing into the forest.
Not wasting any time, I led the group through the trees with the help of Stella's directions. Within a matter of minutes, we found ourselves in the clearing that Stella had mentioned earlier. A small pond separated the entrance of the Bad Cave from the rest of the clearing. An old, rotten bridge provided the only means of access to the distant ledge. Another, cruder, sign stood by our side of the bridge.
The Bad Cave.
F.I.C.K.O. Headkworters.
The Federashun of Increddibly Cunnin Kidnappers Orgernizations.
"That's certainly a…unique way of spelling those words," Allison noted.
"Something tells me we're not dealing the smartest group," Stella added.
Jessica remained silent, but her expression had lowered, appearing almost as if she was embarrassed.
"Come on guys, let's stay focused," I directed. "Marionette should just be on the other side of this bridge." We carefully hurried across the bridge and climbed up to the cave's entrance, where another sign that read
People wiv enkwiries, this was pleese.
attempted to tell us that this is where we needed to be.
The inside of The Bad Cave itself was a very damp location, with many surfaces covered in a thick layer of moss. The sound of rushing water echoed from deeper within the cave. Torches placed around the cave illuminated some parts of the cave, while others were left in deep shadow that likely hid the many horrible monsters that another nearby sign warned about.
Seeing how there was only one path that we could follow along the ledge we found ourselves on, we continued in that direction. Along the way, we heard a heavy door open and shut nearby, and a large, muscular man appeared on a path below us. I immediately recognized him as the strange man that was standing outside of the Bloome Residence yesterday afternoon.
"Wot the blinkin' Nora are we gonna do now?" he complained.
The sound of the door rang out once more, and a second man joined the first. This one was revealed to be the drunk man from the bar in the inn.
"Sorry, Guv," the second man apologized, "but it turns out the girl don't 'ave no family or nuffink. And she's given all 'er servants an' that the 'eave-'o, so… There ain't anyone around who's gonna notice she's gone." A moment of silence passed between them. "Yeah, come to think of it, the place was a bit quiet…" the second man finally added.
"You plonker!" the first man yelled. "But we ain't done for yet! Even if she ain't got family, there's gotta be one of 'er mates or somefink who'll turn up. Just sit tight. Someone'll turn up wiv the dough, you'll see."
"He he!" the second man giggled. "Sit tight, eh? Genius, Guv! Genius!"
They turned and headed back through the door they had initially exited from, though the first man paused to make one last comment to himself. "Someone better blinkin' turn up soon. For our sister's sake."
Unsure of what to make of that conversation, we continued down the path we were on. At the end, we found a table with a few rickety old chairs sitting beneath a torch. Yet another sign welcomed us and invited us to take a seat. Accepting its invitation, we sat down at the table and waited for the kidnappers to show up.
We talked amongst ourselves for a few minutes to pass the time before we finally heard someone else nearby.
"Hm?" a voice inquired. "I thought I 'eard someone walkin' about… Best 'ave a butchers…" The large man from before appeared once more on the path below, looking around. His gaze soon moved up to the table where we were sitting, and he jumped in surprise. He quickly ran over to where we were waiting, grabbing a ladder that was lying to the side and using it to climb up to our level. "Wot are you doin' 'ere?" He excitedly asked. "Blimey! You ain't got the ransom, 'ave you!?"
"Well, yes, actually, we do," I answered, lifting a large bag of gold.
The man seemed relieved by my response, almost going as far as doing a little dance. "Ahem!" he cleared his throat, catching himself. "Well, well… Welcome to our 'umble 'ideout!" he welcomed. "Not much to look at, but, you know… We ain't the lucky ones."
"Where's Marion? We've come to take her back," I asked, getting straight to the point of the visit.
"Of course," the man replied. "Don't tell me. I reckon I've got a pretty good idea of who you are," he explained. "You're, er… You're Bloome's…" He trailed off, struggling to come up with an answer. "Well, you're top notch anyway, intcha? Yeah, a real 'ighbrow 'ero, eh? Diamond! I knew she was worth kidnappin'!"
"Can we please just hurry this up?" I asked.
"Well, don't worry," the kidnapper reassured. "The young lady is in good 'ealth. We ain't laid a finger on 'er." He turned around in the direction he had come from. "Oi!" he called out. "Bring the girl out 'ere, would ya?" He turned back to us. "If ya wouldn't mind just bearin' wiv us a sec… He he he…"
A couple minutes passed without any response. "Oi!" the man called out again. "Wot's takin' so long, eh?"
The second man finally came running towards us, though he was by himself and had a panicked look on his face. "Guv, Guv!" he cried. "We've, er… We've got a bit of a problem, Guv!"
"Eh? Wot is it?" the first man asked.
"She got away!" the second man exclaimed. "The bird's done a runner!"
"You wot!?" the larger man screamed, jumping off the ledge and running back with the thinner man.
I hung my head defeatedly. Of course it couldn't be this easy.
"Guys, come on!" Allison called out, looking down the ladder that the kidnappers had left standing. "We have to follow them and make sure that nothing happens to Marionette."
Following the same lower path as the men, we entered through a doorway into what must've been their living quarters. Loud shouting could be heard echoing from the nearby caves.
"We asked you to do one simple task: Kidnap that girl. How did you mess it up!?" a distant female voice argued. Jessica gasped silently beside me.
"She was right 'ere before. Right under me nose!" one of the men yelled.
"Well, she's not here now, is she?" the woman asked.
"But where's she got to, eh?" the man asked.
"Was she in this part of the cave?"
"She ain't nowhere to be seen!" came the voice of the other man.
"Then she must have gone deeper into the cave, mustn't she?" the woman aggressively reasoned.
"This ain't good," the other man's voice continued. "They say there's a deadly monster down in the depths o' this place. A quiet bird like 'er ain't gonna stand a chance…"
"Then go find her," the girl ordered. "Or do you need your little sister to help with that, too?"
"We're goin', we're goin'," the brothers relented, followed by the sound of quickly moving feet. "Aah, bloomin' 'eck, this is a disaster," the larger brother muttered as they ran past where we were hiding.
I made to go follow after them, but Jessica held me back, shaking her head with a frightened look on her face. I opened my mouth to ask her what was wrong, but the answer walked into view before I got the chance. Before us now stood Zachary's killer beauty herself, Sarah.
"Those idiots are going to be the death of me," muttered the pink-haired Luminary, unaware of our presence. "Possibly quite literally, if this plan falls through…"
We quickly and quietly began retreating backwards to where we had just entered, hoping to avoid gaining her attention. Unfortunately, Allison's warped staff caught on the wall of the cave on the way, knocking some rocks loose. We all froze as the stones hit the floor, the sound of which softly echoed through the cavern.
Sarah immediately tensed up at the noise, before sighing dejectedly. "Of course you would be the ones to try to rescue the girl. I'm not even that surprised, to be honest. I must say, though, that it's rather remarkable how long you've gone without flapping that mouth of yours, Jessica," she jabbed, finally turning to face us with a smirk on her face.
"Oh, she did not just flapping say that," Stella protested.
"Well, on the bright side," Sarah remarked as she grabbed her whip, "even if the original plan fails, at least I'll still be able to bring your bodies to Zachary afterwards."
"I'd like to see you try," Jessica declared as we all drew our weapons, preparing for a fight.
Sarah's smile widened, and then cracked her whip across the room, reaching between Jessica and I and wrapping around Allison's staff. In a flash, Sarah forcefully snapped her whip back, causing the staff to break cleanly in two, releasing the contained magic in a small explosion that knocked us forward.
"Oh, this is going to be easy," Sarah cackled, preparing to strike again.
However, I was determined not to give her another chance, and slashed at her with my blade. She deftly sidestepped my attack and countered by twirling her whip around my sword arm and pulling me close to her.
"To be honest," she whispered in my ear, still pushing my sword away, "on a personal level, I don't really want to hurt you specifically."
I blinked my eyes in surprise at what I had just heard. "Uh…thanks, I guess?" It may have been the poor light in the cave, but I think her face was actually turning redder under her makeup, as if she was…blushing?
"And now that you know," she continued, "it's going to make your sacrifice for me all the sweeter."
"My…what?" Before I could fully process what she had said, she spun us around so that I was now standing where she was just moments before, right as Jessica's Frizz arrived.
(Jessica's POV)
"Oh, no!" I gasped as I watched Michael get blasted away by the magic fireball that I had meant for Sarah.
"Such a noble sacrifice," Sarah remarked. "Taking such a powerful hit just to protect me. Has Michael ever done anything like that for you, Jessica?"
"You're going to regret doing that," I announced, ignoring her taunting question.
"You say that," Sarah responded, "but I already managed to take one of you out without even trying. Thanks again, by the way. I really don't like getting my hands dirty. It might mess up my manicure."
"You'll have a lot more to worry about than just your nails when I'm done with you," I growled angrily.
"Ooh, is that a threat?" Sarah asked, pretending to be frightened.
Already out of patience with her vain arrogance, I launched a volley of Frizzes at her stupid, perfect little face. Sarah smirked, and with another crack of her whip, deflected all of the fireballs so that they struck the roof of the cave above me instead.
(Allison's POV)
Stella and I watched in shock as Jessica was buried under a small pile of rubble created with her own magic. "I knew you were always your own worst enemy, Jessica," Sarah taunted, "but this is getting ridiculous."
"You better figure something out real flapping quick, Allison," Stella commented, "Or we'll be in some serious trouble."
I felt like we were already in some serious trouble, but now wasn't the time to argue with Stella about it. Looking at the two broken sticks that used to be my staff, I noticed that one of them was still emitting a small stream of raw magic. With that, I quickly came up with what was probably a really stupid plan that was almost certainly going to fail, but it was all that I had at this point.
Wrapping a Medicinal Herb over the source of the magic, I tossed the first half-staff over to where Michael was lying on the ground. Gripping the second half-staff in my hands, I said a quick prayer to the Almighty and charged at Sarah.
Sarah, of course, immediately saw me coming and dodged my attack with ease. She even tripped me as I ran past for good measure. My glasses got knocked off as I hit the ground, and I quickly began scrambling to find them.
"Real smooth, Allison. Real flapping smooth" I heard Stella sigh. "By the way, your glasses are to your left. No, your other left. Just follow my voice."
"I'm going to be honest," Sarah remarked in the meantime, "I'm surprised you even bothered trying to attack me after I just took out your two friends, especially considering you don't even have a proper weapon anymore. You're either really brave or really stupid or…well, we'll just leave it at that for now."
Having finally found my glasses again with Stella's help, I stood up to face Sarah. "I say we go with brave," I replied. "Being stupid is not really my thing."
"Well, if you were smart, you would've stayed down," Sarah countered. "Now, I have to do this." With another crack of her whip, she grabbed the broken staff in my hand and forcefully pulled me towards her. Once I was close enough, she delivered a powerful kick into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me and launching me back against the wall. She then followed through by snapping the piece of staff she had grabbed back at me, piercing through the shoulder of my outfit and embedding itself in the cave wall, pinning me where I was.
"Ah, a near miss!" Sarah cried out. "I just barely missed your shoulder. Well, no matter. We wouldn't want to damage you too much yet."
"Don't worry, Allison, I'll get you free in no time," Stella reassured. "…Gee, this is really stuck in here. This might take a hot minute."
As Stella and I struggled to get myself off the wall, Sarah walked up to us, looking rather pleased with herself. "I was expecting more of a challenge from the three of you," she lamented, "but I suppose I can't argue with these results. I think Zachary will be quite pleased with what I've accomplished here today. Plus, my hair didn't even get messed up."
She continued to stand there, rambling on about how beautiful and amazing she was, until an expression of concern slowly formed on her face. She grew silent and looked around, before finally asking a single, simple question. "Where's the other half of your weapon?"
(Michael's POV)
Sarah didn't notice me coming until I was literally on top of her. Unfortunately, that was still enough time for her to just barely duck out of the way of my sword, though a few strands of her hair had the unfortunate fate of being cut. Sarah watched silently as the pink strands slowly floated down before her eyes. Once they settled on the ground, she drew her whip once again and snapped it against the ground. "Alright, playtime is over," she coldly declared.
I ran at her once more swinging my sword, but she kicked me away before my blade made contact. As I regained my footing, she unleashed a vicious Lashings of Love attack. I gritted my teeth as the tip of her whip stung my body multiple times. Allison's makeshift magic-healing-staff-thingy had helped me get back on my feet, but not much more, and Sarah was very quickly undoing what little it had managed to do.
One particularly painful lash struck my hand, causing me to drop my sword as my hand convulsed involuntarily. It didn't even reach the ground before Sarah snatched it with her whip and pulled it into her own hands.
She charged at me with my own sword, which I caught mid-swing with my bare hands, ignoring the pain as it dug into my palms. As we struggled for power over my weapon, Sarah swept my feet out from underneath me, causing me to crash onto the floor with her falling on top of me. Taking advantage of the extra leverage her new position gave her, she pushed the sword ever closer to my neck, as I struggled to keep it away.
Through this whole, admittedly one-sided, exchange, Sarah had a wicked, yet remorseful, expression on her face. "I'm terribly sorry it had to come to this," Sarah apologized as she closed the gap between my blade and my neck even further. "But it's personal at this point. You messed up my hair, and not even you're as important to me as my hair is." With a sigh, she raised herself up and prepared to push down on the sword one last time.
(Jessica's POV)
Sarah never even saw the Frizz coming. With a satisfying explosion, the magic fireball blasted her off of Michael's body and across the cave, slamming against the wall and collapsing onto the floor.
With Stella's help, I had managed to free myself from the pile of rocks that had fallen on me. I wiped a small line of blood off my face, sighing in relief. I began heading towards Michael to see if he was okay but stopped when I noticed movement from Sarah's body.
Slowly, she got back on her feet, revealing that she was a mess. Her outfit was cut and torn, her skin bruised and bleeding. Singed stands of hair framed a face covered in smeared makeup mixed with spots of blood.
As Sarah silently looked over her current state, the tension in the air thickened to the point where it became hard to breath. Her body began quivering and a purple aura formed around her as she began radiating pure anger. Once she finished looking over herself, her head snapped up and her eyes, which had gone dark and were twitching, locked onto mine.
I immediately regretted what I had done.
I opened my mouth in a half-hearted attempt to reason with her, but she was already far too gone. In a matter of seconds, she had me on my back, pinned to the ground, with her whip wrapped several times around my neck.
"Sarah…please…" I pleaded as I frantically pulled at my throat in an attempt to loosen the cord coiled around it. She only growled in response, but I understood her perfectly. She was going to kill me.
My breaths grew painfully weak as she further tightened her whip around my neck. My body began to panic as it suffocated, flailing wildly in a vain attempt to somehow break her stranglehold on me. Unfortunately, I had already lost so much of my strength that all it achieved was using up the last of the air I had left. Soon, a familiar sense of calm enveloped me…
My limbs…fell still…
My body…lost feeling…
My vision… fading slowly …
My mind…silent…
No…Not silent…
I…remember…
There's…one…
One…last…
Using the last of my energy, I pulled myself just enough out of unconsciousness to gain control of my right arm. I dragged it across the floor until it could reach my hair. As I felt the world began to slip away once more, I grabbed the Sleeping Hibiscus that Stella had given me and smashed it into Sarah's face.
Almost immediately, the pressure on my neck lessened as Sarah recoiled backwards, already falling under the effect of the flower. "No… No!" she cried; her blind rage quickly being replaced with sheer horror. "I…I can't fail. He…He'll…" She tried to get to her feet, but she was already far too overcome with drowsiness and ended up stumbling and falling down besides me. "You know… You know what…what he'll…do…" With one last tired cry, the once proud Luminary fell into a troubled sleep upon the cave floor, a shadow of her former self.
A wave of pity briefly passed over me as I looked at the pained expression on her face but it was immediately overpowered by a wave of exhaustion. My body, realizing it was no longer in immediate danger of dying, began to relax in an attempt to regain its strength. The last thing I remember seeing…before the world finally fell away to the comfort of sleep…was a pair of friendly shadows…standing over me…
Our heroes seem to have just barely survived their fight against Sarah, a fitting challenge to stand between them and the Fygg of Death. Alas, the Fygg, as well as Marionette, continue to elude our heroes. Will they be able to rescue the living doll before it's too late? What will happen to Sarah now that she has been defeated? Will our heroes ever get their boat? Will the fourth party member ever show up!? Who knows!? Oh, right, I do. And, hopefully soon, so should you.
If you enjoyed this chapter, or the story in general, please feel free to favorite, follow, and leave a review. I really appreciate all of your feedback. Knowing you guys enjoy it is what keeps me coming back to write the next chapter.
Speaking of the next chapter, this one took so long because my life has become really busy, and I foresee myself remaining busy for a while longer still. That being said, it'll be, optimistically, less than seven months until the next chapter, especially considering the next chapter is just the other half of this chapter. Let's say I'm going to aim for the April anniversary, and then I can talk about how much I regret making that promise when it releases in August (I'm joking...I hope).
In any case, until next time, this has been D~F.
