Hello! You haven't heard from me in awhile, 'aven't ya? ^^; Oh well. I gots nothing I really want to say...

Kirby: THAT'S a first...

Be quiet, Puffball, or I'll post the blackmail picture of you on the internet so AAAAAALLLLL your li'l poker buddies can see. ^_^

Kirby: I'll be good.

Thought you'd see things my way sooner or later. =D Heh heh.

*****

Isaac, Garet, and Ivan had lost sight of Mia. Her speed was amazing, and Isaac thought it only added towards her beauty. The three Adepts followed her tracks in the snow. It wasn't hard for, it seemed, no one had been this way in quite awhile. After about forty-five minutes of walking, they came upon the Mercury Lighthouse.

Built ages ago by unknown people, the blue tower went sky-high. Standing in her shadow, the three stared in awe. The sunlight glittered off the sapphire stones coldly, but not without a certain amount of warmth that eased the cold from the bones. In front of the tower was a fountain. But it was empty, giving a certain sadness to the sacred structure. A brass plaque read: Hermes's Water.

Treading softly in this monument only seemed to be right. Without a word, the three Adepts walked farther in the mini-courtyard. Mia stood among broken fragments of stone, staring at a winged statue intently. "This was never here before..." She whispered for herself, not noticing the three Adepts creeping up on her.

Isaac looked at the scene before him intently. The young and angelic Mia fit in perfectly with the cold, sharp lighthouse. He coughed nervously, which came out in a rather interesting fashion. Ivan and Garet, giving each other knowing glances, tried to hide their smiles. Mia spun around quickly, her staff in a threatening position. But when she saw who they were, her face softened. Lowering her staff, but not too much, she asked in a soft, yet interrogating voice, "Why did you follow me here?"

Isaac drew himself up proudly, but secretly gazing at her flowing aqua hair admiringly. "We have our own business with the lighthouses." Ivan and Garet backed him up with confirming nods.

Mia's brow furrowed in thought momentarily. She gazed at each of them suspiciously, weighing her options. The three just returned the gazes. Sighing and shaking her head, Mia backed up to allow them to get closer to the statue. Isaac walked forward slightly clumsily, and his companions followed him. It could have been his imagination, but Isaac could've sworn Ivan was slowly pushing him so that he'd be forced to stand next to Mia. There, all he could think about nervously was how close she was to him, and how foolish he must look.

Mia didn't notice. "I suppose you three want to get in the lighthouse now, right?" The three Adepts nodded. Mia sighed. "You can't."

"What? No way!" Ivan shouted.

"I'm afraid so." She pointed grimly to the statue. "That thing is blocking the entrance. If we could just jump over there and push the statue out of the way, there would be no problem. But the fact of the matter is that there's no room."

Garet blinked at the long statement. Ivan was looking slyly at Isaac. Isaac, seeing Ivan's glance, thought. What's that look for? ...Oh. Coughing slightly, he took a step forward. "I-I could do it."

Mia looked over at him oddly. But, looking at his face, a click sounded in her brain. Her face softened into a slight smile. "Of course." She stepped aside, allowing Isaac to stand aligned with the statue. Ivan cast Mia a suspicious glance. How does she know what Isaac has to do?

Garet, thinking nothing of Mia's behavior, just watched Isaac silently. Isaac could feel all the eyes on him, especially Mia's. He was praying to Venus that he wouldn't mess up. However, he maintained an outward appearance of calm assurance. "Move." He spoke softly, raising his hand in front of him. Closing his eyes, he saw the world of his Psynergy.

The statue in front of him sparkled and changed colors. A giant gloved hand, that of his Psynergy's, was raised in the air, in front of the statue. He pushed his own arm forward. The hand mimicked his action, pushing the statue back its own width. The gloved hand disappeared, and Isaac opened his eyes, returning to the world of normal sight.

Isaac chanced a glance back at Mia. She didn't seem very impressed, only a little bit. Inwardly feeling horrid, he took a step back and glanced at his handiwork. The statue was moved, and the section of wall it covered was out in the open. Revealed in that space was a swirling blue vortex. It was very inviting and hypnotic, and Isaac took an involuntary step forward.

"No!" Mia placed a hand on his shoulder none-to-gently. The touch brought Isaac back to reality. He blinked for a moment, and finally noticed the smaller girl had her hand upon him. But by the time he had realized that, Mia had already removed her hand from him. Turning to all the three Adepts, she glared warningly at them. "Don't set a finger in there! The vortex is raw Mercury power and will easily disintegrate your bodies within seconds!"

The boys needed no further warning and backed away from Mia and the vortex, no longer so inviting. Mia faced the hole in the ground before the ledge where the vortex was. Backing up, she leaped over the chasm with graceful ease. Ivan and Garet, seeing Isaac staring after her dumbly, had to stifle snickers. Isaac glared at them, blushing.

Standing in front of the vortex, it seemed a strong wind was behind her, trying to suck her into the vortex. Mia, having been trained for this, was ready. With her blue robes and ponytail fluttering around her, she extended both hands outwards, palms up. "Ply." She spoke loudly, but the wind whipped the words from her mouth, making them end up a whisper.

A little sprite appeared above her hands. It flew towards the vortex and sprinkled blue dust in front of it. The wind blew them straight into the swirling power. The sprite disappeared and Mia was left alone. The vortex increased in its fury, and Mia even had to brace herself and avert her eyes from the hypnotic swirling.

But the vortex's desperate fury was short lived, and it slowed and faded away, revealing a normal door. Smiling in satisfaction, Mia hopped in without a backward glance.

Thinking again that Mia was the most wonderful person he had ever met, Isaac followed instantly. Garet, yelling at Isaac to "wait up", followed as well. Ivan didn't follow quite as fast. Unlike his friends, he was much more studious than a warrior. He observed and thought things that the others did not. So while they trusted Mia a bit, he still had his doubts. It was not in Ivan's nature to instantly trust people completely. In Vault, he had been quite desperate. In his childhood, Ivan had never really been trusted or welcomed by his peers. Though he might deny it, Ivan had never really gotten over that.

Shrugging, Ivan leapt over the chasm and followed the others. When he got inside, he saw an interesting sight. Putting on his cheerful mask, he bound over to Isaac and Garet. Garet was watching with an amused expression. Isaac didn't look too happy. Seeing what they were looking at, Ivan grinned.

Mia was playing with a mirror. Actually, the "mirror" was a ten foot tall lizard in armor. Mia would step to the left, but the monster would do the same. She would feign to the right, and almost get through the left, but the lizard was just as fast, and possibly faster, than Mia. She looked murderous. "Dumb lizard..." She mumbled. "LET ME THROUGH!!!" She grabbed her staff and looked prepared to fight. The lizard looked highly amused.

Ivan, analyzing the girl's face, decided this wasn't the best option. Isaac would say that she looked very brave. Garet would say she looked like Jenna when she was about the punch somebody she was mad at. But Ivan took a closer look. Though she had her face set in a grim determination, her knuckled holding the staff were white, and he could see she shook a tiny bit. This would be her first fight, and going up against a lizard warrior was not the best idea for someone inexperienced.

Ivan looked to his friends support. Garet was watching with mild interest. No help there. Ivan turned to Isaac. Isaac was glaring at the lizard, mumbling under his breath. Ivan decided to appeal to Isaac. "Isaac..." He tugged on his sleeve.

"What?" He snapped.

Ivan, undaunted, continued. "You can't let her fight alone. She's a healer. Not much of a fighter."

Isaac had learned awhile ago to trust Ivan on certain things, and since this lead to doing something he wanted to do, he listened. Grabbing Garet by the arm and trusting Ivan to follow him, he went to stand next to Mia. He saw Ivan was right. On the outside, she looked formidable, but her eyes betrayed that she was a bit scared. "Mia?"

Mia didn't take her gaze off the lizard, who was grinning and unsheathing a sword. "Yes?"

"Please, let us fight. You don't have too..."

Mia frowned, but this was preferable to having to fight the beast herself. "Fine." As she went to watch from a safe place, she glared at them, making it quite clear that she could've taken down the lizard if she wanted to. She was only humoring them.

Relieved, the Adepts took up their battle stances. The lizard relied heavily on its broadsword. It was obviously a skilled fighter, for it wielded the two-handed blade in one hand, and a heavy shield in the other. It would be a dabbler in Psynergy at the most. Taking this to their advantage, the Adepts stayed back a distance and fought it with Psynergy.

In the midst of gold, purple, and red Psynergy, Garet was having problems. He felt the oppressive weight of the direct opposite Psynergy weighing down on him, making his attacks next to useless. He didn't tell the others, for they didn't notice. Isaac wasn't feeling as bad, for the direct opposite of Venus is Jupiter. Garet still fought, and just wished he could get close enough to the lizard to use his sword. But he knew it'd be pointless, for the lizard was very agile, and was even able to dodge some of the attacks, especially Garet's.

Eventually, the Adepts won, and the lizard's body disintegrated instantly. Mia ran towards the door the lizard had not allowed entry through. Yelling a quick "Thanks!" over her shoulder, she hustled into the next room.

The Adepts followed her, though at a slower pace. Garet was grateful, for though he didn't admit it, he was very weary from their battle. Ivan bound ahead, calling for the others to catch up, disappearing through the doorway. Isaac had been walking with Garet, but Garet had unconsciously slowed his pace, and was now behind Isaac. Isaac waited patiently for Garet to catch up. "You okay, Garet? You don't look so good."

Garet smiled and continued walking. "I'm fine. Trust me." Speeding up, he followed Ivan's path. Isaac followed, shaking his head.

"I'm not too sure if I believe you, Garet."

*****

There! How was that for my long absence, hey? ^_^ The next update shouldn't take NEARLY as long, 'cause I'm in a writing mood now. Heck, I bet the next update could be in a day or two! (I dunno!) So please leave a review on your way out! (More reviews I get, faster I update!!!) n_n