Genki stood holding a pole with a piece of string attached to it leading into the water. He suddenly jerked it back as the line tugged just to fall over backwards as the fish let go. "Aww man, come on. I gotta catch something!"
Mocchi jumped up and down pulling his fishing pole back yielding a small fish that was more fittingly called 'bait'. "Chi...To small..." Mocchi sighed sitting down on the sand.
Holly looked up the cliff at a faint cracking sound and then something being dragged. She sighed sadly looking back down at the ground in front of her thinking back on the events of the day.
Holly jumped a little to a crash and looked over at the branch of few feet from her covered in Mangos. She smiled weakly looking up the cliff listening to the light footsteps from the rusty red boots.
Hare sat looking at the branch finally picking one of the fruits off of it and taking a bite. "Wow! This is great! Come on Genki, you'll never get anything that way!"
Genki grumbled to himself. "That stupid..."
Tiger picked one of the Mangos off and carried it over setting it down by Holly. "Here, this'll make you feel better."
Holly nodded picking up the piece of fruit and wiping it off before taking a bite. She smiled again. "Mmm, good..."
Tiger nodded before walking off slowly.
Holly took a few more bites before laying the piece of fruit down and slowly falling asleep.
The same dream she had been having for the past month started. She would always see her mother standing reaching for her then the screech of a Naga before they were torn away from each other. She would see her mother laying dead and the monsters storming the town. It was so close to what she had witnessed that day she would start to cry.
For the past three days another scene had seemingly been tacked onto the end. She would see Galeon fighting Mu, and being killed, then a black abyss with him falling.
Holly jumped as she was catapulted back into reality by Genki's voice. She looked up at him as tears flooded her eyes.
"Hey Holly, what's wrong?"
Holly shook her head slowly. "N-Nothing..."
She climbed to her feet and slid up the slope sitting on the edge before pulling herself up.
"Holly?"
Holly looked back at him and turned walking into the forest. She strolled along the path looking around making sure no baddies or anyone else was around before she collapsed under a tree sobbing.
The dream always left her shaken, but it had been worse than ever since the last scene had been added. She wanted to cry everytime she heard Galeon mention his death, or talk about how he thought he would die.
She had already seen him nearly die once, and she didn't want to lose him now that she had began to like him.
Holly nearly jumped from her place as when she heard footsteps through the brush. She looked away hoping it wasn't Genki looking for her. After a second she heard a familiar older voice and looked up at Galeon who was standing over her.
"Something wrong?..."
Holly shook her head thinking about his question. "N-No..."
Galeon kneeled and then sat down leaning back against the tree beside her. "What's wrong?..."
Holly looked down feebly. Her heart was jumping as she tried to think. "I-It's just..."
Galeon nodded. "What?"
Holly sighed as tears came to her eyes. "Everytime I go to sleep I have a dream about Mu killing my parents, and everyone else..." She sobbed once. "And I wake up crying, and no one's..." She couldn't look at his eyes. "There..."
Galeon gulped to himself. *She's not any better off than me...But she's not...like me...* He sat looking at the girl as she sobbed quietly trying to think of something to do. *I-I c-can't move...My hearts beating really fast...Why?...*
Holly looked up at him and leaned over onto his shoulder putting wrapping her arms around his as her sobs quieted a little. *Please put your arm around me...Please...*
Galeon felt himself sweating and thought it was leaking through his armor. He was totally petrified and couldn't move a muscle, or doing anything except stare at the girl sobbing into his shoulder.
Genki looked over the brush seperating them from the path. He scowled and took a few steps back as tears came to his eyes. He turned and ran leaping off the drop down onto the beach.
Tiger looked up as he stopped and crouched by the ocean edge sitting tossing pebbles into it.
*What'd he see to make him mad?* Tiger thought looking back at the forest. "Hmm..."
Tiger slinked across the beach past Golem who was sitting looking at the seashells scattered about.
"I'm uh, gonna take a walk."
Golem nodded. "Okay, gol."
"Maybe the big bad wolf should wash the rest of the pink crud out of his fur while he's gone too." Hare chimbed in.
Tiger spit at the monster's feet and snorted leaping up the rise and moving up the path.
Pirrateu looked up the mountain cliff in front of him, and then at the path leading up it to the cave the Jells were camping in.
"No way in hell I'm going up there before nightfall. Those guy'll just have to wait. I could just leave though..." Pirrateu thought back to the look in Galeon's eyes when he warned him. "...Or not...That guy gives me the creeps."
Pirrateu dropped his bag against a boulder and gathered up sticks for a fire while he waited for night. He looked up at the near setting sun and then held out his tentacle shooting a spark of electricity that started the kindling.
"Those guys better be glad I'm wasting all my time doing thi-..." He smiled mischevously. "Why am I doing this?...I got a better idea..." Pirrateu grabbed his bag and crawled up the cliff trail to the camp.
"Hey guys! What's up?" The Jells all looked at him and several growled as the Captain crawled over to him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
Pirrateu laughed nervously. "Oh, you know, selling some real information!..."
Captain Jell looked at the others. "What?"
Pirrateu smiled. "I can tell you where the Rebel's camp is!"
The Jell thought for a second. "What's the price?"
"Oh, just that rusty old dagger you got, it's not worth much, but it means something to me!"
Captain Jell looked at the others who nodded. "Okay. Where is it?" He produced the dagger from deep inside his body and held it out.
Pirrateu grabbed the dagger. "Straight down the path, at the end there's a drop off, they're camping on the beach!"
The Jell smiled. "Excellent. Now, get out of here before I decide to kill you."
Pirrateu nodded and laughed as he walked off tossing the dagger up catching is repeatedly. "This is to easy. No more creepy guy, I got a fortune waiting, and the Mu'll be off my back." He laughed again skipping down the path.
Tiger creapt through the underbrush in the forest eventually seeing what had angered Genki. He crouched watching Galeon and Holly awkradly sitting together under the tree, Holly leaned against Galeon hugging him lightly, Galeon looked pale and ready to faint.
Tiger smiled slightly. "Those two picked a fine time to start a Romance Story, right in the middle of a War Novel..." He laughed quietly walking off thinking back to how close this resembled some of the experiences of his earlier life with one of the females in his pack.
He suddenly stopped and sighed thinking about Mu killing his whole pack and taking his brother, then to seeing his brother die. He shook his head and reared up sharpening his claws on a nearby tree. "Damn him. Mu, you're going down."
Mocchi stood looking at Genki who was still crouching and trying to skip rocks on the retreating ocean water.
Mocchi smiled and imitated him squatting near the edge and picking up random rocks tossing them into the water.
Genki was re-examaning how he really felt about Holly. He was quickly realizing he had originally thought of her as a sister, but now he felt more for her, but she still treated him like a brother.
He could tell she had a crush on Galeon, it seemed the Mana Stone even reacted to feelings, everytime he got around her it would turn green tinted for envy. He hated seeing her staring at Galeon dreamily and being lost in thought about him.
Golem picked up another shell and looked at it. "Hmm, pretty." He set it down in a small pile and then went to the next, which he discarded over his shoulder.
Suezo was jolted awake by the shell hitting him on the head. "Hey, watch it!" He looked around. "Wow, it's almost night."
Golem nodded. "Yeah, gol."
"And we've done next to nothing all day..." Hare sighed.
Suezo did the best remdition a stick and eyeball could of a shrug. "Oh well, it's not like we can go anywhere without that dagger..."
Hare sighed. "Yeah...We've got the get it back."
"Think we can trust the Pirrateu guy?"
Hare shook his head. "I doubt it, albeit he's long gone by now."
Pirrateu was indeed gone, but he was still hanging around the forest wanting to see the outcome of things.
Suezo sighed. "Well, what're we gonna do?"
Hare smiled. "We attack at dawn."
"W-What?"
Hare stood up laughing. "But of course, and I have the plan."
Genki looked back at them from the water's edge. "Okay...Sure..."
Cujo sat beside the fire cleaning his fur listening half heartedly.
Hare picked up a stick scratching in the sand. "Okay, there's one path up, it's the only way, but we have an advantage."
Suezo looked at him confused. "What?..."
Hare looked up at Daina who was leaning over them. "Daina'll fly up and distract them."
Daina frowned. "I'm not fighting."
Hare smirked. "You won't have to, use what got you this far."
Daina slapped him across the cheek.
"Hey, it's true!" Hare yelled rubbing the red mark.
Daina scowled. "How about you climb the mountain and distract them."
Hare grumbled going back to what he was doing. "Now, what I was saying, before I was so rudely slapped, was that Daina will distract them, then Golem." He looked up at the monster. "Will get a boulder and toss on top of them."
Suezo nodded. "Yeah, okay. Then what?"
Hare shrugged. "We just attack."
Suezo sighed. "It always comes down to me getting my tail roasted, doesn't it?..."
Holly had nearly falling asleep leaning against Galeon. Neither of them had moved more than a little in the past hour, they had just sat thinking, mostly about each other, as time passed.
Holly sighed sitting up and stretching her arms as she yawned.
Galeon blushed lightly as he watched her but soon yawned also being forced to stretch his body.
Holly slid her hands down her sides slowly straightening her shirt before standing looking down at Galeon.
"You hungry?..."
Galeon shook his head. "Not really..."
Holly nodded. "Okay..."
Galeon stood up beside her. "Come on, let's go back to camp..."
Holly sighed and followed him down the path to the beach.
Genki looked up at them and scowled sitting back beside the fire.
Throughout the day Genki and Mocchi had managed to catch enough fish for a small dinner, along with the mangos it wasn't that bad.
After dinner Genki sat staring at the fire still thinking about Holly. Most of the others were rolling out what they were sleeping on or already bedding down.
Hare and Suezo wasted no time in hopes they wouldn't get picked for watch.
Tiger had returned and was laying a ways from the fire in the shadows sleeping silently.
Genki sighed slowly. "I'll take first watch..."
Galeon and Cujo both looked at him.
"If you think you can handle it..." Cujo said as he layed down.
"Of course I can handle it!" Genki snapped back.
Cujo snorted. "Whatever."
Holly had removed her shoes and the red tunic laying them in a piled by her purse before sliding under the sleeping bag cover.
Galeon had left his armor tied in a pile warming by the fire and sat looking off into space for a few minute before going to bed.
Within an hour everyone but Genki was sound asleep around the fire not noticing the Jell spy watching them from the cover of the forest.
The Jell smiled to itself as it slithered back to camp quickly to report they were asleep.
Captain Jell rallied the troops telling them to grab their shovels before the troops slithered their way down to the beach.
Each of the Jells silently stood beside one of the Rebels waiting for the order. In one motion all of them swooped in grabbing the bodies and holding them tight as the others went about digging.
"Hey, let, me, go!" Suezo yelled.
"How'd they get us?!" Hare added.
Cujo scowled and looked at Genki who was being held to the ground. "Never let a kid do a man's job."
Golem struggled but couldn't break free of the Jells grip on him.
Within two hours the Jells had buried all of the Rebels up to their necks at the water's edge.
Galeon looked around. "What're you gonna do now?..."
Captain Jell laughed. "Now, we just wait for high tide!" He smiled pointing at the slowly rising water.
Several of the Jells yawned and the Captain slumped down a little. "That digging was hard work...We'll rest until it's time!"
All of the Jells nodded and slumped down into puddles falling asleep.
Suezo grumbled as he wiggled pulling himself up a little.
"What're you doing?" Hare said from the adjacent hole.
"I think I can reach 'dis shovel." Suezo said quietly stretching his tongue out. "Come on, come on." He stretched a little farther touching the shovel's handle.
Hare nodded. "You can do it Suezo."
Genki grumbled with his chin sitting on the sand. "I can't believe I let this happen..."
Suezo strained and suddenly recoiled.
"What's wrong?!" Hare said as quietly as he could.
"Tongue cramp..."
"Ooh, hurry up!"
Suezo finally got stretched far enough and grabbed the shovel pulling it to him and digging as quickly as he could.
A few hours later the Rebels were all standing on the beach dressed and ready as the stars begin to disappear into the morning sky.
Pirrateu had watched from the thicket of brush on the ridge and had seen the whole thing. "Maybe these guys are tougher than I thought..." He shivered at the thought of Galeon actually gutting him and looked back down as one of the Jells stirred.
Captain Jell looked up slowly yawning. He saw a pair of red boots in front of him and leapt back as he looked up to see Galeon standing over him. "Jells, aten-hut!" He yelled as loudly as possible waking the others.
Galeon held his sword out and then stabbed it into the Jell's chest striking his core. The Jell shrieked as it contorted and reverted to a Lost Disk. The others were awake by now and being attacked.
Cujo jumped on one's head stomping and kicking it before finishing the job.
Golem slammed his fist down on top of two at once leaving them dead.
The group quickly mopped up the rest of the Jells and stood looking over the Lost Disks standing at the edge of the water.
Holly sighed looking down sadly. "I wish we didn't have to kill them...And we still didn't find the dagger." She sniffled once and sighed.
Genki looked up at her. "Don't worry, we'll still find the Phoenix."
Holly brought her hands up covering her face. She felt like she had let everyone down and now they couldn't do anything.
Pirrateu sniffled as he watched them. She really was hurt now. He closed his eyes and pulled the dagger from around his neck throwing it as far as he could. It landed at Holly's feet who immediatly crouched down picking it up.
Tiger and Galeon both looked up into the forest. Galeon drew his sword and started towards the watching Pirrateu.
Holly looked up at him. "No, Galeon, Tiger...Don't..."
Pirrateu took a few steps back watching as his fear left him. He turned walking away lowering his voice. "They say a woman's tears are even stronger than a sword..."
Holly clutched the dagger to her chest sighing as a small smile crossed her face. "Thanks, Pirrateu..."
Galeon looked back as the morning sun crested the horizon and covered the makeshift battlefield. "Now where do we go?..."
Holly shrugged. "I guess wherever the Magic Stone tells us next..." She said as she pulled it from her shirt.
Genki looked at the two as they both caught each others glance. He mumbled something and kicked his rollerblades off standing in the sand barefoot. "Come on, let's go..."
Holly nodded and concentrated on the stone. The arrow formed pointing northeast up the coast. "I guess that's the way then..."
Daina looked over her map. "We'll be in...Taloss pretty soon..."
There was a low thump causing everyone to look back as Big Blue and Pixie appeared on the ridge slowly making their way down towards the group.
Big Blue raised his hand waving as they neared and Pixie smiled seeing them together.
"New friends?" Pixie questioned.
Genki crossed his arms. "If you call them that..."
Galeon stood looking at her and shrugged walking off.
Hare pointed at Cujo. "That's Cujo, this is Daina, and that's Galeon." He said pointing at the others.
Pixie nodded. "Okay. Now, back to the news."
Genki turned looking at her. "What news?"
"Mu is returning from Cairus, I think he's found the Final Gate..."
"What?!" Genki leapt towards them.
Pixie nodded. "He's moving it to where his body is now, you haven't got long..."
Genki dropped to his knees. "Aw man, now what?..."
Pixie watched him and smiled. "Don't worry Genki, you'll figure something out, you always have."
Pixie looked back towards the forest. "We need to go now, we have to keep tabs on Mu, and he's been moving quickly. The Pirate Dragons are helping us, but we can't get to far behind."
Genki nodded and sighed. "Okay..."
Big Blue smiled. "And besides, you have more help now." He turned and walked off with Pixie after finishing, heading back into the forest.
Genki sighed pulling his blades on before jumping to his feet again. "Okay, let's go!" He pointed off in the direction and climbed the dirt slope so he could skate on the packed dirt along the path.
The others followed him up to the path moving along slowly hoping to reach the next town soon and find some food.
Chapter 6: Rumble in the Arena *Coming Soon*