Chapter 12: Tornado of Fate

AN: Hello all, and welcome to the final chapter of Fateful Journey!
Tigra: Who cares?
**bashes Tigra over the head with a rock, but she doesn't seem to feel it at all**
She's indestructable, really. I've tried many times to smash her, but it doesn't work. There was one incident with a bulldozer…
Tigra: That was erased from your memory, remember?
Oh yeah! Anyway, we're going to have a little "fun" with Tigra before we start this chapter…**takes out a big ray gun that resembles in shape and color a banana** My friend Kate12 lent this to me…it's her very special wacky ray gun! Oh boy!
Tigra: Get away from me with that thing!
Aw, Tiggy, it's all in good fun!
Tigra:DON'T CALL ME TIGGY!
Sheesh. **fires the ray gun**

Wow! It's a Chibi Flying Tigra! **a tiny tiger with tiny blue wings flaps up and lands on her nose**
WOW! TIGRA, IS THAT YOU?
Tigra, aka CFT: Yes it is, you spineless rat. How dare you!
At least now you can fly….just do the disclaimer!
CFT: Fine! Be that way! Anyway, Darcy doesn't own anything, especially Golden Sun, because she's a loser! Mwahahahaha!
I think as Tigra gets smaller, she gets meaner. Oh well, lucky I ordered this butterfly net! **picks it up and tries to grab CFT with it, but CFT swerves and flies away**
Gosh darnit! Come back here!
**screams and yells are heard from the running author and her sidekick, and the last words you can hear before the two fade into the distance are:
Just read the freakin' story!Tiggy, GET BACK HERE! Owwww! How dare you bite my nose!!!!

The dragons circled above the lighthouse once, then dropped the ground below, landing quickly. "We cannot fly you up." Eiryath's voice echoed in the group's ears. "You must face the climb up yourselves." He and Tiamat took off and were soon nothing but tiny black dots in the distance.

Garet shrugged, feeling more nervous than he cared to show. "Heck, this will be easy! We've done this twice before, we can do it again!"

Menardi shook her head. "This lighthouse is different somehow…I can feel it."

Kraden scowled. "This lighthouse is known as the "Tornado of Fate," in the old legends. It was rumored to turn into a huge tornado that reaped destruction upon the world when all the lighthouses were lit."

"Aw, who cares about the old legends?" Garet said carelessly. "Let's go!" He ran toward the lighthouse, approaching the immense door. The fire Adept pushed and pulled at it, but the massive stone structure wouldn't budge. "How're you supposed to get into this thing?" He asked.

Ivan sighed. "Since it's Jupiter Lighthouse, obviously you need to perform some psynergy that only Jupiter Adepts can do," Without a pause he muttered, "Whirlwind!" A psynergic gust of wind swept across the door, and it slowly creaked open, rusty from years of disuse.

Isaac stopped dead on the threshold. "Someone…is here…" He said. "I can…feel it."

"Of course…the shaman's rod! Someone who has it must be in here…otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get it!" Jenna realized.

"No shit, Sherlock." ((Tigra! Get out of the story! *kicks her* Tigra: @__@ ((*ahem*))

Kraden peered around suspiously, but even with his old eyes and
other youthful ones looking, there was no one to be seen.

The group looked about the lighthouse. The interior was made out of brick, but an odd kind of brick, for the material shone with a dull metallic light and the silver color included a purple sheen. The corners of the lighthouse were crowded with cobwebs, and a thick layer of dust lay on the floor. Statues lined the corridors, the jewels set in the sockets of their eyes giving them an eerie appearance.

((I'm just going to skip through the puzzles that they have to go through to get to the top because they'd be really boring…So here we are, almost to the top of the lighthouse…))

Isaac stepped forward cautiously, his boots making a grating sound as he walked toward the nearest hallway. The others followed him, silently accepting him as their leader, trusting him as they always did.

Flicking a strand of spiky golden hair from where it was blocking his eyesight, Isaac felt a creeping feeling in the pit of his stomach that was usually associated with being watched. He spun around, only to find that no one was watching them. Deciding to keep a closer scrutiny on the back of the group, he marched on, the others following him.

The room they wanted to enter was barricaded by a sturdy wooden door. With a moment of hesitation, Saturos blasted the door with a spurt of fire, leaving it swinging morosely off its hinges and in flames.

The first thing they noticed was the tornado in the middle of the room. It was tall, the top of it seeming to float up and disappear into the ceiling. It was also a pale metallic purple, matching the color of the walls. Isaac swallowed nervously. "Should we…go up it?"

The others nodded wordlessly, sensing that this was the fateful step. There was no turning back once they stepped into the whirling twister. There was a fierce fight ahead of them, but they had to try to rescue Mia.

Isaac stepped in first, the speed of the rotating tornado wrenching him off solid ground and up, up, into the Lighthouse Aerie. He was only conscious of the whirling, the endless whirling, before his head connected with stone and everything faded into blackness.

~*~

"Isaac! Please, wake up!" It was Jenna's voice he was hearing, shrill and scared sounding. He lifted his head, blinking as bright sunlight connected with his dilated pupils.

Garet helped him up. "You smashed into that statue when you were blown up." Isaac nodded absently, suddenly away that the feeling in his stomach was stronger than ever. He whirled around, to see Alex and Mia, pure hatred glittering in Alex's eyes.

Alex was gripping the Jupiter Stone, the purple gem clutched tightly in his fist. Mia seemed to be staring right through Isaac and the others, her eyes blank. Somehow the blueness seemed to be drained from her eyes.

"Mia!" The hoarse cry burst from Isaac's lips before he could stop it. Mia paid no attention. Isaac ran to her, but was stopped by Alex lifting a hand. A powerful wave of psynergy rushed through Isaac, rooting him to the ground.

He struggled valiantly, but could not free himself of Alex's power. "So, weakling, you have come to stop me?" The water adept's voice echoed around the lighthouse aerie, seeming magnified a hundred times. "I will accept your challenge to battle."

Isaac looked at him with narrowed eyes as Alex continued. "But since I enjoy tormenting you, you won't be fighting me." He pushed Mia forward, her blank eyes still seeming to see and to not see. "You'll be fighting a slave of mine. I believe you know her as Mia."

~*~

It couldn't be. Couldn't be. Simply couldn't be.

Those were the words that scrolled endlessly through Isaac's head as he stared at the girl. Fight Mia, his beloved? He was brave, perhaps, and people called him strong, but he did not have enough strength to fight her.

"Isaac." Garet's voice penetrated like a spear through his jumbled thoughts. "Isaac, it's the only way."

The golden-haired adept shook his head, tears streaming from his stormy blue eyes. "No! NO!"

Saturos laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, kid."

"Maybe she won't die if we go lightly on her." Menardi added rather unhelpfully.

But their pleas to Isaac passed through him, as he, seeming un-hearing, kept beating the stone floor with his fists, drawing deep bloody straches in his hands.

Mia, well, Mia's shell, calmly lifted a sword and looked at Isaac. "hello, you bastard doughnut."

((0.0 Tigra! Did you put that in there? *edits it out* starting over…))

Mia, well, Mia's shell, calmly lifted a sword. "The Marine Blade. It unleashes the incredibly powerful Tidal Surge." Kraden whispered reverently.

Everyone assembled across from Mia except Isaac, who just watched silently.

"Tsumami Wave!" The girl's shriek echoed around the battlefield as a huge psynergitic blue wave swept the party off their feet. When the wave receded, they didn't get up and did not move again.

"They've fainted. In one shot." The sane part of Isaac's mind told him that much. He trembled violently, knowing what he had to do. Numb, he walked across the strewn bodies of Saturos, Menardi, Ivan, Garet, Jenna, and Kraden, and stared at the girl he had once known as Mia. "Alex…he's controlling you!" He yelled at her, tears once again falling from the clear blue eyes. "Stop!"

Mia paid no attention, just unsheathed her Marine Blade as Isaac relunctantly drew his Gaia Blade. He yelled, "Titan Blade," at the same time she yelled "Tidal Surge!"

The earth and water blades clashed, and the screeching of metal upon metal could be heard. Isaac gasped, drivning against the opposing blade with all his strength. He looked at Mia, for a moment unable to believe what he was seeing. Her green eyes were unclouded, and they were focused on him. "Don't give up…" She managed to murmur, before Alex scowled and her eyes clouded again.

Just hearing her voice gave Isaac new stregth. Drawing on a vat of will he never knew he had, he parried and stroke, matching Mia blade for blade.

The end came when Mia's blade flashed forward at his neck and Isaac ducked, calling upon the earth psynergy of Mother Gaia. Mia gasped in pain, quivered for a moment, and in that weak instant, Isaac shot out with all his psynergitic power at Alex's presense in her mind. The man gasped, and with a rattling gurgle, stumbled, fell, and did not rise. Mia, with a little exhausted sigh, fainted in Isaac's arms.

~*~

The celebration at Allamir that night was immense. Feautured was many exoctic foods, and spirited dancing. A rousing cheer was toasted to Isaac and the others, as the "saviors of Anagara, Hesperia, Gondowan, and everywhere!"

Isaac sat, watching Garet whirl around the dance square with Jenna, and Saturos dancing with Menardi, whose long blond hair kept falling over both of them, and pushing it back irritably.

Mia sat next to them. She was still recovering from her ordeal, and was still a bit pale, but she had wanted to go tonight. Isaac noticed her bright green eyes watching the happy dancers.

With a little qualm, Isaac opened his mouth. "Mia…would you dance?" He choked out, blushing as red as a manticore.

She turned and looked at him then, eyes wide with surprise, which quickly turned to happiness. "I thought you'd never ask."

He led her out on the dance floor, thinking indeed, this was the best day of his life.

~*~

*sniff, sniff* The end!!!

~*~

What did you think? Did it suck beyond belief? Have any suggestions for what I should bash Tigra with? Please review!!!!! And thanks for reading Fateful Journey!!!! J

Peace out,
WackyD & Tigra