Despite my polite pleas, almost everyone still gets mad at me when I leave off at a cliffhanger. Sheesh…now I'm even getting threats of bodily harm from a certain person with a crystal sword. Am I really that evil?

Hmph. Well, the threats don't go unnoticed, but I will remind you readers that there is always a method to my madness! ^_^

*Ablaze*

The ruins were peacefully quiet again, as if nothing had ever happened to disturb them. The golden silence masked the terrible battle that transpired only a short time earlier, and the only evidence that remained of the event were the burn marks in the grass. Slowly, a pile of stones shifted and rolled away and Garet emerged from within, covered in dust but otherwise unscathed. Flash's power had successfully protected them from both the fiery blast and the stone avalanche.

"Well that was fun," he griped. "Are you OK, Jenna?"

"Yes," she coughed, coming out of the rocks behind him. "Thank you, Garet. That was a close one."

"Tell me about it." He brushed off some of the dust and looked around, seeing nothing. "I guess Karst and Agatio are gone. But where's Isaac and everyone else?"

Jenna paced around and saw no sign of any of their friends. She could feel something sinking in her gut. "They're gone! Oh god, you don't think Agatio…"

"No!" Garet said firmly. "Don't even let yourself think that. Isaac's gotten himself out of worse scrapes than this."

She nodded reluctantly. "But then where are they? They wouldn't just abandon us, would they?"

"Maybe they were forced to retreat," he suggested. "I'll bet they ran away to shake off Agatio and then they were going to come back for us."

"Or they might think we're a lost cause. Let's face it--most people wouldn't be able to survive being buried under a pile of stone."

Garet shrugged. "Who knows?"

They stood there in silence together, observing the scorched grass and the disturbed ruins around them. Jenna wished she could be optimistic about her friends' fate, but something deep within her told her that she should prepare for the worst. "What are we supposed to do now?" she asked. "We can't just stay here--Agatio might come back."

"Right. I guess the only thing we can do is try to find them. See any clues about where they went?"

She walked a little ways and stepped in some abnormally squishy ground. A large amount of water had been here very recently, but she distinctly remembered seeing Mia collapse moments before Agatio had launched those flames. And there were four sets of footprints leading away from the ruins, two sets going in one direction and the two others going in another direction. The first two sets, judging by other footprints in the area, belonged to Karst and Agatio, but the other sets didn't look familiar. Too big to belong to Ivan, Sheba or Mia, and the stride was too long to be Isaac's. What had happened here?

"Garet, look at this," she called. "Strange footprints."

He studied them a moment but they didn't look familiar to him either. "Should we follow them?"

"I can't think of a better idea. Let's go."

They walked in silence, keeping a close eye on the ground to make sure they were following the correct route. Both of them wondered what had happened to the rest of their crew and hoped with all their might that everyone was OK. And another thought also crept into the backs of their minds--they were alone together. Jenna unintentionally kept glancing up at Garet and then casting her eyes back at the ground when she caught herself. It took him a few minutes to notice this behavior, since his mind had wandered off as usual, but he eventually did.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked.

"No," Jenna replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you keep looking at me. Something wrong?"

Jenna tried to hide her blushing. "No, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking about the fight."

"What about it?"

"Well, I've never seen you run that fast before, Garet. It was like some mysterious force suddenly boosted your speed. How'd you manage that?"

Now Garet colored slightly. "Uh…well, I just didn't want to see you get hit by Agatio's blast. Mars Adept or no, no human could escape a fire like that unharmed. I'm allowed to protect you, aren't I, Jenna?"

"Yes," she said with a small smile. "I'm glad you did, actually. You saved my life. I don't know if I can repay you for that."

"Well…you could forgive me for that little incident last night…"

Jenna giggled. "Oh, that."

"What do you mean 'oh that?'" he demanded, irritated. "You made me feel like a complete moron! Don't tell me it was all a front!"

"No, of course not. I've never been more embarrassed in my life." She giggled again. "But in retrospect, it was pretty funny, I guess. Tell me, Garet--did you like what you saw?"

"Just what are you insinuating?!" he asked angrily, turning redder.

She broke down into laughter. "You're so much fun to pick on, Garet!"

He half-frowned. "Yeah, well don't make me regret saving your life. If you aren't nice to me, maybe I'll let the next fiery blast hit you."

"You would not."

"Oh wouldn't I?"

Jenna shoved him playfully. "Liar."

Garet pushed her back. "Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!" This time his push was a little too hard and Jenna lost her balance and fell over. She smirked up at him and then jumped and tackled him to the ground. She pinned him and forcibly wrenched his arm behind his back.

"Surrender now or I'll twist it harder!" she declared, still giggling.

"Ouch!" Garet yelped. "OK, OK--uncle, uncle!"

Jenna released him, looking satisfied, but continued to sit on top of him as she laughed. Garet grumbled to himself, since this was only the ten millionth time he'd lost to her in a 'sparing match' of sorts. Somehow, he was always powerless against her no matter what he did. Sheesh, he thought. One of the strongest Adepts I know of and I'm completely helpless against one measly girl! How'd I let this happen to me?

"Are you going to get off of me sometime this year?" he asked.

"I don't know--you're a pretty comfortable seat." She smiled again, the sparks dancing in her eyes. "But I guess we'd better keep following that trail before it grows cold." She rose and dusted herself off. Garet did the same, though he was still grumbling to himself under his breath.

"Don't be such a grump," Jenna teased.

"Grump?" he questioned. "Are you ever going to stop calling me names?"

"No." She blushed and suddenly blurted out her next words. "But I can't think of anyone I'd rather be traveling with right now."

They both smiled at each other with slightly pink faces, and then continued following the mysterious footprints.

************

"Crikey! How far did these feet walk?"

The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, making it darker and harder to see the trail. They'd lost track of how long they'd been following the prints yet they were still walking across the prairie with no trace of any other life forms in sight.

"I wish I knew where these things were leading us," Jenna said. "I'm getting a really bad feeling about the others."

"They're all right," said Garet with all finality, even though he was starting to have doubts himself. Dammit Isaac, where are you? he wondered. If you have the nerve to get yourself killed before I find you, I swear I'll beat you to a pulp.

"Aren't you worried about them too? Be honest with me."

"Yes," he replied reluctantly. "But that doesn't mean we stop looking or give up hope."

She nodded in agreement. They were coming to a small clump of trees. Not really big or dense enough to be a forest, but it definitely wasn't open space either. "Maybe we should stop there for the night," she said. "It's getting late."

"Tired already?" Garet asked half-mockingly. "And you accuse me of being a wimp."

Jenna scowled. "Don't test me, Garet or I'll set you on fire again."

Something rustled in the thicket ahead, and it didn't sound human. Garet stuck out an arm to halt Jenna. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" she asked. Then the rustling sounded again. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it." He drew his sword and she brandished her staff. The thicket rustled once more and then the thing came into view. It was an enormous purple lizard and it looked both mad and hungry—a dangerous combination. It opened its mouth and hissed upon seeing the pair, obviously thinking it had finally found its next meal. But this was one meal that wouldn't go down without causing a serious case of indigestion first!

"What is that thing?" Jenna cried she sized up the creature.

"Looks like a Thunder Lizard," Garet replied. "We fought a bunch of these at the Venus Lighthouse, but none of them were this big. What has this guy been adding to his diet?"

The beast lunged at them, gnashing its huge teeth. Considering its size and its short little legs it moved with alarming speed. Jenna dodged a swipe of its razor-sharp claws with an impressive backflip and then blasted it with a fireball. The lizard hissed in annoyance and kept pursuing her, snapping its maw as it craned its neck to try and take a bite out of her. Garet cursed his lack of speed as he tried to sneak up behind the beast and get within range. Jenna leaped into the air and brought her staff down on its head with a hard thunk. Now even more annoyed, the lizard opened its mouth and bit down on her staff, snapping it to splinters. She looked at her broken weapon in disbelief for a moment and then jerked back to her senses.

"Well that's not good," she said nervously as she retreated. "Garet, do something!"

"I'm on it," he called, finally close enough to strike the lizard. He cast Eruption, smacking it with a volcanic blast from the ground. It did little other than scorch the lizard's scales, and it whirled in anger. Hissing madly, it lunged at Garet, biting down on the Silver Blade which luckily wouldn't break. He skidded backwards as he tried to wrestle his sword out of the giant teeth that were mere inches from his face. Jenna spread her arms, surrounding herself with a ring of flame, and let loose a raging inferno. That successfully dislodged the beast from Garet's sword, but now it turned to her with open mouth and a glow gathered in the back of its throat.

"Jenna, move it!" Garet cried. "You don't want to get on the business end of that!"

The Thunder Lizard exhaled a white-hot stream of lightening that incinerated everything in its wake. Fortunately, Jenna had gotten out of the way in time and it was mainly the shrubs that went up in smoke. She got to Garet's side, panting from running and out of sheer panic.

"What the heck was that?!" she gasped.

"Storm Blessing," he replied, sounding rather spooked himself. Bigger lizard, bigger blast. "Ivan got hit by that once and he almost didn't live to tell about it."

"All right, I'm officially scared now. How do we beat it?"

Angry at its failure to make Jenna a crispy critter, the Thunder Lizard reared back and roared with all its might. Then it went after the two Adepts in a fury, swiping with its huge claws and snapping its jaws. They managed to dodge, but only barely.

"Dammit, where the heck is Isaac when I need him?!" Garet demanded as he evaded another jab. "These things are vulnerable to earth Psynergy. One Ragnarok would knock it into next week!"

Jenna accidentally tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, leaving her an open target for the deadly teeth. When the head loomed in, she quickly threw some dirt in its eyes and rolled out of the way as it thrashed madly. She launched another scorching fireball, which only provoked it more. But since it was still temporarily blinded, it never saw the sword that came down with a lethal thrust into its head. The Thunder Lizard roared, contorted, and then dissolved to harmless ashes. Garet and Jenna both exhaled sighs of relief and seated themselves against one of the trees to take a well-deserved breather.

"Let's not do that again," she said.

"Fine by me."

They sat there catching their breaths for a few moments and then started to gloat over their rather miraculous victory. Who needed Venus Psynergy? They'd just killed that huge beast all by themselves!

"You know, we make a pretty good team, Jenna," Garet said. "Maybe we should get lost together more often."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing. For someone whose so clumsy day to day, you sure do fight with a great deal of finesse."

"Thanks for the complimen—hey! I am not clumsy! Things just happen to get in my way once in awhile."

She giggled. "Oh, Garet. What would I do without you to pick on?"

"I think you'd go mad from the boredom," he said shrewdly. They both chuckled, meeting each other's eyes. Slowly, without even realizing what they were doing, they leaned in closer to each other and met in a long kiss.

Fire. The burning embers within them rose up into full flames of desire, the likes of which neither of them had ever felt before. How long they kissed they did not know. All that mattered was that the heat, the raw spark of passion, had been ignited. The two crackling torches that had long existed side by side had combined into one incredible conflagration of true love.

When they finally pulled away from each other, they were stunned into silence for several moments and just looked into each other's eyes. They couldn't fully comprehend what had just happened. It had felt like some sort of fantastic dream.

"Wow," Garet finally said quietly.

"Yeah," Jenna agreed, blushing brightly. "That was…amazing."

He grinned. "Can we do it again?" Speechless, yet deeply pleased, she nodded enthusiastically.

So they did.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ta-da! Took them long enough, didn't it? ^_^ I'm sure you're all wondering "what the hell happened to the others?" Never fear—you'll find out in Chapter 5. The fire may have ignited, but this story isn't over quite yet!