Well, here it is—the last chapter. I always have mixed feelings about finishing a fic, but it can't be helped. So without any further small talk from me, please read on…
*Fire vs. Fire*
The sky was still gray and bleak in the morning, though the rain had finally stopped. Mia was the first to step outside of the temple and she inhaled the fresh air deeply.
"I'm glad there's someone else who appreciates the rain," said Picard as he came up behind her.
"I've always loved the way the air smells after a good rainstorm," she said. "It's such a cool, earthy scent."
Picard nodded. "Does your love for this scent have anything to do with a certain someone?"
Mia smiled. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't. I don't know if anyone else has ever noticed it, but Isaac smells much the same way."
"Well I suppose that makes sense given his element."
"At least it's better than smelling like some other things in this world," Isaac said. He wrapped his arms around Mia's waist. "Do I really smell like that?"
"You do," Mia replied. "But don't let it concern you. I love the way you smell."
"Shall I wake the others?" Picard asked.
"Yes," said Isaac. "If you have trouble rousing Garet, just get Jenna to do it. I'm sure she won't mind."
"We definitely need more female Adepts in this crew," Picard mumbled as he went back inside.
"Sheba's the only one left without a significant other," Mia said. "And I get the feeling that may not last."
"Probably not." Isaac thought he heard something just then and started looking around.
"What is it, Isaac?"
"I don't know." He paced a few steps from Mia, coming fully out into the open. All he could see were the ruins and the gray sky—nothing out of the ordinary. But something rustled, and then one of the broken buildings crumbled a little more, as if it had been jostled. He drew his sword. "All right, I know someone's there. Come on out and show yourself!"
More rustling and then a huge fireball came flying out from behind the ruins Isaac had his back to. The Gaia Blade spun through the air and planted itself near the temple entrance as its owner was tossed in another direction entirely. Mia shrieked in surprise and fear and started running for Isaac when another fireball appeared and threw her against the side of the temple. As she slowly looked up, she saw Agatio and Karst appear from behind two different ruined buildings.
"I knew you'd come back through here eventually," said Agatio. "We've been waiting for you."
Isaac pulled himself up, gritting his teeth, and cast Cure to numb the burn on his back. He started to go to Mia and his sword when Agatio leapt in front of him. "Going somewhere? I'm putting an end to this now once and for all!"
Luckily, the others had heard Mia's scream and came outside. Upon seeing their guests, they quickly pulled out their weapons and prepared for another long fight. Jenna had borrowed a staff from Sheba to replace the one she lost the other day. Karst stuck out her scythe to prevent them from advancing further.
"So you came back for more, Felix?" she inquired. "Do you intend to fight us after all our Clan did for you?"
"What ever made you think that I owe you?" Felix returned with a hard stare.
Picard unleashed a frigid ice blast to get Karst out of their way. He went to help Mia while the others fanned out. Garet picked up the Gaia Blade and threw it to Isaac, who caught it and set his sights on Agatio.
"We've got greater numbers this time, Agatio," Isaac said. "Don't think that your tricks will work on us a second time."
"Don't be so sure of that, boy." He brought his huge sword down against the Gaia Blade, the familiar sound of clashing steel resonating across the area. As he used his huge muscles to push his opponent backwards, Isaac's sword glowed and he swiftly wrenched it away and struck hard with Flint's power. The blow pierced Agatio's armor and blood slowly leaked in a long line down his chest. But he smiled evilly and unleashed a horrible attack; a stream of fire shaped like a dragon that wrapped around Isaac and hoisted him into the air. He tried to wrestle free, but it seemed impossible to focus on anything except the charring pain of the fire. The flame dragon dropped him when he was quite high up and he crashed to the ground, unable to move.
"Isaac!" Mia cried from where she was across the clearing. She and Picard, along with Jenna, Felix and Ivan, had been trying to avoid getting incinerated by Karst's constant jets of flame. Picard created a deluge to distract her so that Mia could get by. Agatio was already preparing to deliver a final finishing blow to his quarry when he was struck from behind by a lightening bolt from Sheba. When he spun to swipe at her, his sword clashed against Garet's Silver Blade.
"Hurry, Mia!" he said as he fought the other Mars Adept.
Mia got to Isaac's side and put all the strength she could muster into her Ply spell. Isaac got to his knees afterwards but was leaning on the Gaia Blade for support. "That was fun," he panted. "Thanks for the save, Mia."
"Anytime." Another stray blast of flame came their way and she cast Ice Missile to cancel it out. "Can you still fight?"
"The spirit's willing," was all he said. He forced himself to stand and jumped back into the fray to aid Garet.
Karst cackled loudly as she brought her scythe down upon Felix, slicing his forearm open in a nasty gash. He naturally recoiled in pain and Ivan threw out a Tempest to retaliate quickly. She avoided it however, and sent out more fire. Jenna leapt through the flames and attempted to smack Karst with her staff, which didn't work since Karst saw her coming. The two female Mars Adepts sized each other up a moment before beginning to cast Psynergy at each other with alarming speed. Jenna dodged without much trouble, but so too did Karst.
Picard healed Felix's arm and formed the biggest geyser he could, soaking Karst to the bone and washing her a short distance away. "They never learn, do they?"
"Damn idiots!" Jenna scowled. "They're always making our lives so difficult!"
Garet kept trying to hit Agatio with the Aqua Sock unleash but he always saw it coming. Mia was trying every attack she knew to try and slow him down, but it wasn't working and her power was rapidly depleting. Isaac was having a hard time fighting since he was still pretty hurt from the last attack, and Sheba's Psynergy wasn't connecting full force. Trails of the lightening and Plasma blasts would hit Agatio, but he managed to stay out of the centers of the attacks. It was very frustrating. Agatio seemed to relish it though, and smirked as he used his sword and his fireballs to keep his adversaries occupied. The harder they tried, the easier it appeared to get for him.
Picard had his sword locked against Karst's scythe. Physically he had the upper hand she was quite a bit faster in every respect, including spell casting. A lava stream popped up underneath him, throwing him against the side of the temple. Felix cast Ragnarok, and it initially appeared to hit her. When the Psynergenic light faded, however, she was unharmed and lunged for Felix. Ivan tried Destruct Ray to help, but was greeted with a huge fiery blast that sent him crashing into Picard's unmoving form. Felix brought up his sword again, catching it in the crux of the scythe. She smirked at him wickedly, her expression capable of making even a stoic fighter like Felix feel ill.
"You're history," she hissed. And she too blasted Felix with a scorching blast, sending him to join Ivan and Picard. Jenna was at their sides, but they weren't moving.
"Mia!" she called. "We need some of that Ply stuff now!"
"I'm a bit busy!" Mia called back. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and cast Ice Missile at the same time Sheba tried her Spark Plasma. Agatio didn't like that, of course, and created one huge fireball in his hands. He aimed it for Mia, but it suddenly split into four parts and hit everyone around him instead. Garet took the hit with only a grunt, but the flames knocked Isaac, Sheba and Mia around like leaves in the wind, and they fell down on top of each other. Not a single one of them moved. Karst went over to join Agatio as Jenna and Garet met each other opposite them. The four Mars Adepts stared each other down, preparing for the final leg of the battle.
"What do we do now?" Jenna asked.
"You're asking me?!" Garet exclaimed. "Two Mars Adepts against two more powerful Mars Adepts. What do you think we do?"
Jenna frowned. "We fight fire with fire, that's what! We can't give up now—they're weakening!"
He looked at her questioningly. "Are you serious?"
"I think I have an idea, Garet, but I'll need your help."
"Give it up," Karst sneered. "Or would you rather end up like your friends?"
"Shut up!" Garet barked. "We're not losing to you sideshow freaks now!" He turned back to Jenna. "What's your idea?"
"I'm not sure if it'll work, but maybe if we combine our Psynergy, we can create a blast big enough to knock them out."
"You call that an idea?! That'll never work!"
"It's better than being made extra crispy by them! Come on, Garet—just trust me!"
Garet relented, since they didn't have many options at their fingertips. And he certainly did trust Jenna's judgment. She took both of his hands and they interlocked their fingers. Slowly, a red aura began to surround the two of them as they called up their Psynergy reserves. Karst and Agatio just snickered at them.
"Do you really think your weaker fire powers will hurt us?" Agatio inquired. "You'll have to do better than that!"
"Much better!" his companion added.
"I don't think they're taking us seriously, Jenna," Garet said with a smirk. He could feel the inferno building up between them, ready to be unleashed and sear everything it touched to a crisp. What an amazing power! Why hadn't they ever done this before? This roaring fire he felt was simply incredible—impossible to describe accurately. He smiled at Jenna, and she smiled back, obviously enjoying the sensation just as much.
"Shall we show them what we're made of, Garet?" she asked.
"Let's."
They aimed their interlocked hands at their opponents and cried out "Pyroclasm!" The earth cracked open and four waterfalls of molten lava burst forth from the ground underneath Karst and Agatio. Fire Clan warriors or no, they couldn't withstand this direct hit, and it was all the more powerful since two Adepts fed it. They howled loudly from within the fiery bath, the sounds of their screams almost forcing the rest of the ruins to collapse. It seemed to last for hours, but the lava torrents eventually disappeared and both Karst and Agatio dropped to the ground. Karst didn't stir, and Agatio very slowly got to his knees, glowering at the other two Mars Adepts.
"Dammit!" he cursed. His partner was down for the count and he was no longer in any shape to fight. "This isn't over. Not for a moment!" He got to his feet, threw Karst over his shoulder, and vanished into the thicket.
"All right!" Garet exclaimed. "That was awesome, Jenna!"
"Thank you. But I couldn't have done it without you, Garet. We do make one amazing team."
Atop the temple, a lone shadow was watching the group as they reconvened and tended to their injuries. He looked down at them with a bit of longing but decided that now wasn't the right time to reveal himself. He swept his blue hair out of his face and left the ruins.
"Good luck to all of you," Alex whispered. "We'll meet again soon."
Garet sat down on one of the barrels on the dock next to Isaac. "Felix and Picard are putting the last of the supplies in the hold."
"We'll be off soon, then," Isaac said absently. He was staring out across the sea, wondering where it would take them next. Lalivero? Hesperia? The Mars Lighthouse? His friend looked on with him in complete silence, the only sounds being those of the breeze and the rolling waves.
"Hey Isaac?"
"Yeah?"
"We're pretty powerful Adepts, aren't we?"
"I'd say that's a safe assumption to make."
"Did you ever wonder how weird it is that we're under the total control of girls?"
Isaac chuckled. "You're right. As powerful as we are, Jenna and Mia are even more so since they have us at their beck and call."
"And that's a good thing, right?" Isaac nodded in response, and Garet sighed. "Well, at least now I know my one weakness."
"Love isn't a weakness, Garet. It's a strength. Just think of how empty all of our fighting and traveling would seem if we didn't have that emotion motivating us to give it everything we have. Love enriches our souls and brightens our lives. Where would we be without it?"
Garet shrugged. "I never thought of it that way, I guess. How'd you get to be so philosophical? Too much time with Kraden?"
"No. My father told me that a long, long time ago."
"There you are!" Jenna exclaimed, coming up behind Garet and throwing her arms around his neck. "I've been looking for you."
"What'd I do this time?" Garet asked.
"Nothing yet," she said. "I just wanted to be with my big, brave lummox."
Garet groaned. "Jenna, sometimes I feel like we're already married."
"Mission accomplished then." She squeezed him and kissed his cheek. "You're so cute when you're flustered!"
Isaac smirked at the two of them when he felt arms around his own neck. "Maybe we should rename out ship 'the Love Boat,'" Mia suggested.
"That might be appropriate given our situation," Isaac agreed. "Although Babi might not appreciate our painting such words on his boat."
"Hey, Mia," Jenna said. "We should double date sometime!"
"This is getting old," Garet muttered.
"They make such a cute couple," said Mia.
"Cuter than us?" Isaac asked.
"Nobody can compare to us, Isaac," she said with a giggle. "But they're pretty close."
"Moving on," Garet said quickly. "Where are we off to now?"
"Wherever the sea takes us," Isaac replied. The others gave him a funny look. "I always wanted to say that."
"Seriously, Isaac," said Jenna.
"I feel bad about leaving Kraden wandering around in the wilderness, so I think we're heading to Hesperia to find him. Then we'll go find the Mars Lighthouse and hopefully head back home after that."
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Mia said. "Though it almost sounds too easy."
"With our luck, we'll get swept up in another stupid side quest," Garet sighed.
"Well, whatever happens, at least we have each other, Garet," Jenna said coyly.
"Lucky me," he muttered.
"Hey!" She hit him in the shoulder. He elbowed her in return.
"Some things never change," said Isaac wistfully.
"Yup," Mia agreed. "They're utterly hopeless."
And on that cheerful note, "Embers" is now complete. As always, thanks so much for reading and reviewing, everyone! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the feedback. I hope you enjoyed it. See ya around! ^_^