Chapter 3:Twist and shout
Jim got up and yawned. One of muscles still ached from a 'lovetap' given to him from
Goku in their spar.
"Gooooooooooooooood Morning!" Anthony said, as Jim walked into Anthony's small kitchen
and helped himself to some cereal.
"That was the worst Robin Williams impression my ears have hade the torture to hear."
Jim said groggily. "You better not be a morning person."
"No, it's just that Arcadia's been quiet, lately, so I don't use as much power." Anthony
explained. "so, I've energy to spare."
"Just don't start humming and I'm fine." Jim snarled.
"Stayed up a little late, Jim?" Anthony asked.
"It doesn't matter if I go to bed at eight or at two, I'm always like this in the
morning." The sour look on Jim's face got even more sour, so Anthony decided to leave it at that.
Azalea came in the same state, except she seemed to be wide awake. "Move over!" She
yelled grouchily.
"What's with you?" Jim said, not moving.
"I said move OVER!" she yelled. "I am in my period, and I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR
BULLSHIT!!"
She screamed so loudly that Jim reflexively moved. Azalea didn't even thank him, but
took his cereal and began eating.
"That...was mine." Jim said slowly, but Azalea's glare made it certain that he was to
get himself another bowl. "When it rains it pours." Jim muttered so as Azalea would not hear him.
*********
Jim was quiet, as to make sure not to give Azalea the excuse to explode she was oh, so
looking for.
"Here we are." Anthony said. "Okayama Japan."
"Masaki residence." Jim said bleakly. He had enjoyed the show, but it was perhaps the
last place in ani-earth he wanted to visit.
A red hedgehog greeted them at the door. "Hey, Anthony!" he said.
"Has Sonic the hedgehog started dying his fur or is this something I don't want to know
about?"
The red hedgehog. "Great. A guy with a sense of humor." He extended his hand. "I'm
Ashura the hedgehog."
"Jim Silver." Jim said.
"Azalea Katsuya." Azalea said, not bothering to extend her hand.
If Ashura was offended by this, he hid it well. "You're here for a lesson with Washu,
right?"
"yeah." Jim said.
"Godspeed." Ashura said.
"May the force be with you." Jim replied.
"Live long and prosper." Ashura answered.
"Gotta catch em' all." Jim answered.
"Ready? fight!" Ashura responded.
"How the hell did this start?" Jim asked.
Ashura shrugged. Then they heard a far-off voice. "C'mon, Tenchi, it'll be fun!"
Jim, Azalea, and Ashura(Anthony had the common sense to leave well enough alone) snuck
up and pushed over a bush to see Ryoko pushing a bottle of wine towards Tenchi.
"For the last time, Ryoko! I have my chores." Tenchi said, moving back.
"Aww, you're no fun!" Ryoko replied. Then she turned apprehensively towards Jim and
Azalea. "Who are they?"
Jim and Azalea moved back, trying to get out the situation, then they both felt something
pull on their ears hard.
"There you are!" Washu's childish voice said. "Trying to skip my class, eh?"
"Leggo of my ear, dammit!" Jim yelled.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Azalea said as she dragged them to her class.
"These are my newest students, Ryoko." Washu said. "You're not allowed to rob them."
Anthony sighed. "It's gonna be a loooooong day."
*********
Sally stormed in after her father. "Really, dad. You can't just pull him out of the
school like that!" They were in the hall of Mobotropolis's
King Acorn looked back at her. "It's not that easy." he said greiviously. "Racism doesn't
magically dissapear after shining hero in armor comes. It's been a year-and-half. You can't
disquiet it so quickly."
"So, you let the bigots have their way?" Sally insisted.
King Acorn shook his furry head. "It was a stretch for the people to even accept the
gamemaster. But you should also remember that they are the minority."
"I can't believe this." Sally said. "You of all people should know that you should give
overlanders chances. You even gave Julian Kintobor a second chance."
"Julian was not working of his own free will!" The king replied, his fur begining to
quiver. He began to calm down. "Listen, Sally. Look at it my way; I had to bend a lot of rule,
and do a lot pressing on Mobotropolis's school board to let him in, and then we hear he's getting
into fights. I get hundreds of letters the next day about how, they don't want 'violent
overlanders' in the same school as their child. Could you think of a better solution than the one
I've given?"
"You could have given him detention or something!" Sally replied. "You should have
treated him exactly as you would a mobian."
"That's true, Sally. That should have happened." King Acorn responded. "But there is a
fine line between what is right, and what must be done."
"Sorry to interupt, but..." Sally turned and King Acorn turned to see Anthony leaning
against one of the pillars. "Where does this Marcus Chestnut live?"
"Why?" King Acorn asked apprehensively.
"I read the report he wrote." Anthony replied. "It said that both Jim and Azalaea, the
two I took for training, were both bullying a kid named Fangs, and began pounding on him
together." Anthony shook his head. "I've only spent a few days with them, but they really don't
seem the type to bully, especially not Azalea."
"That's rather circumstansial evidence, Anthony." The king said, fixing his crown.
"Not just that, but Amy saw it too." Anthony said. "According to her, that's not what
happened. According to her, Fangs picked a fight with Jim, and threw the first punch. Azalea
stayed out of it completely. While that doesn't quite justify Jim's actions, I don't think it
covers the premise for exageratting one's premise and completely lying about the other."
King Acorn's face turned grave. "I see..."
"I'm glad you agree." Anthony said, begining to leave. "I'll go have a chat with Mr.
Chestnut."
"Wait, Anthony." Sally said, stopping him. "Let me go."
Anthony was confused. "Err...if it's all the same to you, I'd rather go."
"It's NOT all the same, Anthony." Sally said. "This person clearly has issues against
overlanders, and you going there and telling him he wasn't wrong won't help." Sally walked to
the door. "I think being reprimanded by one of his own kind would be more instructive."
*******
"Wow." Jim said, between mouthfulls. "This is really good." Had Jim been more attentive,
he would have realized he had just eaten a whole carrot from Ryo-ohki's disk. He did notice that
he couldn't breath. Jim pounded on his chest three times, and spit the carrot back onto
Ryo-ohki's dish.
"Eeew." Kiyone said. "That's disgusting!" Ryo-ohki didn't seem to mind though. She was
gobbling the carrot greedily.
"So, why is Anthony taking you two under his wing?" Crystallis, a friendly female
hedgehog, asked.
"Something about this guy who lived during the arcadian age." Jim said, taking a big
bite off a rice ball. "We're his descendants and he was friends with that first Gamemaster
guy. We have these super magic powers and such."
"Wow." Tenchi said.
"I know." Ryoko said. "Talk about convienent coincidences."
"So, Anthony's having go through sword training, magical isolation, hand-to-hand
combat and all this crap so that we 'rebuild the time of my ancestor'." Jim handed Azalea a
bowl. "Pickles?"
Azalea had lost her appetite from watching Jim and Ryoko eat, and was still suffering
her period. She politely decline. Note that when I say politely, I mean she didn't bodily harm
anyone at the table. "Face it." Azalea said angrily. "I don't care if you've broken more bones
than Jackie Chan, you'll never have PMS."
*Good thing too.* Jim thought. His temper was bed enough already without an excuse to
fuel it.
It was about here that Jim began agreeing with Anthony. It was going to be a long day.
********
Salazar looked at Soontir with a devilish grin. "Welcome to Neo-Mordor." he said.
"Sal..." Soontir said apprehensively. "You're creepin' me out."
"There's nothing to be afraid of." Salazar replied. "Come... follow me."
Soontir looked around the dark and long halls of the palace. There was nothing more
creepy in all his expierienced. He noticed white wisps the rushed quickly. "What are those...
things?"
"Ghost of wicked spirits." Salazar answered.
"Ghosts..." Soontir said nervously. "So, uh, they can't hurt me right."
"As long as you smell right, they won't bother you." Salazar said, grinning devilishly
again. Soontir gave a whimper and stayed close to Salazar.
"So, what's going on?" Salazar asked.
"Humanity is a flawed race, wouldn't you agree?" Salazar commented.
"Er, oh, yes." Soontir said, seeing he was obviously supposed to agree.
"You have heard of Dr. Ivo Robotnik's idea to use the Eclipse cannon to bring the
world into submission?"
"Yeah. It was only all over the news." Soontir answered, not seeing how either of these
could have possibly been intertwined.
"Yet another example of the flaws of humans." Salazar snarled. "War...pollution...little
did Robotnik know he had the solution to all these problems. He just used them under the flawed
ambitions of humanity. But my cannon is of a different sort."
"So, what?" Soontir asked, not understanding. "You're going to take over the world?"
"Not take over it. Correct it." They came to a large hall with a throne at the end and a
crystal ball in the middle. "I am using the magic of the souls trapped in these gems to awaken
the Merlin cannon, and finally correct and rid the world of any flaws!"
"I'm kinda confused." Soontir said. "How are you gonna 'correct' the earth, and what
magic?"
"To answer your first, the merlin cannon will simply kill those who do not comply with
my wishes."
"But, won't a lot of people die?" Soontir asked.
"Regrettable, yes." Salazar replied. "But, in perspective, it's almost nothing compared
to the lack of wars, improvement of ecology."
"But everyone will live in fear!" Soontir said. "Stealing is one thing. But this! This
is people's lives!"
"A thief and plunderer gives me a lecture?" Salazar asked.
"Even us thieves have morals."
"Ah, yes." Salazar said. "The code of the thief. You never hurt the innocent. Now, how
does this violate your code?"
"Because you'll be hurting the innocent!" Soontir yelled. he unsheathed his swords.
"I won't let you do it!" He charged for Salazar.
But before he could, something impaled him through his mouth. It was a wooden staff held
by Salazar. Salazar ripped out his staff and the dead Soontir fell to the ground.
"How pathetic." Salazar said. "I didn't even need to use magic on him."
What Soontir didn't know about the gems he had helped Salazar steal, was that each one
contained the soul of an evil and ancient wizard, giving them immense magical power. Salazar
had each of them surround the crystal ball, and each jem as it circled arround the ball faster
and faster began to lose color and the crystal began to gain color until the nine gems were
completely clear.
"What?! Still not enough power?!" Salazar clenched his hand. "Why does god keep me away
from my noble pursuit?" He closed his eyes. "I see. I only require two more souls. There are
many magicks in Arcadia. It wouldn't be hard to find suitable contenders."
*********
The month went by a lot quicker than Jim expected. He excelled at Washu's classes, mainly
because all the science she taught was practical and applied. The weapons and hand-to-hand
combat classes were getting easier by the day as well.
One thing that Jim found in his free time was Arcadian history. The mobian liraries
were full of them. Unfortunately, few had anything more than legend and myth. This is what Jim
was able to discern.
Alastor Moor was the head of the order of wizards. They were the magical law of
arcadia. They decided what kind of magic was legal, and what kind counted as dark. There were
times when Sir Eric would be the 'back up'.
He also learned that Mason island was the most abundant source of mythril in Arcadia.
It was said that a war broke out between all the worlds over control of this island. Jim
guessed that Sir Eric must have used the final power around this time, because arcadian history
abruptly ended after this war.
He also learned that most wizards back then spoke Magish. (Pronounced Mage-ish) Because
of the risk and responisibility needed as a wizard, this language was created as a precaution
for secrecy so none would truly know what the order of wizards was planning.
Jim and Azalea also worked hard at advancing their magical powers. Jim had learned new
spells in addition to the blast of inferno and kamehameha . He had learned the Rageiki, a blast
of lightning from the sky, the mind shield, a defense against all physical, and most magical and
energy attacks,(Depending on how strong he wanted the shield to be, it could be easy or an
extreme task) and bind, an elaborate magick that paralysed the victim.
Azalea was busy at work with her spells too. She had developed the fire bow,
lightning bow, and the earth bow, each shooting an arrow with a quality similar to it's name.
She had also developed the earth-shatter, a short earthquake in a concentrated place.
Yes, the month had passed quickly. Jim hadn't expected to be half this comfortable on
another planet, but he found it even better than the earth. Fangs and Chestnut being the
exception, almost every mobian, hylian, gardenian, and Neo-earther was friendly. This was also
why Jim was so shocked when Jim offered to let him leave.
"I'll stay." Jim said as though he really didn't care. "This stuff might come in handy
one day."
Amy came in then. 'High guys." she said. "How's the training going?"
"Not bad." Jim said. "I bet I could beat the gamemaster given a few days."
"Really?" Amy asked. "Think you can take me on?"
"No problem." Jim said wryly.
"Oh god, Jim. Don't do this. She's a personal student of Anthony!" Azalea said. "You
wanna get in trouble again?"
"Sure." Jim said, shrugging. "If Anthony's okay with it, I want to try out what I've
learned."
"Amy, are you sure about this? He's pretty good, even if he's only been at this for
a month." Anthony cajoled.
"I'll be okay." Amy replied. "I mean, he wouldn't seriously hurt me, would he?"
"Fine." Anthony said shrugging.
They came to an open field so they wouldn't break anything in Anthony's house.
Amy pulled out her sword. "Ready?"
Jim pulled out his staff. "Fight!" Jim staff clashed against Amy's sword. They
exchanged blows and parries, neither hitting each other. Amy then tried to hit Jim with her
Pyrokinesis.
"Mind shield!" Jim yelled, blocking it. "Not bad. Try this. RAGEIKI!" A lightning bolt
flew from the sky and Amy rose her sword to block it. She instantly felt her mistake.
Anthony buried his face into his hands. "Why didn't she remember that metal conducts
electricity?"
Amy's fur was now slightly singed. She didn't look happy. She shot out a psionic blast
and Jim activated his mind-shield again. It was as effective this time. It knocked it down, but
didn't get any serious damage.
Right then, Sonic ran right in between them, barely missing Jim's staff. "Anth, you're
not gonna believe this!"
"What?" Anthony asked.
"It's Packbell! And he's in some sort of weird thing!" Sonic said.
Despite the unhelpful description, Anthony knew from expierience that Packbell had the
imagination to create something very cruel and devastating. "Stay here." Anthony informed them.
"As if." Jim said when Anthony had gone. "Come on, let's go Az."
"Uh-uh." Azalea replied. "I know trouble when I see it!"
"But we haven't seen him." Jim replied. "That's my point."
"I'm not talking about Packbell." Azalea replied. "I'm talking about you!"
"Fine." Jim replied. "I'll go alone."
Sneaking was a specialty of Jim's that he had learned by pure neccesity. He could make
himself soundless and nearly invisible if he wanted to, and that was a good advantage since
Packbell was destroying everything he saw.
Packbell seemed to be in a huge mechanized walker that breifly reminded Jim of AT-STs in
Return of the Jedi. Only this had arms to swing around and beat stuff with as well as three
missiles on each side. Anthony was slashing at it, and Sonic was hitting it constantly with his
homing attack.
"Wondering why your powers won't work, Gamemaster?" Packbell asked. "This metal is
enforced to block against special types of energy. Namely, descendancy powers."
"How about Neo-magic?" Jim asked, raising his staff. "RAGEIKI!" he yelled.
A lightning bolt shot from the sky and hit Packbell's walker squarely. Jim stepped out of his
hiding spot. Anthony knew that attack, so pretending it wasn't would be of no use, and he liked
to fight fair rather than sneaking around.
"Impudent." Packbell said. "But hardly powerful. You didn't even shake this walker."
"Really?" Jim asked. "BIND!" He yelled, Packbell began to press some button on his
operation, but nothing happened.
"Good, Jim!" Anthony said. "You aim for the cockpit with another spell, and I'll de-leg
it." Anthony pulled out his lightsaber, the only weapon useful right now.
Jim was focusing on both the a blazing inferno and his bind technique. And believe me,
it isn't easy to focus on two difficult spells at the same time.
Packbell seemed to sense the weakness Jim was having, but it was too late for him to
damage any more citizens since Anthony had finished 'de-legging' Packbell. But Packbell had
the presence of mind to hit a missile. It had impacted with Jim's blazing inferno causing a
blaze Jim couldn't see.
**********
Jim woke up to see stars. Not the kind of stars you see when someone hits you very hard,
but real stars in the sky. He sat up and was perplexed that he was sitting on absolutely nothing.
Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a transparent bridge made of a material Jim had
never seen before.
"So I guess I'm dead and this is the bridge to heaven." Jim observed. "Or hell. Or
reincarnation. I don't believe this... then again, I haven't really in a position to believe
anything lately." He noticed his staff was on the ground. Jim picked it up and put it through
his jacket to spare his hands carrying it.
"Curious, isn't it, boy?" a cold voice in front of Jim said. Jim noticed that it was
Packbell.
"What are you doing here, metal man?" Jim asked.
"Metal Man?" Packbell asked, his eyes brightening.
"Hey, Anthony's got accountant. I figured his arch-rival needed a nickname too."
"Not that anyone else will live long enough to hear it." Packbell said.
"You want to fight here?" Jim asked. "Are you nuts? This way we'll both die!"
"Not really." Packbell said. "According to my calculations, we're no longer in the
normal reality, meaning my home computer presumes me dead. It's uploading a new Packbell as
we speak-" Right then Packbell fell down into the void of constant stars. Jim didn't see any
planets, so it looked like he would be falling for a near-eternity.
So, now Jim had two options. Walk across the 'bridge' and risk the same fate as Packbell,
or stay here for the rest of his life, which wouldn't be too long since there was no food or
water around.
"You may cross." a voice said. "Packbell's lack of a soul weighed him off this bridge of
purity. How can a machine such cold intentions be pure?"
Jim carefully walked down the bridge, and floating in the air was a reptilian creature
in a tiki mask. He seemed familiar.
"I know you!" Jim proclaimed. "You're one of the ancient walkers!"
"Thee's observance is keen." the ancient walker said.
"So, do you guys have names or do I just call you walker?" Jim asked.
"We have no earthly names." the ancient walker replied.
"Okay, here's a better question." Jim replied. "Why am I here?"
"These five mirrors look five ways." The ancient walker replied. "The far past, the
near past, the present, the near future, and the far future. Come and see."
Jim looked into one mirror. There stood two men. One was clad in medievel armor with a
sword. The other had a long cloak with a bow and arrow identical to Azalea's and a staff
identical to Jim's.
"Alastor Moor and Sir Eric." Jim stated.
"Yes..." The ancient walker said. "Isn't it an enigma how history repeats itself?"
"Like a bad remix CD." Jim said. He looked into the next mirror. It was Anthony using
the final power. "So, what's this got to do with me?"
"Curious." The walker replied. "Your and the gamemaster's fates are now intertwined.
You live and breath at the same time."
Jim shrugged and went to the next mirror. He saw a bunch of broken glass. No, the mirror
wasn't broken.(Insert face breaking mirror joke here.) but it was showing a group of broken
glass shard spread upon the floor.
"Remember, the silliest things in our lives can be some of the most essential."
Jim, not making heads or tales of this, looked at the final mirror. A tombstone. On it,
was engraved 'James Alexander Silver'.
"The fate of every warrior." The ancient walker said. "A path thy will also walk some
day."
"All this is connected some way?" Jim asked. "Kinda like solving a puzzle where most of
the pieces are missing, isn't it?"
"You must look for the pieces." The walker replied. "And to help thy with, I will answer
one question."
"Just one?" Jim asked.
"Thy answer is yes!" The walker replied.
"No!" Jim yelled. "That wasn't my questi-aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!"
******
"Where are they?" Anthony asked. Packbell and Jim were gone. No explosion, no flash of
light, they just dissapeared.
"Yo, what happened?" Sonic asked. "I've know he can do magic and all, but why'd he go
Las Vegas on us?"
"Were they vaporized?" Amy asked.
"I don't think so." Anthony said. "There was no sound. There would have been some sort of
light too. I just don't get it."
*********
Jim opened his eyes and wished he hadn't. The endless stars made him naseous. He closed
his eyes again....and landed. Cautiously, Jim opened his eyes again. He was surrounded by
endless miles of sand. Nothing as far as the eye could see.
Where the hell was he?
End Chapter 3
*********
Writer's notes:Well, I might as well give these. I had NO IDEA the story would go this way.
Though I guess that now the title 'Twist and shout' is a bit more fitting. But the last few
parts of this chapter are the results of two deadly things
1)Procrastination
2)Lack of sleep
Never write at 2 in the morning.
Jim got up and yawned. One of muscles still ached from a 'lovetap' given to him from
Goku in their spar.
"Gooooooooooooooood Morning!" Anthony said, as Jim walked into Anthony's small kitchen
and helped himself to some cereal.
"That was the worst Robin Williams impression my ears have hade the torture to hear."
Jim said groggily. "You better not be a morning person."
"No, it's just that Arcadia's been quiet, lately, so I don't use as much power." Anthony
explained. "so, I've energy to spare."
"Just don't start humming and I'm fine." Jim snarled.
"Stayed up a little late, Jim?" Anthony asked.
"It doesn't matter if I go to bed at eight or at two, I'm always like this in the
morning." The sour look on Jim's face got even more sour, so Anthony decided to leave it at that.
Azalea came in the same state, except she seemed to be wide awake. "Move over!" She
yelled grouchily.
"What's with you?" Jim said, not moving.
"I said move OVER!" she yelled. "I am in my period, and I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR
BULLSHIT!!"
She screamed so loudly that Jim reflexively moved. Azalea didn't even thank him, but
took his cereal and began eating.
"That...was mine." Jim said slowly, but Azalea's glare made it certain that he was to
get himself another bowl. "When it rains it pours." Jim muttered so as Azalea would not hear him.
*********
Jim was quiet, as to make sure not to give Azalea the excuse to explode she was oh, so
looking for.
"Here we are." Anthony said. "Okayama Japan."
"Masaki residence." Jim said bleakly. He had enjoyed the show, but it was perhaps the
last place in ani-earth he wanted to visit.
A red hedgehog greeted them at the door. "Hey, Anthony!" he said.
"Has Sonic the hedgehog started dying his fur or is this something I don't want to know
about?"
The red hedgehog. "Great. A guy with a sense of humor." He extended his hand. "I'm
Ashura the hedgehog."
"Jim Silver." Jim said.
"Azalea Katsuya." Azalea said, not bothering to extend her hand.
If Ashura was offended by this, he hid it well. "You're here for a lesson with Washu,
right?"
"yeah." Jim said.
"Godspeed." Ashura said.
"May the force be with you." Jim replied.
"Live long and prosper." Ashura answered.
"Gotta catch em' all." Jim answered.
"Ready? fight!" Ashura responded.
"How the hell did this start?" Jim asked.
Ashura shrugged. Then they heard a far-off voice. "C'mon, Tenchi, it'll be fun!"
Jim, Azalea, and Ashura(Anthony had the common sense to leave well enough alone) snuck
up and pushed over a bush to see Ryoko pushing a bottle of wine towards Tenchi.
"For the last time, Ryoko! I have my chores." Tenchi said, moving back.
"Aww, you're no fun!" Ryoko replied. Then she turned apprehensively towards Jim and
Azalea. "Who are they?"
Jim and Azalea moved back, trying to get out the situation, then they both felt something
pull on their ears hard.
"There you are!" Washu's childish voice said. "Trying to skip my class, eh?"
"Leggo of my ear, dammit!" Jim yelled.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Azalea said as she dragged them to her class.
"These are my newest students, Ryoko." Washu said. "You're not allowed to rob them."
Anthony sighed. "It's gonna be a loooooong day."
*********
Sally stormed in after her father. "Really, dad. You can't just pull him out of the
school like that!" They were in the hall of Mobotropolis's
King Acorn looked back at her. "It's not that easy." he said greiviously. "Racism doesn't
magically dissapear after shining hero in armor comes. It's been a year-and-half. You can't
disquiet it so quickly."
"So, you let the bigots have their way?" Sally insisted.
King Acorn shook his furry head. "It was a stretch for the people to even accept the
gamemaster. But you should also remember that they are the minority."
"I can't believe this." Sally said. "You of all people should know that you should give
overlanders chances. You even gave Julian Kintobor a second chance."
"Julian was not working of his own free will!" The king replied, his fur begining to
quiver. He began to calm down. "Listen, Sally. Look at it my way; I had to bend a lot of rule,
and do a lot pressing on Mobotropolis's school board to let him in, and then we hear he's getting
into fights. I get hundreds of letters the next day about how, they don't want 'violent
overlanders' in the same school as their child. Could you think of a better solution than the one
I've given?"
"You could have given him detention or something!" Sally replied. "You should have
treated him exactly as you would a mobian."
"That's true, Sally. That should have happened." King Acorn responded. "But there is a
fine line between what is right, and what must be done."
"Sorry to interupt, but..." Sally turned and King Acorn turned to see Anthony leaning
against one of the pillars. "Where does this Marcus Chestnut live?"
"Why?" King Acorn asked apprehensively.
"I read the report he wrote." Anthony replied. "It said that both Jim and Azalaea, the
two I took for training, were both bullying a kid named Fangs, and began pounding on him
together." Anthony shook his head. "I've only spent a few days with them, but they really don't
seem the type to bully, especially not Azalea."
"That's rather circumstansial evidence, Anthony." The king said, fixing his crown.
"Not just that, but Amy saw it too." Anthony said. "According to her, that's not what
happened. According to her, Fangs picked a fight with Jim, and threw the first punch. Azalea
stayed out of it completely. While that doesn't quite justify Jim's actions, I don't think it
covers the premise for exageratting one's premise and completely lying about the other."
King Acorn's face turned grave. "I see..."
"I'm glad you agree." Anthony said, begining to leave. "I'll go have a chat with Mr.
Chestnut."
"Wait, Anthony." Sally said, stopping him. "Let me go."
Anthony was confused. "Err...if it's all the same to you, I'd rather go."
"It's NOT all the same, Anthony." Sally said. "This person clearly has issues against
overlanders, and you going there and telling him he wasn't wrong won't help." Sally walked to
the door. "I think being reprimanded by one of his own kind would be more instructive."
*******
"Wow." Jim said, between mouthfulls. "This is really good." Had Jim been more attentive,
he would have realized he had just eaten a whole carrot from Ryo-ohki's disk. He did notice that
he couldn't breath. Jim pounded on his chest three times, and spit the carrot back onto
Ryo-ohki's dish.
"Eeew." Kiyone said. "That's disgusting!" Ryo-ohki didn't seem to mind though. She was
gobbling the carrot greedily.
"So, why is Anthony taking you two under his wing?" Crystallis, a friendly female
hedgehog, asked.
"Something about this guy who lived during the arcadian age." Jim said, taking a big
bite off a rice ball. "We're his descendants and he was friends with that first Gamemaster
guy. We have these super magic powers and such."
"Wow." Tenchi said.
"I know." Ryoko said. "Talk about convienent coincidences."
"So, Anthony's having go through sword training, magical isolation, hand-to-hand
combat and all this crap so that we 'rebuild the time of my ancestor'." Jim handed Azalea a
bowl. "Pickles?"
Azalea had lost her appetite from watching Jim and Ryoko eat, and was still suffering
her period. She politely decline. Note that when I say politely, I mean she didn't bodily harm
anyone at the table. "Face it." Azalea said angrily. "I don't care if you've broken more bones
than Jackie Chan, you'll never have PMS."
*Good thing too.* Jim thought. His temper was bed enough already without an excuse to
fuel it.
It was about here that Jim began agreeing with Anthony. It was going to be a long day.
********
Salazar looked at Soontir with a devilish grin. "Welcome to Neo-Mordor." he said.
"Sal..." Soontir said apprehensively. "You're creepin' me out."
"There's nothing to be afraid of." Salazar replied. "Come... follow me."
Soontir looked around the dark and long halls of the palace. There was nothing more
creepy in all his expierienced. He noticed white wisps the rushed quickly. "What are those...
things?"
"Ghost of wicked spirits." Salazar answered.
"Ghosts..." Soontir said nervously. "So, uh, they can't hurt me right."
"As long as you smell right, they won't bother you." Salazar said, grinning devilishly
again. Soontir gave a whimper and stayed close to Salazar.
"So, what's going on?" Salazar asked.
"Humanity is a flawed race, wouldn't you agree?" Salazar commented.
"Er, oh, yes." Soontir said, seeing he was obviously supposed to agree.
"You have heard of Dr. Ivo Robotnik's idea to use the Eclipse cannon to bring the
world into submission?"
"Yeah. It was only all over the news." Soontir answered, not seeing how either of these
could have possibly been intertwined.
"Yet another example of the flaws of humans." Salazar snarled. "War...pollution...little
did Robotnik know he had the solution to all these problems. He just used them under the flawed
ambitions of humanity. But my cannon is of a different sort."
"So, what?" Soontir asked, not understanding. "You're going to take over the world?"
"Not take over it. Correct it." They came to a large hall with a throne at the end and a
crystal ball in the middle. "I am using the magic of the souls trapped in these gems to awaken
the Merlin cannon, and finally correct and rid the world of any flaws!"
"I'm kinda confused." Soontir said. "How are you gonna 'correct' the earth, and what
magic?"
"To answer your first, the merlin cannon will simply kill those who do not comply with
my wishes."
"But, won't a lot of people die?" Soontir asked.
"Regrettable, yes." Salazar replied. "But, in perspective, it's almost nothing compared
to the lack of wars, improvement of ecology."
"But everyone will live in fear!" Soontir said. "Stealing is one thing. But this! This
is people's lives!"
"A thief and plunderer gives me a lecture?" Salazar asked.
"Even us thieves have morals."
"Ah, yes." Salazar said. "The code of the thief. You never hurt the innocent. Now, how
does this violate your code?"
"Because you'll be hurting the innocent!" Soontir yelled. he unsheathed his swords.
"I won't let you do it!" He charged for Salazar.
But before he could, something impaled him through his mouth. It was a wooden staff held
by Salazar. Salazar ripped out his staff and the dead Soontir fell to the ground.
"How pathetic." Salazar said. "I didn't even need to use magic on him."
What Soontir didn't know about the gems he had helped Salazar steal, was that each one
contained the soul of an evil and ancient wizard, giving them immense magical power. Salazar
had each of them surround the crystal ball, and each jem as it circled arround the ball faster
and faster began to lose color and the crystal began to gain color until the nine gems were
completely clear.
"What?! Still not enough power?!" Salazar clenched his hand. "Why does god keep me away
from my noble pursuit?" He closed his eyes. "I see. I only require two more souls. There are
many magicks in Arcadia. It wouldn't be hard to find suitable contenders."
*********
The month went by a lot quicker than Jim expected. He excelled at Washu's classes, mainly
because all the science she taught was practical and applied. The weapons and hand-to-hand
combat classes were getting easier by the day as well.
One thing that Jim found in his free time was Arcadian history. The mobian liraries
were full of them. Unfortunately, few had anything more than legend and myth. This is what Jim
was able to discern.
Alastor Moor was the head of the order of wizards. They were the magical law of
arcadia. They decided what kind of magic was legal, and what kind counted as dark. There were
times when Sir Eric would be the 'back up'.
He also learned that Mason island was the most abundant source of mythril in Arcadia.
It was said that a war broke out between all the worlds over control of this island. Jim
guessed that Sir Eric must have used the final power around this time, because arcadian history
abruptly ended after this war.
He also learned that most wizards back then spoke Magish. (Pronounced Mage-ish) Because
of the risk and responisibility needed as a wizard, this language was created as a precaution
for secrecy so none would truly know what the order of wizards was planning.
Jim and Azalea also worked hard at advancing their magical powers. Jim had learned new
spells in addition to the blast of inferno and kamehameha . He had learned the Rageiki, a blast
of lightning from the sky, the mind shield, a defense against all physical, and most magical and
energy attacks,(Depending on how strong he wanted the shield to be, it could be easy or an
extreme task) and bind, an elaborate magick that paralysed the victim.
Azalea was busy at work with her spells too. She had developed the fire bow,
lightning bow, and the earth bow, each shooting an arrow with a quality similar to it's name.
She had also developed the earth-shatter, a short earthquake in a concentrated place.
Yes, the month had passed quickly. Jim hadn't expected to be half this comfortable on
another planet, but he found it even better than the earth. Fangs and Chestnut being the
exception, almost every mobian, hylian, gardenian, and Neo-earther was friendly. This was also
why Jim was so shocked when Jim offered to let him leave.
"I'll stay." Jim said as though he really didn't care. "This stuff might come in handy
one day."
Amy came in then. 'High guys." she said. "How's the training going?"
"Not bad." Jim said. "I bet I could beat the gamemaster given a few days."
"Really?" Amy asked. "Think you can take me on?"
"No problem." Jim said wryly.
"Oh god, Jim. Don't do this. She's a personal student of Anthony!" Azalea said. "You
wanna get in trouble again?"
"Sure." Jim said, shrugging. "If Anthony's okay with it, I want to try out what I've
learned."
"Amy, are you sure about this? He's pretty good, even if he's only been at this for
a month." Anthony cajoled.
"I'll be okay." Amy replied. "I mean, he wouldn't seriously hurt me, would he?"
"Fine." Anthony said shrugging.
They came to an open field so they wouldn't break anything in Anthony's house.
Amy pulled out her sword. "Ready?"
Jim pulled out his staff. "Fight!" Jim staff clashed against Amy's sword. They
exchanged blows and parries, neither hitting each other. Amy then tried to hit Jim with her
Pyrokinesis.
"Mind shield!" Jim yelled, blocking it. "Not bad. Try this. RAGEIKI!" A lightning bolt
flew from the sky and Amy rose her sword to block it. She instantly felt her mistake.
Anthony buried his face into his hands. "Why didn't she remember that metal conducts
electricity?"
Amy's fur was now slightly singed. She didn't look happy. She shot out a psionic blast
and Jim activated his mind-shield again. It was as effective this time. It knocked it down, but
didn't get any serious damage.
Right then, Sonic ran right in between them, barely missing Jim's staff. "Anth, you're
not gonna believe this!"
"What?" Anthony asked.
"It's Packbell! And he's in some sort of weird thing!" Sonic said.
Despite the unhelpful description, Anthony knew from expierience that Packbell had the
imagination to create something very cruel and devastating. "Stay here." Anthony informed them.
"As if." Jim said when Anthony had gone. "Come on, let's go Az."
"Uh-uh." Azalea replied. "I know trouble when I see it!"
"But we haven't seen him." Jim replied. "That's my point."
"I'm not talking about Packbell." Azalea replied. "I'm talking about you!"
"Fine." Jim replied. "I'll go alone."
Sneaking was a specialty of Jim's that he had learned by pure neccesity. He could make
himself soundless and nearly invisible if he wanted to, and that was a good advantage since
Packbell was destroying everything he saw.
Packbell seemed to be in a huge mechanized walker that breifly reminded Jim of AT-STs in
Return of the Jedi. Only this had arms to swing around and beat stuff with as well as three
missiles on each side. Anthony was slashing at it, and Sonic was hitting it constantly with his
homing attack.
"Wondering why your powers won't work, Gamemaster?" Packbell asked. "This metal is
enforced to block against special types of energy. Namely, descendancy powers."
"How about Neo-magic?" Jim asked, raising his staff. "RAGEIKI!" he yelled.
A lightning bolt shot from the sky and hit Packbell's walker squarely. Jim stepped out of his
hiding spot. Anthony knew that attack, so pretending it wasn't would be of no use, and he liked
to fight fair rather than sneaking around.
"Impudent." Packbell said. "But hardly powerful. You didn't even shake this walker."
"Really?" Jim asked. "BIND!" He yelled, Packbell began to press some button on his
operation, but nothing happened.
"Good, Jim!" Anthony said. "You aim for the cockpit with another spell, and I'll de-leg
it." Anthony pulled out his lightsaber, the only weapon useful right now.
Jim was focusing on both the a blazing inferno and his bind technique. And believe me,
it isn't easy to focus on two difficult spells at the same time.
Packbell seemed to sense the weakness Jim was having, but it was too late for him to
damage any more citizens since Anthony had finished 'de-legging' Packbell. But Packbell had
the presence of mind to hit a missile. It had impacted with Jim's blazing inferno causing a
blaze Jim couldn't see.
**********
Jim woke up to see stars. Not the kind of stars you see when someone hits you very hard,
but real stars in the sky. He sat up and was perplexed that he was sitting on absolutely nothing.
Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a transparent bridge made of a material Jim had
never seen before.
"So I guess I'm dead and this is the bridge to heaven." Jim observed. "Or hell. Or
reincarnation. I don't believe this... then again, I haven't really in a position to believe
anything lately." He noticed his staff was on the ground. Jim picked it up and put it through
his jacket to spare his hands carrying it.
"Curious, isn't it, boy?" a cold voice in front of Jim said. Jim noticed that it was
Packbell.
"What are you doing here, metal man?" Jim asked.
"Metal Man?" Packbell asked, his eyes brightening.
"Hey, Anthony's got accountant. I figured his arch-rival needed a nickname too."
"Not that anyone else will live long enough to hear it." Packbell said.
"You want to fight here?" Jim asked. "Are you nuts? This way we'll both die!"
"Not really." Packbell said. "According to my calculations, we're no longer in the
normal reality, meaning my home computer presumes me dead. It's uploading a new Packbell as
we speak-" Right then Packbell fell down into the void of constant stars. Jim didn't see any
planets, so it looked like he would be falling for a near-eternity.
So, now Jim had two options. Walk across the 'bridge' and risk the same fate as Packbell,
or stay here for the rest of his life, which wouldn't be too long since there was no food or
water around.
"You may cross." a voice said. "Packbell's lack of a soul weighed him off this bridge of
purity. How can a machine such cold intentions be pure?"
Jim carefully walked down the bridge, and floating in the air was a reptilian creature
in a tiki mask. He seemed familiar.
"I know you!" Jim proclaimed. "You're one of the ancient walkers!"
"Thee's observance is keen." the ancient walker said.
"So, do you guys have names or do I just call you walker?" Jim asked.
"We have no earthly names." the ancient walker replied.
"Okay, here's a better question." Jim replied. "Why am I here?"
"These five mirrors look five ways." The ancient walker replied. "The far past, the
near past, the present, the near future, and the far future. Come and see."
Jim looked into one mirror. There stood two men. One was clad in medievel armor with a
sword. The other had a long cloak with a bow and arrow identical to Azalea's and a staff
identical to Jim's.
"Alastor Moor and Sir Eric." Jim stated.
"Yes..." The ancient walker said. "Isn't it an enigma how history repeats itself?"
"Like a bad remix CD." Jim said. He looked into the next mirror. It was Anthony using
the final power. "So, what's this got to do with me?"
"Curious." The walker replied. "Your and the gamemaster's fates are now intertwined.
You live and breath at the same time."
Jim shrugged and went to the next mirror. He saw a bunch of broken glass. No, the mirror
wasn't broken.(Insert face breaking mirror joke here.) but it was showing a group of broken
glass shard spread upon the floor.
"Remember, the silliest things in our lives can be some of the most essential."
Jim, not making heads or tales of this, looked at the final mirror. A tombstone. On it,
was engraved 'James Alexander Silver'.
"The fate of every warrior." The ancient walker said. "A path thy will also walk some
day."
"All this is connected some way?" Jim asked. "Kinda like solving a puzzle where most of
the pieces are missing, isn't it?"
"You must look for the pieces." The walker replied. "And to help thy with, I will answer
one question."
"Just one?" Jim asked.
"Thy answer is yes!" The walker replied.
"No!" Jim yelled. "That wasn't my questi-aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!"
******
"Where are they?" Anthony asked. Packbell and Jim were gone. No explosion, no flash of
light, they just dissapeared.
"Yo, what happened?" Sonic asked. "I've know he can do magic and all, but why'd he go
Las Vegas on us?"
"Were they vaporized?" Amy asked.
"I don't think so." Anthony said. "There was no sound. There would have been some sort of
light too. I just don't get it."
*********
Jim opened his eyes and wished he hadn't. The endless stars made him naseous. He closed
his eyes again....and landed. Cautiously, Jim opened his eyes again. He was surrounded by
endless miles of sand. Nothing as far as the eye could see.
Where the hell was he?
End Chapter 3
*********
Writer's notes:Well, I might as well give these. I had NO IDEA the story would go this way.
Though I guess that now the title 'Twist and shout' is a bit more fitting. But the last few
parts of this chapter are the results of two deadly things
1)Procrastination
2)Lack of sleep
Never write at 2 in the morning.