Chapter 5–Umi and Mokona

"Ow," Picard moaned as he fell on his back. He heard his spine crack, and one of his legs was throbbing painfully. Both of his arms were bent in strange ways, one under him, he could feel it turning in a wrong direction. Blood trickled down his forehead into his eyes. "Everyone all right?"

He twisted his head to see Mia laying next to him, a part of her upper stomach caved in. Scratches from the branches were everywhere, her long cape shredded, her dress tattered. She moved slightly, one of her arms were broken.

"I–I can't perform Ply," Picard whispered to her, trying to hide the pain he felt, "both of my arms are broken, and my back at least."

"My arm and ribs are," she replied. "But I can do it."

"Be my guest," Picard shivered, "j–just d–do i–it quick . . ."

"I can't," her eyes widened, "your bones will mend screwy, unless someone straighten's them."

"I can," a familiar voice volunteered. Isaac stood not far from them, not a single wound was seen, even though his clothes were ripped, except where his armor was. He walked up to Picard and studied him. "Ready? It might hurt."

"Just hurry," Picard grimaced. His companion pulled him to level ground, and straightened his arms and legs. The Mercury Adept bit his lower lip to keep from crying out. Blood pooled beneath him. Isaac then stooped above him, and lifted his hand.

"Potent Cure," he whispered, and the Lemurian was surrounded in white light as particles from the earth rose up into him. Picard felt his back heal, his arms were no longer hurting. The light left, and he sat up.

"Thank's Isaac!" he smiled, and stood up. Isaac then went to Mia and straightened her bent arm. He whispered the same words, and her wounds healed. Grinning, she stood, and hugged the Venus Adept.

"Thank you Isaac," Mia cried, "you're the best Adept ever!"

Picard stood a bit off, and laughed easily. The two Adepts had, had crushes on each other ever since they met each other. At first, they never mentioned it to one another, but as time went on, they could no longer hold their feelings. Picard had actually been eavesdropping (along with the rest of the crew), when they proclaimed their love to one another. A party was held after, and the two had a strong feeling they had been overheard in the lower cabin. The two had instantly known this when Garet and Jenna (two Fire Adepts) were imitating them down the hall, kissing each other diligently.

"Oh Mia, you're hair is like a sparkling lake on a perfect spring morning!"

"Isaac, you're blue eyes are like the never-ending sky, just like the never-ending feeling's I hold for you!"

"Oh Mia!"

"Kiss me Isaac!"

"I would love nothing more."

Such words had been used in their conversation. Obviously, the two had been brainstorming ideas to proclaim their love for a couple weeks.

As the two got closer to each other, arms around one another–!!!"

"PUU!!!" A call was heard as a zooming pink fluffball ran into Isaac.

"Aah!" the Venus Adept cried as he was knocked to the ground, the creature hugging him. "Augh! Get it off! Get it off!" he screamed as he tried to grab it. Suspended in thin air the puffball's feet were running wildly, trying to grab Isaac again.

"Puu! Puu! Puu, puu, puu!" Was all it said.

"What is that?" Picard asked, walking up to Isaac who was being attacked. Mia didn't reply, he saw a startled face, her eyes strait forward. Her hair was raising slightly. "Hello?" he waved his hand in front of her face.

"THAT'S MY BOYFRIEND YOU FREAKEN SUGARBALL!!!" she screamed, kicking the ball of fluff.

"Thank you Mia!" Isaac hugged her legs.

"Anything for my Isaa–!!!"

"PUU, PUU, PUU!!!" the creature laughed.

"SHUT-UP!!!" Mia yelled, shaking her fist.

"Hey, little buddy," Picard picked it up, and it gave a carefree smile. "You're a cutie, aren't you? What's your name?"

"Puu!"

"Um–erm, okay. So, where did you come from?"

"Puu! Puu, puu!"

"Not from here eh? Same with us!"

"Puu!

"What are you doing Picard?" Isaac asked, "that thing tried to kill me!"

"Puuu!" the creature looked disapproved.

"It was only trying to be friendly," Picard spoke for the peep.

"What?" Mia stepped forward, "it made Isaac fall, and almost break his back!"

"Puu, puu, puu, puu!"

"You could've healed it, and no one could break their back by falling such a short distance."

"Can you actually understand that thing?"

"Er–no?"

"Puu,puuuu!"

"Of course we can share meals," Picard turned to the puffball.

"Ohmeegarsh!" Mia hit herself on the head. Isaac sighed.

"Where did that thing come from? Here?"

"Puu!"

"No."

"Augh!"

Suddenly, the creature jumped from Picard's arms and ran into the forest. "Puu, puu!"

"Come on," Picard started to follow it.

"What are you talking about?" Mia tried to stay calm, "we should just let it run off, and get lost!"

"Puu!"

"It says someone is in trouble though," Picard answered, and he ran off after it.

"Do you really think someone needs help?" Isaac asked.

Mia sighed, "I have no idea," and the two followed the path of their friend into the dense forest. They walked for a few minutes, having no idea where they where going.

"Mia, Isaac! Come quick!" Picard cried, not far ahead. The two ran towards his voice, and into an opening. There, in a heap, was a girl with long silky blue hair. She wore strange armor that went over one shoulder, and around her chest. Underneath that appeared to be school uniform, a skirt with long boots. She wore a black, long sleeved jacket, a glove with a large jewel was placed on her right hand. The girl looked as if she had fallen a great distance through branches and twigs.

"Oh, my!" Mia gasped, and the two Adepts rushed forwards. Picard was now stooping over her, pulling a broken arm strait. "What happened?"

"It says they fell from the sky," Picard answered, pointing above them. A great billowing cloud shaded them from the sun.

"Just like us!" Isaac whispered. "Come on, lets heal her. Maybe she knows more than we do."

Picard lifted his hand over her and said, "Pure Ply." A fairy floated onto the scene, and swished it's wand over the girl's body. Sparkling rain drops dripped and covered her in a blue aura. As soon as it had left, her eyes flashed opened.

She jumped up, and from her gloves jewel, a great blade materialized in her hands. "Who-who are you?" she demanded, shaking slightly. Her eyes darted to Isaac and Mia, and then to Picard, who was holding the smiling furball.

"Puu! Puu puu!" it jumped into her arms.

"Mokona!" she cried, and her sword vanished. "Mokona, I'm so happy to see you!"

The peep smiled, and hugged her.

"Who are you?" Mia asked wide-eyed.

"Me?" she questioned, "my name is Umi Ryusaki. I come from Tokyo, Japan. Who are you?"

The three gave blank looks. Tokyo? Japan? What the hay?

"My name if Picard, a Mercury Adept from Lemuria," he stepped forward and shook her hand, "that's Mia, also a Mercury Adept from Imil, and Isaac the Venus Adept from Vale."

"I have no idea what your talking about, but oh-well."

"Same with us!" Picard laughed. "Are you from here?"

"No, are you?"

"No."

"When will we meet anyone who's from here?" Mia yelled to nothing.

"So," Umi ignored the rampaging Mia, "what's an Adept?"

"An Adept," Picard also ignored the Mercury Adept, "is a being that can use the Elemental magic called Psyenergy. The four magics are Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire. Me and Mia are Water Adepts, and Isaac is an Earth. So, you must have some magic, to have that sword come out of that gem."

"Oh, yeah!" Umi smiled, "I'm a Magic Knight for Cephiro, well, now it's called Nyssa, but we used to serve the Pillar, she was murdered about two years ago."

"I'm very sorry," Picard said solemnly, not knowing it was Umi who did it.

"Me too," Umi replied. "But the Pillar system was deleted, and the land is ruled by all the hearts of the people on Cephiro."

"Erm . . . wow, I'm sorry, but I really don't understand. But that's alright. You're a Magic Knight, is that all I really need to know about you?"

"I also have a Mashin, but I'm not sure I can use it here," she saw the curiosity on Picard's face, "a Mashin is a spirit I can ride in. It's like twenty times taller than me, really big, and wields my sword."

"Okay. We Adepts can do different things. Wind can mind read, and predict the future. Water can heal, Fire can–I'm not sure Fire can do anything beyond burning stuff, and Earth can heal also–just not as good."

"I heard that!" Isaac yelled.

"Well," Umi ignored the Earth Adept, "I hold the power of water too!"

"Awesome!"

"Hey Mia," Isaac whispered quietly, "after at least 126 years of living, I think Picard's found a girlfriend!"

"What?!" both Umi and Picard blushed heavily.

"You've made some kind of mistake!" Picard opposed.

"Seriously! He's way older than me!"

"MWA-HA-HA!!!" Mia and Isaac cackled evilly.

"Just ignore those two," Picard sighed, "they go bonkers some times, especially when they fall from great distances."

"Like when?" Umi asked.

"Oh, when Isaac jumped after Mia when she slid off the side of the Mars Lighthouse, it was really windy. And when you jump down a hole to get up to the aere (Venus Lighthouse), and on the Air's Rock, you have to jump down lots of cliffs. Yeah, just ignore everything they say."

"Okay," Umi smiled weakly, as Mia and Isaac went onto a conversation about giant snakes and bottle caps.

"Did you here that?" Isaac stopped short.

"What?" Mia began to undo her very messy ponytail.

"That hissing noise."

"Don't try and scare me Isaac," Mia shook her head, "that whole story about the giant snake eating a man whole wasn't the best happy story I've ever heard."

"Shh," Isaac hushed, "listen."

Mia perked up, and concentrated very hard on listening to whatever Isaac was trying to listen to. She too, heard something hiss not far off. "Do you think it's a rattle snake?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure."

"Wanna go look for it!"

"Yeah!" the two then went trekking through the forest, and out of sight of Picard and Umi who were having a deep conversation about (place random subject here). Mokona, still eager to gain friendship from Isaac, followed the two.

"Hey," Umi suddenly realized the three had left five minutes before, "where did Mokona and your friends go?"

"I'm not sure," Picard turned to where they had been minutes before. "Hmm . . ."

"AUGH!!!" Isaac and Mia's voice screamed. "GIANT SNAKE!! GIANT SNAKE!!! AUGH!!!"

"Now," Umi thought deeply, "would that be them going bonkers, or would that be a giant snake?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Picard tried to guess.

"PUU!! PUU, PUU!!!"

"Giant snake!" Picard ran forward to help his friends.

"How do you know?" Umi asked. "Don't tell me you can understand that furball!"

"You can't?"

"No way!" Umi yelled, "me? Understand that whipcream puffball? Do you think I'm crazy?"

"Erm . .." Picard didn't answer. "I just thought you might because it's yours."

"Mine? More like Hikaru's, she can kinda understand it. Me, I wouldn't even want to!"

"Why?"

"Well, duh, it's a peep egg with feet, eyes, mouth, arms, ears, and a jewel on it's–!!"

"GIANT SNAKE!!!"

Picard pulled his broad sword to defend himself, as Umi's sword appeared in her hand. There, in front of them was a long scaly lizard (subtract the legs). It's head was as long as Picard was tall, it's skinny body was trailing through the forest, farther than the two could see. Spikes grew on it's sides, most of them covered in dry blood. Briars were grown around it, and a part of it was covered in ice. The snake didn't see them, for it was distracted by two figures laying on the ground. It's forked tongue flicked in and out, as it trailed towards the unconscious Adepts.

"Oh, no you don't!" Picard yelled racing forward, "Diamond Berg!" his free hand reached forward, a huge chunk of ice fell from the sky, enveloping the snake in ice, the Mercury Adept ran forward, and as he reached forward, the ice broke apart with an explosion. Ice shattered about, as he swiped at the scaley monster. It seemed to screech, and it's glare turned to him. It began to strike forward, but Umi had other plans.

She raised her hand, and building the warming feeling in her chest, water began to swirl around her uplifted hand. "WATER DRAGON!!!" With all her might, she forced it forward, and a tunnel of water raced forward, the front shaped like a dragon's head. It enveloped the snake in water, making it screech in terror. But unlike Umi thought it would, it shook it off, and now charged towards her.

"Eh . .. AZURE HURRICANE!!!" a cyclone of water circled towards it, making it stop in it's path for a few seconds.

Picard stood on the other side the snake now, unable to see what Umi was doing. Clenching his fist, he raced towards Mia and Isaac who were bleeding badly. He shook them, trying to get them to wake, but they were silent.

"Isaac, Mia!" he cried, "wake up! Please wake up!"

"Augh!" Umi screamed as the snake struck forward.

"Glacier!" Picard thundered, ice formed up around the creature. But the ice could only cover the first half, as the rest began to wriggle in pain as the glacier began to crack open. "Eh . . ." Picard forced to the ground as the snakes tail struck him in the side. The spikes between the scales were pressed into his skin. His sword fell to the ground at his side as it shattered at the tip. The giant monster slid across the ground towards him, before he could fully react, the fangs shot forward and caught onto his leg.

Picard's vision blurred as he felt burning acid flow through his veins. His skin where the snake had bitten him turned a sickly green as poison entered his blood. "C–cu-cure . . . p-p-poi-poison . . ." He could only see a faint light form around his body as he fell into a dark abyss.

Misty: AUGH!!! I'm going to die!

What are you talking about? It's Picard that's dying!

Misty: die–evil-cliffhanger!!! DIE!!!

No reason to be upset, I'll write soon! Promise!

Misty: You'd better or I'll ERK you!

Ehem, um . . . see you in a little bit! If you review I'll love you!

Misty: I'm in a room with a lunatic of poetry!

Tis true, of Picard I love you! *gets dreamy eyes* oh Picard . . .

Misty: okay . . . um, that was odd. Review!