And here's Chapter 3! I know you've all been waiting for this! ^_^
(Dew): Highly unlikely.
Are you ever going to be helpful to me?
(Dew): Highly unlikely. Hey, why wasn't I in the last chapter? I mean, you put Flint in, but no me!
Give me one good reason to put you in after the table leg and the fridge door handle.
(Dew): This shower curtain rod.
Interesting........
Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun (huge surprise!)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chapter Three
Facing the Future
Isaac saw the blade tip turn to face his throat. He also saw the sword be thrust forward to impale him, and he saw how he was helpless against this super-powered, transformed Mimic.
The most important thing he saw, however, was the Mimic stop the sword, its tip resting on his throat. The Mimic spoke in a cold tone, and it sent a shiver down the spine of all present when he rasped out his statement.
"So, the hero, Isaac of Vale, Champion of Colosso and Defender of Venus is stopped by a mere Mimic." He shook his head. "What a shame." Isaac spoke, ignoring the steel poised to extinguish his life.
"What do you want?" Isaac questioned. The Mimic grinned a cold grin, having nothing to fear from the once proud heroes.
"You are trying to interfere in something you are too late to prevent. Stop now," the Mimic said, his voice barely over a whisper.
"What do you mean, 'too late to prevent'? Do you mean..." Isaac began, but the Mimic cut him off.
"Stop asking questions. My Master, King Dodonpa..." (Isaac frowned here. Apparently the stay in prison had done nothing to halt Dodonpa's ego) "...is engaged in a war with Master Hammet. In all his graciousness, he has decided to spare you so long as you do not interfere. Go home to Vale and leave Hammet to King Dodonpa, or else..." the Mimic let the threat hang.
"Or else what?" Isaac pressed, and the Mimic laughed.
"You can see what else right now, kid," he cackled, gesturing to the sword resting at Isaac's neck.
"Oh, that. Is that all?" Isaac smiled. The Mimic frowned at the insolence of this boy. Surely he knew that he could be killed at any moment?
"I'd like to see you try and get away," the Mimic said, although Sheba picked up a bit of worry in his voice. "Please, show the awesome power of Venus to me!" he laughed, voice dripping sarcasm.
"Fine," Isaac said, and before the Mimic could react, Isaac flipped over backwards, and as his feet passed the sword, he closed his feet around it, and the Mimic felt his grip loosen. Isaac pried the sword from his grip, landed back on his feet and threw it at him. The sword expertly landed in the Mimic's chest, not a fatal wound, but still very painful and distracting. As the Mimic struggled to remove the sword that was piercing him, he didn't notice Isaac raising his hands and calling "Mother Gaia!" With his guard down from the new sword appendage, the Mimic didn't have time to properly defend himself, and was vanquished on the spot.
Ivan looked at him, impressed. "A very nice bit of bluffing, my friend," he said. "That was a dangerous but very effective method to gather information." Sheba nodded.
"Yes, only Ivan and I could see what you were doing," she said. Garet laughed.
"Oh, come on! I knew what he was doing as soon as he let that point touch his neck." Garet said proudly. Ivan frowned and cast Mind Read.
"Garet, you didn't know what he was doing until Sheba told you. You couldn't have..." Ivan paused, discovering something new in the recesses of Garet's mind. "...You fell in the river on the way here?" Isaac laughed and Garet blushed.
"Get out of my head, you little midget!" he cried. Everyone laughed except for Garet.
"How do you fall in a river from a straight path?" Ivan asked, winded from laughter, something that isn't usually seen in Jupiter Adepts. Garet didn't reply, but Jenna was laughing terribly hard.
"Well, now that the pleasantries are over with..." Isaac smiled. "Everyone come in, please. We have much to discuss, and not a lot of time."
*******************
"So what do we know so far?" asked Felix, sitting comfortably in Master Hammet's guest lounge. The others were all scattered across the room, resting in very fine furniture. Sheba thought a bit and answered.
"Dodonpa is mad. He's declared war on Master Hammet, and if he's heard about Isaac's stunt earlier, he'll be looking for us, too," she reasoned.
"Not you, Sheba. Just Garet, Ivan, Mia and myself," Isaac commented. Jenna, Felix and Sheba weren't with Isaac's party when they freed Master Hammet so long ago, co there was no reason to put any of them in danger. "In fact, you guys can just leave now if you want. This war has nothing to do with you."
"Except for the impact on our home and neighbouring regions," Jenna stated impatiently. "Felix and I are in this war, too, whether you like it or not." Garet smiled.
"Thanks for the option," he said.
"No problem," Jenna replied, sending him a smile.
"How about you, Sheba?" Ivan asked. "There's no need for you to be here, too." Isaac caught some concern in Ivan's voice, and wasn't surprised when Sheba didn't answer, but merely looked at him. After a few moments, Isaac could have sworn he saw a faint pink tinge in Ivan's cheeks...
"So that's all of us," Isaac said. "But we still need to worry about Mia." (Garet coughed) "She was also with us when we saved Dodonpa, and he'll know where to find her."
"How do you figure?" Jenna asked.
"Mia was a very famous healer before she left with us," Garet answered. "She had a very widespread reputation, even as far as Bilibin and Lunpa." Ivan nodded.
"People thought she was an angel," he added. Jenna turned to look at him, curious. "Well, I mean, come on! She healed people miraculously, with a soothing blue light she emanated and a little fairy."
"So there's no doubt that Dodonpa knows about her," Isaac concluded.
"So what do we do about it?" Felix asked. Though Felix was very skilled as a leader, he recognized that this dilemma fell more to Isaac as he was the one who had saved Master Hammet in the first place. Isaac was grateful for the opportunity to lead again, not just sit around in Vale. Though, as always, he wished for better circumstances to do so.
"We split up," Isaac said simply.
"What?!" Garet cried. "We put all this effort into walking here to meet you and now you want to split up again?"
"Not all of us walked here, Garet," Jenna said slyly.
"Huh?"
"Some of us were carried halfway here by a river current." Everyone laughed except for Garet.
"For your information, Jenna, I was carried here two-thirds of the way, not half," he joked. "But that's not the point. This group shouldn't split up, especially with a war going on. I say we all go to Imil to get Mia, and then come back here to help." Isaac smiled, but shook his head sadly.
"No. If we do that, we'll lose too many innocent people in the process. It will take far too long to go to Imil and return and expect help out," he reasoned.
"But if we split up, then we won't be strong enough to do anything here anyway!" Garet fumed. "There's got to be something we can do. Can't you just send a messenger to Mia and tell her to get here? Carefully?" he added, sensing Isaac's concern.
"No. As bad as splitting up would be, we can't send one person anywhere now. If we told Mia to come alone, she'd be in real trouble, especially with Dodonpa out to find her," Isaac countered.
"As fun as this debate is," Ivan interrupted, "we need to decide what we're going to do. Now, the way I see it, we should head for Vault now."
"Why Vault?" Jenna wondered.
"It's simple," Sheba said. "Vault is between here and Lunpa. The first thing we have to do to reduce casualties is remove the innocents. So we go to Vault and help them evacuate to Bilibin.
"Will that work?" Felix asked. "They have no reason to believe us."
"Well, as long as we have the Colosso Champion with us," Garet laughed, sending a smile towards Isaac, who blushed. "This'll be a piece of cake."
"Don't underestimate this, Garet," Ivan warned. "This is a real war. There are thousands of people involved, and we can't afford to be reckless. Every mistake we make is an opportunity for Dodonpa to take advantage of."
"All right, all right," Garet relented. "Sheesh. Let's go to Vault and see what we can do, all right?" Sheba nodded.
"Ok," she said. "That will be our plan for now."
"For now," Garet mused. "Don't you hate it when they say 'for now'? I mean, it always sounds like something is about to go wrong..."
********************
It was midday when the party finally left Kalay, still having no idea where Master Hammet was. Ivan wanted to look around once more for him, but in the end, they decided that wherever he was, it was probably a better place than waiting around at his palace. Ivan was deep in thought as they began walking, and Sheba decided to break his concentration.
'What are you thinking?' she asked him. Speaking mind-to-mind was her favourite way to talk to Ivan. It felt more familiar to do so.
'Oh. I'm just worried about Master Hammet,' said Ivan.
'Liar,' Sheba teased. 'I know you too well to be fooled by that. You're thinking about something else entirely, aren't you?'
'Well, yeah, I guess so,' Ivan admitted.
'Lucky medal for your thoughts,' Sheba pried.
'I was only thinking about that Mimic we ran into earlier,' Ivan said. Sheba furrowed her brow.
'The human one?' she asked.
'It wasn't human,' Ivan said. 'It was similar, and shaped like a human. But it wasn't human.'
'What are you so worried about then?' she wondered. It was very rare that Ivan would be
so worried about something for so long, especially about only one foe in particular. She didn't recall him worrying about Karst or Agatio this much...
'I suppose what bothers me the most about it is...' he paused. Sheba took a guess.
'What he said? How we can't interfere and all that?' Sheba smiled. 'That thing can't do anything to us. Isaac defeated it in one attack.'
'We aren't as strong as Isaac,' Ivan said, though Sheba thought Ivan could give Isaac a good run for his money. 'And it's not what he was saying that's bothering me.'
'Oh, no?' Sheba wondered. 'Then what is bugging you?'
'Well...oh, never mind, it really isn't important,' Ivan said.
'It is to me! If it's bugging you that much, then tell me!' she pried.
'Ok, fine. I'm worried about the fact that the Mimic could take the shape of a human. I mean, all the Mimics we ever came across in all of Weyard were shaped like chests. And that Mimic broke that rule,' Ivan said.
'I don't think you're worried about the Mimic breaking the rule, Ivan,' Sheba commented.
'Huh?'
'I think you're worried about the fact that the Mimic broke your trust. I mean, this Mimic impersonated something that was supposed to stand guard over the only home you've ever known!' she said.
'That's not true! I know I was born in Contigo! That's...'
'That's not your home,' Sheba interrupted. 'That was your birthplace, but your home is where you grew up. And where you grew up was under the care of Master Hammet in Kalay in that palace. And that safety, that comfort was broken by the Mimic, who deceived even our Jupiter powers and defiled your home.'
'I suppose you're right, Sheba,' Ivan relented. 'Thanks.'
'Anytime, Ivan,' she said cheerfully, happy to have helped her fellow Wind Adept.
'I just wish I could shake this feeling that where was something special about that Mimic other than his strength to change shape,' he thought. 'Something...else.'
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Or maybe there is, little Ivan. Vwee-hee-hee-hee-hee!
(Dew): Omniflyer, evil laughs are not supposed to be high-pitched 'vwee-hee-hees'.
Oh, really?
(Dew): Yes. Evil laughs are supposed to be more of a BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
*cringing* Geez...where'd you learn to do that?
(Dew): It's a talent! ^_^ All muses are born with the ability to be evil.
How evil is evil?
(Dew): *taking the previously mentioned shower curtain rod and hitting Omniflyer with it*
OW.....you know, you've got to stopping hitting me with things like that, or I'm going to be VERY mean in an upcoming chapter.
(Dew): How mean are we talking?
...I'll call him Piers.
(Dew): NOOOOOOOOO (review, please!) OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!