(Char): It's about time!
(Dew): Seriously! That was NOT NICE!
I needed to convince my readers to come back SOME how...
(Char): I think you've got them more or less hooked by this point...you don't need to cliff anymore!
...I think I'm addicted to it.
(Dew): They do have a section of 'Cliffhangers Anonymous'...
...My name is Omniflyer, and I have a problem...
(Char) *casts Inferno* Not here!!
HOT!
Review Responses:
SweetSixteen5: What, you don't like collapsing mountains?
Midnight C: I hold the same amount of responsibility over your muses mauling you as you hold responsibility over people cliffhanging. Hmm... wait a minute, that makes me very responsible...
Akachi: OW!! Much pain from muses....gah, and I thought mine could be evil....
0==|=R=a=g=n=a=r=o=k= : I like cliffs too, but only when I'm writing them.
Knightblazer 88: What's wrong with me? Isn't it obvious? I'm INSANE! BWAHAHA!!
Ivan of Vault: *swatting at djinn with a flyswatter* Darn hyperactive sugar-high little things!
Dragoon Knight: Yeah, I know! ^_^
Net Strife: Evil cliffhangers? Where did you EVER get the idea I was writing those? [innocent look]
Void: Make you a deal: you tell me how you think they ended up OOC, and I'll work on fixing it.
Sagitus: I think they have eye drops for that...
EchoKazul: You know, you were the only person who wrote about the bat-cave joke. I was actually expecting a lot more for that. *shrugs* Oh, well.
Disclaimer: As previously mentioned in the last 14 chapters, I don't own Golden Sun. You know, I don't think that fact is going to change before I end this story!
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Chapter 15
Setting the Stage
"Good-bye, guys!" Garet cried over the roar of the collapse. Dirt and rocks fell from the ceiling and the ground shook, and all the while Isaac could swear he heard the faint mocking laughter of Saturos.
Dullahan reared to his full height and cried, unleashing Formina Sage. It stretched out and dug into the wall, causing the collapse to happen faster. The roar of the mountain collapsing deafened them. And suddenly...
"ENOUGH!"
...everything stopped.
The mountain stopped shaking, and the roar was silenced. The energy of Formina Sage collapsed, and everything went still.
Except for one, floating boulder-like entity, hovering in the middle of the room and emitting powerful waves of Psynergy.
"The Wise One..." Isaac whispered, holding Mia protectively from Dullahan.
"Again?" Jenna asked. "I thought he hated us..." Before anyone could answer her, the Wise One's psynergy swapped its target from the mountain to Dullahan. Suddenly, Dullahan began to shrink. Surprisingly, his power seemed to stay the same, but he diminished in size until he was just slightly larger than Garet.
"Return my power to me!" Dullahan boomed at the Wise One, but it payed him no heed.
"What have you done?" Felix asked.
"I cannot allow an entire city's economic structure to collapse. By shrinking this so-called keeper, I can prevent the cave from collapsing," the Wise One stated. "He contains the same power he always had, but is significantly smaller."
"Doesn't that make him faster, too?" Garet asked, but before anyone could answer, Dullahan had promptly elbowed him from behind, sending him flying into the cave wall. By the time the dust had cleared, Garet was imprinted into the cave wall, with Jenna worrying at his side. Garet was getting up very slowly. The Wise One chuckled.
"Maybe," he laughed, and disappeared.
"Let's get rid of Dullahan once and for all," Isaac said, drawing the Sol Blade.
Ivan and Sheba raised their staves and cast Spark Plasma. The flurry of electrical power danced around each other until it became a large, plasmatic attack, seeming to be just short of being kin to the attack released by the Bloodlust Katana. It struck Dullahan quiet painfully, but before the smoke had cleared, Dullahan was beside the two young Jupiter Adepts, dropping them with a heavy fist smash and a cry of "Formina Sage!".
Picard and Jenna fired powerful assaults from either sides of the hall. Picard let loose with a Megacool, and Jenna with a Dragon Fume. The result was a large attack that shifted the temperature from frigid cold to boiling hot in just a few moments, causing scolding steam to surround Dullahan. But when the mist rose, all the Adepts could see was Sheba and Ivan struggling to rise from the floor, covered in dew.
Meanwhile, Dullahan started charging power for True Collide. He unleashed it on Jenna and Felix, as well as the two resident Mercury Adepts. Dullahan's increased power left them terribly weak, while the assault drained their strength and healed him. With the four of them dropping, Isaac was the only person left standing at full health. Not one to bow down, Isaac bravely brandished the Sol Blade and charged.
"Let's mix it up!" he cried. "Megiddo!" The Sol Blade glowed a bright golden shade, and conjured the familiar small meteor. Isaac smashed it toward Dullahan, but he dodged it easily and counter-attacked with a Formina Sage. Isaac twisted to avoid it and it grazed past him. Isaac leaped in the air to fall on Dullahan and slash at him vertically. Dullahan prepared his defence, but before Isaac could reach him, Isaac disappeared.
Dullahan stood still, but there was no sign of the golden-haired warrior.
"'Tis a shame," Dullahan groaned. "Let's play with the other seven..." he trailed, moving maliciously towards the other fallen Adepts.
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"...Where am I...?"
Isaac picked himself up slowly off the floor. His sword was back in its scabbard, curiously enough, and he noticed that his friends were nowhere near him. In fact, he couldn't even see Dullahan. Looking around, he recognized his surroundings as a familiar city. He couldn't understand why he was here, though. He rose to his feet, and looked around more. Then he noticed he was surrounded by a very vicious looking crowd of Lunpean soldiers. He groaned.
"Lunpa..." he trailed. Sure enough, he looked around to find himself in Lunpa. He looked around the circle of soldiers surrounding him, and reared to his full height, hand on the hilt of the Sol Blade. He turned to look behind him.
And found himself looking into very cold, shallow eyes.
"Saturos!" he yelped. "What have you done?!" Sure enough, Saturos stood before him, but was once again in the guise of Dodonpa. There were soldiers nearby to fool, after all. Some of the soldiers looked at Isaac curiously as he referred to their leader as 'Saturos', but he paid them no heed.
"I didn't think your friends would need you to beat Dullahan, small or not," he smiled. "You can spend your time here."
"Why? No!" Isaac cried. "Send me back to help them! You and I can fight after I'm sure they're safe!" Saturos merely laughed at him.
"You can check on them after I'm done with you."
Isaac didn't waste time in drawing the Sol Blade, for what felt like the hundredth time in the last few days. "Then let's do this fast," he growled. He was about to charge, regardless of the sheer numbers around him, but suddenly a thought entered his mind. Maybe it was time to end this war, after all. "I'll make you a deal, Saturos," he said, resheathing the Sol Blade. His enemy raised his eyebrows. "Let's put a few conditions on this fight. If I remember you, and I think I do, you've always been a man of your word. We make the agreement now, and then fight."
"What agreement?" Saturos asked.
"First, this war. If I win, you get Lunpa to call it off," Isaac said. Some of the soldiers blinked, but none moved.
"Agreed," Saturos smirked. "And when I win...?"
"If you win," Isaac said, "you can do whatever you want with me. Take me back to Prox as a servant forever, leave me to die somewhere, whatever," Isaac gambled, risking quite a lot on this battle.
"Deal," Saturos grinned. "I have a lot of things I can do to you," he laughed. "A lot of people in Prox still want revenge for what you did to Menardi, not to mention Karst and Agatio."
"So do we agree then?" Isaac asked. "If I win, the war's off, if you win, you get me? And no interference," he added, looking at the unruly crowd.
"Agreed. Soldiers, stay out of this," he commanded. "Let's end it," Saturos said. He raised his sword and charged, "once and for all! "
"Fine by me!" Isaac cried, and the battle joined. Sparks flew from the Sol Blade and the Bloodlust Katana as they clashed again and again. Both competitors struck again and again, neither asking nor giving the other any quarter. Isaac slashed horizontally, to which Saturos responded with a perfect block, though he stumbled a little in doing so. Then he spun the sword around and executed a perfect sweeping kick, knocking Isaac to the ground. Saturos thrust his sword point forward, but Isaac was ready for it and cast a quick Quake attack to knock Saturos off balance enough for the impalement to miss.
"So you want to use Psynergy, too?" Saturos mocked him.
"If you think you can handle it," Isaac taunted through gritted teeth, joining swords again and muscling for position with the older man. Saturos was the elder here, and had a little more muscle on him, so Isaac had to work even harder to keep up with his strength.
However, Saturos was stumbling a little more than Isaac remembered. Isaac spun behind a slash and attacked, but when Saturos blocked, he seemed to falter a little bit.
"The question is: Can you handle it?" Saturos questioned, launching a small Flare at Isaac. It set the tip of his scarf alight, and he rolled behind Saturos to put it out.
"Oh, that is it," Isaac smiled, his warrior senses starting to warm up. "Nobody messes with the scarf." Saturos openly laughed.
"And what is a weak child like you going to do about it?" Saturos asked.
"We'll see," he replied, and he leaped back at Saturos. Again, the two slashed and countered, defended and struck, all the while never leaving an opening present. The two spun and moved, appearing to be engrossed as though in some mortal dance, stepping in perfect sync with the other. Isaac began to think he could fight like this all day, but he suddenly remembered his friend struggling against Dullahan.
"Enough of this," he said. "I have places to be. Megiddo!" he cried, leaping back from Saturos and charging energy. The Sol Blade began to howl, but before Isaac could use the attack, Saturos slashed at him. His armour absorbed most of the assault, but he still took a painful stab and many deadly slashes. Isaac fell to his knees. Saturos stepped back and laughed.
"Pathetic," he mocked. "I thought you had gotten better. Oh, well. I suppose it's time to end this," he said. "With a little luck, you'll still be alive after this attack." Isaac didn't reply, he only tried to struggle back to his feet. He tried to gather enough energy to cast even a basic Cure spell, but the energy just wouldn't come to him. Meanwhile, Saturos' Bloodlust Katana grew ever darker, and finally howled its dark cry. "Now," he said, pointing it as Isaac. "Now, you die." And the weapon fired.
Isaac struggled to his feet, but there was nothing he could do, was there? He'd felt this attack before, and he'd barely managed to pull though, after many of Mia's Pure Plies, and she wasn't here any more.
Isaac thought of his friends one last time, and stared the beam down. Suddenly, the Sol Blade glowed. Isaac stared at it, but it stopped. A sudden thought struck Isaac, but did he have time? He had to try! Isaac focussed and let his friends totally fill his thoughts. The Sol Blade began to glow golden again.
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Wisdom. That was what Picard had always loaned him. The wisdom of age, of experience, of guidance and help when things grew too unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Picard was the one who would always have an answer, no matter what. And that answer had always helped them before. Why not now?
Judgment. No matter what situation they had come across, they always knew that Sheba could be counted on to give them an impartial explanation. She never allowed her own feelings to cloud her judgment, even about people she had reason to hold a grudge against, like Lord Babi. She provided stability for their group. Isaac needed that again.
Spirit. It didn't matter where they were, or what needed to be done. Jenna was always ready to give a hand or be the first person to try something new and potentially dangerous. But she had always been like that, even back to their childhood days in Vale. If they needed to do something new, there was Jenna. He needed that aspect of her now.
Partnership. After meeting atop Jupiter Lighthouse, Isaac had managed to form an alliance with Felix, and the two leaders had quite efficiently been able to form a partnership between themselves, neither trying to take too much control from the other. It was a team that had never let them down, and Isaac needed support right now.
Sentiment. If Isaac needed a gut feeling on something, he knew that Ivan could provide it. He was the one who could always give them a solution that seemed fair to everybody. He was the one who would come up with answers based on his own gut feelings and strengths. Could Ivan help him now?
Friendship. His best friend since...well, forever, actually. What more could Isaac ask for of Garet? He was the greatest friend anyone could ask for. He was loyal, sincere, and would help Isaac out no matter what happened. No matter what, Garet was behind him, a hundred and ten percent. There was nothing more to say about it: he could count on Garet, across any distance.
Love. He had realized it just yesterday at the battle. Feeling Mia collapse in his arms triggered something in his he didn't quite know how to react to. It was his own dedication to her that brought her back to him, and, he realized, it would be his dedication to her now that could give him what he needed to defeat Saturos. So Saturos had some powerful plasma beam coming at him. So what? He had Mia. He realized it; he had love, and there was nothing on Angara... no, nothing on Weyard that Saturos could throw at him to stop that. Not some beam, not Dullahan, nothing!
For a moment, it seemed as though time stood still. Isaac's power finally showed, and he glowed with a more brilliant light than even the Golden Sun itself. The beam finally struck him, but its power was nullified by the true light of Venus, and it dissipated.
"Impossible!!" Saturos cried. "How could a mere boy stop my power?!"
"Not a mere boy," Isaac replied, his eyes shining with golden power, giving him an ethereal and yet sage appearance. "You face my friends in me as well. Their power is mine. Their power is your defeat!"
"We shall see!" Saturos cried, firing the Bloodlust Katana again.
And reacting to Isaac's thoughts and his power, the Sol Blade glowed more brightly than he had ever seen it. And in the recesses of his mind, Isaac felt his new power awakening. He faced the beam down the centre, raised the Sol Blade to point right down the middle and just flew straight through it, like an arrow from a bow, sword first.
"Megiddo Rush!!" he cried, and the power of the attack split the beam in two. It split off harmlessly, shooting into the heavens.
Isaac himself shot forward and through, as though replacing the meteor of Megiddo with himself, piercing Saturos through the chest. Miraculously (or maybe Isaac planned it?) Saturos dropped with a non-fatal wound. However, he wouldn't be rising anytime soon.
"H- how.......?" Saturos wondered, so quietly he may have mouthed it.
"You said it yourself," Isaac said, still glowing faintly. "You would weaken me by destroying my world until nothing was left. That was the only way you could beat me. You failed." Saturos smiled, an odd sight considering his weakened state.
"You cannot defeat me, Isaac of Vale," Saturos cackled. A flash of light, and he reverted to his real body, looking much healthier than he was as Dodonpa. "I will not be denied my revenge!" But even as he spoke, the soldiers began to speak.
"Where's Dodonpa?"
"What happened?"
"That's not Dodonpa!"
"Hey, buddy, where did you put Dodonpa?!" Isaac laughed as Saturos realized his folly. These soldiers thought he was Dodonpa, but when he changed...
"This whole war has been brought about by this man, impersonating your leader," Isaac informed them. The soldier's expressions almost collectively changed from confusion to pure anger. Some of the Captains and Lieutenants started shouting.
"This war is over, now!" they cried. "We will not be controlled by some outsider!!" They advanced on him, but Saturos smirked.
"You cannot defeat me, you pitiful beings," Saturos spat at them. "Don't even try..." but as he was speaking, Isaac pointed the Sol Blade at him and enveloped him in a golden light. Saturos felt himself weakening. "What did you do to me?"
"Nothing, really. I just blocked your psynergy for awhile. And with that gone and you weakened from our fight, I think these gentlemen should be able to put you away for a very long time." The soldiers advanced on Saturos, and Isaac could actually see a look of fear in his eyes. "Don't worry, Saturos. People don't just go around killing other people. That's the job of scum like you. But I'll imagine they're going to want a few words with you." The crowd loomed closer, and just before they would take him, Saturos laughed crazily and glared at Isaac.
"Maybe I didn't defeat you, Isaac. Maybe the war is already over," he whispered. "But at least I'll still break you for my revenge. At least your friends are still being slowly killed by Dullahan." A panic surged through Isaac. How could he forget about them? He believed in them to give him the strength to beat Saturos, but could he stand losing them? How could he be so shortsighted?!
"Mia..." Isaac whispered. He let his golden light engulf him again, and used the boost in speed he received to rush toward his friends. He took off across the countryside to Altin, praying he wasn't too late.
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(Char): No! How could you leave off like that again?!
(Dew): Stop hurting Isaac like this!
Hey, come on. I mean, I like Isaac, too!
(Char): Obviously not!
I mean it!
(Dew): You lie!
Geez...there's no arguing with djinn when they get like this.
(Dew): Darn right.
(Char): So hurry up and write. Now!
Ok, to the rest of you, review, please. And, yes, the end is near.
(Dew/Char): Hurrah!