As Luck Would Have It

A/N: Welcome to chapter 23! I hope you're all still having fun!! On to the reviews, now…

Leilani: You know…that name looks familiar…anyway. Thanks for reading! Thanks also for the candy corn! Yahoo!!

Alayea: Thanks. It seems like the majority of you liked the dragon attacking rather than sitting there doing nothing. The only 'dungeon' without a boss is pitifully easy, isn't it? *raises hand also* I agree with that too. As long as you don't kill them, I'm ok with it!

General Failure: You find that part out in this chapter. You'll see.

Griffinkhan: Glad you liked it. That bridge is sad. You can't even fall off the thing. Heck, you don't even have to go through half the dungeon if you know where the bridge is. Personally I like the Flint thing. Would you believe I thought of that solution at school one day? Scary, isn't it?

Isaac says Booga: Love the name. Anyway, he got thrown into a stalagmite by the dragon, remember, and that's what he hit his head on.

I'm happy you all liked my version of events so much! As usual, if anything gets confusing, ask about it in a review. Now read, you!

Chapter Twenty-Three: It's a Jungle in There!

            It had been about an hour since Zoe had collapsed, and Isaac's mind was no closer to a good reason why. It had been obvious that no enemy had struck, and nothing like a rock or stone had hit her either.

            Ivan sat on a rock in the far corner, with one Jupiter Djinni on each shoulder and one on his head. That lofty (considering the usual Djinni height) position was held by Gust. Four sets of eyes stared down at the object in Ivan's hand, the Orb of Force, with considerable perplexity.

            "Istilldon'tgethowit'ssosmallandholdssomuchPsynergy," Zephyr said. Ivan took a second to sort Zephyr's sentence into separate words, and nodded his agreement.

            "It destroyed all of the Spirits, somehow lit up the room and, apparently, freed Garet from some large rocks," Gust added. The tone of her voice made Ivan grin. It was the voice of someone who took pleasure in solving puzzles.

            "How is it used?" Breeze asked. Ivan shrugged. "Perhaps that would give the answer to your questions, if you knew."

            "I know someone who does know," Ivan said with a malicious grin. Zap! He thought-called. I need to ask you a question!

            "Coming, coming," Zap said rather haughtily, appearing in the air over Zoe. She was laying, unconscious still, between Garet and Mia, one of whom was attempting to cook something and the other of whom wore a facial expression similar to Isaac's, only a good deal more perplexed, and currently rather startled at the sudden appearance of a Jupiter Djinni. "What did you want?"

            "Uh-oh, Isaac," Garet said with a grin. "The Jupiter Djinn and their Adept are having a caucus. It might be a plot against us!" Garet dissolved into laughter before he had finished his sentence.

            "Just make sure you don't turn that…whatever it was…into smoldering—oh, you've already done that, I see." Isaac motioned to the hunk of black something that had been Garet's cooking attempt. This time it was Isaac's turn to laugh at Garet's outraged expression.

            "What made Zoe collapse?" Ivan asked Zap, staring down at the Orb of Force in his hand. "Was it this?"

            "Yes and no," Zap said, in his typical cryptic way.

            "And that means?" Garet called.

            "Perhaps I had better tell all of you at the same time," Zap remarked.

            "We're all listening. And we aren't going anywhere soon," Isaac pointed out. "You might as well tell us now."

            "Alright, alright," Zap began. "You must understand that Force Psynergy does not take its power from any one element alone, though it can be used by any Adept of any element, provided they can utilize adequate control. However, in certain situations it performs entirely of its own accord, and doing this requires nothing but an accessible source of power."

            "Run that by me again?" Mia asked distractedly, obviously still deep in thought about something else. Of course, the Adepts had long ago figured out that she had, by luck, landed on an invisible bridge, the original way into the room containing the Orb of Force.

            "Force Psynergy has a mind of its own," Ivan surmised. The other Djinn nodded.

            "Go on," Isaac said calmly.

            "Well," Zap continued, "due to the dire and urgent nature of the previously impending situation and the number of trials and difficulties manifesting themselves in her mind, Zoe's use and insufficient control of Force Psynergy resulted in the power itself becoming a solution to suit each problem. To do this, not only did it completely drain and put to use every remaining fragment of her Psynergetic power, it had to draw a considerable sum from her own living energy as well. The result of this was as you saw and see now. She is not dead, but any efforts on the part of any of you will be to no avail until the appropriate time."

            "Whoa," Garet said, shaking his head. "Ivan?"

            "Yes?" Ivan asked, looking up from staring at the Orb again.

            "What did he say?"

            "What am I, a thesaurus?" Ivan asked hotly. "I understood it, and I'm younger—I don't see why you didn't."

            "Ivan," Isaac said warningly. Ivan sighed.

            "Oh, fine. Force has a mind of its own, so when Zoe lost control it drew off all the energy it would need to fix whatever problems she was thinking of right at that moment. I would bet that those problems were the Spirits, the lack of light, and Garet. She was already low on Psynergy from walking through the cave and fighting whatever we came across, so she didn't have enough for Force to fix everything. So it used her life energy, so much that it knocked her out."

            "Then if I try my Psynergy…" Mia began, trailing off as the thought finished itself in her head.

            "No good," Ivan agreed.

            "Why couldn't Zap just put it in plain words like that?" Garet asked.

            "He is apparently of the long-winded persuasion," Isaac said, grinning after a moment. "No pun meant."

            "What?"

            "He likes to use words. Big ones, and often." By this time the Djinni in question had disappeared again, as had all of Ivan's. Ivan himself pocketed the Orb of Force, his mind still puzzling over the idea that it wasn't attuned to just one particular element.

            "Maybe we should be thinking about getting out of here," Mia said, also standing. Isaac reached out a hand and brought the rock up around the fire in a miniature earthquake, standing as Garet also stood, carrying Zoe.

            "Why is this familiar?" Garet asked no one in particular as they headed back the way they had come.

***************

            Thus it was only Isaac, Garet and Ivan who returned to Nyunpa with the Orb of Force.

            "Excellent, excellent!" he cried as they entered, jumping to his feet with a smile on his face. "I am glad to see you master the secrets of Fuchin Temple!"

            "Thanks. It wasn't exactly a vacation, you know," Garet muttered.

            "We monks call the power you have obtained Ki," Nyunpa continued, ignoring Garet completely. Isaac, after elbowing Garet in the ribs, raised an eyebrow at Nyunpa's statement.

            "You seem confused, Isaac," Nyunpa said.

            "Not confused. Just bored," Garet mumbled, rubbing his side. This time Ivan shifted backwards and stood on his foot.

            "A little, I suppose," Isaac said.

            "This is called "force" by the western world, but it is really spiritual power. Use this power to go through the forest." Nyunpa's voice had taken on a toneless quality.

            "What would happen if we let that energy loose in the forest?" Ivan asked.

            "You are curious, yes? Monsters that wait in hiding will show themselves."

            "I don't see how that will help us any," Garet said loudly. "We've had enough monsters for more than our lifetimes doubled."

            "You would try to defeat these monsters. Sometimes," he went on, with a glance at Garet, "you must let go of your belief that fighting solves problems. These monsters are cowardly. They will run from you when they are seen. They are creatures of the woods and do not get lost there. Go now. Quite a journey awaits you."

            With that, Nyunpa sat again, almost instantly deep in meditation. Isaac, Garet and Ivan looked at each other and shrugged. The three of them walked out the door, to be greeted by two smiling faces. Mia and Zoe stood near one of the windows, and had obviously heard most of the conversation, if not all of it.

            "Nice to see you with us again," Isaac said with an acknowledging nod. Zoe smiled and nodded back. "Ivan, you've still got the Orb of Force, right?"

            "Yes," Ivan said, pulling it from his pocket. "Right here."

            "Concentrate hard when you use it, ok?"

            "Right."

            "Come on then. We've got a forest to pass through." Isaac again led the way under the thick covering of trees. It was very cool and dim inside, the leafy branches blocking most of the light. Directly in front of the Adepts was a large tree stump.

            Directly to the right of the large stump was a sort of creature standing on a smaller stump. It was a large creature, but forest life must have made it timid, because it jumped inside the giant stump before the Adepts had walked even three steps into the forest. And that wasn't the only thing about it that was odd.

            "It was green," Mia said quietly, as though quite willing to admit insanity if this statement proved false.

            "Yes, it was," Garet agreed. "Shaped like a monkey, too. At least I'm not the only one," he added in a low voice. Seeing giant green monkeys when others saw nothing did not, in his opinion, place him on the highly sane side of the scale.

            "Did you notice that the farther we go along the road, the stranger things get?" Ivan asked. "Rats wielding weapons like a battalion, talking trees, mysterious cloaked figures, smart lizards, and treasure chests that bite. And now they throw giant green monkeys at us. What next, I wonder?" Ivan paused for a moment, fabricating something in his mind. "Deadly statues that spit?"

            "Don't give fate ideas," Isaac suggested.

            "As far as I'm concerned, fate has enough good ideas of its own," said Garet. "Are we going forward or not?"

            "It's like a maze in here," Zoe said, shaking her head. "I remember them saying that last night. Almost impossible to navigate. Quite literally a jungle."

            "That's what this is for," Ivan said, holding out the Orb of Force. "Nyunpa said that the monsters of the forest would run away in the direction of the exit." Holding the Orb in one hand, he pointed his other one at the large stump and whispered "Force."

            A blast of yellow-colored Psynergy led by a closed fist shot forth from Ivan's hand and gave the hollow stump a good whack. The monster jumped from the stump, saw the Adepts, and fled southward.

            "On we go, then," Garet said with a sigh.

            "At least there aren't any stairs," Ivan offered.

            "Nothing really high to fall from, either," Mia added.

            "And, if we're lucky, no talking trees," Zoe said fervently. "I've had my fill of those."

            "Agreed," Isaac said with a smile. Things were back to normal, alright.

***************

            "Ragnarok!"

            "Tundra!"

            "Heat Wave!"

            "Hey, Ivan! Some help here!" Ivan looked up at the sound of Isaac's voice. He rather liked what he was seeing now compared to what he had been seeing previously. They were engaged in battle with several bat-like Dirges, a Bone Fighter, and a Spirit. There had previously been another Bone Fighter. It had used some sort of odd Psynergy to call up a blade. Said blade had aimed itself at Ivan and struck hard, and fast.

            "I don't like holes where they don't belong," he muttered vaguely, before pulling himself to his feet again. "Ray!"

            "Storm!" Zoe's and Ivan's Psynergies struck together, taking down almost all of the Dirges and the Spirit. Despite himself, Garet breathed a sigh of relief. The Spirit had been his main concern—for a while, one of its attacks had made him quite dizzy.

            "I summon Kirin!" he called, and the fiery Summon descended on the remaining Dirges and the Bone Fighter, destroying them.

            "There isn't anything left," Ivan muttered as Mia cast a quick Ply. "No bones, no other inconveniently disgusting bits…not even a pile of ashen remains. Does that bother any of you?"

            "I'd rather not think about it," Mia admitted.

            "So is there anything around here besides giant hollow tree stumps, green monkeys, and general forestry?" Garet asked, scanning the undergrowth for signs of anything else out looking for a fight. The words of Nyunpa rang in his mind suddenly, and he frowned. Sometimes you must let go of your belief that fighting solves problems.

            "Tell that to the things that attack us," he muttered.

            "What, Garet?" Zoe asked, looking up from the map.

            "Nothing. Never mind."

            "Djinni!" Isaac cried, grinning excitedly. "Venus Djinni!"

            "You'd think he had some kind of Djinn radar or something," Zoe said, shaking her head. "Go on and get it then, Isaac. We have fluorescent green monkeys to force from hiding," she added, laughing along with the others at the pun.

            "It'll probably fight you," Mia pointed out. "I've had enough battles for one day, really. Is there a way to end this quickly?"

            "We could just all-out summon on the thing," Ivan suggested.

            "Haven't heard a better solution all day," Garet said, mentally putting his two Djinn on standby. "Have you noticed that we don't rattle off the criteria of Djinn or Summons anymore?" he added.

            "It saves time," Isaac said distractedly. He was steadily heading toward the Djinni. "Everyone ready?" The others looked at each other.

            "Whenever you are."

            "Sure."

            "What've we got to lose?"

            "The world, maybe."

            "Point. Yes, Isaac, we're ready," Ivan said with a nod.

            "Good. I summon Ramses!"

            "I summon Nereid!"

            "I summon Procne!" Ivan said, a wide grin on his face. Three Jupiter Djinn had enhanced his summoning capabilities, and the giant bird that was the summoned embodiment of Procne would rise above the Venus Djinni, pulling it upwards in a whirlwind and throwing it down again with the same wind.

            "Nice trick," Garet said, grinning. "I summon Kirin!"

            "Twice in a row?" Mia asked. "Aren't Forge and Fever still recovering?"

            "Isaac stalled us enough with his getting closer that they both set themselves again."
            "Doesn't that take its toll on your Psynergy?"

            "It might. I haven't had the time to think about it." The four Summons struck the Venus Djinni simultaneously. There was quite a brilliant show of flashing Psynergetic light, and it seemed for a few seconds that the Venus Djinni would be disintegrated by the pure elemental power.

            The air around the Adepts shimmered as the Summons faded, and everything seemed to be tinted a deep green. The Venus Djinni dissolved into a brighter light, rising high into the air and coming down again on top of Isaac. Isaac raised his arms to the sky as the Djinni joined him, grinning at some joke only he heard.

            "You didn't have to do that, you know," the Djinni herself said as she flashed in on Isaac's head. "Hm. Flint was right. Anyway, Nereid and Kirin I didn't particularly mind, but calling Procne down on me was a bit much, don't you think?"

            "Who are you, anyway? Why haven't you given us what would seem to be the usual Djinn introduction yet? Powers of the earth, and all that," Garet added, seeing everyone giving him strange looks.

            "I figure with two other Venus Djinn, plus a horde of others, you're tired of hearing it. But my name is Quartz."

            "Quartz!" cried Torrent's voice, and she appeared atop Zoe's head.

            "It's an obsession, I suppose," Zoe muttered.

            "Hello Torrent. Long time no see. The point of this is to stop the destruction of the world, is it?"

            "It would seem so," Torrent said in agreement.

            "Let's get to it, then!" Quartz said happily. "It's not every day that we Djinn get out, you know," she said in response to several questioning stares. "You try being trapped in Sol Sanctum for a few millennia, and when someone offers you the chance to travel, see what you say." With that, Quartz and Torrent disappeared.

            "Millennia?" Zoe asked.

            "Apparently Djinn are older than we thought," Mia said.

            "Come on," Isaac said with a resigned sigh. "Ivan, you might as well blast the next stump."

            "Right on it, captain sir!" Ivan said, smiling so wide it looked like the grin would split his face.

            "What's with him?" Zoe mused, gingerly picking her way through several inches of weeds and underbrush.

            "Power rush," Mia said, following close behind. "The power that runs through someone with the larger Summons must have that effect."

            "I hope it wears off, for everyone's sake. Ivan on a perpetual sugar rush isn't something we need to have right now."

            "Tell me about it," Mia agreed as the green beast took off southward.

***************

            "It went that way!" Garet cried, chasing the green monkey creature to yet another passage through the close-growing trees. By luck of the draw, he now wore an Elven Shirt as a form of armor, giving him more speed than he had previously had. Isaac and the others followed behind at a more reasonable pace.

            There was a sudden vibration coming from the stump Ivan had just thrown Force at. The Adepts turned around, watching it as it vibrated again, and also made a noise that was a cross between a screech and a growl.

            "I have a bad feeling about this," Isaac mumbled.

            "I think your feelings are contagious," Zoe muttered as something large, blue, and vaguely monkey-shaped leapt from the stump with another sound-barrier-shattering noise. It landed in front of the Adepts, separating Garet and Zoe from Isaac, Mia and Ivan. It was twice as tall as any of them, Garet included. And it was angry.

            "Plan, Isaac?" Ivan asked, raising the Blessed Ankh in case the giant decided to attack.

            "Any plan you have will beat what I have," Isaac said, raising a hand. "Ragnarok!" The Psynergetic sword sliced into the giant beast, doing no visible damage, but by the sounds the thing was making, obviously doing something uncomfortable.

            "Isaac's plan is apparently 'throw whatever you've got at it and pray,'" Garet muttered. "Ah well. It beats sitting and letting it take us down. Fire!" Fireballs flew from Garet's hand, crashing into the monster from all angles. "I like doing that."

            "I'm sure you do," Zoe agreed, calling on what most resembled her own fiery Psynergy. "Charge!" A giant fireball, easily twenty times the size of any of Garet's smaller ones, slammed into the creature.

            "This looks like fun!" Ivan said, approaching the tail end of his power high. "Plasma! Take that, you gargantuan aqua gorilla!"

            The gargantuan aqua gorilla itself wasn't in a very good mood anymore, not that it had been in the first place. To wake up to a smaller, lime green version of yourself standing on your head and then a sudden raucous banging on the outer walls of your stump isn't going to put anyone in a good mood. But now it was even more ticked off, and didn't mind professing that fact. Thus it focused on the next Adept in line to cast Psynergy.

            "Tundra!" Mia cried, sending a wave of ice flying at the creature. Instead of reacting like she expected it to, with a scream or a stomp of a massive foot, it shot a hand out and closed five large fingers around her in a suffocating fist.

            "Mia!" Isaac called, barely moving out of the way of the giant's other fist. Said fist struck Garet instead, sending him sprawling, but otherwise leaving him unharmed. Zoe and Ivan looked up in frustration, knowing without saying so that any Psynergy attack they threw at the thing would hit Mia as well.

            Mia had her own ideas. Despite the way it appeared, Mia was not helpless, in fact had the hand holding her Witch's Wand free, and had years of practice at being calm during a crisis. Though it hadn't been quite this desperate at any other time in her life, she had a solution. The Psynergy was already rushing through her weapon.

            Grinning, she brought the Wand down hard on the creature's hand and called, "Stun Voltage!" as her weapon's Psynergy was unleashed. However, she failed to realize that the shock would also be sent through her, and with a deal of effort managed not to scream.

            "Not a good idea," she said to herself in an increasingly more squashed voice as the fist began to squeeze. "Isaac!" she yelled down. "Use Psynergy!"

            "It might hit you!" Isaac called back, unwilling to believe what she was saying. "I can't risk that!"

            "Just do it! Anything that happens can be fixed with Psynergy!" Isaac picked up on the lack of air that accompanied the yell, and decided he didn't have much choice.

            "Earthquake!" he cried, and the ground began to shake intensely. Ivan was thrown forward, just barely catching himself before slamming face first into the ground. Garet, half-sitting, found himself on his back again. Zoe fell to her knees.

            "Isaac! Are! You! Mad?!" Garet's words were staggered between the jolts and bumps of the earthquake. Isaac got the message well enough, and the earthquake stopped, with the giant gorilla looking much the worse for wear.

            "Mia?" Isaac asked tentatively. He felt himself begin to panic when he got no reply.

            "Isaac, watch your back!" Ivan said, and Isaac ducked as the giant's fist swept over him. Regretting deeply what he was about to do, Ivan raised a hand. "I summon Procne!"

            "Isaac's going to kill you," Zoe observed. "And Garet might too. Heck, I might, even."

            "We have to get rid of this thing!"

            "And kill Mia in the process?" At this suggestion, Ivan paled. "You didn't think of that or something?"

            "Anything…I figured anything that happened, you or Isaac could handle," Ivan said quietly.

            "Not being dead," Isaac whispered. The thing had nearly fallen, that was true. One more strike should do it. But could he risk it?

            Garet provided the solution. Rising and grabbing his Broad Axe in both hands, he ran at the beast, swinging hard and connecting. Seeing that this might be the way to win, Isaac joined him, his Arctic Blade unleashing its Psynergy, Blizzard. With that final blow the giant fell, turning a faint grey and disappearing.

            "There isn't anything left," Ivan said again, still seemingly shocked at the realization that he might have killed one of his close friends. "Does that…does that bother any of you?"

            "There's something left alright," Garet said, roughly pulling Ivan to his feet and joining Isaac and Zoe in surrounding Mia. Upon seeing her, Ivan let out a long, low whistle.

            Hands outstretched, Isaac cast Cure. A green light surrounded Mia for a few seconds, then faded, but nothing seemed to change. Likewise, Zoe tried Restore, but that had just as little effect. The four Adepts looked at each other, out of ideas.

            "Somehow you always forget about us," said a quiet voice. Everyone's gaze except Isaac's became fixed on Isaac's head, where Quartz now sat. "You think I'm useless, is that it? Never even bothered asking what I could do."

            "Can it help us now?" Isaac asked, not bothering to try and get the Djinni off of his head.

            "Yes. Unleash me," Quartz added in an urgent voice. "You've not much time before it won't work at all."

            "Unleash Quartz!" Isaac said in a quiet voice, and the Djinni dissolved into a golden-brown light, surrounding Mia and growing steadily brighter. When the light faded, Mia's eyes opened, to the absolute relief of all present.

            I owe you one, Isaac told Quartz in his mind.

            Just keep doing what you do, Quartz replied with the mental equivalent of a knowing smile. Isaac rolled his eyes.

            "Hey!" Zoe said, having risen and begun to head through the next pathway in the trees. "Come on! We've made it through!"

            "If Nyunpa could see this one," Garet said, laughing to himself. Ivan gave him a quizzical look. "Ah, nothing. Just something I remember him saying."

            "Isaac, you changed what you said when you unleashed Quartz," Ivan said, quickly switching the subject. "Any idea why?"

            "It just felt right, I guess," Isaac said, smiling to himself. "Quartz is different, somehow, from Flint and Granite."

            "Maybe it could be a usual thing," suggested Gust's disembodied voice.

            "I'm hearing things," Ivan said jokingly. "Yah! Gust! No, stop!" Whatever Gust was doing couldn't have been that bad, because Ivan was laughing.

            The rest of them stood and followed Zoe out of the forest and into the fading sunlight. "Another day gone," Isaac said in a low voice. "I wonder how close they are to Venus Lighthouse."

            "They can't be too close," Mia said with certainty, though her feelings were quite different from her tone of voice. "Someone must realize that they're evil, at least."

            "I sure hope so," Ivan said, looking down at the map in his hands. "There's a town called Xian not far from here," he added, pointing northwards. "We can stay there for the night."

            "Looking forward to it," Zoe said, beginning to walk in the direction Ivan had pointed. The others caught up to her, and they walked five abreast the rest of the way, each of them with that confident, grateful smile that came from winning a tough battle with the aid of your friends.

***************

Vil: And so ends chapter 23! It got kind of long…but I managed to get through Mogall forest without telling anyone what rocks or logs moved where. Scary. So…anyone who hasn't and knows the story, go check out chapter six of Sunlight and Shade, because it's even longer than this one…oh! And read Shining in the Darkness by Feonyx. You won't regret it, even if it is lengthy. Later days!

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