Hey! I'm back with the much-awaited chapter 12, by the sounds of it. I'm glad you all took note of that cliffhanger *evil laugh*. But seriously, this chapter is gonna be good.
Thanks to all the reviewers who left reviews of the 11th chapter. I wasn't expecting even three, let alone six. I hope to see six or more reviews on this chapter in the next few days! And once again, thanks to all the reviewers.
Now, even though it's so early in the morning and I"m in a good modd, I still remembered to to that constantly annoying disclaimer. I DO NOT OWN GOLDEN SUN. If I did . . . well, I'd probably be in Japan right now, developing a third game.
Now, enough of this chit-chat. On with chapter 12!
Chapter 11: Not Over Yet
Isaac opened his eyes, and looked around him. There was Sol, painting the cloudy sky blood-red as it rose above Gaia Falls. He was wondering all the while.
'This looks like the ground next to the Luna Lighthouse,' he thought. 'And there's everybody else too . . . am I in heaven?'
"Isaac? You okay?" cam Garet's voice, but to Isaac, it felt as though Garet was talking from a mile away.
"What? Where are we?" called Isaac, and still, the voices sounded distant, as though through water.
"Snap out of it, man!" said Garet, sounding exasperated. "We're okay! We're at the base of the Luna Lighthouse!"
With those few words, it was like Isaac had woken up all over again. He was sure that they were all in heaven . . . dead as a doornail on Weyard. But, from what Garet said . . . they were still alive?
"How can that be?" said Isaac. The voices sounded much clearer now.
"We were saved by someone!" said Ivan happily. "We're all okay!"
"I know who," said Isaac as soon as he had totally figured out what Ivan had said. The voices sounded entirely normal now. "Felix."
"What?" said Garet in disbelief. "Felix saved us?"
"Yeah, he did," piped up Solaris. "He's the only other Venus Adept around, and I know you didn't retreat us from the lighthouse."
"We're not blaming you for that Isaac, of course," said Mia reassuringly. "But, I agree with Solaris. It had to have been Felix."
"Well, we can ask him about it the next time we meet him," said Solaris. "But, look around you. What seems different to you?"
The group looked around. The first thing they noticed was that the Luna Lighthouse was not there at all. But what they noticed most was that the accumulated snow fifty feet away from them was already melting. It wasn't freezing cold out anymore. It was cold, that was true, but not dangerously cold. The temperature had to be about 25 degrees.
The next thing they noticed was that there was no piercing wind. There wasn't even a breeze. And things looked much more cheerful and inviting than on their way here. The snow was practically calling for them to have a snowball fight.
Garet had noticed this too. "Hey, who wants to get wet and cold?"
"I've had enough of that for a while," responded Lunora, smiling. Then, she screamed when she was nailed in the side of the head by a snowball. It was thrown by Ivan. "Why you little . . ." she said, but not in a threatening voice. It was more playful than anything else.
"Oh, come on, Lunora, it's all fun and games!" shouted Ivan happily. "Think fast Garet!" and before Garet knew what hit him, he had caught a snowball in the chest.
"Oh, you asked for it now!" shouted Garet, and he scooped up a handful of snow, and chucked it as hard as he could at Ivan, who was laughing like a maniac.
It hit Ivan in his side. Now, you have to remember that Garet was pretty strong, even when he wasn't trying to be. So, you can imagine what would happen if Garet threw something as hard as he could. Yep, Ivan fell over from the force of the impact.
"Truce! Truce!" shouted Ivan, laughing.
"Oh. That's not how it works, buddy!" shouted Solaris, hurling a snowball at Ivan, too.
"This is going to be very entertaining," said Isaac to Mia. She giggled.
"Yeah, I'd be too dangerous for all of you," said Mia. "I'd cream all of you."
"I don't know, sweetie," said Isaac, kissing her on the neck. "Lunora grew up in an environment like yours all her life, too. And so has Solaris."
"Well, then I'll just have to prove I'm the best," said Mia, scooping up two handfuls of snow. She hurled them at Solaris and Lunora. They hit dead center.
"Damn, you do have a good eye!" shouted Solaris. "But so do I!" He threw a snowball at Mia, but she dodged it gracefully.
"I think I'll stay out of it," said Isaac. Then, he got nailed by two snowballs, both thrown by Garet. "Hell no, you wont!" he shouted. "If we fight, then you're gonna fight too!"
"Gaah! Okay, fine!" said Isaac, scooping up some snow. It was lucky he ducked because a snowball, thrown by Ivan, sailed inches above his head.
This continued for quite some time. The Adepts finally had time to have a little bit of fun before they had to hike back through the mountains to get to the ship. Mia was definitely the best snowball fighter; all but one of her snowballs hit the targets she was aiming for, except for the one time Garet got in the way of the one she threw at Isaac, and it hit Garet in the back.
*******
"Well, now that we're all freezing and soaking wet, let's head back to Tundris, shall we?" said Lunora, snow in her hair.
"I'm all for that one," said Isaac, a bit of snow sliding down his cheek.
"Man, you two are no fun," said Mia, but she agreed in the end. The only snow she had on her was some on the back of her neck, where Isaac had snuck up behind her and stuffed a handful of snow down her robes.
So, they all began to hike back to Tundris, which was in view even from the lighthouse base. The walk took considerably less time, since there was no wind to slow them down. They all carried the wool blankets under their arms, except for Garet, who threw his over his head.
"Wimp," said Isaac and Ivan.
"Shaddup," said Garet. "We'll be seeing who's the wimp when we head to the Mars Lighthouse."
"Ohh, he burned you there," chimed in Solaris, chuckling at the defeated looks on Isaac's and Ivan's faces.
Tundris came into a closer view as they continued to walk. Entering the southern town gate, they saw Sagan running towards them.
"It has been lit! It has been lit!" she shouted gleefully. "We're saved! Who lit it?"
"Well, we didn't," said Lunora. "The traveling group did. We ordered them to, not like they wouldn't have anyway."
"What happened then?" asked Sagan, breathless.
"I think it best if we went inside," said Isaac. "That way, we can sit down and tell you all about it."
*******
A few hours later, everyone found themselves seated around a large table in front of the fireplace at Sagan's inn, mugs of strong Tundris Extreme coffee steaming in front of them all. Everyone had told her all about their travels, and about Karst, Agatio, and Alex. Isaac and Garet enlightened Sagan on the issues surrounding Felix and Jenna's involvement with them, and Mia told her all she knew about Sheba. Sagan was amazed at what she heard.
Solaris and Lunora also listened about the events with Saturos and Menardi that had happened up until the Venus Lighthouse. They also found this to be very amazing.
"You guys seem to be well-traveled indeed," commented Sagan. "From the sound of it, things have been very difficult for you."
"Well, it hasn't been all get-tired-and-beat-up," said Garet wisely. "We've had our good times in between. Like watching Isaac here in Colosso, that was amazing!"
"Yes it was," agreed Mia, putting her arm around Isaac.
"Well, I don't mean to hold you guys up any longer," said Sagan, standing up. Everyone else followed her.
"It was good seeing an old friend after all these years," said Sagan, hugging Lunora. "And all of these travelers you have with you, too," she added, shaking everyone's hand.
"It was nice meeting you," said Isaac.
"Yeah, it was," chimed in everyone else. Sagan beamed at all of them.
"The pleasure is all mine," said Sagan. "Please, be safe. I want to see you all when you are finished with your travels."
"You can count on it," agreed Ivan.
"Yeah, we've already made promises like yours to others, so we'll swing by on another trip through Weyard," said Garet, nodding.
"Well, that's good. I'll be looking forw-"
The door suddenly banged open, and a man and a woman entered the inn. Both looked quite young, and were both tall. They were staring at Isaac's group with furious stares.
Isaac looked around to the rest of his group and Sagan, but they looked either expressionless or utterly confused. But that was quite the contrary when Isaac saw Lunora's and Sagan's faces. Surprise and raw anger were flushed into Lunora's silvery face. She stared at the two people with cold, silvery eyes, her lips tight. Sagan looked angry, frightened, and determined all at the same time. By the looks on their faces, Isaac's group could pretty well guess who the people were.
"Hello, mom and dad," she said icily.
"Oh, no," said Garet. "This can't be good."
"Lunora, what do you think you're doing?" said the woman just as icily.
"Saving your town," said Lunora. "Like you were too arrogant to help do yourself."
"How dare you talk to me that way!" said the woman angrily. "We are your parents, after all!"
"No, you're not!" shouted Lunora. "You're just the assholes who called yourselves my parents! Didn't even give a damn about me, did you?"
"We cared about you more than you could ever imagine," said the man. "Why else did you think we'd let you become the Guardian of the Luna Lighthouse?"
"So you'd look better among the townsfolk!" shouted Lunora instantly. "I heard you gloating about it! 'My daughter's finally learned her place.' Well, now I have, and it's away from you!"
"Can you imagine how hurtful you are being right now?" said the man.
"Look who's talking!" screamed Lunora, spit flying from her mouth in all directions. "Banishing me from this town, because I made you look bad! I tarnished your reputation, so I had to go! Well, I guess I know where I rank in the scheme of things, huh? Try and weasel your way out of that one!"
Her parents said nothing for awhile. Both looked shocked at how rebellious and angry their daughter could be. Lunora stood there, her hands balled into fists, her face red, anger radiating form her in waves of heat that could be felt by everyone.
"Now, if you'll move out of my way, I will leave your sight," said Lunora. "Wouldn't want your reputations to be ruined even more by my presence, now would we?"
"Are these people yours?" said the woman.
"I travel with them, yes," said Lunora.
"And why have they helped you light the lighthouse? Are they just like you? Arrogant, only caring about themselves?"
"Ohh, I'm getting tired of her talking about us like this," said Mia angrily. "As if we're wrong for trying to save her town."
"Did you hear that, mom? Speak up, Mia," said Lunora.
"What? No, I didn't . . ." said Mia, looking horrified.
"No, I don't mind at all," said Lunora quite kindly. "I'm glad you support me."
"Well, of course she supports you!" said the man. "You've convinced her to your side of the story!"
"Do you even know?" said Isaac suddenly. Everyone spun around to look at him, quite shocked. He usually stayed out of things like this. "We are trying to stop the lighting of all the lighthouses."
"Well, you didn't bother to stop this one, did you?" said the woman.
"No, because Tundris would have frozen to death if we hadn't," said Ivan. "Did you want all of your friends and family to die?"
"That's all untrue," said the woman.
"It is not untrue! The truth is staring into your ignorant faces!" screeched Lunora. "Mercury! Venus! Jupiter! Three of the Common Elemental Lighthouses were lit, but none of the two Forgotten Elements! Luna was angry because she remained dark, while the Common elements blazed! So, she conjured up a storm to tell us that she wanted to glow, too!"
"That is not accurate," persisted the man. "Luna Lighthouse is a monument, not an elemental symbol."
"You're both ignorant fools," raged Lunora. "Don't want to see anything beyond their own reputations . . . what they want to believe . . . I feel sorry for this town."
"I command you to leave at once!" shouted the woman angrily.
"You can't command me to do ANYTHING!" roared Lunora. "I will never listen to another one of your . . . pointless . . . outrageous . . . idiotic commands! You are scum on my boot, that's what you are! And if I didn't have a bunch of people here with me, I'd probably kill both of you! And then I'd spit of your dead bodies!"
Everyone was staring at Lunora, open-mouthed at the amount of rage a beautiful woman like her could carry. A vein was throbbing in her temple. Her face was purple. Here fists were white. And she was screaming at the top of her lungs at her parents.
"In fact, if I didn't have further business outside of this town to attend to, I'd stay here just to piss both of you off!" added Lunora.
"We would have Luna on our side in a fight against you!" shouted the man. "You would not win!"
"Oh, you honestly think you'd beat me? Not when I have Luna's own staff, you wouldn't." Lunora countered.
Lunora's parents gasped as she whipped out the staff she had retrieved in the Luna Lighthouse. She advanced on her parents with it.
"Now . . . do as I say, and I promise I won't hurt you," breathed Lunora. Her parents nodded nervously. "When I leave this town, you will not mention to anybody that I was here, and you won't send anyone who still breathes after me and my companions. And you will not come after us yourselves, if you were wise, as you'd be soundly defeated." Her parents nodded.
"Good. Secondly, you will not banish anyone form this town who is a friend of or is on speaking terms with me." They nodded again.
"And if I find out that you have done any of those two things, you will most certainly regret it. Is that in any way unclear?" Her parents shook her head.
"And finally," said Lunora, smirking evilly. "You will get . . . the . . . Hell . . . out . . . of . . . my . . way!" she shouted.
Her parents nodded, and stepped swiftly out of the door, and took off down one of the snowy streets. Lunora exhaled deeply, and set her staff down upright by her side. Clapping could soon be heard. It came form Garet.
"Way to tell 'em, Lunora!" he said.
Ivan grinned at her. "I like the way you take charge," he said. "Way to make 'em see sense . . . well, as much as they would allow themselves to see, anyway."
Lunora grinned and blushed at this. "Well, it's about time somebody told them."
"You said it!" chimed in Sagan. "They've been after me ever since they found out you were here, bombarding me with questions: 'Where are they at? Why are they here? What else do you know?' They wouldn't shut up, but I refused to tell them anything. Since you made them promise that they wouldn't banish anyone from town who was a friend of yours, I think you saved me, Lunora. Thank you."
"No problem," said Lunora. "Believe me, I have my ways of finding out what goes on here."
"I don't mean to sound rude, but we must be going," said Isaac. "I don't know how much further on Karst and Agatio are."
"Of course, of course," agreed Sagan. "Good luck."
"Thanks," said everyone, and with a final wave, they walked out the door.
*******
"Well, we've begun our long trip back to the ship," said Ivan. "Hopefully, it won't take as long as before."
The group was finally out of town, taking the same route they took before back to the ship. They had just stepped out of the town gates, and they were now walking through the still large amount of snow. Luckily for them, they did not need to use the blankets anymore, as it was considerably warmer than before.
"It won't, trust me," said Lunora. Now that we don't have a wind and fierce cold, we can make steadier progress. I think we should reach the ship in no more than a few hours time."
"It sounds like forever," said Garet, who had finally abandoned the use of his blanket.
"It does," agreed Isaac. "But we'll be there before we know it."
"Yeah, we should hit the cave entrance in about ten minutes," said Solaris, looking at the surroundings to determine this.
"Are you sure we're going to be able to find it?" asked Mia hesitantly. "I mean, It'd probably buried in snow."
"That's true," said Lunora. "But I'll know. Like I said before, I know this terrain like the back of my hand. Don't you worry," said Lunora, smiling at the skeptical look on Mia's face. "I won't get us lost."
So, they continued to walk, all the while thinking about their walk on the way here about four hours ago, seeming like is was on a different world. The weather was so pleasant compared to that time, it just didn't seem possible that any of the storm could have happened.
The snow was knee-deep on them, but still, that was less than what it was when they were walking to Tundris. The know had been waist-deep then. And the further north they went, the less snow they encountered. For example, at one point, the snow was at their ankles.
The walk was slow and boring. Everyone was finally starting to feel the effects of tiredness, for they had gone without sleep for nearly seven hours, while all the time, succumbing to stress and a great deal of running. It was hard enough just for them to keep their eyes open, let alone trudge through knee-deep snow.
"Hey, isn't this the cave entrance?" asked Solaris, pointing ahead.
"Yep, that's it! See where the snow is piled all around that particular area? That's the snow that the Djinn blew out!" said Isaac, pointing at a large mound of disturbed snow.
"You're right!" said Ivan. "Come on, guys! There's no hurry, so we can dig it out ourselves!"
And so they got down on their hands and knees, and, like dogs, began to shovel away the snow blocking the entrance. It was tough work with all of the armor and clothes on, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. After about 20 minutes of digging, they had finally dug out a hole large enough fro them to fit through.
They crawled through the opening one by one, and without a word, began to walk down the path that they had taken last time. It was colder in here than outside, because the stone walls insulated the cold. However, a very significant difference was in place as well. The whole passage was overrun with monsters.
"What the . . ." said Isaac, whisking out his Gaia Blade as three Gargoyles approached him. With a graceful touch, he managed to slay all three gargoyles in a matter of seconds.
The rest of the group had their own monsters to attend to as well. Since they had experience in slaying gargoyles before, they didn't have much difficulty in ridding themselves of their foes. But more appeared after that. Isaac decided to break out some Psynergy.
"Grand Gaia!" he shouted. And, his usual column of humongous rocks shot out of the ground, slamming themselves in the undersides of the gargoyles. The gargoyles, wings bent and blood dripping out of their undersides, they collapsed on the ground, not moving.
The remaining gargoyles, possessing at least common sense, backed away into the shadows when Isaac raised his palm yet again to cast another Grand Gaia or some equally deadly Psynergy. When the gargoyles left, he gestured for the others to come forward.
"You're a very powerful Venus adept there, Isaac," commented Solaris. "Not many Venus adepts could beat a monster of their opposing element with one blow." Isaac nodded in recognition.
They continued on for some time after this down the passage. They met a few tree-monsters along the way, but Garet easily dispatched them with a Pyroclasm or an Inferno. So, it wasn't long before they came up to the camp where they had stayed before they had left for the lighthouse.
"It's been rampaged," said Solaris, looking at the ruined camp and scattered fire ashes. "The monsters must have been pissed off because we invaded their space."
"Why are there so many of them now, and not before we got to the lighthouse?" asked Ivan, waving his sword in the air slightly.
"They were probably hiding away because of the cold, and now that it's been warmer, they can come out again," reasoned Isaac.
"That's probably it," said Lunora. "Now, let's not reminisce. Time to move on!"
And so they proceeded through the camp. After walking the opposite side of the cave for some time, they reached the other side, which was blocked by a snowdrift. Garet stepped forward and fired a few fireballs at the drift, melting enough so that they could get out.
"Okay, let's move! The sooner we can get warm, the better!" said Garet, scrambling through the small hole he made in the snow. Isaac shook his head as Garet slipped and fell in his eagerness to get out of the cave.
After everyone exited from the cave, they started to walk along the base of the mountains in the same direction they came. Their footprints in the snow had been covered up by the rapidly falling snow before the lighthouse was lit.
"Man, I am sooooo tired," said Ivan, panting as he trudged through the knee-deep snow.
"Join the club," said Mia. "I mean, this weather doesn't bother me at all, it's just the fact that we have been traveling by foot for about ten hours."
"Speak for yourself there, Mia," said Garet, who had his arms folded and was shivering.
"Quit whining," said Solaris. "It's not that bad. We should be at the ship soon."
"We will," said Lunora. "I see it."
"Where?" said everyone else. Lunora pointed to her right, and sure enough, a brown speck just on the blue landscape, which was the ocean, was visible.
Everyone cheered, and quickened their pace. Now that they could see the ship, they just headed for it, instead of following the base of the mountains like they did before, since they had limited visibility. Within half an hour they were at the ship.
"At last!" said Ivan as he got to the base of the ship.
"Welcome home, guys!" said Isaac happily. He led the group up the plank. They were all happier than they had been in hours. But they had some work to do before they could set off again.
The first thing that they did was to rid the foot of snow that had accumulated on the outer surfaces of the ship. Garet called upon Torch to cast his hot air all over the ship. This melted all of the snow, which washed over the side of the ship.
Isaac and the others then scoured the ship for any signs of damage. All they found were a few weak spots in the hull which Isaac patched up with ease using some Psynergy. There was also some water below-deck that Torch took care of as well. He and everybody else then regrouped on deck.
"Let's get this thing going!" said Isaac.
Setting the Black Orb on its pedestal at the front of the ship, he guided it away from the beach. He put Tundaria to the udder, and turned the nose of the ship towards Magma Rock and the Mars Lighthouse.
*************************
Not much of a cliffhanger there, but it was necessary to cut off there, unless you want a 20-page chapter.
Besides, chapter 13 is the third-longest, and one of my best. But you're not getting it if you don't review! The geckos have the 13th chapter, and they will only allow me to post if you review!
For yours and my sake, I'd love to post the 13th chapter. So review.