UPDATE: Rrgh. Fanfiction.net has some of the stupidest rules. Fixed the links (Which were erased only because they had 'http' in front of them)
Sup? How you been? Okay, I was in a writing slump for a while, but I've been busy on my new webcominc at inthenewage.keenspace.com drawn by me, so no stupid crappy sprites that you've seen over and over and over and over again. Oh, remember to vote. So let's get going with the NEW chapter.
The treasury room's door fell to the ground in a resounding 'THUMP', and Charlie
withdrew his foot. One of the two guardsmen who were standing there said, "Ah.
. . ah, you can go in th-" And was silenced with a quick and powerful kickflip
by Ben, who then shut the other up before he had a chance to speak. Charlie
re-adjusted Liz in his arms, and walked in, Ben behind him. Crystal took a weak
step; her (rather non-existant) knees buckled and she fell. Ben reacted quick
enough and caught her. "Crystal, are you alright?!"
"S-sorry, Ben. . . I'll be okay. . ."
"Crystal. . . Okay, Crystal, I can still feel the strength in you. But
please don't try and do what you did back on the jeep. . ."
"I'm sorry. . . I only wanted to help. . ."
"Crystal, if you died. . . I don't know if I'd have been able to go on.
. ."
"Love involves sacrifice. . . I just wanted to take the bullet to help
everyone. . ."
"I'd rather us all have died. . ."
"That's being selfish, though, isn't it?" Crystal stood back up and
followed Charlie again. Ben blinked, thought for a few seconds on what she said,
then sprinted after her.
The lining of the room was much like you could expect from a treasury, with
big heavy chests, and excess amounts of gold just laying around everywhere.
Only, because of the talisman effects, it made sense now.
"Here it is!" Charlie yelled, the talisman's counterpart was sitting
on a pedestal in a spot on the floor where there were not piles of
money, just like in the movies. Charlie pulled the temple talisman out of his
ash gray jacket, and held it up to the light that was beaming on the one on
the pedestal.
"HALT!"
All of them turned around suddenly to their shock, five castle guards had spears
at their throats. "Rrk. . ." Ben said, "I knew this would happen.
. ."
"Silence, knave!" said the one with the really strange accent and
bad breath, "You're here do destroy the talisman that give us our peace!"
"Oh, that." Ben said, "Well, it's all good, see, we're supposed
to do that." The spear drew closer to Ben's neck, "Ow. Okay. Ah, Crystal?"
As crystal lacked an actual neck, the two spears pointed at her aimed for her
chest, "I believe the talisman will make an exception to anyone wanting
to do it harm."
"Hmm. . ."
"Hey," Charlie said, "We aren't going to damage the
talisman. Really." The guards, however, didn't really believe him in that
manner, and pretty much almost stabbed Charlie so he fell over onto the ground.
He backed away, protecting Liz behind his back. "You stupid cowards! Picking
on little kids like us! What are you, child molesters? Huh?"
"You're trying to take our peace away!" Said the ugly one.
"Oh yeah, hmm, did you ever stop to think about the fact that since we
are here, there IS NOT ANY PEACE?"
Ben cast a glance at the talisman on the pedestal. It cracked. "Charlie,
keep going!" He whispered.
"I mean, obviously, since we're here with intent to get rid of
this talisman, we're going to have to kick a few butts to get to it!
So take those spears and shove them up your collective gullible
tailends and get out of here."
Ben was rather impressed how Charlie was throwing around those big words like
that.
"There is no peace."
Crack.
"We are not bringing peace."
Crack.
"We are bringing maliciousness, malcontent and depravity,
and you had better like it because YOU'RE GETTING IT!"
Craaaaack.
The guards backed away; Charlie stood up, his voice becoming deep and clear,
"You all think you're getting all of your life's worries taken away
from some. . . some magic! As though you deserve it!"
Craaaaack. Crick.
"So you all have peace because you stopped worrying about everything, huh?
Even the fact that the land is being corrupted? Turned to desert? You're all
sloths. If you want peace, WORK FOR IT!"
Both talismans shattered in a burst of light, and everything suddenly seemed
to move in slow motion. Charlie watched the shards fly from his hand, one cutting
his wrist, one his neck, to him just scratches, but they still bled. One piece
of the shard embedded itself in the base of Charlie's horn. Ben watched it all,
too, the other talisman shard piercing his flexible skin, gouging right behind
his ear and staying as he protected Crystal from the blast. And everything started
moving normal speed, Charlie couldn't feel the shard, neither could Ben. Ben
glanced at Charlie, "Charlie. . ."
Charlie fell to his knees, shaking, "B. . . Ben. . ."
The guards stood around, confused as to what actually happened, as Ben rushed
over to Charlie's side, "Charlie, what happened?"
"I. . . I don't know. . ." Tears started streaming down his cheeks,
"I don't know, Ben, I j-just. . . I just felt those word surge through
me, it must have. . . it must have been the talisman. . ." He looked up
at Ben, "And I still feel that. . . that maturity of the twin talisman.
. . the responsibility. . ."
Ben's eyes stared into Charlie's, "Hey. . . I feel. . . I feel innocence.
. . the shards. . ."
"What's it mean? . ."
"The talismans balance each other out. . . and they're no longer in a physical
form, so balance is restored. . ."
*Crystal idly picked up two shards from the ground, "Ben. . ." She
said, "These two. . ."
Ben cast a glance at them, "They're red. . . red crystal. . . they look
like. . . they fit together. . ."
Crystal connected the two together into one large crystal, whis suddenly started
to glow, brighter and brighter. The guards ran, and the red light enveloped
the four that were left, and they found themselves in the outer space, looking
down at the oversized planet in a clear room with red translucent edges. "Welcome."
said a clear, gruff voice, "I am Sasarali. I kept the Talismans of Balance
hidden, protected, until one day I was taken out, unbalancing the world. . ."
"Woah. . ." Ben looked around at the stunning sight, "So, so
your life was disrupted, someone took the Talisman of. . . Innocence? And they
offered it to the King, and it corrupted the land, right?"
"You are correct, most intelligent one."
"So now what?" Charlie sat in the corner with Liz, who was looking
a bit better, almost conscious now.
"You wait for you other friends to complete their quests."
"I knew it!" Ben snapped his fingers, then realized he didn't have
any.
Crystal was looking blankly to the opposite wall of Charlie, "Ben. . .
Ben, I think I see. . . I see Jenna, and Skye, and. . . who are those? Mario.
. ."
"Mario?"
"Hey!" A female voice in the big green box some ways away called,
"Hey, it's working! Ben? Is Ben over there?"
"Yeah!" Crystal called back.
"Tell him his plan worked! Oh, and that he's a cutie!"
Crystal grinned at Ben, "Jenna compliments you on your magnificent though
unorthodox plan, and she says you're a cutie."
Ben blushed hard, "Man, we got some stories to tell them. . ."
"It might have to wait. . ." Crystal waved across the void to Skye,
Todd, and Rico.
----
Whew, took way too long to squeeze though the block. Next time, on Video Game! The Hunters and the Great Fox team just got an all-clear to move in to King DeDeDe's headquarters! But, what does this purple cloud actually do? Find out next time, same Video Game time, same Video Game channel! Until then, ciao!
From the Acts of Gord, Book of Annoyances, Chapter 39:
Gord types into the computer beside the account name and number:
Identification stolen. Phone when driver's licence turns up. Grab the licence and beat the person.
Sadly, the person never did try to use the stolen ID.
www.actsofgord.com
(oh, also go to inthenewage.keenspace.com)