Lord Cynic: "Da, da, da, da, da, daaa, da, da, da, da, da, da, hey! Da, da, da, da, da, daaa, da da, da, da, da, da, hey!"

Mini Garet: "Cynic, just what in Mt. Aleph's name are you doing?"

Lord Cynic: "Da, da, da, da - huh? Oh, just trying out this Russian dance they do..."

Mini Jenna: "That's scary..."

Camera switches to Mini Isaac and Mini Mia, who are doing the tango.

Mini Ivan: "That's even creepier..."

Camera switches again to Lord Cynic, who is now doing the Macarena.

Mini Sheba: "... You've been corrected."

Mini Ivan: (shaking his head) "So I have..."

Lord Cynic: "Nutbush city limits! Da na, na, na, na, na..."

Minis, except Isaac and Mia: "Please, STOP!"

Lord Cynic: "Hmph... fine..."

Mini Ivan: "Phew... you don't wanna scare readers away, do you?"

Lord Cynic: "Nah, guess not. Oh, and as for lemons, thanks for the heads up."

All the Mini's sweatdrop.

Lord Cynic: "No worries, I'm not about to write one. I COULD, but I don't. Let's just say my hormones got lost in the mail..."

Mini Jenna: "We did NOT want to know that..."

Mini Garet: (scribbling) "Lost... in... the... mail..."

Mini Jenna: "?"

Mini Garet: "Blackmail."

Lord Cynic: (Growls)


Mini Sheba: "Golden Sun doesn't belong to this loser. It belongs to Camelot Soft. Praise the... Golden Sun that a talented bunch of guys made this game."

Lord Cynic: "Yeah, otherwise you wouldn't exist, and I'd be back to writing AAML Pokemon fanfics about falling sheep and zombie bananas."

Mini Ivan: "Shuddup."

Lord Cynic: (Groundskeeper Willie voice) "Ack, ingrates."


Chapter 9 - Follow the leader

The girls returned to Isaac's house later that evening. When Mia, Jenna and Sheba walked in the door, they found Garet, Ivan and Felix sitting around watching TV. Piers was in the kitchen eating an apple, and he walked back into the TV to find the happy people.

"Hey, you're back," he said cheerfully.

"Hey," Jenna and Sheba replied apathetically.

Mia looked around, expecting to see Isaac hanging around somewhere. Disappointed, she turned back to the group.

"Where did Isaac go?"

"He's outside," Ivan said. "Said he had to do some training."

"What for?" Sheba asked. "There's nothing to train for. Our journey ended months ago."

"Yeah, we know," Ivan replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Still, that's his excuse."

"He has a million excuses for everything," Garet said, shaking his head. "Where ya going, Mia?"

"After hearing of Isaac's location, Mia had started to walk to the door.

"Oh, I'm just going out," she said. "I forgot to do something."

She left the house before anyone could ask her any more questions, and everyone stared after her, bewildered.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Garet asked the others. They stared at each other, and then nodded simultaneously.

"I reckon so, G man," Sheba said.

"Shall we?" Jenna asked. Everyone nodded again, and they got up and left the door after Mia.


"Hiiii-yah!"

Isaac lunged at the tree stump and struck it with immense force. Although he couldn't slice it, he hit it with enough power to shake it violently.

After a few more strikes, Isaac put down his sword and mopped his sweating brow.

"Whew! That was tough!"

He mopped his brow once more, then got out a comb and brushed his hair egotistically. Looking around, he put away his comb and cloth, and then picked up his Gaia Blade.

"Okay, let's try this again... hee-yah - whoop!"

He added too much energy to his attack and ended up overbalancing, falling backwards into another tree. After recovering, he picked himself up and looked around apprehensively, hoping that no one was watching. Finding no one around, he picked up his sword again and got to work.


Mia explored the streets of the town, desperate to locate Isaac. She wandered through the deserted marketplace, and as owns hooted and flew overhead, she started to think aloud to herself.

"Maybe he does like me. I mean, this gift (She took out her pendant and held it) has to mean something special if he gave it to me face-to-face..."

She opened the pendant and stared at Isaac's photo, and the grin on Isaac's face managed to melt Mia's heart once again. Sitting down, she stared at the photo and listened to the melody delving into her own world.


"Heeee-yaaaaaaaah!"

A distant shout awoke Mia from her stupor, and she woke up suddenly.

"Isaac?"

She listened intently for another shout, and was rewarded with a loud grunt and a yelp of pain.

"Isaac!"

She got up in a flash and bolted in the direction of Isaac's voice.

Behind her, Garet and Co. struggled to keep up.

"Man! I never knew she could run fast!" Felix grunted.

"You should've seen her run from a spider in the Kolima forest," Garet breathed.

"Yeah," Ivan agreed. "She took one look at it and bolted back to the exit."

"Isaac had to go and persuade her to come back," Garet said, and everyone but Piers smirked.

"He had to hold her hand while we explored the forest the first time," Garet said. "Although she didn't complain about that, you couldn't imagine the look on her face when we were told to get the Hermes Water from Mercury Lighthouse and come back."

Everyone, Piers included, started to laugh, but they stopped immediately when they saw Mia up ahead.

"Shh!" Garet whispered, and everyone hushed and hid behind some bushes.

Up ahead, Mia had found Isaac and was crouching behind a tree stump, so that she could watch him in secret.


"Huff... puff... once more..."

Isaac took a few minutes to regain his strength, then he lunged at the tree stump again.

"Eiiii - whoa!" Isaac mistimed his approach, and when he slammed his sword into the stump it got jammed. "Stupid thing!"

He clasped his hands together, then breathed out slowly and grasped his sword with both hands. Grunting, panting, sweating and cursing obscenely, he tugged desperately at the handle. Tugging with all his might wasn't enough, however. Instead, he tugged too hard and fell backwards, rolling into another tree.

"... Mamma mia. This-a is not-a going too well..." he said, eyes swivelling.

Up above, Mia giggled uncontrollably at Isaac's mishap, and behind her, the others had to cover their mouths to keep from laughing. Isaac still heard this, and he stood up suddenly and looked up to find sources of the noise. Mia gasped inaudibly and crouched lower behind the tree stump, and this was Garet and Co.'s cue to hide as well. Trying not to make too much noise so that they didn't alert Isaac or Mia, they scrambled behind their hiding spots, hoping no one would notice them.

Back down below, Isaac shook his head and turned away, then eventually pulled free his weapon.

"I must be losing my mind," he muttered. "I could swear I heard laughter."

He looked up again to be sure, and that's when he caught sight of Mia's forehead, with her hair band protruding over the top of her tree stump. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then he shook his head and turned away again.

"Now I'm hallucinating," he muttered. "That can't have been Mia..."

He picked up his Gaia Blade again and wiped his sweating brow with his arm. Taking a few deep breaths, he readied himself.

"Right... 3... 2... 1... yee-haaaa -"

Grumble

Isaac fell down in stupidity as his stomach began growling.

"Oh yeah, I haven't eaten anything since breakfast... lunch... whatever."

He got up, dusted himself off and slid his Gaia Blade into his new sheath. He looked around again first, and then crept into the darkness of the woods.

"Uh oh," Mia squeaked. She stood up from her hiding spot and sped away to the house. Behind her, Garet and Co. started to panic.

"What do we do?" Jenna cried, dancing on the spot.

"Silence!" Garet commanded. Immediately everyone grew silent. "It's no problem... it's no problem."

"So then," Sheba said impatiently, "what do we do?"

"Er..." Garet was dumbfounded, and everyone fell down in stupidity.

"Never get guys to solve your problems," Jenna muttered. Sheba smirked snidely, while Garet, Ivan, Felix and Piers scowled.

"Any smart ideas then, Sherlock?" Ivan said irritably.

"Naturally," Jenna replied, and she started to pace.

"Er, guys -" Piers began.

"It's simple, really," Jenna continued.

"Guys?"

"All we have to do," Jenna resumed, ending her pacing, "is return to Isaac's house casually and make up an excuse for being out."

This took a while to sink, in, then everyone but Jenna fell down in stupidity again.

"Nice idea, Einstein," Garet growled, getting up. "Even I could've thought of that!"

"Guys?" Piers began again.

"Why didn't you?" Jenna asked.

"Er..."

"Guys?"

"WHAT!" everyone shouted.

"... Too late."

Piers pointed in front of them. Mia and Isaac had returned from the house (And Mia had managed to snake her way out of a lengthy explanation with a rather unorthodox excuse). Mia was back behind her tree stump, and Isaac was back in front of his. Miraculously, neither had noticed the quarrelling group of Adepts, and Garet and Co. sighed in relief, before covering their mouths.

"That was… too close," Ivan whispered.

"Yeah," Garet agreed. "We'll have to be more careful this time."

Everyone murmured in agreement, then they huddled behind/inside their hiding spots to watch.


"Phew, that was close," Mia sighed, wiping her forehead with a cloth in relief. She then chuckled to herself. "Fancy Isaac scoffing a bowl of soup, an entire tub of chop chip ice cream AND seven glasses of orange juice in one go… with my help," she added cheekily, sighing happily to herself again before nestling behind her tree stump to watch Isaac's antics.


"Man, I'm stuffed," Isaac said. "Dunno why Mia needed to research different types of fungi though… I hope she's not turning into Kraden." He suddenly let out an enormous belch. "Excuse me." He turned red as he whipped around to check that no one was watching again. "Okay, here we go," he said finally, cracking his knuckles.

His watch beeped.

"Aw, man!"

Isaac sighed heavily, slid his Gaia Blade back into his sheath, and trudged towards the house wearily.


"Oh boy," Mia said, and she sped towards the house again. This left the remaining clan of bewildered Adepts.

"Okay, let's go," Ivan said, and everyone started trailing back to Isaac's house.


Isaac stumbled into the house and collapsed onto an armchair.

"So... exhausted..." he gasped, then he jumped and turned around as the front door creaked open. "Who goes there?" No answer. "Who dares invade upon thy territory, privacy and safety, and speaks not of their name to me?" Still no answer. "Speak now and answer me, or I'll strike upon thee with thy trusted blade!... ANSWER ME!"

Mia froze on the spot, stunned by Isaac's sudden demand.

"Um... it is I, Mia. I ask of forgiveness from thee, and apologise for disturbing one's peace."

Isaac's heart leapt, not expecting to find it was Mia who had entered. He managed to regain his composure and spoke again, albeit with a slight croak in his voice.

"Apology accepted. Please, approach and explain your case."

Mia hesitated, then entered the TV room and approached the back of the couch.

"Now, my child," Isaac said solemnly, "what troubles you so?"

"W-What do you mean?" Mia stammered, turning red. Isaac grinned slightly, and although she couldn't see it, her face became a sparkling ruby - in colour at least.

Isaac couldn't see this either, but he knew what she was thinking and continued. "Now, now. I am not here to make one self-conscious and worried. However -" He grinned widely, and Mia chose the wrong moment to actually approach him face-to-face, "- I must say the red in your cheeks suits you perfectly."

Isaac continued to grin on the look on Mia's face, which had become the reddest in existence (Which is that? Maroon, ruby, tomato?...). He even chuckled slightly in amusement, and this made it almost impossible for Mia to respond.

"I, uh... um... I just... didn't mean... I uh..."

Isaac chuckled again and sat up, holding up his hand to the still-stammering Mia.

"Fear not," he said. He lifted Mia's chin up so that they could look directly at each other.

"I just..."

Isaac shook his head. "Why do you fret so?" He placed a finger on Mia's lips to silence her, then the two of them just looked at each other.

Once again, their faces grew closer to each other. Isaac became intoxicated in Mia's perfume, and Mia thought she was looking into crystal mirrors - the reflection she got from Isaac's eyes was so bright that no amount of darkness could tamper with it.

This is it, she thought to herself. My dreams are about to come true at last. I wonder if anyone but Sheba and Jenna knows... oh boy, we'd have some explaining to do...

I can't believe it, Isaac thought to himself. I'm finally going to admit my feelings to in the best way possible. Gee, I'm hungry... I wonder if there's any chips that Mum's hiding in the kitchen...

After practically an eternity (About 36 seconds in our time), Isaac and Mia were once again nose-to-nose. Almost there, they told themselves, until I've admitted my love at last.

Suddenly, Garet and Co. barged into the house, out of breath and puffing.


Isaac and Mia broke away, and then stormed towards Lord Cynic's dressing room.

"I'm sorry mama, I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to make you cry, but tonight I'm cleaning out my closet..." Lord Cynic sang into an imaginary microphone. He was about to sing, "The Real Slim Shady," when Isaac and Mia crashed in (And it's probably a good thing... you don't wanna hear Cyn singing... bad...).

"What's the meaning of this!" Mia raged, spraying spit on Cynic.

"What do you mean?"

"We mean," Isaac said, frowning, "this constant delay between us finally admitting our love!"

Lord Cynic suddenly became white and covered Isaac and Mia's mouths with one hand each.

"Don't give away the ending! Argh, youth... never grateful..."

Isaac and Mia looked at each other, then when Cynic released his hands they backed out of the room slowly, leaving Cynic to his 'singing'.


"Are you ready yet?" Garet asked impatiently as Isaac and Mia returned.

"Er... yeah..." Isaac said slowly. He and Mia got back into position, and the story continues... now!... now!... NOW!... NOW! NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW, NO - OWW!


Isaac and Mia nearly choked, and they quickly pulled away from each other (Fat lot getting into position did, then... stupid Cynic). Then, Isaac's face became a vision of darkness: his eyes narrowed and became red, his brows furrowed, his spiky blonde hair became straight and silver (The horror?), and he seemed to sub-consciously emit a dark flame around him.

When everyone caught sight of 'Evil Isaac' (A.N.: "I probably need a better name"), Mia scuttled behind the TV, and the others immediately retreated as far away as possible. However, they couldn't escape from this blonde - er, silver terror, and he started walking towards the retreating Adepts.

"Now, now, Isaac," Ivan stuttered nervously. "Let's not become hasty..."

"Y-Yeah," Garet stammered, but his eyes widened when Isaac formed a Ragnarok with his Psynergy. "No, no... put that down, Isaac..."

"Don't hurt us!" Jenna squealed. Isaac chuckled malevolently, and the others sweatdropped when a wide, sinister smirk spread across his face.

"I'm not gonna kill you..." he said slowly.

"Phew," Piers said, sighing in relief. Garet, Ivan, Jenna and Sheba (who had become mysteriously silent all of a sudden) looked at him strangely. "What?"

They shook their heads, and Piers and Felix turned to Isaac, who was still brandishing his Ragnarok.

"No," Isaac said, shaking his head. "Instead, I'll send you all to Lalaland (A.N.: "I'm one for originality, aren't I?... aren't I?")..."

Remembering that she herself had said that once before, Mia giggled to herself. Everyone, including Isaac, turned to look at her, or rather the TV and seeing all the staring faces (somehow) she turned scarlet.

"Sorry... don't mind me..." she mumbled, turning around again.

As Mia dropped her gaze to the floor, Isaac turned to face the others, who stopped chortling to themselves.

"What are you going to do?" Jenna asked as Isaac started to walk towards them again.

"Now to worry," he said calmly, but no one relaxed because he was still holding his Ragnarok at the ready. "This won't hurt - much."

And before anyone could speak, he had launched his attack on his unfortunate friends. They lay on the floor, unconscious, as Isaac's hair began to turn blonde again. He made his Ragnarok disappear, and then turned to the TV - but Mia had slithered behind another armchair.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Isaac sang teasingly, searching around the room. Mia scrunched herself into a ball behind the chair, hoping Isaac wouldn't her and glad he couldn't read minds.

"Come out Mia... I promise I won't hurt you..."

As Isaac passed Mia's hiding spot without seeing her, Mia gave an inaudible sigh of relief. Eventually Isaac gave up and shrugged.

"Oh well. I'll be going to bed. Goodnight."

He made to ascend the stairs, but stopped on the bottom step. Instead of walking up, he stood on the bottom step and simply stomped on that step, imitating walking sounds.

As Isaac faked the steps, Mia crept out of her hiding spot and proceeded to the staircase - where she met the waiting Isaac, who was smiling at her malevolently.

"Oh!" Mia squeaked. "I was just... I thought... you were... er..."

Isaac simply shook his head again and changed his smile to a kinder, saner one. Mia became very spooked.

"Okay, it's late, and I'm going to bed. Oh, and you might wanna revive the others." Isaac looked at the crumpled bunch and added, "In your own time."

Mia sweatdropped, but she bowed goodnight and watched Isaac climb the stairs to his bedroom. However, instead of reviving her fallen colleagues, she let them be.

"Serves them right," she said with a rare smirk.