Golden Sun: The Alchemy Wars
Chapter XX: Reunited
"Why don't these boats move any faster!?" Garet demanded, his anger apparent. He felt that it would only take a little while to cross the sea on such sleek looking, powerful boats.
"Sir, we can't move any faster without a good wind!" a sailor snapped. "Besides, we're nearly there!"
"DON'T TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME!" Garet roared, venting upon the unfortunate man. "I'LL CLEAVE YOU IN TWO! MY FRIENDS' LIVES, AS WELL AS THE WORLD, HANG IN THE BALANCE!"
The terrified sailor scurried away as embers began to emanate from Garet, blowing away as the boat moved forward.
"Hey, Sparky!" some brave soul yelled. Garet's eyes turned upon the man, who was rather short, but also muscular. The perfect rower. "Calm down Sparky! We can't have you ju-" his sentence was cut short, as his burning corpse was propelled off the boat by a heat wave of enormous magnitude.
"WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT!?" Garet raged, unaware of what he did, only noticing that everyone had stopped. "GET MOVING!!!"
The crew immediately continued, aware that the other two boats had pulled ahead of them.
"WE CAN'T BE LATE!" Garet shouted, emphasizing his point. "NOW SPEED UP!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mia, we can't go much farther!" Isaac whispered hurriedly, keeping his voice low. "The army needs rest!"
"We can't stop now! I can still hear the Sentinel's footsteps! The Anemians can't be far behind either!" Mia presented her side of the argument.
"Yes, but at this rate we won't even be able to fight-" Isaac dropped off as they ran out of the woods straight into a beach.
"I don't think we can run anymore" Mia said, staring out at the great blue expanse.
"This," Isaac paused, looking for what to say. "This just isn't good" he concluded.
"Brilliant deduction" Mia said harshly, then regretting it. "Sorry, its just, I can hear them coming now, and we have no where to go. . ."
"Then we stand our ground!" Isaac said heroically, drawing his Sol Blade.
"Very well" Mia responded gloomily. "Draw your weapons! Draw your weapons! We make our stand here!' She brandished her staff. As she did, she nearly dropped it, and the crystal at the end tapped against something hard on her finger.
"Oh. . ." looking down, she saw it was the engagement ring Garet had given her. "I wish you were here. . ." she whispered.
She had no time for more thoughts however, as the first group of scouts came running blindly out of the woods, and straight into the swords and spears of the defenders.
They fell back and regrouped, surprised. A few went back into the woods to find the rest of the Anemians, while the rest charged anew.
"We've got our work cut out for us. . ." Isaac muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Garet was pacing the deck, unable to shake the worried feeling he had. Rather tired of waiting, he looked out towards their destination. To his surprise, this time he actually saw something in the distance.
"You, sailor!" Garet called.
"What?" the man responded, not sure if Garet was angry or not.
"Am I crazy, or is that land?" Garet asked, completely serious.
The sailor almost laughed aloud, but seeing Garet's serious expression, restrained. He peered out across the sea.
"Yes I believe that is!" he concluded. "Shouldn't be more than an hour!"
"YES!" Garet cried, his mind set on reaching the island. "PICK UP THE PACE! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isaac stumbled backwards, caught off guard by a swift strike from another Anemian. He quickly recovered, and knocking the blade aside with his Cosmos Shield, ran the little soldier through. Quickly pulling his Sol Blade out, he rolled backwards, as yet another warrior confronted him.
Mia ducked a stab coming from a unusually tall Anemian. Twirling her staff, she brought the crystal down hard upon his head. The warrior crumpled from the force, then disintegrated as the magic of the staff ripped him apart. Blocking another blow, she called forth her Psynergy.
"GLACIER!" Anemians were frozen on the spot, trapped in ice. She tapped her staff against it a few times, and it crumbled to pieces, Anemians and all.
Isaac desperately swung his Sol Blade in a blind arc. Though he was the superior fighter, the Anemians had keyed in on him, isolating him from the rest of the army.
"For the love of Weyard. . ." he panted, another blow clanging off is Xylion Armor. "QUAKE SPHERE!"
The Anemians went flying through the air, most landing on fallen weapons, cutting or impaling themselves. Isaac breathed a sigh of relief, feeling battered from the constant assault.
"Getting sleepy?" Isaac heard the gruff voice taunt, just before a heavy mace smashed up against his helm. Isaac flew forward a few feet, stunned from the impact. Opening his eyes, a large figure blocked out the light of the sun.
"Caught so off guard, you must be tired." Isaac rolled to the side, just barely dodging the mace as it came down again. He couldn't stand up fast enough. He had to keep rolling out of the way of the mace.
"Not so fast!" the menacing figure said as he was rolling, thrusting a sword right next to Isaac, forcing him to stop.
"Nowhere to go now. . ." the soldier laughed with wicked delight. The mace came down, in slow motion. Isaac saw all the events of his life pass before his eyes.
His birth, childhood in Vale, friends Garet, Jenna, Felix, the night the Mt. Aleph boulder had fallen, studying Psynergy, the secret of Sol Sanctum, his quest to save the world, fighting Saturos and Menardi atop the Venus Lighthouse, searching for Jenna and Lemuria, the catastrophe at Jupiter Lighthouse, joining with Felix, the final battle atop Mars Lighthouse, rebuilding Vale, the night he proposed to Jenna, her death, all the memories were brought back.
He opened his eyes, wondering why he had not been killed yet. Upon looking at the figure, he saw an enormous sword protruding from his chest.
"What the?" Isaac said aloud, he knew no one who could handle a sword that large. No one but. . .
"Come on Isaac!" a familiar voice laughed, "Don't die now! You're supposed to be last anyway!"
"Garet?" Isaac was helped up by his best friend. "It is you! Garet, what are you doing here? Jeez, I can't believe it!"
"Believe it!" Garet said, thrusting his Darksword right by Isaac's face, impaling another soldier. "But be more careful!"
"Sure, no problem." Isaac grinned, happy to see Garet again. They joined the fray side by side, quickly dispatching all who dared oppose them.
The Anemians retreated, falling back when they realized the odds had tipped into the defenders' favor.
"Well, that was a job well done Garet!" Isaac exclaimed.
"Yes, but its not quite done yet I don't think" Garet said, pointing above the trees. Another Sentinel was making its way over.
"Just great!" Isaac said. "We've had to deal with too many of these things, how are we gonna bring this one down?"
"I believe I have the solution to that. . ." Garet smiled broadly. "The people of Loho were more than happy to give us one the cannons they constructed from the old one. Just try to distract the big lumbering thing."
"Are you serious?" Isaac asked with disbelief. Garet nodded. "Wow, ok, I can do that."
"Good" Garet responded, and raced off in the directions of the ship.
Isaac ran to tell Mia the plan.
Mia watched the army retreat. Looking around, she saw Isaac running towards her.
He breezed right by, only yelling at her "Come on! We have to distract the Sentinel! Garet has a plan!"
Mia stood, shocked at what she had just heard. 'Garet?' she thought. 'Did I just hear that? I couldn't have, oh wait, why am I standing around?' She rushed off to help Isaac.
Back on the ships, Garet and the crew were aiming the cannon at the Sentinel. "Come on Isaac, just stop it for one second. . ."
Isaac blasted the Sentinel with his Sol Blade, causing it to stagger. "All right Garet, do your stuff."
"Look sir!" a sailor yelled, "the creature, it's stopped!"
"Here goes nothing!" Garet loaded the magma ball into the cannon and lit it with a small flare.
An enormous boom resounded throughout the air, and the magma ball flew at lightning speed, crashing into the Sentinel's helmet. It exploded in blasts of fire, and from the shores, the army cheered. Garet hopped off the ship and went to find Isaac.
Mia approached Isaac as soon as the Sentinel was gone.
"Isaac?" she questioned, and he turned towards her. "What did you say earlier? I could've sworn you said Garet. . . but. . ."
"Oh, right." Isaac took a deep breath. "Garet is back."
"What?!" Mia squeaked. "That's not even funny!"
"It's no joke!" Isaac said firmly. "He came back and rescued me, there was no time, the Sentinel was coming. I'm sure he's looking for you right now. . ."
Mia's eyes welled up with tears, to think that Garet was actually here. 'Has he come back for me?' she thought. 'That's stupid.' she corrected herself. 'Why would he come back? After what I did to him. . .'
"Mia?" Isaac questioned, "are you all right?"
"I. . . I need to think!" Mia ran off without waiting for a response.
"Mia! Mia!" Isaac called, but to no avail, Mia was already gone.
Garet popped up just a second later. "Hey Isaac, I was just wondering, I have some stuff to clear up with Mia. . ."
Isaac looked at the ground. "She was just here, I told her you were back and looking for her, and she looked like she was about to cry, then she ran off. . ."
"To where?" Garet demanded.
"That way, off into the woods. It's dangerous out there, be careful." Isaac replied, pointing in the direction Mia had run.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'm worried about Mia" Garet flashed a grin, and then raced off into the woods, intent of finding Mia.
Isaac watched with uncertainty. 'What the heck just happened?' he wondered. Last time he checked, Mia loved Garet, so why had she run?
"I don't think I'll ever understand those two. . ." he muttered under his breath. "Oh well, I'll hope for the best. Gotta rejoin the army, who knows what they're thinking after this battle."
He walked off towards the coast.
Deeper in the woods, Garet slowed down, aware that by running blindly, he was never going to catch Mia. He looked around, tried to find signs of her passing, but to no avail. For the next hour, he slowly searched for her. Frustrated, he leaned against a tree, completely silent.
He suddenly heard a soft sound, a person weeping. Carefully moving toward the sound, he looked out from behind a tree, to see Mia sitting on a stump, crying. He was about to come out from behind the tree, when Mia spoke.
"He probably hates me. . ." she managed between sobs. "I'm not good enough for him. . . He ran away because of me. . . How could he still love me?" She collapsed in tears.
"That's not true. . ." Mia looked up, startled. She couldn't see through the tears in her eyes. "Isaac? Just go away, I need to be left alone!"
"He doesn't hate you at all. . ." she felt big arms wrap around her. She struggled slightly, the stopped. That wasn't Isaac's voice. . .
"G-Garet?" she questioned, looking up, still unable to discern his features through her tears.
"Yes. . ." Garet said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I've come back for you. . ."
"Oh, Garet!" she buried her face in his embrace and continued to cry. "Are you mad?"
"No, not at all" Garet said, stroking her hair. "It's all right. Everything will be fine."
Mia looked up again, and Garet brushed away her tears. "So, then, you'll stay with me?" Mia questioned, in an almost shocked manner.
"Of course I'll stay" Garet said, smiling, then standing. "But we better get back to the army, after all, we can't just leave all them alone, who knows what they'll do to themselves?" he grinned broadly.
Mia laughed, and they walked back in the general direction of the shore.
Chapter XX: Reunited
"Why don't these boats move any faster!?" Garet demanded, his anger apparent. He felt that it would only take a little while to cross the sea on such sleek looking, powerful boats.
"Sir, we can't move any faster without a good wind!" a sailor snapped. "Besides, we're nearly there!"
"DON'T TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME!" Garet roared, venting upon the unfortunate man. "I'LL CLEAVE YOU IN TWO! MY FRIENDS' LIVES, AS WELL AS THE WORLD, HANG IN THE BALANCE!"
The terrified sailor scurried away as embers began to emanate from Garet, blowing away as the boat moved forward.
"Hey, Sparky!" some brave soul yelled. Garet's eyes turned upon the man, who was rather short, but also muscular. The perfect rower. "Calm down Sparky! We can't have you ju-" his sentence was cut short, as his burning corpse was propelled off the boat by a heat wave of enormous magnitude.
"WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT!?" Garet raged, unaware of what he did, only noticing that everyone had stopped. "GET MOVING!!!"
The crew immediately continued, aware that the other two boats had pulled ahead of them.
"WE CAN'T BE LATE!" Garet shouted, emphasizing his point. "NOW SPEED UP!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mia, we can't go much farther!" Isaac whispered hurriedly, keeping his voice low. "The army needs rest!"
"We can't stop now! I can still hear the Sentinel's footsteps! The Anemians can't be far behind either!" Mia presented her side of the argument.
"Yes, but at this rate we won't even be able to fight-" Isaac dropped off as they ran out of the woods straight into a beach.
"I don't think we can run anymore" Mia said, staring out at the great blue expanse.
"This," Isaac paused, looking for what to say. "This just isn't good" he concluded.
"Brilliant deduction" Mia said harshly, then regretting it. "Sorry, its just, I can hear them coming now, and we have no where to go. . ."
"Then we stand our ground!" Isaac said heroically, drawing his Sol Blade.
"Very well" Mia responded gloomily. "Draw your weapons! Draw your weapons! We make our stand here!' She brandished her staff. As she did, she nearly dropped it, and the crystal at the end tapped against something hard on her finger.
"Oh. . ." looking down, she saw it was the engagement ring Garet had given her. "I wish you were here. . ." she whispered.
She had no time for more thoughts however, as the first group of scouts came running blindly out of the woods, and straight into the swords and spears of the defenders.
They fell back and regrouped, surprised. A few went back into the woods to find the rest of the Anemians, while the rest charged anew.
"We've got our work cut out for us. . ." Isaac muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Garet was pacing the deck, unable to shake the worried feeling he had. Rather tired of waiting, he looked out towards their destination. To his surprise, this time he actually saw something in the distance.
"You, sailor!" Garet called.
"What?" the man responded, not sure if Garet was angry or not.
"Am I crazy, or is that land?" Garet asked, completely serious.
The sailor almost laughed aloud, but seeing Garet's serious expression, restrained. He peered out across the sea.
"Yes I believe that is!" he concluded. "Shouldn't be more than an hour!"
"YES!" Garet cried, his mind set on reaching the island. "PICK UP THE PACE! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isaac stumbled backwards, caught off guard by a swift strike from another Anemian. He quickly recovered, and knocking the blade aside with his Cosmos Shield, ran the little soldier through. Quickly pulling his Sol Blade out, he rolled backwards, as yet another warrior confronted him.
Mia ducked a stab coming from a unusually tall Anemian. Twirling her staff, she brought the crystal down hard upon his head. The warrior crumpled from the force, then disintegrated as the magic of the staff ripped him apart. Blocking another blow, she called forth her Psynergy.
"GLACIER!" Anemians were frozen on the spot, trapped in ice. She tapped her staff against it a few times, and it crumbled to pieces, Anemians and all.
Isaac desperately swung his Sol Blade in a blind arc. Though he was the superior fighter, the Anemians had keyed in on him, isolating him from the rest of the army.
"For the love of Weyard. . ." he panted, another blow clanging off is Xylion Armor. "QUAKE SPHERE!"
The Anemians went flying through the air, most landing on fallen weapons, cutting or impaling themselves. Isaac breathed a sigh of relief, feeling battered from the constant assault.
"Getting sleepy?" Isaac heard the gruff voice taunt, just before a heavy mace smashed up against his helm. Isaac flew forward a few feet, stunned from the impact. Opening his eyes, a large figure blocked out the light of the sun.
"Caught so off guard, you must be tired." Isaac rolled to the side, just barely dodging the mace as it came down again. He couldn't stand up fast enough. He had to keep rolling out of the way of the mace.
"Not so fast!" the menacing figure said as he was rolling, thrusting a sword right next to Isaac, forcing him to stop.
"Nowhere to go now. . ." the soldier laughed with wicked delight. The mace came down, in slow motion. Isaac saw all the events of his life pass before his eyes.
His birth, childhood in Vale, friends Garet, Jenna, Felix, the night the Mt. Aleph boulder had fallen, studying Psynergy, the secret of Sol Sanctum, his quest to save the world, fighting Saturos and Menardi atop the Venus Lighthouse, searching for Jenna and Lemuria, the catastrophe at Jupiter Lighthouse, joining with Felix, the final battle atop Mars Lighthouse, rebuilding Vale, the night he proposed to Jenna, her death, all the memories were brought back.
He opened his eyes, wondering why he had not been killed yet. Upon looking at the figure, he saw an enormous sword protruding from his chest.
"What the?" Isaac said aloud, he knew no one who could handle a sword that large. No one but. . .
"Come on Isaac!" a familiar voice laughed, "Don't die now! You're supposed to be last anyway!"
"Garet?" Isaac was helped up by his best friend. "It is you! Garet, what are you doing here? Jeez, I can't believe it!"
"Believe it!" Garet said, thrusting his Darksword right by Isaac's face, impaling another soldier. "But be more careful!"
"Sure, no problem." Isaac grinned, happy to see Garet again. They joined the fray side by side, quickly dispatching all who dared oppose them.
The Anemians retreated, falling back when they realized the odds had tipped into the defenders' favor.
"Well, that was a job well done Garet!" Isaac exclaimed.
"Yes, but its not quite done yet I don't think" Garet said, pointing above the trees. Another Sentinel was making its way over.
"Just great!" Isaac said. "We've had to deal with too many of these things, how are we gonna bring this one down?"
"I believe I have the solution to that. . ." Garet smiled broadly. "The people of Loho were more than happy to give us one the cannons they constructed from the old one. Just try to distract the big lumbering thing."
"Are you serious?" Isaac asked with disbelief. Garet nodded. "Wow, ok, I can do that."
"Good" Garet responded, and raced off in the directions of the ship.
Isaac ran to tell Mia the plan.
Mia watched the army retreat. Looking around, she saw Isaac running towards her.
He breezed right by, only yelling at her "Come on! We have to distract the Sentinel! Garet has a plan!"
Mia stood, shocked at what she had just heard. 'Garet?' she thought. 'Did I just hear that? I couldn't have, oh wait, why am I standing around?' She rushed off to help Isaac.
Back on the ships, Garet and the crew were aiming the cannon at the Sentinel. "Come on Isaac, just stop it for one second. . ."
Isaac blasted the Sentinel with his Sol Blade, causing it to stagger. "All right Garet, do your stuff."
"Look sir!" a sailor yelled, "the creature, it's stopped!"
"Here goes nothing!" Garet loaded the magma ball into the cannon and lit it with a small flare.
An enormous boom resounded throughout the air, and the magma ball flew at lightning speed, crashing into the Sentinel's helmet. It exploded in blasts of fire, and from the shores, the army cheered. Garet hopped off the ship and went to find Isaac.
Mia approached Isaac as soon as the Sentinel was gone.
"Isaac?" she questioned, and he turned towards her. "What did you say earlier? I could've sworn you said Garet. . . but. . ."
"Oh, right." Isaac took a deep breath. "Garet is back."
"What?!" Mia squeaked. "That's not even funny!"
"It's no joke!" Isaac said firmly. "He came back and rescued me, there was no time, the Sentinel was coming. I'm sure he's looking for you right now. . ."
Mia's eyes welled up with tears, to think that Garet was actually here. 'Has he come back for me?' she thought. 'That's stupid.' she corrected herself. 'Why would he come back? After what I did to him. . .'
"Mia?" Isaac questioned, "are you all right?"
"I. . . I need to think!" Mia ran off without waiting for a response.
"Mia! Mia!" Isaac called, but to no avail, Mia was already gone.
Garet popped up just a second later. "Hey Isaac, I was just wondering, I have some stuff to clear up with Mia. . ."
Isaac looked at the ground. "She was just here, I told her you were back and looking for her, and she looked like she was about to cry, then she ran off. . ."
"To where?" Garet demanded.
"That way, off into the woods. It's dangerous out there, be careful." Isaac replied, pointing in the direction Mia had run.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'm worried about Mia" Garet flashed a grin, and then raced off into the woods, intent of finding Mia.
Isaac watched with uncertainty. 'What the heck just happened?' he wondered. Last time he checked, Mia loved Garet, so why had she run?
"I don't think I'll ever understand those two. . ." he muttered under his breath. "Oh well, I'll hope for the best. Gotta rejoin the army, who knows what they're thinking after this battle."
He walked off towards the coast.
Deeper in the woods, Garet slowed down, aware that by running blindly, he was never going to catch Mia. He looked around, tried to find signs of her passing, but to no avail. For the next hour, he slowly searched for her. Frustrated, he leaned against a tree, completely silent.
He suddenly heard a soft sound, a person weeping. Carefully moving toward the sound, he looked out from behind a tree, to see Mia sitting on a stump, crying. He was about to come out from behind the tree, when Mia spoke.
"He probably hates me. . ." she managed between sobs. "I'm not good enough for him. . . He ran away because of me. . . How could he still love me?" She collapsed in tears.
"That's not true. . ." Mia looked up, startled. She couldn't see through the tears in her eyes. "Isaac? Just go away, I need to be left alone!"
"He doesn't hate you at all. . ." she felt big arms wrap around her. She struggled slightly, the stopped. That wasn't Isaac's voice. . .
"G-Garet?" she questioned, looking up, still unable to discern his features through her tears.
"Yes. . ." Garet said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I've come back for you. . ."
"Oh, Garet!" she buried her face in his embrace and continued to cry. "Are you mad?"
"No, not at all" Garet said, stroking her hair. "It's all right. Everything will be fine."
Mia looked up again, and Garet brushed away her tears. "So, then, you'll stay with me?" Mia questioned, in an almost shocked manner.
"Of course I'll stay" Garet said, smiling, then standing. "But we better get back to the army, after all, we can't just leave all them alone, who knows what they'll do to themselves?" he grinned broadly.
Mia laughed, and they walked back in the general direction of the shore.