CHAPTER 4

Finding the Next Jupiter Adept

"Yawn… what a dismal state…" Piers muttered as he gazed out the window of the Raritan Valley Line train. He was zooming by endless swamplands and muddy grass, bordered by factories, old junkyards with long abandoned buildings and trailers in them, and graffiti on just about every wall that still stood. "There's got to be more to this state than this!"

The train zoomed past more abandoned buildings and marshland, and Piers fell asleep because there was really nothing more to see. He was jolted awake when the train stopped in the city of Plainfield. "Wow!" he marveled, looking around, "It looks like I've actually find some civilization!" He pulled one of the conductors over. "When do we reach Ellendun?"

"Next stop," the man said cheerfully, then he sized Piers up. "You look like you're from out of town."

Piers leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Where you from, exactly?"

Piers chuckled. "I doubt you'd understand."

The conductor smiled. "Try me."

Piers leaned forward. "All right. I'm from Lemuria, an island in the middle of the Weyarian ocean."

The conductor shook his head. "I don't understand."

"Told ya."

Finally, the train screeched to a halt at Ellendun station. Piers got off and looked around. "Geez, what a town this is." The town was small, only a square mile in area. Along the main street were a pharmacy, a pizza place, a billiard hall called 8 On The Break, and a few general stores. The streets branching off North Ave. were Madison Ave. and Washington Ave.

"Hmm, Kraden said he lived on 6th street," Piers mused. "So, I guess I just take Madison Avenue and start counting the streets." Piers walked West on the main street and prepared to turn onto Madison, but first he stopped at Al's Deli, and came out holding a Little Debbie Fudge Round. "I LOVE these Fudge Rounds!" Piers declared, holding it out in front of him. "Delicious chocolate fudge inside two creamy cookies, and only 25 cents! Look for it at your local general store!" He paused for a moment, and then started the voyage up Madison Avenue.

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I sat on my floor, busily working on my impossible math homework. "So if I need to add two fractions, both the numerator AND denominator of which are both trinomials of the form Ax^2+bx+c, then I must first factor all the numerators and denominators. Therefore, I can use any four of the factoring techniques, which include simple Factoring by the d and e method, or I can take the square roots, well I can't because there is an A that is greater than 1... I can complete the square, or I can use the favorite, the Quadratic method! That would be -b (radical)b^2-4(ac) over 2(a). (A/N: That was a free math lesson, kids. You college folk should thank me! F.H.) All of a sudden, right when I was at the crescendo of my calculating, the doorbell rang.

"Curses!" I roared. "Who disturbs the great Max Hulk when he is doing homework?" I marched to the door and opened it, to reveal a tall man wearing a sea-faring outfit and with long blue hair. I smiled. "Hullo, Piers!" I greeted him.

He seemed quite taken aback. "You know me?"

I smiled broader. "You? Of course, I'd know you anywhere." I held the door open. "Please, come in." He entered, and I said, "Would you like something to drink?"

"Uh, just some water, would be fine." he said. He still wasn't used to the fact that I already knew him.

"Water?" I asked playfully, "Don't you see enough of that on your ship?"

He looked at me suspiciously. "What ship?"

"Well you're a Champa pirate, aren't you?"

Piers became quite angry. "I don't know how many times I have to tell everyone, I am NOT a Champa pirate! I'm innocent! Felix and his friends proved it!"

I raised my hands in front of me. "Hey, hey, I'm sorry. Relax. I just haven't gotten that far yet."

"Gotten that far in what?"

I poured him his water. "Oh don't be silly. I know where you're from. You're from that Golden Sun game."

Piers looked at me like I was an idiot. "WHAT???"

"The Game Boy Advance game. Golden Sun: The Lost Age. It tells your story." I chuckled as I sat down next to him. "It's a funny thing about that story… Alchemy and all… it's the only video game whose story is actually true. Alchemy is sealed away. Cape May is home to the Jupiter Lighthouse, and I am its guardian."

"So you're the wind adept, then?" Piers asked me.

"I guess so." I said, and I looked outside to see the stray cat near the pond again. I sent a Plasma down a few feet away to send him running into the hedges. "Yes, I guess I am somewhat of an adept."

"Good. That's why I'm here."

"Oh?"

"We need you to help us get through the Cape May Jupiter Lighthouse."

I raised an eyebrow. "Get through it? What for?"

"We have to light it."

I was startled. "Why?"

Piers filled me in on the whole story, about how the four lighthouses of Weyard were already lit, and how they needed to light the two US ones to fully release Alchemy.

"Piers," I said, "You do realize the danger of what you are doing, don't you? If Alchemy is released, countless people will be able to learn Psynergy. Can you imagine if George W. Bush were to learn some attack Psynergy? The results would be disastrous."

Piers chuckled. "Fear not, my old friend, Psynergy only comes to the strong of mind and spirit, not the weak. Or in your man's case, the completely dead." We had a good laugh over that, and then I scratched my head.

"Piers, how can we light the Cape May lighthouse anyway? Do you have the Elemental Star?"

"Yeah, Felix has it. They're heading towards the lighthouse now. Kraden is with the rest of them heading for Point Pleasant. We should get moving right away."

"Wait," I said, as he stood up, "There is something I must know." He looked at me apprehensively, and I continued. "What are the official pairings? I know that fan fiction writers do all kinds, but what is really happening?"

"Well it's like this," Piers said casually, "Isaac and Mia have the hots for each other, Garet likes Jenna but she's indifferent, and Ivan and Sheba want to go out but they're waiting until their older."

"Bless their young hearts!" I cried, looking skyward. "Windshipping at their current age is sooo undesirable."

"Indeed." Piers said. "Come! We must go!"