The last person left
If you want a special bonus, read the longer than normal author notes.
A/N: Sage: Today, in honor of the many reviews we have gotten for this story, myself and the muses are proud to present a special bonus we made just for you guys!
Kaley: Yep, so here it is…
Bakura: We made stupid bios for the main characters done with commentary!
Balmung- Kaley: He's the dashing, headstrong hero of our story!
Sage: With a strong sense of justice he is determined to take down evil wherever it threatens!
Elk: He's also a bit nuts, maybe a little too passion?
Bakura: He's working with Kite to help do…some stuff about saving The World or something…I don't know. Anyways, after a brief encounter with the wavemaster Elk, he became addicted to Elk's, err, cuteness and now seeks to find answers about these new found feelings. Mostly by stalking him and scaring the living crap outta him.
Balmung: -_- You guys did terrible…I am not stalking Elk!
Kaley: One of his rivals is Sora, who has given him the nickname Fruitypants.
Sage: His last rival is Tsukasa, who seems to have bonded with Elk on a different level then the idiot blademaster.
Balmung: (falls over)
Elk- Kaley: (falls down on one knee) All hail the mighty lord Elk!
Sage: (shakes head) Elk is the cute, shy, gentle heroine!
Elk: Hey! I'm not a girl!
Bakura: He's not very confident and it's hard for him to make friends. So he logged onto the world and found friendship with Mia.
Yuki: Ahem, during Mia's absence he went on a small quest with Balmung and this spiraled out into many men and a small amount of women falling for him.
Kaley: (still worshiping him) Then he met with Tsukasa after another outburst from Balmung and now here he is. Friends with both men and unsure as to his place or even what the hell is going on!
Tsukasa:…men?
Bakura: Shut up Tsukasa! So anyways, not much is really known about Elk but from the clues we have gathered he is roughly in the 7th-8th grade range and is most likely 11-13 years old so we went with it.
Elk: You guys really are mean…(cries so Kaley worships double time)…and scary.
Kaley- Sage: Last one we are doing is everyone's favorite host Kaley!
Bakura: Like many gamers, she suffers from what's known as 'Everquest Syndrome'.
Kaley: Do not!
Elk: This is where you become so addicted to a game that you just kinda forget everything else. Like friends, school, food, showers…
Kaley: Guys!
Link: After logging onto the world, she quickly became a high level and respected character. After all, that's all she does in RPGs is get real strong real fast. Then help others do the same.
Sage: For this reason she was chosen to be a system administer for the game.
Kaley: Well…ok…
Bakura: Lastly she and everyone's favorite thief moi teamed up during the early years of the world and since I couldn't get rid of her I decided to hang out with her.
Kaley: Now on with the fic!
"This is so exciting!" Kaley squealed. "Here are you two, ready to take on the final challenge for Elk!"
"Hold still Kite, I'm trying to climb up…" Elk heard Sora mutter. Kite sighed and went back to trying to pull himself up.
"Ok, so you guys ready?" Bakura asked. Tsukasa and Balmung nodded. "Great…ok, here's the last part of the race." He paused. "But first, a story." Both Tsukasa and Balmung instantly glared at Bakura. "What? You need to hear this. Shooting stars can bring a smile to any face but a lipless mouth can't help you save the knight of tragic death who killed to bring love."
"…Yes and that makes a lot of sense." Tsukasa rolled his eyes.
"That's not all so please listen." Kaley sighed. "So once love has burned you can only pray with your sword that hope springs eternal and that you'll win the battle of the night sky."
"…that cleared up my questions." Tsukasa said sarcastically. "So what's that story mean?"
"It's a clue." Bakura said. "You need it to finish this last part."
"Fine, then must we fight?" Balmung asked, his chest still heaving.
"Well, I'm not sure yet!" Kaley laughed. Both men stared at her. "What? I didn't think more than one team would get to the top."
"Well, they did so you better think of something!" Elk cried.
"I did." Kaley nodded. "Balmung, Tsukasa, meet your finally opponent!" Kaley waved her arm and a gush of lava spewed into the air. The red-hot lava formed a set of wings, then a long neck and tail with a heavily armored body. The lava cleared, revealing a dark scaled and steam soaked body. It was a huge fire dragon. Spikes ran down the creatures back and it's clawed legs formed out with the last bits of magma. They reached out, still dripping with lava and grasped Elk.
"Elk!" Balmung yelled.
"Let me go!" Elk shouted, hitting the dragon's hand with his staff.
"The Goddess had a bodyguard lying in wait for the brave man who came to woo her." Bakura explained, then giggled uncharacteristically. "Woo…heh…ahem, anyways, the only way to get to the Goddess Elk, you must slay this beast."
"We have to kill that thing?" Tsukasa looked up at the mighty beast and gripped his wand. "Well, if I have to do this to save my friend then fine."
"I agree." Balmung's eyes narrowed. "However, what if one of us works on defeated this thing and the other happens to strike it last before it dies?"
"Don't worry, you'll understand everything once the fight starts." Kaley said. "Now, begin!" She grabbed Bakura and the two cleared off the bridge, leaving the others to fight. Balmung's muscles tensed, causing him to groan with pain. His whole body hurt but that couldn't stop him. Elk was in danger.
"Well, here goes nothing…Gai Rue!" Tsukasa shouted, twirling his rod in front of him. Wind swept around him as a cannon like shot of water came out, nailing the dragon square in the chest. The beast roared as stream billowed off the wound. However, he wasn't the only one who screamed.
"Ahhhhh!!!" Elk's voice came, wrung with pain.
"Did you hit Elk?" Balmung asked. Tsukasa shook his head.
"That was a clean shot." Tsukasa turned back to the dragon.
"Let me try then…" Balmung launched himself up, slicing the dragon across the face. It made a terrible noise as blood drained from the cut. Elk cried out as a cut appeared across his cheek.
"I get it!" Tsukasa yelled. "Elk and the dragon are connected! Hurt one and the other feels the pain too." Balmung jumped away from the dragon.
"Then we can't fight it!" Balmung turned his eyes to Elk. "I'm sorry Elk!"
"It's ok Balmung just figure something out please?!" Elk called as he wiped the blood from his face.
"Elk…" Tsukasa crossed his arms. "I need a plan then…"
"What can we do though?" Balmung asked. "We can't very well kill the dragon!"
"Well we can't let it live." Tsukasa said calmly. "Think about the story and the clues. There must be some logic in there." The dragon screeched and suddenly shot out a claw. It snagged Tsukasa's robes as he jumped back, ripping off his vest. Tsukasa clutched his chest and stared up at the dragon. "Damn it, we need to think of this quick!"
"Alright alright!" Balmung growled. "The clues didn't make sense though! Something about love burning and the knight using his sword I can't remember it!"
"And something about umm…springs and night sky…" Tsukasa sighed. "maybe we need to use magic?"
"Magic…sword…the knight needs…to use magic swords!" Balmung grinned. "I get it! Springs are water, so I need to use some water sword attack!"
"What about the rest of the clues?" Tsukasa asked.
"I don't know…" Balmung said. "But I'll attack with the water sword and we'll go from there!" Balmung cried as he launched himself up for another attack. Tsukasa groaned and took a step back.
"You aren't thinking about the rest of the clues?" He sighed and started running over them in his head while the descendent of fianna cast water spells on his sword. "Ok, lipless smiles can't help. Dragons don't have lips it looks like so the dragon can't help? The knight must be one of us…so we have to kill to bring love…shooting stars might be magic…night sky…win the battle of it…so then a dark battle…springs…" Tsukasa shut his eyes and rested his head against his staff. All his words ran a mile a minute through his brain until suddenly it clicked. "Springs! Darkness! Balmung we need to cut the dragon off from the lava!"
"What?!" Balmung jumped away from his useless attacking. "How do you figure?"
"Well, springs!" Tsukasa cried as though it was obvious. "Springs in the darkness! It'd be dark up here without all this lava around! We need to get the dragon away from it where it's dark so that we can cast water spells on it! But you have to cast the water spells on Elk! The shooting stars remember? The dragon isn't what you need to kill to bring love!" Tsukasa grinned triumphantly but Balmung just stared at him blankly.
"What the hell are you taking about?" Balmung asked, just as the dragon swatted at him. Balmung's already dented armor gained a new ding. "Those clues were nonsense!"
"Listen to me!" Tsukasa demanded. "I can't explain it but it makes sense in my head! Balmung just lead the dragon away from the lava."
"I refuse to!" Balmung cried. "I can defeat the dragon without the help of such pathetic clues. They weren't real clues, they were meant to throw us off."
"No they were real clues it makes sense!" Tsukasa shouted. "Fine, I was going to let you save Elk but…" The wavemaster threw his staff out in front of him and wind swept around him like a cyclone. "I guess I'm going to have to steal the show." Blue streaks flashed out the rod and encased the dragon.
"What do you think you're doing?" Balmung called over the winds and the creature's roars.
"It's a new spell from the latest expansion!" Tsukasa shut his eyes. "Tia Mei!" He shouted. The beast was lifted high into the air, above the clouds until the group could hardly see it. "Now…" Tsukasa changed his target as the dragon began to burst into wisps of steam. Elk fell from it's grasp, down towards the lava far below. The young magician clutched his staff tightly, trying to cast any spell he could think of but his magic was locked. He closed his eyes tightly.
"Tsukasa! Balmung!" The young boy screamed as he plummeted down. He was growing so close to a fiery death.
"You fool!" Balmung snarled. "Elk's going to die now because of you!" He twisted his head up and tried to use his wings again but he heard Kaley call to him about penalties and he ceased. "Damn it there's nothing I can do!"
"MeRue Kruz!" Tsukasa's eyes flashed as his spell was cast. Water erupted from the lava, dissolving it into a mist as it caught the terrified mage in its waves. "Rue Zot!" Tsukasa cried out again. Now as the first spell faded another wave crashed around Elk, bringing him up to the bridge. Just as it faded, Tsukasa tossed out his wand and Elk clung to it immediately. The older sorcerer pulled with his strength and both clasped onto the wooden overpass.
"Are you ok?" Tsukasa asked, lifting his head. Elk sat there quietly, his eyes brimmed with tears and his body trembling. "Elk?"
"Tsukasa!" He burst out, flinging his arms around the other's neck. Tsukasa's eyes grew wide but all the same he smiled.
"Don't worry, you're fine now." The silvery hair one said, running his hand down Elk's back. The boy looked up at Tsukasa with his beat red face.
"You saved me!" He sobbed. "I was really scared!"
"It's alright." Tsukasa grinned. Balmung stood nearby, watching silently with a saddened look on his face. Kaley and Bakura came racing up, both excited.
"Congrats Tsukasa!" Kaley sang. "You figured out the stupid clues, defeated the dragon and saved Elk! You met all the requirements to qualify as the winner!"
"Which you are." Bakura nodded. "You have won the annual Tanabata festival race."
"Well, of course I had to since Balmung wouldn't listen to me." Tsukasa glared coldly at the knight, who returned the stare.
"Uh, right…" Everyone looked down and saw Kite and Sora still struggling on the ropes. Sora sounded very impatient. "Could you guys find it in your busy schedules to help us up?!"
Later, at the base of the mountain (once Sora and Kite had been rescued), Tsukasa stood next to Elk as the awards ceremony began. Actually, it was more just Kaley telling Tsukasa what he won but they still called it a ceremony.
"Well, congrats again really." Kaley beamed at him. "That was something else. You did great! You really deserve this prize!"
"Ahem, in honor of winning the Tanabata Festival, you reward you, Tsukasa with…" Bakura paused, letting the suspense sink in. "Oh and I nearly forgot…"
"Bakura!" Tsukasa's shoulders sagged a bit. "Hurry up…"
"You can wait!" He snapped then cleared his throat. "Right, Balmung, for second place you score this…" Bakura pulled a sword out from the folds in his cloak. "This is the Excalibur 2.0. It's a one of a kind sword with one of kind attacks, stats and spells. It's a extremely good weapon and if you don't need it then people would give their left nut for it in a trade."
"Well said Kura!" Kaley grumbled, hitting him in the ribs. He smirked and handed the sword to a still brooding Balmung. The blademaster accepted it quietly and stood
"Ok, on to Elk." Bakura said.
"I get something?" Elk said in surprise.
"Well, only if you want it." Bakura shrugged and pulled out a slip of paper. "Go to this location. Only you have access to it and there are tons of treasures there for you, plus a very special event."
"Event?" Elk asked, taking the paper from Bakura.
"Yeah, it's a special area. Take someone special there and you'll win their heart for sure." Bakura grinned then finally he came up to Tsukasa. "Your prize is the following: you gain ten levels, as well several special summon spells that are going to be encoded into your character data, and a custom made item for you. Be it a weapon, armor, a potion that never runs out…"
"Aromatic grass, special limited edition bunches of Aromatic grass. About 20 of them. And call them Maho's Smile instead." Tsukasa said at once. Elk's eyes grew and he turned in surprise at the boy. Tsukasa didn't say anything else though.
"Well, is that it?" Kaley asked. Tsukasa nodded. "Alright then, if that's all you want then ok!"
"Your prize will be ready by Friday." Bakura said. "Well, we best be going right Kaley?"
"Yeah, I still have that report to write…"
"You told me you got that done."
"Umm, most of it!"
"You fool." Bakura rolled his eyes and teleported out of the field. Kaley grinned.
"Ignore him, he didn't mean that!" She said brightly before she too left the field. The rest stood there silently, until something important came to Tsukasa.
"Hey Elk, you and I haven't written down our wishes yet." He nudged the other out of his staring trance.
"Oh, right…" Elk turned and smiled. "Thank you Balmung for helping me. I'll see you later ok?" Balmung nodded and gave a halfhearted smile.
"See you later Elk…"
"What'd you wish for Tsukasa?" Elk asked as he met with him later in Mac Anu. The other grinned and lightly tapped Elk on the head.
"It's a secret!" Tsukasa laughed as Elk pouted at him. "Nope, I won't tell you."
"Fine, then I won't tell you mine either!" Elk smiled. Tsukasa smiled too, until he saw who was standing behind Elk. His smile faded slightly, out of surprise though rather than unhappiness. Elk turned, following his friend's eyes to a beautiful heavy ax girl.
"Hi there." Elk nodded. The girl smiled at him.
"Hello…and good evening…Tsukasa…" The girl blushed a bit and Tsukasa titled his head to the side.
"Yeah, it's been awhile…Subaru…"
A/N: Sage: Ah, (lightning strikes in the background) so, what do you guys think?
Bakura: That Kaley is a fool ^_^
Kaley: (smacks him in the head)
Elk: I liked it! But I hope Subaru doesn't steal Tsukasa…
Kaley: Poor Balmung…
Sage: Not my best chapter but not my worst…so everybody, see ya next chapter!
Sage: Oh and that was the last update of the year…
Kaley: So we wish you a Merry Christmas!
Elk: Or whatever holiday you prefer…
Bakura: Just say Happy Holidays -_-
Sage: Oh fine, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!
Kaley: AND MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ME TOO!!! ^_^