Scepter's Power

"Let's get these punks," Virginia yelled out, "We'll never let them get their hands on this Scepter. She then pulled out her Duel Pistols, and fired. Janus seemed to take the hit but sustain little damage. He was apparently a really strong Drifter. It seemed they would have to use their strongest attacks to beat him.

Jet seemed to understand what she was thinking, even though she hadn't told him to use their best attacks. He grabbed the Airget-lamh, and fired his Gatling at Janus. The Baskar was using some of his magic from a Guardian's Medium, Schturdark in his case. And the guardsman had his rifle locked onto his target, doubling his own power. Virginia also used her Gatling when the opportunity arose for her to do so.

"You blokes all have such great strength. Especially the young lady. Hey, Princess, why don't you cut out of here and come along with a real Drifter. I'm sure you need someone strong to protect you, and if it's strength you need, then I'm your man," stated Janus. He flashed her a smile, that seemed to chill her.

Virginia replied, "No thanks, I've already got myself a partner. I'm not deserting Jet here for any one else. He's been with me through thick and thin for five years, and has become quite special to me." When she said those words, the girl began to blush. Special barely described how she felt about Jet, he was the only man she felt she could ever love. But she was too embarrassed to tell him how she truly felt. After all, what if she scared Jet away? He might think she did it only because she was his friend, and didn't want to have him hurt because he'd never get someone to care about him for who he really is. Jet could be like that.

Janus scoffed. "That's too bad, Princess. One of these days, you're going to find yourself in deep trouble. Then, you'd wish that you'd accepted my offer when I gave it. Dario! Romero! We're going to have to retreat for now. There will be other chances, we just have to wait for them to come to us." With that, the three Drifters jumped to the train below them on the mountainside. The other four just watched and stared.

* * *

"Well, I promised I would get this to Baskar," the guardsman told the others, "But I have no idea if those others will come back to try and steal it once again. May I ask for you to help me? The four of us can get this back safely if we all work together. My name is Clive Winslett, and I am a Drifter who takes on jobs that will help other people out. May I ask for your names as well, since we will be traveling together?"

"I am Gallows Caradine, and I happen to come from Baskar. I've been on a journey for over three months now. Really don't want to go back, but I guess I have no choice. Just as long as no one makes me stay there, like that old bag," the Baskar said. Virginia and Jet rolled their eyes at his starting to complain.

Virginia told Clive, "My name's Virginia, and he's Jet. But we're not in a habit of giving out our last names as well. The two of us have been going around Filgaia for about five years now, just looking for the treasures in ruins. After all, two innocent youths such as ourselves have to eat, we're both string beans."

On the way back, they all talked more about themselves. Clive was thirty, and lived in the town of Humphrey's Peak. Gallows was twenty four, and spoke of his kid brother and grandmother. Virginia knew about that already, she recognized the name Caradine from the time she and Jet had gone to Baskar to get High Priestess Halle to interpret Virginia's dreams. She'd spoken of her incompetent grandson, Gallows.

Finally, they arrived in Baskar. There, the team was greeted by a shrill cry. "Brother! You've come back home! How do things look all around Filgaia? Did you find anything while on your journey?" A young boy of about seventeen came running out of a house. He had blue eyes and long blond hair. Dressed in fine robes, you could well figure out that he was a priest of some sorts. He introduced himself as Shane.

"Well, you've arrived Mr. Winslett," came the voice of Halle, "It's good to see you again. I'm sorry to have burdened you with my idiot grandson as well. But I knew he'd come home if he saw an add for the Ark Scepter in the paper. Listen well Gallows, and learn from my genius." She glared at him, fire in her eyes.

"You mean the Ark Scepter is a fake? And you advertised a fake to get me to come back home to Baskar? Granny, you're the worst!" exclaimed Gallows. He looked like he would cry. But just then, Shane held out two more Ark Scepters in his arms. The priest's eyes went all bug-like, he was clearly surprised.

Halle muttered, "A total of four Ark Scepters exist. It is part of fate that four is the number that the Guardians chose when they created them for us to use. I had them all shipped here after Shane's dreams began to tell of a new danger coming to Filgaia. So I advertised one of them, knowing you'd come home."

Virginia was taken aback. "This boy had a dream of world destruction?! I heard the Baskar had an ability like that, but never heard about the exact dreams. I guess what I was told five years ago must be about to come to pass at last. Jet, we'd better be prepared, the Demons are about to return to our home."

"So you have returned at last," Halle noticed, "I knew you'd come soon, since this is about to occur. I want the four of you to take the Ark Scepters with you, and go to the Fallen Sanctuary. There, you need to create a pure Medium, from the actual Guardians. What my stupid grandson uses, is just an imitation with the symbols necessary to call forth the Guardian's power. But from fighting the real Guardians, you will get the real Mediums, with greater powers than this thing has." With that, she made Gallows's Medium vanish.

"What's Granny talking about, 'you've returned at last'? When did you guys ever come to Baskar on business?" asked Gallows. Halle rolled her eyes, and whacked the young man with her cane. She gave him a sour glare, as if to tell him to just shut up and get going. Gallows held his head, it started to throb.

He yelled, "Granny! That hurt me! What'd you do that for?" He rubbed the back of his head to stop the pain. Jet just sighed, this was going to be one long journey if he came along to fight with the group.

"Who comes to see me and when is none of your business, Gallows. Now then, you four go and get yourselves over to the Fallen Sanctuary on the double. We haven't a moment to lose. When you return from the shrine with the Mediums, then I will tell you more about the situation we are about to have."

- - - -

Teefa's Last Word…

Now we're getting somewhere. But I'm a bit annoyed. My sister had her friend sleep over, and the kids took the living room. And you know that's the only place in the house we can get on the Internet. Because I can only hook the laptop up to the phonejack in that room, and that's our only computer. I had to wait for mom to wake her up, and send them into her room when she left for work in order to go onto Fanfiction.net. Then, they slept (or I thought they slept) until noon, so I had to start typing late, after lunch. I need a longer cord for the computer hookup…