Wicked Tower

When they arrived at Ka Dingel, they began to climb to the top. Yes, this is another one of those places where the weak of leg should not go, especially if said weakness is all about staircases. The whole place consisted of many interlocking mazes of stairs, each one spiraling around to the next floor. When the team was about halfway up, Virginia decided to break for lunch. She was eating a picnic that the young girl had packed in Claiborne, knowing they were visiting a tower of some sort. Jet poked at his food a little, he didn't eat quite as much as Virginia and would often skip meals when there was something on his mind, but his female companion glared at him for not eating it. She then proceeded to feed him with her own fork as if he was a little baby. At first, Jet tried to turn away and not eat, but when she became more insistent, he let his guard down, and allowed her to have her fun. The young man sighed, there were other people around and it was embarrassing for them to see him like this. Gallows at least was laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd seen in his life. Clive was trying to be polite and not laugh, but let out a small chuckle in the end.

"Can we get going soon?" he demanded, "We've got to get to the top and find out what's going on before the Demons arrive. If we get killed because you were goofing around, I'll never let you live it down." He straightened his face, and turned away before she could see his blush. But Virginia knew, understood how he got when he felt like he was letting his image slip away. She had, after all, been with him for the past five years, and had gotten to understand every one of his moods and attitudes. It was best to just let him have his moment in times like this, let him yell at her. When they were alone he would return to being his old self, and put away the mask he wore in front of others. Only Virginia had ever seen the real Jet.

Sometime later they fought against a monster named Trask. But only non-elemental magic could do much against him, even after the Fragile spell had reduced his defense. Jet was then their best hope to win the fight, having Invoked Moor Gault and being able to use his Devestate. Virginia healed her companion if needed be, for Trask knew how to counter and those counters really hurt. Clive and Gallows shot if ever they could, getting in the minimal damage to just speed things along. That was where Mystic came in, the young girl could give the whole team a Heal Berry if needed be. But then she had to attack a little in order to gain back the power to do it again. So if she wasn't healing, she helped the two men in their onslaught.

When he was down, they heard a rumbling sound. It had come from somewhere overhead, but the team didn't know exactly where. Virginia was betting that it had to do with Janus and the Schroedingers, as well as the Eternal Sparkle. Andro shook in her hands, it sensed its return to life was almost ready to take place. The female Drifter found herself trying to hide it away. She knew that something was terribly wrong.

* * *

And she was right, which was how things usually turn out. Janus had taken the Crio Shield from Maya, and only needed Andro to complete his plans. He told her, "If you don't hand the Andro Shield over to me, I'll kill the little lady here as well as her companions. If you want to survive, then give it to me now."

Maya, however, was frantic, something that didn't seem like her. "No! Don't give it to him! I can see now that a powerful Demon rests here, and it will be called forth. The name Eternal Sparkle is a total lie, it isn't a gem at all. It's nothing but a weapon that the Demons used to wage war against Filgaia!"

Under normal circumstances, Virginia would gladly have handed it over to save Maya's life. But before her choice could be made, Andro flew out of her pack once more, and went over to Janus. Suddenly, all three shields flew into the air together, and came back as a large spear. But luckily, it flew away. It was almost as if it didn't think Janus was worthy of wielding it, probably because he wasn't a Demon at all.

The winds caused by Janus's summoning of the spear had been enough to blow both Romero and Dario away. Virginia was enraged at how he treated his own allies, that she began to cast the Refrigerate spell. But Janus easily knocked it off, almost as if his will was giving him the power to fight against them. She pulled out her ARMs, and fired, hitting him in his chest. Not even that was enough, Janus had a look on his face that radiated pure evil. His eyes were wide, and he looked eager to kill. Could it be the spear?

But just in time, however, things were all turned around. One of the blocks loosened from the winds that had summoned the spear was right in Virginia's path. Upon stepping on it, she happened to cause a chain reaction that burst the whole roof. Everyone fell to the ground, landing on piles of rubble. But no trace could be found of Janus, he was probably buried in the rocks too. At last, that crisis had been resolved.

"That was a waste," Maya muttered, "I only want gems, not some stupid spear with the power to destroy the whole world. Well, this really isn't my scene, I'm going to get out of here and find a new lead,"

"Take care of yourself Maya, I hope we meet again. When we do, I hope it will be as friends," said Virginia, a look of joy on her face. She was only happy that the whole mess was over and they could go on to their next destination. They'd have to look over the map, she had no idea which ruins were near here.

Maya stated, "We'll probably only meet if we're arguing over the treasures in a ruin or something of that nature, I'm not one for the social scene. And I'm not getting involved in saving the world, that's just too big for us. You might get hurt if you stay on this road, all of you should just go back home before that." The woman then signaled for her men to leave, she was tired of standing around here and talking to other people.

Virginia watched as she left. 'That was a cruel thing to say, I can't help it if this is where my own Destiny has taken me. Besides, how can a person go home, when they don't have a home to go back to?'

* * *

In Claiborne, they looked at a map. Gallows told them about Little Twister, which was nearby this town. But he didn't know exactly where, since he'd gone there asleep on a caravan. Remember, this isn't the smartest man in the world we're talking about. Virginia decided to ask around and find out how to get there. The villagers said it was over a crevice in the rocks, and she'd need to jump it with a horse. Hearing about a man selling horses, she went over and purchased four for the team. Hers was white, and she called it Hikari. Jet claimed the golden brown one and named it Kin'iro. Gallows liked the black one, Yami, and Clive was riding the brown one with the white on its nose called Shinamon. Together they set out for the town of Little Twister, and jumped the crevice on horseback. Hopefully, they'd find something there.

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words…

Well, Ch. 1 only took, let's see, eight chapters to do. But the others are longer. This is going to be a major headache. Not as long as Mana Flow, nothing is that long. I'll never write a whole seventy chapters again. Oh, and the horses mean Light, Gold, Dark, and Cinnamon. I've said it in other fics, but if you've never read my old ones, you might be interested in how I raid my Japanese Dictionary for names.