The Evil Tower

They had just settled Shane into bed, when suddenly an earthquake came about. Looking outside, the team began to feel a sensation of pure evil. It came from the area around Jolly Roger. So they flew to the town on Lombardia, and began to search. Suddenly, as they flew over a peninsula, Virginia had one of her fainting spells, the ones that came about whenever the evil was too strong. Landing nearby, they saw a tower of some sorts, looking like it was a spike coming out of the ground. Virginia was just waking up when they'd landed, and gasped when she saw it. "This place, it feels as if a great evil is flowing through it, trying to interfere with my senses. This must be where Beatrice is making her hideout, I'll stake my life on it. We must go inside and check it out." Then, she began to feel faint again, the power was overwhelming and was hurting the girl. Jet looked at her, knowing what she was going through. For he was having a slight sense that he was being eaten alive, attributing it to his Filgaian DNA. She was worse off, being a Shaman and all.

Once Virginia had gotten her pain under control, the team walked in. But it was a cautious walk, as the young woman couldn't hold her pain off completely. Jet was keeping her close to him, wondering why it was that much worse. Sure, she was both Shaman and Filgaian in her powers, but he wasn't half as bad as she. He was ready to go with the fact that Filgaia had chosen her, when he saw a glowing object on her neck. It was the key, the one Filgaia gave her when she'd contacted Virginia in her dreams five years ago!

"Virginia," he told her, "Take your necklace off, and give it to me. I want to see something." She did just that, and the second it left her hands, she was fine. But Jet was in immense pain, sensing every woe of the planet in that area. He figured out that it aided her in communicating with the Planet Guardian, as well as having an unfortunate side effect. The bearer could feel every pain of the planet itself, within a wide range of about ten miles. Since they were right in the middle of the source of pain, Virginia would be much worse.

"I get it now, I'm feeling what Filgaia feels when I wear that. There's got to be some way we can go on with this thing, for if I put it back on, I'm just going to feel all the woe Beatrice put her through," Virginia said, looking at Jet as he tried to fight the pain inside of him. She took it back, ending his and starting hers.

Jet stated, "Don't do that. I'll take the pain instead of you. You've been through enough, don't need to feel any more. Please, let me carry the key for you, it's the only way you'll stop hurting like this." Then he held out his hand, and was prepared to take back the key. Virginia eyed him, and smiled. She knew he would do this, even though she didn't want him to feel the pain that was given to her. But there was no way to fight him, Jet took the key from his beloved's hands, placed it around his neck, and resumed his battle.

Gallows watched as Virginia began to help him, to hold his arm around her shoulders in order to get him to walk easier. 'Looks like he's getting a little bolder about his feelings, but I notice he's like this when she's in pain or something. The rest of the time they look like they're just regular partners. I never thought I'd feel sorry for the punk, but he's causing himself pain to protect her. That's got to take some real guts.'

. . .

At the top, they found Beatrice. She was placing her last barrier around the generator. Virginia had thought it wouldn't be easy to break the tower's power. But the fact that her wing was still broken made it hard to work with. The woman would have normally combined her strength with Jet to destroy it with one of their Airget-Canons. Now, it would take more than just their own power to break up what Beatrice created.

Suddenly, her wing began to feel whole again, it was regenerating by itself. Then, a blast took out the generator, causing Beatrice to begin to have a conniption. Turning around to see who their rescuer had turned out to be, they saw the Golem Asgard in the doorway. Virginia was quite surprised, never in all the recesses of her mind had she thought he'd save her. It turned out he'd found out about Beatrice trying to kill his masters, and now he was one annoyed Golem. Beatrice teleported away, mad at everyone in the room.

"Now then," Asgard said, "I have come to request one final duel. I must see which one of us is the better fighter, will it be you or me. All four of you must fight, only through battle can I truly understand what it means to be alive." He held out his arms, and began to cast his Barrier Storm, an Instant Death attack. Only Gallows fell, they'd found another Holy Grail in a conquest of one of the Millennium Puzzles that they'd seen fit to play with before they'd returned to Baskar after Deus ex Machina fell. Virginia then went to work on bringing the unconscious Baskar back to life, while her male friends continued the attack on the Golem. Jet used Gatling, and Clive Locked On his target. When Gallows was back in action, Virginia flew up on her wings and cast Hi-Aqua, while Gallows used Dark Matter. Jet reloaded his ARM, and Clive shot Asgard as he'd done before. Another Hi-Aqua later, Asgard found himself lying on the floor, nearing a state of death.

"I thank you, humans. You have shown me what it means to live. I also must thank you for doing this for me, for when I die, I will return to my Master in the Underworld. My life as a Golem was for being his shield, and with him dead I must find my way to him. Humans, you must live on for me," Asgard told them.

Jet yelled, "You mean you came here just to allow us to kick your butt?! If you wanted to die so badly, why didn't you just jump in a well or something? You could have used the underwater lakes we found in caves to short circuit. Give me a break, I have much better things to do than fight some stupid tin can."

Gallows giggled a little at Jet's words. "Better things to do, eh? Like Virginia?" That little comment got him hit over the head with both Airget-lamh, and Virginia's Dist Dims - - which she'd called in her little fit of anger at the Baskar. He fell to the ground unconscious, and Clive began to shake his head at his ally.

"I did not throw the battle to you," Asgard stated, "I knew you would win, there was no way I could ever stand up to you. And since you killed my master, it was only fitting that I go down by your hands as well. You won that round fair and square, there's no doubt in my mind." He then began to fade into nothing.

Suddenly, another quake was felt, this one coming from the direction of Humphrey's Peak. Clive got all freaked out, and ran for Lombardia on the double. He'd been so worried, that he'd forgotten that the others still had to carry an unconscious Gallows to the Dragon. When they finally arrived, Clive had calmed down a bit, and was back to his old self. Then, they took to the sky and headed to see his wife and child.

- - - -

Sky's Corner

Our vacation was the pits. Teefa took me to the Suikoden world, I got burned by the True Fire Rune accidentally, was in the clinic, and while she traded war stories with the cute knights I only got table scraps. You know, she was sooooooooooo waiting for this part in the story to be posted. It was a shame she didn't have the ability to write the scene between Jet and Asgard, but Jet was a lot more comfortable with his past this time around. But Gallows's little comment was her favorite. She thought it would be the funniest thing in the world. Here's the reason the fight was so easy…Hi-Aqua acted like a short circuit. Normal Pressure spells wouldn't be strong enough to do such a thing, but Crest Sorcery which exists within her own body is much more powerful. And it still took two and a whole lot of shooting.