And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
(Char): Also known as The-Chapter-That-Took-Way-Too-Long-To-Be-Posted-After-A-Cliffhanger-And-Controversial-Twist-In-The-Plot.
(Dew): ...yeah.
Good point. Pureauthor, you rose an interesting point in your review, but I don't think it's all that accurate. Firstly, Alex being revived and coming back for revenge isn't quite accurate. Alex here is just out for power, to gain the ability he was seeking all through the game but never quite achieved. As of right now, he's out to test his abilities and gain the small fragment of power he's missing.
As for the "traditional" (though I have to add, unfounded and quite dismal) Lighthouses, usually Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, you can plainly see I haven't used them at all. All I've done is taken the base model that the designers (I presume) used to develop their elemental system, and then used the other part of it, the conditional part that involves things such as wet and dry, which occur with different combinations of the elements. And, if the base elemental Lighthouse beacons were not lit, then is it not also fair to assume that the conditional beacons (which are not as impressive as lighthouses, so merely shrines) are unlit and must be reactivated as well? You'll also note that I didn't place them on Weyard itself, because there isn't a place to put them, as a player who's played both games could tell you.
And finally, give me some credit, huh? Saturos and Menardi? How unoriginal.
It would be Karst and Agatio, at least...
Ivan of Vault: What [Golden Trigger] shameless [Golden Trigger] plugging?
Sora who doesn't want to sign in: Alex isn't e8il. Maybe power-hungry, cruel, sadistic and e8il. Oh. Wait...
Ookami MX: I explained my reasoning for the shrines above (yes, I really dislike the new lighthouse idea, too... this just seemed like another way to take it in a bit of a different direction). And I'm going to have a lot of fun with this Jupiter World, don't worry about that... And by fun, I mean cliffies.
Mercury Adept: *shrugs* Long action/adventures work best for me. However, I am in the middle of a Romance/Tragedy for the OSP, so if you want me working in a different field, you may want to keep an eye out for that.
Jupiter Sprite: Seriously. Why DID we get stuck with a stupid boulder...?
0==|=R=a=g=n=a=r=o=k=: New worlds and new beacons are tricky to do right, at best... I'll try and keep it interesting (with hints of death) as we go...
Akachi: Hey, what happened to my door? Oh, hello, Jenna. That's a nice sword, Jenna. You're getting awfully close, Jenna. You're scaring me, Jenna. Now you're AAAUUUUGHH!!!
QueenDragonGoddess: Geez... all you people who hate death. Should I just kill them ALL so you all get mad at once and then I don't have to worry about it again?
Midnight C: Hmm... wait a minute... I think I remember you. Hold on... *checks around* Oh! Midnight! Welcome back! It's nice to have people reviewing, so long as they keep their sugar-addicted Venus Djinn to themselves. Hint. Hint.
Depressing Angel: Garet? Dead? Not as long as Akachi has flaming mallets of doom...
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"Garet!" Jenna cried, peering over the edge. Tears started to drip from her eyes as her love flew over the edge, with Shalex dropping close beside him. She took a deep breath, steadied herself and stepped back, readying herself for the leap of her life, but before she could step, Felix had grabbed her and held her back.
"Felix!" she cried in indignation, eyes shining with tears. Her brother didn't flinch.
"We've lost Isaac and now Garet. There's no need to lose you, too," he said evenly, always the voice of reason. Jenna, however was not in the mood for reason.
********************
Garet was close to blacking out. He was dropping in altitude fast, his ears popping as he went, and Shalex had his hand in a vicelike grip around his throat.
"Not long now," Shalex laughed. "Not long now at all. You can be carried away by death's sweet embrace," he smiled cruelly.
"I'd... rather... Jenna's," Garet quipped, finding the strength to knock Shalex's hand away from his throat. Spiralling downward in midair, Garet grasped his foe's arm and swung around to his back, putting him in a painful submission move.
"What are you...?" Shalex croaked, but the pain kept him from speaking much else. Garet chuckled.
"You may be a demigod in terms of Psynergy, but you're pretty weak when it comes to physical moves, aren't you?" Garet smiled. Shalex's eyes widened in fear, seeing the distant ground fast approaching.
"Let me go!" he cried. "Release me at once, or else-"
"Or else what?" Garet cut him off. "Or else you can't make your pitiful retreat back up to the top?" Shalex remained silent. "You see, here's the way I see it. You can warp all the way back up to the top anytime you want, can't you?" Garet tightened his grip. Shalex grunted. "But you don't want me clinging onto you, because then you'll take me with you. Anything you touch while you warp gets carried along for the ride, doesn't it?" Shalex chuckled.
"That's a rather inconclusive statement. You have no proof that-"
"You warped when you took the Elemental Stars from Isaac and I, and they stayed with you. I'm willing to wager."
"You have no proof that it works for animate objects as well as inanimate objects."
"Sure I do. The way I see it, there's two options. Either, by now, you would have warped back up top to save yourself, because you're a coward who doesn't like to put his neck on the line which means my theory's wrong, or I'm right and you're waiting to see if I'll let go of you, because you can't get out of this hold myself." Garet explained. Shalex chuckled and raised an eyebrow.
"What if I'm just stalling you, toying with your thoughts before your death?"
"You never thought highly of me, Shalex," Garet frowned at him. "I might not be as calculating as you or as smart as you, and that usually makes you think less of me. You'd never want to risk death just to have a nice chat with me." Shalex remained silent. "You have two options. You can either take me back up top with you, or we can die together." Shalex furrowed his brow, then closed his eyes, and with nary a sound, the two young men disappeared.
********************
"I'm going after him!" Jenna cried. "I won't let him... I won't..." but she gave into a flurry of tears and couldn't bring herself to say anything else. Even the giant cuttle-like beast seemed apologetic, as it was ignoring her and Felix and engrossed in battle with the others.
"There's nothing else to say," Felix said. "Look, you have to see this, sis," he offered quietly, putting his arm around her and trying to comfort her. "We have to move on. Garet's not going to just appear out of thin air over our heads."
At that exact moment, Garet and Shalex appeared above them, falling and landing quite painfully on the two siblings. In the confusion, Shalex broke free of Garet's hold, only his astronomic pride injured. He withdrew into the distance before anyone could catch him, leaving the great behemoth to do his work for him.
"Escargon, anyone?" Garet joked, getting to his feet. Before he could move, Jenna had him wrapped up in an embrace, their lips locked together. Felix turned away, going back to the battle. As soon as Garet and Jenna broke apart...
"Ow!" Garet cried, rubbing his arm. "What was that for?" he looked at Jenna curiously.
"That," she glared at him, "was for what you just put me through. And also for the fact that Escargon are snails. Calamari are squid. Or, more accurately, giant cuttles that don't know when to stay down." She strode confidently over to the battle, staff in hand. Garet just stared after her.
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"Report." A low voice, almost a rumble.
"It's a leveller, sir." Different, the sound of less experience, but knowledgeable nonetheless.
"Don't lie to me."
"I cannot, sir. It's a leveller." The deep voice cursed softly, then phrased his next question delicately.
"Can we take it out?"
A chuckle, then a voice tinted with defeat. "With what? It's huge, and we have nothing."
"We have Psynergy."
"It's too powerful. The visuals coming in are amazing. It's bigger than we've yet to see."
"Any chance it was summoned?"
"A good chance. There seem to be some hints of Psynergetical trails around it. I would say there's a 73.45% chance it was summoned and not natural." He spoke more casually, as though finding refuge in the statistics.
"Very well. Dismissed."
A pause. Then... "Sir? There's one more thing."
"Very well. What do you have for me?"
"It's engaged."
"In combat?" A quizzical tone, confused.
"Yes. There seem to be nine of them. Four are obviously Wind-based, but the others are... harder to place."
"Explain."
"Two appear to be Water-based, and two, Fire-based. There is also one... Earth-based," he added softly.
"Impossible. I told you not to lie to me."
"I cannot, sir." The other voice sighed, resigned to his fate.
"Very well. If they are successful, draw them here. If not, prepare all defences to repel the Leveller." The second voice paused.
"Are we... not to help them?"
"If they're foolish enough to fight a Leveller, we can't waste our resources to bail them out. If they manage to win, we could use them. You're dismissed."
"Yes, sir."
********************
"I think I liked the other variety of cuttles," Mia panted, dancing agilely over a tentacle snap. "They were much better when they were the size of the head of my staff."
"Yeah, but I bet you we could fry up this thing real nice," Garet commented, slashing out at a passing tentacle. "More food." The beast cried out in pain, then focussed two tentacles on the annoying spiky-haired one.
"Here's our chance!" Jenna cried, taking full advantage of her love's distraction. She began to cast a Searing Beam attack.
"Nice to see some genuine concern..." Garet muttered, as the attack cut across the beast's body, tearing it open. It writhed in agony, but counter-attacked with a mighty gust of wind that nearly blew some of the lighter Adepts over the edge.
"Earth hurts Wind," Felix muttered to himself as he aimed a Mother Gaia attack right for the spot that Jenna had torn open. The beast finally fell still on the ground as the barrage of Venus energy crushed it. It dissipated into nothingness, the Psynergy that it had took to cast it exhausted.
"Nice shot, Felix," Picard panted, trying to regain his composure. Felix shrugged.
"You see the opportunity, you take it," he said off-handedly.
"I hope we don't need to take too many opportunities like that," Sheba commented, crossing her arms as she watched Ivan take an Herb to heal a gash over his eye. Sean, meanwhile, started gathering wood.
"I dunno about most of you, but I think I can speak for quite a few of us when I say I don't feel like going anywhere for the night," he commented. It was only as he spoke that most of the group noted the twilight over the horizon. "I suggest we camp here for the night and make for the city in the morning. Another battle like that and we might not make it to the city at all." The group muttered common assent and set up camp for the night. Just as Garet was about to light the fire (and every other adept was ready to stop him so he didn't burn down the surroundings), a new sight appeared coming in from the sky.
A wooden carriage landed on the ground. There was a driver dressed in intermittent black and purple. It was drawn by two winged horses.
"Horses with wings?" Feizhi wondered, raising an eyebrow.
"A pegasus, actually. Two of them," the driver said. Feizhi and Jenna immediately walked over to the creatures and began stroking their manes.
"They're absolutely gorgeous..." Jenna whispered. The pegasus lowered its head and rubbed against her torso affectionately. Jenna hugged it warmly. Garet watched.
"You wish," Felix said, cracking a rare smile.
"Yes. Wish," Garet replied, looking away slowly. Felix glared at him, but the driver cut him off before he could say anything.
"I need to request you come with me," he informed them.
"Why should we come with you?" Picard asked.
"My name is Mokol, of the Keunam Fighters," he replied.
"The Keunam Fighters?" Mia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You've never heard of us?" he wondered.
"We're new to the neighbourhood," Ivan replied. The driver looked confused, but said nothing.
"Very well. Please, come with me. My superior can fill you in once we arrive at Keunam. That's the city you can see over there."
"Well, we did want to go there anyway," Jenna pointed out.
"It would be rude not to accept," Feizhi offered.
"You two just want to be with the pegases longer," Sheba smiled.
"When in Tolbi..."
"Okay, get your things, everyone," Picard said. "Let's head for Keunam."
********************
The next five minutes were a scramble of activity to gather any dropped items and cram onto the carriage. Thankfully, it was surprisingly roomy inside. The takeoff was smooth, and the ride was startlingly fast. Everything went smoothly until there was a sudden snapping sound.
"What was that?" Ivan called to the front.
"The rein!" Mokol cried back. "It's snapped! I don't understand how, it can't have just broken, it's too sturdy!"
"Was it cut?" Mia cried up.
"It must have been!" he answered. The carriage shook violently as the pegases went in two different directions, causing it to swivel and suddenly drop in altitude. "Hang on, we're going down!"
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(Char): Was that another sabotaging?
(Dew): That better not have been another sabotaging.
Don't look at me. I'm still a little loopy from some of the last cliffhanger's beatings...
(Char): And you think you'll be safe this time around?
Sure! I have this! *holds up a sewing needle* Back, evil beaters! I have a needle! And it can see you!!
(Dew): It's inanimate. It can't see anything.
Sure it can! It's got an eye!
(Char): ...someone PLEASE hurt him just for that...
I don't think you have to worry about that.
To the rest of you... REVIEW! ^_^