(Dew): Holy crap.
(Char): Are we back? Already? But it's only been a few... days!
I don't have school anymore. I feel like writing.
(Dew): Wh- wha?
(Char): This isn't right.
(Dew): I'm scared...
(Char): Me, too...
... I get no respect...
Review Responses:
Akachi: What can I say? Mokol really, really doesn't like Fire Adepts. Or Mercury Adepts. Or Venus Adepts. Although, now that I'm thinking about that, I did hear an awesome joke about some Mars Adepts and a lightbulb...
MercuryAdept: My brain's at zero power all the time! No worries here!
Jupiter Sprite: Yeah, Mia's extremely scary when she's mad. I mean... when she's mad, you don't wanna be anywhere in the same area. Or country. ...or world, even.
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"Sir, you might want to see this," the Ensign said. Mokol walked over to the console.
"What's the problem?" he asked.
"It's... another leveler, sir. I don't know how, but it just... appeared." he replied, pointing at the familiar yellow circle flashing on the map. "It's appeared in the middle of the battlefield where the last one was.
"A second one? This soon? How can that be?" he asked.
"I don't know, sir."
Mokol paced, frowning and arms folded over his chest. "Two levelers in such a small space of time? In the same area? How...?"
- - - - -
"You know, I really don't like this," Sean commented as the four Adepts walked to their planned halfway point.
"This, or everything in general?" Feizhi asked.
"Everything, when you put it that way," Sean replied grimly. "We're separated from our friends, our group here can't light any Shrines, and the other group can only light two."
"I don't think we're going home for awhile," Sheba said sadly. "We could be stuck here for quite some time." Ivan frowned deeply.
"We need to find the others desperately," he commented. "We can't do anything without them."
"Not to mention I'm totally against what we are doing," Sheba stated, with a tone of voice that belied a storm of emotions within her. Ivan made a mental note of it, but chose not to force the issue just yet. He sighed deeply, realizing truly for the first time what it was like to lead a group like this.
Ivan stared high into the sky, wondering about their next step, and thinking back to the days when Isaac was still leading them. The Jupiter Adept had always thought Isaac's job was easy, but now, faced with the same task, he found the pressure starting to grow, as each hour seemed to compound problems upon him. How did Isaac do it, anyway?
"Hey, am I the only one that really, really dislikes Mokol at this point?" Sean wondered aloud, effectively jerking Ivan from his wonderings.
"Mokol?" Feizhi said angrily. "You mean that selfish-"
"Egotistical," Sheba jumped in.
"Black-hearted-"
"Parsimonious-"
"Penurious-"
"Whiner that makes all Wind-Adepts look bad?" Sheba finished. "Yeah, I think we dislike him a bit..."
"Hey, aren't parsimonious and penurious just synonyms for selfish?" Ivan pointed out. Sheba grinned at him.
"Stop pointing out things like that," she smiled, batting him playfully over the head. "It ruins our ranting. Not to mention it makes us look bad."
'I dunno,' Ivan said to Sheba's mind, 'I'd say you look pretty good.' Sheba smiled at him, and he grinned a little in response.
"Hey, hey, enough fluff," Sean said. "Stop thinking things like that, you two, we have other things to worry about, you know." Ivan and Sheba promptly blushed furiously;
"What are you monitoring our thoughts for?" Ivan fumed. "Those are private conversations, you know!" Sean threw his hands out in innocence.
"Hey, Feizhi was doing it, too! Don't just look at me!" he said. Feizhi looked at him and blushed a little.
"I... I never-"
"Feizhi!" Sheba complained. "Not you, too!"
"Well... yes," she said, blushing. "But I wasn't going to say anything! Sean, you fool," she said, shaking her head. Sean turned to her in disbelief.
"Huh? Me? Can I not win around here, anymore?" he wondered.
"Nope," Sheba said. "Now that Garet's not here, we need someone new to pick on..." Sean crossed his arms.
"Oh, now that's just mean..."
- - - - -
"Take a sword out, knock them down, hope Mia doesn't make us drown," Garet said, knocking out random Keunam Fighters with the blunt edge of his sword as he and Jenna danced among their ranks. "Dance in and out, turn and spin-uh... make sure no one hacks at... Jinna?" Jenna spun in close to Garet and put a dainty finger over his lips.
"You have to stop talking, now," she said, half-amused and half-dangerously.
"Come, on, Jin... creative liberties."
"I'm going to take more than your liberties in a second..."
"Point taken."
Meanwhile, Felix jogged past them, with about fifteen of the Keunam Fighters trailing in his wake, following him to another part of the field. "This has to be one of the worst times to flirt!" he barked at them.
"Aw, come on, Felix," Garet said. "They're just low-level soldiers... Don't worry about it, we know what we're doing!" he smiled, watching Felix scowl at him. "Oh, relax, I'll protect Jenna... what's the worst they can do to us?" At his words, a Fighter managed to sneak behind him and stab him with his spear. The spearhead went clear through Garet's forearm, missing Jenna by only a few centimetres to the side. Garet cried out in a mixture of shock and pain. "What-" Before he could even finish, Jenna had pulled the spear back out the way it went in.
'Aura' she said, moving her hands over Garet's arm. The wound closed and healed nicely.
"What in Jupiter...?" the Fighter gasped, recoiling.
"No," Jenna said, sounding quite mad, "Mars." This did nothing to pacify the soldier, of course, although the unconsciousness brought about by Jenna's next particularly potent Fireball seemed to pacify him quite nicely. Garet stared in silence. "You'll protect me, huh?" she smiled at Garet. He just looked at her, dumbfounded.
"Well... maybe we'll protect each other?" he said, weakly smiling. Suddenly, Jenna's eyes started to mist, and she drew Garet into a tight hug.
"Don't you get it yet, Garet?" Jenna cried softly. "Mia lost Isaac in battle, and all because he gave himself up to save her! And can't you see what's happened to her now?" Garet turned his head slightly to look at their usually calm healer.
It seemed Mia hadn't caused the leveler to fall yet. Despite an opening flurry of Mercury-based attacks and the Boreas summon, Mia was still have trouble dropping the leveler, but she refused any help from Picard or Felix. To Garet, it was as though he was watching a totally different person. Mia had no concerns anymore. She wasn't looking over her friends to see who needed healing, or even watching herself to make sure she'd live through the battle. She just kept attacking the leveler, over and over, not giving any quarter to the great beast.
"She's fighting like she has nothing to lose, because she doesn't think she has anything to lose. As far as she's concerned, she's already lost it!" Jenna explained, trying not to cry again.
"But... she'll still lose something, though, won't she? She'll lose us, all her friends," Garet said.
"But there's a difference when you lose someone you really love, Garet... it's how Mia feels now because she lost Isaac... and it's how I'd feel if I lost you, Garet," Jenna sniffled.
"Jenna..." Garet started, but she cut him off.
"Please, Garet... you know what you mean to me... so stop taking risks like that in battle, Garet, please! I don't want to lose you because of some stupid mistake. I don't want to lose you at all..." Jenna cried, hugging him again. "We're leading a dangerous life, Garet... I can't imagine trying to live that without you..."
"Jenna... you won't," Garet replied, holding her close and looking down into her eyes. "I'll take care of myself out here... but I'm going to take care of you, too. I can't imagine trying to live this life without you here, either." Jenna just stared back at him with misty eyes.
"Garet... thank you...you're not the smartest guy around, but... you know just what to say, sometimes... and even when to say it..."
Garet was about to say something back to her, but the pair found themselves struck heavily and dropped to the ground.
"Now!" the Fighter's Commander yelled. "The Binding Stream!" At his command, a long, thin purple beam shot towards Jenna and Garet and roped itself around them. They tried to struggle free, but the rope-like beam wouldn't budge. "That's a Binding Stream our research core just invented," the Commander explained to the captured Adepts. "Made of pure Jupiter Psynergy. Unbreakable." As if proving the point, the two Fire Adepts continued struggling, but they couldn't break free. "All right, soldiers, leave them here for now! Let's capture the other ones! We can have a nice execution bonfire tonight!" The Fighters roared their approval.
Jenna frowned. "Maybe that wasn't the best time to flirt..." Garet looked around at the soldiers leaving to catch Picard and Felix, then stared at Jenna.
"Okay, so let me get this straight..."
"Basically, we can't fight, I'm in your arms, and we can't move away from each other," Jenna clarified. Garet blinked.
"Is there something wrong with this?" he smiled. Jenna put her head down on his shoulder.
"Not yet, anyway."
- - - - -
"What's wrong?" Sheba asked. The group had settled at their halfway point, somewhere on a long dusty road, but Ivan was staring further down the road, back the way they had come.
"I just wish we had stopped at the Shrine... I really want to know what elements we need for it," Ivan replied.
"I suppose we could go check it out," Sheba said. "I don't see any reason for us to wait here anyway, and quite frankly, now that we're away from the Fighters, I don't see the need in pretending we're on their side anymore," she finished, clearly aggravated at their alliance with the Keunamians.
"No, we really should keep the facade running for as long as we can," Feizhi said. "At least until we can find the others." Sheba sighed and looked back where Ivan was starting. She was pretty curious about the Shrine, too, she realized.
"I want to go back and check it out, too..." Sheba trailed, looking back at the others. "At least for a while... just to see what it is."
"How about you two go on, then?" Sean suggested. "Feizhi and I can wait here for... well, for whatever we're supposed to be waiting for, really." Feizhi nodded her support.
"I think you should go. It will be very beneficial to us later, anyway."
Ivan stared down the road. Sol was starting to set, making way for Luna. "It's getting late... I don't know if we should."
"Night's probably the best time... less chance of you being seen. Remember, we aren't really supposed to be anywhere near the Shrines, anyway," Sean pointed out. "Why not go for a while... just check it out?"
"I agree," Feizhi said. "We can wait here... just go, already! The sooner you leave, the sooner you get back here."
"What if the Keunam Fighters return?" Ivan asked.
"Then we'll have a story ready for them," she replied. Ivan took a few minutes to think, and the others could see the gears turning in his mind. Of course, if any of them wanted, they could have heard the gears turning, as well.
"All right," Ivan said. "Sheba and I will go check it out. We'll try and be back before Sol rises again. Okay?" Sean and Feizhi nodded.
"Good luck!" Sean said.
"We'll be careful," Sheba replied, as she and Ivan headed back down the road.
"You know," Ivan said, once the other two were out of earshot, "does it occur to you that we're potentially leaving the two weakest of our party alone in a new world?" Sheba crossed her arms and looked at him, frowning.
"Do you always have to look on the bright side?" she asked sarcastically.
"I have a very bad feeling about this..."
- - - - -
Mia was exceptionally tired. This damned leveler took everything she had and just kept coming. As if the first one wasn't tiring enough to destroy, this second one seemed even stronger. Of course, that could have been because she was exceptionally tired from fighting the first one. And to make matters worse, she didn't even know where this one had come from... it had just seemed to appear from nowhere. It felt like there was just no stopping this one. She clenched her teeth, tried to shrug off her fatigue and took another run at it, sending an Ice Missile toward it as she whirled her staff.
'Ice Missile! I summon Atalanta! Ice Missile!' she cried, summoning and casting everything she could think of while dodging the slashing tentacles. The battle just wasn't getting any easier.
"It sounds like you're running out of tricks, Mia. Getting tired?"
Mia whirled to find the source of the voice, but she couldn't see a figure anywhere nearby that was speaking to her. The leveler hit her hard and she rolled back to her feet, then dropped back to her knees from exhaustion.
"Looks like you're a little worn out, Mia."
Mia clenched a fist in anger at the voice. Where was it coming from? Surely it had to be somewhere!
"Ah, my dear, dear, Mia. Look up. Waaaaaay up."
Mia looked up and saw a familiar figure with the Sword of Hilda in his right hand and the Tomegathericon in his left swooping down at her.
"Shalex!!"
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(Dew): I'm... wait a minute, I'm sorry... did...
(Char): Wait, did you just...
(Dew): Is that a triple cliff?!
(Char): Triple?! Are you insane?!
Arguably.
(Dew): Okay, I don't think there's anything we can do to punish you for this.
(Char): Yup. That means there's only one thing left to do.
You're leaving?!
(Dew): Hardly.
(Char): To all reviewers, suggest punishments. Please. He deserves something...
Hey, whoa! No, no, no!
(Dew): Oh, yes.
(Char): Please review! And suggest, too!
Nooooooooo!