Weee! TIME FOR CHAPTER EIGHT!!! I know that I'm late on this coming
out. I've just been busy writing my other fic that only my friends
are reading for some odd reason...*sniff, sniff* Does everyone not
wanna read that one? No one's reading this one either. Well, I
suspect that since this is not a break. Maybe some more people will
read this in the summer! And my other one too! I sure hope so! I
write weird! *Sighs* what'll you people do if I move to Alaska and
publish a book there. Would you follow me and read the book. I don't
think so. That'd be really sad, but that was really random! ^_^ Well
how have you guys been. It's been a while. You ought to read my
other fic too. But you guys don't have too. I suppose that's what I
get for writing another fic and it's in original fiction! Quite
stupid of me, nee? I think so. I mean, people are less likely to
read original fiction than fan fics. Well, maybe that's just MY
observation. Well, you guys should review when I write! I don't feel
as inspired as I used to. Well, I should be happy that I have the
reviews that I already have. And anyways, I still have Lynn and
Sairi! Anyways, Lynn pointed out something to me and I was cracking
up when she told me. On my other fic I accidentally called the guy
Matt instead of his normal name. That made me feel very stupid, but I
also found it funny! *Laughs at her own stupidity* But then it also
made me go crazy! I can't believe I did that! I hope it doesn't
happen again! OH NO! What if it does? What'll happen! Arg! Please
don't be confused if I accidentally call Matt Maar. If I call anyone
Maar assume that it's Matt. Okay? Please? I hope I don't do that!
Poor Matt if I do! And no, in Fate's Games Matt DID NOT- I repeat DID
NOT laugh sinisterly. But seriously Lynn, don't you think you made
too big of a deal out of that? Oh yeah! Thanks to Lydia, I know how
to do now! That's cool! I am starting this the day before finals.
I'm pretty dumb. I tried to study, but after 30 minutes I fell
asleep. How embarrassing. Did you guys miss me for the little time I
haven't typed?
AND I DON'T OWN DIGIMON OR SAILOR MOON!!! DON'T SUE ME!!! Please?
SM: Sorry people. I think the studying made her go insane.
Megumi: I love Japanese but, it's a multiple choice test for cripes sake! I mean, come on! It's English and Social Studies that I have C's in! *Sniff*
SM: Why can't you be an A+ student like me!
Megumi: Shut UP dork!
SM: Okay, sorry.
Megumi: That's right! Bow before me pitiful minion.
SM: ....uh...yea...tell Lynn to do that.
Megumi: NO! She's my pretend minion!
SM: ...uh...okay. *Sighs*
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If Darkness Could Befriend Ch. 8: Reliability
"Dude, I get the free room." Matt growled.
"No! I do!" Kive shouted.
"Nuh-uh. I do. Do you want to fight over it?" Matt challenged.
"NOOOO! You CHEAT! It's MY room." Kive shouted.
"Do you guys want the free room or not. I'm sure there are some other people who would be GLAD to take it." Hakiyo said indifferently.
"Uh, please give us some time. They're just..........let's just put it as odd. I don't know if they can willingly agree on ANYTHING. This could take a while but please hold the room for us." She pleaded. He shrugged.
"ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!" Matt said at last.
"Rock, paper, scissors? How will those help us?" Kive asked cluelessly, eyes wide with question like a young child. Matt stared in shock.
"You don't know the game, rock, paper, scissors?" Matt gulped, in distress. Kive shook his head hesitantly. Matt rubbed his temples in frustration.
"Umm, well, this could take a while." Matt sighed. He began trying to teach Kive rock, paper, scissors fruitlessly. "Okay, so this peace sign means scissors. A fist means rock. And your flat hand is paper." They had completely forgot about their argument. Even Hakiyo was staring in interest at interesting new concept of rock, paper, scissors. Hotaru let out a sigh and headed off to find Hakiyo's little brother, Kiyon to see if he was okay.
"So then what? Do I get to poke your eyes out with scissors, smash you in the face with rock, or slap you with paper?" Kive asked. "I hope I get rock and scissors all the time." Matt slammed his head on his forehead.
"NO IMBECIL! Not everything in the world has to do with violence! Geez! Now! If you have any questions please DON'T ASK THEM until I'm finished. Thank you." Kive wrinkled up his face in confusion.
"I don't get your weird games." Kive pouted.
"I think that your supposed to both choose a symbol, rock, paper or scissors, and then you put them against each other or something like that. But what after that? What beats what? Well, that's just what I think." Hakiyo said suddenly.
"Naw! That couldn't be it! That makes no sense at all!" (Yup, he's much stupider than Kai-kun when it comes to stuff like this. Poor Kive.) Kive whined. Hakiyo shrugged.
"Actually Kive, Hakiyo was right so keep quiet, like I said, until I'm finished." Matt said. "Okay now, rock smashed scissors, scissors cuts paper, and paper wraps rock. Get it?" Matt asked. He got two different responses. A nod from Hakiyo and a no from a very stressed looking Kive.
"Well, Kive, lemme put it this way. Rock beats scissors. Scissors beats paper. Paper beats rock. Simple enough or do I have to spell it out?"
"Could you spell it out?" Kive asked in his naïve tone. Matt let out a groan.
"Hakiyo, can you play a game with me to show Kive?" Matt asked.
"Pshh, you wish man. Why would I play with you?" Hakiyo said, laughing as if the idea was preposterous.
"Aw, c'mon man! For the poor lost idiot here's sake. He doesn't get it and I need someone to help." Matt reasoned.
"Why should we help him?" Hakiyo asked with spite.
"I don't know. Because he needs it? He's a little on the slow side." Matt said. Hakiyo rolled his eyes and gave in. "Rock Paper Scissors." Matt called out. Kive ended up with a scissors. Matt had paper.
"I guess I win." Hakiyo said, slightly amused.
"Oh, I don't think you ever caught our names! My name is Matt and his is Kive. Okay. Do you think Kive gets it?" They both turned to Kive.
"Do you get it now?" Matt asked, hopeful.
"Yea! I think so! Thanks Hakiyo!" Kive said in delight.
"Hey, what about my thanks?" Matt insisted. "I taught you!"
"Apparently not very well. Hakiyo was the reason I got it!" Kive pointed out. Matt's eyes narrowed in a glare at Kive.
"Let's play." Matt growled. "Rock Paper Scissors!" Matt called out. Matt had rock. Kive had scissors. "I win! I get free room! Hahah loser!" Matt laughed.
"Rematch! Three out of Five!" Kive shouted.
"No! I won fair and square!"
"Nuh-uh! You MUST have cheated SOMEHOW!" Kive said, displeased.
"Nuh-uh! And we're not playing another game!" Matt argued.
"C'mon, Matt. Humor the poor lost soul." Hakiyo laughed.
"Aw fine." Matt sighed and they began to play again.
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"Hey Kiyon!" Hotaru said, finding him in the kitchen, which was behind a door at the back of the lobby. She had been searching for quite a while now, about half an hour. "Those boys didn't beat you up too bad did they?" Hotaru asked, face splashed with sympathy. Kiyon turned around to face her. The seven year old's face seemed to be filled with admirance.
"I watched you! You helped my brother against those mean brainless goons!" He said cheerfully.
"Brainless goons? Yea, that's a good way to put it! You a cool kid aren't you!" Hotaru laughed.
"Nuh-uh. I'm not as cool as my brother! He always takes care of me! He's the best! He's always nice to me and he's taken care of me since our parents left." He said in pure admiration. She looked into the boys face and saw pure innocence. She felt instant pity. How horrible it must have been to live without parents. Sure, she could barely recall her mother, but she always could count on her dad. And now she had Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru! They were the best guardians. She wanted to hug him and tell him it was okay, but she knew it wasn't wise.
"So where are you from?" He asked her.
"Oh, well this place called Japan, but I came over Midday Mountains from a city called Rean in Tesnus. I didn't land in Esirnus." Hotaru explained.
"Really? Well, what are you doing here? Most people try to get out of Esirnus, not go into it. In fact, almost everyone who's came to stay at Delra Inn have come so that they can get over to Tesnus."
"Well, my friends and I are going to the ruins, but the problem is, we don't really know where too many of them are." Hotaru laughed nervously.
"Really, now! There are ruins right outside off this town! But you shouldn't go there. It's scary. People go in and they go out! What if they got eaten? I don't want you to get eaten! That wouldn't be good!" The little boy cried out clinging to her shirt.
"Well see here! I have to go! But thank you for telling me there were ruins around here." Hotaru said. "Don't worry! I won't get myself eaten!" She said, smiling encouragingly.
"That's true! You have cool defense power. I watched you use that purple thingee through the window!"
"Aww, it's not that cool." She laughed. "Oh, yea! Could you tell me where the ruins are? Like I said, I don't really know this place too well."
"Oh, sure! I can do better than that! I can give you a map! We always hand them out to our customers anyways. And along with the city map I'll give you the whole map of Esirnus because you're cool! Big brother put me in charge of stuff like this! I'm supposed to hand out maps! But don't tell big brother that I gave you one of our maps to Esirnus! He doesn't like handing them out unless we really trust the person. But don't worry! I really trust you! I can tell you're a goo person so I'm giving them to you!" Kiyon said, smiling happily. He pulled out two maps from a bag at his side and handed it to her.
"Thanks! You really are a sweet boy." She said, putting them in their bottomless bag, which she had stolen from Matt when he wasn't looking. "Okay, I think it's about time that we go see what my friends have decided to do about the rooms." Hotaru sighed. She walked out into the lobby, seeing Matt, hands on hips in a very boastful pose and Kive yelling at him, steam practically rising from his head. She could picture his eyes glowing red. It was funny, but scary at the same time. Hakiyo was standing by them with a slight smirk on his face.
"So who gets the room?" Hotaru asked, suddenly up by the both of them. Hakiyo wiped the smirk off his face. Matt and Kive suddenly turned to her and both jumped back in surprise.
"H-Hotaru! I didn't see you there!" Kive gasped.
"Yeah." Matt said, also surprised.
"Who one?" Hotaru asked.
"Matt did." Hakiyo spoke up.
"No! We're not done!" Kive shouted.
"Kive, I won sixteen out of the twenty-five games we played! I so won!" Matt argued.
"Look! It's either you guys decide or no one gets the room!" Hakiyo said in irritation.
"Fine with me! Matt and I can both pay our separate shares!" Kive said.
"No way! That's no fair! Just because I won! If you had won sixteen out of the twenty-five I know that you'd want the free room!" Matt argued angrily.
"Of course I'd want the free room if I had won! But the point is that I didn't, so I don't want you to have it!" Kive scoffed.
"That's no fair Kive!" Matt whined.
"I can't believe this isn't resolved." Hotaru murmured, rolling her eyes.
"You know what! Matt, you can just keep the room. Kive, pay up!" Hakiyo said, irritated.
"No WAY!" I don't want to pay! Make Matt pay!" Kive sulked.
"Just pay Kive." Hotaru said.
"Okay Hotaru." Kive groaned. They heard him mumble, "Everyone's against me! It's not fair." He reached into a bag and gave over some copper coins. Then Hakiyo handed over the change.
"Let's head in for tonight." Kive said.
"Why?" Matt asked.
"Well, since I bought the room then I want to use it as much as I can. And anyways Matt, you need a bath, remember?" Kive mocked.
"Don't push it." Matt snarled viciously. "If you were showered with monster guts you'd stink too. Oh wait. I'm sorry. You already stink!"
"That'll be enough of you two!" Hotaru snapped and headed up the stairs to where the room was.
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(~The Next Day~)
"Are you sure that we can trust that little kid. After all, he is Hakiyo's brother." Kive scowled as they headed off to the ruins.
"Hey, man, Hakiyo's cool! We can trust him!" Matt argued.
"That's because you got the free room." Kive grumbled.
"Your still sore about that? Never knew you were such a cry baby." Matt mocked.
"I am not a crybaby!" Kive pouted.
"That's enough." Hotaru sighed as they approached the front of the ruins. To Hotaru it seemed like quite a peaceful place. Not scary at all. It was full of stone. In the center was a weird silver cross like design.
"Hey guys, look at this!" Hotaru called out from the middle. Matt and Kive walked over and stared at the large cross like symbol in the middle of the piles of rubble and fallen pillars. Matt choked and took a step back.
"What is it Matt?" Hotaru asked.
"Nu-Nuthing much. It's just that symbol seems painfully familiar. Probably just my imagination." He said, laughing nervously.
"You're a loser, Matt." Kive sighed.
"At least I'm a clean loser now." Matt pointed out. Kive shook his head.
"I'm embarrassed to know you, Matt." Kive groaned.
"I return the affection." Matt sighed. Then they got back to looking at the symbol. Matt was totally familiar with it, but he didn't want to be wrong so he kept quiet about it.
"Hey, this looks like that weapon you have." Kive said, after clearing away some dirt from the design. It had revealed a glaive like indent across the horizontal axis. "Try putting it in." Hotaru placed the glaive in. Suddenly they were encased in bright silver light.
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"Matt, Kive? Where are we?" Hotaru asked. No reply. "Kive? Matt?" Yet again, no reply came. "Hello? Anyone?" She called. This time she didn't expect an answer. She was all alone.
She scanned the surroundings. She was in a room where the walls seem to have water running down them. She walked up to one and touched it. She felt cold water running down, over her hands.
"How-?" She asked herself. She withdrew from the wall immediately. She looked down and saw that below her seemed to be fathoms of water. She gulped. Was she-?
'Yes, you are walking on water,' A female disembodied voice sounded. Hotaru blinked. It seemed awfully familiar, but she just couldn't place it.
"I...what have you done with my friends? I want them back here! Where are they?" She shouted.
'calm down. They are safe. I am telling this to them too. I merely figured you would get through this a lot faster if you were separated. I do not like it, but I am REQUIRED to test you. I'm sorry. I do not make up the rules.'
"Okay, just as long as they are okay. What do you want me to do? How are you going to test us?" Hotaru asked.
'Hmm...well you do realize it has to be reasonably hard, right? If it weren't then it wouldn't be a very good test. I supposed I wouldn't go too hard on you though. Well, you'll find out very soon. Do you realize your friends can hear you?'
"Really? Hi guys." She said, cheeks slightly red.
'Okay, I must go now. I hope you can survive and make it to me. I have great faith in you.' The voice said kindly.
"Wait! Wait!!!" Hotaru called, but the voice was gone. "Serves me right. I should have known that disembodied voices don't stick around for long."
All of a sudden bubbles of water began to spring up from the ground. She backed off and put on the silence wall. The bubbles began to form shapes. All of a sudden the water melted off the newly formed shapes. She stuck out her tongue in disgust. They were a hideous mixture of sharks and humans, with gray rough flesh and human legs and arms that looked like they weren't on straight. And crooked eyes stretched across the plane of their face. They had deadly sharp looking spears and they began to start charging into the silence wall. She sighed and sat down, watching them uselessly bounce off. They were continually sprouting up from the water and soon the silence wall had been banged against the wall. All of a sudden her glaive fell over, scratching the wall right above the water line. She grabbed it again and let out a sigh. That scared her. She began to think some more. Defense wasn't getting her anywhere. All she was doing was delaying it and they were multiplying rapidly. There was a lot of water in the chamber. 'That's it!' She thought. She's had to go offense and if it got too tough she cold always put on the silence wall again. She took the silence wall and prepared for a fight for her life.
She spun around taking care of a few of them, but only to be met by another batch. She swung and swung, but they only seemed to be getting greater. She was backed against the wall again. Swing after swing! It was never ending. That one lost a leg, this one lost a head, that one got impaled, but then she noticed something that almost boosted her hope. In a mad rush to get at her, some of the shark things were killing their allies. She put the silence wall back up, seeing as she was tired. She had been at this wild challenge for over ten minutes now. The silence wall got backed up against the same wall it had. She looked to the part the glaive had slashed, but could not find it. Then, slowly she looked up, and saw the mark right above her head. Had the water dropped? Of course! That was it! The monsters were composed of the water below and the more she killed the more the water would lower. She looked down. Somehow, the water looked less than it had when she had appeared here. Much less. She smiled. The floor actually seemed reachable. But then she sat there. As she realized that the water was slowly, but surely decreasing, though she wasn't doing anything. Sure, the shark things were killing themselves, but not that fast and not that many. She pondered on that for a little, but couldn't figure it out. Finally she got ready to fight again, strength renewed and she made the silence wall vanish.
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Meanwhile, the boys had been facing quite the same situation, though handling it somewhat different.
"What's up with all the ugly, walking seaweed reincarnations?" Kive asked fighting them off.
"I don't know. This is a test. Or maybe they're attracted to you. I do see a resemblance between them and you, Kive." Matt teased.
"Oh, shut it Matt. I don't need any of your wise crack comments." Kive growled.
"MY wisecrack comments? You're the one who usually makes the wisecrack comments, not me!" Matt argued. The two had been fighting diligently for about fifteen minutes now. They seemed to just keep coming. Matt felt like their efforts were futile. Were they doomed to die here? Matt shook off the though. They'd escape, somehow, some way. But why, oh why, was he stuck with Kive. The whole time they had been battling nonstop, the monsters and each other. Along with the delimbing and decapitating of the seaweed monsters, they had also been arguing the whole time. God, how Kive was annoying. But surprisingly, the monsters were more annoying than Kive, but not by much. Suddenly Matt was struck with an idea that could help them.
"Why didn't I think of it sooner? Kive, cover me!" Matt shouted.
"No! Why should I? So you can sit around like a bum while I work my butt off." Kive shouted back.
"No, no! I promise this'll help us both." Matt called back.
"Arg! Fine, whatever, but don't take long!" Kive said, giving in because he was tired. Oh what he wouldn't give for a nap. But not now. With Matt doing whatever loser thing he was going to do he had to work twice as hard. Had he more strength he wouldn't have trusted Matt. Matt ran back against the call and Kive heard him mutter something breaking Kive's concentration. He stared at Matt, not noticing the creature that was sneaking up to him, spear out and gleaming. Kive watched Matt concentrating hard on who knows what. Then for a few seconds it was quiet. Then suddenly Kive saw an ice blast shoot out from Matt's hands and whiz right past him.
"Hey Matt! What are you trying to do? Kill me?" He shouted in rage.
"Idiot! I just SAVED you. I don't know why I did though. Turn around" Matt growled and then sat down. Kive whirled around and came face to face with the blade of the seaweed's spear. Suddenly it all registered. If Matt had done the spell one second sooner he'd have a spear through his head. He gulped and shivered at the though. Or maybe it was just cold? Then he backed up and looked at the rest of the monsters and saw that they were all frozen and so was the water below them. Then he took a seat by Matt.
"I hate to say it, but thanks. And don't think that I'm getting all nice and that we're friends now, you just saved our hides and also that was a bright idea. That's all so don't go getting any ideas or anything." Kive snarled. Matt smiled.
"Of course. It's not like you'd ever want to be my friend, your highness." Matt joked.
"Don't call me that." Kive growled heartlessly, eyes suddenly growing quite cold.
"Gee, man, I was just kidding around." Matt said, staring at Kive in question. Kive shot him a glare and then let his tense look fade away. "Hey, Kive! Did you notice? It's like the water decreased by about ten feet. I can actually see the floor now! I wonder how that happened. Actually I think the water is actually decreasing below the ice. See, for some reason the water below the ice isn't touching it anymore. You can tell by just looking at it!" Matt said, partially to change the subject, partially because he just noticed it. Kive looked down and nodded.
"You know what. I have a feeling that this room is connected to Hotaru's, wherever it is. I mean, why else would it decrease? She's probably killing monsters too. Dude, are you listening to me? Hey DORKWAD!" Kive shouted at Matt who was staring in question at the ceiling.
"Don't call me a dork wad." Matt murmured, only half on earth.
"What is it loser?" Kive asked staring at the ceiling. All he saw was the silver cross like thing.
"You wouldn't understand me if I told you." Matt said, snapping out of his trance. "Kive, we should kill them. See, how about this. I freeze the water and we take a break.-"
"But you already did that." Kive pointed out, cutting Matt off.
"Yes, I know that. This is just a strategy. Then, after resting up we kill the frozen monsters with our swords, then I unfreeze the water and we let the monsters come up again. Then you buy me time and I freeze the water again and so one and so forth. Sound like a plan. Kive nodded and they both got up to put the plan in motion.
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(~About An Hour Later~)
Finally there was no water left. None at all, save the water running down the walls, but that never seemed to run onto the ground. Hotaru walked up to the center where there was the same cross symbol. She stepped onto it and sat down. What was she supposed to do now. She looked around and saw that there was a door, but it was barred. So now what was she to do? She stood up and began to walk to it when she felt her leg get pulled out from under her. Surprised from the sudden impact on the floor she dropped her glaive. Suddenly she saw a seaweed vine come up from behind her and grab it. Then she felt herself get lifted up into the air. She stared down in horror as she hung upside down. There, below her was a hideous red eye with seaweed branching out from it. She screamed and screamed and screamed, but there was nothing anyone could do now. With out her glaive she was practically defenseless. Then suddenly she felt her energy begin to be leeched away from her. There was nothing she could do. She fought to keep her strength but it was only a matter of minutes before she slipped into unconsciousness.
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"Yes! Finally! I'm so drained!" Matt groaned.
"Whatever. I'm perfectly fine." Kive boasted.
"You weren't using up your magic." Matt pointed out. Kive shrugged. Then they both turned to a door. It was locked so they both stared to the center of the room and noticed a Grey lump begin to arise. They blinked as all of a sudden a shark/ human rose up.
"Same technique?" Matt asked. Kive nodded. Kive began to dance around the creature, which followed him in frustration. Every once in a while Kive would slash its leg while Matt tried to summon up his magic. It was harder this time since he had used so much of it up. All of a sudden, before Kive realized it, the giant shark thing lifted up its leg and smashed it on top of him.
"Matt! Help me damn you! He's SQUISHING ME!!!" Kive shouted, but Matt was concentrating. Then the ice beam shot out and froze over the beast. Then he began hacking it down, but since it was so big it didn't make much of a difference. Then Matt gave up and grabbed the sword. Then he launched the sword up as hard as he could and it found its mark in the creature's neck. The Shark let out a blood curdling death cry as it shriveled up and disintegrated. Kive lay there. He got up rubbing his back.
"God Matt, take your time why don't you." Kive moaned.
"I defeated it no thanks to you!" Matt shouted. Then all of a sudden his sword fell from the place the creature's neck had been and rushed down, hilt first, somehow finding the middle of Kive's head. The hilt slammed him hard.
"OWWW!" Kive shouted, rubbing his head. The a treasure chest rose up from the ground. Matt lifted it up. It was a key. He walked over to the door with Kive behind him and unlocked it. The bars disappeared and they walked into the next room. All of a sudden Matt stopped dead in his tracks. A giant seaweed creature loomed above it, vines lashing out like thousands of whips. The leaves looking razor sharp. It had a giant eye that was a horrifying red. There, at its base though, was what had stopped Matt in his tracks. There lay a limp Hotaru, pale as snow. Matt's head suddenly was filled with only one thing. Save Hotaru. He rushed as fast as he could to his friend, ignoring the razor sharp leaves that lashed him and the bruises he received from the whipping vines. He slashed all that was in his way and climbed over vines that refused to cut. He then reached Hotaru who was with no energy and shielded her frail body with his own, constantly being thrashed at.
Kive in the meantime ran over, being more careful. He had noticed Hotaru or where Matt had gone, but he did notice the monster. He inched towards it, but suddenly he was plucked up by one of its vines and then held above the colossal eye. But He had a trump card. He reached into the small bag at his side where he kept his copper coins. He then retrieved a dagger. He hurled it at the eye at shocking speed and it went all the way through. He heard a disturbing fizzing sound and slowly the vine that held him drooped until he was on the ground before shriveling up completely. Then he looked to where Matt and Hotaru were.
"Matt?" Hotaru said weakly, eyes opening slowly. Then sat up. "Man, I'm sooo tired." She sighed. Then she stared at Matt and gasped. "Matt! Oh my gosh! What happened to you?" Hotaru cried. His face had little scratches here and there. His arms were covered in cuts. His shirt and jeans were badly torn and he had various bruises. "Y-You kept me safe." She said quietly. "Why?"
"Because I don't want to lose you. And I wont. Not so easily." Matt smiled. "Anyways, it's just a few scrapes and cuts here and there." Kive ran over there after retrieving the dagger. All of a sudden a bright silver light engulfed the three of them and then all went white.
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"Where are we?" Matt asked, still holding Hotaru close. Then they both instantly withdrew from each other blushing furiously. Kive was shooting Matt fierce glares.
"Hello again, Hotaru." The blue haired silver-eyed maiden who had given her the bag called out. They all stared at her. "I'm sorry I had to test you, but it was required of me. Can you forgive me?" She asked.
"It's okay. I forgive you." Hotaru said.
"Me too." Matt said quietly.
"Same here." Kive put in.
"You passed, I'm glad to say. But I wasn't too hard on you because I like you guys." She smiled.
"That wasn't hard?" Matt asked.
"No, My sisters may not be so easy on you. See, none of you were too close to death, but you will be much more in the future." She said. They all stared in awe. "But here. I need to give you something." She held out a silver rectangle only a few centimeters aroung. Matt stared at it in shock.
"Is that-" Matt said , totally sure.
"Yes, Yamato, the crest of reliability. You must explain it to them." She said, smiling. "I have already given you your gift. The endless bag. My sisters will too give you gifts along with the crests." She said.
"Your name's Yamato?" Kive asked.
"That was out of nowhere. Yea, that's my name, but call me Matt." Matt sighed.
"Wait! Kiyon said that people came here and they never came back out! What was that about?" She asked.
"Well, you see...I have to get rid of them. It's required of me. But I'm supposed to test you. If you were anyone else I'd have no choice but to..." She said, solemnly. There was a long pause after that consisting of about everyone blinking, wondering what to say next.
"Wait! That whole thing seemed hard to me!" Kive blurted out suddenly.
"Well, did it take you that long?" She asked.
"Well, I guess not that long." Kive shrugged.
"Are any of you severely hurt?" She asked.
"I feel really drained." Hotaru sighed.
"I don't feel perfectly healthy." Matt muttered.
"I got squished." Kive added in, sounding perfectly fine.
"You'll survive." She sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that none of you are so hurt that you can't walk around anymore, but you might have to face that in the future."
"Okay, we get it now." They all said in unison.
"That was still hard." Kive whined.
"Pipe down." Matt sighed.
"But it was hard!"
"Oh can't you just understand! It took you like minutes, NO, SECONDS to defeat the gigantic forms of the creatures! That's an alarmingly fast speed. C'mon! I mean, you could defeat a regular monster in that speed or even longer! Those monsters were JOKES!!!! I was going super easy on you guys for cripes sake!" She exploded. Then she settled down. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm fine now. Well, I think I'll give you this now, but you may notice that more time passed more slowly here than out there." She said, dropping the crest in Matt's hands. "Bye." Then there was a bright flash and they were outside, among the ruins and rubble again.
"That was stupid. We did all that for some gray rectangle with a cross on it!" Kive snarled.
"It's much more important than that." Matt said softly. All eyes suddenly turned to him, demanding an explanation.
"Okay, Okay, I'll tell you, but it's a long tale...."
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PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! Okay, sorri.
1/29/03 How was it? I hope I didn't call people different things. This chapter was really rushed since I did practically all of it in one day. It was hard. There must be tons of mistakes but I want this posted. Sorry for the weirdness. I was rushed. 1/31/03 But today, I got to work on it more. It's still not what I want it to be but......yeah. Well, I smoothed it out a little from the last time. You have no idea how much my parents had been rushing to get me off. Anyways, I don't really know what to do for next chapter. Well, I have a faint idea. Well, I'm all alone here because my friends all went to Irvine spectrum. How fun for them. Well, I got to spend time with my mom! YAAAAY! And I got: CAPCOM VS. SNK!!! WHIPEEE!! Okay bye.
SM: TWO DAYS TIL MY BIRTHDAY!!! WHAT DID YOU GET ME!!!
Megumi: You shall find out on your birthday, most beloved minion.
SM: Your not gonna call me that on my birthday right?
Megumi: Of course not.
SM: TWOOOOO DAYS!!! YIPEE!!!
AND I DON'T OWN DIGIMON OR SAILOR MOON!!! DON'T SUE ME!!! Please?
SM: Sorry people. I think the studying made her go insane.
Megumi: I love Japanese but, it's a multiple choice test for cripes sake! I mean, come on! It's English and Social Studies that I have C's in! *Sniff*
SM: Why can't you be an A+ student like me!
Megumi: Shut UP dork!
SM: Okay, sorry.
Megumi: That's right! Bow before me pitiful minion.
SM: ....uh...yea...tell Lynn to do that.
Megumi: NO! She's my pretend minion!
SM: ...uh...okay. *Sighs*
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If Darkness Could Befriend Ch. 8: Reliability
"Dude, I get the free room." Matt growled.
"No! I do!" Kive shouted.
"Nuh-uh. I do. Do you want to fight over it?" Matt challenged.
"NOOOO! You CHEAT! It's MY room." Kive shouted.
"Do you guys want the free room or not. I'm sure there are some other people who would be GLAD to take it." Hakiyo said indifferently.
"Uh, please give us some time. They're just..........let's just put it as odd. I don't know if they can willingly agree on ANYTHING. This could take a while but please hold the room for us." She pleaded. He shrugged.
"ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!" Matt said at last.
"Rock, paper, scissors? How will those help us?" Kive asked cluelessly, eyes wide with question like a young child. Matt stared in shock.
"You don't know the game, rock, paper, scissors?" Matt gulped, in distress. Kive shook his head hesitantly. Matt rubbed his temples in frustration.
"Umm, well, this could take a while." Matt sighed. He began trying to teach Kive rock, paper, scissors fruitlessly. "Okay, so this peace sign means scissors. A fist means rock. And your flat hand is paper." They had completely forgot about their argument. Even Hakiyo was staring in interest at interesting new concept of rock, paper, scissors. Hotaru let out a sigh and headed off to find Hakiyo's little brother, Kiyon to see if he was okay.
"So then what? Do I get to poke your eyes out with scissors, smash you in the face with rock, or slap you with paper?" Kive asked. "I hope I get rock and scissors all the time." Matt slammed his head on his forehead.
"NO IMBECIL! Not everything in the world has to do with violence! Geez! Now! If you have any questions please DON'T ASK THEM until I'm finished. Thank you." Kive wrinkled up his face in confusion.
"I don't get your weird games." Kive pouted.
"I think that your supposed to both choose a symbol, rock, paper or scissors, and then you put them against each other or something like that. But what after that? What beats what? Well, that's just what I think." Hakiyo said suddenly.
"Naw! That couldn't be it! That makes no sense at all!" (Yup, he's much stupider than Kai-kun when it comes to stuff like this. Poor Kive.) Kive whined. Hakiyo shrugged.
"Actually Kive, Hakiyo was right so keep quiet, like I said, until I'm finished." Matt said. "Okay now, rock smashed scissors, scissors cuts paper, and paper wraps rock. Get it?" Matt asked. He got two different responses. A nod from Hakiyo and a no from a very stressed looking Kive.
"Well, Kive, lemme put it this way. Rock beats scissors. Scissors beats paper. Paper beats rock. Simple enough or do I have to spell it out?"
"Could you spell it out?" Kive asked in his naïve tone. Matt let out a groan.
"Hakiyo, can you play a game with me to show Kive?" Matt asked.
"Pshh, you wish man. Why would I play with you?" Hakiyo said, laughing as if the idea was preposterous.
"Aw, c'mon man! For the poor lost idiot here's sake. He doesn't get it and I need someone to help." Matt reasoned.
"Why should we help him?" Hakiyo asked with spite.
"I don't know. Because he needs it? He's a little on the slow side." Matt said. Hakiyo rolled his eyes and gave in. "Rock Paper Scissors." Matt called out. Kive ended up with a scissors. Matt had paper.
"I guess I win." Hakiyo said, slightly amused.
"Oh, I don't think you ever caught our names! My name is Matt and his is Kive. Okay. Do you think Kive gets it?" They both turned to Kive.
"Do you get it now?" Matt asked, hopeful.
"Yea! I think so! Thanks Hakiyo!" Kive said in delight.
"Hey, what about my thanks?" Matt insisted. "I taught you!"
"Apparently not very well. Hakiyo was the reason I got it!" Kive pointed out. Matt's eyes narrowed in a glare at Kive.
"Let's play." Matt growled. "Rock Paper Scissors!" Matt called out. Matt had rock. Kive had scissors. "I win! I get free room! Hahah loser!" Matt laughed.
"Rematch! Three out of Five!" Kive shouted.
"No! I won fair and square!"
"Nuh-uh! You MUST have cheated SOMEHOW!" Kive said, displeased.
"Nuh-uh! And we're not playing another game!" Matt argued.
"C'mon, Matt. Humor the poor lost soul." Hakiyo laughed.
"Aw fine." Matt sighed and they began to play again.
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"Hey Kiyon!" Hotaru said, finding him in the kitchen, which was behind a door at the back of the lobby. She had been searching for quite a while now, about half an hour. "Those boys didn't beat you up too bad did they?" Hotaru asked, face splashed with sympathy. Kiyon turned around to face her. The seven year old's face seemed to be filled with admirance.
"I watched you! You helped my brother against those mean brainless goons!" He said cheerfully.
"Brainless goons? Yea, that's a good way to put it! You a cool kid aren't you!" Hotaru laughed.
"Nuh-uh. I'm not as cool as my brother! He always takes care of me! He's the best! He's always nice to me and he's taken care of me since our parents left." He said in pure admiration. She looked into the boys face and saw pure innocence. She felt instant pity. How horrible it must have been to live without parents. Sure, she could barely recall her mother, but she always could count on her dad. And now she had Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru! They were the best guardians. She wanted to hug him and tell him it was okay, but she knew it wasn't wise.
"So where are you from?" He asked her.
"Oh, well this place called Japan, but I came over Midday Mountains from a city called Rean in Tesnus. I didn't land in Esirnus." Hotaru explained.
"Really? Well, what are you doing here? Most people try to get out of Esirnus, not go into it. In fact, almost everyone who's came to stay at Delra Inn have come so that they can get over to Tesnus."
"Well, my friends and I are going to the ruins, but the problem is, we don't really know where too many of them are." Hotaru laughed nervously.
"Really, now! There are ruins right outside off this town! But you shouldn't go there. It's scary. People go in and they go out! What if they got eaten? I don't want you to get eaten! That wouldn't be good!" The little boy cried out clinging to her shirt.
"Well see here! I have to go! But thank you for telling me there were ruins around here." Hotaru said. "Don't worry! I won't get myself eaten!" She said, smiling encouragingly.
"That's true! You have cool defense power. I watched you use that purple thingee through the window!"
"Aww, it's not that cool." She laughed. "Oh, yea! Could you tell me where the ruins are? Like I said, I don't really know this place too well."
"Oh, sure! I can do better than that! I can give you a map! We always hand them out to our customers anyways. And along with the city map I'll give you the whole map of Esirnus because you're cool! Big brother put me in charge of stuff like this! I'm supposed to hand out maps! But don't tell big brother that I gave you one of our maps to Esirnus! He doesn't like handing them out unless we really trust the person. But don't worry! I really trust you! I can tell you're a goo person so I'm giving them to you!" Kiyon said, smiling happily. He pulled out two maps from a bag at his side and handed it to her.
"Thanks! You really are a sweet boy." She said, putting them in their bottomless bag, which she had stolen from Matt when he wasn't looking. "Okay, I think it's about time that we go see what my friends have decided to do about the rooms." Hotaru sighed. She walked out into the lobby, seeing Matt, hands on hips in a very boastful pose and Kive yelling at him, steam practically rising from his head. She could picture his eyes glowing red. It was funny, but scary at the same time. Hakiyo was standing by them with a slight smirk on his face.
"So who gets the room?" Hotaru asked, suddenly up by the both of them. Hakiyo wiped the smirk off his face. Matt and Kive suddenly turned to her and both jumped back in surprise.
"H-Hotaru! I didn't see you there!" Kive gasped.
"Yeah." Matt said, also surprised.
"Who one?" Hotaru asked.
"Matt did." Hakiyo spoke up.
"No! We're not done!" Kive shouted.
"Kive, I won sixteen out of the twenty-five games we played! I so won!" Matt argued.
"Look! It's either you guys decide or no one gets the room!" Hakiyo said in irritation.
"Fine with me! Matt and I can both pay our separate shares!" Kive said.
"No way! That's no fair! Just because I won! If you had won sixteen out of the twenty-five I know that you'd want the free room!" Matt argued angrily.
"Of course I'd want the free room if I had won! But the point is that I didn't, so I don't want you to have it!" Kive scoffed.
"That's no fair Kive!" Matt whined.
"I can't believe this isn't resolved." Hotaru murmured, rolling her eyes.
"You know what! Matt, you can just keep the room. Kive, pay up!" Hakiyo said, irritated.
"No WAY!" I don't want to pay! Make Matt pay!" Kive sulked.
"Just pay Kive." Hotaru said.
"Okay Hotaru." Kive groaned. They heard him mumble, "Everyone's against me! It's not fair." He reached into a bag and gave over some copper coins. Then Hakiyo handed over the change.
"Let's head in for tonight." Kive said.
"Why?" Matt asked.
"Well, since I bought the room then I want to use it as much as I can. And anyways Matt, you need a bath, remember?" Kive mocked.
"Don't push it." Matt snarled viciously. "If you were showered with monster guts you'd stink too. Oh wait. I'm sorry. You already stink!"
"That'll be enough of you two!" Hotaru snapped and headed up the stairs to where the room was.
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(~The Next Day~)
"Are you sure that we can trust that little kid. After all, he is Hakiyo's brother." Kive scowled as they headed off to the ruins.
"Hey, man, Hakiyo's cool! We can trust him!" Matt argued.
"That's because you got the free room." Kive grumbled.
"Your still sore about that? Never knew you were such a cry baby." Matt mocked.
"I am not a crybaby!" Kive pouted.
"That's enough." Hotaru sighed as they approached the front of the ruins. To Hotaru it seemed like quite a peaceful place. Not scary at all. It was full of stone. In the center was a weird silver cross like design.
"Hey guys, look at this!" Hotaru called out from the middle. Matt and Kive walked over and stared at the large cross like symbol in the middle of the piles of rubble and fallen pillars. Matt choked and took a step back.
"What is it Matt?" Hotaru asked.
"Nu-Nuthing much. It's just that symbol seems painfully familiar. Probably just my imagination." He said, laughing nervously.
"You're a loser, Matt." Kive sighed.
"At least I'm a clean loser now." Matt pointed out. Kive shook his head.
"I'm embarrassed to know you, Matt." Kive groaned.
"I return the affection." Matt sighed. Then they got back to looking at the symbol. Matt was totally familiar with it, but he didn't want to be wrong so he kept quiet about it.
"Hey, this looks like that weapon you have." Kive said, after clearing away some dirt from the design. It had revealed a glaive like indent across the horizontal axis. "Try putting it in." Hotaru placed the glaive in. Suddenly they were encased in bright silver light.
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"Matt, Kive? Where are we?" Hotaru asked. No reply. "Kive? Matt?" Yet again, no reply came. "Hello? Anyone?" She called. This time she didn't expect an answer. She was all alone.
She scanned the surroundings. She was in a room where the walls seem to have water running down them. She walked up to one and touched it. She felt cold water running down, over her hands.
"How-?" She asked herself. She withdrew from the wall immediately. She looked down and saw that below her seemed to be fathoms of water. She gulped. Was she-?
'Yes, you are walking on water,' A female disembodied voice sounded. Hotaru blinked. It seemed awfully familiar, but she just couldn't place it.
"I...what have you done with my friends? I want them back here! Where are they?" She shouted.
'calm down. They are safe. I am telling this to them too. I merely figured you would get through this a lot faster if you were separated. I do not like it, but I am REQUIRED to test you. I'm sorry. I do not make up the rules.'
"Okay, just as long as they are okay. What do you want me to do? How are you going to test us?" Hotaru asked.
'Hmm...well you do realize it has to be reasonably hard, right? If it weren't then it wouldn't be a very good test. I supposed I wouldn't go too hard on you though. Well, you'll find out very soon. Do you realize your friends can hear you?'
"Really? Hi guys." She said, cheeks slightly red.
'Okay, I must go now. I hope you can survive and make it to me. I have great faith in you.' The voice said kindly.
"Wait! Wait!!!" Hotaru called, but the voice was gone. "Serves me right. I should have known that disembodied voices don't stick around for long."
All of a sudden bubbles of water began to spring up from the ground. She backed off and put on the silence wall. The bubbles began to form shapes. All of a sudden the water melted off the newly formed shapes. She stuck out her tongue in disgust. They were a hideous mixture of sharks and humans, with gray rough flesh and human legs and arms that looked like they weren't on straight. And crooked eyes stretched across the plane of their face. They had deadly sharp looking spears and they began to start charging into the silence wall. She sighed and sat down, watching them uselessly bounce off. They were continually sprouting up from the water and soon the silence wall had been banged against the wall. All of a sudden her glaive fell over, scratching the wall right above the water line. She grabbed it again and let out a sigh. That scared her. She began to think some more. Defense wasn't getting her anywhere. All she was doing was delaying it and they were multiplying rapidly. There was a lot of water in the chamber. 'That's it!' She thought. She's had to go offense and if it got too tough she cold always put on the silence wall again. She took the silence wall and prepared for a fight for her life.
She spun around taking care of a few of them, but only to be met by another batch. She swung and swung, but they only seemed to be getting greater. She was backed against the wall again. Swing after swing! It was never ending. That one lost a leg, this one lost a head, that one got impaled, but then she noticed something that almost boosted her hope. In a mad rush to get at her, some of the shark things were killing their allies. She put the silence wall back up, seeing as she was tired. She had been at this wild challenge for over ten minutes now. The silence wall got backed up against the same wall it had. She looked to the part the glaive had slashed, but could not find it. Then, slowly she looked up, and saw the mark right above her head. Had the water dropped? Of course! That was it! The monsters were composed of the water below and the more she killed the more the water would lower. She looked down. Somehow, the water looked less than it had when she had appeared here. Much less. She smiled. The floor actually seemed reachable. But then she sat there. As she realized that the water was slowly, but surely decreasing, though she wasn't doing anything. Sure, the shark things were killing themselves, but not that fast and not that many. She pondered on that for a little, but couldn't figure it out. Finally she got ready to fight again, strength renewed and she made the silence wall vanish.
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Meanwhile, the boys had been facing quite the same situation, though handling it somewhat different.
"What's up with all the ugly, walking seaweed reincarnations?" Kive asked fighting them off.
"I don't know. This is a test. Or maybe they're attracted to you. I do see a resemblance between them and you, Kive." Matt teased.
"Oh, shut it Matt. I don't need any of your wise crack comments." Kive growled.
"MY wisecrack comments? You're the one who usually makes the wisecrack comments, not me!" Matt argued. The two had been fighting diligently for about fifteen minutes now. They seemed to just keep coming. Matt felt like their efforts were futile. Were they doomed to die here? Matt shook off the though. They'd escape, somehow, some way. But why, oh why, was he stuck with Kive. The whole time they had been battling nonstop, the monsters and each other. Along with the delimbing and decapitating of the seaweed monsters, they had also been arguing the whole time. God, how Kive was annoying. But surprisingly, the monsters were more annoying than Kive, but not by much. Suddenly Matt was struck with an idea that could help them.
"Why didn't I think of it sooner? Kive, cover me!" Matt shouted.
"No! Why should I? So you can sit around like a bum while I work my butt off." Kive shouted back.
"No, no! I promise this'll help us both." Matt called back.
"Arg! Fine, whatever, but don't take long!" Kive said, giving in because he was tired. Oh what he wouldn't give for a nap. But not now. With Matt doing whatever loser thing he was going to do he had to work twice as hard. Had he more strength he wouldn't have trusted Matt. Matt ran back against the call and Kive heard him mutter something breaking Kive's concentration. He stared at Matt, not noticing the creature that was sneaking up to him, spear out and gleaming. Kive watched Matt concentrating hard on who knows what. Then for a few seconds it was quiet. Then suddenly Kive saw an ice blast shoot out from Matt's hands and whiz right past him.
"Hey Matt! What are you trying to do? Kill me?" He shouted in rage.
"Idiot! I just SAVED you. I don't know why I did though. Turn around" Matt growled and then sat down. Kive whirled around and came face to face with the blade of the seaweed's spear. Suddenly it all registered. If Matt had done the spell one second sooner he'd have a spear through his head. He gulped and shivered at the though. Or maybe it was just cold? Then he backed up and looked at the rest of the monsters and saw that they were all frozen and so was the water below them. Then he took a seat by Matt.
"I hate to say it, but thanks. And don't think that I'm getting all nice and that we're friends now, you just saved our hides and also that was a bright idea. That's all so don't go getting any ideas or anything." Kive snarled. Matt smiled.
"Of course. It's not like you'd ever want to be my friend, your highness." Matt joked.
"Don't call me that." Kive growled heartlessly, eyes suddenly growing quite cold.
"Gee, man, I was just kidding around." Matt said, staring at Kive in question. Kive shot him a glare and then let his tense look fade away. "Hey, Kive! Did you notice? It's like the water decreased by about ten feet. I can actually see the floor now! I wonder how that happened. Actually I think the water is actually decreasing below the ice. See, for some reason the water below the ice isn't touching it anymore. You can tell by just looking at it!" Matt said, partially to change the subject, partially because he just noticed it. Kive looked down and nodded.
"You know what. I have a feeling that this room is connected to Hotaru's, wherever it is. I mean, why else would it decrease? She's probably killing monsters too. Dude, are you listening to me? Hey DORKWAD!" Kive shouted at Matt who was staring in question at the ceiling.
"Don't call me a dork wad." Matt murmured, only half on earth.
"What is it loser?" Kive asked staring at the ceiling. All he saw was the silver cross like thing.
"You wouldn't understand me if I told you." Matt said, snapping out of his trance. "Kive, we should kill them. See, how about this. I freeze the water and we take a break.-"
"But you already did that." Kive pointed out, cutting Matt off.
"Yes, I know that. This is just a strategy. Then, after resting up we kill the frozen monsters with our swords, then I unfreeze the water and we let the monsters come up again. Then you buy me time and I freeze the water again and so one and so forth. Sound like a plan. Kive nodded and they both got up to put the plan in motion.
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(~About An Hour Later~)
Finally there was no water left. None at all, save the water running down the walls, but that never seemed to run onto the ground. Hotaru walked up to the center where there was the same cross symbol. She stepped onto it and sat down. What was she supposed to do now. She looked around and saw that there was a door, but it was barred. So now what was she to do? She stood up and began to walk to it when she felt her leg get pulled out from under her. Surprised from the sudden impact on the floor she dropped her glaive. Suddenly she saw a seaweed vine come up from behind her and grab it. Then she felt herself get lifted up into the air. She stared down in horror as she hung upside down. There, below her was a hideous red eye with seaweed branching out from it. She screamed and screamed and screamed, but there was nothing anyone could do now. With out her glaive she was practically defenseless. Then suddenly she felt her energy begin to be leeched away from her. There was nothing she could do. She fought to keep her strength but it was only a matter of minutes before she slipped into unconsciousness.
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"Yes! Finally! I'm so drained!" Matt groaned.
"Whatever. I'm perfectly fine." Kive boasted.
"You weren't using up your magic." Matt pointed out. Kive shrugged. Then they both turned to a door. It was locked so they both stared to the center of the room and noticed a Grey lump begin to arise. They blinked as all of a sudden a shark/ human rose up.
"Same technique?" Matt asked. Kive nodded. Kive began to dance around the creature, which followed him in frustration. Every once in a while Kive would slash its leg while Matt tried to summon up his magic. It was harder this time since he had used so much of it up. All of a sudden, before Kive realized it, the giant shark thing lifted up its leg and smashed it on top of him.
"Matt! Help me damn you! He's SQUISHING ME!!!" Kive shouted, but Matt was concentrating. Then the ice beam shot out and froze over the beast. Then he began hacking it down, but since it was so big it didn't make much of a difference. Then Matt gave up and grabbed the sword. Then he launched the sword up as hard as he could and it found its mark in the creature's neck. The Shark let out a blood curdling death cry as it shriveled up and disintegrated. Kive lay there. He got up rubbing his back.
"God Matt, take your time why don't you." Kive moaned.
"I defeated it no thanks to you!" Matt shouted. Then all of a sudden his sword fell from the place the creature's neck had been and rushed down, hilt first, somehow finding the middle of Kive's head. The hilt slammed him hard.
"OWWW!" Kive shouted, rubbing his head. The a treasure chest rose up from the ground. Matt lifted it up. It was a key. He walked over to the door with Kive behind him and unlocked it. The bars disappeared and they walked into the next room. All of a sudden Matt stopped dead in his tracks. A giant seaweed creature loomed above it, vines lashing out like thousands of whips. The leaves looking razor sharp. It had a giant eye that was a horrifying red. There, at its base though, was what had stopped Matt in his tracks. There lay a limp Hotaru, pale as snow. Matt's head suddenly was filled with only one thing. Save Hotaru. He rushed as fast as he could to his friend, ignoring the razor sharp leaves that lashed him and the bruises he received from the whipping vines. He slashed all that was in his way and climbed over vines that refused to cut. He then reached Hotaru who was with no energy and shielded her frail body with his own, constantly being thrashed at.
Kive in the meantime ran over, being more careful. He had noticed Hotaru or where Matt had gone, but he did notice the monster. He inched towards it, but suddenly he was plucked up by one of its vines and then held above the colossal eye. But He had a trump card. He reached into the small bag at his side where he kept his copper coins. He then retrieved a dagger. He hurled it at the eye at shocking speed and it went all the way through. He heard a disturbing fizzing sound and slowly the vine that held him drooped until he was on the ground before shriveling up completely. Then he looked to where Matt and Hotaru were.
"Matt?" Hotaru said weakly, eyes opening slowly. Then sat up. "Man, I'm sooo tired." She sighed. Then she stared at Matt and gasped. "Matt! Oh my gosh! What happened to you?" Hotaru cried. His face had little scratches here and there. His arms were covered in cuts. His shirt and jeans were badly torn and he had various bruises. "Y-You kept me safe." She said quietly. "Why?"
"Because I don't want to lose you. And I wont. Not so easily." Matt smiled. "Anyways, it's just a few scrapes and cuts here and there." Kive ran over there after retrieving the dagger. All of a sudden a bright silver light engulfed the three of them and then all went white.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~
"Where are we?" Matt asked, still holding Hotaru close. Then they both instantly withdrew from each other blushing furiously. Kive was shooting Matt fierce glares.
"Hello again, Hotaru." The blue haired silver-eyed maiden who had given her the bag called out. They all stared at her. "I'm sorry I had to test you, but it was required of me. Can you forgive me?" She asked.
"It's okay. I forgive you." Hotaru said.
"Me too." Matt said quietly.
"Same here." Kive put in.
"You passed, I'm glad to say. But I wasn't too hard on you because I like you guys." She smiled.
"That wasn't hard?" Matt asked.
"No, My sisters may not be so easy on you. See, none of you were too close to death, but you will be much more in the future." She said. They all stared in awe. "But here. I need to give you something." She held out a silver rectangle only a few centimeters aroung. Matt stared at it in shock.
"Is that-" Matt said , totally sure.
"Yes, Yamato, the crest of reliability. You must explain it to them." She said, smiling. "I have already given you your gift. The endless bag. My sisters will too give you gifts along with the crests." She said.
"Your name's Yamato?" Kive asked.
"That was out of nowhere. Yea, that's my name, but call me Matt." Matt sighed.
"Wait! Kiyon said that people came here and they never came back out! What was that about?" She asked.
"Well, you see...I have to get rid of them. It's required of me. But I'm supposed to test you. If you were anyone else I'd have no choice but to..." She said, solemnly. There was a long pause after that consisting of about everyone blinking, wondering what to say next.
"Wait! That whole thing seemed hard to me!" Kive blurted out suddenly.
"Well, did it take you that long?" She asked.
"Well, I guess not that long." Kive shrugged.
"Are any of you severely hurt?" She asked.
"I feel really drained." Hotaru sighed.
"I don't feel perfectly healthy." Matt muttered.
"I got squished." Kive added in, sounding perfectly fine.
"You'll survive." She sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that none of you are so hurt that you can't walk around anymore, but you might have to face that in the future."
"Okay, we get it now." They all said in unison.
"That was still hard." Kive whined.
"Pipe down." Matt sighed.
"But it was hard!"
"Oh can't you just understand! It took you like minutes, NO, SECONDS to defeat the gigantic forms of the creatures! That's an alarmingly fast speed. C'mon! I mean, you could defeat a regular monster in that speed or even longer! Those monsters were JOKES!!!! I was going super easy on you guys for cripes sake!" She exploded. Then she settled down. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm fine now. Well, I think I'll give you this now, but you may notice that more time passed more slowly here than out there." She said, dropping the crest in Matt's hands. "Bye." Then there was a bright flash and they were outside, among the ruins and rubble again.
"That was stupid. We did all that for some gray rectangle with a cross on it!" Kive snarled.
"It's much more important than that." Matt said softly. All eyes suddenly turned to him, demanding an explanation.
"Okay, Okay, I'll tell you, but it's a long tale...."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! Okay, sorri.
1/29/03 How was it? I hope I didn't call people different things. This chapter was really rushed since I did practically all of it in one day. It was hard. There must be tons of mistakes but I want this posted. Sorry for the weirdness. I was rushed. 1/31/03 But today, I got to work on it more. It's still not what I want it to be but......yeah. Well, I smoothed it out a little from the last time. You have no idea how much my parents had been rushing to get me off. Anyways, I don't really know what to do for next chapter. Well, I have a faint idea. Well, I'm all alone here because my friends all went to Irvine spectrum. How fun for them. Well, I got to spend time with my mom! YAAAAY! And I got: CAPCOM VS. SNK!!! WHIPEEE!! Okay bye.
SM: TWO DAYS TIL MY BIRTHDAY!!! WHAT DID YOU GET ME!!!
Megumi: You shall find out on your birthday, most beloved minion.
SM: Your not gonna call me that on my birthday right?
Megumi: Of course not.
SM: TWOOOOO DAYS!!! YIPEE!!!