Welcome ba-
(Dew): Tundr-
Shut up!
(Char): Has he been on your case about that all week?!
(Dew): Tundra-
(throws the brick)
(Char): Ahh... silence.
(sings) Silence is golden, golde-
(Char): Get back to work!
Ackpth!
Review Responses:
Caster of Chaos: How do you "sorta" disconnect someone's jawbone and head? Isn't it sorta... disconnected or connected? Anyway, that's one vote for... Shalex, eh? Oh... a sarcastic vote... hmm...
Taiga: Hehe... Cliff is a cool name... My hat's off to you. That's clever.
Midnight C: Mammals, huh? ...you're doing that common sense thing again, aren't you? And Icarus is an interesting name... he's the one that got burned by the Sun, right? I wonder how fitting that would be, considering it will be Jenna who spends all of her time mothering it... Flame-broiled Pegasus, anyone?
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"This is not good," Feizhi muttered just loud enough for Sheba to hear over the howling winds that bit at any exposed skin. "Not good at all." The wolves circled them menacingly, teeth bared and spittle dripping from their mouths to the snow below, although it was frozen by the time it hit.
"Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions," Sheba commented, standing back to back with Feizhi over Ivan's body. "Anything you can come up with, I'd like to hear." A wolf made a dash at Feizhi, but she swung her staff upwards and caught it under the jaw with a crack that resounded across the mountainside. The wolf stumbled and fell limp to the snow, thoroughly unconscious.
"That?" Feizhi replied nervously, holding her staff defensively. There were still five wolves around them, but they appeared more hesitant now, learning from the other wolf's mistake. Sheba cocked an eyebrow.
"Are they really that weak?" she asked curiously. She raised her own staff and cast a Shine Plasma at the nearest wolf while Feizhi started answering.
"Physically they're mediocre, but they can absorb a fair amount of plasma and electricity and channel it to their own power for attacks," she said, not quickly enough to stop Sheba's attack. The wolf she struck seemed to enjoy the electricity crackling around it, and suddenly charged right at her, fangs glowing with a faint tinge of electrical power. It clamped onto her arm, and she tried desperately to knock it off, but it wouldn't let go until it had discharged all its electrical power into her body. Sheba shook violently and sunk to one knee, while the sparks still crackled around her and the wolf leapt back after releasing all its charge into her. Sheba trembled (whether it was from the electricity or the cold, neither Feizhi nor she knew) and slowly rose again.
"Let's talk timing," Sheba mumbled miserably, shivering violently against the cold despite the heat of the electricity that was futile in warming her up. Feizhi didn't hear her over the wind. While Sheba was griping over the wolves battle abilities, Feizhi called up a gust of wind and blew a drift of snow over the lead wolf (or at least, the wolf she hoped was the lead wolf) to distract it, while she snuck in and swung downwards to clamp it over the head with her staff to knock it out as well.
Unfortunately, for everything she had remembered about the tundra wolves, she'd forgotten about their amazing senses. Though the wolf couldn't see her, it was more than able to hear and smell her, especially as Feizhi's own gust of wind blew her scent in that direction. In addition, the snow also acted as a screen that kept Feizhi from keeping her eyes on the wolf, and also delivered a frigid blast that reminded Feizhi of how tired and cold she really was.. The wolf sidestepped the smash and tackled Feizhi hard, dropping her to the ground. Feizhi's staff became the only thing between the wolf's razor-sharp teeth and her soft, fleshy neck.
"Feizhi!" Sheba cried out, about to run off to help her, but realizing that doing so would leave Ivan completely exposed to the other four wolves. Feeling rather helpless, she settled for keeping her staff in a defensive position and swinging it in a wide arc to keep the wolves at bay. She soon realized, however, that the cold was starting to get to her again, and she was struggling to stay focused.
Feizhi seemed to be suffering the same fate; her eyes were slowly drooping and she wasn't able to struggle as much against the wolf. Sheba noticed her moving slower and slower with each passing second.
No, wait... that wasn't her moving slower... it just seemed that way because Sheba's eyes were drooping and she was slowing down... she tried to stay awake and conscious, but... it was cold... it was so... cold. But Ivan was counting on her, now! ...and Feizhi needed help... she had to... had to... but it was so cold... and... she just couldn't...
I-van...
- - - - -
She's freezing cold.
I can see that!
Get me some hot water bottles, we'll thaw them out like that if we have to.
Oh, that'll be helpful.
Well, what do you suggest?
Do you really have to ask?
Yes.
...a really, really, big fire?
Heh.
... for a Jupiter Adept, you have a startling addiction to fire.
Scary, huh?
Sheba's eyes flickered. It was way too noisy for her liking. She had such a headache... she just wanted to sleep and-
Wait. Sleep? She couldn't sleep now! There were wolves, and Ivan was... Ivan was...
"Ivan!" she cried, bolting upright. The named Adept twitched in his bed, moved to get up, then fell back under the covers of his bed and shivered uncontrollably, frigid to the bone. He noticed two people standing nearby.
"Where...ah-choo!" Ivan sneezed, cutting himself off before he could say much of anything. Sheba caught on quickly.
"Where are we?" she wondered aloud, looking in the general direction of the pair, although she couldn't quite focus much on them, yet.
"You're in the Doango Mountains," one offered. She was short and pretty, with shoulder length red hair and a long robe that covered her, from shoulders to ankles. A pair of glasses sat on her nose.
"They know that much," grinned the other, a male who was a good foot taller than her, with brown hair, dark slacks and a dark purple shirt, both of which were more or less concealed behind a drab brown cloak. "I think they want more specifics."
"If they're dumb enough to wander around the Doango Mountains dressed like that, then they obviously don't know enough about where they are!" she countered.
"Enough!" Ivan found himself crying from under the sheets of his bed. "Just give me a few details, please." The girl nodded.
"This is a research library located atop a mountain in the Doango Mountain Range. We have many books and tomes for the more studious among the populace, including-"
"That will do," Sheba cut her off, rubbing her temples gingerly. "Thank you." The girl looked slightly put-out, but smiled nonetheless.
"How did we get here?" Ivan wondered. To his right, Feizhi moaned. He hadn't even noticed her and she was less than a metre away.. I must be beat up pretty badly, Ivan thought.
"We heard a loud crack, and snarling of wolves. We also saw bright flashes of lighting and a great drift of snow arise from nowhere," the male replied. "The people of this tower who regularly visit, such as us, have a habit of looking out for those in these mountains. We thought someone might be in trouble, and we're the only ones here right now, so we came to help. We found you and brought you back here. It's morning now, by the way. You were all out like a light all night."
"You took out five wolves by yourselves?" Sheba asked, shocked. "I'm amazed!"
"Well, it wasn't much," the girl blushed, her face perfectly matching her hair. "We're used to fighting them. They have weaknesses, you just have to know where to look."
"Under the chin?" Sheba smiled.
"Sharp teeth, glass jaw," he replied, with a grin. "I think your friend is up." Feizhi started rising at the same time as he spoke, shaking her head and blinking furiously.
"Where-"
"Here we go again," Ivan muttered.
While the two were explaining things to Feizhi, Ivan and Sheba took the opportunity to finally look around the room. They were all resting in beds that lay against a wall, directly opposite doors which Ivan assumed led outside to the mountains. The walls were lined with books and tomes, lined up on shelves that rose up to the considerably high ceiling. Ladders could slide along the walls to allow for potential readers to get up to the highest parts.
The room was circular, and in fact, the tower appeared to be just made up of the one room. Aside from the book shelves that went nearly around the entire circumference of the interior of the building, there was little else inside, save for a spiral staircase leading up that Sheba noted led to another level. Ivan was too cold to move, still, but Sheba, despite her fatigue, found herself getting up and walking along the shelves, browsing the books and tomes.
"Fast recoverers, aren't you?" the male asked. Ivan nodded.
"We've had our share of speedy convalescence," he agreed. "It kinda sticks with you after awhile. By they way, I never got your names..."
"Oh!" she girl asked. "Corianna," she smiled, bowing her head slightly.
"Marcus," he smiled, moving in to shake Ivan's hand warmly (Ivan noted how warm Marcus' hand was compared to his; how cold was he?). "You can call me Marc."
It took another hour for both Ivan and Feizhi to be up and walking. Once they were, the five of them started walking around, exploring the books, tomes and whatever else they could find. Eventually, the group took the spiral staircase up and discovered a single, circular room on the next floor. There were no doors or windows to go anywhere else or see anywhere else. The only thing in the room was a pedestal with a place for a hand to be placed.
"What's this?" Sheba wondered.
"You don't know?" Corianna asked, cocking her head sideways in confusion. "It's the bridge link."
"The what?" Ivan said, confused.
"The bridge link," Marc replied. "It links the Seula Plains to the island where a forbidden shrine is located.
"A shrine?" Sheba said, interested. "Really?"
"Sure," Corianna replied. "Give it a shot. Just put your hand on it." Feizhi stepped forward and read the inscription ('The Grand Seula Island Bridge - Do Not Touch'), which Marc replied she could safely ignore because everyone stayed clear of the forbidden shrines, anyway. Feizhi went ahead and placed her hand on the pedestal, right on an imprint of a handprint etched into the surface.
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"Breakfast!" Garet smiled, patting his full stomach and reclining against the soft grass. "My favourite meal of the day!"
"Along with lunch, dinner, brunch, your miscellaneous 3 o'clock snacks and midnight chow time," Picard smirked, causing waves of laughter to echo through the group.
"You ate more than I did," Garet pointed out, and indeed, in a rare fit of hunger, Picard had out-eaten the previously thought unbeatable Garet, although with a great deal more etiquette.
"Just give me a few of the scraps, then," Jenna answered, walking over with Mia beside her and the baby pegasus wide-eyed and alert in her hand. Mia nodded sagely.
"Clifford's hungry," she said. Felix cocked an eyebrow.
"...Clifford?"
"Look at it this way," Jenna said. "We're in a Jupiter Realm. We're on floating islands. All of the floating islands are surrounded by cliffs, because they lead to a fatal drop to the acidic surface. Thus, its name is Clifford, because we'll all end up abbreviating it to Cliff." Picard folded his arms over his chest and looked pensive.
"Why do I get the sneaking feeling that there's a better reason than that for its name?" Mia grinned.
"Hey, at least it's better than what Jenna originally came up with." Garet wisely scooted away from Jenna and gathered his courage.
"What was that name, for interest's sake?"
"...Peggy." This comment was followed by exactly 3.4 seconds of utter silence, followed by rambunctious snorts of laughter. That was followed by a very stern glare from Jenna, and then more dead, utter silence.
"You do remember that it's a male pegasus, right, Jenna?" Felix asked carefully. Jenna opened her mouth to reply, but as soon as she did, a brilliant flash of light went off from nearby, and much to their surprise, a giant, golden glowing bridge appeared, spanning the gap between the plains and the island.
"What in Mercury?" Mia wondered aloud, but Felix had already grabbed his Levatine and dashed for the bridge.
"Hurry!" he cried. "In case it disappears again, we have to catch it now!" The others nodded and ran for the bridge, Picard and Garet lagging behind because they had just eaten the most. Picard, having eaten more than anyone else, including Garet, was a good five feet behind him when they all started crossing the bridge. Felix was well ahead and was the first across the bridge and onto the island. Jenna and Mia, being naturally light and quick, were across next (Jenna safeguarding Cliff in the palm of her hands), and Garet had just got his foot over the end of the bridge onto the island with Picard ten feet behind him when disaster struck.
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"There's a bridge there, now," Marc explained. "If you were to take your hand away the bridge would disappear." Feizhi nodded.
"Yes... I can feel it drawing on my Psynergy to sustain itself," she agreed. "That's very interesting."
"It makes me wonder why they would build it all the way out here," Ivan pointed out. Corianna simply shrugged and shook her head.
"No one knows," she admitted. "I'd like to know, though."
"Well," Sheba sighed, "we may as well head out, then. To the downstairs?"
"Very well," Feizhi said, stepping back and removing her hand from the imprint.
- - - - -
Garet had just crossed the end of the bridge onto the island, but Picard was well behind him when the bridge suddenly disappeared.
"What in- Mercury!" Picard cried out, his feet pushing against air. Garet stumbled to the ground safely, having nothing for his foot to kick off from, but Picard found himself falling toward the island and down toward the acidic and sulfuric surface below. The others cried out to him as they saw him slam violently against the side of the island and plummet downward.
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(Char): ...you're picking on Picard? Picard?
Maybe...
(Char): Do you have any idea how many OBHLs read this?
Maybe...
(Char): And do you have any idea how badly I'll hurt you if you say that again?
May- ...oops.
(Char): ... ... ...
(sighs) This isn't gonna end well.
Hey, but it might... if you review!!No, really. Review!