"O... kay..." Xelfan12 muttered, as he, Xelkitti, and Verath, soaking wet,
went back into the building. Gaaz and Saej, totally dry, continued snickering
as they followed along.
"Shut the hell up!" Xelkitti shouted, turning around to yell at Verath's
counterparts. However, this only made them laugh even harder. They certainly
were having a good time...
"Yeah, Verath. What's wrong with your parts, anyway?" Xelfan12 asked, starting
to get pissed off. "I thought they were supposed to be you. Now they're
just laughing at us instead of helping at all. Can't you do something about
that?"
Verath turned to Xelfan12 with an exasperated look on his face. "Hey, I
can't help how I am. I have lots of internal conflicts."
Saej's face burst into a broad smile, and suddenly fired a blast of ice
at Verath, turning Verath's hair completely to ice. "AAGGHH! WHAT THE FUCK!"
Verath cursed, running around in circles, and causing Xelfan12 and Xelkitti
to burst out laughing again. "IT'S NOT FUNNY! I'M REALLY, REALLY COLD! SOMEONE
DO SOMETHING!"
Saej winked at Gaaz, who grinned widely as well. Gaaz spat at Verath's hair,
and, since all three portions were excellent shots, expertly hit his target.
The streak of lightning saliva caused Verath's hair to burst into flames
instead and begin smoking. Verath let out a fresh yell, and now attempted
to be doing some kind of interpretive foreign dance in his attempts to return
his hair back to normal. By now, Xelfan12 was rolling on the floor with
laughter, and Xelkitti wasn't helping much either by giving Gaaz and Saej
high fives for once.
Verath, meanwhile, now ran to the sink as fast as he could, turned on the
water, and stuck his head in. There was a delightful ssssssszzzzz sound,
and steam filled the room, causing fresh bursts of laughter. For a moment,
Verath was completely silent as his hair healed back to normal. But only
for a moment. "ALL RIGHT!" he demanded angrily of Gaaz and Saej, who were
still laughing along with Xelkitti and Xelfan12. "What the HELL was that
for!"
Xelfan12 managed to get to his feet, wiping his eyes. "Whew," he gasped.
"You sure DO have internal conflicts, especially now that we can see them
from the outside." He started snickering again.
Verath shot him a cold look. "And what's up with you! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO
BE MY ALLIES, DAMMIT!"
Xelkitti, coughing a little, got control of herself again. "Sorry, but it
was pretty funny." She ignored another one of Verath's looks. "Why are 'you'
so destructive, anyway? I mean, I understand Saej, seeing that he's a mozaku,
and he probably enjoys this stuff, but how come Gaaz enjoys it so much,
too?"
Verath sighed. "I dunno. I guess the chaos that resulted from being one
person kind of rubbed off on all my parts. I suppose that cooperation is
out of the question for 'me' at this point. But in that case..."
He dashed over to the grinning forms of Gaaz and Saej, and then cracked
their heads together again. "COOPERATE!" he ordered. Gaaz and Saej let out
some sounds of surprise when their heads were banged together, but then
quickly gained control, looking happy as they retreated to another corner
of the room.
"All right," gasped Xelfan12, trying not to laugh. "At this rate, we're
never going to get to the plans, so uh... everyone just settle down."
After a few minutes, Gaaz and Saej had finally stopped being amused enough
to manage to sit in relative silence, and Xelfan12, Xelkitti, and Verath
resumed their study of the lost spells.
"Right," Xelkitti said, getting their attention. "So now it's my turn at
one of these spells. And the one I choose had better be good." She picked
one out of the small pile, looking at the title. "'Inferno Labyrinth',"
she muttered. "Well... considering what happened with the spells you two
cast, I'm not really trusting this one, especially considering the rather
ominous name that almost certainly means something will go drastically,
horribly wrong. So, in case it does, I want you two to find the counter-method
right away... All right?"
Xelfan12 and Verath cast glances at each other, trying to hide their half-smiles.
"I SAID, ALL RIGHT!" Xelkitti demanded, annoyed at the lack of support.
"Why, of COURSE we'll help!" Xelfan12 said sarcastically. This earned him
a punch in the face, this one harder than usual. "Ow..." he groaned,
rubbing his face. "You didn't have to hit THAT hard... besides, this is
all Saej's fault if something goes wrong."
Saej narrowed his eyes from where he was sitting. "What do you mean it's
my fault! I manage to come back from a freakin' suicide mission alive
with these spells, and now you're saying it's my fault if something goes
wrong!"
"Yes," Verath stated pointedly.
Gaaz started laughing at this, earning a frozen smile as Saej used his ice
powers on his counterpart.
"Damn, you really do have internal conflicts," Xelfan12 commented. "I think
you really need to see a psychologist or something, the way this stuff goes
on."
"Yeah, well, it's not like you don't have personality problems of your own."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Look, you're getting all worked up over nothing. You're being an idiot."
"Yeah, well at least I don't have a stupid name like 'Verath'!"
"SHUT UP!"
"Hey, I was just- WHAT THE HELL!" Xelfan12 cut himself off, staring at
Xelkitti. Verath followed Xelfan12's gaze, and then his eyes widened as
well.
Xelkitti had cast Inferno Labyrinth while they were talking, and there appeared
to be an extension of blood-red energy extending from her forehead. It then
expanded into a series of complex patterns, twisting and turning as if in
an unsolvable maze. It had formed a cage of sorts that whoever inside couldn't
hope to get out of... and Gaaz and Saej were suddenly trapped inside that
cage.
"HOLY SHIT! NOOOOOO..." shouted Verath. "IF THEY DIE, THEN ALL MY STRENGTH
WILL BE GONE! 'I' WILL BE GONE!"
"Xelkitti, snap out of it!" Xelfan12 yelled, running over to Xelkitti. Saej
and Gaaz had already been knocked unconscious, trapped inside the extension
of energy from Xelkitti. She turned to Xelfan12, and to his and Verath's
surprise, her eyes looked like mazes too, fire twirling inside them.
"I can control it... I can control the labyrinth with my mind..." she whispered,
apparently overcome by some strange desire.
Verath let out another sound of despair as the "cage" started to get hotter
and hotter. He ran over to Xelkitti, shaking her, but she didn't budge.
He tried throwing something in the path of the energy and the cage, but
it merely incinerated instantly. "XELKITTI! STOP IT!" He turned to Xelfan12
with a worried look on his face. "Damn, the darkness inside her must have
took over. This spell probably feeds on evil within you, and considering
that mozaku aspect..."
Xelfan12 gulped. "No wonder this spell was sealed... B- But why weren't
the other spells as dangerous?"
Verath narrowed his eyes. "I have a feeling that they're all more powerful
than we thought them to be. Just that this one was unlocked faster than
the others... But that's not important right now! We have to stop this spell
before my counterparts are roasted to a crisp by Xelkitti!"