1Okage Densetsu - Lookit the Fancy Japanese
Chapter 19 - Oh my GOD, How Many More Chapters Are There?
Ari had spent some time tending to Rin's injuries, having cast a good heal on her and he made sure her nose had stopped bleeding before saying anything new to her. Just as he was about to, he was caught in a hug again, unable to do much but hug back and sigh. He tried his best to seem as warm and comforting as he could, not really sure why he felt like he had to.
"I won't do it never ever again, I promise!" She was still sniffling, faint tears lingering in her eyes, "...do you still love me, Grampa?"
Ari blinked at this question, not sure how to answer, "Uhm... ah..."
"Child," Stan grumbled, staring down at her. Her brown eyes stared straight up into his yellow ones, the Evil King just looking at that face for some time before speaking, "Don't do anything like that again."
"Okay..." She let go of Ari and wiped her face off, pulling Sampson close, "Can I come back with you or am I ground'ded?"
"Yes, yes, you can come." Stan sighed, "Pull anything else, however, and then you WILL have to be punished. Got it?"
"Yes sir..."
"GOOD! Now Slave, get the party moving again! We have another Evil King to destroy!" Stan was instantly back to his normal state, shouting loudly, "MOVE MOVE MOVE!"
"Alright!" Ari was about to get up when a little hand caught his shirt.
"...You still love me, Ari?"
"..." He stared down, letting out a sigh. He nodded, then picked her up, "Yeah, I still do."
"Yay!" She giggled, happy to be carried to the rest of the party, "Hi everybuddy! I'm sorry I was mean! I love you all and hope you all still love me lots!"
"Uh... of course!" Rosalyn smiled, "You just can't go and kill us, okay?"
"Okay!"
"Great! I totally missed the Little Sis!"
"I missed you too, Brother Bull!" She smiled at him.
"Well, now that we're all made up and hunky-dory, time to move to our next target?" Kisling snapped his book shut, having finished calculations, "Where does your map say to go?"
"Hold on," Ari shifted Rin a bit, then reached in his pocket and pulled out the Map O' Evil Kings. "Uh... ignoring the cool poem for now, it says there's a place outside Chantal called the 'Gear Tower'. That's where we should find our next Evil-..."
"Ari?" Linda scooted closer, "You dropped your sentence!"
"..." His finger rested on the worn map over the title 'Enigma Shadow King'. "...Corona."
"You surely can't say Sister Corona is... is an Evil King!" Big Bull looked upset by this news, "How truly un-tubular!"
"Well, we cannot take her on now," Rosalyn plucked the map away from Ari to get it off his mind, "I'll take this for the time being."
"THAT'S MY PROPERTY, YOU BLONDE TWIT!"
"Sorry," She tried to look dignified as she curled up the map, "I cannot possibly a blonde twit for I am not a goldfish nor am I pregnant."
"Oooh," Kisling grinned, "Scientific terms enter the field!"
"GIVE IT BACK, YOU FOUL, FAT WHALE!"
"Gee, did I hear something? Must be the wind." She suddenly turned, hopping off the dusty stage, floating down casually with her parasol. Then she started for the exit, "Must just be the wind. Come on, everyone."
"DAMNATION!" Stan growled fiercely as everyone began to follow, "That woman pisses me off!"
"We can tell." Ari spoke flatly, "Should I do something about it, O Lord?"
"STOP THE SARCASM, SLAVE!"
"If you say so..."
"Hehe, Grampa's being funny again!"
"NO!"
Rosalyn smirked the entire way out, that is, until she came to a halt, a very pissed off giant hamster growling at her. When it suddenly snapped at her, she rolled out of the way and then promptly skewered the poor thing. "Take that, you science project gone wrong!"
It squeaked in pain, then finally collapsed onto the hallway floor. Removing her sword, Rosalyn huffed, "Such a cute little animal shouldn't be so evil."
"Perhaps it is a lesson for the children as to why they should not take steroids!" Kisling cheered, "Go health education!"
"You're really EXCITED by this place, aren't you?" She rolled her eyes, heading for the front doors, the party in tow.
"EXTREMELY! I can't wait to come back and investigate further!"
"Men..." Rosalyn shook her head as she walked outside.
They headed across Chantal's beautiful red-tile paths, across a stone bridge and headed for the wide-open, sandy expanse ahead. Harsh, searing winds blasted past, in sharp contrast to the stray, warm breezes from the town- the oddest part was none of this hot air drifted into town, nor did the cool air into the desert. The landscape was complete with a few skeletons here and there.
"We... have to cross that?" Linda blinked.
"Yep." Rosalyn stared off into the distance.
"Aww... DAMN it..." She stomped a foot down, "I'll get sand in my sandals!"
"If you complain more," Fayth looked at her, "The worse it will be."
"Damn it..."
"Well, it makes little sense going out there without water." Ari shifted Rin in his arms, "Anybody got a canteen?"
"Oh yeah, who's prepared?" Rosalyn struck a pose, holding a canteen. She suddenly ran to the clear stream water and blissfully ignoring the fact there COULD be things living in the stream, filled the canteen up and screwed the lid closed. "But remember, kiddies: I am a master at ice magic- what happens to ice in the sun? It MELTS! Hoo! Double point, go Rosalyn!"
Everyone stared, blinking a few times.
"...Er..." She walked over, blushing slightly, "Sorry about that. Well, let us start off. If we run out of water I've got spell power. If we run out of spell power-"
"We kiss our hot little butts goodbye!" Linda whined, "Damn it!"
"Oh, come on, it can't be THAT bad..." Ari trudged on ahead, "Rosalyn, which way are we going?"
She whipped out the map, heading into the sand alongside everyone, then looked up, then back down the map. Up, then down once more. "We head across a first bridge... walk across a field of sand... head across ANOTHER bridge, wind through ruins, across yet ANOTHER bridge, across more sand, around a corner and down a hill and to the tower."
"Aw DAMN it!" Linda's shrill voice echoed across the sandy dunes.
"I'm starting to agree with Linda..." Ari moved Rin to his shoulders, "Alright, we trudge to the best of our ability. But let's not try and wear ourselves out. Come on, guys."
Everyone silently started trudging along, that is, excluding Linda who cursed the entire way there.
To put it lightly, it was no picnic marching across that desert. Aside from Linda's whining, there was the howling of the harsh, hot winds, the sun beating down on everybody roasting them to a nice golden tan. By the time they reached the ruins, they all had to sit in the shade for half an hour, sharing the canteen back and forth. Fayth was on the edge of collapse, so Rosalyn said she'd carry her the rest of the way. After they took their well-deserved break, they got up and started winding about the maze-like, white stone ruins. It didn't help that ghosts were randomly appearing, either, attacking boldly. Somehow, beyond belief, they made it across the last bridge and headed around the corner.
"Oh thank GOD..." Rosalyn panted, carrying Fayth- now they could actually see the damned tower- "This mess is coming to an end!"
"Don't get too relaxed," Stan grumbled, also being slightly affected by the heat- he was rippling with warmth, obscuring his shape slightly, "We still have a fight awaiting within the tower."
"I'll say..." Kisling wiped his forehead off, "We all have probably lost three quarts of sweat during this trip! An astounding amount of fluid, no?"
"Eeew, that's gross!" Linda squealed, "I don't LIKE sweat!"
"I would..." Big Bull wheezed painfully, "But I am incapable... oh lordy... I'll never EVER do this again, Brothers and Sisters! Whew!"
They continued plodding through the sand, watching the Gear Tower seemingly rise from the dunes. It was aptly named- the big, black tower was adorned with gears, a few GIANT ones imbedded in the sands, taller than many of the houses on all of earth. The tower was, therefore, rather impressive, as the gears running up it's length spun lazily in the evening sun. When Ari finally reached the door, he nearly collapsed upon it. Setting Rin down, he took ahold of the door handle and pulled.
He paused. Then pulled again.
"Oh hell..." Rosalyn stared, "Don't tell me... That it's..."
"...locked." Ari suddenly fell over backwards. "Somebody kill me..."
"GRR! A door will not keep me from achieving my power!" Stan suddenly screamed, "JAMES!"
There was a burst of magic off to the side- nobody appeared. Stan forced Ari to get up and walk over, where they found a note attached to a small, velvet bag that was moving slightly. Ari scanned the note, it read, in fancy letters:
Dear Master,
I, James, would assist you but I am currently in a situation where my absence would not be acceptable. So I have sent the next best helper I could find- open the bag up and be nice to her, for she is quite young. She should help you with all your problems!
Your ever loyal supporter,
JAMES
P.S. She works for free, but she's one-use only. Sorry, Master!
"...One use only? Grr... Slave, open the bag."
He picked it up and untied the gold knot at the top- pulling it open, he jumped back as a shadowy little wisp shot out- a smiling, simple noseless face was suddenly staring at him, the long, snake-like black body curling about as it floated about. Two black demon wings were attached on it's back, spaced a little bit from the head. It seemed to be giggling it's head off at being released, curling and curving over itself but never tying itself into a knot. Though it had length, it was still a little creature.
"W-What is that thing?"
"Ah! Yes! This, Slave, this is a lower class Shadow-based demon!" Stan looked delighted, "They can slip through things- no doubt she'll open the door for us! Ah, then, your name was...?"
"Squii!" The little thing squealed, high-pitched, curling around in the air near Ari's head.
"Alright, Squii, I ask you to enter the door here and unlock it for us." Stan pointed at the door.
"What in the HELL is that thing?" Rosalyn blinked as it drifted over.
"OH WOW!" Kisling nearly screamed in excitement, "A Kagette! You know, if they get somewhere with enough shadow they can turn into full demons?"
"Whee! It's so cute!" Linda giggled as it curled around above her head.
"Squii!" Squii suddenly shot at the door, entering through it like a ghost. The door stood silently for a minute, then the locks clicked- slowly, the door became unlocked, the little demon floating out with a big grin on it's round face, "Squii!"
"Brilliant!" Stan grinned, "Thank you kindly!"
It giggled terribly, curling around everybody, before drifting off across the desert sands. Everyone watched it leave, absolutely confused, but they didn't dare question a good thing- whipping the door open, Ari led the party into the tower which was full of wires and the like on the inside. As you recall, the author mentioned this story is the 'extended' version- she cut out the dungeon previous to this to expand the tower- and expanded it was! There was a small metal ladder heading upstairs, the inside of the tower filled with the noise of gears spinning and other mechanics clicking.
"Woah..." Ari looked around the tower, "Wonder what this place does."
"Hmm," Kisling began examining everything. "It seems to me that right now the tower is actually inactive. But it looks as if it draws power from somewhere. Perhaps it powers- or powered- something like a portal or giant weapon."
"Bah, who needs weapons, Doc, when you can be strong!" Big Bull was recovered from his near-heatstroke, grinning, "Right, Pretty Miss?"
Fayth had been set down by Rosalyn, panting away, "...sure..."
"Yeah, Pretty Miss knows! Feel the love!"
Linda was dusting off her sandals by now, "Well, are we all sitting around like idiots or are we going to clean the attic out?"
"Yes, come on, Slave! Up up up!"
Ari sighed, then headed up the latter. Right behind him came Rin who was carefully bringing along Sampson. The rest of the party followed shortly after, Fayth being the last. She needed some help getting up onto the second floor. This room had many of the same wires from the room below, this one much more crammed with what looked like broken gears- among the litter in here, there were some odd objects that stood out.
"Hey..." Ari suddenly dug in his pocket, finding that glass tube he had gotten with Stan from their first misadventure in the church, "This stuff looks like... Hey Rin, do you like puzzles?"
"Oh yeah! I love puzzles!"
"Great!" Ari suddenly sat down, "Find all the pieces you can that look like this."
"Ari," Rosalyn scolded, "This isn't time to be fiddling with junk!"
"Oh, I know what you're doing!" Linda suddenly whipped out an odd-shaped device, fishing it out from the general area of her bosom, "You're making one of these!"
"What IS that thing?" Ari was looking at it while getting pieces of machinery from Rin.
"Voice recorder," She giggled, "I use it to keep my songs and self-notes on it. Hehe. It's handy- you press the buttons and you can record things and later play them back. Mine's VERY old, I got it from my Grandpa!"
"That's all I can find! Puzzle time, Ari?"
"Yeah!" The two then set about putting the objects together, using Linda's as a visual model. After a few minutes, the two had assembled a small voice recorder that looked a bit like Linda's, but just a bit more thrown together. "There, that looks cool! Let's try it out... Say something, Rin."
She waited until he pressed the button, then proudly announced, "I am the best big girl in the whole wide world!"
Ari stopped the recording, then pressed play. Everyone was surprised when the exact same words, in Rin's voice, flitted out. He stopped it after the message had finished, grinning, "A success. Thanks, Rin."
"Anytime!"
"Now that we're done making things, let's go and find that stupid guy!" Rosalyn was already up the second ladder, "Come on!"
"Woah, Sister Rosalyn is really impatient today."
"More ladders..." Fayth sighed, "More rungs..."
"Ah, don't worry," Kisling smiled, "We'll get you up somehow."
Everyone clambered up to the third room, to find themselves in a relatively clear area complete with a view to the dead landscape. Everyone gasped, those intrigued moving to the windows to look out, the timid- namely Fayth- staying in the center of the room.
"We're so high..." Rosalyn stared down, not about to admit she was slightly frightened, "What a view!"
"Pssht," Stan grumbled, "When I've seen one field of sand I've seen them all."
"Hast thou seen it all, each and every grain? Hast thou felt all those things, including passion and pain?" The Phantom Evil King, their target, suddenly materialized behind Fayth, causing her to shriek- "What's this, afraid of the Phantom King?"
Rosalyn suddenly yanked Fayth into safety, the party circling the Evil King. "Alright, face us in battle and prepare to loose, for we never let evil reign!"
"Correction once more-" Stan smirked, "The false kind."
"Oh SHUT UP..." She glared at him.
"To bicker and argue, perhaps to fight? Against Hero and King, tis a real sight! Then let us do as you aspire- and end to the story, doth thou conspire?"
"I still think he practices before he talks," Ari unsheathed his sword, staring up.
"Then come, we will see who will win, and we shall see who will meet his 'fin!'"
Before anybody could do anything, the Phantom had made a deck of cards randomly appear, along with an odd mask- he dropped the cards which, instead of hitting the floor, suddenly curved up and began circling about him. Keeping the mask close to his face, he smirked, "Come."
Rosalyn was the first to jump at him, trying to hit him- she swung her sword as fast as he could, but he didn't seem to be there at all- she stumbled forward, and before she could turn and block, she got slapped across the back of the head with a magic-charged card, which knocked her straight across the room.
"Rosalyn!" Ari suddenly took a stab at it- literally. He met much the same fate, except he managed to dodge getting hit, stumbling back. "We... We can't hit him with weapons!"
The Phantom Evil King burst into laughter, suddenly gathering energy. The cards whipped around him in a fury as he suddenly applied the mask to his face- with a swift movement of the arm, he suddenly caused everyone to set aflame, before collapsing down. After the mask fell off, he quickly resumed floating, catching the mask when it popped back up.
"Rin!" Ari was practicing the ever-famous 'Singy the Bear's Stop-Drop-ahn' ROLL, BABY!' technique. "Get him with magic!"
She stumbled upright, conjuring up her magic circle.
"The child, pretending to be a mage... who can barely comment as a player on the stage! Your pathetic magic will not hurt me- go ahead, try, we'll see!"
"Dude!" Big Bull shouted, "You'll wish you hadn't said that!"
Within a blink, Rin suddenly screamed, her magic circle folding out into fifteen 'layers' of gold circles, all spinning in opposite directions. The entire room lit up with power, until the circles combined- with a flash of light, the Phantom King found himself blasted with a power twenty-five times his own, strongest spell. Needless to say, the Phantom Evil King collapsed after this, as did Rin, straight onto her face.
"Rin!" Ari scrambled over, kneeling beside her, "Are you okay!"
She said nothing- at the same time, Stan shot upright, "Now, Phantom King... give me back my powers!" Absorbing said powers, Stan nearly screamed with demonic laughter, "YES! YES! SO MUCH CLOSER!"
"Rin, talk to me!"
"...My head hurts."
"I would imagine so!" Linda suddenly popped up from under a piece of the next floor that had fallen down, "That was totally kickass!"
"Ugh..." The Former Phantom King slowly pushed himself upright- everyone was focused on Rin at the moment, as he wearily gazed at the party. However, he saw the woman dressed in gold walk over to him.
"Are... are you okay, sir?" She knelt down beside him.
"...such beauty..." He suddenly collapsed with a loud 'thud' onto the metal floor.
"Oh my!" She suddenly turned, shouting at everyone, "First aid! Quickly!"
"Oh!" Ari picked up Rin, then hurried over. He set Rin down beside the collapsed man, then cast heal on the two. "Are you guys okay?"
Rin sat upright, looking dazed, but not too bad. "...Everything's kinda blurry..."
"Yes," Kisling walked over, "That's a side effect of using more magic than you can handle."
Fayth rested a hand against the shoulder of the former Phantom King, "Sir? Are you well?"
"...Phantom I am not... Evil I am not..." He slowly pushed himself up into a seated position, holding his head, "Epros is my name if thou doth care... Your forgiveness, I ask, I dare..."
"Stupid mortal!" Stan laughed, "Why should we EVER forgive you for giving Evil such a bad name, eh? EH?"
"Let him be!" Fayth shrieked, shrilly, "He is not well!"
"Epros, is it?" Ari waited until he got a nod, "You've got some wicked powers, you know. Actually... we're on this quest..."
"Yea, I know of the tale... to save the world on a grand scale- yes, my powers to ye I'll lend... but only... if only... I can consider thou a friend. Besides," He slowly moved upright, a bit shaky on his legs, "Beloune is a man of which I most disapprove- My hatred of him to soothe, I'll travel with yon warriors for a spell, and send that man to a personal hell."
"Great!" Linda giggled, "The more the merrier!"
"Yes!" Fayth rose up, smiling, "We can always use more help."
"...don't look now," Rosalyn leaned to Ari, whispering, "But he's looking at her with the classic look- she stares back with a dreamy smile... I believe we have a pair."
"So?" He smirked, "We already have one, what's more?"
Rosalyn flushed red, looking terribly pissed off as Ari laughed his head off- it was only a second later when she caught him into a deathlock and gave him a noogie from hell.
