MiraiEvo(x2): (1) You know, I thought something looked different… I guess that speaks volumes for my observation skills. As for the Alex thing, all that evolved from your little comment: "As much as i hate him, now would be a good time for Alex to show up and teleport... but Xander can't i guess..." Thank you for that, and yes, I have very weird logic. (2) I'm updating, I updating. And I fully expect you to say "danke".
The 8BTFreek: It's not odd! If you just came out of a flashback where a pair of people was about to attack you and you found that you could suddenly strike back, what would you do? AU, or not AU; that is the question! Hmm… Well, they don't have the game at this point. Maybe one of the incarnations will be a video game designer when he or she's older, though.
AmandaZgreat: Finally, somebody gets Isaac's confusion and therefore violent reaction! I was also sort of aiming at having Alex at least semi-likable: making an enemy a semi-decent person while remaining the enemy is practically an art. I've nearly given up trying to do the same to Oliver. Maybe I should give him a flashback or dream sequence…
Potato Man: Thanks, PM, that means a lot. Even if I am getting confused with everyone saying this fic is good; there has to be a problem somewhere, doesn't there?
Cloud-123: Updating….
TemplarofNi: It wasn't random! If you just came out of a flashback where a pair of people was about to attack you and you found that you could suddenly strike back, what would you do? No, Evan is Ivan; remember the Hama/Hua scenes? I know now that Ian is Ivan's Japanese name, but I gave it to Isaac's incarnation back when I didn't know. Ni!
Alexditto: Where do I come up with this? Good question. Answer: I have noooo idea. It simply happens. The original How to Save Picard Plan was to use the belts, but then I figured "Why the heck not? I've already given the Lighthouse enough personification!" Plus now I get to have an opening scene that was really fun to write!
WildfireDreams: Don't worry, Picard's fine. Confused as heck, but fine.
Flamethrowerqueen: Well, Golden Sun being copyrighted does have one upside: I get to write really long disclaimers! Though I'm still not entirely sure that is an upside… (My version of) Alex's reasons will become clear soon enough. That means, unfortunately, that you're going to have to wait for both mine and Camelot's.
End of Response Section
6/2/04
Ok, I updated once before and all the symbol things didn't show up. In other words, all the thingies I put to show the change of scene were gone and that made for some pretty confusing reading. So I had to go back and fix it. And it didn't work. So I had to figure out another way of doing it. The thingies have now been replaced with ………
Expect the next chapter in about at week.
Disclaimer: Rallalon does not own Golden Sun, any of its characters, places or items. Nor does she own torrents, pockets or logical conclusions.
………
Picard looked about in an attempt to get his bearings. They had just been atop of Mercury Lighthouse; what had happened? He answered himself aloud. "We were lost in some sort of torrent. I thought we would die." There was never any fear in his voice when he referred to death; not when he was referring to his own, at least.
[But where are we now?] Spring energetically asked from upon the Adept's head. [I've still got a major energy boost from the Lighthouse so we couldn't be far.]
Shade heartily chirped his curiosity from his perch on Picard's shoulder.
"We're knee-deep in very, very still salt-water," the Lemurian replied slightly bemused. "I don't see any land though; we should be close to it at this depth. Unless we're on a sandbar. But how did we get to the ocean in the first place? And why aren't there any waves?"
There was a child-like giggle from behind them. Picard sloshed around to see a little girl with the appearance of a young Lemurian. She stood in the water without a ripple, the hem of her azure skirt above the surface.
Which didn't really make sense. If Picard was up to his knees in water, then a girl that size should be up to her waist. And if the hem went to her knees and it wasn't wet…
The girl was standing on the water. "Of course there aren't any waves!" she laughed. "That's only when I play with Jupiter. And no land or sandbars; that's when Venus plays with me." She shifted from foot to foot shyly, not making any impact on the water. She looked up at him questioningly and slightly guilty. "Do you want to play before you're out of range? I promise I won't hurt you again; I didn't even know I was until your friend told me."
"My… friend?" Picard echoed dully. This was a lot of weird stuff to take in at once. It was all rather… surreal.
"The archeologist," the girl explained in the way only a child can explain. "He talked to me; he's nice." She frowned, remembering something that wasn't. "But he's taking you away, and we haven't even played yet!"
Picard decided to humor the girl in hopes she might actually tell him what by the Elements was going on. "What game do you want to play?"
"Fate says to be nice to guests, and since I guess you're a guest that means you get to pick which one," the girl offered.
He was very short on imagination at the moment. "How about catch?"
"Okay." A ball of water appeared in her hand. Before she threw it, she stopped and laughed once more. "You can't play catch half submerged!" Her eyes widened, the sign of her having a "great" idea. "How about all the way submerged?"
And with that, the seafloor dropped away from Picard's feet, and instead of floating, he did the opposite. Down and down the Lemurian sank, the surface disappearing from view. His decent came to sudden stop, nearly forcing him to release his breath of air.
"You don't need to hold your breath here, silly!" the child chided. "'Cause if you did, then you'd drown 'cause of me, and that wouldn't be nice."
If the child hadn't drowned, then he shouldn't either, but he'd suffocate anyway soon if he kept holding his breath. Picard took a small breath and found the girl's information to be true. Also, the water pressure didn't crush him as it might've, nor did the salt sting his eyes. Ok, guys. Have you figured out where we could be yet?
No reply.
Guys? Shade? Spring? "Where are the Djinn?" he asked without thinking. The water barely distorted his voice.
Strangely, the girl knew exactly what the Djinn were. "They had to go help the Mars Adepts, 'cause one boy lost his temper or something and cast Ragnarok, and 'cause Fate says it's not good to lose your temper and hurt people, I figured Shade and Spring could stop the attack and heal and stuff so the boy doesn't get into too much trouble even though he lost his temper, 'cause you get punished when you lose your temper and it's not nice."
Picard attempted to make sense of the run-on sentence and come up with this response: "Well, uh, why don't we play catch?"
She grinned impishly and threw the ball, which was now formed of ice. It whirled through the water in slow motion, giving Picard enough time to adjust. "Almost forgot. And you're gonna be out of range soon and I won't be able to play with you for what could be a long, long while. Please don't make it a long, long while, Mariner King, 'cause that'd be boring."
Picard arched his eyebrow and lobbed the ice-ball back. "Mariner King"? "May I ask your name?"
She looked at him as if he had just said something incredibly stupid. "Yeah, but you already know it."
"It seems I have forgotten." He had forgotten what it was like to play with a child, too. How long had it been since he and Andrew had done this?
She laughed again. "You can't forget that quick! You just called me by a couple of my names a few minutes ago."
I did? And "a couple"? How many names does the girl have? "When?"
The girl seemed to be finding the guessing game a far better activity than catch. "When you asked me to give you a way. And you still haven't said thank you!" she accused.
A strange thought occurred to him. "Mirante Mercur? Mercury Lighthouse?"
Mirante Mercur grinned. "Yep!" The ball of ice melted back into liquid. "Now let's play a different game." She cocked her head, curious. "Do you know how to stand on your head?"
………
Matthew could sense Felix's anger. He could sense it to the point that he knew a better name for it would be rage. Therefore, he used the tiny portion of wisdom he was blessed with and proceeded to the back of his mind, letting his ancient counter-part do the talking.
"Isaac, if you ever do something like that ever again, or just something that would endanger their lives again, you will obliterated to the point that there will be absolutely no chance of there being enough of you to be reincarnated ever again. Are we clear on that?"
An old Venus Adept stared out through Ian's eyes. "Felix?" he asked, confused by much more than the transition from the realm of the dead to the realm of the living.
Yeah, you probably should've mentioned that little detail first. That's the body of one of my very few friends, and he'd probably be puzzled to say the least if he thought all the death-after-death threats were coming from me. Matthew realized that most people would be afraid of Felix in this state, but Matthew had just realized Felix couldn't hurt him. Not without hurting himself at least. This knowledge made him a tad bit stupidly bold. Mind if I talk now?
Felix gave him his wordless consent, but only after a very deep breath. They died before, he explained. I don't want it to happen again just because of some stupid reaction of his!
Matthew didn't have anything he could say to that. To have your friends murdered by your other friends… What could describe it?
Even if Felix wasn't having emotional issues, Matthew still couldn't've explained everything Ian and Isaac needed to know. Luckily there was one archeologist nearby who could. "Doc?"
The man straightened up from his position from beside Picard who still hadn't moved. Even when the Djinn popped out of him, there had been no sign of consciousness. "How long has it been since you called me that?" he asked with a small and weary grin. "Just last night, wasn't it? This has been one very long day."
"Very," Matthew agreed. "And I just woke up. Could you explain what's going on to Isaac and Ian? Or just make sure they don't keep on Ragnaroking every Proxan they see."
"Alright, but you try to find where Picard's carrying the Teleport Lapis. There's Djinn that can help him on the ship," he explained.
"Ok." That couldn't be too hard.
It turned out it was. Having relatively few pockets, the search through Picard's clothes wouldn't be a problem. It was getting started that was; how does one muster up the courage to pickpocket a Lemurian king?
Oh, come on. Once a mariner, always a mariner. He just has a crown now that's all.
Matthew still didn't do anything. He has a crown?
He's king; he has a crown. That's the way these things work.
I'm not going through a king's pockets!
Then I'll do it!
Not with my body you don't!
"What are you doing?" interrupted Xander.
"Trying to find the Teleport Lapis," Math answered.
"By staring at him? Have Venus Adepts discovered how to learn Reveal?" Alex asked sarcastically.
"Math doesn't feel that it's right to rummage through Picard's pockets," Felix explained.
"Then I'll do it." And with that response, Xander's body squatted down beside the Lemurian and began to perform the act. "Matthew's correct; it does feel not right."
"So I take it you've never done this sort of thing before?"
"I haven't," Xander replied. "I don't know about Alex though. Hey, is this it?" he asked holding the Lapis up.
Felix nodded and reached for it, but the Mercury Adept(s) withdrew it. "You're taking us with you," Alex stated, springing to his feet.
I knew something like this would happen, Felix remarked bitterly. "And why would we do that?" he asked coldly, advancing. They had to get it back themselves; no one else had noticed, being busy with unconscious Adepts and new incarnations. Also, if they were to raise any alarm, Alex could just Warp away with it, leaving them stranded.
"There are several reasons," Alex replied, retreating. "One, as you've already realized, we have possession of the Lapis and we're not giving it up until you agree." He was backing away in the direction of the Lighthouse entrance. "Two, with us to Warp you up to the Aerie, you'd save a lot of time. Three, would you rather have me under your supervision than running about without restraint?" He was getting closer to the door. Any moment he'd be through and they wouldn't be able to follow, not being in the company of a Mercury Adept who wanted them to follow.
They lunged for it together just as Alex made Xander's body step back, letting the Venus Adept(s) crash into the Psynergetical barrier. They bounced back and nearly fell. "Alex! Get back here!"
The other Adept(s) simply stood inside, waiting for them to agree to their demands.
"Alex…" Felix growled warningly.
Let me try to talk some sense into Xander. Maybe he'll listen. "Xander, why are you doing this?"
"We need to come with you," he responded immediately.
"Why?"
"To find–" He paused and spoke again as a different person. "Just agree, Felix. Please."
"I can't make that decision for the entire group."
"You used to. After Saturos and Menardi were gone, you did. All I want, all we want is just to tag along. That's it."
"Why, Alex? Is that so hard to answer?"
Until that moment, Matthew's mental image was of Felix being a little older than him, never mind the man's life experiences. The tone Felix had put into his voice scared him. It was like when you befriend a very friendly stray cat; it could be the friendliest, most fun-filled little animal you've ever played with. And then someone yanks its tail.
Felix was the cat. Alex was yanking.
The Mercury Adept definitely sensed this; his eyes flickered to the doorway, making sure the Adept of Venus couldn't get to him. He took a deep breath, as if he believed that if Felix received an answer he deemed incorrect, the barrier wouldn't do a thing to stop the Valeman of Prox.
Alex then began, choosing his words carefully.
………
Andrew paced the deck nervously. The Mercury Djinn had recently noticed some sort of change in their Psynergy level and had been forced to adapt to it. To put it simply, they weren't adapting well:
[Whee!!!] exclaimed one of them as the group of Water Djinn zoomed up through the clouds before plummeting back into the waves. The hyperactive creatures dived to the depths of the sea and came blasting back up in a few minutes. It was becoming increasingly and annoyingly clear their energy level had skyrocketed. The cacophony of the excited Djinn was on the verged of driving him mad!
"What could've caused that?" the irritated Lemurian inquired of the small Venus Djinni hovering beside him. "And don't avoid answering again."
Flint looked as if he might've, but decided against it. "There's only one thing that can give a Djinni a boost like this: a lit Elemental Lighthouse."
Andrew peered at the elemental beast incredulously. "Then how are they getting it?"
It was Flint's turn to be incredulous of the other's stupidity. "From a lit Elemental Lighthouse."
"But those aren't real!"
Flint simply stared back at him.
"I know King Piers told me all of those stories and everything, but that's all they were: stories! Just like Lunpa and Babi!"
All of the Djinn stopped doing whatever they were doing, even the hyper Mercury ones. One of them by the name of Tonic peeped angrily. The puzzled Lemurian looked askance of Flint, waiting for him to translate.
But of course, that was Echo's job. "Tonic speaks of the time she knew Donpa, Lunpa's son. She also speaks of the time Picard introduced her to the noble thief himself! 'Picard doesn't lie to you; why do you assume these tales are mere fabrications?'"
The world was rapidly turning itself upside down, but despite this, Andrew could still be indignant. "I know milord doesn't lie to me! He –"
The rest of Andrew's words died in his throat, because that familiar surge of Psynergy was approaching, the one that had taken his king away. In a moment, Andrew and all of the Djinn on board had realized that whatever was coming was going to land on the deck, and they didn't want to be caught inside of it when it came. The elemental creatures of Mercury immediately took to the air at top speed, making the rest of the Djinn follow.
We'll keep track of them!Breath shouted back to Andrew who was currently hurtling over the side onto one of the Seamist'swings.
The self-proclaimed peon of the King of Lemuria peeked back onto the deck, waiting for his sovereign's return. He didn't have to wait long: in less then half a minute from the sensing of it, a great ball made from rings of Psynergy appeared. In a few seconds more, the rings began to clear, the ball displaying its contents. The loops then shrank until they were less than an inch thick and disappeared.
The group had come back. With a few new additions.
………
Alright, let's see how far we've gotten, Sheba began. Have you predicted when Picard's party will arrive for Venus Lighthouse?
Yes, she answered smugly.
Do you know where?
Yes.
Do you know where Venus Lighthouse is?
Yes.
Where the remains of Babi Lighthouse are?
I, uh, she began sheepishly, I haven't really gotten around to that part. But you know, don't you?
Not for the present day. But we'll be able to find it, don't worry, Sheba assured her. Anyway, Felix probably won't be leaving until he finds me; he's rather stubborn.
Ah, very the issue that Sheena had dreaded. Sheba had been married for who-knows-how-long and was still very much in love. Sheena, on the other hand, had never met the man whose incarnation was four years older than her. Others might say that their previous selves being in love was a sign that meant they were destined to be together, but she didn't like the idea of destiny; she could make her own choices, thank you very much.
She didn't care if her past self had married a guy four years older than her; she wasn't even going to talk to him if she could help it!
………
Magic isn't real, Gary reminded himself, and everything has a logical conclusion if you can find it. So that's what I have to do. And figure out why in the world I came along. He gazed around the deck of the ship. Well, I do know why I came, Gary remembered patting his pocket. Always being a cell phone. But now he had to be out of range. Would the phone not work, or would he just be slammed with bills the moment he got back home? For the life of him, he couldn't remember. And he didn't want to try and be found out before he had found them out. He would figure this case out by himself; his dad would be so proud.
First to figure out who was here. The man puking over the side he didn't recognize, but he had spoken with a Russian accent before, so he might be Satornil Dolgorukii. Maybe the picture had been out of date or Satornil had recently dyed his hair.
The rest of the group was clustered around the unconscious form of Picard. Someone had had enough sense to tell them not to crowd around and cut off his oxygen supply. Only two of them were close to Picard: Dr Crade and an unfamiliar blue-haired man with a slightly resemblance to Picard.
Although the man appeared to be in his forties, he was acting like a small child in his concern. He kept on asking Crade the same questions again and again, but the librarian/archeologist just patiently answered him.
Speaking of blue-haired men, where had Crest gone? Gary looked around but didn't see him. He'd investigate the "lord" later; he needed to keep tally on everyone who was here and see how they were behaving.
Jen was imforming May and Xander of something. Gary had no idea what; they were speaking in some language other than English and French. And Xander was acting strangely now too. Well, more strangely. Then there was how everyone seemed at least slightly wary of him. Before, Ian had warmed up to him as much as the dork ever warmed up to a stranger, but now was trying to avoid him.
The sound of retching reached his ears once more. This time it was a woman, recognizable as Makrina Zoshchenko. The pair of Russians didn't seem to take to the water well. It was a quality he shared with them.
He was forgetting somebody… Matthew. Where was he?
There was no one at the helm. No one by the ship's figure head. Gary circled around the cabin area; no one around there either. But there was a ladder.
At last, he took notice of the cannon and the lookout tower of the ship. "Echo! Iron! Breath!" And on top of the latter, he found Matthew.
The said teenager was calling out various things that related to either air, fire, metal, or water from his roost. Gary stared, both curious and repelled. Was this how someone acted when they went insane?
In half a moment, Gary decided that he must be going insane too. A colorful cloud appeared, descending out of the sky and rising out of the sea. The swarm descended onto the ship, giving Gary a glimpse of its components.
One, two, three, four types of creatures flew about them, each type with its own color. The creatures soared without wings, so fast that a few, mostly purple, were only blurs. A decent amount of the brown ones went into what might be described as an orbit around Matthew. A few of those perched on his head and shoulders while the rest chirped for their own turns.
Several of the red ones did the same to him, except they kept their distance. Instead they went into somewhat of an orbit around him or settled down on the ship's rail. He tried and failed to keep his eyes on all of them; he didn't want one of those… things behind his back.
To keep a handle on his fear, he focused on his curiosity and studied the beasts. Each had a yellow belly and a tail resembling flames. Their blue eyes gazed at him from either side of their heads. And on the top of that smooth cranium were two cone-like ears(he assumed they were ears). As opposed to the brown ones, this type had a definite head and body. The legs were actual legs, not just feet poking out.
Gary gazed at the spectacle in disbelief; their was no way those creatures were real. There was simply no way. This had to be some kind of a dream.
But everything around him told him that it was no illusion. The deck rocked under his feet, the sea lapped at the boat's sides, the smell of saltwater filled his nose; all the small details he wouldn't've imagined were there. Therefore, he wasn't dreaming it.
The flash of light that had seemed to bring them here might've instead knocked them out, giving them time to hook him up to some machine. Once hooked up, his mind was brainwashed into believing whatever images were downloaded into it were real.
But even if such a thing existed, who would go through the trouble of doing it to him? Maybe to test it out, but that was still highly unlikely. However, it was still more likely than the scenario he was being told. Not much, but it was.
One of the creatures tentatively hovered closer to him and extended a pointed foot. It seemed to be asking if it could perch on him like how the others did on Matthew. The whole thing was rather surreal.
His hand shook, his fingers trembled, but he held out his hand, palm up, for the thing to land on. He wanted to see how far the illusion went; would the creature have weight or would he even feel it at all?
It landed.
He felt it.
It had weight.
{Hello, Garet.}