Hi people, I'm back!
This chapter took me quite a while, due to some unfortunate (and unexpected) changes in my private life. Thanks to all of you who waited patiently for this chapter!
And, of course, thanks to all my reviewers! This story seems to be quite popular already!
Okay, now read that chapter, the Lord knows you've been waiting for it!
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Chapter 9(Will's POV)
A short while later, Kara and Lilly returned. Lilly was wearing her Travel Robe visibly, but Kara apparently wore it under her dress. Got the same idea, huh? I asked her, grinning, because I, too had decided to wear my armor under my shirt. "This'll be a nasty surprise for anyone who thinks to make quick work of me!"
"Good thinking!" Lilly said. "With armor as thin as this one it might actually work!"
"Are we all set?" Kara asked. "Finally, let's get going then. They probably have built some sort of provisory camp while they make plans for their future. Let's search the area around Vale." We intertwined our hands again and left Vault through the north gate.
Nothing particular happened during the first hour of walking. Lilly kept asking curiously about details from our homes and we explained all we could to her, hoping to help her at least a little in understanding a world so different from hers one could barely fathom.
At some point we spotted a slime in the distance and Kara and I ran off to it, slicing it apart with two sword swipes. I picked up the coins and we rejoined Lilly, who had resumed walking as if nothing had happened. "Having fun yet?" she smirked. "Go ahead and practice using these toys a little, you might need it later."
Meanwhile the bridge across the river northwest of Vault had come into sight. We crossed it without further interruption and soon reached the forest south of the mountain range behind which Vale was situated. Or rather what's left of it… I thought.
Suddenly there was a rustle in some bushes to the left and we turned around to see a pair of zombies stalking towards us in an alarmingly quick pace.
This time, Lilly drew her weapon, too. "I'll go after the right one!" she shouted before we launched into battle.
With a cry I leaped forward and tried to slash my enemy across the chest, but he(?) / it anticipated my movement and danced back, letting me only inflict a shallow cut. It didn't even take note of that, though and hit me with the left claw in the side. My new armor took the blow, but I was still swiped off my feet. The zombie aimed another swipe at my head, but Kara countered with a backhand stroke which cleanly severed the hand from the wrist. It bounced harmlessly off my head and turned to dust. Again the zombie didn't seem to realize it was injured. The wound didn't bleed either, instead an unpleasant smell of rotten flesh started to spread.
I changed my tactics and launched myself forwards, putting all my strength in the next blow against the monsters leg. I managed to cut through, but barely. I smashed to the ground again, as did the zombie who suddenly couldn't support itself anymore with one leg only. That was Kara's signal: "Frost!" she yelled and the monster was enveloped in a layer of solid ice.
I got to my feet again, not ready to leave the foe out of my eyes yet. Before I got to think about what I would do with that frozen corpse, though, the ice shattered with a loud ringing noise and the zombie turned grey and crumbled to ashes, the evil power which had kept it alive finally defeated.
We turned around to see how Lilly was doing – and stared at her in surprise. She was standing there in a relaxed pose, obviously having watched us for a while. Her opponent stood ten feet away from her, pinned harmlessly against a tree by her sword. "Just thought I'd watch and see how you do." she said, shrugging. "Excellent teamwork, you two!" she added, perfectly ignoring the futile efforts of the monster to break free, which were accompanied by grunt noises, claws swiping through the air and the sound of steel cutting through flesh.
"I'll just finish this." she finally said when she felt the noises were becoming too violent. She sauntered over to the tree, dodging the claw swipe the monster aimed at her head upon her approach. After putting a foot on the monsters chest, she pulled her sword out and backflipped away just in time to avoid the next swipe. She moved away a bit further, probably thinking of how to finish off her soulless (and apparently chanceless) enemy as impressively as possible when something unpredictable happened: Her sword suddenly hummed with a vibrating sound and blue rays of light gathered in it from all directions. Lilly stared in terror at the weapon in her hand as power alien to her own started surging through her body. The zombie seemed to sense Lilly's state of shock and advanced, but Lilly fortunately got a grip on herself and directed the blade at her foe.
Out of nowhere, water appeared on the forest floor and rose about a foot high. Strangely enough, my feet didn't get wet and I could still move freely.
To the zombie, however, the water was not a mere illusion; its advance was temporarily hindered and as we watched, two waves rose out of the sea. They quickly grew into towering lances of water as they closed in from either side and finally crashed together, catching the enemy in their midst. "Dreamtide…" Kara and I whispered simultaneously as the water faded away.
Lilly's foe had been barely fazed by the attack, though, as undeads were generally resistant to water and Lilly's low water power didn't really help either. It immediately resumed its attack on Lilly, who was supporting herself on her sword, panting heavily and clearly not ready to fight back. I racked my brain for something that might help her. I briefly considered throwing my weapon, but I figured I might as well end up hitting Lilly with it. Psynergy! I thought, desperately trying to think of something that would get her out of this predicament. Will, quick! Kara's voice entered my mind, along with a picture…
"Slash!!!" I shouted, thrusting an arm into the zombie's direction. Purple wind waves shot out with high speed and sliced into the enemy at different angles, knocking it away from Lilly. It turned gray and disintegrated just like its companion.
We collected the gold the zombies had left behind and went over to Lilly. She was sitting on the ground. "Are you okay?" Kara asked in concern. Lilly nodded. "Just a little exhausted."
The sword lay beside her. I picked it up and examined it. "So this is the Pirate's Sword…" Kara muttered.
"You know this weapon?!" Lilly asked disbelievingly. "Why didn't you tell me right away?"
"We didn't know." I said. "We just recognized it because of its unleash."
"Unleash?" Lilly looked at us in confusion.
"This weapon has a special power, as you already suggested it might." Kara started to explain. "This is called an unleash. As far as I know, they are always linked to one element."
"But I'm a Venus Adept!" she protested, picking herself up from the ground. "Why did I just produce a water-based attack? That was…" She broke off, struggling for words.
"Most unsettling, Alex would probably say." Kara smiled. "You are by no doubt a Venus Adept, but that doesn't mean you can't use other kinds of Psynergy. You just won't do very well at them, as you might have noticed."
"Let me guess: You know this sword from your game?" Lilly asked.
"Exactly." I said. "The Pirate's Sword is worth 2000 coins, boosts attack power by 34 and unleashes Dreamtide, which may send the foe it hits to sleep."
She arched an eyebrow. "Attack boost of 34?"
I grinned. "Well, at least in the game…" I passed the GBA over to her. The shopping dialogue was still visible. Lilly pressed a few buttons. "Hmm, 34 is not all that much, is it?" she inquired.
"It is, compared to those!" Kara said, lifting up her short sword. "They only got eight!"
"But look here!" she said. "This one says 210!"
"That's the Darksword, one of the most advanced weapons." I explained. "You don't get them until the very end of the game. With a power rating of 210, this sword is the sharpest of all, so to speak, but its unleash is another thing. It's not exactly crappy, but rarely anybody considers it the best weapon there is. The unleash is what really makes a weapon strong or weak."
"Still, this is in much better hands with you, Kara." She gave the sword to her. "I can't have this unleash thing interfere with my battle routine, it's much too unpredictable."
Kara looked at the blade in her hands with awe. "You sure you don't want it?" she asked the blue-haired girl.
Lilly rolled her eyes. "Come on, you saw it! A normal blow would have been far more effective!"
"Really? Thank you!!!" Kara exclaimed with joy, handing her old sword to Lilly, who returned the GBA to me before she fastened it to her belt. "That was scary, feeling this foreign power in me…" She shuddered. "If we ever find a Venus-aligned weapon, we can talk about this unleash stuff again…"
"Come on, let's go." I said and she picked herself up from the ground. I took Kara's hand into mine again and we set out to continue our journey.
"You must've had training sessions back home, it was really amazing how you dealt with that zombie." Kara remarked. Lilly grinned sheepishly. "I guess it was before my sword started messing up… I was taught how to fight at home. Not just to defend myself in the wilderness. As a thief, it's vital to be able to fight, just in case the sneaky stuff doesn't work…"
She left the path and kicked out at a random tree alongside it. There was a yellow flash at the impact and the tree suddenly vibrated violently. "Like, for example, in a case like this." she said casually. There were some rustling noises and a figure tumbled down, hitting the ground in front of the tree. It was a young man about my age, with flaming red hair and green eyes which stared at us in surprise and confusion.
Lilly seemed to recognize the stranger: "You?!"
He looked even more confused. "Have we met?" he asked as he sat up, gingerly touching the back of his head and checking for injuries.
"No. Not yet." Lilly said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry, you're fine." she added as he continued to check over his body. She cast Cure on him. "There. Just to be safe."
"Why did you show me your Psynergy?" he inquired. "I thought you're supposed to keep it a secret…"
"Well," Lilly began counting off at her fingers, " First, you've been up there at least since the zombie incident, so you've already seen plenty of Psynergy. Second, we are only supposed to hide it from outsiders, not from fellow Adepts and third, I just thought your health was more important right now. Sorry about that."
"No, that's quite okay." he said hastily. "But how would you know that I'm an Adept, too?"
Lilly grinned even broader. "First, I can sense it. There's something special about you. I even had some sort vision of you this morning. I know that as a Venus Adept, I'm not supposed to have visions, but tell that to the people out there who are responsible for that sorta thing."
The boy closed his mouth again, having wanted to point out exactly that, and Lilly took a deep breath before she went on: "Second, you gave it away when you said you could see Psynergy. Ordinary people can't see Psynergy, only its effects. And third…"
That moment there was a bright red flash on his chest and I figured that was a Mars Djinni which has just been set to him. Lilly made a gesture at the spot where the flash had been. "Third. Djinn tend to set themselves to Adepts only."
The boy chuckled. "You sure you aren't a Jupiter Adept?" He got to his feet. Lilly watched him warily but didn't interfere.
"I'm Lance, from Prox, and this," he put his Djinni on standby, "this is Aura. But I don't expect you to believe that I'm mainly here because I was bored back home."
"Actually, I do." I said. "I can tell that you're not lying, even without reading your mind. I'm Will and this is Kara." To Lilly I spoke mentally: What about you? Do you trust him?
Lilly blushed. He's the one I saw in my vision this morning! Do I have another choice?
"What did he say?" Lance asked. This guy is way too smart! I heard Lilly's voice again.
What? You think someone who's as smart as you is dangerous?! I was amused.
Definitely. Lilly sent back. She turned back to Lance. "He asked me whether I trust you." she answered, going crimson.
"Is that a yes?" he smirked, indicating her face color.
Her eyes flashed dangerously, but her face wore an indifferent expression. "No, I'm merely disappointed." His grin faded and made way for a look of utter confusion. "You're cute, it's a shame we'll have to get rid of you now…"
He went pale and looked at Lilly in horror and the three of us burst out laughing. "That look," Lilly panted, doubled up with laughter, "it was priceless!"
Lance made a sour face. "Aww…" Lilly cooed, putting a hand on his shoulder and pinching his cheek with the other. "Don't worry, you're safe. We won't kill you..." Lance blushed and Lilly continued: "…yet." Then she burst into laughter again.
Lance pouted then sighed. "Well, I should be thankful. You did get me out of my predicament with the zombies. They were after me. Around my hometown, the monsters are a lot tougher, so I thought I wouldn't have problems with the local ones. But I've depleted my Psynergy in the recent battles and Aura still had to recover from the last summon…"
"Yeah, you really saved us!" Aura squealed. "Nice to meet you guys! I'm Aura and unleashing greatly improves a person's attack, defense, speed and resistance against Psynergy!"
We put our Djinn on standby, too and everyone was introduced. "How did you meet Aura?" Lilly wanted to know.
"I ran into her a few hours ago. There was this really scary guy with blue hair, and he was trying to capture her. He was a Mercury Adept and incredibly powerful. I wouldn't have stood a chance fighting him head-on. Aura made me unleash her and with that speed boost, I was able to run."
"Very powerful, hm?" I took out the manual I was given back home, showing him a picture of Alex. "Is that him?"
Lance nodded, looking at the picture in awe. "You know him or what?"
"Regrettably, I do. This is Alex. An unpleasant fellow…"
"This is Alex?! The traitor?!" Lance' eyes widened. "Who betrayed us Proxians, saying he'd help us light the Elemental Lighthouses when in reality he was only using everybody for his own scheme to gain power?! And this is supposed to be him?"
"Uh-huh. He's got the power of the Golden Sun in him. I think you're lucky to have survived." Kara said. "Do you know where he went?"
"I don't want to know… not anymore." he responded, now positively shocked. "I suppose, though, that he's headed to Vale Crater. There's nothing else around here." He sighed. "I considered following him, but I don't want to anymore."
"We are going that way." I shrugged. "We're looking for the residents of Vale. I suppose they've built some sort of settlement in this area." Why don't you come with us?"
His eyes lightened up. "Do you mean it?"
"We could also leave you out here in the forest…" Lilly said slyly.
"I'll go with you! This will be fun!" Lance sounded excited.
Lilly had meanwhile given Root to Lance and taken Aura in return to look at her more closely. She held the Mars Djinni to her chest, enjoying the pleasant warmth the creature seemed to give off and completely oblivious to what was happening around her. Root was perched on Lance shoulder, whispering things about Lilly into his ear, to which he listened with rapt attention.
Kara and I turned away, trying to conceal our grins. Cute, aren't they? Kara nodded, smirking. Wonder how long it takes them…
Not long… She smiled wickedly. I'll see to that…
Wanna play matchmaker?! Count me in!
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Yay, the party's complete now. Sol Sanctum coming up soon! (Don't ask why, you'll see soon enough…) Believe it or not, I actually have a plot for this!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Some people asked some things in their reviews:
- When will Isaac and company appear?
Maybe they'll appear at some point in the closer future, but they won't join forces, 'cause Isaac's and Felix' parties are way too strong right now.
- Is this a mudshipper?
Look up the prologue, the pairings are in there before the actual story starts and everything written there still applies. I still need to add Lilly/Lance, though…
- Will Freedan show up, too?
Hehe… He will. But nobody of you will ever guess how or in what role! *cackles evilly*
- Update soon?
I'll do my best! (And that takes its time…)
Thanks in advance for reviewing! (I should get myself a muse to say these things for me… *snickers*)
The next chapter will be from Lance' POV!
So long
Quizer