A/N: Welcome, friends, Romans, countrymen and fellow authors, to another exciting chapter of… dun da da da dun… Golden Sun! (cue cheesy theme music) Well, this was a slightly quicker update than last time, wasn't it? At least, I think it was… too lazy to check though, so I'll just say that it is. This chapter is slightly shorter than others, it seems, but oh well. There's only so much you can write about walking in the forest, I guess.

Well, in other news, I guess celebrations are in order now, so break out the champagne- I NOW HAVE OVER 100 REVIEWS! WOOT! Well, good enough reason to celebrate, I thought. Still, keep em coming people; you now I love reviews, give me all your thoughts and comments! Be they good, bad, constructive criticism or what have you, if you have something you wanna say, then I wanna hear it! Flamers need not bother, of course. Okay, I thought that was cool, anyway, I feel so special and loved. Thank you everyone, your continued support helps this thing continue to be written, so don't let me or the fic down!

Anyway, speaking of reviews, I guess some replies are in order, ne?

Unclever title: Heh, yeah I like that testing idea to, and would have incorporated it, but… guess I was feeling uninspired that day I tried writing it the games way, (shrugs). Oh well. The puzzles and things are good, true, but it can sometimes be hard to write them from an interesting angle. But no matter, the main thing is the big storyline, right? Well, hope you liked it anyway. Yes, I also agree with you on the three dot thing… Ah well, you may be going, but I hope you'll also be coming. As in back. Thanx for reviewing!

ElementalSpirit1: Glad you liked it. I am definitely going all the way up to the end of this game, I can promise you that, but as for the doom dragon… well, I'd like to, 'tis my intention, but I won't promise anything just yet as it is still too early. But if I can, I will.

Arsenal: Thank you! Yeah, it has become incredibly long, just imagine when its finished! Yeah, I like a lot of detail, I can't help it (a habit probably learned from Robert Jordan). As for the class thing, to be quite honest I honestly hadn't thought about it! But now that I do, well… most of their abilities are generally being derived from the ones that they would have possessed had they had only the Djinn of their element (ie, Isaac all Venus Djinn, etc), because that's how I usually had it in the game, so I'm more familiar with that move list. So… I'm sorta removing the classes, by default of the Djinn, but… yeah. Hope that's answer enough for ya!

Corycian Muse: Ahh, my favourite muse who, ironically enough, isn't actually my muse at all. My favourite nonw-muse Muse. Bah, never mind me, I'm just trying to be smart. Heh, glad this part was good, (been ages since I played the games too, would you believe it) so yeah, that's good. I'm trying to write this so that even someone whose never played the game can enjoy it… hopefully. Not sure how much I'm succeeding (seeing as I have no means to measure that success) but oh well. I understand that whole lack of words thing, I get it too, but so long as I know you're happy, and I'm seeing your name on my list, then I'm happy! And get on MSN sometime, we simply must talk! (SpasticDjinn has said the most charming things about you!)

Spirit Seer: Ahh, glad it's well written enough for you. As I often say, good enough is good enough. Yeah, I agree with you on the whole travelling thing, its weird how they can do that, so I'm trying to incorporate the sense that they can't just do all the side quests, but I'll include what I can, where I can, if it works. Oh yeah, change their thoughts, hopefully plant the seed that will eventually turn Isaac the TLA. Well, hope you continue to enjoy this!

Spastic Djinn: Well, if it isn't you, my fave Djinn! I might hold back thy judgement on ye, if ye doth spread thy sacred word of thy Golden Sun to thy people… or something like that. Anyway, hope this was quick enough. PS: It will please you to know that Operation Snow Cow has begun. I'll fax you the relevant paperwork to fill out.

Sorceress Sakura: That's all right, I don't mind the demand for quicker updates. The way I look at it, if people are eager to continue with this, then I must be doing something right! I'll try and keep em comin for ya!

GoldenSunGeek: Hey, good to see you! (or read, however you look at it) Thank you, glad you enjoyed the changes (seems most people did) and hopefully you'll like whatever ones will be yet to come (I have a couple in the mind that will be revealed in due time). Thanx for wishing me luck, I think it helped! You're up to here right now? Wow, that is freaky… strange twists in the cosmos of fate… or something.

Unicornmaddy: Thank you! Hope you like this one, too!

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, yak yak yak, I wonder if anyone will even bother to read this?

Okay, then. You know, its funny, but I don't think I've ever read anything concerning Mogall Forest, have you? Maybe I'm just missing out, but I've not personally read any fics narrating anything inside this place. It's a bit like the Lamakan Desert; it's a part of Weyard that is always just simply ignored. Weird, huh? So, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first Mogall Forest focused thing written… well, probably not, I'm sure someone out there has done it, but I just haven't found it.

I'm not sure how much I like this chapter; it doesn't seem quite as good as normal. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, wouldn't be the first time, and I often don't like stuff of mine that others say is great. So what they hey, if it's good, then great, if not, well then I guess I was just feeling uninspired. Or pessimistic. Or both. Or maybe I'm just rambling now. So I'll shut up and let you read on.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE PRAIRIE FOREST

Standing at the edge of what used to be the Mogall Prairie, Isaac stared into the deep, dark forest. Mogall Forest. Rained upon by Psynergy Stones, Venus Psynergy had warped the land, making this large, thick forest grow. And done the gods only knew what to the animals, now monsters.

There was an old, weather worn wooden sign beside the path, just at the edge of the forest. It read:

North: Fuchin temple

South: Mogall Prairie.

There was no prairie anymore, it had been overgrown by this forest.

The four Adepts stepped in cautiously. Nyunpa may have given them something that would help them to get through the forest quickly, without getting lost, but it wouldn't protect them form the things that would attack.

Isaac thought about their journey in his head. Saturos' party was now three and a half days to four days ahead of them, due to the Kolima Forest and Fuchin Temple detours. But they hadn't been taught how to find their way through these paths like they had. That would slow them down considerably; they might not even make it through. There seemed no chance of just finding them in the middle of the forest, they could pass within not even shouting distance and not see each other, these trees were so thick. Still, with any luck, they would run into them not long after leaving if they were lucky. With this Orb of Force, as they'd come to call it, they could pass through in a minimum of time, while Saturos' party struggled and wasted time, trying to find a way through.

They passed a few trees and found a small area of less thick growth where a large ape with rough hair was sitting on the ground, picking for worms. Making a lot of noise as they entered, they startled the creature, which shrieked with surprise, and leapt away from them, jumping and hiding into a hollowed out tree stump.

It was a large, thick stump, wide enough for the ape to hide in it's hollowed out trunk. And it was tall enough that no human could leap or climb up it. It seemed the perfect opportunity to try out their new item. Of course, he could have used some sort of Psynergy upon the bark, or have Garet flush it out with fire, or Ivan and Mia do something, but they were to likely to injure the creature.

It turned out that the Orb of Force was really just a Psynergy item, very similar to Isaac's Catch Beads, which just unleashed a special power from it when they channelled Psynergy into it. It worked the same for any Adept, regardless of element or strength. Whereas Isaac's Catch Beads unleashed a power called "Catch", which could seize small, light objects from a distance and bring it back to the wielder (something they'd found handy for grabbing fruit and nuts from trees) the Orb of Force unleashed what they called "Force". "Force" was a powerful Psynergetic push, like getting punched by an invisible power, and it would help disturb creatures of the woods without injury, so that they could follow them when they ran. Supposedly, they would show them the way out, at least according to Nyunpa.

Isaac grasped the Orb of Force in hand, and focused is Psynergy into it, forming the power it held in his opposite hand. He unleashed a blast of "Force" at the tree trunk, hitting it with the Psynergetic power it unleashed, causing the trunk to shudder and creak.

Shaken by the shock it felt, the ape leaped out in fright and bounded into the forest, away from them. And towards the exit.

"Quick! Follow it!" Isaac shouted, racing after it. The others followed as they crashed through the forest, leaping over tree roots and ducking under branches, getting twigs and leaves caught in their hair. They followed the creature for some distance before it climbed up a larger, taller tree and took itself out of their pursuit.

"Great! We lost it!" Garet muttered to himself.

"We'll just have to look for another, I guess." Ivan said. They made their way slowly through the forest, keeping a wary eye out for something they could follow out there. They encountered several other apes amidst the forest, some hiding behind large trunks, others up in branches, in bushes or in other hollowed out stumps, similar to the first one that they'd encountered. And each time that they'd used Force to disturb them and brink them out of hiding, they followed them deeper into Mogall, but always eventually losing them.

Sometimes, they would just climb up a random tree and disappear into the heights, others found ways of squeezing in between two trees, and by the time they'd got past, the apes were long gone. Some just seemed to vanish into thin air, one minute they were following it, then they'd round a tree and it was gone, no sign of how it had left, leaving them perplexed.

One of the more crafty ones, as they were following it, leapt up to an overhanging vine and swung across to others, swinging over a river and out of their reach, disappearing deep into the forest.

"That crafty little… he went over that river!" Garet exclaimed.

"Looks like we'll have to find a way over." Ivan mused. Isaac looked up and down the length of the river.

"There's now way over that I can see." He told them. "I think we'll have to make ourselves a way over."

"And how do we do that?" Mia asked.

"Just cut down a tree and make a bridge." Garet joked.

"Actually, that's not a half bad idea…" Isaac stated as inspiration struck him.

"Whoa, Isaac buddy, I was being sarcastic there…" Garet began, but Isaac had already made his move. He found a nice large, think trunk of a dead tree with not too many branches left that would do the job nicely.

Focusing his mind and summoning his Psynergy, Isaac delved his mind into the wood. There was a perfect point to make a break. Reaching out to his element with a single hand upon the tree, Isaac used Psynergy to break apart the fibres of the wood along a narrow line low on the trunk. When it was sufficiently weakened, he simply pushed the tree and its trunk snapped with surprising ease, allowing the rest of its bulk to crash to the ground effortlessly.

"How on Weyard did you do that?" Mia asked in surprise after the tree had landed.

"I know how to work with my element." Isaac shrugged. "Hey, Garet! Give me a hand getting this into the water, will you?" Realizing now what it was the Venus Adept had in mind, he quickly went to his aid shifting the tree. The two Adept used their Psynergy to drag the heavy trunk into the water, pushing it the rest of the way when it was halfway in.

The river was moving at a ponderous pace, so the large trunk didn't get dragged away, its end still resting on the bank. It was long enough to almost reach the other side, and from there it was a short jump across.

Once safely across, they resumed their journey through the forest, following the creatures that they'd flushed out of hiding with the Orb of Force. But deeper into the forest, some of the apes they encountered were a little braver, defending their territory when encountered.

The first ape to strike them back took them completely by surprise. When they flushed it out of hiding with the Orb of Force, rather than run off into the forest, so they could follow it, it charged at them with a shriek, intent on attacking. Ivan was the first to react, whipping up a billowing whirlwind, spinning it in the air and hurling it into a tree, knocking it unconscious.

The others, they were more prepared for. The next time they were attacking, Garet simply summoned a wall of fire between them, freaking the ape out and sending it back into hiding. Mia had to douse the fire out with her Psynergy, and they subsequently missed out on following the ape.

Others were frightened off by Isaac creating a minor earth tremor, Mia cooling their tempers with a well placed blast of water, drawn out of the air with her Psynergy. Sometimes they were able to follow after them when they had repelled the attempted attack, but sometimes, usually after Garet did something, it was impossible, generally because they had already lost it, the ape was unconscious, or simply because they were delayed as Mia had to Douse Garet's flames on the ground.

They had absolutely no sense of direction in the forest, or any idea what distance they'd travelled. Always were they wandering through trees blindly, hoping that they were heading in a somewhat southerly direction. They were well and truly and completely lost. At least they had reasonable success finding the apes of the forest to follow. Isaac wasn't entirely sure how reliable following them would be, they were seemingly running in random directions to him, but Nyunpa had advised him to follow them, so he put his faith in the old man's words. He was a monk who knew much and supposedly had read scriptures speaking of omens of the future, so he had to trust the old man's words.

Even though they couldn't make out the sky, or barely even the sun, through the tops of the tall, thick branches, they were aware that night had begun descending upon them when the maze-like forest darkened even more than it had been during the day. They had no choice but to make camp for the night in who knew what part of the forest.

Sitting around the camp fire, they found Mogall Forest to be much more disturbing at night that it was at day. Unseen eyes seemed to stare at them from the shadows. Bats, large and dangerous looking flew about, warded off only by the light of the camp fire. And creatures of the night could be heard milling about their location.

"Geez, this place freaks me out!" Garet commented as they ate dinner.

"Tell me about it." Ivan responded. "It's like we're being watched by something, and I don't feel the least bit safe with those noises I can hear."

"I wish they'd just go away." Mia moaned. "Things are bad enough as it is. We've spent all day wandering about with no idea where we're going, we could be here forever trying to find a way out. It's like this forest goes on forever! Endless woods indeed…"

"I can see why Nyunpa said that no ordinary man could pass through here." Isaac told them. "We've got this Orb of Force and the secret to supposedly finding our way across, but we've been wandering around blindly guessing our way as much as we've been following those apes, so we could be anywhere by now. We don't even know if we're headed in the right direction right now. We could very well have a long way to go yet." The other nodded in agreement.

"I think we should be more on our guard tomorrow for possible attacks." Ivan suggested. "It seems to me that the deeper we get in this forest, the more aggressive these monsters get. Who knows what we'll encounter along the way."

"Yes, which makes me wonder why these apes should all supposedly run to the end of the forest when we disturb them." Mia then said.

"Hey, that's a good question, I hadn't thought of that." Garet responded.

"I've thought about it, but I can't think of any reason why they would." Isaac shrugged.

"Maybe they feel safer heading in that direction?" Ivan suggested, but his tone of voice suggested he didn't much believe the idea. As they went to sleep for the night, they all agreed to once again take it in turns keeping watch, just in case. None of them slept easily, however.

X

The next day as they got ready to move again, they suddenly realised that they had a rather tasking problem. Which direction did they go in now? They had completely forgotten which way they had come from, and none of them could agree on which direction they were going, let alone we're they should go now.

Isaac's first instinct was to find their tracks and simply back track on those until they'd found their bearings again, but that idea failed. He discovered that it was impossible to backtrack in Mogall Forest. The footprints had vanished some way in between the trees mysteriously during the night. They were as lost trying to find their way forwards in Mogall as they were trying to go backwards.

"I'm telling you, we should go that way!" Garet insisted to the others, pointing in a seemingly random direction. "I remember that tress's location!"

"How can you, Garet? It looks just like all the others!" Ivan exclaimed. "Let's head in the direction!"

"What, that way? It's the exact opposite of what I suggested!"

"Exactly, which is why it's likely to be the right way!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!"

"That you always make the wrong choice!" Ivan joked.

"Hey, you guys!" Mia interrupted, causing them to both fall silent and listen. "The sun always rises in the east, right? So why don't we just use that to find our bearing and head south?" There was a moment's silence.

"Hey! I didn't even think of that!" Garet then exclaimed.

"Great idea, Mia!" Ivan told her.

"I can't believe that we didn't think of that before." Isaac murmured, shaking his head.

"Leave it to a woman to think of the simple answer!" the blue haired angel smiled.

This early in the morning, the angle of the sunlight was a lot more easy to define than during the rest of the day, when the think foliage of the trees above them made it to difficult to ascertain. Once they were sure of where south was, they immediately began heading in that direction, sloping gently downhill. Walking in a straight line, they tried to keep their course, but the twists and turns of the forest paths made it increasingly difficult, and the sun had risen far up enough to make it hard to spot.

"Are you sure we're getting nearer to the end?" Garet asked. "I have this distinct feeling that we're going around in circles."

"How can you say that Garet, if we have no idea where we're going?" Ivan countered.

"Because this part of the forest looks a lot like that other part we passed through." came Garet's reply.

"Oh, come on, Garet!" Mia vexed. "Every part of this forest looks just like the other part."

"Well, this looks more so." he insisted.

"Quiet! I think there's another one of those ape creatures up ahead." Isaac warned them. Sure enough, up in the branches of a nearby tree, was an ape with thick brown hair sleeping lazily. Using the Orb of Force, Isaac unleashed a Psynergetic punch that knocked the creature from its perch, waking it up as it crashed into the ground. The ape then rushed at them, anger flaring in its eyes until it saw how many of them there were, at which point it turned and ran from them, deep into the shadows of the forest.

Isaac and the others followed at top speed, keeping up with it as it wove it's way in between trees, darting from side to side until lit vanished somewhere behind some thick shrubbery up ahead, and they failed to find it again.

They followed several others like this through the endless woods; all the while Isaac wondered where on Weyard they were leading them. They soon found out, however.

As they were following a dirty grey ape attempting to make its escape, it disappeared into a thick grove of trees, behind which emerged a giant ape. This monster ape was huge; some ten tall covered in thick, light brown hair, and set with powerful looking muscles. So that was what those other apes had been heading for! The protection of this giant ape!

"Aw, geez, I wish Nyunpa had warned us about this!" Garet exclaimed, as he pulled out his axe from his side, and gripped it tightly before him.

"I can't believe that it was really created from those Psynergy Stones!" Ivan said, noting the way the beast had a similar sort of resonance at the rest of the forest did; an unnatural Venus Psynergy resonance, altering the power of the earth element from within.

"Let's take care of it!" Isaac declared, unsheathing his sword. Mia held her Angelic Ankh in front of her, and the orb began to glow blue as she focused her Psynergy.

Seeing her rod's glow, the giant ape moved on her first. It raised a fist, but Mia quickly unleashed a shower of razor sharp icicles at the beast, stopping it in its tracks. Ivan hit it with a powerful gust of wind, knocking it back a step. While it was still recoiling from the blow, Garet hit it with a torrent of small fireballs, engulfing the creature in flames. Strangely it didn't seem to do much more than singe its hair. Garet rushed at the ape with his axe, but it threw him aside with a powerful backhand, sending the Fire Adept flying away.

"Garet!" Isaac shouted. That blow looked like it might have injured him.

"I'll take care of him!" Mia called out, rushing for the fallen Adept, while Isaac engaged the giant ape to keep it away from her.

Isaac flung out his hand and the ground beneath the monster roiled in an earthquake, causing it to lose its footing. Out of the corner of his eye, Isaac saw Mia working her magic on Garet, healing his injured chest.

Bolts of lightning lanced down upon the giant ape, momentarily blinding Isaac. When he opened them again, the beast was coming for them, large arms raised above its head in rage. Isaac instinctively reached out to the ground with his Psynergy, and a powerful stone spike rent itself from the earth, and flew at the gorilla's chest, shattering against its powerful hide and stopping it from charging.

Isaac was amazed at its resilience, something like that would have killed any other. Isaac prepared another, more powerful attack. Right then, a powerful whirlwind formed about the creature, holding it in place. Isaac realized Ivan was keeping it in place so he could get in another attack.

Unleashing his Psynergy, a powerful Ragnarok shot from Isaac's hand, a glowing white phantom blade of pure power slamming into the hairy animal's bulk, exploding in a brilliant white flash, sending a shower of dazzling white sparks around it. Ivan let his whirlwind dissipate, and the two Adepts, holding their sword blade and rod in front of them, charged in for the attack.

As they rushed in, and their sight cleared, they saw the powerful monster wasn't beaten; in fact it was going in for the attack. Isaac swung his sword, and the blade pierced deeply into the flesh of its arm at the same time as its fist collided with his chest and threw him back. Isaac slammed into a tree behind him. His armour had saved him from major injury. He saw the ape jitter with electricity as it flung Ivan aside and game into contact with his Shaman's Rod.

Ivan was flung off to the side and landed by a tree, seriously wounded. Isaac quickly cast his Cure ability on himself, healing his bruised and winded chest. He looked up to see the giant ape moving towards Ivan to finish him off. Thinking quickly, Isaac summoned his power, channelling it through the Orb of Force and unleashed a Psynergetic punch at the beasts back. It worked; the ape turned to face him and forgot Ivan, then charged bellowing loudly.

Isaac focused his mind on the earth between them and, raising his hand, huge chunks of stone rose up between them, floating in the air. The ape slackened its pace a little confused. Then Isaac flung out his hand, and the rocks hurled themselves at the monster, slamming into it with an audible crunch, halting it in its tracks.

Suddenly, a torrent of sharp icicles descended upon it, driving it to its knees. Mia appeared at his side, and used what she had told them was called 'frost', as iced formed around the giant apes knees, freezing it to the ground.

"Quick, go help Ivan!" he told her, and she nodded, racing for the fallen Wind Adept. Roaring with anger, the ape tried to break free to reach her. While it was distracted, a huge powerful fireball slammed into it, exploding like a heat wave, incinerating the grass about it. Garet stood next to Isaac, axe held before him in battle position.

"Knock me to the ground, will you?" he called out, and ran towards it.

Isaac unleashed another Ragnarok over his friend at their enemy to cover him.

It exploded in a shower of brilliant white sparks and Garet leapt on the creature and buried his axe in its back. The ape howled with pain and threw Garet from its back, but the Fire Adept was uninjured.

Suddenly a blue, powerful bolt of lightning plasma slammed down on the creature. Isaac looked to see Ivan standing again, Rod in hand and purple eyes focused intently on the giant ape, which now fell to it knees, unable to stand any more assaults. Mia unleashed the killing blow, thick sharp icicle piercing the back of its head, leaving the creature to fall to the ground, dead, red blood forming a pool around it.

"Phew, that was a close one." Ivan sighed. Garet walked over and ripped his axe from the creature's back, inspecting the blade.

"I'm going to have to clean this again…" he muttered, but hung it back at his side anyway.

"Is everyone all right?" Mia asked in a concerned voice.

"We're all fine." Isaac told her. "Right now, we should get moving. We won't stay along for long, I think." The four Adept turned, and continued heading south, following Isaac's lead. He could sense the earth's aura around him was thinner in that direction, almost certainly because it was at the edge of the forest.

"Hey, I can see a light through the trees!" Ivan called out. "We're near the edge of the forest!"

They broke into a run, and finally emerged on the other side of Mogall Forest, in daylight once more. They were upon the path as well, which was lost once it would into the trees behind them. Ahead was an old wooden sign which read :

'North: Mogall Prairie.

West: Xian'

"Hey, we made it!" Garet exclaimed. "Those monkeys we were following didn't lead us the wrong way!"

"I'm pretty tired after that battle." Ivan said. "I think we should have a rest, Isaac."

"We could all do with a rest." Mia told the Earth Adept, who was thinking inside his head. Four days behind Saturos when they encountered Mogall, and they made it across in two. How long for their group, though? Best not to waste anymore time.

"Isaac, buddy, you listening?" Garet called out. "Should we rest here?"

"We can rest at Xian." Isaac told them. "We can't afford to fall any further behind. Let's hurry; we can catch up to them yet."

Following the road, the party of four Adepts continued on their way.

X

"Who would have imagined that Mogall Forest would be such a maze?" Saturos sighed as he sat down. Menardi handed him a bowl of soup that she was cooking, flames generated with Psynergy, and the powerful warriors began eating.

"We did unfortunately waste too much time in Mogall." Menardi replied coolly. "But we're through now. And those kids haven't caught up with us yet."

"I wish they would." Jenna muttered sourly to herself, but the two powerful Fire Adepts ignored her. Felix sat next to her eating silently, but he kept a wary eye on her at all times.

"I am indeed truly amazed at the power those Psynergy Stones exerted over the land." Kraden said to himself in deep thought. "Transforming an entire prairie to a thick forest in a matter of days! Incredible! I must get my observations down." He sat there, scribbling in a small, leather bound book, occasionally mushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. Saturos and Menardi both ignored him.

"Why can't we stay at an inn in this town we're passing by?" Jenna asked. "Xi- whatever it was. The one Alex is visiting now for supplies?"

"Because Saturos said so." Felix told her simply. "Why do we need to stop there anyway?"

"Because we've been walking and camping for more than a week now, I'm tired and I want a proper bed!" Jenna snapped. Saturos opened his mouth to reply, but Menardi spoke first.

"Actually, Saturos, for once the girl has a point." she told him. Jenna frowned inwardly at being called a girl.

"We don't know how far behind us Isaac and his friends are." Saturos replied to Menardi, not Jenna. "Nyunpa wouldn't give us the secret for getting through Mogall quickly, but no doubt those kids won his heart and are right behind us. We don't want to let them know we've been this way." Menardi nodded.

"I can't see how it would be anything but good if he catches up." Jenna told her captor. "I'd rather he rescue me than be stuck with you."

"If he did find us, it would be a fight he cannot win." Saturos warned her gravely. "Mercury would not be able to save him next time."

"We will have to face him sooner or later, you know, Felix." Menardi told Jenna's traitorous brother.

"I know, but it's a conflict that I'd rather avoid." The Earth Adept sighed.

"But it will happen; we need the Mars Star he carries." Menardi replied.

"Personally, I don't want to face them yet, either." Saturos spoke. "If we can delay them, then we can save ourselves the bother of dealing with them while we light Venus and Jupiter. Then we can make them bring the Mars Star to Mars Lighthouse." He grinned. "No matter how strong they get, we and the other two can easily enough deal with them."

Who are these other two? Jenna thought silently to herself.

"Saturos, you and I are strong enough to deal with them on our own." Menardi told her partner then, with a look to Jenna, added. "Besides, we might still convince them to make a deal yet, if we can."

Jenna's temper rose. How dare they talk about her like this! Like she was just something to be swapped!

"I wish Isaac would stop being so stubborn and just give us the Star." Felix muttered solemnly as he gazed into the fire. "He doesn't realise what he'd getting himself into. That way we could release Alchemy, and Jenna would be safe."

"As safe as a world with Alchemy loose can be!" Jenna snapped, causing even Kraden to stop scribbling in his book. "Don't you realise what it is you're trying to do?"
"Only all too well…" Felix replied levelly.

"As do I." Alex's voice came from behind her. Jenna forgot her anger as she spun to see the blue-haired Water Adept behind her step into the fire's light. "You mentioned you wanted to delay Isaac and his companions?" he asked Saturos as he dropped the bag of supplies on the ground. "I found an ideal location for the idea you suggested."

"Then we can delay Isaac and the others without having to deal with them?" Felix asked enthusiastically.

"For the time being, yes." Alex replied simply. "But Saturos, I must stress that somehow we must get…"

"We'll get it." Saturos cut in. There was no need to say what 'it' was. The Mars Star.

"What, may I ask, is it you are planning?" Kraden asked inquisitively.

"You shall see, Master Kraden, you shall see." Saturos replied, returning to his soup.

Jenna sighed to herself as she gazed out to the stars, thinking about Isaac. He wouldn't be stopped by anything they tried, she was sure. They had gone through Kolima, even Saturos himself atop Mercury. She knew that he'd come to her rescue eventually. She only wished that there were something that she could do.

A/N: And that's the end of that chapter. Well, hope you liked it, even if I didn't all that much (author pessimism, I'll bet). Yes, I may be a "traveling chapter" kinda guy, but I like the "traveling chapter" thing, seeing as the next couple will also be "traveling chaps". (Which, I guess, is now the unofficial title for such a thing, and why not?)

Anyway, there's now something that I want to say. Give me MSN addresses! I'm lonely on MSN, somebody add me, make me feel loved and give me a reason to pretend that I have friends out there! Seriously, as SpasticDjinn pointed out, things around here were a lot better when authors communicated a lot more, and stimulated the creation of more fics. The GS community is dying, so, my friends Romans Countrymen and Fellow Authors, we must band together, and keep things alive! Lets us band together, and talk about all sorts of things! Let us resurrect the GS fanfiction community! We have the power! When the time has come, and others ask you what you did to resurrect the GS community, what will you say? WHAT SAY YOU? So give me MSN addresses, or just add me, if it pleases you, though I won't be offended in the least if you choose not to. Whether we talk or not outside of reviews is up to you, if you want to, great, if not, no problem. Anyway, I'm beginning to ramble here, but if you'll put up with me, I have one more thing to complain about that is of absolutely no relevance whatsoever.

Anyone ever read the Wheel of Time series? Anyone aware of how book 11 (Knife of Dreams) is about to be released this month? Anyone who knows me will know that I'm looking forward to this book release with the same level of anxiousness that many Harry Potter fans experienced for the Half-Blood Prince. And you know what I just found out? In the US, KoD is being released this month. Here in Australia, I have to wait til JANUARY NEXT FREAKIN YEAR! BAH! This is an outrage! Sure, I could pay the bookstore and extra $40 to import it early, but… jeez laweez, I'm not made of money! Grumble…. Wait an extra couple a months… what is the world coming too? Well, like I said, I'm just complaining, and it has nothing to do with anything, so I'll just shut up.

Anyway, these Author notes are almost becoming as long as the actual chapter, so I'll end things with the usual requests for reviews, MSN addresses if you wanna chat with me and a vague promise of a reasonably quick update that will probably be broken. Good day to you all. Oh yeah, and keep an eye out as I'll soon be releasing me (cough our cough) brand new Top Secret Fan Fiction Project. You'll see… it's looking really good and is a lot of fun to write. Anyway, adios amigos!