Golden Sun: The Hunted

Written by The Mikaa

Chapter 6 - Tests are a Pain

Now, before I go into depth on my typical story/review recaps, what do you think that chapter title signifies? Am I saying I had tests, and that was why I had not updated in so long? Is it because I am trying to find an excuse to blame why it took me so long to write the new chapter? Or is it half-truth?

Weeeelll...

In reality, between being sick, having school, boxing up crap in my room, trying to finalize WHAT was going into this chapter, and trying to pry myself from Animal Crossing DS, Mega Man II Game Boy (which I played just to check out something, and soon became locked in its classic grasp), reading a VERY good Tom Clancy novel (seriously; Red Storm Rising is suprisingly good...), catching up on school work from when I was sick, helping plan and celebrating my sis's birthday, and THEN finding time to write this thing... Eh, who cares, though? It's not that anyone gives a rat's fluffy bunny about me, right?

Except those that want to see where I am going with this (and to see if I was just on crack when I wrote that bizzare dream bit for Igori...)

Speaking of the deformed maniac! We all know he practically handed everyone their butts a la Alex in "The Insanity!" And, naturally, Igori now has a mob out to have his hide. One thing I often am asking myself about is why Igori is hated so much, why they despise the "old man" bit, and wonder what people will think of later chapters. Yes, Igori is an OC, and yes, I am not a big fan of fics where OCs are the stars, but there will be an answer...

Speaking of answers, alert readers might recall a few chapters back when another character had a hidden identity, and I stated it was NOT Alex (though I have been VERY careful since that debacle...). So! Guess away before you read, as someone is revealed here...

Oh, and though MIKAA DOES NOT OWN NINTENDO, CAMELOT, GOLDEN SUN, GAME STOP, GAME FAQS, OR WHATEVER ELSE I CAN THINK OF, he does have some rather interesting reviews posted at (look for the user name, eh, just guess...). If you are a big DS fan, feel free to check out my reviews, as over 50 of my write-ups pertain to those games, usually popular ones (and quite a few POSes that I KNEW to be POSes... But then, who else would review "Incredibles - Rise of the Underminer?" Only someone with no time and no life. And who likes punishment. Geez, if I go any further down Bad Game lane, I might end up like Seanbaby... Eh, but that's a few years away, never if I don't play half of those NES games he rants on about...

Er, you wanted the story, right? Sorry... :cough:

BACK TO ADVENTURE!

DAMN IT ALL! Why can't I get that damned line out of my head when I write this?

To Chapter Six - Tests are a Pain, before I get hate-mail for my rants...

He was sitting down.

And he was alive.

The very notion that he was still alive gave Igori the shivers. That they saved him at all hinted that they merely wanted him for questions, maybe even information on where and how to nail the Empire's army to weaken them, or maybe have him try to kill the Emperor.

Or maybe he was overreacting a bit. It might help if he opened his eyes.

Doing so, Igori frowned. Whatever he was sitting in, it was nothing that he had ever seen before. Made of an exotic material (though stronger than steel), the walls of the capsule he was in were lined with a leathery surface, a glass barrier right before him.

"Where to, mack?"

Blinking, Igori stared ahead. There was a person on the other side of the glass, his face taught and thin. Breaking out of his thoughts, Igori was about to ask where he was going when the side of the thing he was in (was it a carrage? A wagon?), and entered...

...his waking-up phase. Whatever was about to happen, Igori would probably not find out; the vision (or was it just a dream? A bizzare one, if so) had faded in place of the familiar outlines of a Kalay stateroom. Igori was lying on a couch, remaining still to sense for nearby "guests." Sensing only one, he slowly sat up, shocked at how little his muscles ached. Reaching with his right hand to brush back what little hair he had, Igori froze when he felt his face. Bringing both hands to his face, he felt the smoothness, the lack of disfigurement, the... youth, if that word applied.

Looking down at his hands, they were smooth as well, as though he had never been attacked by Sheba. Whether this was just another dream, or a sign of an illusion, Igori could not tell, nor did he bother trying. Glancing up, he saw the figure he sensed on the bed, and frowned. It was Jenna, looking, for all intent and purposes, like a cadaver. Rising and moving to the bed, Igori placed a hand on her forehead, checking for signs of life. Indeed, he did find signs that she was alive, though whether she would stay that way was debatable; she was barely hanging on. Was this a result from his attack on her?

His eye twitched at a new sensation, his mind feeling the presence of something else nearby. Looking around, he did not see or hear anything, then looked back to Jenna. Igori frowned, eyes narrowing. Reaching over Jenna's abdomen, he reached out with his psynergy to check for that which he feared. Indeed, she was pregnant, and if she died because of what he-

Something was wrong. He checked the unborn child again, sensing something amiss. Time and time again, because of his appearance, er, former appeareance, Igori usually doubled as a medical aid to important figures in the Empire, usually as an undercover guard. On a few occasions (a few too many for Igori's liking), he had been forced to check on the unborn children, and usually sensed something in addition to the child, usually an elemental signature, or their bodies developing at an unusual pace. SOMETHING in addition to mere children in the womb.

All he sensed here was that there was a child, nothing else. No sign of life, no pulse, no elemental sign. A minute ago, he might have thought that his attacks earlier might have caused this; but no, if the child had died in the attack, he would have sensed nothing; if it was still alive, he SHOULD have sensed something.

Illusions. Had to be. And whoever was doing it was skilled at it, if not knowlegable about babies. Mabye a man. Could Ivan have come out of wherever he was hiding?

Stepping back, Igori charged his psynergy, sending waves of his mental energy to his hands. When he felt ready, he brought them together, then, as if clawing at the air, he unleashed the psynergetic energy, the air shimmering, the room dissolving. Even Igori himself was vanishing, only to find himself on a sofa.

In another state room. But this time, the room was notably bigger. From where he laid, Igori noted a small upper balcony (for whatever reason, he knew not), and as his eyes adjusted to the rest of the room, he looked up and saw Zial and Felix.

Felix's face was one of puzzlement, but Zial's was one of pure horror. She knew (how cold she not) that he was out of the illusion, and would only be a second or so before he would either be restrained or interrogated. Igori had a third option. With his mind, he hurled the cusions upwards, rolling off of them as he did, landing a few feet away from Felix and Zial. Yanking a pole off the wall, he positioned it defensively, not sure what Felix and Zial would do if he tried to strike an offensive pose. Quickly, he found out their responses:

Zial stood to the side as Felix drew his blade, charging at Igori. Igori deftly blocked Felix's attemtps to "kill" him, knowing that his fellow Venusian would need Igori alive, if only to find out information.

Ducking a swipe at his head, Igori lept into the air, using his psynergy to hurl him onto the balcony. Barely able to see what Felix was doing, Igori almost became chop-suey as Isaac (where the frak did HE come from?) moved against him. Blocking Isaac's efforts, Igori huled the pole at Isaac, using his mind to force Isaac a few feet away.

Quickly, Igori shrouded himself in a cloak. Under common military training, one did not use a shroud or cloak against an Adept, as one move was enough to reveal ones self to them. However, Igori did not move, barely breathed, as Felix lept to the balcony as well, both he and Isaac trying to find him. Yet, to Igori's puzzlement, Zial stared RIGHT AT HIM. She did not shout out his position, did not try to attack him, did not even move herself. Was she trying to put him off guard, or was she summoning others?

Or, Igori dreaded, was this yet another illusion?

Leaping over the side of the balcony, Igori could not see the shocked faces of Isaac or Felix, instead focusing his energy to summon a small field of dust around him, thrusting himself into the air. His actions looked, for all intents and purposes, like a double jump, and the Venusian's intakes of breath gave him enough time to land just beyond Zial, who only moved to follow him.

Without thinking, Igori rushed her. She tried to fire bolts of psynergy at him, but whatever effort she sought to use was being used elsewhere, thus confirmin his theory. Grasping her head, he funneled all of his energy into her, trying to break her control. Yet, she kept going, kept the illusion up. Igori began to worry; what if this was not an illusion?

Blood dribbled from her nose, and Igori began to wonder if he should release her. Just as he did, reality once again began to vanish from the "world," but with different results. For one, Igori was standing where he was, but in one of the lower dungeon rooms of Kalay. For another, he was holding Zial still, her breathing...

...was actually the air leaving her; she had stopped.

Lowering her to the floor, Igori quickly altered his psynergy's focus, trying to sense any damage that he could repair. Despite being Venusian, Igori had all the healing skills of a Proxian Village Idiot. Even knowing this, he almost felt a need to help her, knowing full well he was responsible.

Besides, he had to know who she was, right?

Cursing, he tried to search along the lower back areas of her skull, not sure if he would be in time to help her. Already he heard feet approaching, and if he looked up, he might just fail right away.

"Let me help..."

Igori blinkied. Still focusing on Zial, he frowned; he "heard" a voice, but that was not a voice he should have heard. It was Zial, but her lips did not move. What? How was she...?

"No time... Just... let me..."

Not bothering with an answer, Igori merely held her head gently, suprised when he felt himself pouring psynergy into her body, could feel her brain shift from where she was focusing her efforts. Would she be able to finish before Isaac and Felix...?

Abruptly, she began breathing again, much to everyone's supprise, if the gasps behind him were any sign. Gently, Igori lowered her to the floor, absently brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. Why was he staring at her, gawking like a love-sick teen? He just saved a spy, or a traitor, whichever, an act that was punishable by means no lesser than being locked in a dungeon and being forgotten.

As Felix and Isaac grabbed him to pull Igori to his feet, Igori almost collapsed. During the battle, he had paid no heed to his body; though he no longer bore the look of an old man, his muscles and bones had yet to adjust to their newly healed state, and through an illusion and healing Zial, it was a mirical that he was still aware.

"Thank you."

The voice again. This time, Igori had no doubts that it was Zial, and somehow knew this was no illusion. But, how could he hear her? From what his mother told him, even a mind-chat showed signs of psynergy; how? Igori blinked as the world faded for a second, his mind wavering back and forth from exhaustion. He mentally pictured himself sending her a "you're welcome" message, and was suprised when he heard weak laughter, and could almost feel her amusement.

Igori almost fell to the floor as Isaac released him, moving towards Zial. Igori barely heard the words "are," "okay," and "Feizhi" before being laid on a couch, reality fading fast.

Igori did not have time to ponder the name, for as the darkness claimed him again, he had to wonder if he would ever be well enough to go ONE fight WITHOUT passing out.

End Chapter Six

C'mon, you HAD to see that coming. Right? Anyone?

Well, I'll wait for the reviews; maybe some one did, maybe not. Just make sure to review and give your thoughts, as I need reviews to motivate me, and I need feedback to know what you (the readers) like, dislike, what you find amusing, and your favorite parts. That, and the odd wisecrack/joke always serve to motivate me faster (wink wink)

Mikaa, Master of Animal Crossing's Ch'Kal'A (AKA his town)