Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews everyone! I'm doing my best to balance out the action, romance, and humor so that there's something everyone can enjoy! Expect to see more women chasing Jet (and maybe just for kicks Clive, but not Gallows. He must suffer!) and maybe for a little romantic jealously guys can chase Virginia! I'm so mean to Jet D. Anyway here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: Expensive computer - $400. Microsoft Office XP - $80. The look on Gallows' face when I tell him I don't own Wild ARMs? – Priceless.
DAY 2 (cont.) – You Can't Win12:03 P.M – Outside the Lobby
Jet took in his surroundings and tried to work out what to do. 'First thing, the enemies. One carrying an SMG, the other two pistols. No one else in view, so let's concentrate on what we got. There's a couple of pillars in the lobby, that should provide some decent cover if I can move fast enough, hopefully I can also sneak up on them and have the initiative.' Jet looked back at Virginia. He was very much aware that while she was energetic like a machine, she wouldn't be safe trying to keep up with him.
"Go around the building and find another way to our room. I want you to get our ARMs and get back here." Jet's eyes still continued to glance around, still unsure of how to pull this off.
"What about you? I'm not going to leave without you." Virginia said, holding onto his arm.
"Don't worry about me, I have a plan." 'Tch, yeah right.' Jet didn't feel right lying, but he knew he didn't have time for any arguments. "The faster you find a way there, the faster you can get back."
Virginia finally gave in, and began to sneak around to the opposite side of the building. Jet had also begun his silent progress into the lobby, heading for the closest pillar.
12:10 P.M – Virginia and Jet's Room
Virginia had found a staircase along the side of the hotel, the fire escape route. She ran up to her room and hurriedly grabbed her ARMs before searching for Jet's. Just then she heard a noise coming from outside the door. The sound of an ARM being loaded.
'Oh crap.' Virginia started looking for an exit, before hearing another sound coming from her window, a somewhat similar sound of loading. She was surrounded.
12:13 P.M – The Lobby
Jet had made some excellent progress, now only a few meters away from the band of thugs. He had cover behind a pillar, but without his ARM, his options were limited. Upon closer inspection he noticed that they had already collected their money, yet they remained, still holding up the lobby. 'I thought the whole point of robbing someone was to grab the money and leave.' Jet felt that something wasn't right. He decided to ponder about it later and get on with stopping them here and now. 'I need a weapon..." Jet looked around for a suitable weapon. All he found was a suitcase full of business papers that had fallen out of the baggage trolley, a stack of logs tied together in the corner, a half-full bottle of wine rolling around the floor, and a lit candle on a nearby table. 'Okay, let's do this!'
"Where are they?" One the pistol-toting bandits asked his boss.
"Be patient fool, Eroz will arrive soon." His boss spoke coolly, with little emotion in his voice.
"Heard he's one crazy bastard, you sure we can trust him?" The other bandit spoke up.
His boss glared at him icily. "If he heard you say that, he would make make you beg for death." His underlings flinched at the thought of it.
Suddenly Jet rolled out of the cover of the pillar, carrying the suitcase and the wine bottle. The bandits saw him but didn't react fast enough. Jet had broken the bottle of wine into the suitcase, filling it with shards of glass and smelly wine. Then he threw it into the air on top of the bandits. "Catch!"
They looked up to see a heap of wine-soaked papers and glass fall on them, causing them to shield their heads with their hands. Their level-headed leader had seen this coming, and had already ran for cover.
"What the hell?" One of the bandits had returned their attention to Jet, to find him still holding the broken wine bottle, as well as a candle. His jaw dropped when he realized what he was going to do.
"Look out!" he yelled, but Jet had already thrown the candle in their direction, then turned around and cut the logs free using the wine bottle. A barrage of wooden poles went flying at the two unlucky bandits. The candle hit the floor near them, setting the area around them alight in a burst of flame. Then the logs followed and trampled them into the floor. Needless to say it was a painful experience for the lowly bandits.
Jet looked around for the last of the trio, who he found had climbed up to one of the balconies above the lobby. He let loose a volley of bullets, but Jet had already ducked for cover behind a pillar.
"You are indeed quite the warrior, and very resourceful too." The man let off another volley of bullets. "But it is quite unfortunate that I must kill you now." He had Jet cornered, and the pillar was running thin thanks to the constant rain of lead.
BOOM.
"Ugh!" The leader made a barely audible yell of pain as he dropped his weapon over the railing. Blood was gushing out of his palm, but it was almost as though he hadn't noticed. Jet looked out and saw Clive and the gang standing outside, with Clive's rifle smoking from his recently fired shot.
"Took your time." Jet said, although he was still glad to see them.
"You OK, punk?" Gallows and company had headed over to him to check how he was doing.
"Fine. Let's get that bastard." Jet led the other guys up the staircase and headed for the balcony, only to find a pile of blood leading to the window. Clive ran over and saw no sign of him.
"We lost him." Clive adjusted his sunglasses. "Well, at least everyone's OK."
"Not quite." Laughed Gallows looking down from the balcony. He saw the other two bandits – well, what was left of them – twitching on the floor. Apparently the logs had managed to put the fire out for them, but not before it burnt them fairly badly. "Damn Jet, maybe you don't even need your ARM!" He cracked up and threw him his Airget.
"Hey guys I found something." Virginia was looking at something stuck to the wall. "There's a note here."
Clive walked over and saw a piece of paper stuck into the wall with a pocket knife. He pulled it out and pocketed it, then read the note aloud.
"Dear Resourceful, you are indeed very good at surviving, and it seems you have some skilled friends too. But be aware that you have now become the sworn enemy of the Fallen. I advise you to watch your back, because next time, you'll have to deal with the Devil himself. –O13325"
The gang stood silent trying to work out the meaning of it all.
"Hey! Is anyone in there?" The local authorities had arrived, led by the two security guards that were previously held hostage.
"We better get out of here before they blame us for this." Jet said. The others agreed, and they jumped out the window. Jet and Clive landed first and caught Virginia, followed by Gallows crashing into the floor. They hauled him onto his horse and hastily made their retreat.
2:30 P.M – Arrival at Humphrey's Peak
After riding nonstop for around an hour, they arrived at Humphrey's Peak, Clive's hometown. The place was as dead as ever in Jet's eyes, but Clive didn't agree.
"Home is where the heart is, Jet. Maybe someday you'll find yourself a nice place to settle down, and you'll see what I mean." Clive smiled at Jet, who just shrugged.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving!" Gallows bellowed.
"You're always hungry, Chunky-Butt." Jet said, receiving a kick to the head from Gallows. Instant KO.
"So let's eat!" Gallows grabbed Jet's body off the floor and dragged him into Clive's house. Virginia and Clive sighed and followed.
"Hiya Daddy!" Kaitlyn had come rushing across the room at the sound of the door.
"Hello Kaitlyn." Clive crouched down to give his daughter a hug. "Have you been taking care of your mother?"
"Yep! I just helped Mommy bake some pies!" Kaitlyn beamed proudly. Her mother stepped out of the kitchen to greet Clive and his friends.
"Hello honey!" She gave Clive a kiss on the cheek. "Hello everyone! How are you all?"
"Couldn't be better!" Gallows stated, walking over to the couch and dumping Jet onto it.
"What happened?" Catherine pointed at Jet.
"He's just hungry! Is it OK if we eat?" Gallows gave a hearty laugh.
"Don't be so rude!" Virginia scolded Gallows.
Catherine laughed; they were all as she remembered. Gallows was always hungry, Virginia always kept them in line, and Jet was as quiet as ever. She looked at Clive. "Are you all going to be staying the night?"
"Probably awhile longer, I'm going to studying on some things." Clive was referring to their new enemies.
"That would be nice, after all, the town's going to be celebrating for the Guardian Festival tonight." Kaitlyn's face lit up at the mention of the festival.
"Daddy! I wanna go to the festival!" Kaitlyn pleaded.
"Sorry sweetie, I'm going to be caught up in my work. Maybe my friends could take you?"
"Really?" She immediately ran up to Jet. "Jet! Will you take me?"
Jet was still woozy from Gallows' kick, and wasn't paying attention.
"Huh? Yeah, whatever." Jet mumbled, and fell asleep.
"Yay! Thanks Jet!" Kaitlyn bounced with happiness. Virginia giggled at Jet's unconscious promise.
"Everyone take a seat, I'll bring out some pies!" Catherine called from the kitchen. Gallows gave a holler and jumped into a seat. Clive and Virginia joined him. Jet had barely come to, and noticing that everyone headed for the table, went to join them.
3:30 P.M – Clive's House
"I said WHAT?" Jet had just found out about his promise to Kaitlyn.
"You said you'd take her to the festival tonight!" Virginia said again, flipping through a magazine in the lounge. Jet was leaning on the wall, still trying to remember when he said that. "Just go Jet, or she'll hate you." Jet just sighed and gave in.
"When is it?" Jet felt a migraine coming along.
"The festival opening is on 7 o' clock. Oh yeah, and you have to wear traditional robes." Virginia stopped reading for a moment, trying to picture Jet in robes. Her face went light pink.
Jet got up from the wall and slumped onto the coach next to Virginia. He looked around and noticed that no one seemed to be around.
"Where'd everyone go?"
"Catherine left Kaitlyn with a neighbor and left to help out at the festival. Clive is going through his books to see if he can find something on the Fallen, he said he thought he heard of the name before. And Gallows is taking care of the horses."
"So it's just us huh?" Jet and Virginia needed a second to react, before they both blushed and started feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Um... The Guardian Festival sounds like it'll be fun." Virginia tried to break the awkward silence.
"Don't even know what it's for."
"I think it was some kind of old celebration that used to take place a long time ago, the birth of the Guardians or something."
"Oh. Okay."
The awkward silence returned.
"Well, I'm going to take a bath." Virginia got up and headed for the stairs. "Don't peek now!" She teased, making Jet's face light up like an oven.
"W-Whatever!" Jet looked away, and Virginia giggled and went up.
Jet lay down on the couch and put his arms behind his head. 'Clive said I'd find out what this is, but I still have no idea! It's driving me crazy!' Jet closed his eyes. 'I wonder why it's only with Virginia...' The sound of the bath filling with water gave him some strange thoughts, making him go red again. 'I really need to work this out fast.'
3:50 P.M – The Bath
Virginia had folded her clothes neatly and let off her hair before entering the tub of warm water. She lowered her shoulders and soaked them in the refreshing warmth.
'I wonder... if Jet likes me...' She looked up at the ceiling. 'Back at the Tomb, he saved me and he didn't take anything else. Normally it would be money first, but that time...' Virginia shook her head. 'No, Jet just didn't have time. It didn't mean anything special.' She dipped her face into the water and scrubbed it. 'Maybe... I should let Jet know how I feel..." She smiled at the thought of telling him and having her feeling returned.
"Jet... I love you!" She looked down and had tears in her eyes. "I've loved you for a long time!" The man walked up to her and embraced her. "Virginia...I have always loved you, and I always will." She looked up at him. He pulled her face to his...
Suddenly the scene changes to a bedroom. Virginia is wearing a beautiful wedding dress, and Jet is wearing a snazzy tuxedo, cradling her in his arms. "Jet, no... I don't think I'm ready." She eyed the bed blushing. "Virginia... I love you too much. I need you." He threw her onto the bed, and climbed on after her. "No...Jet...Ah...Not that..."
Virginia was in a daze and had drool coming out of her mouth. Her face was flushed and she had a funny looking grin on her face.
"Virginia... Oh Virginia...VIRGINIA!"
"Huh?" Virginia finally snapped out of lovey lovey mode and realized Jet was banging on her door.
"Virginia! You OK? You've been there for an hour!"
She looked at her fingers, and found that they had shriveled up.
"I'm fine! I just fell asleep!" Virginia called out. She then got out and dried herself. She wrapped a towel around herself and opened the door, to find a surprised and flustered Jet staring at her.
"A-Are you OK?" Jet said, trying to keep his eyes on her face.
"Yeah, sorry for making you worry!" Virginia then remembered something. "You said my name! I don't hear you say it very often. Can't you say it more?" Virginia playfully walked closer to Jet and bent over to get her face closer to his, causing him to blush even harder.
"W-What...Yeah, w-whatever." Jet bolted down the stairs and returned to lying on the couch. Virginia just smiled and went to a bedroom to get changed for the festival.
6:30 P.M – Clive's House
"The festival is all set. It's going to be just outside the town. I trust you'll take good care of Kaitlyn?" Clive asked Jet.
"Yeah, whatever." Clive handed Jet a set of grayish blue robes. It was made up of a pair of black, baggy pants and robes long enough to cover Jet's feet.
"It's tradition that everybody wear the Guardian Robes, so I asked Catherine to make some for everyone." He then handed Virginia a light green robe, and Gallows a blood red one.
"Thanks a lot, Catherine! These look great!" Virginia admired her new clothes.
"Think nothing of it! I'm sure you'll all look fabulous." Catherine said brightly. "I'll be working at the festival, so I might see you all there!"
"We'll keep an eye out for you! Thanks for the robes!" Gallows headed up the stairs eager to get changed.
"Whatever." Jet also headed upstairs, indifferent to what he was going to wear.
After a few minutes the two came back down in their new attire. Gallows looked something like a boxer due to his bulky build. Jet on the other hand was much more sleek, resembling a fairy-tale samurai.
"You look great Jet!" Virginia was surprised at how amazing he looked, especially since he didn't have scarves blocking his face. Virginia liked it quite a lot.
Jet went red and just shrugged.
"Hey what about me?" Gallows said, standing straight. "Don't I look like a handsome knight?"
Everyone just laughed at him. Gallows thought for a moment, trying to see if he missed a joke or something.
"Well, I guess Catherine, Kaitlyn and I should change." Virginia and the ladies went upstairs to get changed as well.
"Try not to drool too much when you see her come down, lover boy." Gallows sniggered, watching Jet's face go as red as Gallows' robes.
Kaitlyn and Catherine were the first to come down the stairs.
"You look great honey!" Clive complimented his wife.
"Don't I look good too Jet?" Kaitlyn ran up to Jet and hugged him.
Jet rolled his eyes and said "Yeah, whatever." Then Virginia came down, and when Jet saw her, he was taken back.
Virginia had let her hair out of its braid, letting it all loosely fall across her back and on her shoulders. Her robes also brought out the color of her eyes. Jet had to admit that she looked great.
"Sorry I took so long!" Virginia apologized shyly. "Let's go!"
After waving farewell to Clive, the group headed for the Guardian Festival.
6:54 P.M – In the Wastelands outside the Festival
"There they are! Those are the guys who stopped out heist this morning!" The man cradled his bandaged arm.
"You mean you called me, the greatest, super-powerful 'Devil' to deal with some nerd, a Chunky-Butt Baskar, some kid, and a chick?" The man spoke with a deep and sarcastic voice. He was very well built, yet slim at the same time. He had long black hair with blond tips, which was tied into a ponytail behind his head. As for his clothing, he wore a chain mail, something that wasn't seem very often nowadays, and tight, black pants. He didn't have an ARM, instead he concealed whatever his weapon was in a huge, long sheath of cloth. It was at least twice his size.
"Uhh... Yeah, that's what I called you for." The injured man flinched, knowing he was about to get hurt. He was right.
"Moron! You better hope this is a good fight!" He swung his weapon and whacked him in the face, sending him flying a good twenty feet. "Not get up and let's go!" He called out before setting off for the Festival. "Why must I be working with such a bunch of idiots?"
6:55 P.M – The Guardian Festival
The Festival was streaming with lights and party music was booming all around (think techno, but with drums. Funky.). Many stalls were lined up selling food or toys, and there were a lot of games too. Not only were everyone from Humphrey's Peak there, but it seemed there were plenty more people. Jet gazed in annoyance.
"I hate crowds. I hate festivals. I hate lights. I hate loud music. I ha-"Gallows punched him into the ground.
"We get it, whiny boy! Shut up already!" Virginia gave a nervous grin, and tried to pull out Jet's lower half from the ground. He was literally punched into the ground.
After getting him out, Kaitlyn grabbed him. "Come on Jet, let's go play!"
Jet once again was delirious from the last blow. "Ugh... Yeah, playtime, wheeoeoeoee!!!" Jet started walking around in circles, slowly heading for the stalls, as Virginia and Gallows stood there unsure of whether to check if he was OK, or to laugh their butts off at what he was saying. In the end, they chose to follow and make sure he didn't hurt himself, or anybody else for that matter, he looked like he could mistake someone for a monster and pummel them into oblivion.
"Jet! Win me that teddy! Pleaaaase?" Kaitlyn was tugging on Jet to play a ball throwing game, where you had get two of three balls into a basket that was tilted 45 degrees (I've played this myself, and it's surprisingly hard!). The current Jet was up for anything, so he just threw some cash down and groggily picked up his first ball.
"Heeeyy batter batter batter. Sa-wing batter!" He yelled stupidly before throwing the first ball. It bounced back out and hit him in the face. "Aw that was bad. Go again!" he said to himself before picking up the second. Just before he threw, someone bumped him from behind, and he accidentally let go of the ball, only to watch it fall... Right into the basket. Score one! "Okay one more!" Jet's dizziness hadn't gotten any better. He turned around and chucked it in the opposite direction, only to have it bounce off one of the stall poles, ricochet into one of the hanging lanterns, bounce on his head, hit the stand keeper on the nose, and bouncing right into the basket. "There you go kid, I got you toy. I think I need to sit down." Jet was coming to a little bit, and felt a massive headache coming along.
"Yay! Thanks Jet!" Kaitlyn squealed in joy as she was handed the teddy she wanted. Jet just took her to a bench and had a seat.
"Oh God..." Jet put his hands on his head, trying to massage the pain out.
"There you are!" Virginia had been looking for him to make sure he was alright.
He looked up. "Yo." He still looked really nauseous. Virginia tried to help him relax by patting him on the back. "Where's Mt. Fuji?" Jet was talking about Gallows. Virginia laughed.
"He's getting drunk and eating himself stupid at the same time." She laughed out loud again. "Don't worry! You're fine, right?" Virginia tried to cheer him up.
"Yeah, whatever. I will be in a minute." He felt it die down a bit more. Just then a lady came running up to them. Jet focused his eyes to realize it was Catherine.
"Thank goodness I found you two! I'm sorry to disturb you, but I need to ask you a really big favor!" Catherine looked pretty panicked. Jet and Virginia looked at her, waiting to see what the big problem was. "We were meant to have a play, but our two lead actors couldn't do it because they're sick!"
At another part of the festival, behind the scenes of the stage, a couple could be seen tied up, with a sign on them saying 'Please leave them be. I'll let them go after the play ). Catherine."
"Please, I need you two to take their places!" Virginia squealed in delight. Jet groaned in agony, and felt another migraine coming on.
"We'll do it!" Virginia said happily.
"No we wo-"He was cut off.
"I SAID WE'LL DO IT!" Virginia was trying to smile, but Jet could tell this was one of those times to just give in again.
"...YEAH, WHATEVER!" Jet tried not to sound pissed, but he did.
"Thank you, both of you! Come with me! You too Kaitlyn, you can help them prepare!" Kaitlyn just jumped with joy and grabbed her mother's arm.
7:20 P.M – Behind the Scenes
"Okay so here's the story in a nutshell." The director was filling in our duo on the play. "First off, the main characters are Cecilia, the daughter of Raftina the Goddess, and Rudy, the son of a devil. One day, they both meet each other at a Guardian Festival, which Rudy had gone to in order to fight the Guardians with his comrades. They are both disguised as humans, so they didn't know that they were meant to be enemies. They dance and end up falling for one another. After the party, they attack each other, only to find that they are on opposing forces. Nonetheless, they still loved each other. The Guardians and Devils tried to separate them, telling them it wasn't meant to be, except for Raftina, who knew their love was true. She talks to Rudy to find out his true feelings for her daughter, and he tells her that he'd do anything for, blah blah blah, then Raftina whisks them off to Filgaia, and live happily ever after!"
Virginia and Jet tried to take it all in.
"That doesn't sound like something that can be learned in only ten minutes." They play was to start at 7:30. "What happens if we forget our lines?"
"Don't worry, just ad lib, I'm sure that a couple like you two would know what to say to one another!" The director chuckled at a very embarrassed Jet and Virginia.
"I-It's not like that really!" Virginia stuttered.
"Y-Yeah!" Jet joined in.
"Now's not the time for that, you two must rehearse immediately!" He threw them some books containing the script. "Get to it, lovers!"
Jet and Virginia had rehearsed until the play was about to begin. Jet was really nervous, since he didn't like attention. Virginia on the other hand was taking it quite well.
"Just have fun, OK?" Virginia comforted Jet, who, as usual, just shrugged.
The play began, and Jet and Virginia did their parts as best they could. Gallows, Catherine and Kaitlyn had joined the crowd to watch them.
"So my plan worked, didn't it?" Gallows' evil smile came up again.
"Quite well!" Catherine said happily.
They laughed and enjoyed the rest of the show. They finally reached the final scene, with 'Rudy' talking to Raftina about how much he loved 'Cecilia'.
"Rudy, you claim that you love my daughter?" Raftina said with a very melancholy voice. Jet opened his mouth to speak but realized he forgot his lines.
'Shit!' Jet started to panic until a voice in his head spoke up. It sounded annoyingly like Gallows 'Just spill the beans, lover boy! Say it like you were talking about Virginia herself! No one'll know anyway!' Jet was shocked.
'I...Love Virginia???"
He was going to start pondering before he remembered where he was.
'Dammit, what the hell, let's do it.'
"Yes, Raftina, I love her very much. She is more important to me than money!" The crowd had a laugh. "I love the way she's always there for me. I love the way she always smiles at me. I love they way she worries about me. And I love the way she cares about me, because I care about her!" The crowd was almost in tears from Jet's touching speech. 'Cecilia' walked onto the stage.
"Oh Rudy, is that true?" Virginia was a really good actor, she was blushing and her eyes were watered a bit. Well, if she was acting anyway.
"Cecilia, do you really love Rudy?" Raftina looked at Virginia.
"Yes... I love him with all my heart. I know he thinks that no one cares about him, but I do. I love him for protecting me so many times, and caring about me, even if he pretends not to. And... I'll love him forever!" The crowd was really letting off the waterworks. Even Gallows had a tear in his eye.
"Vi...No, Cecilia... I don't know if I can ever say this again... But I swear on the stars in the sky, that I will always love you. From now until the end of time!" Jet couldn't believe he could say such things, and was glad everyone thought it was part of the play. The audience had broken into a standing ovation. Cheers and hollers could be heard throughout the Festival. When the crowd calmed down, Raftina continued.
"I know see you truly love each other. So I will let both of you live happily in another world known as Filgaia." Raftina raised her arms to send them to Filgaia.
"Not so fast." A man from behind the crowd said. Everyone turned to see an injured man along with a strong looking man in chain mail. Jet recognized the guy from the resort right away, but he was unfamiliar with the other. 'Chain Mail' began walking up to the stage.
"So, you are the one that attacked my friend here." He said calmly. Jet didn't want the crowd to panic, so he played along.
"Your friend was merely involved in a war. A war I don't plan to fight any longer." He walked up to him to separate him from Virginia. "But if you plan to fight, I will destroy you here and now."
Chain Mail broke into a smile. "You really think you, a lowly devil, can defeat ME?" It seemed he knew he continued acting, and personally he enjoyed the attention. "Ha! You are nothing compared to me! I am the great Eroz! Demon of Death!"
Jet recognized the name from the resort as well. "So you are the demon I heard about. Pledging allegiance to neither Guardians nor Devils." He pulled out 'Rudy's' sword. Fortunately he asked them to give him a real one rather than the crappy wooden one. He pointed it at Eroz. "I guess if I am to be at peace with my beloved Cecilia, then I must defeat you!"
"Well then, let's settle this." He unsheathed his massive weapon to reveal a sword at least twice the man's size. It resembled the shape of a paddle oar, but made of steel. "This is a legendary weapon of the Demons. The Ragnarok!" He swung it around with surprising ease. "Do you think you can defeat it? I think not!" He lunged at him. "HAAAAH!!!"
8:20 P.M – Gallows
Gallows saw Jet and Eroz begin to duke it out. "This isn't part of the play! It's real! Shit, I gotta get our ARMs!" He got up and ran to get to Clive's place as soon as possible. A familiar one-armed man cut him off.
"Not so fast, Baskar!" He said, holding a shotgun in his remaining hand. "I'm gonna make sure you don't interfere!" He raised his gun and prepared to fire.
"Oh crap!" Gallows ran and dived over one of the stands, followed by a rain of lead. He peeked out, to see he had already dived for a stall at the other end. Gallows began crawling down the rows in an attempt to reach the exit, since he had no ARM to defend himself with. Luckily it seemed their friend didn't know this yet, but he would find out sooner or later. Another shell pounded into his stall.
"I'll get you, Baskar!" The one armed man pulled out a grenade from his pocket and lunged it at the stalls.
Gallows saw it and started sweating. "Oh cripes."
BOOM.
Gallows managed to get away just in time. But before he knew it, another grenade came flying. "Man this guy's a walking artillery station!"
BOOM. BOOM.
More grenades kept coming. Finally Gallows had an idea. He looked up and saw another grenade coming. He jumped up and grabbed it, and chucked it back. "Take this, biyaatch!"
"Huh?" He definitely wasn't prepared to see a grenade flying at him, and didn't have enough time to react.
BOOM.
The one-armed man was blown away. It was hard to tell if he was still alive, but personally Gallows didn't give the fudge.
"Booya!" Gallows said before running off to get their ARMs.
8:40 P.M – On Stage
"Hah!" Eroz swung the massive Ragnarok in a horizontal slash, but Jet was too quick. He jumped over it and ran at Eroz, hoping to get close enough to hit him.
"No you don't!" Eroz was more prepared than he expected, and lunged a kick into Jet's gut. "I'm not a fool, I know the weakness of my Ragnarok it that I can't fight in close quarters. So I taught myself to fight in unarmed combat!" He drew his blade around him and prepared a vertical strike onto the floored Jet.
"Woah!" Jet rolled over just in the nick of time, with the blade crashing through the floor of the stage.
"Jet!" Virginia yelled.
"Stay back, Cecilia! I will deal with this fiend!" She realized that he was trying to keep the audience from panicking. As much as she wanted to help him, she knew they had to keep acting. The audience just stared in awe, convinced this was all planned.
Eroz had swung his blade up again for another vertical strike, but Jet had anticipated this and tried to get him while his strength focused on lifting the blade above him. This time he managed a hit.
"Take this!" Jet yelled and swung with all his might into Eroz's torso.
CLINK.
"Fool!" He kicked Jet back again, this time harder. "That pitiful weapon can't break through my enchanted armor! You can't win!" He taunted Jet as he mustered his strength to get up !!" It was killing Virginia to do nothing, but even if she did, she knew she'd only get in the way. She was nowhere near as proficient in close combat as Jet was.
Jet was using all his strength to get up again, feeling consciousness leave him. His eyes were blurry, and he couldn't make out what Eroz was going to do next. 'This really sucks.' He had to do something fast or he was a goner. Then he had an idea. He only had one chance, so he forced his eyes to focus and waited for the right time.
"I can see you barely have the strength to move, let alone stand." Eroz mocked. "However I will congratulate you! No one has ever fought me for longer than ten minutes! But now, I must kill you. Farewell!" He threw his weapon up into the air to prepare for his final strike. 'NOW!'
Suddenly Jet burst into a run right at Eroz. He thrusted right into his face and tried something he'd never done before.
"GATLING ATTACK!" Jet's arm started slashing at Eroz's face with god-like speed. Eroz dropped his Ragnarok behind him in surprise. After slashing him almost fifteen times, he pulled back in exhaustion. "There... It's over."
"For you maybe." Jet froze at the sound of his voice. He looked and saw him still standing there, but his face was torn to shreds, revealing something underneath. "You...You're an android?!?" Jet couldn't move, he was too tired to continue the fight.
"Yes, I am not human! I am more than human! There is nothing alive that can stop me! And now that everyone here knows..."He walked closer and whispered so only Jet could hear him. "I'll have to slaughter every last one of them.
"No..." Jet tried to get up, but Eroz had grabbed his neck and pulled him off the ground, choking him.
"JET!!" Virginia screamed, falling to her knees. She wanted to help him, but she was scared. She knew she couldn't do anything to stop him.
"I'll never forget you, boy!" Eroz smiled evilly and began to squeeze his neck. Suddenly...
BANG.A gunshot rang out and hit Eroz in the arm holding up Jet. He let Jet go, but showed no sign of feeling pain. He looked over to see Clive pointing his rifle at him. Gallows was there too, pointing his Coyote at him.
"Virginia, catch!" Gallows threw over her guns, and Virginia promptly picked them up and took aim.
Eroz looked around and smiled. "Such pesky people you all are. Even when you can't win, you still fight. How exciting!" He grinned smugly. "I have decided to let you live awhile longer. I want to see if you can become strong enough to defeat me." He looked at Jet. "This one especially. I have not met anyone who could fight better than this man." He picked up his Ragnarok and replaced it in his sheath. "Good day to you all." In a flash of light, he disappeared.
"Jet!" Virginia ran over to check her friend. "Oh God, Jet! Please be alright!" Gallows and Clive had already run onto the stage. Clive quickly checked for Jet's vital signs.
"He's alive. Barely." Clive looked worriedly."Uh... Guys. What do we do about this?" Gallows nodded at the crowd, who were watching intently. They remembered they thought it was still a play. Then Clive had an idea. He whispered in Gallows' ear, and Virginia noticed Gallows' face go red. "Aw hell, you always do this to me! I hate you!" He said childishly, but he got up and spoke to the audience.
"I... I am the reincarnation of Raftina!" The crowd burst out in laughter. "I have come down to help send Rudy and Cecilia to the new world Filgaia, where they may live happily forever!" The crowd gave a clap and Gallows returned to the gang. Clive was holding onto something that resembled a bomb, but slightly grayer.
"Ready? 3...2...1...NOW!" He triggered the bomb.
POOF.
A cloud of smoke came out, and Clive carried Jet and led everyone off the stage. The smoke faded to reveal an empty stage. Gallows had begun narrating from off stage.
"And so Rudy and Cecilia were whisked away to the land of Filgaia, where they lived happily ever after! The End!" The crowd roared out in applause. But the gang had other things to attend to.
"We're going back to my house. Jet needs to rest." The others nodded and followed.
9:30 P.M – Clive's House
Jet had his chest bandaged from broken ribs due to Eroz's massive kicks. He had been put to bed and the others went back downstairs to plan what to do now.
"That Eroz punk... He thinks he's so good!" Gallows slammed his fist on the table.
"Unfortunately, he is that good." Clive turned to face Gallows. "I'm certain that he could've easily killed everyone out there. Let's just be happy that everyone's alive."
Virginia hadn't said much, still worried out of her brains for Jet.
"The punk'll be fine." Gallows said. "It's takes more than a few kicks to kill that guy, and I should know." Gallows gave her a friendly smile hoping to make her feel better.
"Yeah... You're right!" She suddenly became a lot more cheerful, letting Clive and Gallows relax. "Well, let's eat! I'm starving! We won't be able to fight very well on an empty stomach!"
The others agreed and they had dinner.
10:30 P.M – Jet
"Hahahaha!!!" laughter echoed out everywhere. Jet was running in the dark, with nowhere to go.
"Save me Jet!" He heard Virginia's voice, and ran faster.
"Virginia!" He tried to find her, but instead ran into a man carrying a sword twice his size.
"You can't win!" Then he raised his blade and chopped Jet in half.
"No!" Jet got up fast, sweat covering his body. He realized where he was, and then realized that Virginia had fallen asleep by his bed. She slowly came to at the sound of Jet's voice. She smiled weakly.
"Hey there."
"Hey."
"How do you feel?"
"Like shit."
Virginia just smiled and sat on his bed.
"Clive said you'll need to rest if you want those bones to heal, but it shouldn't take as long as it would for a normal person because of your nanomachines."
Jet just lay down again and closed his eyes.
"Jet... On that stage, when you made up lines... It was beautiful." Jet opened his eyes in a hurry and went really red.
"I... I just said whatever..." He mumbled, unsure of how to cover it up. Virginia giggled and lay down next to him.
"When Eroz grabbed you... I was so scared that I'd... You..." Tears welled up in her eyes. Jet looked at her shocked. Then put his arm on her shoulder.
"Virginia..." He started. "I'll never leave your side..." He said that unconsciously, and went red when he found out he actually said that. Virginia looked into his eyes.
"Jet..." She began to edge closer to him. Jet's body automatically started edging to her too.
"Oh... Jet..." She closed her eyes.
"Virginia..." He felt her breath on his face.
"Hey guys what's ha..pen..nin..g?" Gallows had burst into the door to see Jet and Virginia in bed together. "Wowza! Even when the punk's falling apart, he can still swing it! I salute you!" Gallows gave an army salute to Jet. Virginia then picked up the chair and chucked it at Gallows, sending him flying down the hallway, then down the stairs.
"IDIOT!" Virginia and Jet yelled at the same time. Clive then walked in with a very serious look.
"I found out about Eroz and the Fallen..." His voice was very serious. Jet and Virginia looked at him, eager to hear what he'd say. "I think it would be best to discuss this tomorrow, when Jet gets better. It's going to be hard on all of us, so we'd best wait." They decided not to argue, and Clive walked out. "I'm going to bed. I advise you two to do the same. You guys can have this room. Gallows is sleeping in the lounge." He left them then and headed for his room.
"That sounded bad." Jet said plainly. He let out a loud yawn. "I'm going to bed." He looked at Virginia, who was still on his bed, then remembered they're not only sharing the room, but there was only one bed. Jet couldn't get off because of his injury, but he didn't want her to sleep on the floor. Jet sighed.
"If you tell anyone, I'll kill you." Jet turned away from her and tried to sleep. Virginia just smiled sweetly and hugged Jet like she had last night.
Soon they drifted off to sleep.
END DAY 2Author's Note: Man this chapter took AGES to write, it's more than twice the size of my last two! Oh well, I'll get onto the next chapter as soon as I can!NEXT TIME!
Jet and company find out more about Eroz and The Fallen! What could be so bad that Clive decided not to tell them while Jet was injured? The gang then head for Gallows' hometown to see if they can find a way to gain more power from the Guardians!