7:00 A.M – The Hut in Birthright
Rays of sunlight shone through the windows of the small hut, coming from the just-risen sun. The light hit Jet's face, and he cringed. His hands sluggishly covered his face.
"Get away…" Jet tried shooing away whatever was blinding him, then opened his eyes. Feeling a little silly, he slapped himself on the forehead. He leant back on the dining table chair, then looked over to see Virginia peacefully dozing away next to him. He decided to go outside for a quick stretch.
"Ahh… I never wanna sleep sitting down again, I'm all cramped." Jet said while stretching his arms. The sun managed to keep the temperature fairly acceptable in the otherwise frosty area. Suddenly he heard something around the corner of the hut, and went over to investigate.
"Who's there?" he called out, and was responded to with a not-so-loud scream. Jet almost jumped and was scrambling for his ARM, when he realized it was Karen.
"Jeez, what are you doing out here so early?" Jet said clutching his chest. He didn't want to admit it, but she had startled him.
"Sorry, I was just having a stroll…" she said shyly. "Thank you for saving me. From the castle and from the snow." Jet leant onto the wall and turned his head to face her.
"I'm not the one that pulled you out of the snow, a crazy, perverted female friend of mine did." He saw her staring with a confused look. "Ah, never mind."
"Hey handsome!" a voice called out from the window next to him, followed by a pair of hands grabbing him around the neck and squeezing him tightly. "Morning tiger, scrambled or sunny side up?" Iris said playfully.
"Ack, you're killing me!" Jet yelled flailing about. Karen looked on with the same confused look still on her face.
"Hey, pipe down! Some of us are still trying to sleep, ya know?" standing next to Iris at the window was Gallows, crust circling his eyes. He tried to rub them out, and accidentally got them in his eye. "Owowowowowowow!!!" he whined, rubbing his eyes harder.
"What's all the ruckus about?" Clive stepped up behind Gallows, a calm tone in his voice.
"Would all of you please shut up! How's a girl meant to get her beauty sleep?" Maya came storming out of the bedroom, with Alfred, Todd, and Shady trying their best to keep up with her.
Jet sighed in frustration. "Never a quiet moment with these clowns." He noticed someone was missing, and bent his head into the window. He saw that Virginia was still fast asleep at the table. "Wow, that girl sleeps like a log…" Jet smiled slightly, but tried to cover it, resulting with half of his face frowning, and the other half smiling.
"You okay, punk? You look like you ate a lemon or something!" Gallows burst into laughter. Jet bonked him on the head with his fist.
"Moron."
7:18 A.M – Meeting on Lombardia
After waking Virginia, everyone jumped on board Lombardia and began to discuss their next move. Their destination was the Oasis Inn. On the way, Jet told everyone about the Guard of Guardians, but had held back on everything involving him as a Guardian weapon.
"… And that's how it is." Jet finished. He wasn't used to talking as much as he just did, so he had to take a few puffs of air.
"So we need to find something called the Guard of Guardians right? A book?" Clive pondered.
"That's what he said."
Virginia looked at Jet, noticing he was acting somewhat strange.
"Is that all he said, Jet?" she asked, looking Jet straight in the eyes. Jet looked at her for a moment, but his eyes slowly drifted out of her gaze.
"…Of course it is." Jet said, his eyes wandering everywhere Virginia wasn't.
"I think I know of a place where we could begin searching." Todd said. "Two places, in fact." Everyone's attention went to Todd. Jet was relieved that Virginia also turned her attention away.
"Well, don't just sit there, spill already!" Gallows said with excitement. The others nodded in agreement.
"Well," Todd began. "When I was younger, I was taken to a special museum called 'the Virgo'. It holds many of Filgaia's oldest artifacts and scriptures. In fact, it is quite close to Oasis Inn."
"Ah the Virgo! I've been there before too, how could I forget?" Clive said, slamming his fist into his hand. "That would indeed be a good place to start our search."
"What about the other place?" Virginia asked.
"Actually, that other place would be Maya's home." Everyone stared at him blankly. "You see, Maya's father has a large collection of very old books. He was quite the collector, as well as his forefathers. By chance, he just might have this book we're looking for."
Everyone remained quiet for a moment to think. The silence was broken by Lombardia's voice.
"We have arrived at Oasis Inn." She reported.
"Thanks Lombardia! Let's go everyone!" Virginia said cheerfully. The gang piled outside, and Lombardia disappeared into the sky.
8:54 A.M – Oasis Inn, Iris' Clinic
"So let's recap the plan." Virginia said. "Team Maya will go to Maya's home and try to find the book." Maya and her band nodded in agreement. "Team Virginia will go to the Virgo and ask about it too." Jet, Gallows, and Clive nodded. "And Iris will take care of Karen here, as well as collecting information here." Everyone looked at Iris, fining her hugging the blushing Karen.
"Of course I'll take care of Karen!" she squealed, rubbing her cheek against Karen's.
"Ah… Um…" Karen mumbled, her cheeks flushed red.
"Is it really safe to leave Karen with this pervert?" Jet whispered to Virginia.
"She's safer here than with us." Virginia whispered back. "Besides, since when did you actually care about people?" she said mockingly. Jet blushed and looked away from her.
"Tch, whatever!" Jet said angrily.
"Okay, we're off! See you guys later!" Maya called as they left the clinic.
"See ya Maya!" Virginia called, waving energetically.
"We'd best head out too. The Virgo is nearby, so it shouldn't be very difficult to get there." Clive said, heading for the door. The others followed behind, but Jet was stopped suddenly.
"Jet!" Karen called. "Come back soon, 'kay?" Jet turned back at her.
"Yeah. Be careful."
And with that, Jet followed his comrades outside, and they headed for the Virgo.
10:34 A.M – The Virgo
After an unexpectedly long walk, they finally arrived at the base of the steps of the Virgo. It was situated at the top of a small mountain, and then there was a further climb up a large set of steps.
"'Close by' my ass! I can't feel my feet anymore!" Gallows was sitting on the step rubbing his feet. "That was almost an hour and a half of nonstop walking!"
"Aw come on, Gallows! It wasn't that far!" Virginia was practically jumping up and down with energy as she always was.
"Let's hurry up and get this over with." Jet said. He was about to step up when suddenly there was a loud boom, and many people were screaming and running out of the building. "What the heck's going on this time?" Jet groaned.
"Why, what is it?" Gallows asked, turning around to see a horde of people coming his way. Before he could move he was trampled over by the mob. "Ow! Ow! Ow!!!"
"Oh the horror! The horror!" the mob screamed. Clive grabbed one of them and held them back.
"What happened?" Clive asked.
"The Virgo was taken over by a gang of fearsome magicians! The scariest we've ever seen!" the man said shaking. "It's horrible!"
"Really, how bad could it be?" Jet mumbled to himself. Clive let the man go, and he scurried off after the others.
"Well then, looks like it isn't going to be so easy to look for the book after all." Clive stated. "I guess a direct approach should be used here. The only way they could have magic would have to be with a Guardian Seal, and they obviously don't have one. Let's go see what these so-called magicians are made of."
"Kudos to that." Gallows said, limping behind him.
"Whatever." Jet followed along with Virginia.
10:38 A.M – The Virgo
The group of drifters stood by an unusually tall doorway that led into the Virgo. They cautiously stepped into the large, golden halls. Glass pedestals were scattered about the large complex, holding ancient artifacts from Filgaia's past.
"Wow, look at all this stuff!" Virginia said in surprise, staring at an old vase. "This vase alone was made seven thousand years ago!"
Jet flicked her lightly on the forehead. "Hey, quit letting your mind wander. We're supposed to be looking for these wannabe wizards and the Guard book. We can go sightseeing later." Virginia threw Jet a sideward glance.
"Okay! I heard you say it, so you better stick to that.!" She smiled evilly.
"Huh?" Jet looked at her with confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?" but Virginia was already walking on, along with the others.
"Hurry up, Jet!"
"Okay, okay!"
10:50 A.M – The Virgo
After searching for some time, they didn't see anyone else in the building. They had reached a dead end at the other side of the building, where they kept an old coffin that was said to have belonged to an important Elw.
"Well, where do you suppose these guys are?" Jet asked with frustration. "We've combed the whole place already and still nothing."
"Those people didn't run for nothing. Something or someone is in here, and it would be safer to find out what exactly that is. At least before we begin our search for the book." Clive said.
Gallows was growing bored, and occupied himself looking at the old coffin. "Tch, who the heck would walk all the way here just to see some old pieces of junk?" he said with a yawn. Then, Gallows being the clumsy guy he was, accidentally tripped on a step, sending himself hurtling into the coffin. It burst into pieces, causing the others to jump in surprise.
"What the heck was that?" Jet said, pulling out his ARM. He put it away when he saw Gallows' foot flailing about in the debris. "I should've guessed that."
"Gallows, are you okay?" Virginia asked, shuffling over and pulling out the scattered pieces of wood.
"Yeah… I'm fine… I think…" Gallows said, his head swaying about dizzily as he got up from the mess.
"Ah! My finger!" Virginia yelped all of a sudden.
"What, what happened?" Jet said quickly, slight panic in his voice. Clive noticed and sniggered.
"Ah…" Virginia held her finger up at Jet. A piece of wood was embedded into it. "Splinter…" she said wincing.
"Aw jeez. Here, gimme your hand." Jet held her hand, then pulled out a knife with his other hand. Virginia started to shiver in fear. "Oh, so you can fight insane super-villains and monsters, but you can't handle me taking out a splinter?" she was still shaking. Jet sighed. "Just look the other way. I'll try not to make it hurt too much. Trust me." Jet awkwardly tried to look reassuring.
"Okay…" Virginia finally gave in, turning her head away and shutting her eyes tightly. She braced herself for the pain when suddenly Jet spoke up.
"It's done." Jet said, wrapping her finger in a small bandage.
"Wow, that didn't hurt at all!" Virginia said amazed. "Thanks Jet!"
Clive nudged Jet in the rib. "Should I tell her how hard you were trying? Or how worried you looked? Eh? Eh???" Clive teased. Jet eyed him evilly.
"You say anything and I'll tell your wife you were ogling Iris." Clive showed his response by backing away slowly from Jet.
"Oh yeah guys, I forgot to say," Gallows had recovered from his last accident. "I found a trap door underneath the coffin, and it was left open! Maybe those magician guys went down there!"
Everyone stared at him blankly.
"How does something as important as that just pass you!?!" Jet yelled at him. "Seriously, if ignorance is bliss, then you must be one happy hippo."
"Shut up, punk!"
"That's enough, you two. Let's just go in and see what's down there." Clive broke them up and led them into the trap door. It led into a long, spiral staircase down. After a few minutes of stairs, they finally reached the bottom. A large chamber lined with dim torches and shackles greeted them. In the middle of the room, they saw a group of robed men in a circle around an old pedestal.
"This is it," one of them said. "the Guard of Guardians! The secret of creating Guardian technology!"
The robed men all murmured in excitement.
"Hey!" Virginia yelled at them, as they walked up to them. "You must be the ones who scared everyone away!"
The robed men, five of them altogether, turned to face Virginia and the gang. "Who are you? Get out of here, unless you want a taste of our magic!"
"Ha! How can you guys have magic?" Gallows mocked. "Come on then, work your 'magic' on me!"
"Are you mocking us?" one of them said with rage.
"Of course I am! What are you, stupid?" Gallows bellowed in laughter.
"Grr, that's it! Nobody makes fun of us!" one of the robed men started making weird hand gestures in the air. Suddenly, Gallows stopped laughing, and began grabbing his head.
"Oh the horror!" Gallows yelled.
"What's wrong?" Virginia asked in a panic.
"The numbers! And the equations! No! No!!!"
"Numbers… and equations?" Jet said bewildered.
"Yes, we are not ordinary magicians! We are… MATHEMAGICIANS!!!"
Virginia, Jet and Clive stared at them blankly, with Gallows still squirming while holding his head.
"…Mathemagicians…" Jet said. "…WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?"
END CHAPTER 9
A/N: Nothing much happened, but things will next chapter. Obviously some form of fighting is gonna happen. Oh, and for people who like maths, no offence. I just don't like math. D
NEXT CHAPTER
The drifters have fought all kinds of strange things - monsters, androids, sand wurms - but now they face their strangest yet! Guys who do massive calculations without the aid of a calculator! And they made some kind of magic out of it by throwing large equations at their enemies! Oh the humanity!