A/N: All I can say is, IT'S BEEN CHRISTMAS FOR TOO DAMN LONG HERE! Well anyway, I wanted to get past this part before the end of February, so here we go! Reviews would rule! Especially if I miss something, because so much started happening that I can barely keep track myself! Anyway, you guys have a good one, hear?
6:04 P.M – Baskar Colony
Jet awoke with a yawn, still feeling a bit queasy from his previous encounter. To his surprise, he saw that Virginia was kneeling in front of him, her fingers caressing her lips as she stared at the ground, her face tinged pink.
"You okay?" Jet asked suspiciously.
Virginia didn't realize that Jet had woken up, still lost in her thoughts. She jumped up to her feet and laughed out loud. "Hahaha! Yeah Jet, of course I'm fine! It's not like I did anything or something!"
Jet looked at her uneasily. "…Are you hiding something?"
"What, me? No! Nonono!" she vigorously shook her head.
'Eep, I can't let Jet know! It's too…too…embarrassing!"
Jet eyed her suspiciously, then shrugged. "Whatever."
Kaitlyn ran up behind Virginia and wrapped her short arms around her waist, Karen standing behind her. "Ginny, Grandma Halle said that we can open our presents now! Everyone's already back at Uncle Gallows' place!" Kaitlyn squealed enthusiastically.
"Okay, okay! Let's go then!" Virginia offered her hand to Jet. "Come on, before they become impatient!" she said with a smile.
Jet took her hand and got up. "So, how exactly does this present stuff work? Do I have to do anything?"
Virginia laughed heartily. "Hehe, I'll explain on the way."
6:14 P.M – Unknown House
Eroz, Two, and Three were still partying the night away like the three amigos.
"Okay, how bout this one…" Three started. "There's three guys, two Americans and an Aussie bloke. They walk into a bar…"
"Heard it." Eroz and Two chorused. "In fact, you told that joke three minutes ago."
"Oh…" Three said. "Well, cripes to me, then!"
"That means you have to steal the beer," Two tossed him a set of keys. "I took the liberty of stealing you a dump truck, you take the liberty of filling it with alcohol."
Three shoved the keys in his pocket and grumbled out the door.
"How the hell did you make him do that?" Eroz asked.
"Well, firstly, he's an idiot. Lastly…He's an idiot."
"True that Two, true that."
6:20 P.M – Gallows' House
Their walk back to Gallows' house had taken longer than it should have. Jet had made them walk slower to get every little detail about the presents and how everything worked. When they finally arrived, everybody was practically drooling at the tree. Halle had told them not to touch it until everyone had arrived. Specifically, Jet and Virginia.
"It's about time! This waiting is killing me!" Gallows shouted dramatically, tears in his eyes. "It's like putting a beer in front of me, and telling me not to drink it!"
"Sorry Gallows, we were just talking and kind of got sidetracked," Virginia apologized.
"Kind of?" Gallows moaned sarcastically. "Bah, forget it, let's just get into the presents!"
Everyone looked around for their presents, eager to see what they got. Of course, along with the usual choice of gifts such as clothes or similar bits and pieces, some presents were a little more memorable than others.
Some of the more intriguing gifts were the ones Jet received from the Keeper of Gifts. Iris opened hers first, where she found a necklace with a sun made of bronze.
"Wow, Jet, it's beautiful! How can I ever thank you?" she seductively tickled Jet's neck, causing him to shiver.
"Ahem!" Virginia quickly shoved Iris away from Jet, dazing her. "Well, Karen, what did you get?"
Apart from the embarrassing piece of lingerie she got from Iris, and the small bottle of bourbon from Gallows (which Halle had confiscated, as well as giving Gallows a good whack), there was Jet's present. She tidily unwrapped it and found a necklace with a wolf cub made of gold.
"Ehh? It's so pretty!" Karen said with delight. She stared at Jet with bright cheeks. "Thank you, Jet!"
"Um, sure, don't mention it." He came close so that only Karen would hear. "I'm serious, don't mention it," Karen blinked, then giggled uncontrollably.
"Well, I'll open mine now!" Virginia began unwrapping her present. She also received a necklace, but hers had a symbol of a full moon made out of quicksilver. It was made with incredible craftsmanship, which involved creating a very thin, hollow model of the moon, and filling the center with mercury. The model of the moon was made in such a way that it could reflect light exactly like the real moon.
Jet mistook Virginia's look of awe as a bad thing. "Is-Is it bad? Should I get something else?" Jet said in a panic. Virginia looked at him, a small tear in her eye. 'Oh crap! I made here cry!'
Jet was about to apologize before Virginia spoke. "Oh my gosh, Jet, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! My goodness, it must've cost a fortune!" she wrapped her arms around Jet and gave him a big hug. "Thanks, Jet."
Jet stood there in surprise before lifting his arms and placing them around her. He whispered into her ear. "You're welcome."
After everyone had finished opening their presents, they all stared at Jet with a look of intent.
"What?" Jet asked in confusion.
"Aren't you going to open your presents?" they asked.
"I…I got…presents?" he said in amazement. "…Me?"
"Of course you did, stupid!" Gallows playfully patted him on the back.
Jet cautiously stared at the remaining presents. He had received seven presents in total. He chose one at random and picked it up.
'Jet, we've been through a lot since we first met, and I must say, you're the most interesting person I've ever met. You'll always be welcome in our family. Your friends, Clive, and family.'
Jet carefully unwrapped the long, thin package. He removed the cover and found a sword made from a strange black metal.
"I found it during one of my old expeditions. I never found out what the sword was called, or even what it's made from, but it's a metal never before seen in Filgaia. I've tried breaking it, but it seems almost indestructible. I thought after your battle with Eroz some time ago that you could use a more suitable weapon to fight him with." Clive explained.
Jet held the strange sword, feigning a few slashes. It was surprisingly light, which suited Jet's fast-paced style of fighting. But he also felt a strange kind of power coming from it. He sheathed it and set it aside before picking up another present. He read the label on the second one.
'Hey punk, we been doing all kinds of crap here and there, and it was crazy! I think you need a woman or something, 'cause you need to loosen up. You know all you do is…'
The note became incomprehensible at that point, and Jet guessed that Gallows was drunk when he wrote it.
"Kamikaze Scotch," Jet read the label on the bottle that Gallows had given him. It was a famous scotch brand in Filgaia, known to kill men in a single shot.
"Er, okay…" Jet put it on the table and picked up another gift.
'Dear Jet, thank you for everything you've done for me. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be locked up in a cell. I hope we can become more than just ordinary friends. Love, Karen.'
'More than friends? What's that mean?' Jet pondered as he unwrapped the gift. Inside he found a homemade scarf, with his name written on the edge. She had even made it in his favorite red-and-white style.
"You made it?" Virginia asked her.
"I like sewing," She said happily. "I can't remember how I learnt to do it, but I just knew."
Jet replaced the tattered leftovers of his old scarf and put on the new one. He then grabbed another gift.
'This is only the first part of my present. I'll give you the rest later tonight! Love, Iris.'
Jet stared in confusion at the present he received. A skintight leather costume along with a whip.
"Huh? What a weird outfit…" Jet said. Virginia quickly grabbed the outfit and ran off.
"I'll just put this away for you!" she yelled back. "Just open the rest of your presents!"
Jet just shrugged and did as she said.
'You have a dangerous life ahead of you, and Filgaia and every living thing on it will be on your shoulders. Keep a clear head, listen to your heart, and you'll do fine. Halle.'
Halle had given him a pendant with a wolf on it. She explained it was a lucky charm blessed by the Guardians. He slipped it around his neck and opened the next gift.
'Dear Jet, I hope you've enjoyed your Christmas, even if you want to act like you didn't. Just remember, we're all here for you, through the good times and the bad. Love, Virginia.'
Virginia had given him a music box, which played a beautiful tune, along with a girl in purple dancing inside it. Jet stared at it for a long time, the tune soothing his ears.
Virginia was coming back from wherever she had put the leather suit, and Jet closed the box and slipped it in his pocket.
Jet looked at the last present in confusion, his hand lingering in front of it.
"What's wrong?" Clive asked.
"I could swear that I got a present from everyone already, but there's another one," he picked it up and looked at the tag. "It's from Maya."
"What? How?" Virginia thought in confusion. "The only way this could be here is if she…"
"-Came here to bring it herself? Bingo." Maya's head popped in through the door, carrying a bag of assorted sweets. "Had to stay with the family for awhile since it was Christmas, but I managed to persuade them to let me hang out with you guys for the night!"
"And what kind of persuasion are you referring to?" Clive asked reluctantly.
"Oh you know, the old 'if you don't let me go, I'm going to rip off my dress and streak through our neighborhood and destroy the family name' shtick. Works every time."
Everyone stared at her in disbelief, but stopped when they noticed Jet had continued opening his gift.
"Hmm…" Jet opened the present, which was in the form of an envelope, and patted out whatever was in it onto his hand. "What are these?"
Everyone came closer to look, and found he was holding two tickets for an amusement park called 'The Drifting Cannon". The Cannon was famous not only for being the best amusement park around, but it was the only amusement park around.
"Wow, I heard these cost a lot." Clive said, inspecting the tickets to see if they were counterfeits.
"Meh, my dad has a friend in the business who gave him these for a gift." Maya shrugged and slumped onto a couch. "Anyway, Merry Christmas, all!"
"Merry Christmas!" Everyone yelled.
And so began the common Baskar tradition, one which Gallows was quite fond of – drinking yourself into Wild ARMs 1.
7:00 P.M – Baskar Temple
Everybody had drunk themselves stupid fairly quickly, but Jet wasn't much for alcohol, only having a cup. He decided to sneak out while everyone else drank and get a bit of alone time, but he also wanted to take care of the reason he came to the Colony.
"Hey, Halle, you in here?" he called into the temple, his voice echoing back at him. He sighed, and sat on the ground in front of the Guardian statues, staring up at them in thought.
"Is there something you need, Jet?" Halle had mysteriously appeared behind Jet, causing him to jump in surprise.
"You really gotta teach me how to do that."
"Maybe another time, I'm sure you had something more appropriate to ask me?"
Jet looked at her seriously. "When I was captured by Eroz, I heard a lot of things."
"Ah," Halle looked down, her face seemed full of regret. "You must mean the story about the battle of Guardians and the Fallen, right? And that the Guardians were hunting the humans and Elws."
"So it's true, then," Jet felt anger burning up inside. "Why didn't you tell me? Tell anybody?"
Halle sighed, turning to face the Guardians. "We humans are reality-wise very weak. Some of us may be able to reach amazing feats of physical strength, but psychologically and emotionally, anyone can be broken to pieces in an instant."
"And your point is?"
Halle faced Jet, her eyes giving a sad gaze. "We need something to believe in, something to give us hope to a better future. We want to feel that everything can be okay, and that someone's taking care of us. That's what the Guardians do. This may have been different before, but the so-called battle ended a long time ago."
"How did it end?" Jet asked.
Halle put her hand out in front of her. "Clive told me you found a book called 'the Guard of Guardians'. I'll show you."
Jet suddenly remembered that he had left the book with him the whole time (wherever it is that they keep things, I swear I can't hold 99 berries without a bag). He fished through his belongings and handed Halle an old, gray book.
"Let's see," she began fervently flipping through the pages before stopping at one. "Here we go. Look here,"
She handed Jet the book, who flipped it around and looked in. "…The battle between Guardians and the Fallen was affecting the humans and Elws disastrously. Filgaia had become the battlefield, and everything interfering was destroyed in an instant. Zero, no longer able to stand the slaughter of the humans and Elws, called for a peace agreement to be made between the Guardians and themselves. The deal made was the Guardians would look after the humans and Elws to the best of their ability, and in exchange, Zero would deactivate himself. The Guardians decided that this was a worthy deal, and agreed. Zero was put into stasis, and the Guardians used their powers to help heal Filgaia and its population. However, no knowledge has been found of the aftermath of the Fallen, who have all gone missing."
Jet stopped reading and thought to himself. "So Zero gave himself up to save Filgaia, huh…"
"That's correct." Halle nodded.
"…And I'm supposed to be this Zero?"
"It's a high possibility. After all, it does seem that Eroz and the Fallen recognize something about you similar to Zero."
Jet didn't answer, instead staring at the Lance of Animation still wrapped on his arm.
"Jet, I can understand your confusion. It must be hard not knowing who you really are, even after finding out about your… past. It would be best to just continue being Jet. Don't waste your time trying to probe this Zero business, just let it be."
Jet breathed deeply. "…Yeah, I guess."
Halle stretched out and yawned. "Well, if that's all, a lady needs her sleep," she began to walk off.
"Halle!" Jet called, causing her to turn around. "…Thanks."
Halle smiled, and disappeared into the dark night.
"…" Jet sighed, massaging his temples. "I need to forget things. But how…"
Jet walked back into the house, and found everybody had fallen asleep all over the place. Gallows' face was planted into the wall, lying on his stomach. Clive had taken the couch, and the girls had cuddled together on the floor with a few cushions. He saw a bottle of scotch on the table.
"Well, I guess I might as well," he grabbed the scotch and raised the bottle above his head. "Merry Christmas, you stupid android."
He threw the bottle back and slammed down everything that was left in the bottle. He dropped it after finishing it, the bottle rolling across the floor. The alcohol had already made him fell queasy and sleepy, his vision a blur. After a few seconds of wandering and mumbling incoherently, he fell to the ground with a thump and fell asleep.
MIDNIGHT
END CHAPTER 13
A/N: Updates are slowing down right now. I've reached the most important years of my high school, so finding time to write is surprisingly difficult. Still, I'll try to keep this going, and hopefully I'll finish it soon! Reviews help as always! Oh yeah, and next chapter will have lots of action to make up for the loss of it during Christmas.
NEXT CHAPTERCelebrations are over, and the team has to get back to saving the world! Eroz sends a special invitation for Jet and the gang to join a 'contest', and if he wins, Eroz will give up his plans to destroy Filgaia! But can he be trusted? Only one way to find out!