Chapter 12

The tunnel was silent. The only sound was the occasional drip of water from the ceiling. However, that sound was suddenly joined by another.

"Grrroooaa!"

Setzer, Relm and Gau all stopped in their tracks and turned around to look at Umaro.

"What was that about?" Setzer asked, irritation clear in his voice.

"Kupo! He's hungry." Mog answered from his position on Umaro's head.

Setzer grumbled under his breath. Why did he have to get stuck with the babysitting job?

"Oh, let's stop and have something to eat." Said Relm. We've been walking for over an hour. Ifrit knows your old legs probably need a rest."

Strago considered chastising Relm for that little remark, but decided against it. She never listened anyway. Besides, a rest actually sounded pretty good.

The group sat down and unpacked some of the food they had brought. As they ate, Relm spoke up again,

"I wonder what these mages are like. I mean, so far they seem to be real jerks. Are we sure we want to be looking for them?"

"Edgar say that we should not judge all mages the same." Said Gau.

"That's right." Said Strago. "For all we know, this Cerro may be a rouge. We'll just keep looking until either we can't go any further, or we find something. I just hope, if we do, that it won't have anything to do with Cerro."

Suddenly a loud rumbling filled the tunnel.

"Uuooo! Is Umaro's stomach not full yet?" Gau looked at the yeti in surprise.

"Kupo! That wasn't Umaro!" Mog pointed down the tunnel in the direction they had been heading. Coming towards them was a huge machine with a giant drill on the front. It was moving very fast and showed no signs of slowing down.

"Uh… Maybe they no see us?" Gau said, taking a nervous step back.

"I doubt it. Run!" Strago yelled.

Umaro grabbed Strago and Relm and took off, holding one in each arm, with Mog clinging to the top of his head. Gau bounded along beside him on all fours, like a cat.

The driller continued to bear down upon them gradually getting closer.

"If anyone has any bright ideas, don't be shy!" Relm cried out.

Strago reached into his robe.

"Well, I was saving this for an emergency…" He pulled out a short staff that was made of, what looked like, blue and white marble. It shimmered, even in the darkness of the tunnel.

"Too bad." Strago said as he took aim. "This is my last pearl rod."

With that, he threw the mystical weapon at the machine chasing them. It spun through the air, hit the drill point, split and…

'Fwooooosh!'

Gau and Umaro were sent flying by the energy that hit them from behind. Umaro turned in mid-fall so that he landed on his back with Relm and Strago held to his chest. Mog flew off of Umaro's head and landed, with a roll, on the ground. They lay where they were motionless, for a few moments. Gau was the first to get up. With a groan, he pushed himself to his hands and knees.

"Everyone okay?" He asked.

"Aside from having a mouth full of yeti hair, I'm alright." Relm jumped down from Umaro's chest and brushed herself off. She looked towards where the machine that had been chasing them now lay. Or rather, what was left of it.

The machine was now a mass of broken parts that lay in a crumpled heap on the ground. Relm smiled and put her hands on her hips.

"That'll learn 'em."

Suddenly the pile of scrap gave a lurch as something pushed itself up from under it. Relm gave a yelp and jumped back. Gau and Umaro stepped in front of their friends and prepared themselves for a fight. The junk gave way and a figure hobbled out.

"Oooh my! That was powerful magic. Yes, yes. That was magic if ever Mumjo saw it."

Now that the stranger was standing in front of them, the team could see that it was a… well, not exactly a man. He was roughly the size of Strago, and looked to be the same age, if not a little older. He only had a little hair left, which was bright blue, and his eyes had shining yellow irises. He was dressed in a dark blue robe; out of which poked a pair of skinny arms. The strangest thing about this stranger was that his legs didn't seem to be the same length. As he stood, everyone noticed that he was leaning slightly to the right, as if his left leg was shorter by a couple of inches.

He took a few steps towards the party. Well, his right foot took one step. His left took a few to catch up with it. Before he could get any closer, Umaro moved so that he was towering over the strange being. A threatening growl came from between his teeth.

"Kupo! Hold it right there, Buster!" Mog said, as if translating for Umaro. "You just tried to mow us down!"

The being put his hands together and bowed his head.

"Mumjo's apologies. He heard you mention Cerro's name and thought you were with him. But none of his followers have magic as powerful as that. Tell Mumjo; how is it you are able to perform magic? Do you draw from the well too?"

"Wait a second." Relm waved her hands to get his attention. "You're not with Cerro?"

"And what's this 'well'?" Asked Strago.

"Kupo! And who's Mumjo?" Mog added.

Their new 'friend' looked a little wide-eyed at the sudden questions flung his way. But he composed himself and started over; slower this time.

"First of all; Mumjo is Mumjo." He pointed at himself when he said this.

"Oh, I get it." Relm put on a friendly smile, and then leaned close to Gau so that she could whisper in his ear,

"This guy's a real nut job. He's referring to himself in third person."

"Gau hate that." The boy replied.

Mumjo continued.

"And as for Cerro; Mumjo is certainly not with him! He is a monster!"

"Glad to see we're on the same page. Kupo!"

"Strange that you do not know of the well." Mumjo's eyes narrowed slightly. "So how were you able to perform such a powerful spell?"

"Well you see, that wasn't really a spell, per se." Strago scratched the back of his head. "The people in my village found a way to seal magic inside of weapons. What I threw at you was a pearl rod. My last one too." He added as a slight mumble.

Mumjo stroked his chin. A thoughtful look was on his face.

"So… you are from the upper world, yes?" He said.

"Well, obviously!" Said Relm. "If we were from down here, would we be standing around asking all these questions?"

Mumjo looked to be in deep thought for a moment. Then he spoke again,

"Mumjo thinks we should talk back at his home. Come." He then, with his very strange walk, approached a wall of the tunnel. He placed his hands upon it and turned. A circular tile that, up to now, had been invisible moved and the wall opened up.

"Please." Mumjo called over to the group as he stepped/hobbled through the opening. "Walk this way."

"Don't you dare." Strago warningly glared at Relm as they followed.

(Scene Change)

Darkness. Complete and utter darkness. It completely surrounded Gogo, pressing down on her almost painfully. Wait. It might have been the darkness pressing down on her, or it might've been…

"Excuse me. Would whoever's boot that is mind removing it from my face?"

"Sorry, Celes." Said Terra, trying to remove herself from the heap she and the others had formed upon hitting the ground.

"That's Gogo. I'm Celes!" An identical, but not nearly as polite, voice sounded out. "And, Locke! This is hardly the time or place for that!"

"Sorry. I didn't know you were there. I was trying to feel for a door or something."

Eventually, everyone had managed to get to their feet and Locke fired up a new torch. They appeared to be in a fairly small room, made up of natural rock this time, with no sign of a door anywhere. The team spent a few minutes trying to find another hidden opening, but to no prevail.

"It would seem that there is no way out of here." Said Gogo.

"Not from the inside, anyway." Added Celes. "Considering we fell down here through a trap door, this is probably some kind of holding cell."

Terra sighed.

"So we've given ourselves right to them."

"Well I'm not giving up just yet." Celes raised a clenched fist. "We're still armed and, sooner or later, those mages are going to have to come in here. And when they do, we'll show them that we can hold our own just fine, even without magic."

Locke grinned in the torchlight. That was the kind of spirit that had made him fall for Celes in the first place.

The four of them stood in the semi-darkness for a few minutes. Finally, Locke spoke up,

"So, anyone for a game of twenty questions?"