A Tale of Many an Adventurer- Joe's Story

Chapter 7

Joebushy- O.k., I'm sorry. " For what?" You might ask? Well, Chunkypuff3 adventures much more then me. Joe's team has been on Exemap this whole time. Well, forgive me, but to bad. We will leave the island in this chapter (Here that, Jake!). But all won't leave... (Oh and the team have to yell to talk to each other, because they are in the star formation).

" This is the only way!" Joe screamed to his friends, now in a five-point formation. " What do I do?" Chris asked as an Imp knocked him down. "Hold on- 'Heal!'" Joe answered, " O.K., Zach, use a weakening potion on them that way-" " There are to many!" Zach interrupted. " Wait," yelled Joseph, " Zach, do you still have that hang glider?" He answered with, " Yes of course." By now, the hill was many shades of Blue, red and green, the color of imps.

Zach reached into his backpack. He took out a golden potion. " What's that?" Jake yelled to Zach. " A hang glider!" Zach answered. " It's not gonna' work!" Joe yelled to his friends, a little annoyed Zach would even try that. "Yes, it will!" Zach told Joe a little ticked that he doubted him so much. So Zach started a fight with words. "Joe, now you listen to me. Don't be a hero. That's our job. You, my friend, sit down out of the way and heal us. You can do nothing!" That statement flared Joe's temper. He tried to keep himself calm, but no such luck. " I... am not... USELESS!" Right then and there, not a green, but a red glow came about Joe. In a millisecond, flames erupted out of him. "Arg!" Joe fell to his knees. He then looked at Zach. His eyes had turned red- the whole socket. He got up, feeling full of power. The Imps started attacking his teammates. He looked at himself. His robes had turned red. He had red hair in the shape of fire. He had to do something. " This must be what happens when my anger level gets to high." He noticed he wasn't holding his staff. " Crap!" He said. His friends were in severe pain. They had put up a fight as the imps brought them down, though. " Oh no..." Joe said as he turned around. Blurasp had the bite marks of an imp in his side. " You had to push me, you oversized freaks. You had to!" Fire erupted from Joe's hands. He made a fist and pointed it at a group of imps.

A blast of fire came out of his hands. " Take this, you freaks!" As the fire burst out of his hands continuously, his friends, barely able to see, stare in awe. He was fighting as hard as he could. He wasn't just a healing mage. If he got mad enough, he was like a Flamist, a master of the fire arts. He punched with incredible speed. His fire fists flared at the enemies. Imps are fast creatures, especially if they're mutated. But Joe was faster. He got rid of all of them. He decided to burn all but ten of them. So, he shot flames from his hands to destroy them. Then he sat atop one of the hills and stared down at his friends. They were just lying there. Not moving the slightest bit. Even cavaliers and a blue lynx can be hurt sometimes. He didn't know why, but he started remembering things from the past few days, starting at his school. Then he remembered something he had seen on the news that fateful morning.

A news reporter had reported, " Vast disappearances have been happening across the continent, starting last night. New York City police confirm that they have no idea, nor do any other police, of what have been happening. We'll keep you updated." He then remembered placing the game in his system, just wanting to pass time. He guessed his partners on it that were all a blur were with him now. And there would probably be more. But he remembered landing on the island, and the blue-eyed wolves. Then he wondered, " Where on earth could John be?" And in fact, at this moment, John was traveling in the world of Kealato.

But what had happened? He was still flaming and red. Then he realized, " I need to calm down to get out of this state of madness, and to heal my friends. He thought of happy thoughts, thoughts of good things. He thought of how lucky he was to not be the only real person in this world, and how he was so lucky his friends were here. He then drifted off, with a smile on his face.

The next day, he woke up with a start. " Dad! Five more minutes!" he said. Then he looked around, only to realize he wasn't in bed, and his dad hadn't woken him up. He was lying on a freshly rock-covered hill, looking down on his friends. The morning light beamed on his face, making him warm and comfortable. The cracks that were just yesterday in the earth were now all but indents in the ground. It was like lying on a lumpy, grass-less plain. Ten imps were lying dead on one hill, while his friends lay in a small valley below. " I forgot!" he said. He looked at himself. " I'm not hot!" he said with enthusiasm. " Wait- oops..."

He walked down to his friends and looked at them. They just lay there so hopelessly. Joe felt so bad. He was being a hero. He walked over to Zach and sat down. " Sorry," Joe said, " but it's not my fault. I just get angry sometimes. It just happens, at certain times. I can only take so much. Any way, I've been wanting to try something." Joe was almost talking to himself. Zach had been knocked out by the imps the day before. Right now, at this time, It had been three days since Joe called John and got sucked into the game.

"Heal Team!" Joe tested. It started working, and green dust did come out of Joe's staff, but after looking around for a while, like a dog looking for it's owner, it went back into the staff. " I guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way!" Joe exclaimed. "Heal Jake! Heal Zach! Heal Joseph! Heal Chris! Heal Zach! Heal Blura-" Joe looked in the direction Blurasp had been laying. " But that's impossible. He couldn't heal himself. Wait- the imp bite. No!" The rest of the team stood up. " What happened?" Jake asked. " Joe, what'd you do!" Joseph asked. Then each person fired a question. Chris asked, " What's it like being a red head?" Zach then apologized, saying, " I didn't really mean what I said. Without you, we wouldn't even be a team. And you've always helped us out. So, still friends?" Joe lunged at Zach, screaming, "NO!" "What do you mean no! And why'd you do that, huh?" Just then, Blurasp lunged over the heads of Joe and Zach. " What's going on?" asked Joseph. " I think something's wrong with Blurasp. I saw the imp attack him yesterday. He had a mark on him- a glowing blue bite mark. I think he has the... um... sickness. He's one of them." Blurasp turned toward the team of six.

" We've got to get out of here." Jake said. Chris then said" We've been here to long. People are taking the legendary weapons for the wrong purposes. We have to leave, and soon." "But, what about my friend, my Blurasp?" Joe asked. Chet then spoke for the first time in a while, " Well, there is one thing we found about this world if nothing else. To stop this epidemic, there is no antidote nor spell. The only way is to kill. Get rid of the animal with it. We would kill an entire species just to stop it. We can't risk this. We just can't."

" Then, let's do it..." Joe said, with a sad tone. The team ran in, in a backward arrow formation. Joseph and Chris were on the ends. Zach and Jake were on the inside, and Joe was at the point. Chet was in the middle. Then Chet jumped high into the air, and he landed on a small hill. Chris and Joseph got out their swords and went in for the attack. They sliced one cut each on Blurasp. He roared with extreme fierceness. Joe tried and tried to calm Blurasp down, saying, " Get a hold of yourself, Blurasp! I don't want to leave you, I don't! You don't have to die, control it. Control it!" Blurasp roared. It looked at Joe. And then it charged. It was trying to stop itself with the little will power left in it. But it couldn't. Joe ducked on the ground, hands on his head. Then came the death of a friend.

Chet had to do it. With one swipe of his axe, a blue lynx died. It fell onto one side. And it lay there, looking from Chris, to Joe. To everyone else. Joe walked up to it and said, " Blurasp... we've done so much on this island. We've fought and we've won. We've found why we were put in this game- to save. To save the people. We still don't know all we can or should. But we know we couldn't have got past those bears without you. And I want you to know we are friends, no matter what. So, buddy good-bye, and thank you."

Blurasp looked hard at Joe. It's eye color died down, so maybe there could be a cure. " We can't heal him, Joe," said Jake. " I know..." said Joe, " But the problem is, he was like a best friend to me. Like you guys." Joe got on his knees and embraced his almost dead friend. Blurasp opened his eyes one last time. He looked at Joe and purred. Joe went over to his head. It licked him and a tear came out of one of its eyes. Then he closed his eyes... one last time. He lay there, unmoving. He wasn't in Kealato anymore. He wasn't anywhere. He would be in heaven, but he was just part of a game...

After that, Joe started acting differently. After seeing the death of his lynx, he realized he was in the game for a purpose. So did his friends. They were there to be defenders. And there was no more to defend in the city of Exemap.

So they got the wood and the rope with no problem. The afternoon sky was sunny, like a day in a park. The sun glimmered on the trees. The water glistened with light all through the day. Once they had a comfortable looking raft, they cooked the meat form the ten left over imps. It turned out; it tasted just like steak. Jake made a looking sack out of something that was called myno leaves, to keep the imp meat in for the journey. He said that they worked as good cups and water purifiers. It was a three-day Journey, after all.

So they hopped on the crude looking raft they had built and set sail. They had with them a tent (The one that Joe met Chris and Joseph in), a blanket, and mountain climbing equipment. Each person had the weapons or items they needed for their occupation. Zach had his alchemist items to make potions with. Jake had his wand. Joseph and Chris had their spears and swords. Joe had his staff and Chet had his Axe. Nothing much happened during their three day trip. One time Joseph got so board, though, he decided he wanted to be alone. So, he pushed everyone off the boat. Then one time Joe got seasick after a wave hit the raft. Three days later, when they were almost there, Jake told the group something.

" Guys, you've got your calculations wrong. Yes, it is a three day trip to the mainland, but Helioa is way up in the mountains. Ya' know, The Mountain Town of Helioa. Yeah. The first town we his is the main port town, Neasmil." " Oops..." said both Joseph and Chris. " I like how the sail looks..." Joe said. He had been waiting to say that for a while, but between eating and talking, he hadn't had time. He said it because it was made with the three colors of imp carcass.

" It's huge!" Chet said later that day. The team went to one side of the boat and looked out. The Kealato mainland was before them. " I don't know about you guys, but there is one thing I know," Joe said. " Yeah?" asked Joseph. " Exemap was only the beginning.

Joebushy: To all my fans (If there are any), You're lucky. I live in the Northeast of the USA, and we had a big snowstorm, so I had two days off school to write this. That's why it's so long. Anyway, If you know what happens in day nine of the original story (A Tale of Many an Adventurer by chunkypuff3), then you kind of know the concept of day nine in mine. Please review!