A Tale of Many an Adventurer- Joe's Story
Chapter 17
Joebushy- The worst is coming. Can the adventurers escape? Please read and review.
The city of Mythinea was in major panic. Men, wemon, and children would soon die. What could the team do? They were running, but to where? Taylor stopped. Everyone else noticed and stopped too.
" I'm going back," he said. " We have a city to save."
"Wait! I'm going to," Amit said. " We can't just leave. I'll bet there are over one hundred people in there. Will we sacrafice them for us eleven? I won't." Taylor nodded and he and Amit turned to leave.
As they started walking, Chris called to them. " We're coming to." The ground was still shaking, less violently now, but it would surely become more crazy. Rocks would soon begin falling. Houses would crumble. The team had to save Mythinea, now more then anything else. People could suffer for a while, but the team could save them. Once people died, though, they were gone.
They looked into the city as they arrived. People were huddling on buildings, small children were crying. Although Narafs reign was over, the citizens of Mythinea were still terrified. The end might of been the begginning. " Look at these people!" Joseph screamed. " They aren't even attempting to evacuate!"
Chris looked at him. " Yes, Joseph, we know that already. That's why we came back." Joseph turned red and looked at the ground. They needed an idea to help these people escape. Chris knew that if they tried to get them into the hole, they would crush each other. He needed an alternative, something large enough for many people to enter at once. He thought back. Then it became clear. He needed to get these people to the Fire Cave.
"Earth!" yelled Jake. Just as planned, the earth flew up in the shape of a gaint staircase. It went straight into the ceiling, blocked off after the lava and water flow. " Like that?" he asked. The people of Mythinea, now gathered near the staircase, were watching intently
" Won't the earthquake make the stairs colapse?" asked one lady. Jake looked to Jude and Amit, who smiled and looked at the staircase.
" No," said Jude stepping forward from the team oppisite the crowd. " Not after this. Othitho!" A wall of darkness appeared on the left side of the stairs. " A wall!" he yelled. Amit started running to the side of the crowd.
" And," he said, " on your right side, if you prefer the light, Creightite!" This time, a wall of light magic appeared on the other side of the stairs, " Now," Amit said, " it won't fall." He then looked to the top of the stairs and ran to Jake. " You're forgeting something," he whispered. Jake looked to the top. It was still blocked.
" Sorry," Jake appoligized. " Please step away." The crowd did as they were told. " Flowater!" A sturdy jet of water flew from Jake's wand toward the ceiling. When it hit, the water drilled through the rock, which crumbled down the steps. What lie in the distance made everyone stop and look.
First they're were three flashes of green light. Then three long. Then three short again. No one belived what they were seeing. " What did those light flashes of light mean?" asked Axel.
" What it means," Chris said with building excitement, " is S.O.S. Axel, what it means is Joe isn't dead!" The team started up the stairs followed by the people of Mythinea. At the top, they found what the signal had really meant.
" Joe!" Chris said as he burst through the opening into the ice and fire caves. He looked into the ice cave. Joe had moved around the corner, but why? If he was really in trouble, why had he moved? Then they heard a boy scream. It was Joe. Chris looked around. " Do you all have your weapons?" Chris asked. They all nodded. " Chet and Joseph, bring these people out of here through the fire cave. Chet, you know where you're going, so guide them to camp. If you run into anything... Just save the civilians."
Chet and Joseph nodded. " Come with us," Chet said to the people, who followed them into the fire cave. Chris uncovered his sword and headed into the Ice Cave. The remaining of the team followed. As they rounded the corner, they remembered back. Back to Neasmil. What they had seen four days previous. What had haunted them for four nights
The blue glow of the ice cave illuminated the event that was taking place at the cliff of the ice cave. Ten shadows were closing in on Joe who was pinned agenst the wall by his shadow. He looked over at Chris. " Glad you could make it."
Chris smirked. He looked at the shadows- there was a clone of every team member except Axel and Rauel. They had not met until the mountains. They hadn't been in Neasmil during the purple mist. But, because Chet and Joseph were not at that area, the two teams were evenly matched. " Well," Chris mocked, " Let's do it!" The team looked confused until the moment they charged. The shadow battle was on.
Everyone matched up with their counterparts besides Axel and Rauel, who matched with Shadow Joseph and Shadow Chet. Before Chris went to his clone, Joe was set free. Chris's blade knocked Shadow Joe into a wall. In turn, though, Shadow Chris struck Chris in the arm. He started bleeding badly. " Heal!" Joe yelled. Chris's arm glowed green and stopped bleeding.
Axel was having no trouble at all agenst Shadow Joseph. He only had to keep his distance. His exploding boomerang made sure of that. Shadow Joseph couldn't even get close enough to attack. Rauel wasn't having much trouble either. His sword was twice as long as Shadow Chet's axe. The only one having any real trouble was Jake who, whichever spell he used, was countered by the corresponding element. Ice and plant by fire. Water by plant and ice. Earth and water by plant. Everything he did seemed to be destroyed. But not only these ten had problems.
The Fire cave, after the lava spill, seemed only warm. Joseph and Chet wondered if Joe was really ok. The people of Mythinea were scared of losing their home. The Earthquake had so far went on and off three times. The second had surely destroyed their homes. Half of them had fell over. They hoped the two heroes would lead them out safely. They hoped that would be easy. It wasn't.
The light at the end of the tunnel was fast approaching. You could already feel the warmth of the sunlight. The only thing wrong were the four things standing at the exit. Chet didn't remember any huge rocks. Whatever they were they couldn't do much harm. What could a rock do besides accidently make you trip over it?
As it turned out, nothing more. It also became clear that the things at the tunnels end were definatly not rocks. They were probably the furthest thing from it. As Joseph, Chet, and the people approached the end of the tunnel they saw what was there. "Hey," Joseph joked, " Look at that! It's darkness!"
" Ha ha ha, funny," Chet stated, " I did't think this would be a piece of cake. Its more like black raspberries." Joseph looked at him and started laughing. The four figures of Shadow John, Shadow Kevin, Shadow Christopher, and Shadow Brad didn't move. " Well, you're not going out easy, are you?" he asked. " Well, then lets go." Chet went for Shadows Brad and Kevin while Joseph charged at Shadows John and Chris.
Chet had started a strategy- go for Shadow Brad then dodge his arrows and Shadow Kevin's potions. It seemed almost foolproof until Shadow Kevin gave some physical repelling potion to Shadow Brad. So much for strategy. Joseph was having more luck. He was blocking Shadow Chris and continuously attacking Shadow John, not letting him pull of an Element Mage attack such as fire.
Mythinea was standing back. The men stood up front, in case the two young warriors let go of command. " A plan would be nice right now," Joseph said. Chet looked at him sternly. But that was because he already had a plan. Why would they not of ran by now if there wasn't a plan? If a physical repelling potion repelled attacks, couldn't they push this shadow goons off the edge of the mountain platform? It was worth a try.
Chet explained the plain to Joseph by standing back to back and fighting in circles. Joseph figured this only worked in movies, but it turned out to be perfect for the situation. Joseph nodded after Chet had finished speaking. Then Joseph continued blocking as Chet ran back to the crowed. " Ok, listen. Charge on my command. Timing is impecable, so it's right the first time or not at all. Are you all informed?" They all nodded. " Ok, then. Code is execute." He then ran back into battle.
All but a moment later the time was right. Shadow John was standing directly behind Shadow Chris, who's axe was pushing Joseph's sword. Shadow Kevin was immediatly behind Shadow Brad, Who's bow was being pushed agenst by Chet's axe. The time was perfect. " Execute!" Chet commanded. It was more of an uproar than the first earthquake.
" What the hell are they doing!" yelled Joseph angrily.
" Oops," said Chet. " I hope they didn't litterally... oh crap." The two were now pushing the four Shadows and being pushed by Mythinea. In less than ten seconds they would be tumbling down the mountain. Along with them- hundreds of innocent, confused people.
"You would think people would be smart enough to stop if they were just about to fall down a mountain," Joseph said.
" Not people that have lived inside a mountain for the past few years, " Chet joked. Then he remembered who their leader had been. Naraf, archfiend and communist. " Halt!" Nothing. The didn't stop. in less than five seconds now, an accidental massacre would inevitably occer.
The shadows looked to the sky. What were they doing? It would soon become clear. In a puff of purple mist, they dissapeared to die another day. But not Chet, Joseph, or Mythinea. They were to die, or so it seemed, that day. Or maybe not. For at the moment they were at the edge of the cliff, a sheild appeared. It was a Magield. But no one could conjure that. No one but Shadow John or Shadow Jake. Right after that, the word Earthan echoed as though it were moving. Almost as normal, a pillar rose from the ground, this time from the bottem of the mountain. On top of it was four human figures.
There seemed to be no luck for Joe's team. The shadows out powered them. It was like falling off a rollar coaster; when it starts, it doesn't stop until your rescued or you die. That's what they needed now. Rescuing. But they knew there was none coming. Chris had told Joseph and Chet to lead the people from Mythinea. They were hopeless, doomed to be condemed by shadows. But thinking about that, Joe had an idea.
Certain weapons were strong agenst certain weapons. I was almost like two trinities. In one was the physical attacks; swords, axes, and all other solid weapons. Axe was good agenst lance which was strong agenst sword, and it repeated. In the other trinity was the magic, or non-physical attacks. Light was strong agenst Dark which was was good agenst Elements. The Elements were good agents certain elements, but of course it is obvious which is good agenst which. Some elements were even in their own categories! The only thing nobody knew was the powers of a boomerang.
" Find whoever your better than! Switch opponents!" Joe yelled this with immense confidence. If someone like Axel went up agenst Shadow Zach and Jake agenst Shadow Jude, the plan would work. And the matchups turned out to be perfect. The plan was good... Or so they thought. The team had not noticed the four blackend figures that had materialized in the ice cave. This was no longer an even match.
As Joe slammed his Lekino staff into Shadow Chet, he notice the potion that was hanging over his head. " I don't need one now, Zach, go back and fight." There came no response. Joe kicked at Shadow Chet, who fell backwards, giving him time to turn and talk. Then is when it all made sense. Joe had been thinking about the possibility sinse the battle in Neasmil. He had seen Shadows, but now he knew it was true. He knew now that there were more than ten people from earth in Kealato. Seeing shadow Kevin, potion in his hand, he knew the quest after this might become easier. But as for now, it was exactly the oppisite.
As Shadow Kevin began dropping the melting potion onto Joe's head, Joe began humming a tune he knew from earth. Taylor looked over from where he was fighting Shadow Chris to Joe, who was humming 'Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead'. What he saw wasn't good. He wasn't close enough, so he called to Zach, who would surely know what to do and was closer. "Zach! Joe!" Zach looked beside him to see a Shadow with a potion bottle standing over Joseph. He threw the parting potion, already in his hand, at Shadow Kevin. He didn't seem to move a body part besides the hand pouring the potion, but he split in two; the potion halfs dropped to the floor on either side if Joe, who slide-kicked the two body halves to the ground.
Luckily for Jake, he had seen what was going on and had concluded more shadows would come. And as predicted, he looked beside him to see Shadow Christopher, standing inches taller than him, with an axe raised. " And you though I wasn't ready? Ha!" Jake turned his wand on the shadow and cast " Eytimener," which rose Shadow Christopher into the air. He then pointed his wand at the ceiling. Shadow Christopher flew streight up, crashed into the ceiling, and fell down limp. " Easy," said Jake.
As Ben was completely into battling Shadow Amit, he never saw the nomad comming up behind him. At first Ben flew up into an upside down walk, then spun so he kicked the shadow in the chest. He came to a dizzy halt, and held up for only a moment until an arrow flew past his left ear. He turn to see another arrow being loaded into Shadow Brad's bow, but this time he was quicker. He span around the arrow and into Shadow Brad, who dodged the attack completely. Ben then reached onto his back and took out his bow. It had turned into a fight of the better marksmen. Ben grabbed his arrow and loaded it like lightning, but stalled to escape another arrow. He then fired the arrow at Shadow Brad, who it missed. Then another arrow streaked past. He had to terminate this guy, and fast. He loaded and fired his arrow again, but this time running toward Shadow Brad directly after the shot. The arrow missed the shadow as suspected, but Ben didn't. He fired a punch and it hit the shadow square in the face. He fell over, finally being beaten.
The last shadow, John, would be the hardest. He knew every aspect of an Element Mage, or otherwise an Elementist. He could send weapons fling or make the ground shake harder than it already was. He was even stronger than Jake. So how could he be beaten? Rauel was fighting Shadow Joe when the ground under him shook. Both he and his combatent toppeled. The same happened between Axel and Shadow Zach. The Kealatoeans looked over to see an Element mage standing over them with his wand in the air. Rauel and Axel smirked and rose from the ground.
" I think he's challanging us," Axel remarked.
" Well we must accept," Rauel suggjusted.
" Surely," answered Axel.
The two readied their weapons. Axel gripped his exploding boomerang as Rauel clenched his sword. Then they entered the battle. Rauel heled his sword over his shoulder and ran at Shadow John. Axel put his boomerang at the position. After the first strike by Rauel he would throw this boomerang, but timing was what they needed. So Rauel swung his sword at Shadow John; And it went right through him. " Axel," Rauel called with sternly. The two looked around the cave. They saw over ten copies of Shadow John. What spell could that be?
" Already done," Answered Axel. He threw his boomerang and it flew around the area, finally to hit the real Shadow John at the seventh spot. The boomerang exploded, leaving Shadow John to lay on the ground. All of the other shadows were now gone. It was time to go back to the counterparts of the battlers.
Joe felt confident now that they were done with that half of it. He turned around to Shadow Chet, who had his axe over his head. He threw an uppercut punch and the shadow's head cocked back. Nothing more. I went right back to normal. Joe looked into his eyes. He realized they had just turned a light shade of glowing blue. But hadn't Naraf gone? And another question. The earthquakes. His team had destroyed Naraf, so why was there still some dark force pushing on the earth. And the shadows were still living. There was something bigger going on here. It was just hard to know what it was.
No one else thought like that. They figured the Shadows fed off Naraf, and once he was gone the shadows would die. It was a good guess, but then why did these counterparts seem invincalble? The answer had not come yet. But something else did.
As the battle raged on, no one had noticed the purple mist that had began filling the tunnel. It had only seemed like fog for a while. But it soon became clear that the battles had all been a set-up. They had only been to lure the team away from what was really happening. Finally the time came for the truth to be told. Six people walked into the room. Along with them were Joseph and Chet.
The Shadows formed into a line. Shadow Joe was in the middle. Joseph and Chet stepped beside their team, which was now too in a line. The four others stepped foward to the middle of the area, facing the Shadows of the team behind them. John smirked. " Let's do this."
Joebushy- someone better get chunkypuff3 to start writing his story, because the stories are coming together and he's still on