Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun.

A/N: What a long chapter, and I didn't even cover it all.

Lord Destroyer, no, I don't watch Dragonball Z. But I think Garet could win, anyway.

I awoke out of a deep sleep to see the first strains of sunlight on the horizon. I'd actually gotten a decent sleep after the storm calmed down.

I picked another pear and munched it thoughtfully. My mistake wasn't too bad.

Amazingly, Garet was actually awake.

"What did you guys do to get him up?" I demanded.

Mia giggled. "It only took an Ice."

Ivan was trying unsuccessfully to hide his grin. "He jumped right out of bed."
Garet glared at us. "Hey, I'm right here!"

"Let's go, guys." I said cheerfully.

It took most of the morning to get to where we started, slightly north of Xian. But I didn't mind.

I had spent my time imagining this "Lama Temple". What was it like? I also envisioned a scene of us defeating both Saturos and Menardi at the next lighthouse, stopping them from lighting it, and saving Jenna.

We reached another split in the path.

"Let's go with light brown, this time." suggested Ivan.

"I hope this place has lots of food." Garet commented.

We reached another split, nestled in the mountains. I paused to read the sign, but before I had a chance to, I heard a familiar voice ring.

"Silk Road! Boulders block the road!" cried Feizhi angrily. She dashed right past the four of us, apparently not noticing us. Maybe it runs in the family.

"My vision...it came true!" she exclaimed. "Hsu! Hsu!"
She ran out of our line of sight.

"Let's follow her." Ivan muttered.

I nodded, and we crept behind Feizhi to find huge stones blocking that way.

"It is no good." she sobbed. "I cannot hear Hsu's voice!" Then, hearing us behind her, she turned and asked, "What do I do? Warriors, should I return to Xian?"

"I don't think you can do anything else here." Ivan observed. "Yes, I think so."

Feizhi shook her head angrily. "Going back is no option! I must find Hsu."

"But-"
"No! I must find him." Feizhi turned away angrily.

I glanced at the sign to discover that the only way we could go was the wrong direction-towards "Altin Mines." "Lama Temple" was to the west.

"What do we do?" wondered Garet.

I shrugged. "The only thing we can-go on to 'Altin Mines'."

"But that's the wrong way, isn't it?" asked Mia, confused. "We were heading for Lama Temple."
Ivan nodded. "But this is the only way we can go. We have to."

We trudged north and then west to find ourselves in a town.

A gloomy looking man stood near the entrance, glancing down at a huge pool of water. "Is this your first time to visit Altin?"
I nodded. "Yes, sir."
"We must look a lot like a coastal town, eh?" the man persisted.

I nodded once again.

"Nothing gets by you." the man said sarcastically. "Altin never even had a well in the good old days. Water-spewing monsters are what waterlogged the village."
I glanced down at the pool once again. Sure enough, it covered houses, ladders, stairs.

"How nasty." Garet commented.

"Yes." Mia agreed. "I doubt it would be safe to go into that water, either."
"Why?" I asked.

"Monster saliva doesn't sound very sanitary, and it could be poisonous." Ivan answered for her.

Walking along the edge of the water, I spotted a monster.

It was blue and green, large, and hideous. It snarled at us from adding more water to the pool and hopped into a nearby cave.

I heaved a sigh. "Looks like we better go after it."

We entered the cavern. It was dimly lit, with a single torch visible. I saw the monster after the first bend in the path.

It snarled and hopped off. It waddled over to a small puddle of water and the water drew up and froze.

"Didn't you do that in Xian, Mia?" Garet asked. The monster climbed a ladder, hopped over its ice, and sat smugly on the next platform.

She nodded. "Let's follow it."

I held a finger to my lips. Everyone nodded.

I slunk forward, stepping as lightly as I could so as not to scare the monster off. We had to help these people.

By the time I reached the monster, it had jumped onto the platform below and was spewing water into the growing pool. I waited for the others, then we quietly slid down an indenture in the face.

The monster didn't notice us-or so I thought. When all of us were not-so-safely on the ground, the creature turned and snarled, inviting us to fight.

So we did.

Gust once again spun forward. The monster snarled again, thrown against the wall. Gust flew back to perch on Ivan's shoulder.

The thing turned and breathed at Mia and Ivan. Water poured from its mouth.

Flint! Flint! I called urgently.

"Take this, you monster!"

Mia was taking the time to use Mist too. He sleepily trudged forward at the same instant as Flint.

By the time the mist cleared, the monster was looking pretty bad.

A Mars Djinn stepped out. She waved a hand. "You're protected now." the newest Djinn muttered, returning to Garet.

Breeze stomped out. "Don't you know that's my job? Anyway, yeah, now you're doubly protected." He shot a glare at me. "Even Flint."

I ignored him and concentrated on making a spire fall on the monster. It growled angrily, swiping at Ivan with its feet.

Sleet, muttering as always, stomped out. He waved a hand.

Fever stepped out, sneezing. Sleet made a face.

The monster snarled, turning its head this way and that like a dog. I realized he'd been blinded by Fever.

Granite! We need you! I mentally beckoned.

Finally, he grumbled. You never need me.

That's because we didn't need protection! But we do now! Please!

I'm coming! Apparently Granite wasn't having the best of days. I wasn't, either, now that I thought of it, but I wasn't all crabby.

When I looked up, deadly arrows were flying at the monster. An Atalanta, courtesy of Ivan, I was sure.

The monster did the breathing thing again-only directed at Garet and me. I felt the water, which was scalding hot, hit me. I grimaced.

Ivan seemed very weak now. Mia rushed to him and caught him on the verge of collapse. I heard her murmur, "Fizz."

Fizz flew forward, sobbing about how the other Mercury Djinn left her all alone, etc. Meanwhile Garet was using a Kirin. The monster, scorched, collapsed. Another vial of blue liquid fell out of its outstretched sort-of hand.

The forfeit.

I took the jar carefully, but it wouldn't fit in my pack. I shrugged and handed it to Mia. Without the monster, the pond drained immediately. A blue gem sparkled.

Garet reached down and grabbed it. A small puddle of water lay between the broken path. With a wicked grin, Garet concentrated.

"Garet!" Mia scolded, but it was too late. The water drew up and froze.

He shrugged. "Hey, it worked, right?"

"But you didn't know what could have happened, just like Isaac and that Douse-"

Knowing that this could go on for awhile, I broke in. "Let's go, everyone."
They nodded.

Back outside, I noticed that with the loss of a monster, the water had decreased out here, too. There must be a major leak in this town somewhere.

The herb shop was open, one submerged house was above water, and another cave was available. I sighed.

"It looks like we better go in there." I gestured to the cavern.

Garet nodded resignedly.

We entered the narrow cavern. There were wooden beams above our heads.

We followed some sort of path, passing doors but not going in them. I was thinking of our quest. Sure, it felt good helping these people, they needed it, and we had nowhere else to go, but where were Saturos, Menardi, Alex, Felix, Kraden, and Jenna? Had they gotten by Silk Road before the boulders fell? Were they at Lama Temple, past it, maybe? Or were they trapped, like us? I knew one thing for certain-they wouldn't be here. I was sure Saturos and Menardi had no interest in helping people in need.

We encountered some slimy monsters and I barely noticed. This cave was all uniform. It made me feel rather sleepy.

I wondered what Jenna'd thought of the storm last night. I was sure she'd been scared. Had Felix comforted her, or was he truly one of them? Hidden deep inside that horrible person, was there my childhood friend?

No matter how much I hoped, I doubted it. I wanted it to be true...but "Sir Felix" would never had acted this way. I remembered longingly the times before the accident when the four of us would play "explorers". I missed it. We had still explored after the accident, of course, but it wasn't the same. And now Garet and I were exploring for real, but without Felix or Jenna.

I would much rather be a pretend explorer with them than a real one without them.

I caught sight of another monster and pushed my friends out of my mind.

We couldn't reach the monster from here but it wasn't far. It was filling up an already deep pool.

"Hey, look at this!" Garet called. I automatically looked up.

A box with wheels was resting on the path.

"A cart for the track!" exclaimed Ivan. We looked at him strangely.

He pointed to the box. "We get in this and it rides along the track. Let's try it!"
I wasn't so sure I wanted to get in that contraption, but I stood cautiously in it. When all four of us were in it, Ivan told me, "Just lean forward to get it started."
Garet and Mia were looking at me expectantly. I swallowed and shouted, "Lean forward!"

We rode along bumpily...and then we stopped.

Ivan looked confused for a second, and then hopped out of the cart. He pushed a lever that I hadn't noticed.

He got back in the cart. "Lean forward!" I called again. We rode back to the original place.

"Nothing changed." observed Garet.

"It'll change when we ride back."

We rode all the way over to the monster, still spewing water. I held up a hand and applied a quick paste to some of my worse wounds. Then we attacked it from behind.

"Ramses!" I cried. The creature made a face that looked like it was supposed to be a wince. It growled and bit Garet. Garet stared down at his wound in distaste.

Gust rocketed down from the ceiling at the monster.

Fever attacked.

And then Mia raised her hands. "Neptune!" she called.

Even for a creature of the water element, that must have felt horrible. I winced myself at the wounds it sported.

"Sleep..." Ivan soothed. But the monster didn't give in.

I gave him an incredulous look. "You can do that?"
He shrugged. "Well, I can try. Breeze suggested it."
I tried to imagine Breeze suggesting anything that didn't have anything to do with something unpleasant for Venus Adepts or Flint, and failed. While I was attempting, the monster hit me with its oversized bird-like talons.

Angrily, I swung back, catching a gill. Mia dashed forward with her own weapon.

"Mars!" shouted Garet.

I'm set! Flint squeaked happily.

Great, then go! I ordered.

"Jupiter!" Ivan commanded.

"FIRE!" yelled Garet. A huge fireball zoomed at the creature. It promptly collapsed, also dropping a blue vial. I handed this one to Ivan.

"Good one." Mia complimented Garet.

He shrugged. "No big deal."

The water had been draining during the battle, and now the moat-like pool was no more. We rode back on the mine cart in silence.

Ivan led the way, but where he was leading, I had no idea. When I asked, he simply replied, "Just a hunch."

I thought we were retracing our steps, but I couldn't be sure. I hadn't paid much attention when we'd passed the first time.

Finally, we reached our destination. He stopped in front of the door we'd passed.

Inside, we found...another mine cart.

"Forward!" I called needlessly.

While we rode, I turned to Mia. "How did you know Alex, anyway?"
"He was...a friend, and a student..." She trailed off. I could see that it was painful for her to talk about him, so I just nodded and returned to my own thoughts.

We found ourselves few fights as we walked silently along the passage. The water-spewing monsters had probably scared them off.

We traveled on carefully. I struggled to keep my mind on the puzzles and battles, but I failed. Jenna...I wished I could be a Jupiter Adept. Maybe I could communicate with Jenna. Maybe even Felix.

Another monster. Just what I need. I thought, not sarcastically. I need something to get my mind back on our current problems.

I concentrated. When we spotted a puddle, I decided, "We need to use Frost."

Hop across, get in cart. Open chest, great, it's a shield, no, really, you can have it, Garet. Okay, fine, I'll take it. Thank you.

All automatic. I was paying attention, but my mind was...missing. I was a shell. My mind couldn't be here, it was off wandering. Begging for me to return to the quest.

But I couldn't. We were trapped.

Back in the cart, what to do now? I forced myself to think about it. Go find the switch.

Jump down...oh, I couldn't take it anymore!

I walked to the left, concentrating on not thinking about Jenna. Felix.

Stop it! It was a mental battle.

I won. I flipped the switch once I found it, then led the way back. Garet and Mia were talking in hushed voices, maybe about me. I didn't really care.

"Everyone! Isaac! Garet!" shouted Mia. I turned to look.

"Monster alert!" Ivan yelled.

Two eight-legged aquatic creatures. I attacked one with my sword. The others were also using physical attacks. They had seen what I had-save the Psynergy, Djinn and summons for the real monsters.

The monsters gave up. They crawled off in search of better prey.

I hopped back in the cart. Garet followed. So did Mia. Ivan hesitated, but then took his place.

How many more monsters? How many more?

"Let's take a break." Garet suggested.

I agreed. We needed all the strength we could gather...