Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't updated! I've been on vacation. To make it up to you, I'm making this chapter extra long! Thanks Denotic, for your review! You've been my most constant reviewer for this story and have given me some really good advice. You rock! I do not own the Legend of Zelda or Storm Hawks. I do own Chassidy, Cam, Cypriote, Louis, and Harrier Johnson. Enjoy this chapter.
We landed on Terra Valero, the hottest terra in the Atmos. It was even hotter than Terra Sahar, but only by a bit. We stepped off the ship. Piper began fanning herself with a piece of paper. "It's so hot here." She complained.
"Honey, you need cool air to get a good breeze from fanning yourself. Otherwise, you're just blowing hot air in your face." I said.
"Not necessarily." Piper said.
"That's how I see it." I told her.
We walked to the main village of Terra Valero. We were immediately greeted at the entrance. "Hello! Are you here to purchase some metal for your skimmers?" The villager asked.
"Uh, no. We..." Aerrow began.
"Did you drop off a skimmer and are here to retrieve it?" The villager asked.
"No. We need..."
"Are you here to buy a skimmer?"
"NO! If you're not going to help us, then take us to someone who will!" The Dark Ace yelled.
"Way to be polite." I told him.
"Politeness gets you nowhere." He told me.
"Would you like to see our leader?" The villager asked tentatively.
"Yes! That would be perfect!" Piper exclaimed. The villager led us toward a large hut.
"This is where our chief lives. He should be able to help you with whatever you need." The villager then promptly left.
"Hope we don't need anything else." Finn grumbled.
"Dude, he's going back to the exact same spot he was in. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to find him." I told Finn.
"Whatever." Finn said. We entered.
"He's not here." Junko whined, disappointed.
"Well, super greeter out there might be able to help." The Dark Ace said, referring to the villager standing at the gates.
"Let's go ask him." I sighed. We approached the greeter again.
"Was he not home?" The greeter asked.
"No. Do you have any idea where he could be?" I asked.
"I suppose he's somewhere else on the terra." The greeter told us.
"You mean, not in the village? In the wild? I don't wanna go out there, man!" Finn yelled.
"He shouldn't be too far. He is most likely at the steel mines." The greeter told us.
"Can you take us there?" Ravess asked.
"But... I don't wanna go out there either!" Snipe whined.
"Fine. You babies can stay here while the greeter takes us to the chief. Watch out for anything suspicious." I said.
"Me? Take you to the chief? Oh, no! I cannot!" The greeter said.
"What?" Master Cyclonis exclaimed.
"I musn't travel too far away from the gate. I'm a greeter, not a tour guide." The greeter told us.
"Is there a tour guide?" Aerrow asked hopefully.
"No. But the mines are just around the corner, just out the village. You should be able to find it." The greeter said, then he turned, ending the conversation.
"Alright then. Finn and Snipe are staying. Anyone else? Speak now or forever hold your peace." I said.
"I'm staying on the Condor." Stork announced.
I sighed, but said, "Fine. Let's go find the chief, guys."
"Just around the corner? There hasn't been a corner for ages!" The Dark Ace exclaimed angrily.
"I'm sure it's around here. It's just a little longer than we, or the greeter, thought." I said. We'd been walking for half an hour and hadn't seen a single corner.
"There! Up ahead! Is that a corner?" Piper exclaimed. We all hurried to it excitedly, then sighed.
"Nope. Just another indent in the wall." Ravess sighed.
"Well, let's keep going." I said.
Stork, Finn, and Snipe sat silently on the ship. The others had been gone for an hour now. "Where do you think they are?' Snipe pondered.
"I bet they fell into a lava pit and were melted to their doom." Stork said.
"No way, dude. The greeter sabotaged us!" Finn yelled.
"The greeter sabotaged us?" Stork asked.
"He seemed nice enough." Snipe said.
It's the nice ones you gotta watch out for." Finn said.
"Really? What about the straight-out mean ones? Do we just ignore them?' Stork asked.
"Well... No... But..." Finn stuttered.
"My point exactly. The greeter didn't sabotage us. He was a little clueless anyway. I bet he sent them right into a heard of magma worms." Stork said.
"I thought they only lived in the wastelands." Snipe said.
"They live anywhere that has lava and is hot and usually unoccupied." Stork said.
"Finally! That has to be a corner!" Aerrow yelled. We walked slowly to it, not getting our hopes up. I was the first there.
"It is!" I yelled, flying around. The others followed me. "Whoa. How are we gonna find him in all this?" I asked.
"The greeter failed to mention that the chief was in the mine where every skimmer in the Atmos is made." Master Cyclonis said.
"Chassidy, can you fly into the air and spot him from there?" Piper asked.
"I don't know what he looks like." I said.
"He should stand out. He's the chief." Piper said.
"I don't know. There's tons of people here, and they all look alike." I said.
"Just try." Piper told me. I sighed and flew up into the air. I looked at everyone in the mine. I didn't see a single person who looked strange. I flew back down.
"Nothing." I told them.
"Guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." Aerrow sighed. We looked at him curiously as he walked up to one of the miners. "Have you seen the chief?" He asked. The miner shook his head. We got the idea and started askign around.
"Think we should go try to find them?" Finn asked.
"Nah. I'm sure they're fine." Snipe said, too lazy to stand up.
"They're done for. I'm not walking right into the same trap they did." Stork said.
"Well, fine. I guess I just have to go alone." Finn said, marching off the ship. He walked through a long cavern. After about ten minutes, there was a corner. Finn turned it and continued walking. He walked for another ten minutes before sighing. "I thought that greeter said the mines were just around the corner." He complained to himself. He continued to walk until he saw a Fire Oaski. He stared at the large, plant-like monster. Then, it snapped at him. He dodged and shot an arrow at it. It his the Oaski right in the middle of its face. The arrow had no effect. The Oaski breathed fire towards Finn. Finn jumped out of the way, but smelt something burning. "You have got to be kidding me." He muttered. He checked his entire body over. Nothing. Then, he tried to run his hand through his hair, and touched flame. He screamed and waved his hand aroudn and blew on it. "Dude! Not the hair!" Finn yelled at the Oaski. The Oaski once again breathed fire, but completely missed this time. "Ha!" Finn yelled. He brought out his crossbow and aimed for the Oaski's eye. This time, he was able to defeat the monster. He turned to go back to the Condor when he saw why the Oaski had breathed fire the second time. It had set a fire at the entrance of the cavern. He was trapped. "Aw man!" He yelled. Then, a thought struck him and he screamed in frustration. The others didn't go into a cavern! They went through a canyon! All that for nothing!
"Have you seen the chief?" I asked someone for the hundredth time. I'd had to explain to every person that I wasn't some spirit haunting the place before they'd tell me anything!
"No. If he was here, I'd say he'd be at the entrance to the underground caverns." The miner told me.
"Which way would that be?" I asked.
"Right up there, to the west." The miner said, pointing.
"Thank you." I told him, flying to find everyone else. "Hey, guys! Someone told me that if the chief was here, he'd be at the entrance to the underground caverns. That way!" I said, pointing.
"Let's go check it out then." Master Cyclonis said. We pushed through the crowd until we were finally at the entrance to the underground caverns.
I walked over to a miner and asked, "Have you seen the chief?"
"AHH! GHOST!" The miner screamed, louder than all the others. Everyone in the mining area turned to stare at me. If I could've turned pink, I would've.
"It's okay, everyone! She's not a ghost! She's with us! She's our friend!" Aerrow yelled as I floated away from the miner and beside Ravess.
"Do I really look that horrifying?" I whispered to her.
"I guess to someone who can only see the outline of you, maybe. We'll have to sic you on my brother." Ravess told me, smiling.
"You're not 'siccing' me on anybody." I told her.
"Have you seen the chief?" Junko asked the miner.
"As a matter of fact, you just missed 'em. Just went into the cavern there. You can probably still catch 'em if ya hurry." The miner said.
"Alright. thank you." Piper told the miner. We turned to look at the cavern.
"Deep, dark, and creepy. What a combination." I said.
"I say Master Cyclonis goes first. It's right up her ally." Piper said. Master Cyclonis turned to glare at Piper.
"I say Chassidy goes first, since nothing can touch her." Master Cyclonis said, turning to me.
"Actually, a lot of the monsters can touch me, and I'm not allowed to leave your guys' sight after the blizzicane incident, remember?" I asked. "Ravess has a good eye." I added.
"Junko's strong." Ravess said simply.
"Well, I'm... I'm... Aerrow's brave!" Junko exclaimed.
"Not me! The Dark Ace is brave, strong, undefeated..." Aerrow listed.
"So are you..." The Dark Ace began to argue.
"GUYS! We're wasting time! Let's just all go in together." I suggested.
"Good idea." Master Cyclonis said. We all entered the cave at the same time.
Finn walked through the cavern. He hadn't seen a single monster for a while, so he'd decided to avoid the other openings in the wall and stick with this semi-safe one. He had to find a person or a way out eventually. There was a fork in the cavern ahead of him. WWPD? (What Would Piper Do?) He decided to try just listening to each tunnel. In the tunnel to the right, there was complete silence. In the tunnel to the left, it sounded like there were a bunch of rocks falling. Finn decided the silent right tunnel would be best. He started down it.
Cypriote was watching the blonde decided which tunnel to take. The right was silent because a monster was hiding silently. The left had rocks falling because the chief of the village was chipping away some rocks to get to some metal. She smirked as the blonde traveled down the dangerous right path. She would take them down, one by one.
"This sucks." I said, getting dripped on again.
"Hey! You're only getting hit by water! I'm getting hit by rocks." The Dark Ace complained.
I smirked and said, "Isn't that bad?"
"What?" He asked.
"Well, if there are rocks falling... Wouldn't that mean the cave's coming down?" I asked.
"Either that or someone's mining near here." Ravess said.
"I wonder if it's the chief." Piper said.
"I don't know. Let's see." I said, flying ahead.
"Wait! If the monsters can touch you, you shouldn't fly ahead of us. You can't fight them!" Ravess yelled after me. I turned and glared at her.
"If I'm going to fight Cypriote, I need to learn how to fight sometime. If there is a monster up here, I'll take care of it or stall it until you guys can get there. Anyway, what if the chief's in trouble?" I asked.
"Fine. Go. But if you start to lose, retreat." Aerrow told me.
"Got it!" I yelled back, already flying ahead. I flew for a couple of minutes through the tunnel until I saw a miner up ahead. "Excuse me!" I called. "Have you seen the chief?" I added.
"You found him. What do you need?" He asked, without turning around.
"I need to get to the Fire Temple. My name's Chassidy and..."
"I know." The chief said.
"You do?" I asked, puzzled.
"Yes. I've heard the story. You need to get to the Fire Temple to stop Cypriote and get your body back. Johnson sent you." The chief said.
"Exactly! Can you tell me where the Fire Temple is?" I asked.
"First, you need to find the sanctuary. Just cut through this cave and don't take the left fork. You'll find your way out and the greeter will get you to the sanctuary." The chief told me.
"Okay. Thank you. Hurry up, guys!" I yelled. The others met up with me. "Come on. The chief told me where to go." I told them.
The murmured their thanks, not the Cyclonians, when we walked past him. "Where are we going?" Junko asked me.
"He told me to cut through this cave and not take a left fork. We'll find our way out and the greeter will take us to the sanctuary." I told him. We entered an opening... A fork. "There's the left fork." I said. We heard a scream from the left fork.
"That's Finn!" Piper yelled.
"Really? It sounded like a girl to me." Ravess said, rolling her eyes.
"Come on." I said.
"Wait!" Master Cyclonis yelled.
"No!" Aerrow, Piper, Junko, and I yelled, running, or floatng in my case, into the left fork. The Cyclonians hesitantly followed us.
Finn screamed as the Dithzite lunged toward him and knocked his crossbow out of his hands. He jumped out of the way as it tried to swing at him. He was getting farther away from his crossbow! He had to get back to it. He watched the Dithzite, studying its movements. Suddenly, he broke into a run and went under the Dithzite. It swung at him with its many arms. Right as he was about to get to his crossbow, one of the arms hit him. He was immediately knocked into unconsciousness.
"Finn!" Piper yelled, trying to warn him of the incoming arm. It was the first thing we saw when we ran into the room. The warning came too late. Finn was knocked unconcious. "What do we do?" Piper asked.
"Let's try a head on attack and see what he's got." Aerrow said, running forward.
"That's a really bad idea, Aerrow! Aerrow!" I yelled after him. We all looked at each other and shrugged. Piper pulled out her staff and shot a Frost Crystal at it. It froze the side of the monster for a while, but it thawed quickly. Master Cyclonis pulled out her staff and tried a Paralyzer. It hit on the head, but did nothing. The Dark Ace tried to slice one of the arms off with his energy blade, but he was quickly swatted off by another arm. A plan was forming in my head... Junko tried to smash one of the legs, but was swatted off like the Dark Ace.
"I got it guys!" I exclaimed.
"What?" Piper asked, freezing an arm that was about to hit Aerrow.
"We need to distract the arms." I said.
"How? There's seven of us and eleven arms." Ravess pointed out.
"Let's just take out all we can and try to get rid of the arms. Watch. Dark Ace, I'll distract an arm, you attack the one next to it, and Piper, you get the arm on the other side." I said. Piper and the Dark Ace nodded. I flew ahead first and got the monsters attention. He shot an arm after me, and Piper and the Dark Ace ran down beside it. Piper froze the other arm and the Dark Ace sliced off the middle arm. Purple goo sprayed out of it, covering all three of us.
"EW!" Piper yelled.
"I'll learn eventually learn to bring rags with me when we head to a temple." The Dark Ace said.
"I don't think a rag is gonna cover this." I said, grimacing as I tried to shake some of the goo out of my hair.
"Look out!" Aerrow yelled. We all turned to see an arm headed towards us. We all screamed and tried to brace ourselves. Suddenly, the arm dropped in front of us, paralyzed. We turned to see Master Cyclonis holding her staff.
"Dark Ace, take care of it! Quick!" I yelled. The Dark Ace cut the arm and we ran off.
"Thanks." We all told Master Cyclonis.
"Now there's only eight left." Junko said.
"We could keep doing the same thing..." Piper began.
"Wait! I have a better idea!" Junko exclaimed.
"Explain." I told him.
"When we fought the Leviathon, we tied the arms together by getting them after us, remember?" Junko suggested.
"We don't have skimmers." Aerrow said.
"Chassidy can float. Master Cyclonis and Piper can fly using the binding." Ravess said.
"That's true. Will you guys try?" The Dark Ace asked, turning to us. We looked briefly at each other, then shrugged.
"I guess it's worth a try." I sighed. We flew up into the air and flew toward the Dithzite.
"We have to fly in front of its face so it sends all the arms after us! Then, we'll all go different directions and when I say, fly straight up!" Master Cyclonis commanded.
"Okay." Piper and I told her. We flew in front of the face. Six arms, two for each of us, followed us. The Dithzite saved two arms for other defense, but we could easily take care of those.
"Tangle it!" I yelled. We flew all different directions until we couldn't tell which leg was which.
"Pull up!" Master Cyclonis called. We all flew straight into the air. There were only two legs left to attack.
"Aerrow! I'll distract one leg, you slice the other!" I yelled. Aerrow nodded. I flew around one leg until it followed me, then Aerrow cut off the other. Finally, I flew down beside him and he promptly cut off that leg, spraying us in purple goo. "Aw man! I just got rid of the last spray of goo!" I complained.
"It's still hanging in there." The Dark Ace said.
"How do we beat it?" Junko asked.
"It's eye! Ravess! Shoot an arrow into its eye. That must be its weak spot!" I exclaimed.
"How do you know?" Piper asked.
"Hello? Video games?" I told her. Ravess pulled back her arrow in the bowstring and shot the arrow straight into the monster's eye. The monster roared and untied its legs. It hadn't stopped it completely, but it was blind now. In some ways, this was even worse than when it could see. Now, it just angrily swang it's arms around. "Are you kidding?" I exclaimed.
Aerrow chuckled and said, "At least there's only nine arms this time instead of eleven."
"Let's get rid of them completely this time. It's going to be a bit harder. Master, Chassidy, are you up for it?" The Dark Ace asked us.
I sighed dramatically but said, "I suppose." Master Cyclonis flew into the air and froze an arm as her answer. I quickly flew ahead and tried to distract one of the arms, but it hit me and i was flung against the wall. The same happened to the Dark Ace.
"Are you guys okay?" Piper called.
"I think." I said, floating wearily up.
"I'm good." The Dark Ace said, pulling himself up. I floated back to the group and looked at the Dark Ace.
"You have a limp." I said.
"Im fine." He said.
"Whatever." I said.
"The thing can't see, so distracting it won't work." Piper said.
"What if Master Cyclonis and Piper froze two arms while the Dark Ace and I attacked one arm. If one of us is hit away, the other can get the arm." Aerrow said.
"It could work." I said.
"Let's try it." Piper said. Master Cyclonis and her used their crystals to freeze two arm and Aerrow leaped ahead and cut one off. The Dark Ace cut one of the frozen ones, and Aerrow did thee same to the other. All of it happened so fast that the monster didn't even have time to swing at them.
"Six to go!" I called.
"If you do that same thing two more times, the Dithzite will be finished!" Junko called. Master Cyclonis, Aerrow, Piper, and the Dark Ace repeated the process, getting rid of three more arms.
"Three more! One more time guys!" I yelled. Suddenly, I heard a groan. "Finn!" I yelled. Junko and I ran over to him. Junko helped him up and we pulled him to our safe spot. Aerrow and Piper joined us.
"Finn! How are you doing?" Aerrow asked.
"I'm fine! Get rid of that... that... thing!" Finn yelled. Aerrow and Piper nodded and joined the Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis in battle again.
"The arms are gone!" Ravess yelled.
"Shoot its eye again!" I yelled at her. Ravess pulled ut her bow and reached for an arrow, but grabbed air.
"I'm out!" She yelled.
"Crap. Finn... I don't suppose you brought your crossbow...?" I asked.
"Yeah." Finn said.
"Can you shoot that monster's eye?" I asked.
"You bet! Easy shot!" Finn bragged. He aimed his crossbow and shot it directly into the Dipzite's eye. "Easy!"
"Nice shot. It's finished. Let's go." Ravess said. We hurried to get back to the Condor.
We were on our way to the Fire Sanctuary. I honestly wasn't looking forward to it. "So who all's going in?" I asked.
"I was thinking just you and the Dark Ace." Master Cyclonis said. I froze and glanced at Aerrow, who was staring at the table angrily. The Dark Ace looked at her in disbelief.
"Why do I have to go with her alone?" He asked. I blushed and glared at him before looking down.
"I actually agree with him. One of us should go with them." Aerrow said.
"Actually, I have it all worked out. If the Dark Ace goes with her into the Fire Temple, then Snipe can go into the Beaconing Tower, Piper can go into the Forest Temple, Stork can go into the Beaconing Tower, Junko can go into the Ice Temple, and I can go with her to face Cypriote." Master Cyclonis explained.
"How come you wanna go with her to face Cypriote?" Piper asked.
"She betrayed me. It's personal." She said.
"Not as personal for you as it is for me. She tok my body." I pointed out.
"Um... you guys wanna see Cypriote, cause there she is." Finn whispered. We all gathered at the corner of the sanctuary and peeked in.
"It was a trap." Stork said.
"Maybe we'll get our revenge sooner than we thought." Master Cyclonis said, smirking.
"Maybe we should try to get away." Junko said.
"I agree. We aren't ready to take her on, as much as you want to, Master." I said mockingly. Master Cyclonis glared at me, but did nothing else, surprisingly. We tried to sneak away as quietly as we could.
"Not so fast." Cypriote said, appearing in front of us. We froze.
"What do you want?" I demanded, a lot more bravely than I felt.
"I just thoght I'd finish the game early. It was interesting to watch, but you were defeating too many minions." Cypriote said.
"Like you care." Master Cyclonis hissed.
"Oh, you're right. I don't care. I just couldn't wait to finish off all of you pests." Cypriote said, sending sharp stalagmites flying toward us. We dodged. All of us jumped in different directions, of course, so we were all seperated. "Are you sure you don't want to reconsider my offer and join me?" She asked, floating above me.
"Over my dead body... er, soul, I guess." I said.
"Oh well. What a loss." She said. Suddenly, she bent and wrapped her hand around my throat. She lifted me easily into the air. I gagged. If she killed my soul, then I would be nothing. I would be in limbo. I kicked, but that got me nowhere. Suddenly, she dropped me. I fell to the ground and looked weakly at Master Cyclonis, who had her staff pointed at Cypriote. Cypriote was collapsed nearby.
"I figured we should end this game, however fun it may be." Master Cyclonis said.
"How did you...?" Cypriote was in dismay.
"I'm not ignorant. I've done my research." Master Cyclonis said, smirking. Cypripote roared in anger and shot toward Master Cyclonis.
"No!" I yelled. I felt power rush through my spiritual form and pass to Master Cyclonis. Cypriote went right through her. Master Cyclonis looked at me in shock.
"What'd you do?" She asked.
"I, I don't know." I said.
Cypriote growled, and I prepared for another round. "You win this round, but you won't win the war." Cypriote said, before flying off.
"You guys did it!" Piper exclaimed.
"Rock on!" Finn yelled.
"I've never seen anything like that. You guys were perfectly in sync with each other." Ravess told us.
"Who would've thought." I said, laughing breathlessly.
We were on our way to the most dangerous temple. The Fire Temple. "Do you think you could do that again?" Master Cyclonis asked me.
"I doubt it. I don't even know how I did it that time." I admitted.
"We're gonna need you to learn to control that before we go to take down Cypriote. She can't fight it." The Dark Ace told me.
"I can try, but there's no promises." I said, unsure.
"That's okay, Chassidy. Just do your best. How close are we to the Fire Temple, Stork?" Aerrow asked.
"A minute, at most." Stork responded.
"Guess we better get ready." The Dark Ace said, as the Condor landed.
We all got off and looked in awe at the Fire Temple. "Well this looks like fun." I said, laughing nervously.
"You guys better get going. We don't know how much time we have, and we still have to practice that move." Master Cyclonis told me, ushering me ahead. "Go!" She urged.
"Be careful, you guys." Aerrow said.
"Will do!" I called cheerily, flying away and leading the Dark Ace into the temple after me.
The temple was dark, except for the glowing of all the fire. There was so much steam and smoke that I was finding it hard to breathe. I broke into a fit of coughs when we walked in. "You okay? The Dark Ace asked.
"I'm fine, but let's get this over with." I said. We made our way over to the only hallway that we could reach. There were balls of fire rolling down the hall. The hall was wide enough for two fireballs, but they weren't coming out together, so we could dodge them. "Follow my lead." I told the Dark Ace. I waited until a fireball passed, then I ran into the hallway. I made it to the other side and floated past two fireballs, then I switched sides as two fireballs came from the other direction. The Dark Ace caught the drift and began to follow me. I switched sides and made it past another two fireballs when I saw a hole in the wall. I stayed by the hole and moved to the other side while two more fireballs passed. I waited for the Dark Ace. When he finally caught up, I said, "In here."
"Do you even know what's in there?" He asked. We moved to the other side to avoid a fireball.
"No, but do you see anywhere else to go?" I demanded.
"How about we continue up this hall?" He suggested as we switched sides.
"You can, but there could be something important in here." I said. Then, when another two fireballs passed, I flew in the hole. The Dark Ace followed me, just as I figured he would. There was an empty cliff except for a locked door in this room. Across a gorge, there was another cliff. This one had fireballs rolling across it. These fireballs had no particular pattern like the last ones had.
"I told you there was nothing in here." The Dark Ace told me.
"Sure there is! There's a locked door! And..." I looked around the room. "There! There's a crystal behind the boulders. We just have to figure out a way to get to it... What weapons do you have with you?" I asked.
"I have my energy sword and my energy whip. (A/N: The energy whip is the thing he used in The Code) He told me.
"Maybe, if you timed it just right, you could use your whip to grab that crystal." I suggested.
The Dark Ace pondered it for a moment, then shrugged and said, "It's worth a shot, I guess."
"That's the spirit!" I cheered.
"You wanna keep that up?" He growled.
"No." I said quickly and quietly, laughing internally. The Dark Ace aimed and snapped his whip toward the crystal. I held my breath as it flew towards it, then a fireball rolled in front of it and it hit that instead. I sighed and the Dark Ace cursed. "Try again." I urged. He aimed, seemingly more careful this time, and shot the whip. It narrowly missed a fireball and grabbed the crystal. "Pull it back, pull it back!" I yelled.
"I am!" The Dark Ace yelled back as he pulled his whip back to us.
"Take the crystal and use it on the door. I bet it opens it." I said. The Dark Ace did that and the door slid slowly open. We entered the room beyond it. The dor slammed shut behind us and a couple of fire scorpians crawled into the room. The Dark Ace pulled out his energy blade. "You can't take them all." I said.
"I'm gonna have to, aren't I?" He demanded.
"Do you think since they can touch me, I can touch them?" I asked.
"Maybe. Worth a try." One of the scorpions growled. "And if you're gonna try, you better hurry." He said. One of the scorpions flung it's poisonous tail toward me. I dodged and flew toward it. I grabbed a spike on its back and held on for dear life. The Dark Ace was battling with the other. If this thing pinned me now, there was no one to save me. I gulped at the thought, but quickly concentrated on the scorpion. I focused all my power into gaining enough strength to even possibly being able to defend myself from this thing. Then, I flew off and in front of it. I taunted it until it decided to follow me. Now what?I flipped and the scorpion shot its tail at me. That's it! I flew in front of it again. Then, I flew around behind it and landed on its head. The thing flung its tail toward itself, trying to get me. I flew out of the way, and it stabbed itself in the head. It collapsed and disappeared.
The Dark Ace wasn't doing so good with his scorpion. "Dark Ace! You've gotta make it sting itself!" I yelled.
"How?" He called back.
"You jump on its head and it'll try to sting you. Then, dodge and it'll sting itself!" I instructed. The Dark Ace fended off one more blow with his sword before he leaped onto the scorpions head. All it did was thrash about.
"This isn't working!" The Dark Ace yelled, frustrated.
"Here! Stay there and I'll fly around it and then up to the head." I said. I flew in front of the scorpion. Then, I flew around behind it and up to its head, like I had with my scorpion. Like last time, it tried to sting me. "Jump!" I yelled urgently. We both jumped off, and the scorpion was defeated. We were panting when it was all over. There was a mound of sand in the middle of the room. I walked over to it and reached in. I pulled out a key.
"You mean we could've just gotten out?" The Dark Ace demanded.
I sighed and said, "Apparently." He sighed, angry. "Forget it. What's done is done. Let's just go." I said. We opened a door that led to a flight of stairs and started up to the second floor. The first room that we entered was small. All it had was a crystal lying in the center of the room. "What's that?" I asked the Dark Ace curiously.
"That would be a Fire Crystal." He said, walking over to it and leaning down to pick it up.
"Wait! What if it's a trap?" I asked.
"I don't see anything else to do, do you?" He asked.
I looked quickly around the room and said, "I guess not. Go ahead." The Dark Ace picked up the crystal and we braced for impact. Nothing. "Weird." I said.
"Well, maybe this is just a crystal. Nothing more. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the temple. Let's keep going." He said.
"How?" I asked. "There's no way out of here."
"I guess the crystal does have a purpose. Let's see..." The Dark Ace studied the room. "There." He said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"There's a wick coming up from the floor. I bet if we light that, something will happen." The Dark Ace said.
"I don't see anything else to do." I said. The Dark Ace held out the crystal and a fire bolt shot out of it. The fuse lit and the door that we entered through opened, leading us back down. Somehow, we were on a different side of the floor. "This temple is messed up." I said. The Dark Ace ignored me and pressed on. We climbed up a flight of stairs that lead to a platform. We proceeded along a narrow ledge to a corner of the room. The rest of the way was blocked by a big cylinder. "Do you have a crystal that can move that?" I asked hopefully.
"No." The Dark Ace told me.
"Of course." I sighed.
"Fly over and see what's over there." He told me. I followed his commands and flew over the cylinder.
"There's a pit right behind it." I told him, landing back at his side.
"If we can find something big enough to push this thing, then it'll fall into the pit." He said.
"Then how will we get across?" I asked.
"We'll figure that out next. Now what could we use to push that thing...?"
"What about a Fire Scorpion?" I asked.
"What?" He asked, slightly shocked.
"A fire scorpion. If we draw it over here, it will try to attack us. Then, we can dodge and it'll hit the cylinder, pushing it into the pit and falling in after it." I said.
"That's... genius. How'd you come up with that?" He asked.
"That Fire Scorpian over there by that door." I said. He turned quickly. "Calm down. It doesn't see us." I said.
"Yet." He added. Then, he pulled out his sword and shot it. The scorpion roared and turned toward us. Then, it began scuttling towards us.
"Now you've done it." I said.
"Get ready to move." The Dark Ace told me.
"Move where?" I demanded.
"Over it. Jump over it now!" He yelled. He jumped and I flew up. The scorpion missed us by inches and fell with the cylinder into the pit. Across the pit was another crystal. The Dark Ace used his whip to grab it.
"Maybe it opens the door that the Fire Scorpian was guarding." I suggested.
"Worth a try. Come on." The Dark Ace told me. I followed him to the door and he held out the crystal. The crystal glowed and disappeared as the door opened. There was a long flight of stairs that lead all the way down to the basement. Suddenly, we were attacked by a Fire Endsam. They were basically big balls of fire that were extremely hard to defeat. Once you cut one, it just came back alive with its two parts.
"You don't happen to have a Frost Crystal or a Ocean Stone, do you?" I asked.
"I have a Ocean Crystal, but it needs charged." The Dark Ace told me.
"Well, activate it to get it charging while I distract this thing! Whatever you do, don't cut it! I can only distract one thing at a time without it attacking me." I said.
"Okay." The Dark Ace finally agreed, pulling out a beautiful blue crystal. I flew around the Fire Endsam.
"Hey! I'm the one you want! Cypriote sent you to finish me off, right? Over here!" I called, flying away. The Endsam chased me around the chamber. I kept taunting it and flying, but I was getting tired. "Anytime now!" I called.
"Almost there! Keep it up!" He called. I sighed and pushed myself harder. It wasn't enough. The Endsam was gaining.
"Dark Ace!" I screamed.
"Just a little longer!" He called. Suddenly, I felt heavy as a boulder. I felt to the ground, but not through.I couldn't move.
Any last words?Cypriote asked in my head.
"Dark Ace! Help!" I yelled desperately. The Endsam was standing over me. It roared and shot a beam of fire at me. I screamed and covered my face. I waited for the finishing blow, but it never came. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the Fire Endsam turning blue... And the Dark Ace holding his halfway charged Ocean Crystal. Suddenly, the Fire Endsam burned down to nothing.
Worthless creatures! Cypriote yelled before leaving my head.
The Dark Ace walked over to me."Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah. Thank you." I said.
"No problem. What happened?" He asked.
"It was Cypriote. She held me still." I told him.
"She's still getting stronger. We need to hurry." The Dark Ace stated.
"Let's go." I said, floating up. The Dark Ace led the way. We came to a long hallway. The second he stepped on the tile, it burst into flames. He jumped back, going through me in the process. "Hey!" I yelled in surprise. The fire went out.
"How are we supposed to get across this?" The Dark Ace wondered.
"How fast can you run?" I asked.
"What?" The Dark Ace demanded.
"You heard me. How fast can you run?" I repeated.
"You can't be serious." He said.
"But I am." I said.
"But..."
"You see any other way, pretty boy?" I asked, trying to make him mad.
"Pretty boy?" He demanded.
"Yep." I said.
"You're gonna regret that!" He yelled.
"Come and catch me!" I called, floating across the fire plates as fast as I could. He chased after me, running so fast that the flames couldn't catch me. He has a hell of a temper. Finally, we were across. I slowed and he caught up to me. He tried to grab my arm, but his hand went through. He sighed as I giggled.
"What about a pretty boy?" He asked.
"Hey. It got you across." I said.
"Fine. Let's just go. You will never speak of this." He said, walking away.
"Got it!" I said, saluting lazily before flying after him, snickering. We entered another room. We paused to look around. I saw a spike strip headed straight toward us. "Look out!" I yelled, the Dark Ace and I leaped, or in my case flew) out of the way. They met up with each other in the middle, making it difficult to cross. "How are we gonna do this?" I asked.
"Maybe I have a crystal for this... All I have is another Fire Stone." The Dark Ace told me.
"That's perfect! Won't the sand harden to make a wall?" I asked.
"Yeah, if you can form the sand into a wall." The Dark Ace said.
"That'd be hard, speaking that I can't touch anything!" I exclaimed.
"How do you expect this to work then?" The Dark Ace demanded.
"Just keep the fire going on the sand. Maybe it'll rise or something." I said.
"Where did you come up with that?" He asked.
"Just do it!" I yelled. The Dark Ace shot flames at the sand. It began to harden when the spike strip rolled over it and ruined it.
"I told you it wouldn't work." He said. I watched the spike strip, trying to figure out a pattern. This can't be impossible. We couldn't have come all this way just to be stopped by this! Wait... It's delayed!
"It's delayed!" I told the Dark Ace.
"Just barely. So?" He asked.
"If we do that again and again, it'll delay enough so we can make it across!" I exclaimed.
"That's gonna take forever!" The Dark Ace complained.
"You big baby, it won't take that long! Anyway, you got a better plan?" I demanded.
"No." He grumbled, aiming and firing the crystal again.
We kept this up for about ten minutes before I saw a long enough pause for us to get through. "You can stop now. I think we're good." I told him.
"About time. Ready?" He asked.
"Of course I am. The spikes won't hurt me." I said.
"You never know with Cypriote. Are you ready?" He repeated.
"Yeah." I said.
"...Go!" He exclaimed. He dashed across and I flew slowly above the spikes. He turned and looked at me. I smirked.
"Told you I was ready." I said.
We continued and stopped outside a huge door. "I bet this is it. You ready?" I asked.
"As I'll ever be." The Dark Ace said.
"Let's go then." I said.
We entered a big room with a ring of fire around it and sand in the middle. The sand began to ripple and a wormlike spike monster came out. It was a giant Cleftoy! It hadn't come completely out of the sand, but I had a feeling that it would when we made it mad enough. Good luck with my dear Cleftoy. Cypriote said. I looked at the Dark Ace for any sign that he had heard her. He hadn't. She was in my head again.
The Cleftoy started spitting giant fireballs at us. "Run!" I yelled at the Dark Ace. We circled in opposite directions and met at the other side of the cleftoy. "Think you could use your sword to deflect some of those fireballs?" I asked the Dark Ace.
"I don't know, and I'd rather not try because if one breaks my sword then we don't have a weapon to protect us." He said. The Cleftoy started spitting out fireballs again. He spit out three big and a small.
"Wait! There's a pattern!" I exclaimed.
"Cypriote sure loves patterns." The Dark Ace said.
"Remember, this is all a game to her." I said.
"Yeah, yeah, what's the pattern?" He asked.
"The Cleftoy spits out three big fireballs, and a small one. If you can dodge the three big fireballs, then you can hit the small one with your sword and it'll bounce back and hit the cleftoy!" I told the Dark Ace.
"I'll try it, but if my sword breaks..."
"Then we'll find another way. We can't lose now!" I said. The Dark Ace dodged the third big fireball and readied his sword. When the little one flew toward him, he hit it with all his might. The fireball flew back and hit the bottom of the Cleftoy. The fire burned off the spikes so that the Cleftoy's skin was revealed. A few of the spikes had been jarred off the top layers of the Cleftoy too. "The next one'll hit it!" I said excitedly. We dodged the three big balls and Ace hit the small one. It completely burned the bottom half of the Cleftoy.
"This is actually working. I can't believe it." The Dark Ace said, dodging the first of the three fireballs.
"Who would've known." I said, smirking as I dodged the second and third. The Dark Ace hit the small fireball and took out the spikes. Then, we dodged again. The next time he hit a small ball, it took out the top half of the Cleftoy.
"I think we're almost done." The Dark Ace said, a shadow of a smile on his face. He hit the small fireball and...
"Uh-oh." I said. Everything happened in slow motion. The ball hit the head,which cracked slightly, and bounced off of it, towards me. I wanted to move, but my legs weren't getting the message. The ball hit me full force and I was flung into the wall.
"Are you okay?" The Dark Ace called.
"Keep fighting!" I yelled, struggling to float up. The Dark Ace knocked a fireball into the head again. It bounced off of it. The head was cracked again. I floated with some effort back to the Dark Ace. "One more should do it." I said.
"Okay. Look out!" He yelled. I flew out of the way of the third big fireball.
"This is it!" I said. He hit the last fireball, which hit the head, The head of the Cleftoy exploded. A key landed at my feet. "This is the key to the next floor I bet." I said. The Dark Ace walked over and grabbed the key. A light appeared to teleport us back.
"Very good job, you two. You've cleaned the most evil of all the temple. None will be harder, except for the battle with Cypriote herself. Continue cleansing the land and weakening her power. I'll see you soon." Mr. Johnson's kind voice floated through the air.
"You heard him. Let's go." I said. We entered the light and exited the temple.
Longest. Chapter. Ever! It was fun to write though. I got back into the swing of this story. I got some new ideas! Sorry it took so long. Like I said at the top, I was on vacation, but then a family tragedy occurred. My birthday also happened a couple of days ago. I'm happy I got this chapter done before Halloween because I'm hoping to update my other story and then do a Halloween oneshot. Please review! Thank you for reading!