Golden Sun: The Age of Light
By: Mokona-Midoki
Author's Note: Hello! Chapter Nine! This chapter was just one big headache after another, but it's up now! Hope you enjoy it!
Much thanks to everyone who reviewed! You are the BEST!!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to me. Everything else belongs to the guys who made the Golden Sun game.
Chapter Nine
As Qing Yuan watched the huge ship rear up towards them, his mind went instantly on high alert. "EVASIVE ACTION!!" He roared, spinning the wheel hard to port.
But it was far too late for that. The Sea Wolf crashed into the Ulysses sending tremors through the deck that almost knocked the crew off their feet.
Qing Yuan wasted no time in waiting for the enemy to attack. "Troy!"
"Yeah?"
"FIRE AT
WILL!"
"Right!" Grabbing a long thin rod which smoked at
one end, Troy quickly placed it against the openings of the three
cannons on the port side.
"EAT GRAPE SHOT, SCUMBAGS!" He yelled.
There were three explosions one after another as the deadly shrapnel flew through the air, ripping into the wooden sides of the Sea Wolf. Still, it wasn't enough to stop the larger, sturdier ship.
There were loud cries, and pirates armed to the teeth with cutlasses, knives, axes, and all manner of weapons swung down from the deck of the Sea Wolf. A bloody battle quickly ensued.
Noa found herself facing off against a large heavyset man who was swinging a deadly looking broadsword. She was barely able to lift up her sword in time to block it. In her weakened state the force of the blow jarred her, almost bringing her to her knees. Pushing back, she knew that she couldn't hold this force forever.
The pirate pushed back, grinning. He was larger and had more strength. It was apparent who would walk away alive. There was a sudden yell, and out of no where Lynna vaulted over Noa's shoulder, knocking the pirate back with a kick to the face. Spinning quickly, Lynna thrust one of the long knives in her hands into his back. Pulling it free she looked at Noa. "You okay?" Noa nodded, still a bit in shock from the speed at which it had happened. Lynna seemed totally unaffected by the dead man lying at her feet. "C'mon. Stick with me!"
They battled their way over to where Qing Yuan and Kenda fought. Qing Yuan took out enemies with a practiced ease, expertly swinging the slim slightly curved blade he held. Kenda almost seemed transformed as she wielded a heavy looking spear with both hands. Where she had gotten it, Noa had no idea.
"Where's Troy?" Lynna yelled as they reached the captain and first mate.
At that moment there was the noise of an explosion and three of the enemies crew flew off the deck having been blasted back by an attack from Troy.
"He seems to be doing fine." Qing Yuan observed dryly.
"Captain! We've got to get out of here!" Kenda yelled as she dispatched another pirate. "We can't keep this up! There's only five of us!"
"Got any good ideas then? Cause I'm fresh out!" He replied.
Suddenly Noa remembered something. "Stand back! I've got one!" Holding her sword out in front of her she accessed her psyenergy. The blade she held began to glow with a soft steady light which grew brighter and brighter. The fight seemed to pause as the air around the Jupiter adept began to fill with energy.
Kenda's eyes widened. "Noa! You're still too weak! Don't do anything foolish!"
But it was to late. Noa opened her mouth and yelled. "VEATA!" With a roar, wind exploded outward from the girl. The crew braced themselves but found it was unnecessary. While they could hear the wind and even feel it rushing past them, and while they could see it blowing the pirates of the Sea Wolf around like paper dolls it didn't touch them. As suddenly as it had come, the wind was gone leaving them and the lone adept standing amidst a crowd of stunned and bowled over pirates.
Noa slumped forward breathing with exhaustion.
"Noa!" She heard Qing Yuan and the others yell.
"I'm fine." She managed to gasp. "Get, get us out of here."
"Oh, I'm afraid it's far too late for that." A strong male voice came from overhead. Looking up, Noa found the source. It was a tale dark haired man with hard blue eyes, like two chips of ice which had been placed into the sockets instead of eyes. But that was not what interested Noa. It was the pale boy the man held, a knife, pressed to his throat.
--
"TROY!!" Lynna screamed in terror.
Qing Yuan could tell Troy was hurt. He gave a forced smile. "S-sorry Qing Yuan. I got caught."
Qing Yuan gritted his teeth. "Wayde."
The man smiled. It was a smile that made Qing Yuan shiver. "Qing Yuan. How are you?"
"Let him go!"
"Oh I think not. You see, I found him trying to blow the keel of my ship. We can't have that, can we?" He pressed on the blade gently just enough so that a thin trickle of blood, bright red against Troy's pale skin, ran down his neck.
"What do you want, Wayde? This isn't your style. You'd usually just kill him and have done with it." Qing Yuan's voice was calm, but his eyes flashed dangerously. If he killed him, there would be hell to pay for it.
"I'm hurt. Don't tell me you don't remember our last meeting?"
"Quite clearly."
"Then you'll also remember what you have which is rightfully mine."
"We don't have it anymore."
"Don't tell him anything, Qing Yuan!" Troy yelled. The blood running down his neck increased as his windpipe worked to form words.
"Troy!"
"Then I don't have use for him anymore." He prepared to dispatch of Troy.
"Wait!"
Wayde paused, and looked back at Qing Yuan.
"If you let him go, I'll tell you where it is."
The sea captain smiled. "There we go. That was easy wasn't it? But I'm afraid that that's not going to be enough." A shadow suddenly loomed over Qing Yuan, but it was too late. He suddenly felt a sharp blow to the back of his head, and the world went black.
--
"What do you want with me?" Noa snapped at the sea captain. It had roughly been four hours since she and the rest of the crew had been captured and brought aboard the Sea Wolf. She had not seen them since. Instead of being put in the brig with Qing Yuan and the others she had been handcuffed, her psyenergy sealed, and put in a small cabin room.
And now she found herself standing before the very man who had tried to kill them all. She was intimidated, yes, but she couldn't let him know that, so she stood tall and acted like she could care less about him.
The captain smiled a smile which held no warmth. "Now, don't be like that. I'm here to make you an offer."
Noa's eyes sharpened. "An offer? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, I'm offering a chance for you to live."
"What?"
"I've
seen what you can do. You are obviously a very powerful adept. I want
you to come and work for me. If you agree to this, I'll let you
live. If you don't, then you'll die with Qing Yuan and his crew."
Noa was silent for a moment, her face set.
"Well, what do you say?"
"If you think that I'm scared of dying or that I'll take your offer just to save myself, then you're dead wrong! I'll never join you! I'll die before I do! So just try! I'll fight you till my dying breath, and Qing Yuan, Kenda, Lynna, Troy, and I will all leave together!" She stopped, breathing hard, surprised at even herself.
Instead of getting angry as she had though he would, the pirate's smile widened. "You've got spirit. That's good. It'll be that much more satisfying when you agree."
She opened her mouth, ready to spit out another fierce denial, but instead Wayde stood up, and came around the desk, and walking around her to the door, he opened it. "Dalit."
"Yes Captain?"
"Take this girl to the brig. Put her in the solitary cell."
"Yes Captain."
He turned back towards Noa. "I'll give you the night to think it over. You have until morning to give me your answer."
She glared, and drew herself back to her full height.
As the other man came to take her arm she sidestepped him and walked out on her own.
As she left the cabin, Dalit turned to his Captain. "I don't know about her, Captain. She's a little too headstrong in my opinion."
Wayde turned to Dalit. "Well then it's a good thing your opinion doesn't matter. What I say goes. Remember that."
Dalit nodded. "Yes sir."
Sitting back down, Wayde pulled a map towards him and began to inspect it. "Besides we'll be need a replacement soon. That kid isn't going to last much longer."
--
Noa sat in the solitary cell as comfortably as she could. It was hard when her hands were still cuffed behind her back, her backside numb from sitting on the wooden floor for to long, and her neck from being cramped inside the tiny cell.
Noa didn't know how many hours had gone by; just that it was now early nighttime. She had spent the day trying to think of ways to escape, but everything seemed impossible, there was no way to get the handcuffs off, no way to get out of the cell, and certainly no way to sneak away without getting caught.
She was still exhausted from the psyenergy she had done earlier, and soon enough she felt her eyelids sag as sleep crept closer and closer.
Even though she was asleep she seemed to be awake. She looked down and saw her body below her as she floated in the air above. Miraculously the handcuffs seemed to be gone.
'This way.'
The sudden voice should've startled her, but it seemed like she couldn't feel anything at the moment.
It came again. 'This way.'
As if connected to the voice by an invisible cord, she stepped forward, through the iron bars of the cell and out into the corridor. Walking, or rather floating slowly she made her way down through the bowels of the ship, finally arriving at a heavy wooden door that was locked and bolted from the outside. Knowing that what she sought lay beyond the door, she stepped forward and went through the door as if it wasn't there.
She found herself in a small cramped room, completely dark save for the small circular window set into the side through which the moonlight shone.
'There you are, God-touched.'
Noa turned around to face the owner of the voice. If she could've felt an emotion at the moment, it would have been shock, and sorrow. Judging by the tone of the voice, the person who lay before her was still a young boy. Probably the same age as her sister, Ivira. She stepped forward, unsure of what the prisoner wanted.
'Who are you?'
'One who has been waiting for a long, long time for you to come..'
'For me? But why?'
'I saw you. You are the one who will set me free.'
'You mean, you're an adept?'
The boy nodded. It seemed odd that he should be able to do it, he looked so dead. 'Yes, I'm an adept of Jupiter, just like you are, God-touched.'
'My name is Noa.'
He smiled, revealing a broken and chipped smile. 'I know. I saw that too. It's a pretty name.' He was still just a boy after all.
'How long have you been here?'
He shrugged with what seemed to Noa, a massive effort. 'I don't know. You loose count after so long.'
'How old are you?'
Another shrug. 'Older than seven. That' s when I was taken.'
'What's your name?'
He looked up, his dead eyes locking with hers. 'Peregrine.' He looked over towards the door. 'You have to go back now.'
'But I-'
He smiled again. 'Don't worry. I'll get you out of your cell. They don't seal my psyenergy, cause then I can't see. Come and get me once you've rescued your friends.'
She blinked, and opened her eyes, finding herself in her cell once again.
'Noa, can you hear me?'
It was his voice, inside her head. 'Yes.'
'Good, listen carefully. The seal on those handcuffs is weak. All you have to do is overpower it with your psyenergy. You should have enough by now to do that. Just concentrate your psyenergy onto the point where you feel the seal the strongest. You have to break it with a greater force than that.'
'Okay. I'll try.' Noa closed her eyes and concentrated. She could feel the handcuffs seal cutting off her flow of power to her hands. She probed at the strange psyenergy, looking for the strongest point on them. She found it in the middle where the cuffs joined together to form one. That was easy enough. Now to break it. With her eyes still closed she reached inside herself until she found her psyenergy. She was pleased to find that it had come back quicker than she expected. She wasn't at full strength, but she wouldn't be useless in a fight, and she certainly could break the cuffs. Summoning it up, she began to concentrate harder and harder on the point in the cuffs.
Suddenly there was a snapping sound, and they broke down the middle. Finally able to move her arms again, she stretched them, trying to get the blood flowing properly again.
Are you free?
Yes.
Good. You should be able to get out of your cell now without to much trouble. After that, you should find your friends. They're in the large cell, which is close to mine.
Noa looked towards the lock. It was a simple thing, really. It shouldn't take to much force to break it, but she didn't have to much force left in her anyway. She'd have to be careful with this. She placed her palm directly against the locking mechanism. Concentrating, she redirected the flow of her psyenergy to her hand which began to glow with a soft inner light.
"Slash." The winds shot forward, directly into the lock, slicing it cleanly in two. She paused, listening for a moment. When she was satisfied that no one had heard her, she pushed the small door open, and crawled out. Creeping as quietly as she could, she began to peer into every cell, searching for the crew of the Ulysses. Suddenly she heard a voice and footsteps. Noa froze. There was no where to run. A light started to creep around the corner.
"I don't know why we have to do the rounds again. We just checked 'em not half an hour ago." Two pirates appeared around the corner. The speaker was a rough looking man. Walking next to him was a woman, who looked just as rough and cruel. It was she who held the lantern.
She shrugged. "Don't question it, Captain's orders. You know what he's like when he gets like this. Better off for everybody if you just do what he says."
The man scoffed. "I know that. Don't got to be tell-" He stopped, sighting Noa who stood in the middle of the dim hall. "Oi!" He drew his sword. "How'd you get out?!"
Noa held up her hand. She had no choice. "Sleep!" She commanded.
A strange look passed over both of the guards faces, and suddenly their eyes rolled back, and the crumpled to the ground as if they had been knocked out from behind. The lantern fell out of the woman's hand with a clatter, and Noa quickly grabbed it. She also removed the sword from the man's hands and a pair of knives that were strapped to the woman's belt.
Turning to go, she suddenly noticed a glint of gold from the man's belt, which she found to be a set of keys. Smiling, she quickly cut the rope that served as his belt and took them. "You won't be needing these for a while." She continued down the hall.
You're not too bad at the whole sneaking around thing. He commented suddenly.
Noa shrugged mentally. Your point?
None. Just commenting. By the way, you're very near your friends cell.
Thanks.
She came to another set of doors. She very carefully knocked on one of them, and whispered. "It's me, Noa? Are you guys in there?"
"Noa?"
It was Lynna's voice. It came from not the cell she had knocked on, but the one across from it. Noa spun around, and hurried to the door. "Lynna? Are you in there? Are the others with you?"
"Noa, is it really you? How'd you get out? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"I'm okay. Troy and Kenda are in here too."
"Are they alright?"
Kenda's voice came in through the door. "We're okay. Troy's a little beat up, but he'll be fine."
"Where's Qing Yuan?"
There was a silence. "We don't know where the Captain is. He was put in a different cell."
"Alright, well, I'm gonna get you guys out. Hold on." Fumbling with the keys, she began to try one after the other, until finally after eight keys, it turned and she heard the lock click. Pulling the door open, she came face to face with the three crew members.
Lynna was sitting near the door, while Kenda had Troy sitting against the wall in the back. All three looked worse for the wear, but they were alive.
Lynna looked like she was going to cry. "Oh Noa!" She got unsteadily to her feet, and threw her arms around the surprised adept. "We were so worried. We thought Wayde was going to kill you!"
Noa patter her back. "Now why would he do something like that? After all the trouble he took to offer me a job."
At this, Kenda and Troy looked up sharply, and Lynna drew back. "He offered you a job?" Lynna asked, hesitantly.
"Yeah, but I flat out refused him. I told him I'd rather die."
Kenda got to her feet shaking her head. "Noa, how many times do I have to tell you not to play with death?"
Noa laughed. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
"We don't know where Qing Yuan is. We can't leave without him." Troy reminded her.
Noa rolled her eyes. "Well of course we can't. Let's go!"
Lynna grabbed her twins hand and pulled him up, throwing his arm around her shoulders, and wrapping her own around his waist.
"I'll be fine Lynna." He told her.
"Don't listen to him Lynna. He shouldn't be walking on his right ankle." Kenda told her as she went through the door.
"I know Kenda. C'mon Troy. Let's find the Captain."
They all exited the cell, and Noa locked it back.
Footnotes:
The crew's Weapons: The Kibombo seem to favor spears, so that's what Kenda got. As for Qing Yuan, he got a katana. Lynna got long knives, and Troy being the gunner gets explosives. By the way, the name of Qing Yuan's katana is Habaek. It's the name of a water god. It's Korean if I'm correct.
Grape Shot vs. Regular Shot: Regular shot is just cannon balls. They punch through stuff. Compared to weapons, they're more bludgeoning weapons. Grape shot however, is particularly dangerous. Basically you stuff metal shards, nails, chain, etc, into the cannon and fire it. Grape shot rips through anything it hits. It's more like a bladed weapon.
Keel: The keel is the main structural element of a ship. It runs from stern to bow and acts as the backbone of the ship. If the keel is broken, then the ship cannot be used anymore.
Brig: Basically the prison of a ship. Usually one or two cells built of metal or wood used to hold prisoners captured during a voyage, etc.
Mind-reading: The first useful psyenergy a Jupiter adept gets. You can use this to mind read anyone you like. It's completely useless in battle, but outside it's pretty fun. Other adepts, or people with high spiritual powers can tell when their mind is being read, and respond back if they wish.
Peregrine: Named after the bird of prey, he is 13 years old.
'Cause then I can't see': Whenever Peregrine refers to 'seeing' something he means a vision.
Psyenergy Seal: Used in the game to seal off the enemies, or your, psyenergy. It lasts for a couple of turns and is great if you're the one sealing the powers. If you're not, it stinks. Technically, you can't use psyenergy at all when you have the seal on, but Noa's not really using psyenergy, she simply emits more than the seal can contain, thus breaking it. (I'm pretty sure I explained that in the chapter above. If I didn't, sorry.)
Sleep: A psyenergy which Jupiter adepts learn. In the game is causes the enemy to fall asleep by dropping a bunch of sheep on them! In this, they just fall asleep.