Two Destinies Chapter 8: Into the Mines
Author's Preface: Wow… Who would have thought this summer is already more than halfway done? In fact, it's almost my half-birthday… (Which is July 29th, by the way) Anyways, I'm never gonna get done with this story by the end of summer… Oh, well… Guess I'll just continue typing my way through the school year… However, I'm gonna try to get as far as possible with this story BEFORE I head back to school! That's my goal for the rest of this summer! And be sure to keep reading! None of these characters are mine, since they already belong to Bandai-Namco!
"All right, so we're back in Luishka Station…" Keele said. "Now, we just need to rent a mine car so that we can head for the Mine of Gnome."
"Yeah, but…" Reid added, "Who rents out mine cars here?" He looked around at the different vendors and saw them selling everything from food to weapons, but not mine cars.
"Don't worry…" Farah said. "Galenos said we'd be able to rent one here, so there's gotta be somebody here who sells them."
"Excuse me…" Keele stopped a passerby who just happened to be close. "Do you know where I can rent a mine car?"
"Sorry…" The person said. "I haven't got a clue…" After saying this, the person continued on their way. Keele turned to his friends.
"L-let's just keep trying…" He said. "We can't give up just yet…" Nearby, Kyle was trying the same thing Keele had done with another person.
"Excuse me…" He said. The man Kyle had talked to was quite a few inches taller than the blond teenager and was rather heavy-set… Or was it muscular? It was hard to tell with his loose clothes… The man gave Kyle a hard stare.
"What is it, Kid?" He said with a deep, gravely voice that could send shivers down your spine. This would have probably unnerved any other teenager, but not Kyle.
"I was wondering if you knew where my friends and I could find a mine car to rent." The man's dark eyes met Kyle's blue eyes for a couple seconds, and, all of a sudden, the man pushed Kyle to the ground. Reala gasped.
"Kyle!" She said, running over to the fallen swordsman. "Are you okay?" Kyle sat up, having only injured his pride, and glared at the man who had pushed him over.
"What the hell was that for?!?" He said angrily. "I just politely asked you a question! That's no way to act!"
"I don't need to answer to scum like you Inferians…" He said. This statement angered Kyle farther.
"I am NOT Inferian!" He yelled. "I'm from…" At that moment, Reala clapped a hand over Kyle's mouth to silence her enraged friend.
"I'm sorry…" She said to the man. "My friend here is just tired. He's had a long day." Kyle gave Reala a hard stare, but said nothing since he was still being muffled by Reala's hand. The man glared at Kyle and Reala once more, and then walked away. Once he had walked away, Reala let go of Kyle, and he almost instantaneously whipped out his sword and stood up.
"Dammit! That guy's got a lot of nerve!" He barked. "What gives? Why did he push me like that? That guy's gonna get a…" At that moment, Reala had wrapped her arms around Kyle. Not only was she trying to restrain him, but she was also trying to pacify her angry friend with a hug.
"Geez…" Reid said from nearby. "I've never seen you explode with rage like that before, Kyle… What's gotten into you?" Kyle sighed, and Reala dropped her arms, thinking it was safe to let go of him now. Fortunately, Kyle had calmed down and sheathed his sword.
"I don't know…" Kyle said softly. "It's like I couldn't control my anger… But I don't usually anger easily anyways…"
"Seriously, it's not like you to explode into rage over being pushed from what I've seen…" Farah commented. "Are you tired or something?" Just then, a familiar voice called out from nearby.
"Meredy found somebody who will rent us a mine cart!" Meredy's voice rang out from nearby.
"Really?" Reid said, running over to where Meredy was standing. She was next to a woman who was a little taller than her.
"Hello." The woman said. "Do you need a mine car?"
"Yes, we do." Keele said, appearing by Reid's side. "How much will it be to rent one?"
"How many of you are there?" She said.
"There are six of us." Farah said.
"Having six people means you'll need two cars." The woman said. "And they cost 5,000 Gald apiece."
"Ten thousand Gald?!?" Keele exclaimed. He looked like he was going to faint at any minute.
"Should we do it?" Reid asked. "It is a rather hefty price…"
"I think it's worth it." Farah said. "At least we'll get to Peruti faster if we do it."
"Well, Keele?" Reid said. "May I have the wallet?" Keele glared at Reid.
"There's a reason I don't let you keep the wallet, Reid…" Keele said. "But I guess I'll give you the Gald needed for the purchase…" Keele pulled out the ten thousand Gald and gave it to Reid. Reid smiled.
"Looks like we're gonna be going with two mine cars, please." He said to the saleswoman, handing her the Gald.
"Thank you." She said, bowing. "Now, the carts hold three people, one who operates the car and two passengers. I'll get you all set up to go. Meet me on the tracks in an hour." She ran off after saying this, leaving the six adventurers alone.
"Okay, so we have an hour to ourselves, now…" Kyle said.
"We should figure out who goes in which cart right now." Keele said, scratching his chin.
"And who should drive each car…" Meredy added.
"Right…" Reid said. "Keele and Meredy should operate, in my opinion."
"All right…" Farah said. "But does that mean you and I go in one car and Kyle and Reala take the other?"
"Fine by me." Reala said.
"Then Kyle and Reala are in Meredy's car, then…" Meredy said. Keele took a double-take at this statement.
"W-what?!?" He said. "B-but…" Reid put an arm around Keele's shoulder.
"Aww, c'mon, Keele!" Reid said. "Doncha wanna be with your two childhood friends?" Keele muttered something about not being friends with Reid when they were younger under his breath.
"Well, that's settled, then." Farah said. "Meredy will go with Kyle and Reala and Keele will go with Reid and I. Perfect." Keele groaned.
"Sorry, Keele…" Reid said. "Five against one… Right?" He looked at Kyle and Reala to confirm what he just said.
"Yeah, it's okay by us." Reala said. Kyle gave a thumb's up. Keele grumbled under his breath.
"Fine…" Keele said grudgingly. "Let's go, then…" Meredy chuckled.
"Silly Keele!" She said. "The cars are not ready for an hour!"
"Oh… right…" Keele said, face turning pink. "S-should we just do some shopping, then?"
"Might as well…" Farah said. "Let's just figure out how to spend this next hour…" The others nodded, and then set off to spend the next hour doing whatever they wanted.
When an hour had elapsed, the six adventurers were all at the tracks and saw that two rather small cars had been set up one behind the other on the tracks.
"There you are!" Said the woman from earlier, noticing her customers. "I have everything all set up. So, have you decided who's going to go in which car?" Reid stepped forward.
"Yep." He said. "We're ready to go." Reid turned to face his friends. "So, do you wanna take the first car, you guys?"
"Why not?" Keele said. Under his breath, he added, "It's not like I can talk you out of it anyways…"
"All right." Farah said. "Meredy, we'll see you guys at the mine, okay?" Meredy spun around.
"Okay, Meredy will see you there." With that, the two groups split up and took to the mine cars. The first mine car left, and the second one departed soon after, and they both hurdled off into the unknown.
The two cars traveled along at a decent pace, which was not as fast as the Craymel Express, but was still faster than running. After the initial startup, Meredy and Keele did not really need to do anything but watch to see if anything was coming onto the tracks. However, since the cars were given a wide berth by the wildlife, this was not a problem. So, instead, the six adventurers looked up into the sky.
"Wow…" Reid said. "It's nothing like watching the clouds back in Inferia, but it sure is peaceful looking at the clouds here in Celestia…"
"I agree." Farah said. "It's like all our worries float away when we stare at the clouds…"
"Interesting…" Keele said. "The Celestian clouds are different than those in Inferia… In Inferia, most of the clouds are cumulus clouds… Here, they are mostly stratus clouds…" A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Reid's neck.
"Leave it to Keele to overanalyze things…" He said, somewhat embarrassed by Keele. Farah chuckled.
The three passengers in the other car were also daydreaming with their heads in the clouds. Kyle sighed.
"It's during the moments like these when I get to relax when I start to think of home…" He said. "When I'm thinking about it, I miss my mom and my friends…"
"I wonder how our friends back home are doing…" Reala said. "I'm pretty sure they miss us, but what are they doing without us?"
"Do Kyle and Reala know how they are going to get home?" Meredy said. Reala sighed.
"No, Meredy…" She said. "We didn't come here on our own accord, and we don't know how to get back…" Kyle closed his eyes.
"Damn that witch Elraine…" He said. "It's because of her that we ended up here in Celestia…"
"Are your friends looking for Kyle and Reala?" Meredy asked.
"I don't know…" Kyle said. "I think they know we were taken very far away…"
"Knowing Loni, he's probably looking for a way to get to where we are…" Reala said.
"Loni… Damn, I really miss him…" Kyle said beyond a sigh. All of a sudden, there was a small yelp from Reala.
"Why is it so dark?!?" She said.
"We must be in the mine!" Meredy said. "We should be okay if we stay in the car."
"Well, there goes my cloud-gazing time…" Reid said in the other car, sighing. He sat up. "Well, looks like we're in the mine now…" Just then, there was a loud thumping from nearby, and a pack of minotaur-like monsters came charging out at the cars.
"W-what are those?!?" Keele said, shocked. "Can't this thing go any faster?!?"
"Those are Hard Horns!" Meredy's voice yelled out from nearby. "They live in the mines!"
"We gotta make sure they don't ram into the mine cars!" Farah said. "Or else we might get derailed!"
"Hey, Hard Heads!" Kyle taunted while unsheathing his sword. "Take this! Falling fury of heaven! Burn Strike!" A red light fired from Kyle's sword into the air and exploded into fans of flames, sending a few Hard Horns back.
"Great idea!" Reid said. "Keele, you can use your spells, too!"
"…Fine…" Keele said, pulling out his wand. "Aqua Edge!" Three blades of water fired out his wand at one of the Hard Horns, knocking it over. Keele's face lit up. "Guys! They're weak against water!"
"Great…" Reid said. "The only water spell you have is that one you just used, Keele… And the other car has the two mages who can use water magic…" He looked at Reala and Meredy in the other car.
"Splash!" Reala cast her spell and drowned a few more Hard Horns.
"Spread!" A few more Hard Horns fell with Meredy's spell. The two girls alternated spells, and soon, most of the Hard Horns were defeated. The cars rolled on safely out of the area and farther into the mine.
"Whew…" Reid said. "At least that's done…"
"It's getting kinda dark in here…" Keele said.
"I can't even see the other car…" Farah said, looking out behind the vehicle.
"Umm, that's because the other car ISN'T behind us…" Keele said. Reid shot out of his seat.
"WHAT?!?" He said. "Where are they?!? Keele, can't you stop this thing?!?"
"All right, all right…" Keele said. He took the cart and brought it to a stop.
"Meredy? Kyle? Reala?" Reid yelled out.
"Are you guys okay?" Farah yelled out as well.
"Do we really have to back-track?" Keele said. "Perhaps if we went forward, they'll catch up to us…"
"What? No way! We need to find them, not the other way around!" Farah said, crossing her arms. "We should wait here…"
"But what if they're in trouble?" Reid said. "They might need our help!"
"Well, we should wait here for a little while…" Farah said. "And then, if they don't show up, we can go after them, deal?"
"Fine." Reid and Keele said.
"Okay, so let's wait." Farah said, sitting down. The other two followed suit.
A little ways back, a mine car lay tipped over on its side with one of the sides dented inward. The three passengers who had been riding in the car were sprawled out on the ground, all unconscious. A Hard Horn was nearby, attacking the car that it had just derailed, not aware of the passengers not being inside anymore. After a while, the Hard Horn got irritated and kicked the car one last time. It turned and saw the knocked out people and just stared for a couple seconds. Suddenly, there was a movement. Meredy was regaining consciousness first, and she started to stir. This movement triggered something in the Hard Horn's head to start charging at her. Meredy snapped back to full consciousness just in time to get rammed by the enemy and get launched into the air.
"Oww…" She said after landing on her back. "Meredy hurt…" Just then, she noticed that the enemy was eyeing Kyle's vibrant red and blue outfit and was getting ready to strike. Kyle was still knocked out. "Uh, oh! Kyle is in trouble!" She ran over to the unconscious boy and pulled out her Craymel Cage. "Spread!" She cast the spell at the enemy, but it dodged the attack during a charge. Meredy jumped out of the way of the attack just in time. It just so happened that the charge also missed its original target just barely. The Hard Horn continued charging until it rammed into a cavern wall. Hard. The shaking that occurred from the impact alerted a few more Hard Horns to the battleground. Now Meredy was up against more enemies.
However, Meredy heard something stirring from behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she realized that she was no longer going to be fighting alone. Kyle was staggering to his feet. He brushed some dirt out of his golden hair, rather unaware of what was going on… That is, until he looked at Meredy.
"Meredy, what are you doing?" He asked. Just then, he looked beyond Meredy and answered his own question. Kyle unsheathed his sword, and the Hard Horns began to charge. "Dammit, there's more of them?" He said. "Let's take them out!" Kyle dashed towards the Hard Horns and Meredy began casting. The Hard Horns continued their relentless charge. Kyle hopped out of the path of the first Hard Horn's charge and kicked it in the side to veer it off course, or otherwise, it would have rammed into Meredy. However, the second Hard Horn slammed hard into Kyle's side and threw him into the air. Kyle quickly recovered mid-air and sent an Azure Edge hurtling toward the enemy. Meredy unleashed her spell, which drowned the first Hard Horn that had charged by her earlier. She turned to face the other enemies and saw Kyle trying to fight off three surrounding enemies at once.
"Meredy will help Kyle!" She said. Once again, she started casting. "Quickie, distract them!" The blue animal leaped off of Meredy's shoulders and charged at the Hard Horns, only to be nearly trampled on as the enemies repeatedly knocked Kyle into one another, as if they were playing some kind of game with the poor boy.
"KWEE-KIE!" Quickie yelled, trying to distract the Hard Horns so they would stop playing their strange game of Pass the Person. It didn't work. The Hard Horns were fixated on their brutal game. Kyle couldn't take much more punishment.
"Meredy, help!" He yelled. "I can't take this any longer!" Just then, when being pushed backwards, Kyle stumbled back upon a stone in the ground and began to fall. However, one of the Hard Horns thought this was still part of the game and punted Kyle in the head. The impact of the blow instantly made Kyle black out and he fell over, extremely injured. At this point, Reala had awakened to see this terrible display and Meredy had finished preparing her spell.
"Spread!" Meredy said, throwing her hand into the air. A geyser of water came up under the Hard Horns and Kyle, launching them all into the air. Reala dashed towards Kyle and he fell into her grasp, still unconscious. The Hard Horns fell around them, defeated. After a few seconds of holding Kyle in her arms, she fell to the ground, unable to carry the weight of the boy in her arms any longer.
"Kyle!" She yelled, holding her hand over his body. "Please be okay… Heal!" Her Lens and hand glowed blue, and the injuries Kyle had sustained were fading away. However, he did not reawaken. Reala placed an ear on his chest to listen for his heartbeat. She was relieved to hear his heart beating, but he still would not wake up. "Okay, I'll try this… Resurrection!" Kyle's body glowed white for a second, and then faded back to its original colors. His eyes opened slowly, and Reala gave him a large hug.
"Are they… gone?" He asked quietly. Reala looked into his tired-looking eyes.
"Yes." She said. "Meredy defeated them all. I got so worried when you got kicked in the head like that… I'm so glad you're all right now…"
"Not… Exactly…" He said, trying to smile. "My head… I think I got a concussion…"
"Can you stand up?" Reala asked, loosening her hold. Kyle staggered to his feet, but then fell over onto Reala seconds later.
"I think that's a no…" Kyle said, still on top of Reala. "Sorry about that…" He rolled off of Reala, and she chuckled.
"Here…" She said. "Let me help you to your feet." Reala held out a hand to Kyle, who took it and rose to his feet again. As he started to go down again, Reala put herself under Kyle's arm, supporting his body. Kyle turned and gave Reala a weak smile.
"Kyle! Reala!" Meredy said. "We should go find Reid, Keele, and Farah now!" She ran up next to the other two and saw what was going on. "Is Kyle hurt?" She asked. Kyle gave a weak chuckle.
"Something happened and I can't stand on my own two feet right now…" He said. "I think I'm… Whoa, where did you go, Meredy?"
"Meredy is right here, Kyle." She said. "Meredy has not gone anywhere."
"Kyle, are you okay?" Reala said. Kyle shook out his head and looked back towards Meredy.
"I dunno…" He said. "Everything seems blurry. Where did Meredy go?"
"Kyle has a concussion." Meredy said. "Kyle has the symptoms. Let Meredy heal Kyle."
"But I already used my healing spells…" Reala said. "That should have cured his concussion…"
"Reala needs to use a high-level healing spell in order to cure a concussion." Meredy said.
"Oh, so Heal doesn't cut it?" Reala said. "Very well, let me try this again, Kyle." The injured swordman turned his head to face Reala, but it looked like his eyes were focused on something behind her. She placed her hand on the back of Kyle's head. "Light of healing… Cure!" Her Lens once again glowed blue and then her hand did, too. Kyle closed his eyes as his body was bathed in blue light. When the spell had faded, Kyle opened his eyes.
"Is Kyle all better?" Meredy asked. Kyle turned to face Meredy and flashed a wide grin.
"Well, I can see you again, if that's any indication." He said. "I guess I AM all better!" He took the arm that had wrapped around Reala off of her in order to give a thumbs up. Miraculously, he was able to stand on his own two feet without Reala to support him. Reala wrapped her arms around Kyle's torso upon seeing this.
"Oh, you're all right!" She said. Kyle put his arms down around Reala and returned her hug.
"We should look for the others." Meredy said. "Reid, Keele, and Farah are probably looking for us." The other two nodded and ran off behind Meredy to search for the other half of their group.
Reid, Keele, and Farah were still relaxing and hoping that their friend would reunite with them. Keele sighed.
"It's been ten minutes…" He said. "Maybe we should start to look for them." Reid stood up.
"Hmm… Maybe we should…" He said. "They probably aren't too far back. If it took them this long already, they're probably in trouble." Farah stood up.
"All right." She said. "So, let's start looking." Just then, she heard something from nearby. It sounded like a human voice.
"Reid! Farah! Keele!" It said. The voice belonged to Meredy, who was calling out to them.
"That's Meredy!" Keele said, standing up. "Come on!" He started to run in the direction Meredy's voice had come from. "Meredy!" He yelled.
"Keele!" She responded. Just then, she, Reala, and Kyle appeared from around a corner. The team was then quickly reunited.
"Well, everybody's back together now." Farah said.
"What exactly happened to you guys?" Reid asked.
"Our car got rammed and derailed." Reala answered. "The Hard Horn that had knocked over our car also pretty much destroyed it…" Keele groaned.
"I just hope we don't have to pay extra for not being able to return the car to that woman…" The others chuckled, and Reala continued retelling the story of what had happened. Farah looked at Kyle when it was done.
"You sure you're okay now?" She asked him. Kyle smiled.
"Yep, I am now." He said. "I just ran all the way here, so that says something." Farah smiled.
"That's good." She said. "All right, let's continue, then. We need to find the Summon Spirit Gnome so we can have it join us."
"Then let's begin traversing the mine." Keele said. "Let's try to get as far as we can before we become too tired to progress." The team set off deeper into the mine, guided by the glow of mine lamps.
Author's Nota Bene: Wow, this chapter took me WAY too long to write… I got badly distracted while writing this chapter… I hope this doesn't happen too often, or, otherwise, I'll NEVER get this story done… Anyways, I'm sorry if the end seems a little rushed. Other than that, thanks for reading! Please give reviews, as usual! (Seriously, maybe that's starting to be a given and I need to stop saying that…)