Two Destinies Chapter 10: A Hut of Surprises
Author's Preface: Yay, I've been waiting for so long to start this chapter! I hope that (when I'm not getting sidetracked by MSN) this chapter won't take very long to write… Ready… set… let's go! (*shot*)
"Aaah!" Reid said, taking in a deep breath of air. "This is great! We're finally out of that cave!"
"It's great to see the sun again…" Farah said, looking up into the gray sky.
"All right… Now we need to get to Peruti." Meredy said.
"Do we know even which way to go?" Keele asked. "We might head back in the direction of Luishka if we're not careful…"
"Meredy does not know where we are…" Said the Celestian girl.
"Say…" Reala said, staring at something. "I wonder if the owner of that house knows which way Peruti is…"
"What house?" Reid said. "I don't see any… Ah!" All of a sudden, Reid pointed in a random direction and, sure enough, there was a house. "Well, what's a house doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"Who cares? Let's go!" Kyle said, running off. However, Farah caught the back collar of his vest and stopped the eager boy in his tracks.
"Hold on, Kyle…" She said. "Don't be so rash. Let's see what everybody else wants to do first…"
"Actually, I think we should at least go and ask directions from the inhabitant…" Reala said.
"Hmm… I dunno…" Keele said. "I really don't think we should go intruding…" Reid elbowed Keele in the side.
"Oh, come on…" Reid said while ignoring the stern stare from Keele. "We're just gonna knock on the door and see if anybody's home. If they are, we'll ask for directions to Peruti. Simple as that. All right?"
"…Fine…" Keele said. "I guess that's all right…"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Kyle said. He then turned to look at Farah, who was still holding onto his vest collar. "Y'know… You can let go of me now…" Farah's face turned pink and she let go. The six adventurers then set off towards the house.
"Well, this house looks rather… Different…" Keele pointed out. "Are you sure you guys wanna do this?"
"Keele, what are you so darn afraid of?" Reid asked. "Nothing bad's gonna happen… So stop worrying!" Meredy ran up to the front door of the house and knocked on the door.
"Is anybody home?" She said. There was no response. The others went up to the door.
"Huh… That's odd…" Farah said. "I guess they're not home…"
"Perhaps Meredy didn't knock loud enough…" Kyle suggested, walking up next to the door. "HEY!" He yelled. He started knocking on the door pretty hard. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Keele's neck.
"Kyle, stop it!" He said. "That's rude!" Just then, the door creaked open.
"I-it opened…" Farah said.
"Let's go inside and see if everything's all right…" Reid said.
"Honestly, you and Kyle are both idiots…" Keele groaned. "Look, you two obviously didn't grow up with manners… Let's just hurry on to Peruti…" Just then, Keele realized he was the only one standing outside. "Huh?" He said. "Wait for me!" Keele hurried inside.
The interior of the building seemed rather cozy. There were two loveseats and a recliner, all decorated with blue upholstery, gathered around a small oval table. Beneath this was a large blue rug with an interesting insignia printed on it three times. There were strange things all around, such as an old wooden clock, a purple vase, pictures galore, and other intriguing doodads.
"Hello?" Farah called out. "Is there anybody home? We're sorry for intruding!" She looked back and saw Meredy jumping on one of the loveseats.
"Meredy, get down from there!" Keele yelled. "It's rude of us to be in here without permission anyways, and it's especially rude for us to be bouncing on furniture that doesn't belong to us!" Meredy took one more giant leap and bounced from the loveseat into the reclining chair and decided to sit down.
"Very well." She said. "Meredy is tired anyways... Isn't that right, Quickie?" The blue squirrel-rabbit chirped in agreement.
"So, it looks like nobody's home..." Reala said. "What do we do now?"
"Well..." Reid said. "I guess we should just..." All of a sudden, there was a scream from nearby.
"What the hell was that?!?" Kyle said, looking around. "Did the homeowner finally return?" Just then, there was a series of loud chirps from Quickie.
"Quickie, what's wrong?" Reala asked, picking up the animal. However, Quickie wiggled out of Reala's arms and started bouncing on the seat that Meredy had been sitting in not too long ago.
"Hey, what happened to Meredy?!?" Reid said, looking at Quickie. "She was just here... Where did she go?"
"Why do I have a feeling that Meredy was the one who screamed?" Keele said. "I wonder what happened, though..."
"Perhaps we should examine this chair that Meredy was sitting on..." Kyle said, going onto his knees to examine the seat closer. "Hmm... What could have possibly happened? Agh, this is so confusing!" Just then, as Kyle rested his elbow on the seat, a puff of white smoke came out from underneath the chair. Within seconds, Kyle had fainted.
"Kyle!" Reala yelled, running over to where Kyle was. However, when she got close to him, she too lost consciousness and fell onto the floor.
"What the?!?" Reid said. "Is that... sleeping gas?"
"We should try to get out of here!" Keele said.
"But what about Kyle and Reala?" Farah said. "We can't just leave them there!" Just then, Reid yawned.
"Maybe we can... *yawn* ...come back to get those two once the... *yawn* ...sleeping gas wears..." Before he finished his sentence, Reid fell to the floor, knocked out.
"Not you too, Reid!" Farah said. All of a sudden, Keele dropped to his knees. Farah ran over to where he was. "Keele, come on! Snap out of it!"
"I'm just too tired to stand up..." Keele said. "I just wanna take a nap..." After saying that last sentence, Keele curled up into a ball and was out of it. Finally, Farah yawned.
"Darn..." She said. "Looks like... it really is... naptime..." Farah finally fell asleep as well. They were all asleep, unaware of somebody nearby who was looking at the whole scene...
Keele was the first person to wake up. He still felt somewhat groggy from the sleeping gas. Keele took a look at his surroundings as he sat up. He saw instantly that he and his traveling companions were no longer in the room that they had fallen asleep in. This room was small, had yellow and green checkered floors, and white walls. There were two large brown slabs that Keele figured might be doors. He stood up and shook out his robe. He walked over to one of the slabs and saw that there weren't any doorknobs on the slabs. "Rats..." Keele muttered. "Are we trapped in here, then?"
"Trapped?" Farah said, waking up. "We can't be trapped. There's always gotta be a way out..." Keele turned and looked at Farah.
"Well, I can't open this slab, so we really can't get anywhere..." Farah stood up and walked over to the other slab.
"Did you try opening up this one?" She asked.
"Well, I assumed..." Just then, Farah started looking hard at the slab, when, all of a sudden...
"Ah!" Farah said, touching something. "This should do something..." Just then, the slab creaked open, revealing a staircase.
"H-how did you do that?!?" Keele asked, running over to where Farah was. "What did you press?"
"There was a button right..." Suddenly, there was movement from behind Keele and Farah.
"Where are we?" A gentle voice said. Keele and Farah turned around to see Reala sitting up. She looked around, and then focused on Keele and Farah. "Oh, Keele... Farah... Do you know where we are?" Farah walked over to where Reala was.
"I'm not sure..." She said, extending a hand to Reala. "I just recently figured out how to get out of this room..."
"All right..." Reala said, now standing up. She continued to look around and saw Kyle still unconscious near her feet. "Oh, Kyle!" She bent over to cradle the boy in her arms. "Are you okay?" There was no response from him.
"He might be out of it for a while..." Keele said. "He got the full blast of the sleeping gas... It's gonna take him longer to get the sleeping gas that he inhaled to break down to a point where he can return to consciousness..."
"What about Reid?" Reala asked. "Shouldn't he be getting up pretty soon?"
"Hmm..." Farah said, walking over to Reid. "You're right. I think he's just being lazy right now..."
"Well, how are we gonna wake him up, then?" Keele said.
"Hey, Reala..." Farah said. "Do you remember how that wake-up move that Kyle used works?" Reala blinked once.
"Well, it's actually very simple..." She said. "You just bang on a frying pan with a ladle..." Within seconds, Farah had her frying pan and ladle out.
"Okay then!" She said. "Wake up, Reid!" Farah banged on the frying pan with the ladle, and Reid shot awake.
"Aw man..." He said, holding his head. "Not that again..." Reid then looked at the still-unconscious Kyle. "Say, why didn't that work on him?" He asked.
"He inhaled too much sleeping gas." Farah said. Reid stood up.
"So... What now?" He asked.
"We should see if we can find Meredy..." Keele said. "I have a hunch that she's down here, too."
"And what about Kyle?" Reala asked. Reid bent over and picked up Kyle, putting the sleeping boy on his back.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of that." He said, smiling.
"But what about fighting enemies?" Keele said.
"Well, I'll leave that to you guys." Reid said. "I really can't fight with somebody on my back." Keele sighed.
"Let's go find Meredy." Farah said, starting up the stairs. The others followed close behind.
It wasn't long before the team had met up with Meredy again. The others had found her examining something just on the other side of the stairs.
"Hey, Meredy!" Reala called. Meredy turned around.
"Oh!" She said. "Everybody fell down here, too?"
"Yeah, I guess so..." Farah said. "At least you're all right, Meredy..."
"You are all right, too!" The purple haired Celestian girl said.
"So, what were you looking at here, Meredy?" Reid said, walking up near Meredy. The Celestian girl looked at Reid strangely.
"What is on Reid's back?" She asked. Reid looked over his shoulder, looked back at Meredy, and laughed.
"Oh, that's just Kyle..." He said. "Kyle inhaled a little too much sleeping gas and we can't wake him up."
"All right." Meredy said. "Anyways, Meredy was trying to reach a switch... See that door?" Meredy pointed towards a door at the top of a set of stairs. "That door will not open. The door is locked. Meredy thinks that this switch in here will open the door. However, Meredy cannot reach the switch..."
"No problem, we'll just have to figure out another way to activate the switch." Farah said. "I think we should look around for clues. Let's go." The reunited team set off to look for hints as to how to get out of this strange place...
Eventually, the team came upon a strange computer. Keele walked up to the computer. He put a hand on his chin.
"Hmm..." He said. "It seems this computer has something written in Melnics on it... Meredy?" Keele looked at Meredy, who skipped up to where the computer was.
"Meredy can read this." She said after looking at the computer screen. "It says 'When all are lit with colors, the roulette wheel turns. The arrow points to the open door'..." Just then, there was a strange clicking sound.
"What was that?" Reid said.
"Perhaps reading this unlocked part of the puzzle..." Reala said. "Let's hurry and see what happened..."
---
Later, the team ended up in a room with five orbs on pedestals.
"What's with these?" Reid asked.
"I don't know..." Keele said, touching one. All of a sudden, it began to glow red. "Whoa!" Keele nearly tripped when he stepped back. Just then, Meredy touched another orb.
"Meredy thinks this has to do with what that Melnics text said." She said. "Perhaps everybody needs to activate the orbs..." Everybody nodded, then activated the rest of the orbs. All of a sudden, the floor below them starting flashing, and the flashing lights began to spin. Not long afterward, the flashing lights stopped, and the red arrow in front of one of the doors blinked twice, and there was another clicking sound.
"Well, now what?" Reid said.
"I think we should go through the door where that red arrow is..." Reala said. "Come on..." She disappeared through the door, and her friends joined her.
Inside, the team found some kind of a spring. Keele picked it up and examined it. "A spring?" He said. "Why is there a spring here?"
"Perhaps it has something to do with how to get out of this place..." Reid said.
"It looks like it could be used to wind something up..." Farah said. "But what?"
"We should keep searching." Meredy said. "Perhaps more clues will show up if we just keep walking around..." And walking around they continued to do...
---
Later on, the team found themselves in a strange playroom full of toys. Meredy walked up to the toys.
"One of these toys must have a spring missing!" Meredy said. "We need to find it..."
"Let's split up and look for something that looks like it needs a spring..." Farah said. She, Reala, Keele, and Meredy took to four different corners of the room, and Reid stood near the door, unable to join the hunt due to the fact that his hands were still full with the sleeping child on his back. All of a sudden, there a sudden boinging noise accompanied by creepy jack-in-the-box music, which was soon followed by Reala screaming and falling onto her back.
"Is Reala okay?" Meredy asked. Reala stood up.
"I-I'm fine... I just didn't expect that..." She brushed dirt off of her frilly dress. "I'll continue searching..."
"That won't be necessary..." Keele said. "Here, check this out." He held up a small yellow toy duck. "There's a hole in its back... I think the wind-up spring will fit in here perfectly." Farah pulled out the spring that had been found before and stuffed it in the back of the duck.
"Fits perfectly..." She said. "I wonder what's the deal with this duck, though..." Just then, Meredy took the duck and wound it up. When she set it down, the duck began to waddle strangely. Seconds later, the duck stopped moving and Meredy picked it up again.
"Meredy thinks this duck can hit the button that Meredy was trying to get to earlier..." She said.
"Hmm..." Keele said... "This toy doesn't seem very capable of floating..."
"It's worth a try..." Reid said. "I mean, what other options do we have?" Keele shrugged.
"You have a point. Let's try it." He said. The team left the room to go into the area where they had first come into the puzzle. Meredy ran up to where the switch was and wound up the duck again. She placed it into the water and sure enough, the duck swam over to where the button was and pressed it. A clicking noise emanated through the area.
"I think the door's unlocked, so let's get the heck outta here!" Farah said. The team ascended the staircases next to the switch and ran through the door...
Only to find themselves in a similar room to the one they just left...
"Huh?" Keele said. "But I thought we just left this room!" Just then, the door the team had entered closed behind them.
"Oh, great..." Reid said. "Now what?"
"I guess we try to solve the next puzzle..." Reala said. "Let's go."
Once again, the team traversed a seemingly endless number of rooms, knocking over statues and trying to get past blocked doors, eventually finding another toy duck and spring. After yet another hour, the team put the toy duck back together, flipped the switch, ascended the stairs... and ended up in yet another puzzle room.
"Geez..." Keele said. "Just how many puzzles are there in this place?" All of a sudden, Reid fell to his knees, panting.
"Something wrong, Reid?" Farah said. Reid gasped for breath.
"I don't know how much longer I can do this!" He said.
"Do what?" Meredy asked. Reid looked at Kyle on his back.
"I really can't carry around Kyle any longer..." He said. "He's a lot heavier than he looks, and it's really wearing me down..."
"Just how much sleeping gas did that idiot breathe in?" Keele said, sighing. Just then, there was some stirring from Reid's back.
"Kyle?" Reala said, running up to Reid and Kyle. The blond-haired swordsman finally regained consciousness.
"W-where am I?" He said quietly. Reala took one of his hands.
"We honestly don't know..." She said. "We're just solving puzzles so we can try to get out of here..."
"Puzzles?" Kyle said, getting off of Reid's back. "Agh, I'm no good at puzzles... They make my head hurt..."
"Don't worry." Farah said. "These puzzles aren't actually that hard..." She then went on to explain how the puzzles worked to Kyle. The fair-haired boy nodded once she was done.
"Oh, I see..." He said. "So, let's get solving!" Farah walked over to Reid.
"Do you want to take a break here, Reid?" Reid smiled, and then stood up.
"I'm okay." Reid said. "I just got over 100 pounds of dead weight off of my back, so I'll recover quickly." Kyle laughed sheepishly.
"Just how long was I outta it?" He said. Reala wrapped herself around Kyle's arm.
"Long enough for us to solve two puzzles..." She said. "Probably an hour or two..." Kyle's cheeks turned pink.
"A-an hour or two?" He said, chuckling awkwardly. Was I really that much of a burden for that much time? He thought.
"Okay! We should get moving!" Meredy said. "Meredy does not know how many puzzles this place has!"
"Meredy's right!" Farah said. "Let's go!" And the team set off to solve the next puzzle.
Author's Nota Bene: Well, that turned out pretty well... Also, just to warn you, there's gonna be a time-skip between the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next. I don't feel like narrating 3 more floors between floor 6 and floor 3... Also, this chapter DID write itself! And it didn't take me too long to get this chapter live! Yay! I hope the next chapter ends up the same way!
EDIT: Thanks to a review that was made, I editted part of this chapter. :3