Two Destinies Chapter 12: Chatting with Captain Chat
Author's Preface: Lol, bad title… At least it's alliteration… *shot* Anyways, this ends the Chat's Hut chapters… At last! We'll finally meet Chat in this part! *inserts obligatory claim that none of the characters in this story are mine*
"Well, let's find out what the puzzle on this floor is…" Farah said. "Come on…"
"Maybe we'll find pictures of King Woodrow, my uncle, and the other adventurers who accompanied my mom and dad on their journey?" Kyle joked.
"Who knows? I think we're done with the pictures, though…" Reid said.
"Let's just move along…" Keele said, moving ahead. He disappeared behind a door.
"Okay, let's follow Keele!" Meredy said, skipping off to join Keele. The rest of the team followed along behind.
The team moved through the hallway with no difficulties, coming into a small area that looked like a library. Keele instantly rushed over to the books.
"I wonder what this book is…" He said, pulling out a blue-covered book.
"Typical Keele…" Reid sighed. "Goes straight for the books…"
"What is that book called, Keele?" Meredy asked.
"I don't know…" He said. "There's no title on the front cover… And nothing on the side…" Keele flipped open the book, and disgust suddenly highlighted his face.
"Something wrong, Keele?" Reala said.
"T-there aren't any words on the pages!" Keele said, flabbergasted. He started to rapidly flip through the book, and soon his face had turned pale. "N-not a single word anywhere in this book!"
"Maybe it's an unused diary?" Kyle asked innocently. Keele flung the book at Kyle's head, barely missing. "Whoa! What was that all about?!?"
"Grr… I meant to whack some sense into your thick skull…" Keele said. Reid chuckled.
"Too bad you have terrible aim…" He said. Keele frowned.
"S-shut up!" Keele said. "Anyways, it's not a diary! There are no lines to write on in it…"
"Then what is it supposed to be?" Farah said, picking up the book from behind Kyle and returning it to the shelf. However, just as she was putting the book back on the shelf in an empty spot between two yellow books, Keele nearly tackled her.
"That book doesn't belong there!" He said. "That book goes here!" Keele snatched the book from Farah and put the book on another shelf between two books with matching blue covers. Reala picked up a book with a red cover that was near her feet.
"There are books all over the ground…" She said, opening the book. "Hmm… This book also has nothing written in it…"
"Let's just pick up all of these books and put them back on the shelf, then…" Keele said. "That's all these dummy books are good for… Decorating these bookshelves…" He had a couple books in his arms and starting trying to find where they went. The others went to pick up books.
Suddenly, a couple minutes later, there was the sound of something ripping. Keele's head whipped around faster than anybody could say "Oops".
"All right…" He said. "What was that?" Everybody looked at each other with confused faces. Just then, Keele began to stare at Kyle's lower body with a look combined of pure horror and rage highlighting his face.
"W-what's wrong, Keele?" The blond haired boy asked, tilting his head innocently.
"L-look at your left foot…" Keele said, advancing upon Kyle. The smaller boy looked down at his foot. There was a small purple-covered book lying open and face down underneath him. Kyle bent over to pick up the book, but a page was left behind on the ground with jagged edges. Apparently, the page had ripped when Kyle stepped on it.
"Oops?" Kyle said. "Aah, it doesn't matter…" The fair-haired child shrugged, holding the damaged book in his right hand. "These pages don't have anything on them anyways, so who's gonna miss a…" Just then, Keele tackled Kyle and snatched the purple book from his hand.
"You have no respect for books!" Keele barked. "So what if this book doesn't have any words written on it? What if it did?!?"
"It's just one page…" Kyle said, still a little dazed. Keele took the book and whacked the forehead of the ignorant child, who recoiled in pain and put a hand on his head.
"One page can change an entire story!" Keele said, getting off of Kyle, having done what he had meant to do. "Besides, what would you know? I bet you've never read a book in your life…" Kyle sat up quickly.
"Hey!" He said. "I'm not illiterate! Besides, back home, it doesn't matter if I can read or not!" Just then, Reala ran over to Kyle to hold him. Farah crossed her arms.
"All right, you two!" She said. "This is enough! You two need to stop arguing! Seriously, I don't know who argues with Keele worse, Reid or Kyle…"
"Farah is right!" Meredy said. "We should just keep putting these books back." The dark-skinned girl continued to put books on the shelf. The rest of the team started putting books on the shelves again, now that the distraction was over. Just then, Reid picked up a rather beat up book with brown bindings and stared at it.
"This is odd…" He said. "This book seems different than the others…" He opened up the book. "Hey, there are actually words in this one! …But they're hard to read… It's written out in longhand…"
"What does it say?" Meredy asked.
"Hmm… I think it's a story about… Us! I see my name… And Farah's… And…" Just then, Kyle snatched the book out of Reid's hands. "Hey!" The boy buried his face into the book, and withdrew his head within seconds.
"Hey! This is my journal!" Kyle said. "You're not supposed to read this!" Kyle put the book back into his bag. Reid crossed his arms.
"A journal?" He said. "Why do you keep a journal?"
"I'm chronicling my journeys so that everybody can read about all my adventures once I become a hero…" Reid's face was crossed with confusion.
"Huh?" He said. "What do you mean by that? Also, why won't you let me read it if you're going to share your journeys with other people anyways?" Kyle stood up with another book in his hand.
"It's incomplete." The boy said smugly. "I don't want anybody to read it until I've actually achieved my goal of becoming a hero…" Reid scratched his head, shrugged, and continued to pick up books.
---
Eventually, almost all the books were put back into place. There was just one left, and it was in Farah's possession.
"Well, this is the last one." She said. "Perhaps Keele will stop fussing over these books once they're all back in place." Farah replaced the book, and, all of a sudden, the ground started shaking.
"Whoa!" Meredy said. "What is going on?" Just then, as if to answer Meredy's question, one of the book cases slid over and revealed a secret passage. Everybody stared into the hidden nook. Inside the small area was sitting the Toy Spring. Reala stepped into the nook and grabbed the spring.
"Well, I guess putting those books away was worth it…" She giggled. "Now, let's see if we can find the duck…" She exited the hidden passage and accompanied her friends back through the hallways back to the main area.
The team went into the corridor on the other side of the area and, after traversing the hallway, found themselves a room with lots of barrels. These barrels were moved aside to reveal a path to the Toy Duck, and they reassembled the duck once more.
"All right, let's get off of this floor…" Farah said. "That's yet another puzzle solved!" She and her friends returned to the main area to solve this puzzle just as they did the others. Meredy took the duck and wound it up like she had done with the others. And, just as the duck hit the button, there was a clicking sound, as usual, followed by another louder sound that was unheard on the other floors.
"Okay, that sounded different…" Reid said. "I wonder what…" Just then, something flew down from above and landed with a thud. The ground shook upon the thing landing.
"Whoa!" Reala said while nearly falling over from the shockwave. The team recovered from the shaking and looked up to see a large object at the top of the staircase, guarding the door to the next floor.
"What is that?" Meredy asked.
"Whatever it is, it's blocking our way out…" Farah said, putting up her fists.
"Hey, big guy!" Kyle said, pulling out his sword and pointing it at the thing at the top of the stairs. "Get out of our way!" There was no response.
"Maybe it's asleep…" Reala said. "Perhaps we can get by it while it's out of it…" Just then, as if to prove her wrong, the sound of gunfire filled the air. A rain of bullets poured down near them.
"Err, I think we're gonna need to defeat that thing before we leave…" Reid said, unsheathing his sword. "So, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Everybody else pulled out their weapons and ran up the stairs, dodging bullets as they ascended. Keele and Meredy stopped at the top of the stairs to put some distance between them and the Guardian so they could cast spells. Just then, the Guardian revealed a giant sword of his own and began to slash at the adventurers. However, its sword was so big and bulky, it had some difficulty swinging it and it was easy to dodge.
"Okay!" Farah said, getting near the Guardian. "Take this!" She kicked at the Guardian a few times, staggering its next slash attack. "Sonic Fist!" She threw a fury of punches at the Guardian and focused for her next attack. "Rising Dragon Strike!" She rose into the air with tremendous force that would have lifted a smaller enemy clean off the ground. While in the air, Farah prepared her next attack. "Eagle Dive!" With just as much force as she had used with Rising Dragon Strike, she drove a kick downward back toward the ground and quickly recovered.
"My turn!" Reid said, flipping over a blade strike. "Sword Rain!" Reid showered the Guardian with repeated sword thrusts. "Tiger Rage!" Reid jumped into the air, slashing as he ascended and once again as he was midair, coming down with one last slash. "Now, check this out, you guys!" Reid's eyes glowed with a new kind of power. "Rending Tiger Blade!" Reid repeatedly slashed up and down as he jumped in the air multiple times for a total of eight strikes.
"Wow, was that a new attack?" Meredy said. "Reid is getting stronger!"
"Heh… Yeah, I guess I am!" Reid said, turning to look at Meredy and gloating at his new found strength.
"Reid! Watch out!" Kyle yelled. Reid turned around to see a sword slash coming at him quickly. However, also quickly approaching was Kyle. The younger boy pushed Reid down and out of the trajectory of the attack. However, the sword strike slashed Kyle dead center, and he flew backwards off the top of the stairs, blood streaming from his side where the attack had hit. Reala gasped. Seconds later, Kyle landed on the tiled floor below with a thud. Kyle's side was still bleeding, his eyes were closed, and he would not move. Reid stared at the fallen magic knight from where he had hit the ground after being pushed down.
"No…" He said. "That attack… He only got hit because of me…"
"Reid! There's another attack coming for you!" Farah yelled. "Don't let Kyle's sacrifice have been in vain!" The Guardian's fist was coming down toward Reid. Reid rolled out of the way of the attack, and then stood up.
"You're speaking as if Kyle's dead, Farah…" Reid said, staring at her.
"I'd be surprised if he wasn't dead…" Keele said somberly. "He fell quite a ways, as well as sustained quite a bad blow…"
"You're wrong!" Reala yelled, fighting back tears. "Kyle's stronger than that! He has to be alive! He just has to be!" She redirected her feelings toward the enemy that had inflicted the terrible blow to the boy she loved. "You'll pay for this!" She said, spinning her staff around. The Lens pendant on her neck began to shine brightly with a blue color. "Take this! Final Embrace!" A large chunk of ice fell onto the Guardian. Meredy gasped.
"Reala, no! Reala should not use that attack! Reala does not have the power of Celsius!" However, the Lens continued to glow even brighter with a blue aura, and Meredy's Craymel Cage started glowing blue as well.
"Answer to my calling, and arise!" Reala said, her voice seemingly radiating with magic. A blue ball of light shot out from Meredy's Craymel cage.
"Undine!" Meredy called. "What is Undine doing?" Suddenly, Undine appeared amongst black and white lights, apparently summoned by Reala.
"Oh calm soul!" Reala continued. "Grant us the power of the righteous judgment! This is our hearts' justice! Aqua Rimms!" Undine held up her spear and a wall of water rushed in and collapsed around the Guardian. The Guardian, being mechanical, started to spark and malfunction having been exposed to water. It collapsed seconds later, still sparking. The water from the spell flowed over the side of the raised area and onto the tiled floor below, where it began to pool.
"Hey, this water's refreshing…" Reid said, somewhat drenched. "It's cool and soothing… I feel so relaxed…"
"You're right…" Farah said. "It seems this water has restorative properties… I feel energized and ready to fight… Even though there's nothing to fight anymore…" She stared once again at the fallen Guardian, who was starting to have smoke come out from its joints.
"Look, everybody!" Meredy said, pointing towards something. Everybody looked at what Meredy was pointing towards. Her finger was aimed at Kyle, who was still lying in the same position he had been in when he first fell. The water from Reala's spell was starting to surround him, and as it flowed over the blood that had poured from his wound, it vanished as if he had never bled in the first place. Soon, the water level began to rise to a point where the wound on Kyle's side was beginning to submerge. As the cut dipped underwater, it disappeared, leaving behind no sign that the wound had ever been there in the first place. The team ran down to where Kyle was. Reala scooped him up into her arms.
"Kyle, are you okay? Please, give me any sign that you're still all right…" She said. Just then, his one hand twitched a little, and his eyes fluttered open.
"I'm… all right?" He said quietly. "Dad… I had another dream of my dad…"
"What did Kyle's father say this time?" Meredy inquired.
"He… kept telling me… 'waitun'…" Kyle said, starting to return to his full strength. "He was speaking to me in Melnics again, wasn't he?"
"That means 'come'…" Keele said. "…Right, Meredy?" The purple hair girl nodded. "And maybe by asking you to come, perhaps he was beckoning you towards the afterlife…"
"I wanted to join him…" Kyle said, somewhat regretful. "But my body wouldn't move… It's like my mind wanted to pass away and be with my father, but my body knew better… That it wasn't my time yet…"
"And thank goodness it wasn't…" Reala said, hugging Kyle. "I don't know what I would have done if you had died…"
"Well, are you okay enough to walk?" Reid asked. Kyle rose to his feet.
"I feel like a million Gald!" He said, smiling. However, Reala sank onto her hands and knees.
"Hey, are you okay?" Farah asked. "What's wrong?"
"I'm all right…" Reala said, forcing a smile. "I just feel a little drained from using an ice spell… At least by using Aqua Rimms, I was able to save myself from being totally drained…"
"We can rest in the next area…" Kyle said. "Can you go a little farther?" Reala rose to her feet.
"I'm all right now…" She said. "Let's go…" She and the rest of the team returned to the top of the stairs, tiptoed past the fallen Guardian and walked into the next room…
To find that they were finally out of the dungeon!
"Hey! We're finally out!" Reid said happily. "I can't believe it! We're free!"
"I guess the Guardian was our final challenge…" Keele said, crossing his arms and forcing out a smile.
"So, you guys actually made it out of those traps?" Said an unfamiliar voice.
"Who's there?!?" Farah said, putting up her fists. A somewhat small person appeared from behind a door. This person was wearing a red shirt with white sleeves, gray gloves, orange shorts, white shoes that went up to the pants and a large black hat with light blue feathers coming from the top of it. Everybody stared at this strange Celestian.
"Who's this little boy?" Reid said, examining the child, who, without the hat, would be no taller than his shoulders. The child crossed its arms.
"I am NOT a boy!" The child said. "My name is Chat! I'm a descendant of the great and honorable pirate Aifread!" Everybody stared at this strange girl.
"Wait, you're a girl?" Kyle said. "You sure don't look like one…"
"Hmph!" Chat said, turning away. "I WAS about to compliment you for surviving my great grandfather's traps, but apparently…"
"Wait, so that dungeon was created by your great grandfather?" Reala said. "He has pictures of people from our world…"
"Hmm… That's interesting…" Chat said, still turned away.
"Look, my friends are sorry for insulting you…" Keele said, glaring at the two idiots in the party. "My name is Keele Zeibel…" Chat turned around.
"All right, it seems you guys aren't completely useless… Perhaps I can make use of you guys as deckhands for my pirate ship…"
"Pirate ship? Deckhands?" Reid said. "I'm not swabbing any decks!"
"I didn't say deckswabbers!" Chat said. "I said deckhands… You can be my pirate crew!"
"Pirate crew?" Farah said. "Aren't you a little young to be having such fantasies?"
"Fantasies?!?" Chat said. "This is not a fantasy! I am living in the footsteps of my great grandfather! He even left me his boat to explore the seas of Celestia with!"
"And what kind of a boat was that?" Keele said. "It's probably just a little life boat…"
"Follow me and prepare to take your words back…" Chat walked off, and, curious, the rest of the team followed.
Eventually, the team came upon a room that was so dark that nobody could even see their hands in front of their faces. Just then, the lights flashed on, and the travelers gazed upon a large vessel that was decorated with what seemed to be brightly colored windows along its side.
"T-that's no life boat…" Keele said. His eyes then began to glow. "Wow! This is one amazing ship! I've never seen anything like it!"
"And you won't see anything like it again…" Chat said, gloating. "This is the famous Van Eltia! This ship was used to terrorize the seven seas of Celestia back in my great grandfather's day…"
"It sure is interesting…" Farah said. "Does it go fast?" Chat laughed.
"That's like asking if Craymel Lamps emit light!" She said. "Of course it goes fast!"
"Then can it quickly take us to Peruti?" Reala asked.
"Peruti?" Chat repeated. "No problem… I'll get you there quickly. But there's one condition…"
"What's that?" Kyle asked.
"You guys have to be my pirate crew." She said.
"Absolutely!" Keele said with his eyes still fixated on the Van Eltia. "I'll join!"
"Okay…" Reid said. "And I thought he'd be the last person to want to join her pirate crew… I bet he just wants to get inside and check out the interior…"
"I think it's not a bad exchange…" Farah said. "Count me in."
"I'll join too." Reala said.
"Waiiru!" Meredy giggled and spun around. "Meredy will join Chat's pirate crew as well!"
"Eh, why not…" Kyle said, shrugging. "What about you, Reid?" Reid blinked.
"Aah, what the heck… I'm in." Reid said. "Well, let's head for Peruti, then… Keele, we're going onboard…"
"All right!" The blue haired Craymel mage hurried inside the Van Eltia before anybody could say 'wait'. Everybody else followed inside.
The ship seemed more spacious on the inside than it did on the outside. Chat continued to walk onward, but turned around just before she left the area.
"I'm gonna fire up the boat and get us sailing for Peruti…" She said. "The rest of you are to check out the rest of the ship, as long as you don't destroy anything or interfere with my sailing." The pirate girl disappeared after saying that.
"I wonder if there are any beds to lie on here…" Farah said. "All those puzzles have made me tired…"
"I'm gonna go find where the kitchen is…" Reid said, licking his lips. He started to run off, when, suddenly, the boat unexpectedly shook, nearly knocking everybody off their feet. When the shaking stopped, a voice called out to them.
"All right, we're sailing…" Chat's voice told them. "We should be in Peruti in no time…"
"Well, at least the ship doesn't seem like it's rocking now…" Meredy said.
"Now, this was definitely worth those puzzles…" Keele said, the boat's euphoria seemingly worn down a little. "This technology is amazing… There's nothing even remotely close to this in the Inferian Navy… It's all so breathtaking…"
"And we'll be in Peruti in no time…" Farah said. "So, let's check out the rest of the boat!" The team split up and each person headed their own way as the Van Eltia sailed on toward Peruti and the next leg of the adventure…
Author's Nota Bene: Another chapter's done! Yay! The next chapter's gonna be a bonus skit chapter for this and the other 11 chapters prior. :D Also, credit goes out to Kevassa02 on Youtube for his video of subbed Tales of Destiny 2 Hi-Ougi incantations. Reala's incantation of Aqua Rimms was taken from his video. Enjoy the next chapter! ^^