OK, I hope you liked the edited version. At least I thought it was better than the first. Sorry about not updating in a while, I kind of got caught up in school and stuff like that. I will hopefully have Chapter 10 up in a few days, but no promises due to two different schedules that have to intertwine just right in order for any editing and stuff to be done. My brother is my editor and he corrects my mistakes and helps me come up with better ways to write something, or just points out things that don't make sense. Now, on with the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything crystal chronicles, though it would be the coolest thing if i did.
Chapter 9: Goblin Wall
"We're almost there!" Tyran yelled as they neared Goblin Wall about a week after setting off again.
He sighed as he watched Alli prance around excitingly at the head of the wagon. Kris laughed from above as she watched the display. Alli was younger even then Mike, and her birthday was at the very end of the year, barely meeting the age requirements for the caravan.
Mike was clinging to the right side of the wagon, enjoying himself as he swung idly above the wheels. Rob carefully snuck a look out the window and saw Mike hanging next to it. He went over to Mike's bunk and gave the wall a hard kick.
"Wow!" Mike landed on the ground with a soft thud.
"You OK?" Kris asked as she jumped down with the caravan still moving.
"Yah, I'm fine." She put her hand out, and gratefully he took it. They smiled at each other as they still held hands.
"Kris!" They let go of hands immediately as Alli came rushing towards them. "We're here!"
They looked over and saw the mouth of a huge cave.
"Do we HAVE to go in another cave?!" Kris screamed.
"Come ON Kris! It'll be fun!" Alli argued.
"You haven't been in monster filled cave though…" Kris murmured.
They strapped on their armor and grabbed their weapons, along with some grapes and berries for extra energy.
"Ready?" Tyran asked the group.
"Duh, we're ready!" Alli called enthusiastically from the entrance.
The cave was dark, with the exception of the pillars of light drifting down from above. The large room was layered up and sitting at the base of each layer were rows of cells whose doors were large animal bones lined up and meeting at the top of their curve. Goblins were guarding each cell; and not only that but they were also marching up and down the isles.
The caravan hid in the shadows, invisible to the goblins' poor eyesight.
"What's up?" Kris asked. She looked over at Alli who was staring eagerly at the awaiting monsters.
"We have another member. Time for a new strategy." Tyran replied. They nodded. "So! Kris, no offense, but you're the worst fighter in our group," She giggled. "So you'll carry the chalice for now, and when we find offensive magic, you'll give the chalice to Mike; and when we find restorative magic, Rob will take the chalice." Alli looked eagerly at him. "Mike, protect Kris, Alli, you, Rob, and I will just fight off the monsters." Alli smiled happily at him. "Let's go!"
They crept out into the lighted area of the room. One of the goblins ran toward them, and they quickly jumped out of the way as it swung its sword at them. Tyran swiftly put his shield up as another goblin ran over and attacked, soon accompanied by a thunder flan. Rob ran over to help Tyran with the physically resistant flan. Alli smirked as she readied her attack at the first goblin. She pointed her sword at the monster, then jumped, landing upside-down with her sword stuck into the ground. For a split second she remained, then lifted her sword out of the ground as she spun back around, slashing her sword vertically, landing hard on the goblin, killing it instantly while destructive pillars of energy erupted out of the ground in impact.
"Wow, Alli! Nice focus attack!" Kris complimented. Tyran also nodded in approval as he combated the flan. "Need some help?" She picked up the fire that had dropped from Alli's goblin, handing Mike the chalice.
She raised her hands high over her head as the magicite glowed. She brought her hands together and brought them down in front of her face, eyes closed. She opened them, flashing orange, as a huge fireball enveloped the flan, killing it where it stood. Her eyes returned to normal as the flame died out, smiling as she got her first kill for the day.
"Let's go." She spoke confidently.
"Wait! What about the chests…" Rob said.
They looked at the cells containing various chests. They saw no levers anywhere, so they decided to move on and defeat the rest of the monsters before searching for something to open them.
They started up the path, but Kris gasped suddenly as something moved about in the shadows at the top of the incline.
A tail showed in the light, then another. They stood still is Kris silently prepared a fire. She placed her mental magic circle upon the shadowed corner, whispering words that were unknown to them.
A shriek sounded from the corner with the arrival of a fireball, then the beast sprung from the darkness, lunging at the group. Kris quickly moved out of the way, while Tyran and Mike instinctively put up their shield, and Rob fell backward in shock, but Alli was stunned, and the monster's claws caught her side, tearing through her coat.
"Ah!" She yelled. Kris looked over in alarm, while Tyran, Mike, and Rob took after the thing.
"You OK?" Kris asked as Alli grimaced.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little rattled. It didn't hurt me really, it was just surprising."
"Don't worry, you'll get used to these types of places soon enough. This is why I hated the Mine of Cathuriges."
Alli nodded, then looked down as the boys battled the cerberus. "You're gonna pay you freak!" She ran down a little and jumped on a large mound of dirt. She leaped from the higher spot and did a twist in the air, then tucked the sword under her as she dropped and plunged the sword deep into the fiend's flesh.
It didn't even have time to shriek before it lay dead. "DON'T mess with me!" She pulled her sword from its back and shook it a little to try to rid it of the blood, but not much happened. With a sigh she turned to Kris, giving her a smile. "I knew having you teach me those selkic moves would pay off!" Kris laughed, then looked at the monster. They were able to retrieve a cure and a design from it.
"Man, Alli! How the crap did a clavat learn that?" Rob commented. He had been fairly quiet for the past week, and was starting to accept the fact that Kris liked Mike. 'For now…' he hoped.
"Ah… I am in debt to Master Kris for teaching me the art of battle."
"Right! All I did was teach her some tricks that come to us selkies naturally." Kris paused for a moment. "Well, MOST of us."
Rob glared at her in anger.
They walked up the incline again, then turned and finally found level ground. Mike tripped over a large skull, and when he did so the cell door beneath them opened. Then they noticed for the first time that there was a row of skulls above each cell. They continued to work their way up, smashing the skulls as they went, and fought more monsters, including just one more cerberus, which Alli gladly killed.
They finally reached the top after climbing the many layers of rock and dirt. They reached the top to be greeted by a few new sights.
A large jellyfish floated toward them, electricity flowing through its body. Mike prepared his blizzard, while Kris held her fire close.
Mike was just about to cast when a bat flew down screeching at him, distracting him from his cast.
Kris shot a fire at it, but it flew just high enough to be out of reach. Mike noticed immediately and they cast gravity together. With the bat glued to the floor Tyran and Alli stabbed at it.
A shiver went down Kris's spine as something almost intangible touched her shoulder. She turned and let out a blood-curdling scream.
The ghost swiped at her, propelling her to the floor with its surprisingly strong force.
Lying on the floor she gasped in horror as the electric jellyfish floated above her. At just the right angle Mike cast a blizzard killing the elementally weak jellyfish instantly, Kris's face now flushed red from the sudden burst of cold, which also froze the ghost for a few seconds.
Kris shook herself out of her daze and jumped up. She swung her arm and when it reached top height a fire shot out at the horror. It recoiled, then swung around quickly, its arms flailing wildly, hitting Kris on the back of the head. With it right in front of her, Mike quickly healed her, striking the ghost also causing it to appear is if now solid.
Tyran and Alli circled around it, and they striked the creature from both sides. It tried to do its spin attack once more, but was completely blocked by the raising of shields.
"This is stupid." Rob said, who had been basically leaving all the fighting to the others. He ran over to Mike who was standing in front of him and pushed him to the ground to get him out of the way.
Mike looked angrily at Rob who finished off the monster with a quick focus attack. Rob seemed to be very cold to him lately, ignoring him as if he had a disease.
"What's the matter with you?" Mike yelled angrily.
"Oh, it was an accident." He said as if was obvious. "Sorry." He had sarcasm dripping off his every word.
"What happened Mike?" Alli asked.
"He threw me to the ground!" He snarled.
"Like I said, it was an ACCIDENT." Rob was frustrated that Mike would make such a big deal out of him pushing him. "What's wrong with you?"
"Ever since the Myrrh festival you've acted like I was a parasite! I just have one question Rob. What's wrong with YOU?!"
"Nothing's wrong! You're accusing me of something I didn't do!"
"Knock it off you two! Come ON! Stop acting like children! This is no way for a caravan to act! Can we please finish this place without killing each other? Come on, we're going down to get the treasure now." Tyran said, taking his place as leader to stop the idiotic fighting. "Sorry Alli." He whispered to her.
"Don't worry about it. We're like a family. We all have to fight sometime, otherwise what kind of family would we be?" She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He was instantly calm again. Her attitude completely lifted his spirit.
They went down all the layers again, collecting treasure as they went. They got a lot of designs, along with materials for them. Some gil was distributed, and a thunder was also found along with another cure.
Back at the top they stopped for a quick rest (along with some snacking) and quickly found a crescent stone slab. Kris picked it up and put it into its place on the pedestal. Some bones that had been arranged in a circular pattern retracted into the surrounding dirt, showing one of the only doors that were in the place.
They walked though it and into a large room whose back wall had a large design on it that surrounded another doorway. There was a raise of the floor-level and there was a spiked fence at the edge of the raise. There were steps lined with bones going up that led to a large goblin who was giggling like a maniac as he stirred something up in a big pot.
As soon as they walked in he noticed them, and he clenched his fist in anger. He used his staff and pounded the ground with it once, and suddenly from out of nowhere little goblin minions attacked them, the rise of floor level now closed off by the bones.
"Man, that thing is huge!" Alli pointed at the Goblin King.
"Get used to it…" Kris groaned.
Only two goblins came out at first, but every time they defeated a set another came out. Finally, as Alli defeated the fifth set some crescent slabs appeared, and they put them quickly in the pedestals on each side of the closed-off steps.
The bones raised and the King continued to stir his pot like a loon as more minions came out to fight them.
"Rob, Mi-" He stopped, thinking he probably shouldn't put the two together. "Rob, Kris, take the goblins! Mike, you're on healing duty! Alli, you and I will attack the Goblin King!" Tyran commanded.
Rob and Kris took out the goblins easily, which still came out in sets of two, and Mike had no trouble healing, though found eventually that the boss was magic resistant, so simply helped fight the goblins.
Tyran and Alli had trouble, for the Goblin King teleported every time they got close to him. Mike continually healed them so as not to run out of breath. When the King would start to cast even, he would still teleport away.
"How do we beat this thing?" Alli yelled.
Mike thought of his magical studies, and what certain magics could create. "Kris, I have an idea!"
"What is it?" She yelled to him.
"Alli!" Kris showed a confused look, though didn't question him. Alli obediently came over. "I need you to take this cure, and cast on the King with us. Got it?"
"Um, yah, but I'm not the best magic user…"
"That's OK. Just as long as you can cast with us at the exact same time, you'll be fine."
"Alright, I guess I can do that!"
"OK, good. Got it Kris!?"
"Yeah got it! What magic though?" She held up her fire and thunder.
He thought quickly. "Fire!"
She nodded and they all started to cast. Their mental magic circles met at the precise spot where the King was standing.
They all waved their arms at once, and stopped time symbols appeared around the King. He tried to teleport, but the stop was still in affect.
Quickly Tyran charged the fiend, while Alli jumped on her sword and attacked with pillars of energy. Rob fired Focus attacks at it furiously, and the magic users just pounded on it.
With a cry as Alli pounded on it with the pillars it fell and died, its staff exploding into a large fireball, causing the goblin's body to disappear along with the dying flames.
Mike quickly cured everyone, having some difficulty as Alli jumped around from the excitement of defeating her first boss and then gathering her first drop of myrrh.
They walked past the bubbling purple mass inside the pot and through the doorway under the design and into a grassy area which held the myrrh tree, Alli carrying the chalice, now calm and serious, though still had a grin across her face.
Carefully she set the chalice down on the platform under the myrrh tree, then watched in awe as the Myrrh Tree shivered across its blue and green surface. A drop of myrrh accumulated at the tips of its branches, then fell into the crystal chalice, filling it one third.
Grinning from ear to ear she held the chalice above her head, showing the rest of the caravan.
"M-m-m-mail…moogle…" The moogle shuddered, obviously frightened. "Um, Kris, Tyran, Mike, Rob, Alli? Please?" They nodded. "Phew… Here's your mail."
Kris
Once again, you're off. It seems as if you were gone so long, then stayed for such a short amount of time. I hope you're having fun, with Alli in the caravan it should be even more fun. Good-Luck, I love you,
Mom
Tyran
That project I told you about is going well. Mike's father is helping me, and we've been very progressive. I can't wait for it to be done so I can show you.
Dad
Mike
Hey. Hope you're having fun; the caravan must be nice. You're becoming so grown up now. It's sad to have you gone for so long, I feel as if I'm missing out on your growing up. Anyway, hope your myrrh-collecting season goes well.
Karen
Rob
That was fast. I thought you would stay longer. Oh well. Still not telling you about her. Oh, and um, you should be thanking me because if it weren't for me you would have never gone on this caravan so, yeah.
Jackson
Alli
I hope your journey in the caravan is going well… It must at least be a little strange having all your comrades be more experienced then you. I hope you have fun. I've sent you some fresh bread; I hope it will taste good enough by the time you get it.
Mom
Alli walked over to the moogle who gave her the bread, and she checked it. It still had a bit of heat in it, and she supposed it had been specially delivered that morning.
They gave their responses to the moogle, who hesitatingly flew off.
"I like the caravan." Alli told them.
Kris giggled. "Yeah, it is pretty great, hunh?"
The rest of the caravan nodded, except for Rob, who just muttered something to himself.
Then they went back to the wagon, with Alli skipping the whole way.
Ha…Ha! Alli's awesome in battle, and her fighting style was really fun to write about. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, to me it seemed a bit short though it actually is pretty long. Happy New Year!