Thanks once more to Coren024 for beta'ing! Um... Not much to say, I guess. Oh!

I put a poll up on my profile. I HIGHLY SUGGEST VOTING! It's for my next big drawing project. I've put up a bunch of characters from the Re:Ripples series up, including a few you guys haven't met yet! (Each one has a short description after if you can't remember which is which, because it's a long list.) Pick your favorite five, and I'll draw them in a special scene. You all have until December 7 to do this. Why my birthday? Because I said so. XD

So, yeah. Now then... I'm off to finish the council picture. (I've been procrastinating on that one a bit because I don't like how Zion turned out the first time and fixing it hasn't been working much... :/ Oh well.)

Enjoy this chapter!

Edit: Coren024 brought my attention to the fact that FanFiction hates my liger speech formatting. Also, I made another edit... Aerith wouldn't have been born when Hod was destroyed. Therefore, her mother has taken her place in Reighn's comment... -facepalm- The things I realize after the fact...

"The field... tickles." –Sync

"I never took you as the kind of person to have a death wish." –Tear

"I like the way you think... when I'm not on the other end." –Jade

Jade looked so happy, I almost dared to start singing about him and Cantabile again, just to make sure he hadn't lost his mind. –Dark

"I'd tell you to go find a hole, but it'd probably be someone's den." –Sorylle

Chapter 2.16 – Race, Double Agent!
Part 25

Dark's POV

I knew we were screwed the moment I turned around.

"Hand over Ion!"

Luke had seen the Fon Master, and had charged right in... Sync on his heels, more because Asch was standing right next to the other green-haired replica than anything else. And Luke, who wasn't thinking straight, had drawn his sword, striking out against Asch, seeing the Oracle Knight uniform and not the fact that the other redhead was unarmed.

I was quietly very glad there had been an Oracle Knight in range, one who hadn't been fast enough to react as Asch had grabbed his sword, drawn it, and spun on his heel to block the incoming strike from Luke.

I knew, the minute Sync unleashed the Reaper's Toll on the nearest armed soldier to the two of them, that he'd seen this coming, because the next thing he did was grab a stunned Luke by the collar and forcefully drag him away.

I hadn't been standing by idly the whole time either, focusing on the Oracle Knights closest to Luke and hoping that fonic bullets to the helmet would be enough to at least slow them down from ringing in the ears.

It probably helped that Twilight had put himself between Asch and Luke as soon as he could, looking at Asch as if daring him to try something.

Legretta had given the order for them to get back on board, and Asch had reluctantly handed over the Oracle Knight's sword before ushering Ion ahead of him. Within just a couple of minutes, all of the soldiers that had been milling about in the rain just outside the Tartarus had gotten back into the landship, and it was pulling away.

Then Luke started to recover, and he looked over at me, more ice in those green eyes than I'd ever seen before. "Dark... there is a big difference between 'he looks like you' and 'he could be your twin'."

I cringed. "Yeah... I know."

Sync huffed. "I'm more concerned with why he was wearing his old uniform. I distinctly remember him cursing that thing for a solid hour. It wasn't amusing to listen to then and it's worrying now."

Jade sighed. "It sounds like Asch is currently more concerned with staying out of the Tartarus' brig," he said. "He's probably got something else he's working on as well."

Reighn frowned. "By the way... They've got Ion."

Anise cursed. "I let them get away!" she started once she was done emulating a sailor. I sighed.

"Relax. They were headed east. They'll probably have to stop at the oasis in the Zao Desert. We certainly will. We'd be stupid to try to make it straight through to Chesedonia," I said.

Jade nodded. "Yes. Although our attempt at keeping the God-Generals to find out we were going by land is now pointless..." he trailed off as his lips tugged down into a frown. "Kairi knew they were out here."

Sync sighed. "Maybe. If she's currently pretending to work for them, she might have known," he said. Jade shook his head.

"You're really dense sometimes, you know that? Don't tell me you didn't feel the telepathic field she had laid out the entire time she was in the factory."

Sync blinked a few times before he cringed. "Ah... I got so used to reflexively blocking it off, because it always drove me nuts, that... no. I didn't feel it. Because I didn't think to look for it, and even if I had thought about it, I probably would have just locked my mind up tighter. If she feels like pushing, I'll let her in, but... The field... tickles," he admitted.

I raised an eyebrow. "Tickles?"

He chuckled. "Best thing I can come up with to describe it. Kairi says I'm extra sensitive to the second plane and spirit Energies because I've been exposed to them from a very young age, given that I fist stepped out of my body when I wasn't even a year and half old," he said. "Most people can't pull that off until they're five or six. Kairi... has a whole bunch of theories about it, but I'm not going to get into it right now because your girlfriend's giving me an evil look."

My eye twitched.

"Dark is my bodyguard, not my boyfriend," Natalia hissed. Jade looked smug.

"See? I told you the two of you—Oomph!"

"Thank you, Dark."

I chuckled at the scandalized look on Jade's face. "You're lucky Sync's here. I don't think he'd appreciate it if I started in on our little game from yesterday."

Jade cringed. "I'm not sure if he'd try to kill you, for implying we have that sort of relationship, or me, because you've implied we have that sort of relationship..." I nodded.

"And I don't really want to find out until we've got Kairi to minimize the damage."

Jade groaned. Apparently he hadn't wanted to find out, period.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Sync asked. I shook my head.

"You'll find out... When Kairi... and probably Asch, too... can help minimize the damage."

Sync made a face. "That doesn't make me feel any more comfortable about this."

Jade adjusted his glasses. "I'd prefer it if he didn't bring it up at all, honestly."

"I'd prefer it if you'd stop insinuating that I'm in a relationship with my bodyguard/boss," Natalia and I chorused.

In hindsight, I should have known Natalia would have spoken. But, oh well.

Jade smirked, and I moved to punch him again. He dodged, this time. For once.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if the two in a relationship aren't actually Dark and Jade," Guy said, the look on his face telling me he knew quite well that he was about to be skinned, gutted, and hung up on a mantle, even as he spoke.

"I never took you as the kind of person to have a death wish," Tear said. Guy chuckled nervously.

"It got their attention, didn't it?"

I huffed. "Okay, okay, I get it, we need to get going. So? Get going. Jade's at the back of the formation because he's a fonist, and I'm not in front anyway," I grumbled.

Probably thankful for the excuse to start walking away quickly, Guy turned and... well... walked away quickly.

"Do you think I could get away with dropping an arte on him by accident?" Jade asked me quietly. I shrugged.

"I was actually thinking about talking to a couple of ladies at the oasis, see if they'd be willing to hound him for a few hours."

"I like the way you think... when I'm not on the other end."

"You two really worry me," Natalia said, deliberately joining Anise and Tear, who were a couple yards ahead of us. Sync had jogged to catch up to Guy and Luke in front, Reighn joining us in the back.

"Hey... Do either of you know a magicks-transfer arte?" Reighn asked after a moment. Jade looked surprised.

"I have a magicks-draining arte, if that counts...?" he said. Reighn shook his head.

"No, that won't help."

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked. Reighn looked at the two of us before sighing.

"Well... I rarely use higher-level artes, so I never noticed it, but... Aerith knows this arte that can bind your magicks, sort of like a fon slot seal. The only way to actually get rid of it is to overload the bindings, which requires someone to transfer some of their magicks into the person affected..." he said. Then he groaned. "Aerith went and tightened it down to the point where I can only use one arte, other than the one I need for summoning my blade. I'm usually a fonist, see. I may be good with my scythe, but I don't like to use it that often."

"What is it you need, again?" Tear asked, having dropped back a bit.

"A magicks-transfer arte."

"How much do you need?"

"Not much. My reserves are as topped-off as they'll get for now."

Tear glanced up ahead. "Luke, Guy, Sync, slow down a minute!" she called. Luke turned around and groaned.

"What now?" he whined as the rest of us came to a stop as well.

Tear ignored him, slipping into a casting stance. Fonons drew around her as a white glyph appeared, different from her usual violet, before a similar glyph formed under Reighn's feet. "Impart thy power! Charge!"

Reighn gasped, then made a face. "Ow... I forgot how much that hurts..."

"Monsters!" Sync called. I glanced back. A group of six.

Reighn frowned. "Let's see... you gave me just enough..." the blue-haired man slipped into a casting stance just as Luke and Guy caught up to Sync.

We'd already knocked two of the Rhinoboars off the roster when Jade and Reighn unleashed their artes, Jade hitting the two on the right with a Stalagmite, while Reighn...

"O fountain of frost! Crackle!"

'Fountain of frost' indeed.

Luke slipped his sword back into its sheath and frowned. "That was easy."

I frowned. "Don't get complacent," I warned. Tear nodded.

"Yes. Most monsters around here shouldn't be too difficult to defeat, but there will be some that are challenging," she said.

"Reighn... where did you learn that arte?" Jade asked as we started moving again. Reighn smiled.

"Old family archives, back when they existed. Our family had a habit of producing fonic geniuses. I was already messing around with fonic artes when I was six, so I've got a few artes in my arsenal that would've gone down with Hod, otherwise," he said. Jade adjusted his glasses.

"Your family? But... I see. Hmm... You say you were six... You wouldn't have been given any of the forbidden arte scrolls your family had locked away in their vaults."

Reighn's smirk was evil. Truly evil.

"Oh, those?" He paused a moment before chuckling. "Those were the first ones my mother put in front of me. And... I might have slipped a few of them out when Mom, Matthias and I took the rowboat to Grand Chokmah."

Jade turned to Reighn, looking almost hopeful now, and Reighn grinned at the expression on the normally unflappable colonel's face. "Next time we're in the area around Daath, remind me to stop by home and pick one up," he said. "I think... Yeah. The Absolute-Prism Sword-Meteor Storm scroll should serve you well."

Jade looked so happy, I almost dared to start singing about him and Cantabile again, just to make sure he hadn't lost his mind.

"Colonel? Are you okay?"

Apparently Anise had noticed Jade's odd behavior as well.

Reighn grinned. "Oh, I just promised Jade he could have a look at a few fonic artes my family was notorious for letting no one outside the family touch."

Sync made a face. "Happy early birthday...?"

Jade chuckled. "Well, if nothing else, it'll give me something to terrorize all of you youngsters with once the fon slot seal's gone. There's no way I'm trying one of those artes until then, but that doesn't mean I can't at least learn the theory behind them," he said. Reighn nodded, then looked around at the rest of the group.

"Anise, Tear? You two are fonists as well, yes?" he asked. Anise nodded happily, while Tear was more... reserved.

"Yes, but I focus mainly on healing artes," she said. Reighn nodded.

"That's fine. I know an arte off one of those scrolls you could use... Although... Van might have taught you already. I remember I taught him when I found him in the Order... Resurrection?"

Tear stared over her shoulder. "You taught him?" she asked. Reighn shrugged.

"Sort of... I'm a seventh fonist too. He taught me to control them, I let him look at one of the scrolls I'd brought with me. Really, it was more a matter of working it out together," he said. Tear nodded.

"I see... Van told me the theory, but I haven't figured it out for myself yet."

"I'll help you," Reighn said.

Needless to say, most of the rest of the journey to the Zao Desert was filled with Reighn talking to Jade, Tear, and Anise about the 'forbidden' artes his family had collected over the years. I didn't join in, because I knew I'd never be able to use normal artes, but Sync did after a bit, which resulted in me prompting Luke and Natalia to pay attention. Even for a melee fighter, having at least one arte in your arsenal widened your versatility.

That having been said, I stopped everyone for an hour's break at the edge of the desert, and prompted Luke and Guy to start collecting firewood while Natalia and I left to hunt something that wouldn't immediately break up upon death.

However, I'm sure I managed to baffle everyone with my strict orders to not set up tents.

Once Natalia and I returned and handed our prey over to Jade, since it was his turn to cook, Anise and Luke turned on me.

"Why are we making camp but not setting up for the night?" Anise asked, obviously annoyed. I crossed my arms.

"Because you don't want to walk across the desert in the middle of the day," I said. "We're starting in tonight, while the sands are still warm, and then once the temperature drops too low for comfort, we'll set up the tents and sleep. Someone's going to have to be on watch for bandits, they're worse in the Zao Desert than anywhere else in the world. That person's going to wake us all up when the sky starts getting light."

"Let me guess, we'll be stopping again once it's too hot to keep going?" Reighn asked. I shrugged.

"I was gonna say noon. We walk until it's hot, we'll barely get anywhere," I said. "Once it cools off again, we'll get back up and go. Jade, you, me and Reighn are going to have to watch the canteens. If we do this right, we'll hit the oasis the day after tomorrow... But..."

Jade nodded. "It's amazing how much water you go through without realizing it."

Luke frowned. "Is the desert really that bad?"

I chuckled. "Take it from someone who's been lucky enough to get to ride a nice, warm liger through it at night up until now, except for the first time I tried to go through during the day. Danté found me and decided I was in bad enough shape I wasn't worth his effort to try to kill."

Luke made a face, and Reighn sighed.

"We don't have the luxury of making progress that quickly. So we'll have to make do for now. There's a fine line between keeping hydrated and taking in water too quickly," he said. Jade smiled.

"And, on that happy note, dinner's ready."

"He put sage in it..."

I snorted. "You should try it. Koran liked it."

"I'd tell you to go find a hole, but it'd probably be someone's den."

I laughed.

Fun Fact: You have cdpict to thank for the re-run of the sage down here at the end. I was writing this chapter and got that review, and then... well... hehe...