Legacies
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths
By MMM/AJ
Chapter III-I1
The beautiful blue ocean passed quickly underneath the majestic Lemurian ship as it flew over the water. Its majestic dragon wings and head proudly jutted out into the air as the ship soared through the sky. At its helm stood two Venus Adepts, masters of the Earth Element. Together they directed the motions of the noble flying vessel, fighting the strong winds and keeping constant vigil over the endless waters that stretched for miles all around. Their energies, known as psynergy, were the force that kept the ship in the air. They and their allies in the bottom decks below were using their psynergy collectively, and the boat sundered the air currents without the slightest trembling.
“I’m going to go down and check on the others Felix, keep the helm steady.” The first adept said.
“No problem Isaac, just bring me something to drink from the hold, I’m parched.” Said the other Adept.
Isaac walked across the deck and to the door that lead into the ship’s lower decks. He hummed idly as he opened the door, but was interrupted when he heard a short yelp from behind the door. He looked in to see Mia, a Mercury Adept, sitting on the floor and covered with tea. A tea tray laid upside-down on top of her white and blue dress and biscuits were scattered all over the floor. Mia’s long blue hair looked frazzled and she wore a face that showed surprise.
“I’m so sorry Mia!” Isaac exclaimed, helping the Water Master up to her feet.
“Oh it’s quite alright Isaac, this does make it hard to come and go when there are so many of us on the ship. I had come to bring you and Felix some tea, but I suppose I will have to fix up some more.” Mia said, looking down at her stained dress.
“The tea’s no problem, but your dress! It’s ruined!” Isaac said, frowning.
“Don’t worry about it, I can use psynergy to clean it later once we’ve landed. Now, I should go fetch that tea.” Mia said. She and Isaac then walked down into the ship’s second deck where more of their group were conversing together.
“So you’ve never played the lucky reels in Contigo before?” Asked a short, blonde haired Jupiter Adept named Ivan.
“No, I saw the place when we were passing through the city but I didn’t really think of going in there.” Said the fiery haired Mars Adept Garet.
“It’s quite a lot of fun, if you have enough game tickets to play.” Ivan said, smiling.
“You use them for something after all eh? I wondered why all these shopkeepers across the world gave them out. There must be other locations around, because I don’t know of many people who live on Osenia who would travel all the way to Atteka just to play the slots.” Garet said.
“Hey guys, how’s everything going?” Isaac asked, sitting down next to Ivan and Garet.
“At this rate we’re going to run out of topics for conversation before psynergy or food.” Ivan said, smiling at his old friend Isaac. “We’ll be bored out of our minds by the time we get to Madra.”
“Where are Jenna, Sheba, Piers and Kraden?” Isaac asked.
“They’re down in the bottom deck, Kraden wanted to study the ship’s power source a bit more and Piers took them down there.” Garet said.
“Oops!” Mia said as a group of teabags hit the floor. The ship had rocked and it had caused her to drop them off of the table in the corner.
“What was that?” Ivan asked, bewildered.
“Something’s up,” Isaac said, “Felix must be rocking the boat intentionally to get our attention. Come on, let’s go see!”
The four of them grabbed their weapons and leapt up the stairs out onto the deck of the ship. They raced up to the front of the ship to see that there was another boat in front of them. It was also Lemurian, a ship of exactly the same shape and design, but without the magic wings of Anemos that Isaac’s ship wore. The other ship was sailing briskly on the ocean’s surface, and Isaac’s ship had slowed down to match its speed.
“It’s Alex, we’ve caught up with him.” Felix said. “Go tell the others, we’re descending to board Alex’s ship.”
“Stay here you guys, I’ll go myself.” Isaac said.
Isaac rushed back down below decks, past the mess of tea bags and down another flight of stairs. He raced through wooden halls, turning the corner and colliding directly with the Scholar Kraden.
“Oh, so sorry about that Isaac!” Kraden said, struggling with his old arthritic knees to stand up.
“It’s alright Kraden, this happening isn’t too out of the ordinary for me today.” Isaac said. “Now come on, we need to get to the others, we’ve finally caught up with Alex’s ship!”
Piers, also a Mercury adept, who was standing behind Kraden, looked shocked. “I would have thought he’d already be hidden away in Madra by now!” He said.
“No time to talk, let’s move!” Isaac said. He, Kraden, Piers, Sheba and Jenna sprinted up the stairs and made their way back to the top deck.
As the five of them scrambled out of the door on the top deck, Felix shouted over to them, “Brace for landing!”
The Lemurian ship they were riding suddenly clipped the ocean’s surface and the whole of the vessel shook and wobbled violently. Sheba fell flat on her face as the ship rocked forward, as the speed of their movement through the air was suddenly sucked away by the calm waters as they slowly immersed.
The boat steadied and the psynergy drain of flying was suddenly gone from each adept’s mind. They all readied their weapons as Alex’s slower ship loomed closer and closer.
“Kraden, take the helm.” Felix said, gesturing for the grayed old man to come to the wheel. “Undoubtedly I will have to fight with the others. Alex is too powerful to take lightly.” Felix fingered the hilt of his Sol Blade unconsciously as Kraden stepped up and grasped the wheel.
“Yes of course, he has absorbed some of the power of the Golden Sun, so you will need all the collective power you can muster.” Kraden said. “Go now, get the Djinni ready and prep the others for battle. We will be alongside Alex’s ship in minutes.”
Felix nodded and shouted over to the others that he was going to fetch their Djinni from the hold. He dashed down the steps, through the first deck and down the steps into the bottom deck. He turned a few corners and found the playful little elemental spirits frolicking about the storage room. He called out to them and they snapped to attention, forming a cute little line in front of him. He lead all 72 of them in a cute little line up both sets of stairs and out onto the upper deck. Each member of the party then called to their specific Djinn until they were all redistributed to their owners. They looked odd as they were Set to their owners’ armors. The brown colored Venus Djinni looked like studs of Isaac’s armor as they stuck to him like magnets. He smiled, knowing that appearances were deceiving and the Djinni were a lot more than magnets.
As Alex’s ship finally lined up with Isaac and friends’, the adepts stepped forward and looked over onto the deck of the other ship. Alex, the long blue haired Mercury adept stood at the helm, pretending not to notice them as they stared at him. He whistled a merry tune and turned his head to look in the opposite direction.
“That’s it, he’s pissed me off for the last time.” Garet growled. He jumped across the gap between the two ships and the rest of their eight member party followed. They approached Alex, weapons at ready and hands on their Djinni.
“I wondered when you would finally catch up with me.” Alex suddenly said, his head still turned the other way. Garet growled silently and clenched his Fire Brand harder.
“You know what we’re here for. Give us the Stone of Sages, now!” Felix said loudly, stepping up in front of the group.
Alex still refused to turn and face them, and Garet was in danger of going off and attacking the nonchalant man. “Why would I give it to you? Do you think your numbers will help you now? Do you think that your Djinni can match the Power of the Golden Sun?” Alex said. He turned to face them suddenly, his light blue cape fluttering.
“My friends, you can have the stone of Sages when you can pry it out of my cold, dead hands. And since I’ve already achieved immortality, I’m afraid your ambition is rather misplaced.” Alex said, looking Felix straight in the eye.
“You underestimate us!” Isaac said, stepping up to be shoulder to shoulder with Felix.
“Actually I haven’t as a matter of fact, and it’s true that your power is a force that is only matched in this world by mine. That’s why I would like to offer you a chance to stop this frivolous bickering between us. These is no need to squander your abilities as such, together we could rule all of Weyward!” Alex said, thrusting his arms into the air.
“Do you think we’d fall for such trickery after you used us so easily to gain the Power of the Golden Sun?” Mia asked, her gentle demeanor gone. “You are of my people, and yet you’ve manipulated me and my friends and then tossed us aside so easily, why do you think we would want to join you now?”
Alex sighed and shook his head. “It was a means to an end, elegant Mia. I ask of your forgiveness, would you give it to me?”
“Never.” Mia spat. “You’ve disgraced our people and you’re a menace to all of Weyward.”
“Then I’m afraid I will have to use another means to the same end. I will have to kill you all to take your Djinni.” Alex said. He drew a glowing blue sword and looked at Isaac and his party. “Watery Grave!” He suddenly said, and his psynergy jolted to life.
On Alex’s command a giant wall of water swelled up over the side of the boat and slammed into all of them. Garet and Jenna being Mars adepts, were especially affected by Alex’s special attack. It stole their life energy away quickly and methodically, nearly washing them off of the boat entirely. They grabbed the edge of the boat and pulled themselves back aboard. Without pause, the entire group rushed forward at once. Each member unleashed a Djinn, all focusing their attacks on Alex at once. Felix used the Venus power of the Echo Djinn to power up his blade. He struck Alex once and then the Djinni echoed the attack, knocking Alex up into the air for a short moment. Jenna unleashed the power of the Mars Djinn Cannon, it grew and blazed forward, colliding with Alex head on and knocking him backwards. Sheba unleashed the Jupiter Djinn Wheeze, and it powered up her staff to strike with a deadly poison. Alex took the staff blow in the face and the poison seeped through his skin and into his system.
Piers unleashed the Mercury Djinn Sour, and it empowered his blade to strike with a blow that would disable Alex’s elemental resistances. Alex’s armor took the slash safely, but the power of the Djinn drained his resistance considerably. Alex had enough of these attacks however. Before Isaac and the rest of the group had the chance to continue the attacks he cast a spell of his own. “Megacool!” He shouted, raising his hands. Spikes of ice appeared under Felix, Sheba and Jenna, cutting into their armors and bruising them. Isaac saw the opening for an attack and charged, unleashing the power of the Venus Djinn Flint. His sword struck Alex’s armor with a blow that could cleave stone, blasting Alex back again. Garet then attacked, unleashing the power of the Mars Djinn Shine. The Djinn flew up into the air and emitted a brilliant light, blinding all. It then lunged at Alex and blasted him with the heat from four furnaces. Ivan, attack next unleashed the power of the Jupiter Djinn Luff, and a psynergy sealing symbol appeared on Alex’s armor. Alex tried to cast Megacool again, but the seal blocked it. Mia sat back from the fighting, casting Pure Wish to heal the other fighters.
Alex tried desperately to use another psynergy, but the seal on him blocked it again. “No! How can this be? All of my power comes from my “No! How can this be? All of my power comes from my psynergy!” Alex howled.
“Now will you give us the Stone of Sages back or will we have to force you to?” Isaac asked.
“Never!” Alex cried and ran at Felix brandishing his sword. The two traded blows and counter blows for a few moments before Alex was blasted backwards by a beam of fire energy that Jenna had shot at him.
As Alex stumbled to his feet, he tried to use his self recovering abilities, but since they were driven by psynergy as well, his efforts were in vain. He started to unstrap his armor, but he was interrupted when Felix grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up into the air.
“Give it to us now, or die.” Felix said, glaring into Alex’s cold calculating eyes.
Suddenly, the boat shook violently underneath all their feet, and Felix lost his grip on Alex as he was thrown to the deck by the shock. Everyone looked to the source of the shock to see another ship had pulled up to the other side of Alex’s ship. It was not Lemurian, in fact none of them recognized the design. From the deck of the ship came ten muscular men wearing black body suits similar to those that ninjas wear. They moved quickly and decisively to surround Alex and his opponents.
“We’ve come for the stone.” One of them hissed. His voiced sounded ghoulish, almost like it shouldn’t have even come from a human vocal cord.
“It is mine!” Alex said, still defiant to the end.
“We’ve already claimed it for ourselves.” Isaac said calmly to the man who had earlier spoke.
Before anyone could attack, the black clad men dashed at Isaac and his party, attacking with short blades with incredible speed. The swordplay that ensued was vicious, Isaac and his friends were outmatched in physical strength and these men weren’t giving them enough time to unleash their Djinn. And Alex knew this was the moment he needed. He finished unstrapping his armor and tossed it aside. With the seal gone, he used his teleport psynergy and disappeared. Abruptly the battle stopped, and the men in the ninja suits dashed away from Isaac’s injured party back to their generic looking ship. Their boat suddenly began to rise out of the water just as Isaac’s ship could, but then it streaked away at nearly ten times the speed that their boat could. It was gone over the horizon before Isaac and friends could even react.
“Looks like we’ve got some competition.” Garet said.
Chapter IV – T1
Why, why had Tanis’s father done this to him? Tanis couldn’t remember how long he had been trapped in that hellish mental void, ever since his father’s messages had broken and faded away, he had been trapped in an inky void of blackness. He didn’t know how the neural simulator had lost power, and that this was the reason for being trapped in emptiness for so long. He teetered on the brink of insanity for years as the lab decayed just outside him, out of his perception. He tried to reach out to the outside world through his mind, but all he could find was silence and emptiness just like in his mind. He wondered if he was dead, or possibly insane, but he knew one thing, it was totally out of his control. The one thing he clung on to was the series of messages that his father had passed onto him via the machine so many years ago. His father’s messages of peace, tolerance, and self control, and the simple image of his face, were the things that kept him from spiraling into madness as he lived out his years in the void.
And when them void suddenly ended, it was like being able to see again after a lifetime of blindness. His interface with the computer that sustained him burst to life as the system’s power was restored. The void was replaced with a basic computer startup screen, scrolling start up codes and self diagnostic programs. And the interface showed him as the computer opened up the regular idle screen with a timer ticking on the bottom and four folders. A mouse cursor moved across his vision and opened the Genetic Database file, and then opened a randomly selected item to bring up the chart of a DNA strand. Tanis remembered it from the basic intelligence training that this very same computer had fed to him years ago. He watched as the viewer scrolled down the DNA strand for a few moments, and then exited back to the idle screen. He saw the mouse select the Journal entries that his father had written, files that he had not read in years. As the mysterious operator read the file, Tanis wondered what his or her intentions were and if he would finally be released into the real world. And then, the counter in the bottom of the computer display reached zero and the computer’s voice croaked blearily in Tanis’s head, “Maturation Cycle Complete.” Suddenly everything went black again.
Tanis lost the umbilical connection with his surrogate computer mother and his mind fell back into the void again. He started to feel physical sensations, movement of liquid across his skin, popping feelings as wires disengaged from him. He felt a slight downward motion and after a few moments, his entire tank tipped over and spilled him out. He came into full consciousness of the cold steel floor, and a pain suddenly shot up his chest. His lungs convulsed and he involuntarily vomited several times. The feeling of air in his lungs was new and much more satisfying than breathing that self recycling oxygenated liquid that he had not even known about until now. As he stopped coughing and choking, he felt his powers finally come under his full control, and he opened his real, physical eyes for the first time. He saw darkness, shadow filled darkness that different from the absolute black of the void. He tested out his powers and called out mentally.
“Is there anybody out there?” He asked. He heard a gasp behind him and he jerked his head around to see a strange looking being looking back at him in apparent terror. It looked extremely similar to the pictures of humans the computer had shown him. He easily read the human’s mind and found it she was called Ashley.
“Well met, Human Ashley.” He said to her.
“Wha….what are you?” The human girl asked, still terrified.
“I am Tanis, son of Mewtwo.” Tanis said. “Tell me, why are you frightened?”
Ashley stared at Tanis for a moment, finally mustering up the gumption to say; “You’re, not going to kill me?”
Tanis laughed merrily, and Ashley clasped her ears, trying to figure out how she was hearing him inside her head. “You’re the first truly living being I’ve come into contact with in my life! Why would I wish to do you harm? I would rather wish to kindle a bond between us, a bond that my father called friendship.” Tanis said.
“You said, your father? I thought you said I was the only living being you’d met!” Ashley said, now very distraught.
“He left recorded messages for me, he taught me the ways of this world. And he told me that the most valuable thing in this world is a friend. Would you show my friendship firsthand?” Tanis asked, reaching his three fingered hand down to Ashley.
Ashley hesitated and then grasped it. It was still wet with the tank fluid, but it was warm and pulsed with life. He pulled her to her feet and they again looked into each others’ eyes.
“Could we leave here?” Ashley asked suddenly. “It would be nicer to show you friendship in a place less dank and scary as this.”
“Very well, but before we leave I must retrieve something.” Tanis said. He walked across the lab to a small steel box that was sticking out of a computer panel. Since the power was back on, the panel glowed, ready for input. Tanis poked one of his fingers against a needle sticking out of the platform and the computer took a moment to read his DNA. After a few seconds it beeped pleasantly and the steel box suddenly opened like a puzzle. Inside was a shimmering amethyst, a teardrop shaped stone with many faces that all glimmered in even this the faintest of light.
“That’s such a beautiful stone!” Ashley said, wonder in her eyes.
“It’s my father’s stone, Mewtwo’s Amethyst. He told me in his last message that when he died that his essence would be imbued in this stone, and that I should keep it with me for all time. Should I ever be in dire peril he said, to call on the Amethyst’s power. I would guard it with my life.” Tanis said.
Comments maunsah: :O Script by Alex |
