Mi Shen sighs. "She's not gone... she just... went on a walk... that has to be it... "
Yu talks over him, purposely not saying anything more about Mi. "We figure the next two Temples we'll hit separately. Corqren'll go to the Water temple and Ax will go to the Fire temple ... we just gotta choose the rest who're going."
Makera jumps up saying, "I'm going with Corqren!" Which is quickly seconded by an obviously jealous Mai, who says, "Me too! I ..." she blushes slightly, "I owe him... for what he did for... me." she says towards her hands.
Corqren looks at Mi Shen. "Mi Shen'll go with you guys... unless he wants to come with me..."
Mi Shen sighs and points at Corqren. "I'll go with them."
"Okay. Me and I .. I mean Yu and I .. I mean I and myself .. I mean .." Yu fumbles on before Mai interrupts her, "We get’cha Yu." Mai says simply.
Corqren chuckles.
"It's hard having parents who like puns!" Yu nearly cries as she hears Corqren chuckle.
Mai chuckles as well though, telling Corqren, "Don't worry... that happens every now and then in our family..."
A sweatdrop appears on Corqren’s face. "Really? All that was messed with my fam’ was that Ruto kept calling me Renard..." He shrugs. (Corqren, Renard...)
She whispers over to Corqren, "Y'see, our mom purposely changed her name to Si, S-I ... and if that wasn't bad enough her maiden name was ‘Schel’. As if having ‘Selv’(pronounced ‘self’) for a last name isn't bad enough!”
Corqren breaks down laughing at that. "Oh lord!" Mai smiles.
"Enough already!" Makera says, trying hard not to laugh. She looks serious soon enough though, and states to the group, "We gotta get going! This is the last line of defense-that doesn't mean it's impenetrable ..."
Mi Shen sighs. "let's just go...." Mi Shen disappears going ahead. "I'll go ahead..."
Ax says sadly. "I hope big brother isn't dead or anything...."
Mai and Makera run after him, Makera saying, "Don't run too fast Mi Shen!" In that way that anyone could tell she was flirting with him.
Yu shakes her head at Mai’s revealing her family's weird taste in names.
Ki says simply, "we should go to,” and grabs Yu's hand to pull her away. Corqren runs after with Ax not that far behind
* * *
Yu walks up to the incline before the entrance to The Goron city. Though she is far behind Ax she could catch up at anytime. She was just waiting for Ki.
Ki flops down on the ground. "how much farther...?!"
Yu rolls her eyes a little, and only a little, because she likes the kid enough not to be mad at her. “Actually it's just up that incline" she says pointing to the hill in front of them. "Hey! I got an idea, " she says, showing her teeth mischievously.
Ki whimpers. "but my feet are killing me......"
"Oh!" she purrs, "but your feet won't even touch the ground!" She says before picking Ki up before she can protest and flying up to the top.
Ki screams, "don't do that!"
"Jeez! Chill kid! Your wrecking the mood!" Yu says a little disappointed by the Ki’s reaction. She drops the kid in the center of the stone circle marking the entrance to town. "All done!" she smiles only slightly insanely.
"My feet still hurt!!!!"
Ax is sitting next to the entrance, waiting for the little whiner to rest her feet.
"I didn’t say they wouldn't I just said they wouldn't touch the ground!" she smiles with satisfaction, and walks over to where Ax was waiting, she plops down (which is a good description of how she just about jumps into a sitting position) next to Ax.
Ax yawns. "she have a fun time coming up...?" He says sarcastically
“I dunno, but I sure did!" She says, still enjoying the thrill of scaring a few brain cells out of the kid.
Ki gets back up again from the place she was sitting (or more like where she landed) and turns to face Ax and Yu, "Okay. I'm ready." she says as if she wasn't just crying a few seconds ago.
Ax gets up and stretches. "alright let's go see big brother....."
Yu gets up to, this time more serious than before-probably the adrenalin wearing off.
Yu shrugs and runs after both of them. She sees Ax laughing his ass off as Ki is hanging perilously from the ropes connecting to the center of the city. She was obviously running a little too fast. Yu looked around. There was no one to be seen.
Ax helps Ki up and she kicks him in the shin. Ax hops around cursing.
Yu would normally laugh, but she was still wondering where the Goron city had gone. Ax looks around and hops down the levels, rolling as he lands each time.
Ax jumps to the bottom level and runs into Durunia’s chamber yelling, "BIG BROTHER! I'M BACK!! IT'S ME, LITTLE BROTHER!!" all in one loud yell.
Ki sounds pitiful. "what'd you do that for...?"
Yu says without facing her, and rolling her shoulders, "I dunno." And smiles. But the smile leaves her face quickly as she walks up to the shivering ball she is certain is the last Goron. She taps the Goron lightly, and he rolls out of his ball. He stares up shakily an says, "Who're you?"
"I'm Yu."
"You don't look anything like me!"
"That's not what I meant!"
Ax runs up the stairs and stops bumping into Ki. "Oh, sorry short stuff!"
Ax runs over to Yu, ignoring the little Goron. "Yu! There are no Gorons here!!!"
“You .. you’re cats! My father spoke of a great hero, named Ax!”
Ax looks at the Goron. "Ax? Yeah that's me!"
"The Ax?! Wow! My name is Ax as well! My Father named me after the great hero who saved our City."
Ax thinks, “Ax? yeah that's me!” with his nose in the air.
"But now father is gone!" He cries.
"Big Brother?! Where?!"
"What's happened to the Gorons?" Yu burst in, pushing Ax out of the way.
Ax falls to the next level. he gets up and rubs his head. "ouch"
"They ...they" he sniffs.
"Spit it out kid!" Yu says overly harsh... but she doesn't want them in danger any more than Ax.
"They were taken away! They are to be sacrificed by Volvagia!
Ax freaks out and grabs the kid shaking him. "Volvagia?!?!? HOLY SHIT!!!!" He lets the kid go and jumps down to Darunia's chamber. Even he’s listened to Darunia ramble on about the evil dragon Volvagia!
Yu falls off the edge of the ledge, catching hold barely by her knuckles.
Yu is about to jump down as the Goron stops her. She looks up as he's handing her something. "You'll need this ... but I only have one. And there are two of you!" He says concerned.
"I can handle that!" Yu says passively as she take them.
Ax starts to pull on a statue in the chamber, grunting but only moving it out an inch.
Yu jumps down, then catches Ki as she jumps down too-this time setting her flat on her feet. Yu rushed into Darunia’s chamber, and Ki follows inside with a tunic on, nearly a dress and with the sleeves down to her wrists (though it's meant to be short sleeved). Even then Yu could feel the rush of heated air.
"Look. I can protect myself. That leaves you an Ki!" She says before Ax can ask why she doesn't have a tunic. "And you have a tunic ..."
Yu holds up her staff, obviously concentrating. "Start pulling Ax." She says with her eyes closed. Ax starts to pull and pulls the stone out far enough for them to get past
“Hey! Don't complain to me that it's a tight squeeze! That thing was fuckin' heavy!”
Ki runs through ahead, as usual, And Yu goes next, as she passes the statue she looks back at him and says with as straight a face as she can hold (which isn't very straight), "It's a tight squeeze!" and snickers.
Ax pushes Yu through and goes through himself grumbling, "damn... it is a tight squeeze..." Ax's ego goes down a few points...
Yu puts her arms around Ax's neck as he is in front of her, saying, "But don't you like being this close to me?"
Ax just grins kinda nervously. "yeah" Yu frowns, but he doesn't see it as he turns back towards the direction of the tunnel. Ax walks out into the volcano and a jolt seems to move through him. Ax looks at the broken bridge and the lava below.
Yu walks behind him, and barely touches his shoulder, saying, "something's wrong, isn't it?"
Ax almost jumps. "no of course not... heh heh... what would be wrong?" He starts to sweat even thought the tunic should prevent that. Yu just looks at him with a straight face. She knows when not to ask such things. She walks past him to the edge of the bridge. Ax trembles after she goes past. She kneels down a little, looks down towards the lava (which even through the magic she is putting out is still getting through mor than a tunic) And she looks up at their destination. She looks him straight in the eye and asks, "how much do you weigh?"
Ax says, "what?" obviously not getting it.
Ki bounces up and down. "Me first! Me first!"
"HOW MUCH DO YOU WEIGH?" she says, hen simply says, "Oh... screw it!" And pretends to spit on her hands, rubs them together and grabs his arm.
"hey what the...?!"
She picks up Ki under her arm, and holding onto Ax jumps across the bridge. Ax yelps and Ki laughs. They land tumbling on the other side (because she's not supposed to do that kinda thing with her wings) and Yu ends up sprawled upside down against a rock.
"I think you're getting used to this kid," Yu says in a proud way.
Ax gets up and goes over to Yu. "You ok Yu?"
Yu rolls and placing her hands against the ground turns herself right-side up.
Ki bounces again. "AGAIN, AGAIN!!"
She looks up at him, "Yeah ..." He helps her up.
"I think you've getting too used to this kid." And she thinks, "This from the kid that was kicking and screaming for me to let her down?"
"Thanks." she says quickly to Ax.
Ki keeps bouncing around telling Yu to do that again. Ax whacks Ki upside the head. "knock it off!"
Yu just watches the situation blankly. "I think we should head inside, maybe?"
Ax runs ahead of them. "C'mon!" Ki runs after him, yelling, "I'm supposed to go in first!"
Yu shrugs and runs after.
Ax jumps down the shaft and grabs onto the ladder at the last moment
Ki goes down he ladder carefully, and Yu waits till they are both down before gliding downward.
Ax runs in and stops dead in his tracks, he falls to his knees and holds his head
Yu look onward with a sense of deja vu. "This is just like..."
Ax gets up and turns on his heels looking at them. "Y... you!" He looks freaked.
Yu is still, paralyzed by Ax's actions, and just stares back at him. "wh-what?"
"You killed them!"
"WHO?" She screams out. The feeling seems to grow stronger.
"You killed them! I... I remember seeing your face!"
"You!" He points straight at Yu
"what do you mean?" Yu says, the feeling of paralysis changing to shock.
He takes a step back and then makes a break for the door on the right, the opposite of the boss room. Yu falls shaken to the floor, half glad he didn't charge-but also half worried for his safety ... his sanity ... for him.
Ki walks over slowly and drops to her knees as well, crying from Ax's outburst, and she puts her arms around Yu, still crying.
"Why is Ax mad?" She cries.
"I don't know." Yu says "I don’t know ..."
* * *
Ki walks slowly up into the room Ax had run into, looking back every now and then to make sure Yu was with her. Yu follows slowly behind Ki, a dazed look in her eyes as she proceeds through the first room of the fire temple. Yu hears a fain voice from above her, and looks up to see Ax. Her mouth opens to say, "Ax!" but nothing comes out. She is too afraid of what he'll do. Yu could also swear she heard a familiar melody passing on the air.
"Ax...? AX?! Where are you?!" Ki yells.
Yu tilts her head towards the ceiling, nearly expecting to hear a response. But there is nothing. She continues on past Ki, and hops across to a piece of land in the lava.
"We just gotta continue up-and hope he's sane by then." Yu says with a disturbed tone in her voice.
Ki perks her ears. "I hear Ax! He's above us! I can hear his axe banging against something!"
* * *
"you killed them... " Ax is sitting on the ledge above the lava room of the fire temple, the first thing they notice is the big slash marks on the wall made by his axe.
Ax raises his face from his knees-tear streaked and angry.
Yu steps back as she sees Ax turn. The look of his eyes literally scares her.
"Who?" She says again.
He gets up and pants. He points his axe blade at Yu. "you killed them." He looks worn out and his body trembles from his going at the wall.
Yu drops down to her knees at seeing him like this. It hurts her knows he hates her this much. "Who did I KILL?" she yells out. "I haven't hurt anybody!"
"You killed my PARENTS! You murdered them and left me there to die in that volcano!" His eyes are pupil-less just like Mi Shen's.
It was like something snapped in her. She couldn't stand it. It had to be a lie. Her head tilted forward to stare at the ground her hands braced against. She could feel herself crying. "I didn't kill anybody! I couldn't have!" And she looked up with a sad smile, "I couldn't even have held up a weapon at that age!" She said ironicly.
Ax trembles and lifts his axe. "..." He rushes at Yu and Ki.
Yu just sits there. Most people call this "deer in headlights syndrome". A second later adrenalin kicks in and she lunges for his ankles, tripping him away from Ki.
Ki screams. Ax falls almost over the edge of the hole. Ki had backed as far into a crack in the wall as possible. Yu was sure she'd have liked just to BE the wall at that moment.
"Run Ki!" Yu screams at her, while holding Ax down as best as possible. Which isn't very well, especially since he probably was stronger than her even without his bracers.
Ax kicks her off and gets up; he lunges for Yu again. She kicks upward, half from instinct, and pitches him over her, thanking any deity she could think of for taking the "quick learning karate class".
She runs over towards the edge, skidding as she realizes how high up they had climbed. Ax pants and charges. She jumps, and Ax follows, over the edge, but she can't turn mid-air in time to catch him, and he falls. She screams downward, "Ax!" Still hovering at the level of the ledge they had just been on.
Ax just has a look of panic and then he actually screams before he lands with a almost sickening sound.
Ki looks over the edge. "Yu! You killed him!"
Ax lets out a weak moan, it may be weak but was loud enough to be heard from up there.
Yu's hands shake almost spasmodically from the terror she had just been forced against. She looks down as she hears Ax, and would probably never fly so fast again in her life.
Ax opens his eyes part way and moans again. She didn't dare land near him. She wasn't even sure-couldn't be sure he was sane yet ... so she fell to ground of another "island” nearby in the lava. She looked at him, still shaking violently, and croaked out an, "Ax?" in his direction.
"Y...Yu... he-help... ouch..."
Yu smiles weakly and jumps over to him, and dropping to her knees to look at him.
He trembles and tries to move but it seems all his energy was drained as he hit the bridge.
"God Ax. You god damn idiot!" She yells at him as she snags her hands in her hair.
"wh....what?"
She closes her eyes, trying her best to calm down, and concentrating her energy like she always had. "JUST SHUT UP!" She says, afraid he'd use any energy he had to talk. He closes his eyes and falls, like he should have from impact, unconscious
She hums a strange melody... she had never heard it, but it came to her naturally, and light began to gather around her. She was singing the Song of the Sun.
Ki is heard laughing as she zooms down the hole and lands on the bridge on her feet. "YAY! that slow spell worked wonders!"
Yu rested her hand on his chest, and collapsed against him as she felt herself relaxing .. she was thinking to herself, "It's over... it's over... it's over .. and I'll kill any freaking-deity that says otherwise!"
Ki poked them both experimentally. And then said grouchily, "They're both out ..."
* * *
Images flashed through Ax’s head. Darunia held a crying toddler in his arms as his eyes gazed out sadly. Blood pooled away from two Demi-Humans who lied on the ground of the Volcano. A Shadow moved away from the scene. Ax’s vision filled with red and he felt the heat rising as he stayed any longer in the Volcano. His arms reached towards the bodies that lay motionless on the ground, and he heard himself scream out, “dad! MOMMY---! NO---!”
* * *
Ax groans and looks down. "holy... shit..." he says as he sees Yu passed out laying on him. "what the hell did I do when I was out? score?"
"With Yu?" Ax’s face turns red.
Ki tries to giggle as quietly as possible from her watching place above them.
“Yu... hey Yu..." he lifts his hand, amazed it's so hard to move his arm, and gently shakes her.
Yu mumbles something about, "you asshole," in her sleep. And then mumbles, "why didn't you tell me?"
"Yu?" He nudges her again.
Yu looks up Ax weakly, fuddling his name into, "Agz?"
"Y...you ok?" he puts his head back down. "what happened?"
She looks about ready to die... or just pass out again. She blink very slowly, as each time she closes her eyes it takes some energy to open them again. "I asked you what was wrong." She said as if she hadn't heard his question. "But you wouldn't tell me. And Then ... then ..." she couldn't seem to say it. "WHY DID YOU ATTACK US?" She said suddenly as it all came out. She was crying again now.
"A...attack?!"
"How can't you remember? You said I killed your parents!"
He seriously looks like he doesn't know what she's talking about.
She looks up at him in disbelief. "You don't remember! You don't ..."
“I had a horrid pain in my head and then I was falling... that's all I remember..."
Yu smiled sincerely, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She didn't care anymore. It was over. And she was sure the deities were scared enough of her to heed her command. If hey weren't ... well they should be!
"heh... I guess I should have memory lapses more often...." He says with a drop of sweat sliding down the side of his face.
"Tell me about the day your parents died ..." She said in a concerned way.
He gets a scared look in his eyes "Wh...why?"
"There are things," she paused to think, "people shouldn't have to live with ..." and she paused again. " ...alone." It was a good thing he couldn't see her face. She was blushing.
Ki was still sitting in her quiet spot above them, smiling happily that things had worked out.
He gets kind of nervous. "uh... could you help me up? I feel like a newborn kitten here...."
"Um .. yeah" She lets go of him and stands up herself. She didn't seem it, but it was hard just for her to stand up. She kneels besides him, putting one arm under his other and the other arm over her shoulders, He gets up with a low groan. "damn.... I feel so fucking stiff...."
"You should... see that ledge up there?" She points upward.
He looks up. "yeah..."
"Well ... you fell from there ..." She says very seriously. "to here ..."
He looks at her in disbelief. "n...no way! What'd I do....?"
"You tired to kill me," she says rather nonchalantly. "You said I killed your parents-that's why ... I asked." She sets him down against a rock, and slides down to sit against it herself.
Ax moaned. “Unhh... I don’t wanna remember...” He hid his head in his hands. “I was three...”
Yu looked at him blankly, then turned away. “I gotta go. I can’t handle being down here anymore. I mean .. magic wise.” She said so Ax didn’t think she didn’t like him-which was far from the truth. “I don’t have the energy to retain my shields much longer.” She says as she begins to untie something on her costume. Ax started to grin. “Damn....”
Her face went red as she heard him say that, “IT’S NOT LIKE THAT! I’m just giving Ki my wings.” She said loudly towards the ceiling.
Ax looked up and finally noticed Ki. “You little sneak!!! You were there the entire time!!! What if we were making out or something?!” Yu’s face got redder.
She took off the simplified wings from her back and yelled towards the ceiling again, “But you gotta come down here to get’em Ki!” And she held them up by the ribbons.
“OK!!” she said with a smirk and jumped off the ledge.
“Why didn’t you do that earlier?” Yu mentions angrily. She tosses the wings at Ki and jumps from the island. She looks back and tells Ax, “I’ll see you on the flip-side!” And she smiles before she leaves the temple.
Ax grabs Ki by her shirt, dragging her along as he heads into the temple, “Come’on squirt.”
“I’m not a drink!”
“Okay shrimp.”
“I’m not a food either!”
* * *
“Where’s the temple?”
“Below You.”
Mai looked around her. “No.”
“Yeah it’s below us ... I’ve been here multiple times.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant there’s no way in HELL I’m gonna do this!”
“What? Got Aquaphobia?”
“No, But my Bows!”
“It won’t hurt them, remember? They sunk to the bottom of the lake in Jabu Jabu’s pool and came out fine!”
“That was a helluva lot less time than THIS!”
“True. But they touched Ruto and didn’t disintegrate on contact.”
“Ouch.” Mai said simply to that comment. Then she thinks to herself, “He just wants me to go because it’s easier to look up my skirt underwater.”
Mi Shen pushes them both into the lake, “Just shut up!”
Makera looks on and shrugs, then dives in as well.
Mai falls in, and luckily she had already put on the tunic. She holds her breath instinctively while Corqren lets go of his air purposely. She scowls at how easily his does so. He dramatically breaths in and out to show her how easy it is. She lets out her breath accidentally as she tries to smack Corqren, who escapes her easily. She coughs a few times before grumpily looking at a triumphant Corqren. Mi Shen scowls at the both of them with his arms crossed for being childish as he easily sinks towards the bottom.
* * *
Mai leans against one of the central blocks of the water temple, coughing all the water from her lungs as she looks about to tip over. Corqren smacks her back to help to expel the water. Mai hits Corqren back, yelling, “I don’t need help!”
Corqren steps back, “Sorry for caring!”
“You should be!” Mai says as she puts her head back against the edge of the stone block.
Corqren looked back confused, asking himself, “What just happened?”
“I just have to be strong ...” Mai mumbled before pushing herself back into the water.
Mi Shen pointed to an unlocked door. “That seems interesting...”
“Sounds good to me” Makera says blandly. She swam over an told Corqren to come with her, and then dragged him into the maze of the temple with her.
“Let’s finish this.” Mai said seriously. Mi Shen shrugged and followed the rest of them.
* * *
Corqren pushes the doors of the room open slowly, looking at the chillingly serene pond that filled the room. Mai followed suit as well, looking around in each direction, wondering at how they seemed to walk upon the water without falling in. They looked ahead of themselves to the tiny island in the center of the room, and their eyes widened. Mi Shen shoved them aside as he looked in shock from the front of the group.
“Mi!” He blinked as the sight of her finally sunk in partially. “Nice... outfit change.” He twitched. “Mi come over here!”
Mi doesn’t move.
“Mi...? Uh... what’s wrong? You’re so quiet...” He says worriedly. He starts to walk towards her. “Mi? Are you going to talk to me...?” As he reached out to touch her shoulder she drew her daggers slowly from their sheath on the back of her belt.
“What’re you do-?” He didn’t finish before she lunged, deftly slicing into his arm before she hopped backwards slightly, holding her daggers ready in her hands, their dull edges braced against the inside of either arm as she gripped them. Blood dripped slowly from the edge of one dagger to the water below it, and the reflection showed the image of a frightened Mi Shen. Frightened by the reaction of someone who was supposed to be a friend.
“MI?! What’s gotten into you!?” Mi lunged towards him again, and he dodged the next few attacks til she got in another one to his arm. She skipped back a few feet, and after repositioning the daggers slightly charged towards him again; there wasn’t a hint of either mercy or hesitation.
Suffice to say she wasn’t herself.
Mi Shen drew the staff from his back, finally deciding he had to fight back-somewhat. He flipped away her next attack, taking his chance to crack her upside the head. She fell backwards to the ground, her daggers dropping next to her soundlessly. She sat up again as if nothing had happened. Her hand touched the blood that ran against one side of her head, and she ran her hand downward, drawing dark streaks against one side of her face. She rose to her feet again fluidly, daggers already back in place, and already back into fighting stance.
Mi Shen blocks multiple daggers before sending Mi skidding backwards along the water from a blow to the ribs. She gets back up again, but now with a chilling smile on her face. It was as if she enjoyed fighting Mi Shen. Mi Shen stared back at her, his hard gaze showing his determination to stop her. He launched into the air, and though she spun and cut him again before he touched the ground, he hit mark, and sent her rolling away from him, a new cut across the other side of her face and a few ribs visibly broken and already bruised. He fell to his knees as well, and as he watched she disappeared from sight.
“Mi....” He sighed, exasperated. He pooled some of the water and wiped it on his arm. Corqren walked over to him. “Mi Shen I...” He stopped as he stared at Mi Shen’s face. Mi Shen was gasping at the other face in the water. “Mi...!!”
Mi slowly pushed her self up against the reflected surface of the water, and she looked up without seeing Mi Shen or anyone. As she fell back to the inner surface of the water Mi Shen could see she had the same wounds as the Darker Mi he had just fought. Mi cried silently as she laid against the opposite side of the surface of the water.
“Mi!” He tried to put his hand through the water to her but it solidified before he could. “No...” He started pounding on the ground. “No! No! Mi! Come back! Come back!” He laid his head down and started to cry.
Mai just looked on with her head down; Makera looked down as she rubbed the toe of her shoe against the ground.
Corqren prepared to cast a minor healing spell but Mi Shen pushed him away roughly. “What’d you do that for Mi Shen?!”
“Just leave me alone...” He moaned, he was basically in his own little pool of blood at this point.
Mai walks by, patting him on the head sympathetically. Corqren looks back at him and casts his minor healing abilities upon Mi Shen. Mi Shen scowls back at him, “I told you to leave me alone!” Corqren just shrugs.
* * *
“Hand me that hammer you stupid little runt!” Ax said as he ran for his life from Volvagia.
“I’m trying, I’m trying!” Ki said as she swerved from one direction to the next in the air because of the momentum of such a heavy object. “Besides, it’s your fault! You made me carry this thing!”
“Minor details!” He said as he jump and ducked the pass-over of the great dragon. The hammer landed only a foot or so from his head. He stared at it nervously. “Think you could’ve landed it any closer to my HEAD?!”
“Sorry!”
“Like hell you are!”
“But it’s easily accessible!”
“Major details!” He swings the hammer hard and cracks the dragon in the nose. Volvagia screeched and dived into a small lava pool. “Wuss! Come out and face me!” He turned, walked around the small pools and whacked the dragon as it came up and tried to claw him.
Rocks began to shower from the ceiling of the volcano, Ax pathetically attempted to curl into a ball to avoid the rocks, and somehow he wasn’t hurt. He looked up to see a sphere of energy surrounding him. He looked up at Ki, “Your useful y’know kid?”
“Yeah, now show that you’re useful.”
Ax growled as a response. “Just shut up!” He whacked volvagia again. He then swung the hammer and hit him on the nose again. Ax begins to happily hum a tune as he baps the Dragon again.
“That’s the whack-a-bug tune, isn’t it?” Ki said, surprised.
“You noticed?” He said as he whacked Volvagia for the last time. The dragon screeched and began to turn about in the air. Ax looked upwards with an expression of awe on his face before realizing he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Oops.” He ran towards the outside of the circle, jumping to the side of the Volcanoe. He began to slide down the side though, and regretted his decision.
“Oh shi---”A light hit him from somewhere above him. “I love that light! Thank you, chamber of sages!”
* * *
“Don’t tell me. There’re jellyfish nearby.”
“Not last time I was-” twitch. “-here.”
“That was 7 years ago.”
“That was Jabu Jabu too!”
“Oh yeah.”
“Don’t worry Corqren!” She hugs him, “I’ll protect you from any evil jellyfish!” Makera says, smiling happily.
“Don’t mock me.” Corqren said in a pissy way.
“I’m not mocking you!” Makera said, acting hurt.
“Would you people just leave me alone?”
“I’m leaving you alone.” Mai says.
“And I thank you for it.”
“Are we leaving any time soon?” Mi Shen says from behind them. They all turn to see him enter the room.
“You’re okay now?” Corqren says, and thinks, “Done with your little crying fit?”
“Oh yeah, and another thing,” He holds up a still-bleeding arm. “Your healing doesn’t work worth shit.”
“Not like you can heal, so stop complaining goth-boy.” Mai says, annoyed that they are fighting more than before.
“Yeah well I can kill real well.” He says, opening his mouth in an evil grin.
“What are his powers anyway?” Corqren asks Mai.
“I dunno. Hit people with his staff?”
“Shut-up!” Mi Shen snaps at them. “Want me to demenstrate my powers?”
Corqren whimpers.
Mai walks up to the door. “Lets get goin’! Fight later .. Then Yu’ll be able to heal you each time you kill each other.”
Corqren twitched again. “Guys.... something’s wrong..” They look at him. He ran at Mi Shen and ran him into the water. “Sorry!” He ran through the door to the boss.
Mai ran towards the boss door as it closed again. “Corqren? What’cha doin’?!- Don’t say anything Mi Shen!”
Mi Shen pops to the surface of the water, and spitting some water out, asks, “Haven’t I been messed with enough today?” He looked at his still bleeding arm. “God dammit!” He took off his bandana and wrapped it around his arm. “There! A make-shift fuckin’ bandage!!!”
Makera blinks. “Corqren?...” They all hear a gurgling scream from the door.
“Corqren!” Mai screams before rushing into the room.
Mi Shen climbs out of the water and opens the door to see Morpha wrapped around Corqren and is drowning him within itself. Corqren's face is starting to resemble his clothes and hair.
Mai gasps, and runs into the room to face the monster. "Um..." she thinks for a moment. "un-grab him you big ..." she thinks again. "puddle!"
"Un-grab him?" Makera says questioningly.
"It doesn't have a hands!" Mai says to explain her own logic.
"Corqren!" Mi Shen yells at the near unconscious boy now floating to the bottom of the 'water' “ (he isn’t dead yet)
Mai draws her bowstring, and lets off an arrow towards the ball floating within the water. Makera draws her sword. The ball skitters around and lands on Corqren's chest as if saying, “try and shoot me now!”
"God damnit!" Mai says as she watches it, and as she runs towards the amoeba Makera grabs her. "Stop! I gotta help him!" Mai yells as Makera holds her back.
"You'll just get sucked in too!" Makera says as she throws Mai back, and Mai tumbles a little before looking back up again. Makera looks back harshly, "You said you only miss on purpose!" And she paused."You better prove that kid!" Makera nearly growled. But it seemed she was angry not at Mai, but at the fact that she was just as helpless.
Mi Shen takes something out of his pocket and throws it at the ball at an angle, hitting the top of the ball and missing Corqren. It's a throwing dagger. Makera jumped onto one of the four pedestals in the water, and ran towards the nucleus to slash it. Mi Shen takes out two more daggers ready to throw them at a moment's notice. Mai draws her bowstring shakily. Makera slashes the nucleus and it bumps along to another point, dragging Corqren in front of it within the water. It lashes back at Makera, sending her flying against a wall.
Bubles come out of Corqren's mouth, Mi Shen throws a dagger at the back and gets a direct hit. Mai lets the arrow fly, and it knocks the nucleus outside the amoeba long enough for it to be slashed by Makera, who jumps out of the way of the blob this time. Mi Shen throws his last dagger at it killing it. It slashes around violently, flinging Corqren out in one of its fits before it swerves and pushes itself through a grate in the ceiling, the nucleus straining through and plopping onto the floor.
Mi Shen runs to Corqren. "He's not breathing!"
Mai runs up to Corqren, shoving Mi Shen out of the way without notice to look at Corqren. "Corqren? Wake up ... shit." she says as she looks at him, touching his chest and watching him a moment.
"Corqren!" She yells, making sure he's out. She presses her lips to his and attempts (‘attempts’ is the operative word .. she's never done this before ..) CPR Mai looks down at Corqren as he starts coughing, and she realizes how much she's blushing.
Corqren blinks, turns on his side and throws up the jelly stuff. "Th...thank you ...Mai..."
Mai looks to the side, holding a hand in front of her face as if she were wiping her mouth. "yeah ... it's okay." she says in a small voice.
He pants. "ugh..."
Mai looks up above her, and she notices a white light growing around each of them, and it slowly becomes a noticeable beam.
"Guess the chamber of sages wasn't sure if their sage was dead or not" Mai says, laughing seriously.
Mi Shen sighs. "the light summons us..."
Corqren chuckles somewhat, obviously still ill.
"It can't summon you from the grave!" Mai says, her voice cracking.
The light was blinding out everything else by now, and as Mai opened her eyes again they were in the chamber of sages.
Corqren sits up and holds his head.
"Do you know how long we've been waiting for you guys?" Yu says, sounding annoyed, though only pretending
Ax pokes Yu. "We just got here...”
"Minor details!" Yu says nervously, whistling afterwards.
"Ugh.... it's going to take awhile to get that gross taste outta my mouth....”
Mi Shen grumbles holding up his bandaged arm. "Heal... now..."
"Psh! Sorry, I'm beat." Yu looks over at Ax. "SOMEONE had to fall down six stories!" She says without any hint of why he had fallen.
Corqren coughs. "Did your temple go well?"
"Ask them." Yu says, shaking her head towards Ki and Ax.
Ax turns red.
Mi Shen looks at Ax. "Is that all?"
Ax growls. "Shut up!"
"Could you take your shirt off first?" Yu asks.
"Probablly...." He shrugs and then winces.
Mi Shen says, “There are some cuts on my back too.... ugh... Corqren's healing is really shitty..." He takes off his shirt and inspects the blood stains on it.
Yu stares shortly at the scar across his back before continuing, "uh .. oh yeah." and she holds up her staff. He raises an eyebrow at Ax as Ax glares at him.
Mai looks on, thinking painfully, "Mi didn't even get to see this."
Mi Shen shrugs a bit seeming uncomfortable. "Can we do this already?"
Yu looks through the stone in her staff at Mi Shen, and hums the tune she had before. White light gathers softly around herself and Mi Shen, and the wounds slowly close. As she opens her eyes to look out again the wounds are completely closed.
"Hey not bad. Thanks Yu."
He takes his bandana off his arm and looks at the blood stains, "Gotta wash this..." He puts his shirt back on.
"You're welcome." she nearly grumbles. "I'm just wiped out, nothing much ..." she says the last part in a barely audible voice. She feels a headache coming on.
Mai thinks to herself regretfully, "Mi's the only one of us that can sew ..."
Corqren yawns. "Maybe we should find someplace to rest for the night.... I don't want to sleep on my water seal..."
Mai says, "yeah" in a strangely bland tone.
"Well, it's been seven years .. I don't think one night'll mean world destruction, huh?" Yu says with a small smile.
“Mi shen'd probably have us sleeping in the graveyard."
Mi Shen and Yu both elbow Ax in the gut from different sides.
"And unless it's a waterbed I ain't sleeping in Zora's Domain." Mai adds in.
"And who wants to sleep on a ROCK?" Mi Shen says while staring at Ax angrily.
Corqren says, "well, we could go sleep by the river.... Mi Shen could wash his clothes and stuff and it's got nice scenery..."
Makera pipes up, "The Kokiri ..." and then she corrects herself, "If the Kokiri are still here ... they'd probably harbor us safely."
Mi Shen nods. "I've always wanted to go there...."
Corqren nods as well. "ditto. it's just I was too scared."
Ax laughs loudly, "you were afraid of little pixies? OW!" he says as Makera smacks him for making fun of her people
Yu laughs at Ax before saying, "Yeah. Let’s head out then." And the light of the Chamber engulfs them once more.
