Otaku Wish Fulfillment Theatre Started by Scott Schimmel Chapter 16: Chaos and Confusion... That, and a Treasure Hunt! By Kate Malloy ^_^; "CHARGE!" yelled Dan, racing towards the remaining eight ogres. He powered up one of his Very Big Guns(tm) and began firing left and right. Ardweden dodged a stray blast. "Hey, be careful!" she warned. One of the ogres swung its club at her. "Meep!" She dodged again and glared at it. "Okay, that does it! Generic Chi Projectile Attack!" Gathering orange energy in both of her fists, she brought them together and fired a large bolt of chi at the ogre in question. "Seven to go," Illyria murmured, parrying a strike from another ogre and effortlessly counter-slicing. "No, six." He paused to push a stray strand of hair back. Meanwhile, Steve and Kate watched over their fallen friend. "C'mon, Scott, wake up!" Kate cried, shaking the unfortunate magical girl in such a manner that Scott was probably glad to be unconscious. "It's no good," Steve remarked. "She's- he's out cold." Kate stood up and surveyed the battle. For once, she was *not* smiling and happy and bouncy. "That's it. I've had enough. When you hurt my friends, you've gone too far!" Her eyes narrowed as she pulled her ninja mask on, and she began to glow a pale blue. Back at the battle, Dan had single-handedly managed to reduce the total ogre count to four, and Illyria and Ard's combined efforts were well on the way to making it three. "Y'know, I think we're getting a lot better at this," Dan idly remarked as Ardweden fired off another chi blast, taking out the fourth-to-last ogre. "We must have raised our levels or something, though I don't really remember getting that much stronger." "Must be some sort of gradual thing," Ard replied, wiping her brow as she surveyed the three remaining ogres. "Though I'm starting to get kinda tired..." At that moment, a bright blue streak jumped in between Dan, Ard, and the ogres. Illyria turned to observe where the light was coming from. Kate stood there, glowing an intensely brilliant shade of blue. Her ninja costume now had silver trim and a silver dragon on the back. "Kate?" Dan called hesitantly. The ninja didn't turn around. In fact, she didn't even seem to notice them calling. In a seemingly dazed state, she advanced toward the ogres. "What's she doing?" Ard murmured to Illyria, who had stepped away from the glowing ninja. He simply shrugged. With a blinding flash of speed, Kate rushed the three ogres. Seconds later, she was back to where she had been standing. The ogres quite literally fell apart. "Eww..." Ard muttered. Dan blinked. "Could she *always* do that?" Kate stopped glowing and fell to one knee. "Phew..." she gasped as she changed back into her normal clothes. Ard walked over to her. "What just happened?" Kate blinked and turned to face her friends. "I don't know. I just got so angry... I don't really remember what happened next." She looked over her shoulder at the remains of the ogres. "Did I... did I do *that?*" Dan nodded. "Woow..." Kate said in amazement. "I didn't know I had that kind of power. Maybe it's because I got one of the Seals?" "You looked like you were in some sort of a trance," Ard stated as the three walked back towards where Steve was watching over Scott. "I wonder if Steve could do it?" "Could do what?" Steve asked. "That thing Kate just did," Dan clarified. "If it has to do with getting your Seal powerup, maybe-" "I highly doubt I'd be able to do anything *that* impressive," Steve grumbled. Kate knelt down next to Scott. "Still out?" Steve nodded. "Nothing's changed." Kate paused to think for a moment, then jumped up. "I know!" She turned towards the group's mascot, who seemed to only be remembered at convenient times. "Ohh, Damien..." she said sweetly. The Phoenix in question squawked in alarm and tried to run away. Unfortunately, he was no match for a very determined ninja. A few minutes later, Kate triumphantly walked back to the group and dumped an armful of feathers on the unconscious magical girl. "There! Fresh Phoenix Down! This just *has* to work!" A great deal of nothing occurred. "So what now?" Ard asked. "Do we try to go back to the nearest town?" "That'd be great, except that our resident teleporter is out cold," Steve replied. "Or do you really feel like trekking all the way back through the woods?" Ardweden suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. "Gyah!" She turned to see Illyria standing next to her. "Don't scare me like that!" Illyria stared solemnly at her. "You can help." "What?" Ard blinked in confusion. "You have some sort of chi-healing ability, do you not?" Illyria prompted. Ardweden blinked again. "I've never tried, but it's certainly possible..." "You can do it, Ard!" Kate jumped up and down excitedly. "We believe in you!" Sweatdropping, Ardweden knelt down next to Scott. "It's worth a try, I suppose." She placed a hand on Scott's forehead and closed her eyes in concentration. A bright white aura surrounded the two girls for a few brief moments, then faded. Ardweden stood back up. "Did it work?" As if in response, Scott's eyelids fluttered open, and she sat up. "Ooooh... Why am I covered in feathers?" Kate sweatdropped. "Never mind that." She helped Scott up, then grabbed her in a rib-crushing hug. "Oh, thank the Goddesses you're okay! We were getting so worried and-" "Ack... Kate, could you please let me have some air?" Scott gasped. "Ahh... sorry." Kate let go and grinned. "But I'm so happy that you're okay! Ard, how are you feeling?" "Just fine," Ardweden replied. Dan surveyed the group. "I think it's time we moved on. The longer we stand around here, the more chance we have of something else finding us." "Thank you, fearless leader," Steve muttered. "Although I'm surprised that we haven't run into a sub-boss or something yet. That probably comes later." "Be careful what you wish for," Illyria said quietly to him as the party moved onward. ^_^; It was a dark and stormy night. Well, to be completely honest, it was a dark and stormy midafternoon. Either way, however, Our Heroes were none too pleased to be caught out in the middle of it, especially since a few minutes before, it had been a bright and sunny midafternoon. The party had been walking through a perfectly non-ominous- looking part of the forest, admiring the way the sunlight shone through the green leaves, making lovely patterns on the forest floor. Suddenly, said patterns ceased to exist. Steve looked up at the sky. "Where did the sun go?" he nervously asked. "Looks like a storm," Ardweden observed, eyeing the very dark clouds which had somehow appeared. "Well, maybe since we're in the forest, we'll be sheltered from the worst of it," Scott stated hopefully. Lightning flashed, striking a nearby tree. "Then again, maybe not," she continued. "As our leader, I say we run like heck and hope that we find shelter," Dan suggested. The rest of the party nodded. They then proceeded to do so, just as the sky opened up and buckets of rain began pouring down upon them. So now six very soaked and extremely unhappy adventurers (plus one thoroughly wet and even more unhappy recently-plucked mascot) raced through the forest, desperately seeking some place to dry off and wait out the storm. "I just don't understand it," Kate mused, trying to use her vast knowledge of RPGs to justify the current situation. "Is this like the hunting grounds in 65 million BC in Chrono Trigger? Are we supposed to be looking for a Nu or something? Or maybe we've just hit an area like Zozo, where it rains all the time." None of the others answered, as they were too busy looking for some place to take shelter. "Do you see something off to the side there?" Ardweden asked Illyria, pointing to what looked like a partially overgrown path just ahead. Illyria nodded and drew his sword. The rest of the party slowed down as they watched him slash at some of the overgrowth. "It *is* a path!" Scott cried happily. "We'll be able to find shelter after all!" With Illyria leading the way, the party followed the path and soon arrived at what appeared to be a large stone temple, also rather overgrown. "How very convenient," Steve observed. "Almost too convenient." "Ahh, you worry too much, Steve!" Kate said cheerfully. "We can go in and get dry and comfortable! What could possibly go wrong?" She ran up the steps to the front door of the temple and pushed lightly on it. "See? It's open!" She walked inside, followed closely by Scott, Ardweden and Dan. Steve exchanged glances with Illyria, shrugged, and followed the others. "I do not like this," Illyria said quietly to Damien before trailing after Steve. Damien stood there and blinked for a few minutes, then realized that everyone else had just gone in. He raced up the steps to the temple doors, then squawked in alarm as they shut in his face. "Hey! Let me in!" he yelled, pounding on the doors with his wings. "Come on, guys! It's cold and wet out here! Let me in? Please?" ^_^; Meanwhile, inside the temple, the six adventurers were taking stock of their surroundings. They stood in a narrow stone hallway, lit by evenly-spaced torches on both walls. "So do we go in further?" Ardweden asked. "Hey, where's Damien?" Scott wondered. "I believe he is still outside." Illyria frowned and pushed on the doors. They didn't move. "Oh, great, we're stuck," Steve grumbled. "I *knew* this was going to happen." "So we've got no choice, then," Dan stated. "We'll just have to continue in." "I'll bet if we explore far enough, we'll find some sort of switch or something to open the doors!" Kate reasoned. "Come on!" She sprinted down the hallway. The rest of the party followed the overenthusiastic ninja at a slightly more sedate pace. "Gosh, how far does this hallway go?" Scott wondered. As she finished speaking, all the torches went out. "Guys? Guys?!" Kate's voice called from farther down the hallway. "What just happened?" "I don't know. Did you step on some sort of trigger?" Steve asked. "Don't think so. Here, let me walk back to where you are..." The sound of her voice got louder as she approached the party. "Okay, now what?" "I guess now we-" Dan's voice was interrupted by a tremendously bright flash and a very loud bang. Following that, all the torches relit themselves. "Owww..." Ardweden moaned, putting a hand to her forehead and closing her eyes tightly. "Was that from the storm? Huh? I'm not soaked anymore! Wai!" Kate blinked a few times and looked over at the nearest person. "Scott? Hey, you're a guy again." Scott looked down at himself, and noted that not only was he a he again, but his outfit had changed. He was now wearing a black Chinese-style shirt and pants with dark purple trim, and matching dark purple shoes. "You're right! I-" He looked back up at Kate and performed a double-take. "Ahhh... so are you..." "Oh?" Kate patted himself on the chest and noticed a lack of certain... attributes. "Huh. No wonder my voice didn't sound quite right." Scott sweatdropped. "You've got Illyria's trenchcoat and sword, and I appear to be wearing Ard's bracers." Illyria jumped up and down and clapped her hands joyfully. "I'm a girl again! Wai!" She then noticed that Scott's ring was now on *her* finger. "Oh, *no*! That's not fair!" Steve fingered the ninja mask around his neck. "I have actual powers now! All right!" Dan stared at Ard with a pleading expression on his face. "Please tell me I'm not the sidekick." Ard - now clad in normal clothing - looked up at the bandana which was now tied around Dan's head, then down at the sentai buckle on her belt, then back up at Dan. "I could, but it's not very nice to lie." "I don't believe this," Dan groaned. "I go from being the leader to being the sidekick?!" "But *how* did this happen?" Steve asked. "Are you absolutely sure that you didn't accidentally trip a switch or something, Kate?" Kate glowered at Steve and flipped his newly-acquired long hair over his shoulder menacingly. Steve wisely decided to drop the subject. "So do we keep going now?" Ard asked. "Well, it's not much use standing around here," Scott answered. "Let's go." The six thoroughly confused adventurers proceeded down the hallway until they came to a large open chamber. There were three doorways on the opposite side of the chamber, each appearing to lead farther into the temple. "Okay, *now* what? Do we split up?" Dan wondered. "Yes," a voice that did not belong to any of the others answered. The entire party blinked simultaneously. "Hello?" Illyria called tentatively. "Hello!" the mysterious voice cheerfully called back. "Could you please come out or something?" Steve asked. "It's a bit disconcerting to be talking to thin air." "Ah, sorry." A little old man popped out of thin air and landed in the middle of the party. "Is this better?" The entire party blinked again, except for Kate, who quickly drew his sword and stuck it right through the old man. "A ghost," he stated simply. "Well, that was rude!" the old man huffed, glaring at the unconcerned bishounen. "He's sorry," Ardweden quickly intervened. "Really, he is. Anyway, could you *please* explain what's going on here?" "Well, you've reached my tomb," the old man said. "The Tomb of the Unknown-" "King?" guessed Illyria. "Soldier?" asked Dan. "Ahh, no... Shoe Salesman, actually," the old man finished. If ghosts could sweatdrop, this one would have done so. The entire party blinked yet again. "The Tomb of the Unknown Shoe Salesman. Riiiight," Scott said. "They were very important shoes!" the old man insisted. "Until I found this region, the local tribes had no choice but to go barefoot! When I arrived, they treated me like a god! And thus, when I passed away, they built this temple to honor me!" "So where are they now?" Steve asked. "Well, it's been a few hundred years..." the old man mused. "Probably they all just gave up and moved to the city. But that's not important now! What's important is that now that you're here, you can find the great treasure that lies somewhere in this temple!" "Treasure?" Illyria asked. "Like one of the Seals?" "Nah, it can't possibly be a Seal," Scott answered. "We just found one two chapters ago. It would completely ruin the dramatic pacing of the story." "Ahh, right." Dan sweatdropped. "So what is the great treasure, anyway?" "That is a secret," the old man said, then suddenly found Kate's sword sticking through him again. "I'm already *dead,* for the love of the Goddesses! Would you stop that, you stupid boy?" "Reflex," Kate said, resheathing his sword. "And I'm supposed to be a girl." "Yes, exactly what happened to us?" Ard questioned. "All our powers got mixed up when we came in here. Can you change us back?" The old man shook his head. "That must've been a glitch in the security system. Never mind that, though. I'm sure that once you reach the great treasure, you'll all change back to what you were." "Personally, I wouldn't mind staying like this for a while," Steve murmured to Scott, who nodded. "Okay, then, how do we reach this great treasure?" Dan prompted. "Well, you'll have to split up into three groups and work together in order to make your way through," the old man explained. "There are switches that need to be activated in tandem, routes that need to be unblocked... things like that." "Like Kefka's Tower," Kate stated. "All you have to do is decide who goes where, and you'll be set!" the old man finished with a smile. "You seem awfully cheerful for a dead guy," Steve observed. "Are you sure you're not trying to send us to a horrible doom?" The rest of the party turned and glared at him. "Sorry, just checking." "So, who's going with who?" Illyria asked, while fixing Kate with a brilliant smile that made the bishounen rather uncomfortable. (Not that he'd ever show it, of course, and anyone who would have chosen to remind him of the old expression "turnabout is fair play" would probably have found themselves with a swordpoint to the throat.) Ardweden spoke up. "Illyria, I think you've probably got the strongest raw destructive power. If you team up with Dan, you'll come out about even." Illyria and Dan exchanged looks. "But he can't protect me!" Illyria objected at the same time Dan yelled, "But I don't want to have to mimic her!" "You don't need anyone to protect you, Illyria," Scott explained. "Believe me, you're quite powerful." Illyria looked pleadingly at Kate. "You'll be fine," the bishounen grudgingly stated. "I trust you." "Okay!" The magical girl perked up. "Let's go, Dan!" She grabbed the unfortunate sidekick's arm and took off down the leftmost passage. "Ard, you want to come with me?" Steve asked. "Sure. Center passage okay?" Ardweden replied. "Yeah." Steve waved to Kate and Scott. "Good luck, guys. See you soon." "Good luck to you too," Scott answered, as Ard and Steve walked to the center passage. He looked over at Kate. "You're brooding." The bishounen gave him a flat look. "I was not." Scott grinned. "Of course you weren't. Ready?" Kate nodded, and the two entered the rightmost passage. The forgotten ghost of the old man sighed. "I just hope they have more luck than the last group of heroes that came through here." ^_^; After just a few minutes of walking, Steve and Ard came across a blocked stone doorway and two glowing switches. "I guess we just push these and the door will open, right?" Steve asked. Ard nodded. "Looks like it. On the count of three, we both push one." "Got it. One..." "Two..." "Three!" Ard and Steve each pushed a switch, and were rewarded by the sound of two walls moving, one on the right and the other on the left. Their own door, however, did not move. "Hmm..." Ard reasoned. "We must have unblocked the passages for the others. I suppose we have to wait until they find the switches to open ours, then." Steve sat down. "I hope it doesn't take too long." ^_^; "This is boring," Illyria complained to Dan as the two walked down a corridor. "There's nothing here. No monsters, no switches, no treasure..." "I dunno..." Dan mused. "Should we be worried about the fact that there seem to be all these statues of a two-headed snake set at evenly-spaced intervals in the wall niches?" "Don't be silly, Dan. I'm sure they're just there for decoration." "Whatever you say, Illyria. But, um, if something bad does happen, you'll protect me, right?" "Sure, Dan! I'll take good care of you. Nothing'll happen to you on my watch!" "That's goo-" Dan's voice was abruptly cut off as a pit opened under him and he fell through. "Dan? Dan? Oh no!" Illyria cried. "Don't worry! I'll get you out of there! Are you okay?" "Yeah... I think something broke my fall," Dan called back up. "Could you maybe toss me a torch or use some sort of light spell or something?" Illyria nodded, removed one of the wall torches, and knelt by the side of the pit. "This okay?" "Sure. Just drop it down here." "All right!" "Yeeeeowch!" Dan had forgotten the sidekick's propensity for getting himself into amusingly painful situations. "Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry! Uhh... I'm sure that's not as bad as it looks, right?" Dan didn't answer. Illyria continued to kneel by the side of the pit and watched the torchlight move around below. "Hmm..." Dan said after a few minutes. "Do you think you could get back up if you came down here? 'Cause there's something here I think you should look at." "I've probably got some sort of power that would cover it. Of course, I'd have to transform first. Don't look, okay?" Dan cursed the fact that he was stuck down in the pit. One magical girl transformation sequence later, Illyria, carrying another torch, floated down next to Dan. "So what is it?" "Take a look at this." Dan shone his torch at one of the walls. "Looks like some kind of mural." Illyria blinked. "It's... it's us!" Sure enough, the large mural on the wall depicted many scenes from the heroes' journey so far. Riding the coaster, receiving their powers, going to Delfina's temple... everything they'd done up to that point. Dan motioned to a picture in the lower right-hand corner. "Look, here we are looking at the mural. Hey, I wonder if there's a picture of the mural in the mural, with another picture of us looking at it, and so on and so on into infinity! Pretty neat, huh?" "I think I'm getting dizzy," Illyria moaned, sitting down. Her torch shone on a different part of the wall, revealing another series of pictures. "Hey, there's more down here!" Dan leaned down to get a better look, and the two studied the new mural for a few minutes. Finally, they exchanged glances. "If what's in that picture is true, then eventually, one of us is apparently going to betray the rest of the party to Xelloss," Dan said quietly. "But I can't make out who it's supposed to be." "I refuse to believe it!" Illyria yelled. "The future's not set in stone, right? We can change it." "But this *is* set in stone, and it's been right so far. And we can't tell which one of us it is, either. It could be you, or me, or anyone." "Should we tell the others?" "I'm not sure. Perhaps it's best if we kept it between the two of us for the moment." Illyria nodded. "Okay, but I don't feel entirely comfortable about it." "Well, maybe you're right, and it won't come to pass at all. We can hope." "I wonder how the others are doing?" ^_^; "How long have we been waiting here?" Steve asked. Ardweden looked at her watch. "It's only been half an hour, Steve." Steve sighed. "Anything you can think of to do in the meantime?" "We could play cards." "With what?" "These." Ard held out a few packs of Quadruple Bypass cards. "I picked these up while Kate wasn't looking. Wanna try?" "It's better than nothing, I suppose." The two shuffled the cards and drew their hands. Ard looked at Steve. Steve looked at Ard. "Do you have any idea how to play this game?" Steve finally asked. "Nope. Maybe we should play Go Fish instead." "Fine by me." ^_^; In the meantime, Kate and Scott were walking down another stone corridor. Kate ran his hand over one of the carvings of a two-headed snake that adorned the walls. He then turned to look at Scott. "This is amusing you to no end, isn't it?" "What is?" Scott asked. Kate motioned to himself. "This." Scott shook his head. "Nah. Now maybe you'll understand how I've been feeling." "Sorry. I have not exactly been very nice about that, have I?" "It's okay. What are friends for, if not to tease each other mercilessly? And you're breaking your archetype." "Ahh. You would prefer me to start brooding again?" "No. You just seem to be doing a pretty good job fighting it." "Well, even if I look like a guy-" "Actually, you don't." Kate glared at him. "Even if I am a guy, I am still me." "And don't forget that." They walked along in silence for a few more minutes. "I suppose I could get used to this," Kate finally remarked. "You don't want to change back?" Scott asked, surprised. "Well, you and Illyria and Steve seem happy. I do not think Ardweden minds, either. And Dan would get used to it after a while." "And what about you?" "I would certainly prefer to be female again, but I could learn to live with this." "You make it sound like you don't think that we'd change back." "It is possible." Scott fixed him with a strange look. "What happened to your usual optimism?" Kate almost smiled. "Perhaps this archetype is affecting me more than I realized. But... I have been thinking about something lately. I am not entirely sure that I want to go back home." Scott stopped. "You're kidding, right?" Kate shook his head. "No, actually. I am enjoying it here. It is like a dream come true. Every day is a new adventure." "Well, *I* want to get back home. Besides... what good would it be for you if we all left and you stayed here?" Kate sighed. "You are right, of course. Still... it is fun for the time being." "In a way, it is. Though I certainly would never have chosen to make myself a magical girl." Kate smiled mysteriously. "What?" Scott asked. "Oh, nothing." Eventually they came to another blocked doorway and a switch. Scott pressed it, but the doorway didn't open. "Must be for one of the others," he remarked. Kate leaned idly against one of the walls. Scott stared at him. "Do you realize that you've got a thought bubble with an exclamation point in it hanging over your head?" he asked. Kate looked up. Sure enough, there it was. He blinked, then ignored it and went back to leaning against the wall. "Maybe there's something behind you?" Scott wondered. Kate shrugged, then turned and looked at the wall. One of the carvings was sticking out a bit farther than the others. He pressed it. A small panel slid open. He reached in and pulled out a long dagger. *Got Bishounen Knife!* Kate idly sheathed the dagger on his belt and resumed leaning on the wall and waiting. ^_^; "Got any Ranma characters?" Ard shook her head. "Nope. Go fish." Steve sighed. "What's taking them so long?" ^_^; After a few missteps, Illyria had managed to get herself and Dan out of the pit. They continued walking down the corridor. Dan squinted and peered into the darkness ahead. "It looks like a dead end," he remarked. Suddenly, the block of stone at the end of the hallway moved up and out of the way. "One of the others must have unblocked it!" Illyria said happily. "Come on! I'll bet we're almost there!" Predictably enough, right in front of the formerly blocked doorway was another switch. Illyria pushed it and was rewarded with the sound of stone moving somewhere to her left. "Do you think we're near the end?" Dan asked as he caught up with her. "Maybe. It's really hard to tell." Illyria shrugged. "Let's keep going!" "Wait, shouldn't we prepare for a final battle or something?" Dan started to ask, but Illyria had already gone through the doorway. Sighing, he followed her, and nearly bumped into her on the other side of the doorway. Illyria looked around, eyes wide and sparkly. "Wow! This is *pretty!*" she exclaimed. They were standing on a balcony overlooking what appeared to be a waterfall flowing from an upper level of the temple. Sunlight from an open part in the roof shone through, causing rainbows to appear at various angles. "Guess the storm's over," Dan observed. "Although... why isn't anything wet here?" Illyria didn't seem to notice. "Oh, look, there's Scott and Kate!" She pointed to the other end of the balcony. "Hiii, guys!" She waved. The four met up in the middle of the balcony. "Heya. Did you have any trouble getting here?" Scott asked. "Nope," Dan answered. "Did you?" "Nah. I'm wondering if we're missing something, though," Scott answered. "Well, Steve and Ard aren't here yet," Dan observed. A sudden rumbling emanated from the waterfall below them. "I believe that was probably the wrong thing to wonder," Kate remarked as the rumbling grew louder. "What's going on?" Illyria cried, clinging to Kate's arm. Kate ignored her. A giant two-headed snake rose from the depths below and hissed at the party. "Snakes," Scott said calmly. "Why did it have to be snakes?" "Eww! I *hate* snakes!" Illyria yelled. She looked at Kate. "You'll go kill it for me, won't you?" "...Whatever," Kate answered, unsheathing his sword. Scott took up a ready stance. Dan looked over at him. "Would you mind if I copied off you?" he asked. "Sure," Scott replied. Dan nodded, and the kanji for "martial artist" appeared on his bandana. "Let's go!" he yelled. He leapt at the leftmost head with a flying kick. The snake snapped its fangs at him, but he was able to land right below them and give it a swift kick in the neck. Unfortunately, he wasn't expecting that to happen, and landed in a crumpled heap on the ground afterwards. "Oww..." Meanwhile, Kate had slipped in underneath the right head and let loose with a fast flurry of strikes from his sword. The snake hissed in pain, then struck back, causing Kate to first parry hastily and then retreat. Scott glowed violet briefly as he gathered his chi. "Kagekagamiken!" he yelled as he released a chi blast at the snake. It ducked. "That wasn't supposed to happen," he remarked. Illyria sighed as the efforts of her "protectors" failed. "Am I going to have to do *everything* around here myself?" she asked. "Probably a good idea," Dan muttered as he limped back to where she was standing. "Go to it." Illyria powerposed. "In the name of all that is good and true and pretty and shiny and nifty, I will vanquish you! Queen Glowing Prince Prince Wind Glowing Tsunami Priestess Smashing Heroic Execution!" Thousands of ribbon-like, multicolored beams of light shot out from Illyria's outstretched hands and converged upon the snake. It vanished in a brilliant explosion. "Wai! We blew it up!" Illyria jumped up and down happily. "Indeed," Kate remarked. "Hmm... were those panels over there glowing before?" He pointed to four of the floor tiles that were suddenly shining with a pale pink light. "They're probably the next set of switches," Scott stated. "On the count of three, we'll step on them together. One..." "Two..." Dan continued. "Three!" Illyria eagerly leapt onto her switch, while the others calmly stepped on theirs. A back portion of the wall slid aside, revealing Steve and Ardweden in the middle of their card game. Steve blinked at the sudden increase in light. "Hey! It's about time!" Ard got up and walked over to the others. "So, what'd we miss?" "Well, we just finished off what appears to be the resident boss," Dan explained. "You fought a boss?!" Steve cried angrily as he approached them. "Not much of one, really," Dan continued. "It only took a couple of minutes." "And I just sat here on the other side of this wall?" Steve asked. "Even though I have powers and you don't now?" "Well, yes," Dan finished. "Pardon me while I go throw myself off this balcony." Steve sighed dramatically. Ard fwapped him on the arm. "Oh, stop that." "Look," Kate observed. "More switches." Six platforms had risen out of the floor. Each was a different color that corresponded to the aura of one of the heroes. "Do you think these are the ones that'll change us back?" Illyria asked. "Probably," Scott said resignedly. "Well, it was nice while it lasted..." Kate looked at Scott and Illyria and smiled to himself. "Well," he said quietly enough that no one else could hear, "I suppose that the next time I see the two of you like that, we'll all be back home." He walked onto the blue platform. "Ready?" Dan asked, stepping onto the red platform. "I had powers..." Steve brokenly moaned. "I had powers, and I never got the chance to use them." Still, he climbed onto the green platform. "Come on, guys," Ardweden reasoned. "It was probably bound to happen sooner or later." She stepped onto the orange platform. "I'm sure it was." Scott walked onto the violet platform. "Yeah..." Illyria stepped onto the yellow platform. The six heroes began to glow their respective auras. A bolt of light shot out from each of them, forming a rainbow-colored bridge from the balcony to the waterfall. The waterfall stopped flowing, revealing a doorway behind it, now connected by the bridge of light. The glowing stopped. Scott looked at herself and sighed. "Blast." Steve just groaned as he felt the bandana on his head once more. "I'm the designated comic relief again. Wai." Illyria didn't say anything at all, but merely checked his reflection in his sword just to make sure that his hair looked all right. Kate surveyed the bridge and grinned. "Woooow!" she exclaimed. "It's just like that bridge in the Ocarina of Time! Come on, guys!" She started to race across. The others exchanged glances, shrugged, and followed the overexcited once-again ninja girl. Inside the chamber behind the waterfall, a large object rested on a pedestal. Unexpectedly, though, there was a person standing in front of it. Said person turned around and greeted them. "Moo." "Calc?!" the entire group exclaimed. "How on earth did you get in here?" Ardweden asked. Calculus shrugged. "I just walked through." "But we had to go through all those switches and passageways and fight that snake and everything!" Scott protested. "It must be like the Phoenix Cave in FF6!" Kate realized. "You know, how Locke was able to get through all the traps and switches even though the rest of the party had to do it in two groups!" "Never mind that," Dan said. "What are you doing here?" "I came looking for that," Calculus explained, pointing to the object on the pedestal. "The Tape Safe of the Goddesses." The entire party (save Illyria) facefaulted. "A tape safe," Steve said. "We went through *all* that for a tape safe?!" "Well, maybe it's one of the Seals," Ard replied. "After all, a tape safe can seal things in airtight. Mind if we take a look at it, Calc?" "Sure, go right ahead," Calculus answered, stepping aside. Dan, Ardweden, and Scott approached the tape safe. (After all, Steve and Kate had already received their powerups, and Illyria's was with the Goddess of Destruction, baby.) "You feeling anything from it?" Dan asked. "Not a thing," Ard said. Scott shook her head. "Me neither. I guess it's just an ordinary tape safe." Steve started to leave the room. "Where are you going?" Kate asked. "That balcony is starting to look very tempting," he answered. ^_^; A short while later, the party of seven left the temple. "Finally!" Damien yelled as he flapped over to them. "What took you so long? I've been freezing my tail off out here since *somebody* decided it would be a good idea to take all my feathers!" "It's a long and complicated story," Steve said. "I guess this is where we part ways," Calculus remarked. "Good luck, guys. Unmoo." With that, he vanished into the forest. "Onward to the Goddess Stephica!" Kate cried, striking one of her trademark Unnecessary Dramatic Poses. The rest of the party sweatdropped. This was going to be a *long* quest. ^_^; AUTHOR'S NOTES: I believe it's safe to say that my writer's block is gone. ^_^; But I had a great deal of fun writing this chapter. Perhaps too much fun? Nah, no such thing. ^_~ I didn't expect it to get so serious in tone towards the middle there, but I think that I might just like those scenes best of all. ^_^ Thanks go to Scott for ideas and prereading and to Ardweden for more prereading. Thanks also go to Yonjuuni and RDMgryfon for remembering the URL to the Anime Atack Generator. (http://www.seventhsanctum.com/gens/animeattack.html if you're curious.) And finally, thanks go to Yasunori Mitsuda for composing the soundtrack to Chrono Cross, which the vast majority of this chapter was written to. Oh, and can you spot the not-so-hidden FF9 references? ^_~