Wild ARMs: Off on a Tangent
By: Chibi-chan
Part 25: “Pandemonium”
*
“So
you’re saying that thing can fly.”
“Pretty
much, yeah.”
“You’re
insane, aren’t you?”
“No more
than you.”
“… point.”
*
James could not stop pacing in the front room. “What’s taking him so long? He should be back by now…”
Elmina sat on the couch, watching him pace. “Relax, James, relax! He probably just got sidetracked by something or other. He’ll be back, just have a little faith in him,” she told him.
James gave her a look. “We are talking about the same person here, right? The same guy who nearly gets himself killed on a disturbingly regular basis?”
Elmina fell silent for a bit. “Point taken,” she said. She then got up and started pacing with James.
Something roared overhead. Neither of them knew what it was, but somehow they already knew it had something to do with Cecil…
*
After they went outside and saw something big and orange zoom past in the skies above, the roaring stopped. Not too terribly long afterwards, they saw the approaching forms of Cecil, an annoyed Nicholi, and the source of Nicholi’s annoyance, Allison. “I told you I’d be back!” Cecil called to James and Elmina.
“What kept ya, princey? James here was worried ‘bout ya!” Elmina called back.
Cecil’s reply was, “It’s a long story…”
*
A short time later, Cecil was giving Elmina and James an account of what happened in Adlehyde. Allison was… somewhere, while Nicholi was looking for something in the basement. “What? Dead?!” James exclaimed after Cecil told him the news he heard when he got to Adlehyde. “How terrible…”
Cecil himself shrugged. “Not really; I got to say what I had to say without him without interruption,” he said. “Then there was a run-in with the new ruler on the block…” Seeing the expression on James’s face, he quickly tried to downplay it. “There weren’t any real problems or anything…” he said, adding in his mind, The knights were all wusses and I beat them easily.
Any further conversation was cut off by Nicholi dropping a large book on a table. All eyes were suddenly on him. “Well, now that I have all your attention, I suggest we go over what we know so far and form a plan of attack.” He opened the book and went to a certain page. “Now, did you say Lucadia mentioned something about a fortress surrounded by mountains, Cecil?”
The prince nodded, but said, “She didn’t give us any sort of general area to look for it, though.”
Nicholi grinned. “Well, that won’t be necessary for us to find it. Look at this,” he said, pointing to something in the book.
“Pandemonium. A fortress in the southwest surrounded by mountains. You looked this up long before and was just saving it until the right time to show it to us, right?” Elmina said, looking down at the page.
Nicholi shrugged. “Well, it wouldn’t have done you any good unless we had a flying machine at our disposal, right?”
Elmina blinked. “And we do now?”
At that
moment, Allison barged right in, grease stains here and there, holding an oily
rag. “I fixed that annoying clanging
sound, Nicky!” she proudly announced, “The Gull Wing is ready to go any time!” She then looked at Cecil and in a stern voice
said, “And no, you can not rename it ‘John’, ‘Paul’, ‘George’, ‘Lennon’,
‘McCartney’, ‘
“’Lucy’, then? Or ‘Maxwell’, as in the one with a silver hammer?” Cecil asked with a smirk.
Allison glared at the prince. “Only if you want to be shot, young man.”
“Anyway,” Elmina interrupted, seeing a subject change was the best course of action there, “Now that we have an idea of where to go, what should we do? Try to surprise them, or…?”
*
Plotting
was done, planning was done, and once the process was started, Cecil started to
hum the “
Anyway, no amount of planning would change the fact that the next day would hold even more “fun” events, as Cecil, Elmina, and James would find out…
*
Elsewhere…
Lord Harken kept looking over his shoulder every ten seconds. He still had a bad feeling about the future since he had been sent to guard the Darkness Tear that he just couldn’t shake.
He looked over his shoulder again, but didn’t get a chance to turn his head back to see what lay ahead…
*
“OK, how
do you get this thing started?”
“Try pushing
the button labeled ‘Start’, Jamie.”
“… I knew that…”
*
Pandemonium. Largest of the Metal Demon’s bases on that stayed exclusively on the ground. On an island and surrounded by mountains, which are defenses in itself, the place was, strategically speaking, both a blessing and a curse. The good side was that its position made it nigh invulnerable. On the other hand, if not for the Gate Generator, its isolation could result in supply lines being cut. Plus, it was susceptible to air attack.
Fortunately for those in Pandemonium, the Gull Wing was not equipped with attack capabilities (yet, knowing Allison…). Unfortunately for most of them, there was enough room to in front of the fortress to land it. And surprise, surprise, the doors were open…
*
Elmina, James, and Cecil walked down a hallway in the fortress. Cecil had been muttering something about “bad vibes” and it feeling cold in there since they set foot inside and his companions, especially Elmina, while not exactly picking up said “vibes”, trusted his intuition enough to be doubly on guard.
All guard was raised when they finally saw Emma, hovering calmly and sipping a cappuccino in the hallway. “It’s about time. I was afraid you’d never get here,” Emma told them.
Elmina, with sword already drawn, had to ask, “’Afraid we’d never get here’? How did you know we were even coming here?!”
“Both parts of Lucied are connected, you know. What one hears or thinks, the other one hears or thinks,” Emma said casually. She looked directly at James and added, “Lucied still haunts you, boy, whether you like it or not.”
James just stood there, stunned. Cecil thought to himself, I thought as much. It was always weak, but I knew I felt something following me… But… why me instead of Jamie?
“Well, lot of good it’ll do you now; you just gonna stand there or are you going to fight?!” Elmina growled.
Emma still floated peacefully before her. “Tough choice… but I choose neither,” the demoness said.
Lord Harken appeared between Emma and Elmina. Something strange then happened to him. His hair got shorter and his clothes changed to those he wore in his former existence as a human. Elmina let out a gasp as she saw what she had already suspected; Harken was Garrett. Harken… no, Garrett sank to the floor and looked very bewildered indeed. “El… Elmina?” he asked.
Elmina lowered her sword and took a step forward. “Garrett? Is that really you?” she asked cautiously.
“Let me put it this way: I still have your ribbon,” Garrett said.
“It… it is you… Garrett, I…” Elmina started, moving closer to him.
Before she could reach him, some sort of bubble-like thing encircled him. “What…? What’s this?!” Elmina exclaimed before getting trapped in a bubble herself.
“Well, f-“ Cecil got out before he and James were in bubbles too.
Emma laughed. “Well, that was easy. We should have done that a long time ago,” she said. However, someone else had something to say about her plan.
“Bubbles? BUBBLES? You’re frikkin’ Emma, the Princess of frikkin’ Darkness! What’s evil about bubbles?” Hanpan commented, trying hard not to laugh at the silliness of the bubbles.
“Shut up before I hurt you, mouse boy,” she told him.
“Is that a promise or a threat?” the mouse boy asked, “Either way, it doesn’t bother me.”
“… and they call me twisted,” Emma muttered.
*
At the same time, down in the dungeons…
“What is it that you want of me anyway?” Laine asked, arms crossed, of the “grown-up” Calamity. “You seemed to have a reason; what is it?”
Calamity blinked. “You don’t know?”
“If I knew, why would I ask?” Laine said.
“Why, huh…” Calamity muttered. “Let me say this first; you impressed me. No one has impressed me for ages. Fighting you…It made me feel alive. Very, very mortal, but alive nonetheless.
“Getting to the point, I’m… I’m lonely. I want someone I respect to keep me company. Simply put…” Calamity said, reaching out and touching Laine’s arm, “I want you to stay here, with me.”
It was Laine’s turn to blink in confusion. “Are you coming on to me?” she asked.
“Depends; will answering right make you stay here of your own accord?” Calamity asked in return.
Laine moved closer to look her straight in the eye and, with a stern look, the girl flatly told her, “No, it wouldn’t.”
“Pity,” Calamity murmured. She reached through the bars again and grabbed Laine by the vest and she moved her head closer to the girl’s. “Why must you do things the hard way? Why?”
Before anything else could happen or be said, a grumbling Hanpan pushed a bubble containing Cecil into the dungeon and past Calamity. “It’s Emma’s work; why do I have to be involved…?” he grumbled. Remembering Laine was in a cell in that particular section, he said, “He’s not dead or hurt or anything… yet, at least. If you got any escape plans, I suggest you go through with them soon.”
Laine, looking starry-eyed at the mouse boy the best she could, being blocked by Calamity and all, told him, “Thank you… Hanpan…” If little pink hearts could be brought into existence with a mere tone of voice, there’d be hundreds of them floating about.
Calamity, obviously, was not pleased by this. Not pleased by this at all.
*
A little later, in another section of the dungeon…
Elmina was regaining her bearings in her cell. Zed recovered faster and had been watching her worriedly. “Elmina? Elmina, are you all right?” the little mouse asked when he saw her start to move.
“Ugh… yeah, I think so, mousie,” Elmina said. She looked around and asked Zed, “How’d we get in here? Where’re the others?”
“Dunno, and taken somewhere else, I’d guess,” Zed answered. “So, how’re we going to get out of here? If it involves throwing me again, I’ll have to refuse to help…”
“Dunno,” the warrior woman replied. She started taking a closer look at everything in the cell and noticed a hole in the wall just big enough for Zed to go through. “Zed? How’re you at mazes…?”
*
Twisting, turning, winding, cramped, and dark, the Wind Mouse-sized tunnels Zed was running through was making him a wee bit claustrophobic. Finally emerging into the light, he ran past some not-quite empty cells containing former prisoners. He didn’t pay them attention, which was good, because the tunnels were all the creepiness he needed that day.
He found himself in a room with a switch out of his reach. “20 gella says that’s a switch that’ll open all the doors,” Zed muttered to himself. “And I can’t reach it. Lovely.”
The smell of cigarette smoke permeated the air. A familiar voice asked the mouse, “Need any help there?”
“Hanpan!” Zed squeaked. “You have some nerve showing up to help, after what you did at the Gate Generator!”
“I’m sorry about that, but…” Hanpan slowly said, “… ever been in a position you know is no good for you, that you want to leave, have to leave, but something inside you won’t let you go? That is why I did what I did.” He walked past Zed to the out of (Wind Mouse, at least) reach switch and put a hand on it. “A wise woman said ‘Love and pain become one and the same in the eyes of a wounded child,’ to which I add, ‘Are we all not someone’s children?’”
Hanpan threw the switch. “There, the cells are unlocked. Tell Elmina to hurry to the top floor; they’re about to use the Darkness Tear and Harken’s going to be at ground zero whether he likes it or not.”
Zed left without saying a word. Hanpan stood in silence for a moment, then thought aloud, “I hope he believes me; I’ve grown rather fond of the world…”
*
“Hooyah! The door’s unlocked! Let’s go, Zed!”
*
“The door’s unlocked? … it’s unlocked. I should get out and go look for the others then…”
*
Laine heard a cell door open and the footsteps of someone heading her way. It was coming from the wrong direction for it to be Calamity, who had went out the other way. Instead, another yellow-haired person soon stood in front of her cell. This person leaned on the door and said, “Long time, no see, Laine. They haven’t been hurting you, have they?”
“Cecil!” Laine exclaimed. “No, no, I’m not hurt. Oddly enough, Calamity wouldn’t have any of that happening to me.”
“Good, good…” Cecil said. “Well, the doors’re open for some reason, so shall we be off? This place cramps my style…”
*
At some point later, the three sections of the dungeon connected, thus reuniting our “heroes”. Laine’s newfound freedom relieved everyone (Well, mostly. James still thought in the back of the head about all those times she’s smacked him around…).
“OK, we got Laine; can we leave now? It’s still so cold…” Cecil asked.
“Not if what Hanpan told Zed is true; the world could be on the line if that… thing… is used!” Elmina told him.
“All right, but just don’t expect me to go in the room with it; it’s not like I was that much help last time I got near it anyway,” Cecil grumbled.
Laine slowly raised her hand. “Er, I don’t mean to interrupt, but what are you two talking about?”
“Tell ya on the way there. Right now, we gotta hustle!” Elmina declared.
*
A couple of non-important boss fights later…
“There,” Cecil said, visibly shaking as he pointed at the door in front of him. “It’s behind that door, I know it.” He lowered his arm and said, “I’m sorry, but this is as far as I can go. Any further and I don’t know if I’ll even be able to stand up.”
He felt a hand on his shoulder and heard James’s voice say softly, “It’s all right; you’ve at least proven he was at least partly right. If you want me to stay here with you…”
Oddly enough, Cecil’s response was, “Yeah, I think I’d like that.” He shook his head and said, “I don’t want to be alone, not here with that horrible thing so close. It’s terrible, Jamie, it’s terrible… I don’t think I’ve ever felt so cold in my life…”
James looked to Elmina and Laine. “Think you can handle this by yourselves?”
Their answer, obviously, was, “Of course!”
*
Inside the next room, Elmina found something terribly distressing. It looked like Harken, Garrett, whoever he was, was inside the Darkness Tear. “What… what is this?!” Elmina gasped.
“This, young lady, is the end of Filgaia!” Emma’s voice called from somewhere. With the Darkness Tear complete, all will perish!”
“How? It just looks like a big purple crystal with some guy in it to me,” Laine asked, confused.
“That ‘big purple crystal with some guy in it’ is the antithesis of the Tear Drop!” Emma said, getting only blank stares in return. She sighed and said, “You know, ‘antithesis’.” Still stares. “Opposite, you idiots, polar opposite.” That time they understood. “We’re going to use this Darkness Tear and the Naga Pyramids to send anti-life energy throughout Filgaia! The world shall lie in ruin! And then… THEN all the coffee beans in the world will be mine! ALL MINE!”
Elmina and Laine were utterly dumbfounded by the sheer stupidity of Emma’s last statement. “She… er… sure likes her coffee, doesn’t she?” Laine said, bewildered.
“I guess…” Elmina replied. “But I still don’t see why he has to be in the crystal…”
“A certain… organic component is needed to make it work, but that is more than you need to know,” Emma said. “Oh well, don’t say this has been fun, since it hasn’t, but I must attend to business. Ta ta, Filgaia!”
She fired up the machines, and then there was chaos…
*
“What the…?! Quick! Get to the shelter; there’s a big twister headed this way! … and another, and another…!”
*
“Oh, hell… TIDALWAVE!”
*
“MONKEYS! Flying MONKEYS!”
*
Elmina drew her sword and with a feral cry she attacked the Darkness Tear. A mysterious force from the crystal knocked her back, but that didn’t stop her from attacking again… and again… and again…
Finally, the crystal could take no more. It shattered and released Harken from inside it. He reverted to Garrett and muttered, “Boy, that really sucked.”
*
In another reality, Lady Harken teleported away and there was a decisive battle at Arctica Castle with resulted in her death and the Guardian of Courage returning to the world. However, different people put in the same position will react differently. How will this reality’s Harken react? That is the question…
*
End Chapter 25
Chibi’s notes:
I had Hanpan quote a Pat Benatar song. I am such a geek. And no, I don’t really know how Lord Harken will react. *Pause* … OK, I know, sorta. But I can’t say yet, so nyah.
Rudy: No one’s asking you to tell, you know.
*Mutters* … won’t be so smug when he finds out my plans for “Legacy of Hope”…