//------------------------------// // Adventure: And Not a Drop to Drink // Story: My Own Wings // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// With Spellstone in hand, Dragon Rock liberated, and General Scales 'mutant dinosaur' plan destroyed, the group made their way back to Thorntail Hollow, and from there to the Ocean Force Point Temple. "So this is gonna fix the planet?" Tricky asked eagerly as they made their way there. "Not yet," Sunset admitted ruefully. "It'll stop it from damaging itself further...but the actual repairs won't be possible until all six Krazoa Spirits have been gathered and infused into the Krazoa Temple. Once that's happened, they'll be able to call the pieces of the planet back together, making it whole again." "What do you mean, 'prevent further damage'?" Fox asked curiously. "It's part of what I translated from the inscriptions," Sunset explained readily as she used her fire on the sand they were crossing to craft several glass blades. "The pieces of the planet where the Spellstones' energies can be neutralized? They're designed to break away like that if the magic wellspring within the planet stops being contained. They're mana vents, giving the energy somewhere to escape from when this happens. The problem is the mana flowing out is exactly the size of the vents, and if left flowing too long might start wearing away at the edges, or punch a new hole somewhere as the flow peaks. It's a good thing we arrived when we did, since even one Spellstone in place prevents that second one." "Talk about good timing," Fox murmured as they reached the Temple. He then staggered slightly, putting his hand to his head. "Why...why do I feel..." Sunset braced him as she herself staggered. "It's only water energy now," she explained. "It's suppressing the fire aspect of your lightning, and you're no longer being fed air energy to counter that. Neither of us is going to be able to use magic this trip." "R-right," Fox agreed as he straightened. "I expected that. I just...didn't expect it to feel so..." "Yeah," Sunset agreed. "I know what you mean." Once they were both steady, she followed him up the ladders to the Temple entrance. With his magic reduced, Fox wasn't willing to risk trying to absorb the energies of the electric trap, so Sunset held down the switch to activate the wall panel that gave the safe panels. After that, they fought their way through the Sharpclaws that had somehow invaded the Temple, Fox relying on the magic of the staff while Sunset used the glass blades she'd prepared earlier, aiming for vital points when she could. Tricky also assisted where he could with his flame breath, which proved quite effective as a damaging distraction. The warp pad took them to the same area as before, but it was now flooded with water, forcing them to take different paths through the same rooms to get to where they needed to go. Even swimming proved dangerous, as water dwelling creatures would swim up to attack them while they couldn't defend themselves, and proved adept at hiding from the Staff's fireballs while they were on the platforms. Eventually, after throwing several switches to open the right doors and get the water level to the right height, they made their way to a chamber with four Krazoa statues around a raised platform in the center, each statue with a fireball switch beneath it and a colored square below that. When last in this chamber, Fox had needed to activate the switches to dump water from the statues onto torches on the central platform as it rotated...but the colored squares hadn't been there before. When he activated the chamber, their meaning became clear as the four torches lit up different colors matching the colored squares beneath the statues. Only water from the right statue would extinguish the flames as it passed under it, and each time a torch was extinguished the platform rotated faster. Thankfully, it didn't take long before all four torches were extinguished, and the path forward opened. After another puzzle involving pushing a fireball block around into the right receptacle, the path opened to the warp pad sending them to the Heart Chamber. Once there, Fox paused as he saw Sunset not approaching the Choke eagerly as she had before. "Sunset?" he asked worriedly. "I...I know what it says already," she admitted softly. "I...I don't really want to think about it." "What do you mean?" Tricky asked in confusion. "I thought you were really eager to learn everything about why the Krazoa built Dinosaur Planet! What could you have learned here that-" "It was made to destroy me!" Sunset snapped out finally. "That's why I don't want to think about it!" Fox and Tricky both stared at her in shock. "What do you mean?" Fox asked worriedly, kneeling beside her. Sunset lowered her head. "All the prophecies about 'The Last Light of the Dying Sun'...they're warnings about me. Something's going to happen in the future...and if it goes wrong, I'll end up becoming the worst monster the Lylat System has ever seen. A...'Fallen Angel' as it's described here. And...the Krazoa feared that so much they built Dinosaur Planet as a hidden magical super weapon specifically to use against me if that happens." Fox stared at her, struggling to rationalize what she was saying. He opened his mouth, trying to find something to say to her to make her feel better...only for Tricky to beat him to it. "Then we just need to make sure nothing goes wrong!" the young prince insisted eagerly. "Then you'll become something great, right?" Sunset glanced at the markings worriedly. "I...guess? It mentions me fighting something if it goes right..." "Then we just need to make sure it goes right!" Tricky insisted. "It's gotta say something about that, right?" Sunset blinked thoughtfully. "Well, it does say it'll happen 'if the Dying Sun rises alone'..." she allowed. "Then we just need to make sure you aren't alone when it happens," Fox deduced firmly. "Once Shabunga finishes the ACSU suit, we'll enroll you in the academy and you can make lots of friends." Sunset managed a smile at that. "That...that sounds nice..." "Now no more fears or worries about the future," Fox insisted. "Yes, it will happen...and we'll deal with it when it does. I know you'll do me proud." With that said, Fox placed the final Spellstone into the Choke. As they watched, an image of the planet appeared, the chunks floating back into their spots...only to float away again. As this happened, more markings appeared upon the Choke. Sunset looked close to read them. Guard the heart of the Dying Sun, for broken she will Fall. Open the doors, and many will Rise, for Power shared is Power controlled. Sunset managed a smile as the group was warped back out of the Heart Chamber. It seemed things would work out, after all.