I don't yet know what to call this.
By SoulSpeaker Ngetal (mirutanku@pokebonanza.zzn.com)


           A single flap from the Dragyn's wings and it soared over the treetops of Zue, carrying its Ryder with it. At its wingtip flew a Phoenix, also bearing a Ryder, though its Ryder was different, a Pheffa, it was, a Cat.
           The fire beings flew on over the sloping walls of a canyon, then in perfect synchronization, brought in their wings and plummeted into a dive, sweeping along the length of the canyon.
           The DragynRyder, a Pyromancer, pulled the Dragyn out of the dive and into a cave among the canyon's many crags and blemishes.
           A Niiad and her panthryx greeted her harshly.
           "Take your time, Dharfi mmm?" she retorted.
           "Get off her back, Sharifa," an Electromancer by the name of Raina countered for Dharfi the Pyromancer.
           "Could everyone please call back his or her creatures?" a kindly-faced SoulSpeaker known as Arida asked.
           Reluctantly, Dharfi called back her Pheffa Huathe, her Dragyn FyrThroat and her Phoenix SpitFyr into her gem, a clear, shining ruby. Sharifa called back her Panthryx, Tifa and Raina called back her Thunderbyrd Chi-chi.
           "I now call this meeting of the Resistance to order!" an organized Ecomancer named Naco bellowed so all could hear. "This session, we will be handing out weapons and armour. Please form an orderly queue, your weapons and armour have been pre-selected,"
           Dharfi was given a FirePike and the RedArmour.
           "Isn't it true that the RedArmour greatly decreases one's hit points?" she asked dartingly.
           "It increases their strength," the distributor, Kirtes the Monk said hopefully. Dharfi sighed and accepted it rather defeated, also taking two Pyro Rings and a Fire Ring.
           She walked over to where her friends were standing, holding her FirePike in one hand and cramming the RedArmour into her pack.
           "Check out my gear," boasted Sharifa, slipping on her new WaterArmour and sling her SeaSpear over her back, then held out a WaterPin, a very strong Invincibility spell.
           "Hooray," said Raina sarcastically. She'd only been given some Electric and Zap Rings.
           Luna Gort the Clairvoyant sauntered over to join them. She was the only one other than Dharfi, Sharifa and Raina who'd joined the Resistance and the Rebellion. Her allocated weapon was the SoulWand. She'd also been given a BonePin, a very potent teleport spell.
           "We'd better leave for Grecliff," she commented smoothly. "The Rebellion is meeting soon,"
           Everyone agreed with her, luckily for them, the Resistance wasn't as organized as the Rebellion, and people were allowed to come and go as they pleased.
           At the cave's entrance, Sharifa flew away on Tifa, Dharfi on FyrThroat, Raina on Chi-chi and Luna teleported away.
           "That was nice of her," fumed Chi-chi. "Now I have to fly from here in Africa all of the way to Colorado," and she flapped off into the overhanging clouds, closely followed by the others.
           After a long and tiring journey, Sharifa suddenly halted over the town of Nirlake, or at least, the former town.
           "Wassup?" asked Dharfi, acting a bit thick considering that it was rather obvious what had happened.
           Raina pulled up beside them, staring at the smouldering remains of where Nirlake had formally stood.
           "Alright, Dharfi? Look for survivors. Raina? Go get some help from Freedom and I'll take myself a look at the Great Lakes Cavern," Sharifa organized. So off sped Raina and herself.
           FyrThroat swooped into the remains of a field.
           "Well, there sure ain't any cows left, that's for sure," he joked.
           Dharfi ignored his comment and scrambled off his back, then called on Huathe, SpitFyr and her Cerberus, FyrSpin for help. After an age, FyrSpin barked for her attention. He'd found a survivor…

           Sharifa would have traveled to Grecliff herself had she the time, but, she did not, so she sent a passing Sparrow-Hawk off as a messenger and rode onwards to the Great Lakes Cavern. Either the culprit would be hiding out there, or, if there was no culprit and the Fyr really was an accident, the Lake-God would at least have some information on the whereabouts of the citizens of Nirlake. Sharifa and Tifa landed outside the entrance and carefully crept in…

           Once in Freedom, Raina sprinted over to Kidsgart, hoping to find her old buddy Perel there. Unfortunately, he wasn't. She asked his little friend of his whereabouts, and was told he'd gone to look for Anita, who'd gone to help the eldest friend of Perel's, Will, with his new flying-machine invention. Will had gone to the Great Lakes to test it out. That was all Raina had to know. She thanked the children of Kidsgart and flew off on Chi-chi to get Dharfi and go help Will and Anita.

           "FyrSpin!" commanded Dharfi. "Dig around his body carefully so we can get him out of this junk. Huathe? You help. FyrThroat? SpitFyr? Go see if there are any more survivors, we must find all of them!"
           They heeded her commands and slowly but surely the survivor was pulled free of the rubble. He slowly opened his eyes.
           "Elle?…" he whispered
           "Don't know her, you must still be delirious. I don't know how you survived that fire either. You don't look like you're from around here. What are you doing here? And who are you?"
           "I could ask the same thing," he mumbled, pulling himself to his feet with his weapon, a SilverPike. "I'm Ark, and I'm looking for someone called Will. He did live here…"
           "Well, I'm Dharfi of the clan of Fearn, pleased to meet 'ya," Dharfi greeted warmly, calling back Huathe and FyrSpin. FyrThroat and SpitFyr returned, telling of all leaving to Freedom for some unknown reason, then they disappeared into her gem, without her even calling them back.
           "Strange…" she muttered.
           Raina came hurtling through the air to crash into a pile of ash. Ark and Dharfi couldn't contain their laughter.
           "Chi-chi returned herself," she explained, amazed, "that is, in midair. The Great Lakes Cavern is where we head now. Will and Anita, Perel's friends, are there,"
           "Oh good," said Dharfi, "now I can finally go and see who you're talking about."
           "Okay what is the plan for what we're doing exactly?" queried Raina.
           "Well, we can't go to the Great Lakes Cavern," stated Ark, "there's some moron called Servus blocking the way. We can't cross the Colorado River, either. The bridge isn't built yet. They don't have good enough lumber y'see," Raina stared at him for a moment, then pulled Dharfi off to the side for a moment. Ark, as thick as always, didn't notice that this was in the least bit strange, thankfully.
           "Do you know who you were just talking to?!" she whispered urgently. "That, is the legendary hero who is said to appear when the world is unbalanced,"
           "Bull. How do you know?" answered Dharfi, unbelieving.
           "Well, take a look at what he's holding,"
           Dharfi looked at him. Ark was wearing a suit of RingMail with his SilverPike hanging over his shoulder. Under his arm was tucked a strange blue box.
           "Wow," she sniggered, "a box,"
           As she spoke, the box disappeared and was replaced by a thing!
           "Who's they?" it asked Ark in a casual tone of voice.
           "Ask them," he answered absently, scouring the sky for birds.
           "Who's you?" the thing asked, now directed at Dharfi and Raina.
           "I'm Ruis Raina and this is Dharfi Fearn," Raina introduced politely, lest the creature go psycho. "And who may I ask, are you?"
           "Yomi!"
           "Ahhh,"
           Yomi went back into the box, that is, after being laughed at by Dharfi and being told he lived in a box, and the hero Ark left for the forest north-west of the Lakes. After some convincing, he agreed to let Raina and Dharfi accompany him. They all walked steadily for a few hours, then heard a voice echoing through the trees.
           'Destroy our forest, will you?! Chop down our trees?!'
           Three tree-like figures crept out of the shadows to defend their forest.
           Ark pulled out his SilverPike and struck the closest one across its sickly face. It ceased to move. Four blob-like creatures fanned out from its body. Ark wasn't caught unawares, however, and slammed the pike right through three of them before they could even flinch. He took care of the fourth by jumping into the air and swinging the SilverPike around until it hit the blobs exposed back.
           Dharfi shoved her FirePike into the maw of the second beast, setting it on Fyr and leaving no blobby thangs behind and Raina used an Electric Ring on the final monster.
           "Hey, look at what they left behind!" exclaimed Raina. At the arms of each lay three piles of wood that were of good enough quality to build a bridge across any river, even the Powerful Colorado. So, each of them took a bundle of timber each and brought it on their backs all the way to the site for the bridge across the Colorado River.
           "Oh!" cried the builder. "That wood is perfect! It won't drift away down the rapids! Please will you give me that wood?"
           "Sure," said Ark charitably, "We're nice people,"
           "Why don't you find a spare tent to sleep in?" offered the builder. "The bridge ought to be ready by morning,"
           So the team found an empty tent.
           "Uh, why don't you rest," suggested Dharfi. "Me 'an Raina'll help build the bridge," and before Ark could answer, they left.
           By morning, the bridge was built. Dharfi and Raina forced Ark to get up early and set off to Grecliff. Apparently, Raina and Dharfi had been missed at the last meeting of the Rebellion, so they were to have another in the early hours. With a great deal of grumbling (chiefly from Ark and Yomi), they finally made it to Grecliff.
           Luna was there to meet them.
           "Who was it that sent the Sparrow-Hawk as a messenger? Whoever it was, Sharifa, I reckon, sure got the news here fast. Where is she, anyway?"
           "Uh, she went to the Great Lakes Cavern. Something's up there, it's caused us to lose the power to release our creatures. I see it's done the same to the Rebellion," Dharfi greeted with a note of sadness.
           "Alas, yes," replied Luna mournfully. "I have also gotten word from Naco that it has also hit the Resistance. We have no hope against Beruga now,"
           "Resistance? Rebellion? Question…" Ark was confused.
           Luna looked him up and down, realizing with the few strands of clairvoyancy that he was the legendary hero.
           "Come in and see," she said brightly. "The Rebellion is alike the Resistance yet it has a certain quality that the Resistance lacks," she lead the way through the winding maze of caves to a noticeably larger cave where people were already gathering.
           She walked up to a raised platform at one end of the cave. She talked to an important-looking Ecomancer who stopped listening to her halfway through and turned to stare at Ark funny. Luna waited patiently for the Ecomancer to return her attention to herself and resumed speaking.
           "I s'pose she'll 'ave to be excused now won't she?" the Ecomancer boomed, loudly enough for all to hear. She was obviously talking about Sharifa. "Shame 'bout the creatures though. Could He (Ark) speak to 'em?"
           In a voice unheard by all but the Ecomancer, Luna answered her.
           "No, Saille. He may have resurrected all of them, and us, but he may no longer converse with bird or animals, or even plants,"
           Saille nodded in understanding. "Could you please ask Tarci to visit Lord Kumari and MeiHou for me? Tell 'er they should be in Lhasa at the moment. They should be told of this,"
           Luna bowed and scrambled off into the crowds. Dharfi and Raina seemed to have found the beer supply as they appeared as drunk as buggery. So Ark was left alone to wander the ranks of the Rebellion, as Yomi had gone into Pandora's box to skulk around for no apparent reason.
           A Niiad crept up unawares behind him.
           "BOO!" she yelled. Ark practically jumped into the ceiling. He whirled around to see who'd done it and saw the Niiad and a Terramancer friend laughing themselves stupid with humour.
           The Niiad wiped a tear of laughter from her face and regained her composture. "Sorry, I had to do that, you just looked so tense. By the way, I'm Garca and this is Huyn," she gestured to her friend, who stepped forward and bowed rather comically, "and who might you be? The Rebellion is large, but I never forget a face. Does Saille know you're here? Who're you lookin' for?"
           "Why does everyone ask so many questions? Answer One, I'm Ark. Answer Two, some person called ur, um, Luna, told her. Answer Three, I'm looking for my drunken friend-like people,"
           Huyn's eyes widened and she whispered to Garca, who's eyes widened greatly.
           "Servant of Beruga!" she bellowed like a water buffalo and pulled her weapon, an IcePick to the ready.
           Dharfi and Raina pushed their way through the crowds. Not drunk after all. Raina'd been at the bar to purchase an ElectricPike, no more. Her new weapon was held unwaveringly at Garca's throat, and Dharfi dropped her pack to the ground, pulled out her FirePike, holding it at the Rebellion. Ark had also taken his SilverPike into his hands and aimed it at the approaching troops.
           Huyn yanked the RedArmour out of Dharfi's pack.
           "Armour available only at Mosque! This proves that they're traitors! Even Luna has turned to the evil of Beruga!'"
           Dharfi stared at the armour in disbelief. "I thought I threw that in the Colorado River!" she exclaimed.
           "You did," murmured Raina, "but Huyn must have gotten her greedy little mitts on it somehow,"
           "You told me Ark was the legendary hero, said to appear when the world is unbalanced, now prove it!" Saille screeched at Luna.
           Luna twisted her body towards Ark, not taking her SoulWand off Huyn's neck.
           "Get Yomi out of Pandora's box! That ought to prove it!"
           Ark wondered fleetingly how Luna knew, then pulled out Pandora's Box and yelled at Yomi to appear.
           A blinding light came from Pandora's Box, yet Yomi refused to appear. Before the Rebellion recovered, Luna used the BonePin to teleport Ark, Pandora's Box, Raina, Dharfi and herself to the entrance of Grecliff.
           "Let's run," she hissed. They ran across the great expanse of land over to Sanctuar. Even if the Rebellion guessed where they were, they couldn't lay a hand on them.
           "I'll get some gulls to take us to Liotto," volunteered Ark, and tottered off. Raina and Dharfi took this as a chance to do some shopping. They went and inspected a Kingbird's wares, and purchased what they thought might be necessary, then shoved it into pockets, just as Ark returned, followed by four gulls.
           The gulls carried them to the continent south of Freedom, not dropping them in the town of Liotto itself, but just west of it. The four of them walked down to the port, because Dharfi wanted to see some sailors.
           Even before their arrival, the place was in an uproar.
           "Wassup?" questioned Raina, demonstrating her fine language skills.
           "Something's up with the Mermaid Tower in yoh direction," he explained, pointing west. "Anybody who can get rid of the problem can have a boat, at no cost,"
           "We accept!" agreed Luna, speaking for the group on the whole. Transport was arranged to the Mermaid Tower. Once they arrived, there was a bit of confusion.
           "Question: how do we breathe under there?" asked Ark, poking the surface of the water with his SilverPike.
           "Easily," replied Raina, "at Sanctuar I spent a heck of a lot on these," she reached into her pocket and pulled out four air herbs. She explained how they worked and with their weapons at the ready, the four friends leapt into the water.
           "Aaaah! Fish!" screamed Dharfi, and ran off through the maze-like corridors. Raina, Luna and Ark had no choice but to follow her, though they found it rather comical that Dharfi was completely terrified of fish.
           They caught up to her as she ran down a flight of stairs.
           "Slow down!" puffed Ark, out of breath. As they turned around to re-climb the stairs, a boulder crashed down, barring their way.
           Dharfi started screaming at the top of her lungs. Luna turned around to see what was troubling her, and came face-to-face with three of the largest fish she'd ever seen. Ark and Raina also span around, pikes at the ready. It was soon realized that they were only fighting one real fish, and two fakes.
           "Okay," said Luna, taking command. "Everyone get on a fish's tail and wallop the crap out of it!"
           So everyone but Dharfi, who was still blubbering in the corner, started banging the living s^#* out of all the homermungus fishies.
           "Okay, that fish," began Raina, gesturing at the largest fish, "is most obviously the real one. Everybody may now shove their weapons down its throat,"

           A few notes: This story is yet to be finished, I just have to get off my ass and stop playing Yoshi's Island long enough to think of something other than, "must eat" or "mmm sleep".
           By the way, Huathe is Irish for Hawthorn, Ngetal is Irish for Broom or Juniper, Fearn is Irish for Alder, Ruis is Irish for Elder and Saille is Irish for Willow. Lastly, Gort is Irish for Ivy.
           And shut-up about the name Naco! When my friend Lizzi read this story she laughed and said "hahahaha! Naco the Nudist!" and kept on asking me if they were going to make babies.