The Sister Island

[Sky]

Skyler couldn't help but give a startled squawking sound at the commotion that was around him. Air distrubances from behind, the red yoshi leader in front doing -something- about it, even he wasn't sure exactly what happened. All he really knew was that he had to land somewhere, safe and as fast as possible.

As the commotion happened, Skyler dove down under the bridge's height, seeing as both sides were flanking him indirectly, and the ceiling wasn't that higher up, down was his only option. He stayed low, hoping nothing bad happened in his fleeing moments, and was relieved to hear Blood call for them quickly. Shaking his head as to wake himself up from sleep, he darted upwards, and scrambled over the edge of the gap. "I'm ok..!" He couldn't help but get red a bit under his eyes from his exclamation.

He walked over to a particular pedestal, a bow seemed to fit right in if placed correctly. He took his bow off his shell, taking a deep breat before slotting it in, "Like... Like this...?"

[Not-Garr]

Lance looked after his companions, and sighed, "Great, they know where we are... ...This is even more troublesome." As he stepped smoothly up to the pedistal and locked his lance right in. It was a perfect fit, just like Blood said it would be.

Shooting Blood a glance out of the corner of his eyes, he sighed, "Well, at least I believe you now." and then looked at Skyler with an odd look, a mix of pity and jealousy, "Looks like that's how it works.."

[Chilaquiles]

When Lorro locked his lance in place, the entrance to the cave sealed itself shut, blocking out all light and making the entire place pitch black for a few seconds. Then, an aura or red light appeared, which engulfed Blood and closed in on him until it seemed to have been absorbed right into his skin. After that, a light blue aura surrounded Henrikoshen, and did the exact same thing, closing itself on Henrikoshen's body and disappearing. Then a yellow one for Skyler, a green for Yoshee, and finally a blue, for Lorro.

When the last aura had blinked off, one small light shone. It was the artifact in Blood's palm. Blood let go of it, and it floated towards the middle of the concrete platform and stopped at the exact center. Then, it stopped shining and the room returned to its pitch black state. All that was heard was a shatter as the stone hit the unseen ground. Seconds later, the entrance to the chamber opened once again, returning light to the area for all to see.

And there was much to see. The weapons of each hero had changed colors, but for what reason? The blade of Blood's sword turned bright red. Henrikoshen's dagger became as light blue as his own skin. Skyler's bow and steel arrowheads turned a golden yellow. The ball end of Yoshee's spiked mace became a shiny emerald color. Lorro's lance changed to an aquamarine blue.

Blood grabbed the hilt of his sword and drew it. He saw his eyes reflection in the red blade, and stared at it. He felt different, as if he'd known and wielded the weapon all his life. He took a practice swing with it, and his arms seemed to move on their own, guiding the sword through one graceful, masterful movement. Masterful. In a single instant, the art of swordsmanship had leaked its way into his mind through the red aura, and he realized it now.

Perhaps this same thing is happening to the others...

[Enrique]

When the blue Koopa had inserted his lance into the pedestal, the chamber suddenly became dark. For a few seconds, Henrikoshen could see nothing. Afterward, however, came a strange phenomenon that he couldn't explain; several colored emanations filled the room, one after another, being absorbed into each of the party members' bodies; each color was absorbed into a different member; the light blue one that occurred second was attracted to Henrikoshen. The strange thing about these illuminations and absorptions were that they all appeared from nowhere, for no reason.

Henrikoshen was speechless as the light flowed into his body. For a split second, however, there was a brief amount of time where all he could see was the light blue light around him, as the light seemed to become brighter the more that had already penetrated into his body. This caused Henrikoshen to be slightly alarmed when the luminescence had quickly vanished and a faint yellow glowing had replaced it, being absorbed into Skyler. After the last colored aura has disappeared - it was the purple stone artifact - the entrance to the chamber had reopened, and the normal sunlight had reentered. However, there was a fluorescence in the chamber.

The weapons that the group was carrying glowed as well. Henrikoshen's dagger had become the color of the light blue aura that previously surrounded Henrikoshen and the color of his own skin. As he removed the dagger from the pedestal, he noticed a strange feeling inside himself as he held the weapon. He jabbed the air with the dagger; his arm seemed to be more nimble with the dagger in hand. The rate at which he could administer the jabs had significantly increased; his entire body felt more agile as he shifted the dagger into multiple defensive positions in only a few hundred milliseconds; all the while, a beautiful trail of cyan followed every move. It seemed as if he was meant to use this dagger, although he had only possessed it for a few minutes.

He turned toward Blood, whose swordsmanship seemed to turn mesmerizing within the same instant. "Did the legends say anything about this?"

[Lord of the Dance]

I said nothing after the room went dark, not wanting to break the mesmerizing silence that came over the cave as the light show began.
I didn't dare close my eyes, even for a second, as I felt the green light come towards me. I suddenly felt a tingling warmth that spread from my chest down my arms and through my fingers and toes.
Once the cave reopened, I breathed again. I had to blink a few times to get used to the sunlight again before turning and pulling my mace out. It seemed to jump right into my hand, and it was too light. It almost flung out of my grasp as I swung it the first time, not realizing that I could now hold it comfortably. I couldn't help grinning; this was a weapon that commanded admiration. The metallic end had become a brilliant, beautiful green color, as well. I easily held it at my side with one hand, but I knew I would need both hands to put force into my blows almost instinctively.
...Wait, instinctively? I hadn't known just how great a weapon it was before the fancy lights. Something had happened, I noticed. Just like Blood said, except so much better.
I not only knew how to use my weapon perfectly, but I felt different, too. That shaky uneasiness I had felt about this whole thing was gone; instead, a burning desire to take action against this whole thing filled me.

[Sky]

"Wh.. What's this light? It's.. scary, but not scary.."

Skyler was motionless, the yellow light envelopping him. Had he not been taken aback from the whole scene, he'd probably be running away while near cowering in fear. Yet, something felt good about this light, for some reason he felt it was not something to be feared. The light finally subsides within him, Skyler breathing in and out slowly from going through that event.

He adjusts his glasses, looking down at himself. At first realived he seemed in one piece, his eyes laying upon his now golden coloured bow, slowly taking it into his grasp. He gazes at it, blinking a few times, rather confused.

"I.. What's this feeling? It's like I know deep down I can use this, but, I never shot an arrow in my whole life."

He looks over in his bag, seeing that his arrow tips have also changed. He didn't really understand what this meant, nor did he ever really grasp the whole idea of being an adventurer either. Even with this, he felt deep down he could do this, that he could make the best of what came, and make a difference if he could.

"...Everyone ok?"

[Not-Garr]

Lorro's eyes widened as he was enveloped in the light, pupils shrinking. What was this..? It felt almost natural... He stared for a few minutes straight at the wall, grip locked on the now-blue lance, then stared at it.

...It was all a pain in the tail, but as beautiful as this weapon was, and all this knowledge...maybe it was worth it. "...Well, guess either we're all nuts, or you're right."

He pulled the lance out firmly, nodding to Skyler, "I'm fine...What about you?"

[Chilaquiles]

Malthos snapped back to consciousness and hauled the body of Trom off of himself. Standing up and dusting himself off, he looked around cautiously, then down at his companion.

"Trom! Wake up!" He shouted and shook his almost still body. "Wake up and follow my lead. The 'heroes' have done what they need to do, and their artifact has shattered so they cannot repel us with light again, also, the door will close behind them when they exit, so there will be no way out. We will wait for them, and when they come out, we will kill them. It's as simple as that."

----------------------------

Blood heard a faint voice from outside and turned his head to look. Malthos was out there, crouching over the unconscious body of his minon or whoever it was. It was clear that they were in trouble, as he would be waiting for them the minute they took a step out of the cave, and fully revived.

Blood called attention to his group and pointed to the figures visible in the plain light outside the cave."They're back, and we don't have that artifact to save us this time. We have to take him on in combat, somehow stun him, and escape. He turned to Skyler. "That will be your job."

"When we exit the cave, sneak away from the group and behind a nearby bush or in a tree. When we're close enough to each other, start firing those, preferably at Malthos first instead of his partner. It also may be a good idea to shift your sniping position once in a while, but otherwise, do what you feel will work best..."

"As for the rest of us," Blood turned back to the rest of the group. "We'll just have to duck and dodge until he fires a good arrow. Good enough so that we can escape, and maybe even do some damage to Malthos's equipment."

He walked towards the bridge and took his first step on the unsteady surface. Malthos looked up from Trom, and met with Blood's eyes. They locked. Blood stared him down, a stony look on his face as he stepped over the bridge, pace by pace. Sword in hand, he looked back at his comrades.

"Well, come on guys!"

[Lord of the Dance]

Blood had seen Malthos and his minion waking up. I clutched my mace tightly and stared the bridge down. Going at my own pace was not an option this time...
I tiptoed as quickly as I could behind Blood, looking around his arm, as he was too tall to see over his shoulder.
For some reason, I didn't feel scared. At least, not as scared as I would have ten minutes ago. I felt kind of sorry for Skyler- he had the lives of all of us in his claws if he failed in his mission. All we had to do was stay out of the way.
I grimaced. This was going to be one painful game of dodgeball.

[Enrique]

Henrikoshen couldn't stare at his dagger for much longer; it seemed as if the group was about to strike on Malthos. He had to follow Blood and the green Yoshi back out of the chamber using the bridge. Again, he had to move slowly for the nature of the bridge; however, he advanced faster on the bridge this time compared to the previous.

Unlike the other stages of the legendary project, this portion had to be initiated by Skyler. Now started the waiting game for Henrikoshen. He knew that there was no use for the dagger unless he was attacked, which wouldn't be for a while according to Henrikoshen's estimation.

[Teo]

It would be stupid to ask if he saw us... Trom thought, having woken, seeing his master staring at Blood. Trom also saw the others, and it looks like we were in their way. A brawl would be nearly unavoidable, since both sides wanted to elimenate the other. Trombador's voice lowered to a whisper as he spoke to his teacher, "what's the plan? I haven't fully tapped into the power of my wand or my mind, I'm not exactly a powerhouse... and not implying anything, but those weapons they're holding look like they can do some damage."

[Chilaquiles]

Malthos chuckled, "Heh, heh, heh, you're hardly a mortal anymore, boy. Trust me, you'll do just fine. All you have to do is point that thing at one of those fools and think. Think of destruction, think of evil, think of death, and it shall become so. It's that simple."

The only thing Malthos worried about were their weapons. They did look...different. He felt like he had seen them before somewhere, they wer oddly familiar, and even a bit frightening.

But I can't let the boy know this, it would ruin his morale. Still, I wonder..."

Malthos snapped his fingers and his broom whizzed to his side, he mounted it, and rose slowly from the ground. "Ready yourself for battle, boy. Fetch your broom, you won't want to be grounded for this fight."

[Sky]

Giving a still slightly surprised nod to Lorro to answer his question, Skyler couldn't stop to think about what happened up to now, listening to what Blood had to say to him.

"M..Me? I see your reasoning, but umm... ok."

Skyler couldn't help but to give a gulp at that statement. Although he seemed less relunctant to speak up compared to beforehand, he did seem uneasy about the task given to him. He slowly looked down at his bow, his heart racing a little.

"Oh dear.. they're counting on me to get a clear shot at fleeing. I can see why I'm the one to do it.. long range, ability to fly.. but me being me, can they really rely on that? ..No, they rely on that because they believe in me, and I need to do my best for them, right? Yeah, I think.."

Choosing to tag along on the bridge this time rather than take flight for the time being, Skyler reckoned that blending in with the group at first would give a better chance at slipping away unseen when they get out of the cave.

"I.. I can do this.."

[Chilaquiles]

Blood took his first step onto the outside soil. Malthos was hovering on his broom overhead, with a cold, emotionless expression on his face. His supposed minion was still on the ground. Blood looked back to his allies, some were still making their ways accross the bridge. Skyler was the furthest back, and for good reason, he assumed. Blood unsheathed his sword, and locked eyes with Malthos yet again.

"Get ready guys..."

[Sky]

"It's time.. I should be able to sneak away with the attention on the red yoshi.. Blood, was it? I think that was his na--what am I thinking? Concentrate Skyler... they're counting on you.."

Skyler slowly and near casually retreats to the side, not wanting to grab any attention, and hoped he wasn't seen. Slipping along in the bushes and trees, he slowly swoops up to a branch of a tree, landing lightly. He takes a deep breath silently, and slowly takes his golden coloured bow out, reaching for an arrow in his bag.

"Shooting at someone... do I have that in me? I don't really want to hurt anyone... but... they're counting on me, and if they get hurt... many will... right?"

Skyler places an arrow upon the bowstring, very slowly pulling back.

"His wand... if I could just hit that..."

He takes aim.. waiting for a good shot.

[Chilaquiles]

"Trom!" Malthos yelled, "Mount your broom!" The wizard raised his wand high above his head and muttered a few inaudible words, then pointed the glowing tip of the wand directly at the group of heroes. He had a spell loaded, aimed, and ready. Malthos open fired.

A beam of black magic made contact with the ground and exploded at Blood's feet, shoving him backwards and causing him to tumble face down onto the ground. He lifted himself from the earth with much difficulty, there wasn't much he could do.

C'mon Skyler, we're counting on you... Make that shot, buddy..."

Malthos thought he had already won, he looked down on his prey, all that could be seen was a dust cloud resulting from the magical bomb. An evil grin spread accross his face and he looked to Trom. "Hahahah, clean them up, will you boy? This was too easy."

[Lord of the Dance]

All I had time to do when I saw the beam was cover my eyes with my arm and brace myself by leaning forward a tad. I was still thrown backwards, though, and knocked into Henrikoshen. My world spun and my feet felt like they were on fire, but otherwise I was okay. They would probably be numb for a few minutes...
I couldn't run as fast as I normally could with numb feet- I knew that from experience. I just hoped it'd wear off fast.
This guy's magic could definitely kill us. I was a little nervous, but not as much as I knew I should have been. With a growl, I grabbed my mace and climbed to my still-burning feet. I had to squint, as the dust made it impossible to see.
This game was going to be harder than I thought. Much, much harder.

[Enrique]

In an instant, the green Yoshi girl in front of Henrikoshen had been lunged back into him; he couldn't see the black beam due to the Yoshi. However, she had involuntarily tackled him because of the explosion, throwing him to the ground on his back. The only fortunate thing that occurred was that Henrikoshen had not been seriously injured; only a few bruises appeared in result of the incident; however, this was at the expense of the Yoshi girl in front of him. Fighting against a dusty fog, he called out to the green Yoshi, "Hey, are you alright?" He speculated that Malthos was behind this; however, his lack of eyewitness knowledge prevented any true certainty.