Nephew of the Forgotten One, Chapter 28

Nephew of the Forgotten One, Chapter 28

Tony
We said goodbye to Paula, her brother, Paul, and her mother and father; then we walked outside. Poo teleported us to Fourside.
"I assume that you all are sure that an Energy Point is located somewhere here in Fourside?" he asked us once we had arrived. "After all, I would not live to have teleported here for no reason at all."
"We're quite sure," Picky confirmed. "We've accepted that it would have to be Civalia, given that we know where Mu and Deep Darkness is, and Sanken Mountain's location has already been confirmed; also, we've so far gotten four of the eight Points: Berloneot, Neptune Crevice, Maximus Prairie, and Lake Tess. And since it's clearly Civalia, we have to decide whose Energy Point it is."
"It can't be mine," I admitted. "I've already claimed mine. Nor could it be BJ, Picky, or Tracy. That leaves Ņrutas, and Ani and Dusty -- if they're two of the Chosen Eight."
Tracy turned to Ani and Dusty. "Strange. That's seven. The four we've claimed, Ņrutas, and you two. Yet there's eight Energy Points. Who would the eighth be?"
"Julia?" BJ offered. "Or maybe Lomond."
"Both of those are possible," Dusty said, "but you then have to consider the fact that Ani and I haven't done anything that would indicate we would be part of the chosen."
"But both of you have done something," Tracy retorted. "Ani reconstituted the Power Crystal; I can't see a normal girl doing that. And you're obviously important enough to one: cause Robe to have a mania with killing you; two: to kill Julia, or something like that; and three: force Robe to impersonate you, many a time, to convince us that you were evil. I can't see him going to that much trouble if there wasn't anything special about him."
"You shouldn't underestimate Robe," Dusty murmured. Then I saw his eyes dull out, becoming merely the pupils. "Like a play, he has a limited number of acts." His irises returned.
"Dusty!" Ani cried. "Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" he wondered.
"Do you not remember?" Poo asked. "It appeared that you went into a trance; you also uttered a mysterious prophecy, 'Like a play, he has a limited number of acts' -- then you emerged out of your trance."
"Who's the 'he' I was talking about? Robe?"
BJ nodded. "And how do you know that he has one last attack? For all you know, that one last attack could end in our deaths."
"I don't know, BJ. But I somehow feel that Robe is growing uneasy with our power, and he weakens as our power grows. Therefore he would want to stop our power from growing."
We began to walk towards the Department Store. Ani was hanging off Poo, as you'd expect her to do.
"Maybe it'll be mine," she said. "Do you think it's my Energy Point, Prince Poo?" There was an airy quality to her voice.
"It could be," BJ answered for Poo. "But it could be any of the others, too, remember."
Ani turned to him. She glared at him and harrumphed.
"...or it could be yours no matter what!" BJ quickly added. It was clear he didn't want to get on Ani's bad side. Then again, who would?
"Refrain from encouraging her. Please," begged Poo.
Ani turned to Poo and hugged him. "He can encourage me as much as he wants," she said harshly.
"Is Ani normally this way?" Tracy wondered out loud.
"We're dead in the water if she is," Picky said. "Both puns unintended."
"Is it just me, or are we missing someone?" Ani wondered, suddenly becoming sensible.
We looked around.
"BJ, Dusty and Ņrutas seem to be gone," Poo observed. "Perhaps we should go to the Department store: I expect that they are there."
"...who had the Power Crystal?" Tracy asked.
"I think BJ had it," I answered.
"Wonderful," Picky muttered. "He's probably gotten into trouble already."
"BJ and Dusty are older than we are," Tracy reminded Picky.
"They're not older than I am," I said. Poo and Ani also informed Tracy that they, too, were older than Dusty.
"You three know exactly what I meant. BJ and Dusty are older than Picky and I are," she snapped.
"And I meant Ņrutas," Picky murmured.
"Is he that much of a troublemaker?" Poo asked. "I must admit, that aspect of his personality escaped my knowledge before now."
"Yes," Picky responded. "We probably would have been out of Twoson faster if he hadn't decided to play hide-and-seek with me."
"Oh, I see," Poo mused.

BJ
We walked into the Department Store. There was a rather long line at the return counter, and we barely squeezed through before the entire street-level floor was almost completely packed.
Dusty, myself, and 'Roots rode up the escalator, making it to the second floor. As Dusty had explained while we were walking to the store: "The power seemingly only went out on the food court floor. Therefore," he had reasoned, "the Civalia Energy Point is likely located somewhere on or near the second floor -- where the food court is."
"Here, 'Roots," I said, handing the Power Crystal to him. "Let's see if Civalia is your Energy Point."
The Power Crystal remained inanimate while it sat between his teeth. I took it back.
"Not mine," he moaned sadly.
I tossed the Power Crystal to Dusty. "Now, you should try it," I said.
He let it fall to the ground. "Why? Just because Robe has an interest in making my life a living nightmare and because I can divine magic from tarot cards doesn't mean I'm one of the Eight. I mean, you can't use PSI, nor can you divine the tarot. And Tony's in the same boat: no PSI, no Tarocchi Divinations."
"Don't get BJ down!" demanded Ņrutas.
"Ņrutas, is that you?" a voice from behind us asked.
I whirled around.
A man, probably in his mid-twenties, was there. He wore a trenchcoat that was completely buttoned up, a hat that shadowed his large ears, and sunglasses.
"Nash!" Ņrutas exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I might be better positioned to ask you why you're here," this Nash person said.
"We're just visiting Fourside," replied Dusty as he stepped between Nash and the Power Crystal.
"And who might you two be?" Nash asked us.
I went on the offensive. "Who are you?"
"Nash" seemed shocked. "You don't think I'm law-abiding? I'll appease your fears, though. My name is Nash Walker."
"In that case," mused Dusty, "my name is Dusty Takeuchi."
"I'm BJ Nichols," I added.
"BJ, have you been in the papers or something?" wondered Nash. "Your name seems familiar."
"I've become famous for my performances in high school track and field meets," I admitted with some bravado.
"Ah, that must be where I recognised your name."
I watched discreetly as Ņrutas ducked around Dusty and plucked the Power Crystal off the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief. That was one issue out of the way.
We just needed to fix another: get Nash out of here.
I shook out of my thoughts in time to see Nash and Dusty shake hands.
Then he walked over to me. "See the three of you later," he said, holding a hand out for me to shake. I did.
He walked off, waving.
"Nash is nice," Ņrutas mused, spitting the Power Crystal out of his mouth.
"I'm sure he is," Dusty murmured.
"Is something wrong?" I asked Dusty.
"No," he answered. He walked over to the escalator. "Good. Nash's gone."
"Hi!" a burger girl peppily exclaimed. "Will you two be ordering? If not, beat it! This isn't a social club. It's a food court."
"Oh, sorry," I said, pulling $50 out and putting it on the counter. "Three Hamburgers, please. And a Bag of Fries, too. In a take-out bag, please."
"Why take-out?" the burger girl asked.
"Dusty, do me a favour and don't rant or complain or anything. Pick up the Crystal. Now."
He shrugged and picked it up. The Crystal immediately began to pulse, like it had when I had held it near the Maximus Prairie Energy Point.
"That's why," I murmured. "You may want to hide behind the counter. This battle could get--"
"Could get what? Don't interrupt yourself!" the burger girl pressed.
I leapt over the counter and helped her out, then climbed back out. "Get out of here! Now! Run!"
"But--"
"Just go!" I tackled her to the ground as I heard the light pillar explode behind the counter.
"BJ! Get up!" warned Dusty.
I scrambled to my feet. The adrenalin was coursing in my veins.
"Miss, just get away!" I ordered.
I spun around. The burger girl hopefully ran off. A spider that had been building its web in the back of the burger joint had transformed into a gigantic spider.
"Gururugu..." it said. What appeared like its webbing foamed from its mouth.
"What is that?" the burger girl asked.
"Didn't I tell you to get out of the way?" I muttered loud enough for her to hear.
"Oh, excuuuuuuuuse me," she spat.
"Shining Pattern!" Dusty cried. I turned around, and followed the sparkling wave as it struck the spider.
"Guruguuu ruguuuu!" the spider growled. In response, she -- and I'm assuming that the spider was a she -- spit a long string of saliva-soaked spider thread towards Dusty.
"PSI Fire Beta!" Ņrutas called. He leapt up, his feet becoming a deep, bright red colour. Then fire burst from them and propelled itself towards the spider's thread. And the thread caught fire.
And kept going.
"What?" I demanded, completely shocked. "How in the world could that have happened?"
"Ruruu!" the spider exclaimed merrily.
"Who are you?" I demanded of the spider.
The spider began to speak, confirming my suspicions that it was female. (Its voice was clearly feminine.)
"I am Kinniara Spinner," answered the spider. "I am the Guardian of the Energy Point of Thunder. And you will be shocked to learn of my powers."
"I'm not in the mood for bad jokes," I muttered, jumping towards Kinniara.
Kinniara spat more of her thread at me. It contacted me, and immediately her true attack began.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhh!" I screamed.
Kinniara's electricity and thunder were flowing through me, striking me with horrible waves of electricity. As one wave faded away, giving me a little repose, another wave would take its place, and my torture would begin anew.
"BJ!" Ņrutas cried.
"You evil spider!" I heard the burger girl exclaim, clearly in shock.
My vision began to fade. Everything was slowing down; everything would jerk around like a badly directed stop-animation movie. One last wave of thunder burst through me, and--