Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

The light was blinding, and the explosion that heralded it seemed noisy enough to deafen Shalelu- or is it just completely silent? she wondered, averting her eyes as what she would later call "The mother of all explosions!" brightened the sky around Neo Paseo.

Then, all was normal. All of the androids had been destroyed by- well, whatever that was. Opening her eyes, Shalelu slowly approached the remains of the caravan. "Heeey, guys!" she said. "Looks like I missed the fight, huh? Ah, well! Time for the best part- healies!"

Walking over to Jakob, she gave him a quick glance before saying, "This'll make it all better! Probably! Gi Res!"

A small corona of light, nowhere near as impressive as Jakob's, radiated from Shalelu's hand and into Jakob. Once she was done, Shalelu then turned to Brigit. "Your turn! Time for so-holy crap, what the hell happened to your arm!? OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!"

Brigit felt a tremendous blast. Everything turned to white, but she suddenly felt her core switch to emergency shutdown, something that had never happened to her before. She wasn't sure how long she was out, but she found herself amid a now quiet, peaceful landscape, upright and intact.

Mostly intact, anyway. Her arm was in one piece again, but it was down to its laconian skeleton and cybernetic fibers. Organic tissue and muscle were already starting to form around the skeleton. Eventually her arm would look just like everyone else's, but right now Brigit feared it might seem grotesque, so she tried to unroll her sleeve to cover it. Unfortunately, Shalelu had already caught a glimpse of it.

"Oh, uhhhh..." Brigit hesitated, frantically trying to cover her arm. She quickly gave up. "Oh, screw it. Just, uh, look away. Um, don't worry about me. Gi Res won't work on my arm, anyway." She laughed nervously, "I might have some prosthetic parts. Mining accident. I'm not an android, though, I swear!" She continued with her awkward laughter.

Yeah, that's a hoot, Brigit. In a world with little science, surely everyone will find that funny.

She walked over to Jakob and knelt down next to him. She wasn't sure how responsive he was right now, though Shalelu's healing techs seemed to be helping immensely. Brigit owed him some thanks at the very least.

"If I'd known there was a super genius living in Neo Paseo, I'd have called on your services years ago to help me find Magnus. Thanks for saving our butts, and thanks for the new arm, stranger," she gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and a wry grin. Her friendly expression soon turned to one of concern, as she thought about Jakob's technique supernova and what it must have been like for him to unleash such a terrific force.

"Dumb question, but how are you?" she asked with worry.

Jakob awoke in darkness which soon turned to a forest. He found himself walking, he knew where to go but was unsure what it was he would find when he got there. He knew this dream, it was the same dream he had last time he used Elemental Destruction. He had to find the Wolf. Only the Wolf could return him to reality. Until then, he would lie in a coma on the outside. He only hoped he would find it quickly, for the dangers in this dream, were far too real.

"Jakob?" Brigit slapped the sides of Jakob's cheeks slightly. "Jakob?? Are you there? Oh, crap!"

Brigit realized his earlier gaze at her wasn't a gaze at all, and he was actually comatose.

"Jakob!" she called to him as she checked his vitals. "Oh god, I don't know what else to do! I don't know anything that cures... whatever this is!"

She looked around as though there might be something nearby that could help, though she knew that was highly unlikely. Shalelu knew healing techniques, though. Maybe she knew something to bring people back to consciousness?

"Shalelu? He won't wake up; he's completely catatonic! Can you help?" Brigit asked desperately.

"Won't wake up? Even with Gi Res?" Shalelu asked, kneeling down next to Jakob. "Hrmmmmm... I know!" Taking a toy shovel and pail from her backpack, she finished, "Let's bury him! =D"

Seeing the (presumably) horrified look on Brigit's face, Shalelu then sighed and added, "Just kidding! Let's go get him to a doctor... I think he needs one."

"Great idea, Shalelu," Brigit said then looked towards Neo Paseo. "I wonder where that owl went with the girl?"

As her eyes were scanning the landscape, she caught a glimpse of black smoke coming out of a hole in the ground.

"Wait a minute..." she ran over to the hole and stuck her head in without any concern over the smoke that was pouring out. As her eyes adjusted to compensate for the smoke and lack of light, they revealed the entrance of an underground android facility. Jakob's technique had turned it to ashes, but Brigit wasn't taking any chances. She stood up, now looking like a chimney sweep, pulled out a funny-looking cartridge for her vulcan and loaded it into the weapon. With a sweeping motion, she discharged plasma from her vulcan until it completely covered the opening. Within seconds it hardened into a nearly impenetrable alloy.

Satisfied with her patch job, she turned around and headed back to Jakob and Shalelu.

"Shall we go?" she asked Shalelu with a sooty grin.

She saw Celeith out of the corner of her eye. Hopefully Celeith would have some idea why that girl was so important, and hopefully they'd meet up with Bo and the girl in Neo Paseo.

How long had it been last time he used Elemental Destruction? Two or three years now? Last time he used it, his body was in a coma state for nearly three months. He didn't have three months. If what Jakob thought was correct, he had but three days to return to reality. In three days, everything will be set in motion.

He only hope he would get out in time.

Celeith stood to her feet and began walking near the group.

"Who was that girl?" she heard someone ask her. Celeiths mind was a blur. She could faintly make out what had just happened, but her main focus turned to Jakob. "What happened? Whats wrong with Jakob?" she asked as she kneeled down.

The group did not know what had happened to the man, nor did they know how to wake him. "Lets head back to Paseo.. We'll let him rest in his room." she spoke as she pulled a telepipe out of her inventory bag. The two looked at her as she placed her lips on the flute, a strange, yet soothing melody came from the instrument. Soon there bodies were engulfed in light and they vanished from the desert.

Back at Celeith's shop the one named Brigit placed Jakob in his bed. "He appears to be comatose.. Or at least he's fighting something inside his conciousnes." The young man named Trey said. Celeith looked at her friend as he left the room, leaving the three girls to tend to Jakob.

On the roof the hooting of a owl could be heard, and the strange sounds of a girl could as well. "You two stay here.. I'm gonna go see whats going on on the roof." she said. With those words Celeith went into the hallway and lowered the staircase from the roof. "I wonder whats going on up there." she thought to herself.

Bo

Bo was thankful he had warped back to the inn. He was starting to get a hang of his magic since being stolen away to Motavia.

The inn's roof was a nice, wide place for even humans to retreat to, and he was doing his best to cheer up the stunned girl. He had been playing a game with her, teaching her some "owl-ese."

"No, no," he told the girl after she tried a few hoots and calls. "It's like this: 'Hoo-hoot. WHOO!' Now you try it."

But before the girl could repeat Bo, Celeith appeared from the staircase leading to the flat part of the roof.

"Oh hey! You're back. We ended up here; isn't that good news? You should have seen the lights show earlier! I thought this whole planet was imploding. This young lady seems fine, but she won't talk too much. She seems to like speaking in owl, though! Is Master Jakob here, too?" Bo rambled at a frenzied pace.

"So how is she?" Celeith asked as she walked towards the bird and girl. She knelt down and placed her hands on the girls wrists, checking her vital signs as well as for any injuries or damage to her body. "You look fine, but lets go inside. Its quite hot out here." she replied.

The girl nodded her head and followed behind Celeith. Downstairs Brigit, Shalelu, and Trey were gathered in the dining room. "I'll leave you four to talk amongst yourselves.. I have business to attend to." Trey said as he left the room.

"He's not one for words is he?" Celeith heard someone in the dining room say. Celeith helped the girl sit down, and then took a seat herself. "So what were you doing in that ship? Why were you the cargo?" Celeith asked.