“Gooooooooooooood Morning, Betwixt and Between!” Making his grand entrance in a white shirt and grey trousers, the Genie continued on in that same smooth, comedic tone he only took when intervening in the lives of those around him. “Hey, this is not a test. This is—”
“What are YOU doing here?!” Sadao half-shrieked.
“Hmm,” started Genie disappointedly before changing back into his casual attire, “I see death hasn’t changed you much—you’re still the grumpy party-pooper you were back then.” Ren made a motion behind Sadao’s back that informed those who did witness it that he was in complete agreement with that deduction.
“Must I repeat myself? I demand to know what you’re doing here!”
Shrugging Sadao off, Genie turned his attention to me and reverted back to a more cheerful voice. “Hey, Etxel! Are we college buddies or something?”
Taken aback by this question, I meekly asked in response, “No…why?”
“Because it’s been forever since I last saw you man! Come here, you old rascal!” With a grin that consumed half his face, Genie popped up in front of me and gave me one of his notorious bear hugs that made breathing difficult. Separating himself from me almost as quick as he came, he then grasped my hand with an iron grip and proceeded to shake it violently as he happily exclaimed, “Glad to see you’re doing well for yourself. And hey!” he started while relinquishing his hold to examine me up and down, “You seem to have gotten stronger too since we last met. Then again, that’s no surprise coming from you, you barbarian, you!” Finishing his last statement with a wink and a light jab to my right shoulder, I was reminded about how much I liked this fellow, despite the exhaustion that usually followed. It was in that moment, however, that I remembered that this was not the time or place for reunions.
Almost unnoticed by the both of us, Ren had made his way around Genie to try and attack me from the rear. Pointing the tip of his three-pronged spear to the arch of my back, Ren summoned a colossal amount of electricity to deliver one his most devastating blows, the Lightning Gale. From previous experience I knew that this technique was more than capable of piercing a hole right through any target along with severely burning everything else within close proximity to it. And unfortunately for my case, that spelled instant death with how close he was to me and how short of time I would be allotted to retreat.
In a voice that told me he was ecstatic to have this opportunity, Ren chortled, “Hope you two enjoyed your reunion, because it was your last. But, since I’m such a nice guy and all, I’ll let you two speak your last words.”
“Alright, if you insist.” Amplifying the sound of his voice to the point in which it filled the whole space around us, Genie responded dramatically, “Let’s get ready to rumble!”
“What kind of last words are—?!” Before Ren had a chance to finish what he was saying, Genie quickly teleported himself to Ren’s far right side, changed his attire into a football uniform, and charged at him in a full blown tackle that sent him flying in the opposite direction.
Seeing an opening, Tatsuya charged straight at the Genie in hopes of reclaiming his comrade’s honor. “Prepare yourself, Genie!” Tatsuya looked as though he almost had him when Genie disappeared at the last second to avoid the sonic boom Tatsuya formed with his flute.
It was at that point that Sadao sprang into action, but instead of trying to attack the Genie he instead opted for me. Conjuring an unknown liquid metal from the void, he forged it into a whip and aimed it straight for my head. Dodging it, I spun Irminsul above my body, charged my spirit with a war cry, and dared Sadao to hit me with everything he had.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not done with you yet.” Recovering from the tackle, Ren came back at me with what felt like the same tactic he used before. Only this time, I was ready for him. Listening in for his footsteps, I waited until he got within range of my weapon. When he did, I quickly spun myself around to use Irminsul’s hook to capture Ren by the collar of his tunic. Ren’s response to this sudden twist of fate was to send an electric shock through me. As he found out the hard way though, the charge was not enough to stop me from successfully hurling him straight into Sadao.
Yelling curses at each other for the mess they were in, Sadao and Ren were in the process of getting up when Tatsuya involuntarily joined them after Genie dropped him from above. Then, coming back into view wearing a black, professional-looking dress, Genie spoke to them harshly in a British accent, “And all of you are the weakest link. Goodbye.” With that, Genie snapped his fingers, making all three of them vanish at once.
After a brief moment of silence, I looked up at Genie and asked out of curiosity where it was that he sent those three. Once again returning to his casual form, Genie innocently responded, “Oh…no place special…just the inside Monstro. Deep inside Monstro, I might add.” The mental image of those three being stuck inside a space-traveling whale that was transporting loads of Heartless made me laugh hard; especially when Sadao’s combined disdain of fish and anything irrational came into play.
Calming down, I continued, “Well, thank you for showing up when you did. I do not believe the fight would have gone so smoothly if it had just been myself.”
“Hey, anytime Etxel.”
“In any event,” I began, changing the direction of the conversation, “what are you doing here? Not enough action in Agrabah?”
Chuckling uncomfortably, Genie responded, “Well, I wouldn’t say there isn’t enough action in Agrabah…truthfully, there’s too much right now.”
“What? I thought Aladdin and Jasmine had control of things transpiring there.”
“They did, but that’s not the case anymore. Not since a few years ago…” he finished sadly. I wanted him to continue explaining to me what was happening in Agrabah to make him so melancholy, but instead he snapped himself back into attention. “Listen, I’d love to tell you about my problems and ask you for help, but somebody has already called dibs on you and asked me to take you to them unharmed by this time today.”
Unfazed by this news, I answered, “Is that so? Well, I hate to disappoint you, but unless this person has something worth my while to say, I am afraid that they will have to wait until after I help Lady Xakiah in whatever trouble she is currently in.”
“I imagine they would. The person who asked me to take you to them is Merlin.”
~*~
“What?!” I had a gut feeling that this was the case when Sadao, Ren, and Tatsuya showed up, but that did not prevent me from feeling the anger and shock that I did from hearing this bit of bad news. “Merlin, please tell me you know how that fāgwyrm managed to survive after all of these years.”
Sighing, Merlin responded, “I truly do wish I could tell you, but the answer to that is a complete mystery to me right now. But,” he started with more conviction, “that won’t stop me from looking into the matter further.”
“Good. Is there anything you want me to do?” I asked, nodding my head.
“In point of fact, yes. The reason why I asked Genie to bring you here today—thank you for doing that so promptly, by the way—is to revive Xakiah from her battle.”
Utterly confused by this request I stared straight into Merlin eyes for any sign on an explanation. Accurately reading the emotion on my face, Merlin nodded and began to tell me the prophecy he acquired regarding to what would happen to Lady Xakiah today. In it, he foretold the disaster that would take place during a harmless sparring match, how her mind would be torn to shambles just trying to stay alive, and a vague description of what would become of her in the end if matters were left unattended.
My anger returning, I asked intensely, “Hold on—you mean you knew that this would happen to her today, and you did not bother to tell me about it sooner? Or Lady Xakiah herself for that matter?!”
Ruffling his feathers, Archimedes flew from his perch to confront me directly and spat, “And what would you have us do, hmm? Go storming into that Nobody-infested castle with guns blazing and no battle plan to follow? Oh wait, that’s what you were planning to do just a few moments ago, weren’t you?”
“That’s quite enough, Archimedes!” shouted Merlin, breaking us from our death glares at each other. Producing a disappointed noise from his throat, Archimedes flew back to his perch and continued defiantly staring at me from there. Further angered by this, I was about to visually tell him what to do with himself when Merlin added, “That goes for you too, Etxel.”
“Yikes! And here I thought the relationship between Al and Iago was bad. Tell me Merlin, is this how they usually act with each other?” asked Genie cautiously.
“I wish it were just an act. I regret to say that those two have never been able to get along with each other from the day they laid eyes on one another.” grimly answered Merlin.
Looking away, I responded, “Well, maybe I would be on better terms with a certain feather-brain if he explained to me in detail why he loathes me so much.”
“Well,” countered Archimedes, “maybe I’d be on better terms with a certain moron if he started acting like the higher species he presumably is!”
“Quiet!” commanded Merlin right as we were about to begin with round two. “Honestly you two, this is not the time to be acting like children.” Listening to his advice, amidst my hysteria over the situation at hand, I took a few moments to force myself into a calmer state of mind before inquiring as to what he meant when he asked me to heal Lady Xakiah. “Good, I thought you might be interested.
“As I mentioned earlier, Xakiah’s mind was ripped apart during her recent skirmish. Truthfully, she could reassemble the pieces of her mind by herself without too many problems, but the process itself would require a lot of time. And unfortunately for her and the others that are trapped with her, time is the one thing they’ve just run out of.”
Interrupting, I shook my head saying, “Not necessarily, Merlin. The people who inhabit that castle are no pushovers, and many, including Lady Xakiah, have gotten out of tighter spots before.”
“That may be so, Etxel, but that won’t do them any good unless all of them pitch in to help one another. If they don’t, then all of them can expect a bitter end to their existence.”
“Do you know why this is happening?”
“Truthfully, no I don’t. What I do know is that the man behind this will stop at nothing until he achieves what he desires, and that many lives will be wasted in the process of such.”
Nowhere in my being could I find a reason to doubt those words. And why should I, when both he and the man I worked for were almost similar in those resolves? Bracing myself for whatever plan Merlin had concocted to aid Lady Xakiah in her hour of need, I urged Merlin to proceed.
Nodding, Merlin said, “Alright, here’s what I have in mind: right now, it would be suicide to send you directly into the castle itself to revive her, so instead I’m going to send you into her mind.”
To Be Continued
~Etxel
_______________________________________________________________________________
Hmm…I wasn’t intending on this turning into a three-parter…oh well! I can’t see this turning out any other way so I’ll just run with it and see how it goes. Anyway, I feel like being dramatic today so here’s a sneak preview of what’s coming up next! (*clears voice*)
Etxel has finally made his way into Xakiah’s mind, only to find that she’s in worse shape than Merlin thought. Not only can Xakiah barely make a comprehensible sentence, she can scarcely remember who Etxel even is! With these sort of odds stacked against him, combined with the threat of the Leader of Organization Oblivion possibly sensing this telepathic aid, how can Etxel possibly hope to accomplish his mission? Stay tuned for the next action-packed episode of Dragon Ball Z!
(Ha-ha! Made y’all look. XD Oh! Before I forget the answer to the last post on what the entrance Genie uses on his way in pays homage to a movie called Good Morning Vietnam which stared Robin Williams.)
