Ch 23: Altera Veritas Steals the Show

Separated from Scott, Saria is unknowingly in great peril as Altera Veritas is likely nearby. Sure enough, everyone comes face to face with Grave, who's invading the faire with copies of himself.

            After a good while of searching, Scott could not find Saria anywhere and was starting to think she might have already left the faire. As he was passing by the Big Top for the second time, Gibolu’s voice suddenly came blaring out of the speakers, saying, “The main event of Gibolu’s Traveling Circus is only a few minutes away everyone! Seating has already begun! Make sure you don’t miss our once in a lifetime show!” Wondering if she could have gone in to watch the show, he was about to head to the Big Top entrance when Mana’s voice called out, “Scott, Scott! Thank goodness, I’ve finally found you!” Rushing up to him, Mana panted for a little bit, and then started looking around as she said, “Where’s Saria? I have to warn her!” Alarmed, Scott said, “Warn her?! What happened?!” Looking hesitant, Mana pulled out the cards and said, “Well, nothing yet. It’s just… I did a fortune about something for her, but there was a card stuck to one of the other cards, a card that represented great danger!” Scott felt his blood turn cold as he saw the skull card, and he said, “Look, I’m not sure what’s going on but Saria ran off and we have to-” Quickly misunderstanding, Mana shouted at him, “Ran off?! You can’t seriously tell me you broke that poor girl’s heart?! I could tell from the moment I met her she’s felt so alone all her life! For her to reach out to you like this…” 

Waving his hands in front of himself, Scott exclaimed, “Hold on, hold on! What the heck is going on around here?! Break her heart?! What’s that about?!” Both relieved and frustrated, Mana said, “Scott, you’re a good person but you really need to pay more attention to some things! Saria likes you and has been trying to find the courage to express it…” Scott thought back to what she had been trying to say before she ran off, and as realization dawned on him, Scott looked dumbfounded as he thought to himself, “Saria…” Smiling in spite of the situation, Mana said, “Right now let’s just find her.” Nodding, Scott said, “I was just about to check the Big Top. Could you go find Serius and the others and tell them what’s going on? I can’t explain right now, but there may be something to this danger you’re talking about…”

            Inside the Big Top, where the many showcomers had already filed into the stands set up around the ring in the center of the enormous tent, Scott was looking up at the stands for Saria. Riding up to Scott on his unicycle, Gibolu suddenly called out, “Scott! This is terrible, just terrible! I cannot find Mana anywhere, and Ace won’t answer no matter how many times I call his room at the inn! The show can’t start without their acts! Oh what to do, what to do?!” Still looking through the stands, Scott said, “Sorry, but there’s been a slight problem, and Mana’s trying to help me find Saria.” Hanging his head, Gibolu said, “Oh I see…” Suddenly getting an idea, Gibolu said, “Wait! You’re a versatile fellow! If we put you and Dewie together, we can put on an opening act!” Looking at Gibolu as though he were mad, Scott said, “What?! Hold on, I don’t have time for-” Hopping off the unicycle, Gibolu ushered him towards the ring saying, “Oh please?! This is our big night! Surely you can leave it to Mana and once everything’s settled the show can go on, yes?” Heaving a sigh, Scott said, “Oh alright, but this better not take long!” 

Stepping into the ring with Gibolu, Scott looked around the stands again, thinking, “She’s not here after all. I guess she must have really gone back. I still can’t believe she’s actually…” His thoughts were cut short as a spotlight lighted on them and Gibolu’s voice rang through the Big Top, “Ladies and gentlemen, boy’s and girls of all ages, welcome one and all to the main event of Gibolu’s Traveling Circus! Tonight’s line up has changed somewhat due to unforeseen circumstances, and we will be hosting an opening act while the rest of the troupe is sorting things out.” Pointing over to the backstage doorway, as the spotlight fixed on that location, Gibolu said, “Please, let’s hear a big round of applause for Dewie the clown!” Bursting out of the backstage doorway on a bicycle with balloons tied to the front and back, Dewie rode towards the ring as the crowd cheered him, shouting, “Hey hey hey!” As Dewie rode up to Gibolu and Scott, Gibolu started to say, “Yes, and tonight he will have a very special guest assistant, Sco-” Sensing a dangerous aura, Scott saw something in the stands and quickly pushed Gibolu aside shouting, “Look out!” Sailing out of the stands, a black coffin landed hard on the place where Gibolu had been standing. Landing upright, it opened and a voice from within it said, “I’m afraid…” Stepping out of the coffin, as the door closed behind him, Grave said, “That the show is over…”

            Rushing through the fairgrounds, Mana arrived at the Kissing Booth to see Fox and Serius standing there talking to Mythra. Running up to them, she shouted, “Everyone, we have a problem!” Turning to her in concern, Serius said, “What’s happened?” Taking a breather, after a moment Mana said, “Saria’s run off, we…” Suddenly cutting her short, Fox shouted, “We’ve got company!” Dark vortexes forming all around them, as anomalies began rising from them, Mythra, Serius, and Fox readied themselves for battle. Backing away from a nearby anomaly, Mana stammered, “W-what’s going on?!” Fire sparking around his steel fist, Fox grinned and said, “Just stay back and leave this to the professionals!” Forming her Elementum Orbis, Mythra smirked and said, “Says the newbie…” Then a voice called out from the branches of a nearby tree, “You have more to worry about than my anomalies. Why don’t you just tell me where the girl is?” Looking up to see Grave standing in the branches of the tree, Fox said, “I thought so! You just don’t know when to give up!” Leaping up to where Grave stood on the tree, Fox launched a flaming punch at him, but Grave leaped away just as Fox incinerated the top of the tree in a fiery blast. Landing, Grave drew out his chains and said, “You’re one to talk…”

Whipping his chains around, as Fox leaped down out of the tree at Grave, the villain caught him in the grip of his chains and flung him hard into the side of another tree with crushing force. Meanwhile the anomalies were creeping in on Mana, Serius, and Mythra. Turning to Mythra, Serius said, “Take Mana and go find the others! Fox and I can handle this.” Looking disappointed, Mythra said, “Just when things were getting fun. Oh well, I guess since I’m the one who can fly…” Summoning her broom from its arcane rune circle, Mythra said, “Hop on Mana, we’re outta here!” Getting onto the broom, as it took off, Mana said, “Will they be alright?!” Looking back, Mythra said, “This is business as usual for us. I’m more worried about Scott and Saria!” Back on the ground, Serius formed his full Basilisk Armor, and as the anomalies closed in to strike, holes formed in his stone arms and he fired a powerful shockwave that blew away the ones in front of him. Attacking him from behind, another anomaly’s bladed arms failed to penetrate his armor, and whirling around Serius grabbed the anomaly by the head, crushed it, and flung it into the others. About to fire another shockwave to finish them, Grave’s chain wrapped around his arm, and as Serius looked back at him, Grave said, “I’ve heard tales of the power of the Lord of Mautau, but even the greatest rulers can fall.” Slumped against the tree, Fox groaned and thought, “He’s a lot stronger than I remember. If this is only one of his substitutions, this could get messy…”

            Sitting in a swing at the park playgrounds near the entrance to the park itself, Saria sobbed quietly to herself, “What am I doing?! Why did I run away?!” Then she heard someone say, “Why? Probably because you were scared.” Looking up, she saw Ace walking towards her. Stopping before her, he said, “Everyone gets scared sometimes.” Saria was surprised he was consoling her, having thought he was a rather uncaring person at times. Sniffling slightly, Saria said, “I guess so…” Taking a seat in the swing next to her, Ace said, “I was scared of something a long time ago, so I ran away from home. Feels like I’m still running. The thing is though, you can run as long as you like, but eventually you’ll end up regretting it. You’ll start thinking of how it would’ve turned out if you’d just done things different.” Still hesitant, Saria said, “But…” Standing back up, Ace said, “Take it from a guy who knows, you only get so many chances in this world.” Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approaching sounded through the playground, and a voice called out, “Wise words…” Saria’s blood ran cold as she saw Grave approaching them. Chains dragging across the ground as he walked, Grave said, “But it’s already too late. This brat is coming with me.” Stepping between Grave and Saria, Ace drew out his knife and said, “Get lost. I don’t care who you are, no one causes trouble at our faire!” With a slight laugh, Grave said, “Shadowstep.” Disappearing and reappearing behind him, as Ace turned around in surprise, Grave struck him in the gut with a ghostly punch charged with spirit energy that seemed to drain the strength from his body. Eyes wide as he buckled over, Ace managed to look at Saria and choke, “Run…” After a moment of hesitation, Saria bolted from the playground, yet Grave raised an arm at her and said, “Not so fast!” A chain shot from his sleeve and flew after Saria, wrapping around her ankle. Falling face first on the grass, as the chain pulled her back, Saria turned over and pulled out her compact bow. Quickly unfolding it and pulling the string back, an arrow of wind formed and she shouted, “Go away!” As she released the string, the wind arrow shot out at Grave.

            Forming Levitas Curator, Scott shouted at Gibolu and Dewie, “Get yourselves out of here, it’s dangerous!” Getting up after Scott had knocked him out of harms way, Gibolu said, “But the show…” Then taking a look at Grave, he quickly changed his mind and said, “R-right! Dewie, let us make a hasty retreat!” As the two made for the backstage door, Grave stared at Scott and said “Where is the girl?” Scott stared him down and said, “I’m not telling you anything! Just leave Saria alone!” Suddenly seeming distracted by something, Grave muttered to himself, “One of the others was…” Rushing at Grave, Levitas Curator scraping on the ground, Scott swung powerfully at his opponent. Leaping high out of harms way and landing gracefully on top of his coffin, Grave drew throwing stars from inside his cloak and flung them at Scott. Scott tried to deflect them, but they attached themselves to Levitas Curator, and as Scott tried to shake them off they exploded. Blown across the ring and dropping Levitas Curator, Scott slammed into the side of one of the stands. Many of the show comers were still in the stands, unaware that this was not part of the show, and they murmured amongst themselves. 

As he got up, Scott quickly leaped aside as a chain with a large weight attached to it slammed into the side of the stands. Retracting his chain as Scott called Levitas Curator back to his hand as a lightning bolt, Grave quickly jumped behind the coffin and sent it flying at Scott with a powerful kick. Barely ducking under it, Scott looked back as the coffin crashed into the side of the stands and burst open, a torrent of sand beginning to pour out of it. Sweeping across the ring like a wave of water, Scott raised his lightning barrier and managed to stand his ground as the sand filled the whole ring. Certain that if it were not for his barrier he would be buried up to his neck in sand, Scott lowered the barrier and jumped out of the hole in the sand created by the barrier’s presence, only to find Grave had disappeared. Then all around him from the sand chains burst out and moving like constrictor snakes they wrapped themselves tightly around Scott, binding him in place. Rising from the sand, chains in hand, Grave raised a hand as though summoning something as he said, “Game over brat…” Then the sand rose up like a wave and quickly came crashing down on top of Scott.

            Chains bursting out of his sleeve, as they twisted around Serius’s arms and body, Grave pulled on them powerfully, attempting to swing Serius around. Digging in his heels, Serius struggled for a moment against them. Finally forming holes all over his Basilisk Armor, Serius released a massive sonic blast from his armor that shattered the chains. Leaping into the air, Serius came down with a powerful punch, but Grave simply muttered, “Shadowstep.” Disappearing like a fading shadow, Grave appeared behind Serius as he came down and slapped a piece of paper with a charm upon it against Serius’ back. Before Serius could even look back, Grave said, “Pyre Seal.” The piece of paper unleashed a massive explosion from itself in Serius’ direction. Yet quite unfazed, Serius turned about and slammed his fist into Grave’s face, sending him flying. Picking himself up off the ground as Serius strode towards him, Grave muttered, “As expected of another earth armor user…” Creating a mass of EDE, Grave formed his coffin. Setting it down and opening the door, he simply stepped inside it and the door closed behind him. Unsure what to make of this, Serius raised an arm and prepared to fire a shockwave at the coffin. Suddenly the coffin rose into the air and began to float in a circular orbit around Serius, and soon it split into two more coffins that circled around Serius. As the coffins stopped so that they formed a triangular pattern around Serius, Grave’s voice called out, “You’re an ethereal being. It takes more to actually harm you, even without your Basilisk Armor. Trying to fight you would be a lot of trouble, so I think I’ll simply take you out of the game…” 

Having managed to stand, Fox shouted, “Serius! Look out!” The doors of the coffins burst open and out of them shot chains of spirit energy with multiple paper seals attached to them. They quickly wrapped around Serius, glowing brightly. Then out of the first coffin, Grave rushed up to Serius and placed a hand on his back as he said, “Ghost Seal!” Serius dropped to his knees as the chains vanished in a ghostly flash. Rushing to his aid, Fox channeled EDE into his hands and shot a rain of fireballs at Grave, who quickly backed off and leaped away to avoid. Reaching Serius, Fox said, “You alright?!” Struggling to get up, Serius said, “It was some form of seal. An effective attack upon an ethereal being such as myself… It will take time to undo, and my strength is almost completely gone.” Gathering EDE, Grave called out to Fox, “A weakling like you should worry about yourself Fox…” Rushing at Grave, Fox indignantly shouted, “Who’s a weakling?!” As Fox drew near him, Grave simply raised a hand and the ground rose beneath him rose up into the air. 

Face planting into the side of the risen ground, as Fox backed away he looked up at Grave. Now standing atop a high cliff above the ground where Fox and Serius stood, Grave clenched his raised hand and Fox felt he ground quaking beneath his feet. As he and Serius struggled to remain standing, from all around the area rocks burst out of the ground and floated into the air, some small and some rather large. Starting to swirl around the area as though they were pieces of debris in a tornado, as they whirled around faster and faster, Grave called out, “My Stone Fury will break your Basilisk Armor to pieces soon enough, Serius the Unbound! And that says little for your chances traitor…” Knocking medium sized rocks away as they came at him, Fox said to Serius, “Well this is fun! Got any plans?” Thinking quickly, Serius said, “I am too weak chase him up there, but I can sustain the damage for awhile. I will remain and do what I can from afar while you make your way up there. Larger rocks seem to move slower, use them as stepping stones.” Wincing as a small rock grazed his cheek, Fox said, “Simple plan… I like it!” Leaping into the air, Fox landed on a floating rock, and dodging flying rocks he began leaping from rock to rock as he made his way towards Grave. Then suddenly a bolt of spirit energy shot at him and he quickly leaped onto another rock to avoid. Standing atop his perch, which rested just above the top of the swirling stone storm, as he channeled more EDE into his hands, Grave called out, “Just try and reach me!”

            Leaping from rock to rock avoiding spirit blasts, getting covered in cuts from flying rocks, Fox muttered, “So much for simple! I dunno if I can keep this up! I could use Arma Fusile, but seems like a real waste considering there’s no way that’s the real Grave…” Suddenly, orbs of light floated up around Fox and began shooting down rocks and energy bolts with laser beams. Looking down, Fox saw Serius holding Aer Dominus, and he flashed a grin as he called down to Serius, “Good thinkin’ partner!” Seeing Fox moving quickly after him with his vanguard of light orbs, Grave muttered, “Blasted traitor…” Leaping again, Fox sailed above Grave and shouted, “Ain’t I a pain?!” Leaping back as Fox came down with a powerful explosive punch, Grave flung a chain at him. Grasping the chain in his hand, Fox tugged on it powerfully and pulled Grave off balance and into range for an explosive punch. Blasted off the cliff by by an explosive punch to the face, Grave landed flat on his back on a floating rock. 

Fox chased after him quickly, but as he came down on him with another attack, Grave lifted his legs into the air and struck Fox in the gut with a double kick. Standing up, Grave shouted, “I’ve reinforced my Sandstone Armor to withstand your explosive strikes! You won’t penetrate my defenses as easily as last time!” Grabbing onto a floating rock as he fell through the rock storm, as Fox pulled himself up, he grumbled, “He’s not kidding, that was tough s**t! Felt like I was punching the hardest rock you ever saw…” Willing some of his orbs after Grave, as rocks continued to chip away at his armor, Serius thought, “Something feels amiss here. While we are his enemies, we are not his objective. I’ve been sensing strange traces of EDE as well. Is he simply stalling us?” Dodging the laser beams that Serius’ light orbs were raining down on him, Grave moved stone to stone with Fox in hot pursuit, both exchanging bolts of fire and spirit energy. Then from Grave’s sleeves, dozens of chains slithered through the air and coiled around any rock they could find, and as Grave hurled rock after rock at Fox with his chains, Fox began punching his way through them. Leaping to another rock as one of Serius’ orbs blew the one on which he stood to bits, Grave grabbed yet another rock to hurl at Fox. Leaping through the air, Fox destroyed the rock and sailed at Grave with his fist ready, but quickly the villain’s chains wrapped around him, and Grave said triumphantly, “You’re mine!” Swinging Fox around and around, Grave slammed Fox into rock after rock after rock. Swinging Fox into one last rock, Grave relinquished his chains’ grip on him, and after crashing painfully into the rock, Fox tumbled out of the sky to land hard on his back down on the ground. His body aching, Fox muttered, “Damn, I’m not doin too good…”