The TSD Kids:

The Adventurer’s Agency

Lv. 34

The Way to the Sky

Last time, Tracy and I fell into an underground area in SpicyChili Desert. While navigating the halls we ran into many a rusty robot. We then found the main area, where lots of houses were situated. An ancient database told us that it was all the former home of a society entrusted with protecting the Suzaku Medallion from Xylos. Just as we learned this, we accidentally set off the defense units, the same rusty robots. We managed to survive the horde and escape the underground city altogether, but as we were on the ground, powerless, a shadow looms behind us! Is it a robot? Did one somehow escape getting pwned just to do away with us?

Just as it says, we feared the worst was gonna happen. We knew how strong those robots were!

T: “There’s no way we can let it go down like this…!”

Tracy: “Hey, green boy… I mean, T… there’s something I’ve wanted to say to you… something I’ve wanted to say for some time, actually… I… I…”

“What are you two doing??”

Tracy: “I… think we’re gonna be okay…?”

We turned around to see who it was. A girl, no older than us, stood before us. Her green and yellow two-piece outfit looked so beachside chic and somewhat Middle Eastern at the same time.

Tracy: “Where’d you come from?!”

“Who are you, and what are you doing out in this desert? You must not have heard how dangerous this place is…”

Tracy: “We’re not here cause we wanna be!”

T: “We were dropped here. And we have Xylos to blame for…”

“Xylos?! How do you know of Xylos?”

T: “I could ask you the same thing.”

“There are only four other people outside my family that I know of that know about Xylos. The first one is a blue-haired swordsman…”

Tracy: “(Thinking) Blue-haired swordsman? Does she mean Harold?”

“…The second is a young Dark Magic user, with a troubled childhood…”

Tracy: “(Thinking) That’s Nadia…”

“…The third is an overly lovesick ninja girl…”

Tracy: “(Thinking) That has to be Usagi! She’s nuts for T! So wait, how does she know those three?”

“…And the fourth… is the chosen one.”

Tracy: “…Chosen one, huh?”

Tracy and I already knew it was me she was referring to, though she herself did not realize it yet.

“Yes, the chosen one. He, who bears a shining green sword.”

T: “You mean a green sword… like this?”

I showed her the Emerald Sword.

“But that’s…! You’re…!”

T: “Yep. It’s real nice to see you again!”

“T… your being here again must be a sign… or… perhaps you just wanted to visit me?”

Tracy: “Just who are you??”

“Come, both of you. We should talk in a more comfortable setting.”

T: “Okay then.”

We walked along with the girl through the sand.

“I can’t believe how much taller you’ve gotten.”

T: “Everyone says that. I know Harold did.”

“So who is this person with you? Her blue hair… is she the demon hunter’s sister or something?”

Tracy: “No! And I still don’t know who you are!”

Sari: “I suppose we forgot about introductions. My name is Sari. And you are…?”

Tracy: “I’m Tracy. So you actually live out here?”

Sari: “Yes.”

Tracy: “So that must explain the bus. People actually do live out here!”

Sari: “We don’t just live out here. There is a town.”

T: “When we landed here, it was my first time hearing about the bus too.”

Sari: “That bus transports people between the village and the area just outside the desert. What do you mean by ‘landed’?”

T: “Look! I see the town.”

Sari: “Yes, here it is; this is RedWing Village. My house isn’t too far off…”

Tracy: “Finally, a town! For a moment, I thought we were finished!”

T: “Speaking of which… hey, Tracy, remember when we thought our games were gonna end a few minutes ago, and you were about to say something real important to me?”

Tracy: “What about it?”

T: “I thought you were so caught up in the moment, I thought you were probably gonna say something like you love me or something! Ha, ha!”

Tracy: “Uh… yeah! Heh, heh… how silly does that sound? Um… (Sigh…)”

Even though we finally reached civilization, it was still quite hot. We made it to her house.

T: “It smells very nice in here. Is that some sort of perfume?”

Sari: “Yes, it’s one of my favorites. Now what were you saying about landing in the desert?”

T: “Believe it or not, we were miles away when this happened to us!”

Tracy: “We were on a beach talking about the Medallions when this black creature runs by!”

T: “We tried to defeat it, but it did something to warp us away to this desert.”

Sari: “This creature… was there a red X on it?”

Tracy: “Of course! It’s connected to Xylos, right?”

Sari: “I can’t imagine how all this is happening. And after we destroyed him, too…”

Tracy: “Wait, you mean you…?”

T: “It’s true. Sari is the fourth person. She helped me get the Suzaku Medallion.”

Sari: “I still remember the day we met. We didn’t exactly get along at first.”

T: “True, but as for the whole destroying Xylos bit... not exactly.”

Sari: “Pardon?”

T: “We didn’t destroy him as I thought I did.”

Sari: “So it’s true… I did see signs of his influence recently.”

Tracy: “You’re not the only one. Green boy here dealt with a town completely covered in spider webs!”

Sari: “Spider webs would be better compared to the state of things here. Xylos’ minions have been running around here and there, but the townspeople, not knowing about Xylos, pass them off as monsters of the desert. Aside from that, the temperature seems to be increasing little by little out in this desert. Everyone here is suffering from the heat.”

T: “Oh no…”

Sari: “Even with fans and AC’s, it seems they just can’t escape the heat.”

Tracy: “But it feels so nice and cool in here! Cold, even!”

T: “And the AC isn’t even on. What’s up?”

Sari: “…I must admit, I have been using something extra to keep cool. Hold on…”

Sari left the room briefly, and then came back in holding a blue rod.

Sari: “Does this look familiar?”

T: “Oh! This is the Chilly Scepter!”

She placed it in my hands. Just holding it made me feel cool all over.

Tracy: “Chilly Scepter?”

Sari: “This rod is imbued with the power of ice. We found this and used it to help us get the Medallion.”

Tracy: “Oh… I know how you used it! You must’ve used it to freeze all those stupid robots when you went underground!”

Sari: “Excuse me? I’m sorry, but the Suzaku Medallion wasn’t underground.”

Tracy: “But where we were just now…! It was…”

Sari: “Where exactly were you just now?”

T: “We fell into this underground area, see? While fighting off a ton of old robots, we found a big room, with lots of houses and an old database of some sort.”

Tracy: “It was called…”

Sari: “The Firebird Civilization.”

Tracy: “Y-yeah, how’d you know?”

Sari: “The descendants of that civilization formed RedWing Village. But as I was saying about the Medallion, we did not find it underground. In fact, it was the total opposite.”

Tracy: “Opposite? What do you mean?”

T: “She means the sky. It was high in the sky, of all places!”

Tracy: “Are you sure you know what you’re saying? How could you find it in the sky?”

Sari: “Not even I am too certain of how it happened, but that is where we found it.”

Tracy: “But if that ancient civilization was given the Medallion to keep until the Chosen one…”

T: “Yo.”

Tracy: “…Arrives, then why wasn’t it down there? Why wasn’t anyone down there, as a matter of fact?”

Sari: “I am actually glad you two have come so unexpectedly. Maybe now I can find a way to solve the problem to this heat wave and the monsters, as expected by everyone here.”

T: “They… asked you to solve it?”

Sari: “Ever since the events we went through together, I’ve actually become somewhat of a town guardian.”

Tracy: “They consider you a hero?”

Sari: “According to them… yes, they do.”

T: “Imagine how we feel! You know about the TSD Kids, right?”

Sari: “I have. I never thought it was you that was part of that group, T. Let me just get my weapon…”

Opening a chest, she pulled out two things. The first was a single-edged sword that was curved at the tip. She fixed the broad edged sword to her back. The second was a necklace with large dark green beads. She put this around her neck.

Sari: “Okay, I’m ready.”

Tracy: “Where are you going?”

Sari: “Where we’re going is down to where you two were, to where the Firebird Civilization once lived.”

T: “Sounds fine by me.”

Tracy: “No it doesn’t! What about all those robots we faced? We nearly bought the farm!”

T: “Maybe it’ll be different this time.”

Tracy: “It better be.”

Tracy walked outside, leaving the two of us standing there.

Sari: “She’s very short-tempered, isn’t she?”

T: “Eh, not entirely. Once you get to know her, she’s really nice! Just don’t piss her off…”

Sari: “I see…”

We then headed out.

Meanwhile…

Eiji: “Okay… The Weather Tower?”

Kayin: “Searched it. Not there.”

Eiji: “Sinkhole Swamp?”

Rick: “That’s a negative. I even checked around the mansion! Good thing Javier the Hunter wasn’t in…”

By now, the others were still trying to find where Tracy and I were. Everyone had split up to search in a wider range, and met back at home to compare their findings.

Eiji: “How about LavaReef City?”

Sofia: “I even looked in the spa! Not there.”

Cotton: “(Just for the record, I did a sweep of the town. Sofia’s the one who spent two hours ‘searching’ the spa!)”

Sofia: “What? You don’t possibly think I’d shirk responsibility??”

Sho: “Well, according to T, you and the other girls were all hyped up about it the first time it opened…”

Nadia: “Who is to say that you would not fancy another visit?”

Sofia: “Well, I never! How dare you all question my integrity?!”

Eiji: “Guys, guys, we’re going off track! Now… Fridgy Valley?”

Sean: “My friend Rico didn’t see them.”

Eiji: “GreenMountain Village?”

Nadia: “It would be unwise to check there. T’s mother might not take this news lightly. But despite that, no they’re not there. I checked.”

Eiji: “Cobalt Island?”

Ellis: “That’s where they disappeared, Eiji!”

Eiji: “Right, right, I gotta reorganize this better…”

Eiji was sitting in front of the TSD Terminal, recording everything so far.

Eiji: “Let’s see… counting Heatness Ridge, which I personally checked… that’s everywhere!”

T-na: “Everywhere?”

Eiji: “Yes.”

T-na: “Everywhere??”

Eiji: “Yes!”

T-na: “Everywhere, meaning the places we visited while searching for the Stones, the places we visited while chained together, and the places we wrote to T about when we were headed to the nonexistent ‘tournament’? That ‘everywhere’??”

Eiji: “YES!!”

T-na: “…Just checkin’…”

Harold: “We’re tapped of options. By now, it’s more than safe to assume that they’re somewhere you guys haven’t been to.”

Sho: “And where would that be?”

At that moment, the doorbell rang!

Ellis: “Someone’s at the door! I’ll get it!”

After going upstairs, Ellis opened the door.

Ellis: “Who is it?”

“Well, well! Lady Ellis, how are you today?”

Ellis: “What?”

She knew only one person that addresses her like that!

Ellis: “(Gasp!) Usagi! W-what brings you here? H-how’d you get here??”

Usagi: “Don’t you remember? Cherry Blossom’s intelligence system can get info anywhere! I know where you live!”

Ellis: “You know, if you weren’t a girl, that last statement you made would be very scary. I still feel like my privacy’s being invaded!”

Usagi: “Hehe, sorry!”

Ellis: “Come in! So, did you become successor of the village?”

Usagi: “Yep! I passed the test easy! So this is your house…”

Ellis: “Great, isn’t it?”

Usagi: “It’s nicer than the intelligence ninjas described. Sometimes they space on the details…”

Ellis: “Come see the basement; the others are downstairs!”

They went back down, where the others were.

Kayin: “Hey, who’s your friend? Why is she dressed like a ninja?”

Usagi: “That’s because I am one!”

Sho: “Her name’s Usagi.”

Nadia: “Usagi… I remember you…”

Usagi: “You’re here too, Nadia? Long time no see!”

Nadia: “Likewise.”

Cotton the Bunny: “(Hi there!)”

Usagi: “Aah! A talking bunny!! You girls weren’t lying!”

Sofia: “This is Cotton. He’s very smart for a bunny, you know.”

Usagi: “He’s cute.”

Cotton: “(Heh, heh!)”

Blushing slightly, she put her hands behind her back, as if she were expecting something, then said,

Usagi: “So… where’s T…? I came initially cause I wanted to see him…”

Rick: “Uh, excuse us for a moment…”

As she went to pet Cotton, the others spoke in secret.

Rick: “What’s her deal, huh? She’s gotten all red in the face…”

Sho: “It would seem she’s quite taken with T.”

T-na: “You mean she likes him? Does he know?”

Sean: “No.”

Sofia: “Y’know, I find it really annoying when she tries to rub it in.”

Harold: “She was only stressing that fact to you, Ellis and Tracy…”

Sofia: “Whatever. Believe it or not, she is Reina’s younger sister…”

T-na: “Really?”

Rick: “I didn’t know that.”

Sofia: “Believe it. Now, what if we were to tell her what Reina did to T during their little sparring session?”

Sho: “Do you mean when she…?”

Sofia: “Don’t say it! I hate thinking about it…”

Ellis: “I don’t think any of us should say it. She’d go nuts… not just at us, but Reina as well!”

Sean: “Ugh… she might even go as far as to break the arm I worked so hard to make for Reina…”

Kayin: “Okay, okay, so we keep that under our lids, but we might as well tell her about what happened now…”

Nadia: “Seeing as she’s friends with him too, it’s only fair.”

Usagi: “What’s only fair?”

Sofia: “Aah!”

Everyone jumped in surprise! Usagi was standing right behind them!

Eiji: “Uh… how much did you hear?”

Usagi: “Nothing really… so where’s T? I wanna see him!”

T-na: “We’ll tell you, but it’ll bum you out…”

…

Usagi: “WHAT?! T and the angry girl are missing?!”

Eiji: “Her name’s Tracy, y’know…”

Usagi: “I know, but T’s lost??”

It was clear to see she was upset.

Usagi: “Ohh, first he gets turned into a scarecrow, now this!”

Sofia: “Turned into a what-now??”

All eyes were on Ellis.

Ellis: “…What?? You didn’t have to mention that, y’know! I didn’t tell them yet!”

Sofia: “That can be explained later, but it’s true. T and Tracy are clearly in parts unknown to us.”

Usagi: “H-have you searched everywhere?”

Cotton: “(We checked everywhere to the fullest extent possible, but we came up empty.)”

Upon seeing the little bunny’s ears hang down sadly, she knelt down and said,

Usagi: “Don’t worry, little bunny! We’ll find T!”

Cotton: “(…And Tracy…)”

Usagi: “Right! Her too… so you all really have no options left?”

Harold: “Afraid so. All the places they’ve visited, and there’s no sign of them anywhere.”

Usagi: “Well… maybe I can help…”

Nadia: “How?”

Usagi: “I managed to get here because I received information on where you live. My village’s intelligence system can get that sort of info, easy!”

Kayin: “Sounds interesting. We’re listening…”

Usagi: “Some of my fellow ninjas are out there surveying the land and gathering whatever info they deem useful. It’s how we come to find out about lots of things! Of course, we try not to misuse anything dangerous or inappropriate.”

Rick: “So with their help, we’d be able to find our friends?”

Usagi: “Sure! I’d do anything to help!”

Sofia: “That’s great. Uh, I didn’t really see last time we were there, but, your village does have phones or videophones, right?”

Usagi: “Of course! What place doesn’t?”

Sho: “You can call your friends so they can…”

Usagi: “Oh! Gotcha, I see! So how do I use this thing?”

Sean: “I’ll dial it for you.”

So while they call on Cherry Blossom Village’s information retrieval network, they all still wonder just what is happening with Tracy and me?

Meanwhile, Tracy, Sari, and I were making our way through the desert. In some time, we got so far we couldn’t even see the town.

Tracy: “I can’t believe we’re out here again…”

Sari: “You wouldn’t be saying that if you’ve lived out here. Now, how did you enter the underground area?”

Tracy: “We just fell in a hole!”

Sari: “Is that all?”

T: “First we got sucked into the sand.”

Sari: “So the entrance is under the sand. The question is… where?”

We looked around. We then let out a sigh, out of sheer hopelessness.

Tracy: “At this rate, it could be anywhere!”

T: “That’s for certain… huh?”

Sari: “What is it?”

T: “Look here!”

We saw an inky black mess on the ground.

Sari: “Is this oil??”

T: “Yep. Motor oil. Tracy, remember when the bus we were on conked out?”

Tracy: “Oh yeah! The guy had to have fixed it, so, he’s obviously long gone by now.”

T: “Aside from that fact, get this, Sari. We went to help a boy who was confronted by a robot. After beating it, we stood to close to it, it exploded, and it sent us a-flying. That’s when we landed in the sand pit that dumped us down under!”

Sari: “So it’s not too far from here?”

T: “It shouldn’t be! It’s just over the hill!”

Remembering it to best of our ability, we went up and over the hill, and went forward a few yards until…

Sari: “Watch it!”

T: “Whoa!”

Sari grabbed my collar before I fell.

Sari: “You nearly landed in this sand trap.”

T: “Oh. Hold on!”

Tracy: “This is it! The one we fell in!”

T: “Well, last one in is a rotten cactus. Don’t forget to keep your mouth closed!”

We jumped in.

Just as we thought, we landed in a stone hallway in another cascade of sand.

Sari: “Now that we’re down here, let’s look for that database you found. What was it like?”

T: “You gotta see it! It was all big and see-through; words don’t do it justice!”

Tracy: “The entire area was a sight to see! You mean to say you’ve never been down here?”

Sari: “I’ve only read of the Firebird Civilization, from ancient texts and tomes.”

Navigating the pathways, we made our way to the Central Room.

Tracy: “Here it is!”

Sari: “This room is huge! But of course, it should be… in order to house the many people that lived here…”

T: “Let’s make our way down.”

Using the Glove ‘n Chain, I grabbed onto something overhead and lowered us all down. When we reached the metallic flooring…

Sari: “What in the world…?”

Sari looked at all the bits and pieces of robots that lay about, due to the explosive attack I pulled off.

Sari: “What caused all this?”

T: “Need I remind you that we did come through here before?”

Tracy: “We took care of all the robots!”

I took a look at one of the wrecked robots.

T: “I don’t believe it… even these robots have no wires or circuits! What’re they running on?”

Sari: “Magic, it would seem.”

T: “How so?”

Sari: “Look here.”

Kneeling next to me, she pulled something out of the robot’s stone/metal hull. It was cracked and glowing faintly.

Sari: “I’ve read that they infuse these cores with magic and use them like we would use batteries.”

The glow then faded.

T: “Huh… outta juice. They really are like batteries.”

Tracy: “Strange… yet they sounded so much like machinery…”

Sari: “I’ll hold onto this for now. What’s done is done, let’s see the main room.”

We made our way to the central building and walked in. Sari saw the tiled emblem in the middle.

Sari: “This is supposed to be Suzaku… hard to believe that in here is in such good condition…”

Tracy: “Unless you count the dust.”

T: “Sari, check it out.”

Sari: “So this is the database… amazing…”

T: “From here, you can actually regulate the power output to the city.”

I motioned my hand to press a button, but Tracy held me back, saying,

Tracy: “Wait! What if we set off some freaky security again? Fighting a horde of old robots again is not at the top of my to-do list!”

T: “We wrecked them all, remember? Let’s try anyway. If I recall, we were looking at something on this thing called ‘History of our Ancient Civilization’…”

Sari: “Please find it. I wish to know what the old texts have failed to tell me about the Medallion.”

I flipped through the files until…

T: “Ah-ha! Here it is!”

“This is the underground city of the Firebird Civilization…”

Let’s just fast forward a little…

“…We were entrusted with the Medallion of the Red Phoenix; named the Suzaku Medallion. The Ancient Ones handed it down to us, for we were to protect it from the one who bears the red X…”

Sari: “I see…”

Fast forward a bit more…

Tracy: “Here’s the part we heard before the alarms went off!”

“But sadly, complications began to settle in… the one who bears the X, known as Xylos tried his hardest to try to obtain the Medallion… Because of this, we had no choice but to leave it up to the heavens…”

T: “They just resigned themselves?”

Tracy: “Pfft, quitters…”

Sari: “There’s more!”

“Before our time, our ancestors, more proficient in the ways of magic, created a home for themselves at an amazing altitude. Knowing of such a place, we had the Medallion sent up there, before Xylos could take it. But even so, he still felt he had to wreak havoc. We knew our way of life might’ve come to an end before the Chosen One came, but to think it would be so soon…”

Tracy: “How sad…”

Sari: “Just remember, there were survivors. That’s how RedWing Village came to be.”

“Before we leave this world, we will pass on helpful advice, should the Chosen One make his way here and see this. To get to where the Ancient Ones lived, there is something we call the ‘Stone Launcher’. This device of our design will ensure that the Chosen One can find his way to the Suzaku Medallion, now nestled within Phoenix Towers.”

Sari: “Okay… That settles things. That’s our next destination.”

Tracy: “Where?”

Sari: “Where else? Back to where we found the Medallion! We’re going to Phoenix Towers!”

T: “Wow, really?”

Tracy: “What do you mean, ‘wow, really’? You both said it’s in the air!”

T/Sari: “We know.”

Tracy: “So humor me; how in the world did you two get to Phoenix Towers in the first place?”

T: “Let’s see… um… ah! We took a hot air balloon there!”

Tracy: “…Really?”

T: “Well… not all the way there…”

“We were just thankful that we had that stretching item of yours,” said Sari, indicating the Glove n’ Chain.

Tracy: “The Glove n’ Chain? What of it?”

Sari: “At the time, Xylos must’ve known we were coming for the Suzaku Medallion.”

T: “But of course, how could he not, seeing as I already nabbed the other three!”

Sari: “Many of his minions were flying around Phoenix Towers. We nearly got shot down. They tore an unsightly hole in the balloon.”

T: “Just before we lost too much altitude, I managed to latch on to something and reel us in!”

Tracy: “Sounds… exciting.”

T: “Your face says otherwise. Worried, are we?”

Tracy: “It’s just… it not too high up, is it?”

T: “So! Should we see about taking another hot air balloon up there, Sari?”

Sari: “Sadly, the man that operates the balloons has retired from it. No one has taken it on ever since that day.”

Tracy: “Then how will we get up there?”

T: “Hmm…”

Thinking about this, I flipped through other files on the database until…

T: “Say… what’s this?”

Tracy/Sari: “What is it, T?”

T: "There’s a ‘file’ here that says ‘Stone Launcher’, and it asks whether or not to activate.”

Sari: “That’s the tool they used to get to Phoenix Towers initially.”

Tracy: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained, try it!”

When I pressed the button to start it, a loud rumbling followed!

T: “W-what’s happening??”

Tracy: “This place may be old, but it b-better not be falling apart!!”

Sari: “It s-sounds like it coming from outside!”

T: “If you mean ‘aboveground’ outside, there’s a lift we used to get out of here!”

As the place shook furiously, we ran to the lift and took it up to the little round hatch.

Tracy: “It’s like the whole desert is shaking!”

We stood out on the sand as the entire area shook.

T: “Hey… I see something coming out of the sand!”

Slowly, a long gray thing emerged and stretched along the ground like a snake!

Sari: “It’s a stone path…”

Then the ground under us rose to form a square floor connected to the long path.

T: “A path, huh? Paths were meant to be followed!”

We ran down the stone path. Though it was quite long, there was an end to it. It stopped at a small body of water with palm trees around it.

Tracy: “What’s this place?”

Sari: “This oasis has been around for many years. I always came here to play. This is actually where T and I first met. But why did the path lead here?”

T: “Look!”

The stone path curved until it went around the oasis completely. Then another large stone floor rose. It opened up like a hatch, and a large stone ‘something’ rose up! It looked very tall and imposing.

T: “What is it?”

Sari: “Can it be the Stone Launcher?”

It stood tall over the oasis and the palm trees that decorated it. We moved in for a closer look.

Tracy: “They used this to get up there? It looks like a stone bird. They’re really hung up on the whole bird thing, eh?”

T: “I guess so. But there is a reason why it’s called the Firebird Civilization…”

Tracy: “Which is…?”

T: “I dunno.”

Tracy: “Hmm. What’s this writing engraved here?”

T: “It's more of that old text!”

Sari: “Let me see… ‘The way to Phoenix Towers lies in the Stone Launcher. Enter from its back and fly like a bird’…”

Tracy: “Its back?”

T: “Hey, check it out!”

I had hopped up on top of it.

Sari: “What are you doing up there? That thing is a relic!”

T: “No, check it! There’s a hatch up here!”

Tracy: “Really?”

T: “Uh-huh. ‘Enter from its back and fly like a bird’!”

I jumped down. After transforming, I lifted the two girls and floated back onto the stone bird’s back.

Sari: “How did you…? I see you’ve found yourself some new skills since we last met.”

T: “Yep!”

I opened the hatch and said,

T: “Everyone in!”

Inside the Stone Launcher…

Tracy: “Hey, it’s dark in here!”

Sari: “Well, as advanced as the Firebird Civilization was, I don’t think they had lights like we do back then, Tracy. Whatever lights they did have were magically powered!”

T: “I think I can shed some light. At least it isn’t cramped in here.”

I illuminated the chamber with the Flash WristBands.

T: “Say, here’s another button! It probably turns this thing on too!”

I pressed it with all speed.

Tracy: “Here’s more of that funny writing!”

Sari: “It’s the same as the inscription outside, but there’s more… ‘The way to Phoenix Towers lies in the Stone Launcher. Enter from its back and fly like a bird. Please remember that this is the only way to get to Phoenix Towers. This tool, while infused with magic and ahead of our time, is basically what those outside our home call a ‘cannon’. Happy Landings’… A… cannon?”

T/Tracy: “I see… (Gasp!)”

A cannon… of all of the things to go in, why a cannon?!

Sari: “We’re in a cannon. Oh dear…”

Tracy: “We’re in a cannon?! Oh crap!!”

T: “We’re in a cannon… Oh, not again…”

The bird cannon tilted itself skyward. It opened its beak and then…

BOOM!!

Well, it seems we’re on our way to where we want to go! But honestly, why a cannon? I mean, come on!