Tales of a Lost World 5E

Part 3 of 3. Main story will resume on January 11, 2007.

Phoneme Series #5 Holiday Special! End!

“Kidnapped?!” Gwen gasps, dashing to the side of the panicking Happyville Ranger.

Arai turns to glance at Ryuu, raising an eyebrow. Ryuu returns the glance, and Arai nods subtly, turning his attention back to Gwen and the male ranger.

“Yes,” the Happyville Ranger mutters urgently, “this ransom note was left behind.”

“Impossible,” Gwen whispers, as she grabs the letter the other ranger gives her. “Why would he want to capture Santa Claus, of all people…”

“He?” the ranger asks wonderingly.

“Anan. The one claiming to be from an ancient clan named the Shalom. He’s the one who’s been causing all this trouble, and the one responsible for this too,” Ryuu answers for him.

Gwen folds the letter silently, clutching it tightly in her hands, as she tries to hold back tears. “Damn it…”

“What does the letter say, Gwen?” Ayame asks from behind.

Gwen opens the letter again, glaring at it. “He’s asking for someone to give him something called the ‘Town Hall Records.’ If we give it to him, he says he’ll let Santa go.”

“That bastard,” Ryuu growls. “What did Santa ever do to him?!”

“Let’s go catch him,” Kunai mutters. “The quicker we beat him, the less damage will be caused.”

“We have to hurry, though,” Gwen replies urgently.

“How come?” Arai asks.

“Today’s December 24th. Christmas Eve.”

A solemn silence falls among the group gathered within the lodge for some time, as they ponder this bit of information. Finally, Ryuu speaks up. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll beat the stuffing out of this guy and have Santa back in no time. Come on, let’s go!”

“Yeah!” the others agree.

Out in the middle of the snow-blasted woods, a Paradox floats lazily across the skyline, its fearsome dragonish wings marked with frosty razors of bitter ice.

In a clearing far below stands a large cave, its entrance partially obscured by blocks of ice. All around the perimeter of the clearing stand evergreen trees, heavily covered in snow.

Out of a forlorn trail stemming from the center of these groves of trees, a lone figure appears, dragging behind it a sled filled with blocks of wood.

The figure enters the cave, where a large, round man with a white beard dressed in a red suit is sitting stiffly by the fire, unable to move.

“It’s no use trying to escape,” Anan hisses to his prisoner. “The ice spell I stunned you with has frozen your limbs and paralyzed them. It’ll be some time, days, in fact, before you’re healed enough to move. Even then, you won’t make it far away from this cave alive.”

“Just what…what do you want?” Santa Claus asks of Anan, his face contorted in a strange, compassionate kindness. “If I can grant it, won’t you let me go? Think of the children who need me tonight!”

“Fool!” Anan shouts, slamming his fist into the wall of the cave impatiently. “I’ve already told you what I require. The Town Hall Records. If you give me that, I will set you free.”

“I cannot give you that!” Santa shouts resolutely. “It is a secret entrusted to only me, and if anyone else were to possess it, many dangerous things might happen!”

“Give it to me!” Anan demands, clenching his fists angrily. “You Happyville fools are all the same. You’ve no respect for those who preceded you. When my people suffered, you destroyed us! Despicable fools!”

“What have we ever done to you?” Santa asks painfully.

“You destroyed the Shalom Clan,” Anan hisses softly. “Now I intend to do the same in retribution. I shall destroy those that created Happyville. I only require now the power of the Town Hall Records!”

“I’ve already told you, anything but that!” Santa protests. “Anything other than the records!”

“You know what power is hidden in them then?” Anan asks softly.

“Of course!” Santa cries. “I am permitted to use those powers only once a year, but I know darn well just what power they possess!”

“Exactly,” Anan replies. “Then you will understand what I hope to accomplish with them. Hidden within the records of those documents is all the knowledge of the Shalom Clan, including the ability to transcend and manipulate time. Doing so, I will be able to return to the past and destroy Happyville!”

“You can’t do that!” Santa cries.

“And why not?” Anan retorts impatiently.

“Because we’re not going to let you,” Ryuu’s voice rings from the entrance of the cave.

Both occupants of the cave turn their heads in surprise to the entrance, where the tall, red-haired man stands, armed with a flaming sword.

“You again!” Anan snarls. “My pet! Paradox! Destroy them!”

“You mean this one?” Arai asks, coming into view of the entrance as well, tossing a Paradox claw up and down in his hand. “He wasn’t much contest.”

A Mystic Door suddenly opens from behind Anan as well, and as he turns, he realizes too late that the others, Kunai, Ayame, Ivy, Lily, Sasha, Silver, and Tide have exited from the door, freeing Santa from his bonds.

“I understand now why you were looking for the Town Hall Records,” Gwen announces, holding those same documents tightly in her hand. She carries her Sparta armed in the other hand, glaring angrily at Anan from the entrance next to Ryuu and Arai.

“Give them to me!” Anan shouts angrily.

“Get them yourself!” Gwen snarls in reply.

“Fine!” Anan cries, “I’ll destroy you all!”

With one wave of Anan’s hand, a stream of thunderbolts descends from the heavens, jolting the roof of the cave multiple times. The entire cave collapses, blown asunder by the powerful blasts.

“He’s strong!” Ryuu gasps, as he and the others are blown away by the gale of wind created by the blasts. He plants his feet deep into the ground to stop his progressively sliding backwards on the slippery ground.

Ryuu draws his sword, and it hisses with delight as its fire licks greedily at the frosty air. However, Arai holds out his arm, stopping Ryuu from proceeding with his battle charge.

“What?” Ryuu asks, turning to Arai.

“This is Gwen’s battle,” Arai replies. “She wants to protect Happyville, the place she loves. That is in truth what Anan is trying to do, too. This is not our fight. Let’s let them fight and decide this by themselves.”

“Are you crazy?!” Ryuu shouts. “Have you not realized how strong that guy is?! She’ll get killed if she fights him by herself!”

“We’ll rush in there if it looks bad,” Arai replies obstinately.

“Give the records to me!” Anan repeats with a snarl.

“I’ll never give them to you,” Gwen replies contemptuously. “You have to kill me first!”

“Very well then!” Anan shouts, drawing a stream of whirling ice in the air. “Perish!” The ice blasts Gwen, tearing at her flesh repeatedly, stinging cold.

However, Gwen continues to hold her ground, cutting away the icicles with her sword. At last, she breaks through the last of them, and hurtles across the battlefield, taking advantage of the full opening.

She throws her weight on her sword, bringing it to a deafening crash on Anan. However, Anan blocks the entire blow by creating a shield of ice. He then throws Gwen’s sword back at her, and proceeds to form a spear of lightning in his right hand.

Just as he is about to strike, Gwen strikes first, slashing at Anan’s right arm, causing him to lose concentration and the spear to dissipate. Anan collapses, but not before Gwen aims a free blow on his chest, landing a large gash across his chest from left shoulder to right hipbone.

Anan gasps out loud, as the cold stings into his open wounds. He is forced to his knees, as Gwen stares down mercilessly at him. She places her Sparta to a rest on Anan’s neck. “That is your punishment for disturbing the peace in Happyville.”

Anan growls under his breath, a sign of hatred. “Damn you Happyville Rangers…are you going to kill the last member of the Shalom Clan too? You never learn, do you?”

“You had the right idea from the beginning,” Gwen mutters solemnly. “It was unjust for your clan to be on the verge of extinction. However, destroying our town was not the way to make things right. For those crimes, you must die here and now.”

“I…” Anan mutters slowly, his voice choking. Gwen’s grip on her Sparta falters, as the man before her begins groveling restlessly on the snow. “I do not think so!”

Gwen’s Sparta falls to the ground completely, as Anan glows a bright blue, and a terrible storm cloud forms above his head. Gwen remains frozen, motionless, as spears of ragged ice emerge from within the cloud.

“Slay them all!” Anan shouts, “Blizzard!” At his words, the ice spears fall all at once upon the ground, overwhelming the entire battlefield. They slash and tear at the air, falling like meteors in the sky, as they spell imminent doom.

Gwen gasps, holding her arms up to protect herself from the deadly attack. However, a blast of warm yellow suddenly intercepts the icicles. As Gwen opens her eyes and stares, a bright yellow dart is flashing across the entire battlefield, thunderbolts falling wherever he goes.

The bolts of lightning collide from the icicles, exploding them upon contact. Following the lightning comes a stream of merciless fire, melting and licking away all remnants of the ice.

The snow slowly disappears as the ground heats from the battle, and wrinkled, brownish blades of grass pop out from under the snow.

Finally, the noise from the subsequent explosions calms down, except for one. Anan gasps, as the sound of a blade pierces through him. Blood splatters onto the ground, as Ryuu sinks his sword deeper into the man’s back.

Ryuu mercilessly glares down at the man, before pulling out his sword and sheathing it. The last member of the Shalom Clan collapses onto the ground motionless, and never moves again.

“A-Anan!” Gwen gasps in surprise, staring at the downed figure.

“He’s dead,” Ryuu mutters simply. “Don’t worry too much about him anymore.”

Meanwhile, the yellow flash of light pauses next to Ryuu, as Arai appears standing still at last, panting a little, and leaning on his Dark Ritual. “Phew! That was some attack to counter.”

“It was very strange…” Ryuu mutters, glancing suspiciously at Arai. “That attack, I mean. Blizzard.”

“A new attack to my eyes, indeed,” Arai replies, shrugging offhandedly.

“Arai…” Gwen whispers, staring at him from the ground.

Arai strides over to Gwen, and offers a helping hand up. Gwen grabs it, and Arai firmly helps her rise from the ground. Gwen stares at Arai with tearful eyes for some time, until he notices at last.

“Gwen, you’re all tearing up!”

“I-I know, I’m sorry…” Gwen murmurs. “It’s just that…when I think that at first I thought you were—”

“I told you, remember?” Arai interrupts, reminding her. “You don’t have to worry about that. The two of us, we’re lost ones, who’ve had people they love taken away from them. It’s no use moping around about it! You just gotta put a smile on your face and know that it must be because they were taken away, they had to go to a place that was even better than where they were before.”

“A-Arai…” Gwen mutters in awe.

Santa Claus suddenly strides up to group, led by Ayame and Ivy. “I really must thank you all for saving me!” Santa cries cheerfully. “I’ll tell you what! I need to thank you for saving me! If you hadn’t, many children would not have gotten their presents tonight!”

“You really don’t need to thank us,” Ryuu mutters. “It was only the right thing to do.”

“No, no, I insist!” Santa cries. “Each and everyone of you must have a gift personally made by me!”

“No, really it’s not—” Ryuu says, before turning around as someone places a hand on his shoulder.

“I insist!” Tide cries over Ryuu’s shoulder. Ryuu merely glares irritably at Tide.

The sound of shoveling continues persistently as Shuriken and Zack dig further and further into their hole in the ground. Shuriken leans wearily against his shovel, staring at Zack as he shovels ferociously at the ground.

“You’re positive this time it’s the right place, right?!” Shuriken asks furiously.

“Yup, yup!” Zack replies happily. “I checked, and it’s definitely under this buildin’ here!”

“I thought you said the treasure was supposed to be under a tree,” Shuriken mutters quietly.

Zack stops shoveling for some minutes, thinking over this fact. Finally, he shrugs his shoulders indifferently. “Oh! I guess I was wrong then! It’s definitely under this building!”

Shuriken grumbles irritably to himself, as he snatches the map away from Zack. “I’ll see about that…” Shuriken studies the map for sometime, before glaring angrily at Zack. “YOU IDIOT! This is a map for Perion!”

Zack blinks, glancing at the map held in Shuriken’s hands. “Oh. I thought it was strange that it was labeled, ‘Perion.’ Huh. Go figure, eh?”

Shuriken dances angrily about, grumbling loudly to himself as Zack shovels absentmindedly for some time. “Well, guess we’ll have to pack up and head for Perion then…” Shuriken mumbles bitterly.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Zack shouts suddenly.

Shuriken turns, and glances at Zack. “What?!”

“I think I found somethin’!” Zack cries, bending down. He brushes away the dirt, and retrieves from it a rather wrinkled-up Green Snail. “Lookie!”

“It’s just a Green Snail…” Shuriken mutters.

Suddenly the Green Snail begins wriggling vigorously in Zack’s hands. “Just a Green Snail?! JUST a Green Snail?! Why, you! I am Lord Otis, commander of the—”

“Ooh, hey, look!” Zack shouts, casting Otis away by throwing him over the shoulder. “A shiny rock! WE FOUND THE TREASURE!”

“It’s just a rock…”

Back at Santa’s workshop, the group stands awkwardly in the midst of a large workroom, where hundreds of elves stand fixing up thousands of toys as they are being prepared for delivery.

Santa suddenly emerges in a new, shiny red suit, and glances happily at the group gathered before him. “Well, well! I really must thank you all once again for saving me!”

“Tch, it really was no trouble,” Ryuu mutters.

“As promised, I will grant you all one present!” Santa cries. “But only on one condition…that that present must be for somebody else! So think very hard, and come back to me with an answer!”

As the group walks idly down a cobblestone path on the way towards the exit to Happyville, they discuss with each other their presents and exchange them cheerfully.

“So what did everyone get for each other?” Ivy asks brightly.

Arai plays around with his gift for some moments, removing the wrapping from it. All of a sudden, he reaches over towards Ryuu and plants a big round, red nose over Ryuu’s real one. “There! Happy holidays, Ryuu!”

Ryuu stares at the red nose covering his own. “Wh…what the hell is this?!”

“Teehee!” Arai titters. “Doesn’t it look perfect on Ryuu?”

“WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR, A CLOWN?!” Ryuu cries angrily, wrenching the red nose off and throwing it at Arai furiously.

“Anyway, Ryuu,” Ayame asks, poking him curiously. “What kind of present did you get?”

“Oh,” Ryuu replies offhandedly. “Well, I gave it some thought, and I thought I’d get Otis some nice clothes to wear. Y’know, he’s always running around naked with that shell of his and all…”

Ayame blinks curiously as Ryuu shows her the miniature sweater in his hands. “Come to think of it, we still haven’t found Otis, have we?”

“Pfft, if he doesn’t show up soon, I’ll throw his present away in the trash then.”

“Hey, Ivy?” Kunai mutters, falling back from the rest of the crowd.

Ivy turns, a large, eager smile on her face as she falls in step with Kunai. “Yeah?”

“I was thinking what kind of present you’d like so I could ask Santa for it,” Kunai begins, “but I really couldn’t figure out what you wanted. So I asked Santa, ‘I want a present that would make Ivy happy.’ So, here.” Kunai reaches into his pocket, drawing out a large square package.

“Thank you, Kunai!” Ivy replies joyfully. She tears off the wrapping, and stares at the cover of the object inside for some time.

“What is it?” Kunai asks curiously.

“A photo album,” Ivy murmurs.

“A photo album?” Kunai wonders.

“Yeah,” Ivy replies. “Thanks, Kunai!”

As Kunai flashes a smile and joins Ryuu and the others, Ivy opens it up, staring at the pictures inside for some time. “A photo album of me and you, that is.”

“So, Silver, aren’t you gonna ask me what kinda present I got you?” Tide asks Silver cheerfully.

“Not particularly,” Silver replies indifferently.

“Aww, aren’t you even gonna guess what it is?” Tide asks, his cheerfulness not at all lowered by Silver’s indifference.

“Is it a new brain for yourself, so I don’t have to deal with your stupidity?” Silver asks sourly.

Tide narrows his eyes, staring at Silver bitterly. “No. C’mon, you’re not even trying hard! Here you go, you ungrateful one!” Tide thrusts a wrapped package into Silver’s arms.

Silver reluctantly tears off the wrapping paper, only to reveal a small, battery-operated portable TV. “A tee…vee?” she mutters slowly.

“Yeah!” Tide cries. “You see, I was thinking, ‘Gee, what would Silver enjoy?’ My first and obvious thought was books, but since you’ve got like a ton of them, I thought I should give you something that normal people like! So, ta-da!”

Silver smiles slyly as she stares at the portable TV. “Thanks, Tide. I really could put this to good use.”

“Really?” Tide cries eagerly.

“Yep,” Silver mutters in reply, whacking Tide on the side of the face with the TV, hard.

“Oww…” Tide mutters, grimacing from the blow.

“Get me a book or something next time, idiot,” Silver replies, as she stalks away.

“Yeah…happy holidays to you, too.”

Next Time: Episode 43 Training Commences: Lightning Strikes!

Otis: Oi! Listen up, gorillas! Next time, we return to the main story!

Ryuu: At last.

Otis: Shut up! I did not give you permission to talk!

Ayame: Tales of a Lost World is now halfway done, but not to worry! The second half is about to begin, with even more twists, new characters, and unforeseen storylines like never before! It’s Tales of a Lost World, Part Two!

Arai: We’ll begin with a brand spanking new chapter in Kunai’s life: his training with Azuma begins! What amazing wonders await Kunai down in the Underworld, and what changes will take place to make him the story’s most powerful character?

Sasha: Tales of a Lost World will be back and better than ever on the eleventh day of January, 2007! Till then, Mr. Author-guy will need to take a break.

Otis: Oi! Don’t miss the 43rd chapter, coming soon!

4 thoughts on “Tales of a Lost World 5E”

  1. Heh, if Zack wasn’t dead, Shuriken would kill him. Eh, he probably would’ve gone to the underworld and killed him anyway, except that he has other things to do.

  2. LMAO. Death by TV. XD Tide’s hilarious.

    And I love that whole ‘looking for treasure’ sequence. 😀 And of course, Arai’s torment of Ryuu.

    Happy New Year to you!

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