Group Adventures

"Traitors," Taeyang said under his breath softly, so that no one but his twin would hear. Jiyong pat his back comfortingly, he didn't blame them. They didn't know.

"Spooky!" Haru said excitedly, she liked Spooky things. She found it to be fjbfun, she loved being scared.

Eden was actually more perceptive than he'd been as Jihae but only slightly more so he didn't actually hear the traitor comment. He was far too busy looking at things. And also trying to figure out how to move forward. The temple was far too large to just have one room accessible.

"You're so smart," Mandisa said to Yukiko. Her voice sounded odd, like it echoed when it shouldn't have, and the fact that she'd complimented her with no sarcasm threw Yukiko off. She turned around to look at her and gasped quietly, taking a step back.

Mandisa didn't only not sound right, she didn't look right either. Her eyes glowed with an otherworldly purple light that left after images when she moved. She floated quite casually just off the floor.

"Mandi, come down from there." Jiyong said, because he didn't have the patience for her Spooky tricks, that's what he assumed it was. He put his arms around her waist and tried to pull her down.

"Um, Miri...." Haru said quietly as she backed away from Mandisa's. She looked terrifying and she wasn't that into being scared. Good lord, no. But she backed into a corner covered in cobwebs. So now she was covered in cobwebs. Screams ensued, her arms flapped against her face and arms until she got close enough to zeke to start slapping him as she cried and begged for help.

"Damn. Your friends are drama." Tan said to Jiro, but he just watched. He could totally drown her and get the sticky webs from her. But this was just funny.

Yeah, Jiyong's attempts as pulling her down failed rather badly. "No, no, no," she said with a wag of her finger. "I don't answer to you."

"Mandi," Eden said, a little annoyed then. She was quite the mischief maker and she loved to get all spooky and play tricks. He assumed the same except that her voice still sounded a little funny.

"Stop touching her," Yukiko said to Jiyong, alarmed. "The guardian needs a voice. They don't harm The Ones Who Speak unless you interfere."

"What?" Mireya asked, confused then.

Zeke really didn't notice what was going on with the others because he suddenly had to help out Haru. He tried so hard not to laugh. She'd just slap him more and that might actually hurt. "Stop flailing," he said sand started to help her with the cobwebs. "There aren't any spiders," he said as he blew the delicate but sticky things off of her.

"You have no idea," Jiro said as he just watched all that with Tan, nicely out of the way of it all. He looked around the temple as if trying to figure it out. His eyes were slowly turning red.

Jiyong let go, he gave the thing inside Mandisa a rather dirty look. He went over to Yuki. "You will not harm your vessel, guardian." He said in a threatening tone.

"There better not be, or I will murder them all!" Haru squeaked, oh no. Not spiders. She hated them. She tried so hard to stay still, but she'd feel one of them tickle her and it'd start again.

"Jiro?" Tan asked, he noticed the red eyes. Was that a good idea in front of his new family?

"I won't unless you give me a reason," the guardian said, using Mandisa voice to speak and her body to move around. "Why are you here?" she asked, looking at them all.

"To research," Eden answered as he was the reason why they were there. He didn't think that a guardian would find that offensive but who knew.

"The temple is not open. It was closed long ago. You weren't supposed to have returned," Mandisa said as she floated over to Eden.

Eden wasn't sure what to make of that last sentence so he just ignored it. Perhaps she meant "you" as a general thing for people. "We won't bother anything here. We merely wish to learn. If it would trouble you to much then we can go..." He didn't want to but he wasn't going to mess with something possessing his sister at the moment.

"Oh no, you can't do that," Mandisa said and floated away from him. "The way is shut. The only way out is to move forward."

It seemed a silly thing to say except the door they'd entered was gone now. "Why do they always do that?" Mireya asked when she noticed.

Yukiko didn't answer.

"Stop," Zeke said and snatched her up. "There's nothing on you. You're going to make whatever that thing is angry," he added nervously. Or so he assumed. Ghosts didn't like screaming girls?

"Shhh," Jiro said to Tan and walked to a different side of the room to watch what was going on. The guardian didn't seem to have noticed them yet.

Jiyong and Taeyang knew though. Neither said anything but they protectively watched the guardian with Eden. "Don't give us a reason either, guardian." They warned though, Jiyong's voice was soft, while Taeyang's was a harsh snarl. Ying and yang.

Haru whimpered and clung to Zeke's neck, which would surely make his life difficult in helping her. "Eden has dumb ideas." She whined at him softly.

Tan was quiet, but he followed Jiro anyway. He was very good at stealth, and he wasn't at all clumsy, so he wasn't worried about setting the guardian off. Yet.

Eden looked from his friends back to his sister. He wasn't sure what they thought they were going to do about the guardian inside of her. Neither of them had ghost skills like his sister did.  "How are we to move forward if there is no door?"

"Oh you're not. The doors are allllll gone up here.  You'll be stuck here with me now," the guardian said in an overly happy way.

"Eden..." Mireya whined quietly. This was not okay. There should have been some kind of warning on the outside of the temple that things would go this way.

"Why can't our friends just be normal?" Zeke asked. He was having a hard time with her sort of strangling him though and tried to get her to ease off. If something went down he'd be useless with how she was now.

Jiro ignored the guardian and his friends having hissy fits or panicked moments. He started to touch the wall, tracing runes with his fingers.  It wasn't until they started glowing that the guardian noticed.

"Cheater!" she hissed at him in anger.  She sped off towards him immediately.

Jiro ignored her. He didn't flinch or even acknowledge he'd set her off. He just continued right on with what he was doing. When he was complete the runes glowed with a bright blue light.

And then the floor dropped out from underneath them.

Welp. The floor had gone. It just... Vanished from under their feet. Making them all fall down. Somehow they all got split into groups.

One side was, Mandisa, Mireya, Jiro, Taeyang, and Yuki.

The other was, Eden, Zeke, Tan, Haru, and Jiyong.

Tan wanted to fly over and check on Jiro, but he couldn't do that without giving himself away. They would all know. That wouldn't be good.

The twins though, slipped into the shadows and immediately switched sides. While they were both tasked with the job of looking after the siblings and when the time came their new master, they each had favourites. Jiyong was closer to Mandi, and Taeyang to Eden and Zeke. Though Zeke wasn't mandatory. That was choice.

"Oh..." Haru said, she was glad that Zeke had hold of her when they fell. "I thought you were Jiyong for a moment." She said to Tae.

He shrugged. "Twins?"

The fall was not a pleasant one. The light was dim and the ground seemed to rush up too quickly. On the one side, Yuki reacted and created a thick layer of soft snow of them all to land onto.

As soon as they landed, Mireya and Yuki both checked on Mandisa. She was no longer possessed but she was a little woozy.

Jiro was annoyed that Tan was not with him but there was nothing he could do about that. He had no way to get to him. They were on opposite sides of a maze. Their paths wouldn't intersect until later, if at all.

On the other side, Zeke strained to keep everyone from smacking into the ground hair with the gift of wind. He was happy when they reached the ground and he could let go of the gust he'd created.

Jiyong picked up Mandisa away from the girls. He didn't mean too, but he had to be sure that thing was out of her. "did it hurt you, Mandi?" He asked.

"Thanks," Tan said, he had been tempted to do that, but he didn't want to reveal himself. He could do many things, if the weather did it, he could.

Taeyang brushed Haru off quickly, getting rid of the last of the cobwebs for her. He didn't need her spazzing out. "Eden, take this," he said and handed him a torch, that he had lit with a spark created of his own fingers. He'd done it in a subtle way, so they would confuse with a lighter. He did it for Tan and Zeke as well. "Keep Haru close to you, Zeke. We cannot afford to lose anyone."

Mireya and Yukiko did not take offense. Jiyong was very protective of Mandisa. Everyone knew that. "It didn't," Mandisa said. "What happened?" She wasn't sure. Everything was fuzzy. They'd been in the temple and now they were just in a long hallway with high walls. And sitting in snow too, apparently. She stared at the snow.

Mireya looked at Jiro now that she knew that her sister was okay. "What did you do?" She figured he'd done it on purpose to help them escape that thing that had had her sister but she didn't understand. "Are the others okay, do you think?"

Jiro nodded. He didn't answer her question about what he'd done though. He took a lighter out of his jacket and lit one of the torches that lined the path walls.

---

"Thank you," Eden said and took the torch. He held it high and looked around. Nothing much to see. Just a long path with high walls. He called for the others to see if they were close enough to hear him. No answer.

"You're welcome," Zeke replied. He took the torch he'd been handed as well with a thanks of his own. "Will do," he said. That was not going to be a problem. He wasn't going to let her out of his sight. "So...anyone want to explain to me what happened up there? And where we are now?"

"He saved us," Jiyong stated simply. He was not going to lie. "The guardian decided it wanted playmates and that we would be it. I'll deal with that later. For now, we must move forward." He put Mandi back on her feet, but he still checked her over just in case. He took her hand and Miri's as well. "Stay close to me my mysterious sisters. Jiro too."

---

"Thw guardian of the temple just screwed us over, so Jiro saved us and showed us the way to the maze to the exit." Taeyang said, he looked over Tan and then considered how much of a help he would be. "Stay close together as a group. Eden, do not stray far from me."

"Okay," Tan said as he got closer. He held the torch up and watched as the flame flickered. He wasn't massively good with fire yet. But he would be. "So how do we get out?"

"I think trials." Taeyang said.

"Not Yuki?" Mandisa asked with a little grin. She was trying to keep her spirits up. Possession happened often enough for her. It was just easier for spirits to speak through her as she was closer to them and more open to them. But it felt weird each time and always left her head feeling a little fuzzy. She was glad to have Jiyong there with her.

"Oh don't worry about me," Yukiko said. "I know plenty about navigating temples."

Jiro stayed closed only because it was easier to do so and he felt like doing as Jiyong asked for now.

---

"Trials is probably it," Eden agreed. "Temples often test people to see if they are worthy." He stayed closed to Taeyang as asked though he was more worried about Tan and Haru.

"Worthy of what?" Zeke asked, though he was glad for the explanation that Tae had provided.

"That depends. Blessings from the gods is the usual thing," Eden said thoughtfully. He didn't want to overload Zeke though, which was easy. Already the blonde was just looking a little lost.

"Yuki once worked in a temple and has better knowledge than you, do not tease. If I had more hands, I would be clinging to you all and you know it. Brat." Jiyong said, with a massive eyeroll. He wouldn't actively touch on Yuki unless he had too anyway. Fire and ice. Bad mix.

---

"Instead of trials, think of them as puzzles and adventures. If we get it right, we get to to go have many drinks and much food when we're done." Taeyang said, he was looking around and he felt as though this part would be easy. But once they got through it, it would be awkward.

Haru clung to Zeke and whimpered. "What if we get it wrong?" She asked, because that would just be awful.

"Oh you know, sudden death." Tan answered as he looked over things. He stayed with the group though as he walked along. "Or not so sudden and we get to starve down here." More whimpers from Haru.

Mandisa made a sound like a snort. Jiyong went out of his way to avoid touching Yukiko. She didn't know why and he was very subtle about it but she noticed. "Okay then," she said and walked forward with them through the maze. "Bunnicula, I do hope you know where we're going..." She didn't fancy the idea of wandering a maze and getting lost.

Jiro, predictably, didn't answer. He just looked at her briefly and then continued walking. They reached a part where they had to decide on going left or right. There were runes on the wall in front of them but neither of the twins knew how to read such things.

"So...which way?" Mireya asked. They both looked the same, really, but surely they weren't.

"I don't know. Who reads runes?" Mandisa asked.

"Eden," Mireya answered.

"Well fuck. You," she said and turned around to look at Jiro. "Can you read these?"

"No," Jiro answered.

"I might be able to," Yuki said shyly. "If they're similar to the ones that we had in the ice temple."

---

"Shhh, don't listen to him," Zeke said and covered up Haru's ears. "He's just saying all that to scare you. Right?" he asked Eden.

"Sure," Eden said with a grin. He knew that all of those were possibilities but if that was how it was going to turn out then Jiro would have told him and they wouldn't have come. So he was sure that it would be fine.

Jiyong hoped that Yuki could read them. He didn't want to reveal that he was that clever about this situation. He was already likely going to have to do something to keep them all alive, that would give away too much. He said nothing, just waited to see if she would actually try.

---

"I'm not, I'm being honest. I'm not a dick." Tan said, because it was true. Even if Jiro hadn't said anything bad would happen, or not. Just that no one would die today. Today. Starvation and dehydration was a week, at least.

Tae just shrugged, "it's okay, we know you're not, kid." He obviously knew who Tan was. It was Ryuu who had sent him and his twin here to watch over them. "If we keep calm, it would be okay."

"So now what?" Haru asked, because she wasn't happy. She knew that Tan was being honest, Zeke was being sweet and protecting her and Eden was being very confident in Jiro's abilities.

Yukiko walked forward and looked over the runes. Her pretty eyes narrowed as she tried to read them by the light of the torch. "Okay. This way," she said and pointed to the left.

"Sweet. Let's do it," Mandisa asked. She was being good because she didn't want her kind of not really girlfriend flipping out and becoming an angry ice spirit full of murder and venom.

---

"Now we go forward through the maze and either try to find our way out or meet up with the others. We can only hope that this connects with them somewhere." It might not being as there were two gods and they pretty much hated each other. But he could hope.

"Standing here isn't really an option, huh?" Zeke asked.

"Nope," Eden said. "So let's get going while the torches still work."

Jiyong glanced at the ruins, just enough to know that Yuki was going in the right direction. She was, so he didn't correct her. He continued to be quiet, he felt he had little to input into the situation. For now.

---

"I would like to go get that alcohol and food." Tan said, he took his torch and tried to lead the way. He wasn't being told to hang back and he expected the others would follow.

"I agree, wholeheartedly." Taeyang said as he followed and pushed the others with them. "We're very lucky to have Eden with us, he can read the runes and lead us in the right direction."

"Oh, good. I would hate to be lost in a maze forever." Haru said, with a laugh. She was a little bit frightened, but she just really enjoyed these things.

Yukiko successfully navigated them out of the maze and into a room. The door, like always, disappeared so that they couldn't go back or retrace there steps. As there was nothing back there to go to, none of the girls were overly upset.

The room had more runes on the wall and another sparkling depiction of Palkia, as a woman instead of a dragon this time. She was very beautiful and not all that scary looking. The room itself was simple other than that. The floor was completely wet with stepping stones just under the surface. They could be seen from a certain angle.

The group, having just entered the room, was standing on a platform level with the water.

"So...we're going to get wet," Mandisa said as she stuck her hand in the water. Nothing bad happened. She waited to see if a creature would stir but no ripples happened. That didn't mean there wasn't one though. "It's cold. You'll be happy," she said to Yukiko.

---

Eden was also able to navigate his group through the maze. He was somewhat disappointed when they entered the room to find that it did not connect to the other group. "Well, let's hope they're close," he commented.

They too were standing on a platform. The room in front of them was almost the twin of the room the others were in, without the water. This one had a very different floor. Metal tiles stretched out before them. There were numbers carved into them, varying from 1 to 100.

"Um..." Zeke was not much of an intellect unlike most of his friends. "I'm guessing we don't just walk across like normal people, huh?" he asked.

Jiyong sighed though. "I would prefer that we did not." He said, he didn't like water. At all. He looked entirely innocent as the water started to bubble and heat up. Steam quickly filled the room. "Oh dear. Who did that?"

---

"We're in Dialga's tomb." Taeyang pointed out. He hadn't realised which side he was in until he saw the tiles. The numbers. He thought about it. It was pretty obvious to him.

"Oh?" Haru said, she stepped forward and looked at the tiles. "They're not in order." She pointed out as she put her toe onto an even number tile. It didn't do anything. So she stood on it properly. Immediately a sound above her clicked. She looked up, just as a giant spider fell on her face.

The scream that filled the room was legit too loud, too high pitched. It went right through Tan, he slapped at his ears to protect them. Taeyang simply pulled her back and knocked the dancing spider from her face. "Now now."

Yukiko looked uncomfortable with the steam filling the room. She didn't like being hot. She didn't handle it well at all. She gasped, trying to breathe properly with the hot hair stifling her.

"Oh my," Mireya exclaimed at the sudden steam. She had no idea that Jiyong was doing that. For all they knew, the brothers weren't gifted like that.

"Nice," Mandisa said with a laugh. But suddenly Jiro ran over to a corner of the room away from them. She looked at him, puzzled, and then looked back at the water. It rose up, a sudden tsunami moment, and crashed down on the group, completely soaking them. Except Jiro, who just got a bit wet.

---

Eden grimaced and put his hand over his ears. Miri could scream like that so he should be used to it but he was not. It was actively painful. He was so glad Taeyang taking care of it. He thought his ears might bleed otherwise.

Zeke was not bothered. Concerts had pretty much acclimated him to loud voices and sounds. He only jumped at the spider and jumped on the thing once it was off her face. He slipped on spider gut slime and fell down, a crash of lightning hitting right between his legs and giving him quite the fright.

Jiyong literally hissed internally. But then he dried his clothes and finished off the water. Boiling it faster than he had before. Rage. He left the others. Jiro got a look. A not so happy look. But when the water finally all gone, he walked across the stones as if the temple belonged to him and he could do whatever the fuck he wanted with the shitty ass water in it.

---

Haru calmed and Tae wiggled a finger at her. "Let us be clever. Dialga, the god of time? It is likely the only safe tiles to step on, are those that you would find upon a clock face. So, do not step on others if you can help it."

Tan sighed, he could float across. He really could. Instead, he stepped on each tile softly, checking to be sure. Though, he was not as graceful as his mother. Yet. So he slipped and landed on a number not of a clock.

He tried to not look up as another click went off. But he was worried it might be a blade, or something to kill him. He wasn't for that. Not at all. So he looked up and was immediately sprinkled with glitter. In his hair. All over his face. He looked as though he had been in a strip club and his face pressed into tits.

"Well, shit." Haru said and cracked up, she wished she had gotten that though over spiders.

Yuki screamed at the sudden hot steam following the water. It burned at the skin of her face but it wasn't like she could run away anywhere to escape it.

Mandisa grabbed Yukiko by the hair and pressed the ice maiden's face into her chest to protect it from the sudden onslaught of steam. She closed her eyes since it was so thick she couldn't see anyway.

Mireya covered her face. She wasn't a massive fun of being a sauna that was so hot she felt like she was sweating away completely.

Jiro just wiped his face.  "Jiyong," he said unhappily. No, he'd not given much of a warning and he probably should have but he was a brat and had no clue what was going on with the guy normally. He'd have to be fully reverted for that.

Mandisa looked up at his name. "Hey, don't run off without us," she said. "We're supposed to stick together, mister."

---

Eden cracked up at the sight of Tan covered in glitter. "Oh that is just too funny," he said.  He wondered if all of the triggers were just pranks. He didn't want to test it but it seemed that way for now.

Zeke stood up carefully. "Were there clocks back in that time?" he asked as he looked at the numbers and tried to be good and only step on the right ones.

"No," Eden said. "Not as we have them now."

"You can cross without harm or danger now." Jiyong said, he wasn't sorry. He didn't apologise, neither did he say that it was him. It was unfortunate that Yuki had been hurt, but it had hurt him to be splashed also.

---

"They were sun dials, Zeke. So only 12 hours." Taeyang supplied the information for him, he found it funny that he didn't know that. Tan managed to get the rest of the way across without issue.

"Who's next?" Haru asked, but then Tae nudged her. "So only through to 12 right? No other numbers?" She didn't want another spider. When Tae nodded, she went through slowly. Like a snail.