An Age Old Problem [Chapter 2]
Jan. 22nd, 2007 12:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Golden Sun: The Lost Age/ Boktai 2
Summary: There have been strange happenings in Weyard. The dead are said to rise, new monsters are appearing, earthquakes. Then that boy appears. Who is he and where did he come form?
Rating: K
Notes: Spoilers for the ending of TLA (if you look closely at what's being said).
I seemed to just copy some scenes and then use them later in the chapters. *facepalm*
I'm making Django scared of water and not being able to swim because well, I know in games if you fall into water you die so that's my reason. Along with the fact that he gets hurt by it.
I'm also making him able to sense life and death like Otenko does because if he's a Solar Boy, he really should be able to do that - it just hasn't been shown because Otenko was the one who was doing it first.
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Word count: 2,641
Status: Work in Progress
Isaac was walking along the riverbank when he spotted Piers sitting there, staring at the water as it flowed by. Seeing that he seemingly wanted to be alone, Isaac wasn't sure if he should disturb him. Isaac had noticed that Piers had sometimes taken to being lost in thought recently. He suspected that the Lemurian was beginning to be homesick. To add to that, Vale was surrounded by mountains and, apart from the rivers, some distance away from the stretch of endless water that Piers had grown up in. Hence, why he was staring at the water: he was used to being surrounded by water and seeing it wherever he looked and so it would have been a source of comfort for him and it reminded him of home. Not to mention he was a Mercury Adept as well.
Isaac sighed quietly before looking up to the sky. Maybe it was time to go travelling again. After running around Weyard trying to stop the lighting of the Lighthouses to then running around Weyard trying to light them, Isaac in the very least had grown accustomed to always being on the move. He wasn't sure of the others' opinion but Isaac felt like he would take the next chance he could to leave Vale.
It wasn't that he disliked being in Vale or anything like that but after seeing so many new places such as Tolbi and the Lighthouses, Vale seemed so... small.
But then there was the problem with the new monsters. If Isaac left and brought his friends with him, who would be left to protect Vale and Vault with Psynergy? Isaac's, Felix's and Jenna's parents along with the priests in the Sanctum at least, but would that be enough? The former already had a boost in their Psynergy from their unnatural fusing as the Doom Dragon and with the unleashing of Alchemy in the world, it would have been more than enough. A large portion of Vale were Adepts but none to the degree that Isaac was used to but still, it should have been enough. Except the monsters were hardly affected by it.
So, was it wise to be selfish and leave when there was a chance people could get hurt because of that?
'But,' a voice interrupted, 'if it's happening here, is it happening somewhere else as well? In a place that doesn't have Adepts? We have to help!'
"Will you be standing there staring at the sky all day?" a voice cut through Isaac's thoughts. Snapping his head back down and hand automatically sliding down for the Gaia Blade that wasn't there, Isaac blinked when his "attacker" was none-other than Piers.
Oops. Isaac gave the amused man a sheepish grin. "Too used to being surprised by wild animals and attacking instinctively I guess."
Piers nodded in understanding. "Old habits are hard to break."
He couldn't help it. He'd heard them saying it before and it was just too good an opportunity to pass. "And how many decades or centuries have your old habits lasted?" he asked with a lopsided smile.
:-:-:
Jenna tutted as she watched Garet being fussed over by the priest. His response to this was to laugh embarrassedly and to lift one arm to rub the back of his neck - which was smartly smacked down.
"Really, you didn't have to go through that patch of poisonous flowers just to retrieve Arthur's toy," she chided with no anger in her voice - just exasperation.
Garet shrugged. "It's his favourite and I didn't think there was any point in him going back to his house to get another one to play with." Far too used to visiting the Sanctum after spending the day training, being cursed, haunted or poisoned, Garet knew exactly what the priest wanted him to do. Going through the familiar motions, Garet continued. "I didn't think I'd be affected by the poison this badly though."
Jenna sighed. Always helping (in his own way) and never minding if he was the one who was hurt.
"There," the priest said finally. "The poison has been purged from your system."
Both Garet and Jenna nodded and smiled in appreciation. Slipping himself off the bed, Garet had to suddenly grab hold of Jenna's shoulder to stop himself stumbling.
"Be careful, you'll still be feeling the symptoms of the poison for a while," the priest warned.
"Now you tell me."
Jenna shifted her weight so that Garet would get more support from her. Garet turned to her in surprise.
"Jenna? I don't think..." He was silenced by the look she gave him. He knew what she would be like if he didn't let her.
Jenna grumbled mentally. The reason why she had taken Garet to the priests in the Sanctum instead of Piers or Mia was because Piers was or had been in a meeting with the elders while Mia was looking after the boy that Ivan had found. She snorted when she realised that she had been spoiled by the easy healing the Mercury Adepts had and expected everyone else to be the same.
Hearing the sound, Garet looked down. "What?"
"Nothing," Jenna said, brushing the question away. "I may as well look after you to make sure you don't fall down the stairs."
"Hey!"
:-:-:
Felix's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? What kind?"
"I'm not sure."
He moved his head in a certain way, silently asking Mia to continue.
"Well, he hasn't used any psynergy yet -and if he had tried to, I would have stopped him- but when I was healing him, it was harder to do than if I was healing a normal person."
"Like he was resisting the psynergy?" Felix prodded.
Mia nodded. "It almost felt like I was healing an Adept. Not as strong as one of us though," she mused. "It was like I was healing Justin when he was younger."
"Justin. He's your-"
"Apprentice in Imil, yes. One of two."
"Okay. Are there any other reasons?"
Again, Mia nodded. "Yes. Just before he fell asleep, I cast Ply on him; he looked like he was in pain. I didn't think he would notice but he did, I'm sure of it.
"He didn't seem surprised either. I mean," Mia frowned, "he seemed surprised to see it but not in a 'this is the first time I've seen this' kind of way."
"So you think he's been in contact with Mercury Adepts before," Felix concluded. He looked at the sleeping boy. The boy had blond hair (it was a lighter shade than Isaac's, Ivan's or Sheba's) and without knowing his eye colour yet, guessing what type of Adept he was would be hard as that was usually some indicator.
"He wasn't startled by my blue hair. That might have been because he was just gaining consciousness though," Mia added.
"We'll just have to wait for him to wake up to find out."
"Hmm," Mia agreed.
:-:-:
Django sighed when he woke up. So he was still in the unfamiliar room. And where exactly was this room anyway? Having been in all the houses in San Miguel, he had never seen one house that was made from wood. Even when he had gone to Istrakan, he hadn't seen any houses of any kind on his way to and from there. If he had, they weren't inhabited either.
Standing up carefully, he was happy to find that he didn't become dizzy like the last time he had stood up and moved around.
Checking himself over, Django realised that he really did have to recharge his sol energy. He must have used up more energy fighting the Cockatrice than he thought he had.
Pushing the door open, he found himself in another, more spacious room. There was a door to his left that he went to straight away.
Django blinked at the bright spots that swam into his view as the sun momentarily blinded him. Very bright, hot sun, he observed. It wouldn't take him too long to recharge his sol energy then; it wouldn't take him too long to overheat either.
The Solar Boy turned his head at the sound of laughter. The voices sounded young but also male - it couldn't have been Violet. He was stunned to see a small group of children heading towards him.
Looking wildly around him, Django saw that there were more people around him and he recognised none of them.
"Master Otenko? Where are we?" he asked, waiting for his guide to appear. "...Master Otenko?" Django worriedly reached out with his senses, trying to find the aura of his friend that he was so familar with and found... nothing.
No. Wait. Django's eyes widened. He found life. There was barely a feeling of Dark Matter or the Undeading curse. Where was this place that had escaped the Undeading curse of the Dark Immortals?
He was about to call Master Otenko again out of instinct when he remembered that he wasn't there. He couldn't have done anywhere. The only time that he had left Django was when he had been sealed away by Sabata, sealed into Nero and when he was watching over Sabata as he completed his transformation into a Moon Beauty. Master Otenko had always been with him after their first meeting together so what had happened to him?
His senses of life and death still extended, Django felt a glimmer of familiarity. His breath hitched. That couldn't be right, it wasn't possible, there shouldn't be one here... How was there a fully-grown Solar Tree here?
Django ran towards where his senses told him.
:-:-:
Sheba was watching over some of the children play a game while she sat in the sun. 'Really,' she thought, tilting her head to the sky, 'it's too hot. Maybe if I cast a small Whirlwind it wouldn't be so bad. Or I could just find Mia or Piers and ask them to make some ice.'
She looked to the side when she heard a door slam shut. It was the boy that Ivan had found -Jango was it?- in the forest. He probably shouldn't be out of bed yet and since Mia wasn't stalking after him, she didn't know that he was up.
Sheba watched as Django noticed the children before wondering why he looked so surprised and then mouthed something to himself. His surprise then turned to wonder and Sheba could feel Psynergy being used. She didn't know what kind though; it felt like it was running under her feet so that meant that he was a Venus Adept. But it wasn't any kind that she had seen Isaac or Felix use. It was like Growth on a larger scale but staring at the grass showed that they were unaffected. Or maybe they were and it just wasn't visible to the human eye, she thought suspiciously.
For no apparent reason, the boy ran off in the direction of the town entrance.
Looking back to the children (they'd be fine and it wasn't as if she was babysitting them or anything) Sheba decided to follow the boy. He was probably going to trip over something soon and she'd have to drag him back to Mia's house.
:-:-:
Django could feel the energy that the Solar Tree was giving off the closer he got to it. It was strong; stronger than the one in San Miguel. How much sol energy had to have been collected for it to grow so much?
Jumping down stairs two at a time, Django knew that he was in the presence of a solar tree but he couldn't see it. Around him were trees that showed the boundaries of the area around him but there were none old enough to be the Solar Tree.
There was that really large rock though.
Surrounded by a moat.
Django eyed the water. He didn't completely hate water per se but he disliked it at least. He didn't like it before since he couldn't swim but now that he was half-Vampire, he had a natural aversion to it as he got hurt if he stepped onto a puddle as Black Django.
He had to know though. Even if he had to wait until night to transform into Black Django to fly over it. Glancing at the sky showed that that wouldn't happen for at least another three hours.
Walking slowly towards the shining rock, Django couldn't help but stare in awe of it. It was nothing that he had ever seen before and he couldn't think of anything that he'd encountered that compared with it. The closest thing that he could come up was were the Seals that had sealed the Immortals away except this was less refined.
When he reached the edge of the moat, Django could see a stepping stone the lead from the edge to the island from the other side that he was standing on. He hesitated; he could use them to jump across - he wouldn't get hurt as he was Red Django at the moment and not Black. Peering into the moat's depths, Django was fairly sure that he'd be able to stand up from the bottom if he did fall in.
Nodding to himself, he walked to the edge where the stepping stone was. The stone was wet, his mind noted. If it was wet, he'd fall in. 'And then I could just wade through the water,' Django thought stubbornly. He was going to find out what that rock was even if he had to cross over water to do it.
Readying himself, he hopped onto the stepping stone. He didn't slip that much. Gaining confidence from that, he jumped onto the island that the rock was on.
He gazed up at it in wonder. It was so completely... alien to him. Having the sudden childish urge to touch it, Django placed his palm onto a part of it that looked vaguely smooth.
He took a step back almost instantly while snapping his hand away at the same time, wide-eyed and heart racing. What was that? He'd touched it and then there was a sudden rush of energy that flooded through his body.
Looking at the hand that he'd put onto the rock, Django couldn't believe that all the sol energy that he had lost was replenished completely.
"So you know how to use a psynergy stone then," Django heard someone say behind him.
Whipping himself around, Django saw a girl with blonde hair and... purple eyes? "A sai-nare-jay stone?" Django said, repeating the unfamiliar word. "Is that what this is?" he asked, gesturing to the rock behind him.
The girl nodded. "Yep. They're not all like this though - quite a lot of psynergy stones are small, purple and can fit into the palm of the hand."
Django paused, running through everything he could remember. "No," he said while shaking his head. "I've never seen that or anything like this before in my life."
Here, the girl frowned slightly. "But the way you went up and touched it, it showed that you know what it did."
"I don't," Django said helplessly. "There was just so much sol energy coming from it... I - I had to touch it." He shook his head. "I didn't know that it would give me back my energy that way that it did."
"Sol energy?" the girl repeated blankly. "You could feel the energy coming from the psynergy stone all the way from Mia's house?" she asked, changing the subject before Django could answer.
"Yeah. Um, do you mind?" Django asked as he stood on the edge of the island.
"Mind what? Oh, right, sorry," the girl took a few steps back to allow the Solar Boy room to land when he reached the other side.
Django jumped onto the stepping stone. And slipped.
Splash.
Summary: There have been strange happenings in Weyard. The dead are said to rise, new monsters are appearing, earthquakes. Then that boy appears. Who is he and where did he come form?
Rating: K
Notes: Spoilers for the ending of TLA (if you look closely at what's being said).
I seemed to just copy some scenes and then use them later in the chapters. *facepalm*
I'm making Django scared of water and not being able to swim because well, I know in games if you fall into water you die so that's my reason. Along with the fact that he gets hurt by it.
I'm also making him able to sense life and death like Otenko does because if he's a Solar Boy, he really should be able to do that - it just hasn't been shown because Otenko was the one who was doing it first.
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Word count: 2,641
Status: Work in Progress
Isaac was walking along the riverbank when he spotted Piers sitting there, staring at the water as it flowed by. Seeing that he seemingly wanted to be alone, Isaac wasn't sure if he should disturb him. Isaac had noticed that Piers had sometimes taken to being lost in thought recently. He suspected that the Lemurian was beginning to be homesick. To add to that, Vale was surrounded by mountains and, apart from the rivers, some distance away from the stretch of endless water that Piers had grown up in. Hence, why he was staring at the water: he was used to being surrounded by water and seeing it wherever he looked and so it would have been a source of comfort for him and it reminded him of home. Not to mention he was a Mercury Adept as well.
Isaac sighed quietly before looking up to the sky. Maybe it was time to go travelling again. After running around Weyard trying to stop the lighting of the Lighthouses to then running around Weyard trying to light them, Isaac in the very least had grown accustomed to always being on the move. He wasn't sure of the others' opinion but Isaac felt like he would take the next chance he could to leave Vale.
It wasn't that he disliked being in Vale or anything like that but after seeing so many new places such as Tolbi and the Lighthouses, Vale seemed so... small.
But then there was the problem with the new monsters. If Isaac left and brought his friends with him, who would be left to protect Vale and Vault with Psynergy? Isaac's, Felix's and Jenna's parents along with the priests in the Sanctum at least, but would that be enough? The former already had a boost in their Psynergy from their unnatural fusing as the Doom Dragon and with the unleashing of Alchemy in the world, it would have been more than enough. A large portion of Vale were Adepts but none to the degree that Isaac was used to but still, it should have been enough. Except the monsters were hardly affected by it.
So, was it wise to be selfish and leave when there was a chance people could get hurt because of that?
'But,' a voice interrupted, 'if it's happening here, is it happening somewhere else as well? In a place that doesn't have Adepts? We have to help!'
"Will you be standing there staring at the sky all day?" a voice cut through Isaac's thoughts. Snapping his head back down and hand automatically sliding down for the Gaia Blade that wasn't there, Isaac blinked when his "attacker" was none-other than Piers.
Oops. Isaac gave the amused man a sheepish grin. "Too used to being surprised by wild animals and attacking instinctively I guess."
Piers nodded in understanding. "Old habits are hard to break."
He couldn't help it. He'd heard them saying it before and it was just too good an opportunity to pass. "And how many decades or centuries have your old habits lasted?" he asked with a lopsided smile.
Jenna tutted as she watched Garet being fussed over by the priest. His response to this was to laugh embarrassedly and to lift one arm to rub the back of his neck - which was smartly smacked down.
"Really, you didn't have to go through that patch of poisonous flowers just to retrieve Arthur's toy," she chided with no anger in her voice - just exasperation.
Garet shrugged. "It's his favourite and I didn't think there was any point in him going back to his house to get another one to play with." Far too used to visiting the Sanctum after spending the day training, being cursed, haunted or poisoned, Garet knew exactly what the priest wanted him to do. Going through the familiar motions, Garet continued. "I didn't think I'd be affected by the poison this badly though."
Jenna sighed. Always helping (in his own way) and never minding if he was the one who was hurt.
"There," the priest said finally. "The poison has been purged from your system."
Both Garet and Jenna nodded and smiled in appreciation. Slipping himself off the bed, Garet had to suddenly grab hold of Jenna's shoulder to stop himself stumbling.
"Be careful, you'll still be feeling the symptoms of the poison for a while," the priest warned.
"Now you tell me."
Jenna shifted her weight so that Garet would get more support from her. Garet turned to her in surprise.
"Jenna? I don't think..." He was silenced by the look she gave him. He knew what she would be like if he didn't let her.
Jenna grumbled mentally. The reason why she had taken Garet to the priests in the Sanctum instead of Piers or Mia was because Piers was or had been in a meeting with the elders while Mia was looking after the boy that Ivan had found. She snorted when she realised that she had been spoiled by the easy healing the Mercury Adepts had and expected everyone else to be the same.
Hearing the sound, Garet looked down. "What?"
"Nothing," Jenna said, brushing the question away. "I may as well look after you to make sure you don't fall down the stairs."
"Hey!"
Felix's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? What kind?"
"I'm not sure."
He moved his head in a certain way, silently asking Mia to continue.
"Well, he hasn't used any psynergy yet -and if he had tried to, I would have stopped him- but when I was healing him, it was harder to do than if I was healing a normal person."
"Like he was resisting the psynergy?" Felix prodded.
Mia nodded. "It almost felt like I was healing an Adept. Not as strong as one of us though," she mused. "It was like I was healing Justin when he was younger."
"Justin. He's your-"
"Apprentice in Imil, yes. One of two."
"Okay. Are there any other reasons?"
Again, Mia nodded. "Yes. Just before he fell asleep, I cast Ply on him; he looked like he was in pain. I didn't think he would notice but he did, I'm sure of it.
"He didn't seem surprised either. I mean," Mia frowned, "he seemed surprised to see it but not in a 'this is the first time I've seen this' kind of way."
"So you think he's been in contact with Mercury Adepts before," Felix concluded. He looked at the sleeping boy. The boy had blond hair (it was a lighter shade than Isaac's, Ivan's or Sheba's) and without knowing his eye colour yet, guessing what type of Adept he was would be hard as that was usually some indicator.
"He wasn't startled by my blue hair. That might have been because he was just gaining consciousness though," Mia added.
"We'll just have to wait for him to wake up to find out."
"Hmm," Mia agreed.
Django sighed when he woke up. So he was still in the unfamiliar room. And where exactly was this room anyway? Having been in all the houses in San Miguel, he had never seen one house that was made from wood. Even when he had gone to Istrakan, he hadn't seen any houses of any kind on his way to and from there. If he had, they weren't inhabited either.
Standing up carefully, he was happy to find that he didn't become dizzy like the last time he had stood up and moved around.
Checking himself over, Django realised that he really did have to recharge his sol energy. He must have used up more energy fighting the Cockatrice than he thought he had.
Pushing the door open, he found himself in another, more spacious room. There was a door to his left that he went to straight away.
Django blinked at the bright spots that swam into his view as the sun momentarily blinded him. Very bright, hot sun, he observed. It wouldn't take him too long to recharge his sol energy then; it wouldn't take him too long to overheat either.
The Solar Boy turned his head at the sound of laughter. The voices sounded young but also male - it couldn't have been Violet. He was stunned to see a small group of children heading towards him.
Looking wildly around him, Django saw that there were more people around him and he recognised none of them.
"Master Otenko? Where are we?" he asked, waiting for his guide to appear. "...Master Otenko?" Django worriedly reached out with his senses, trying to find the aura of his friend that he was so familar with and found... nothing.
No. Wait. Django's eyes widened. He found life. There was barely a feeling of Dark Matter or the Undeading curse. Where was this place that had escaped the Undeading curse of the Dark Immortals?
He was about to call Master Otenko again out of instinct when he remembered that he wasn't there. He couldn't have done anywhere. The only time that he had left Django was when he had been sealed away by Sabata, sealed into Nero and when he was watching over Sabata as he completed his transformation into a Moon Beauty. Master Otenko had always been with him after their first meeting together so what had happened to him?
His senses of life and death still extended, Django felt a glimmer of familiarity. His breath hitched. That couldn't be right, it wasn't possible, there shouldn't be one here... How was there a fully-grown Solar Tree here?
Django ran towards where his senses told him.
Sheba was watching over some of the children play a game while she sat in the sun. 'Really,' she thought, tilting her head to the sky, 'it's too hot. Maybe if I cast a small Whirlwind it wouldn't be so bad. Or I could just find Mia or Piers and ask them to make some ice.'
She looked to the side when she heard a door slam shut. It was the boy that Ivan had found -Jango was it?- in the forest. He probably shouldn't be out of bed yet and since Mia wasn't stalking after him, she didn't know that he was up.
Sheba watched as Django noticed the children before wondering why he looked so surprised and then mouthed something to himself. His surprise then turned to wonder and Sheba could feel Psynergy being used. She didn't know what kind though; it felt like it was running under her feet so that meant that he was a Venus Adept. But it wasn't any kind that she had seen Isaac or Felix use. It was like Growth on a larger scale but staring at the grass showed that they were unaffected. Or maybe they were and it just wasn't visible to the human eye, she thought suspiciously.
For no apparent reason, the boy ran off in the direction of the town entrance.
Looking back to the children (they'd be fine and it wasn't as if she was babysitting them or anything) Sheba decided to follow the boy. He was probably going to trip over something soon and she'd have to drag him back to Mia's house.
Django could feel the energy that the Solar Tree was giving off the closer he got to it. It was strong; stronger than the one in San Miguel. How much sol energy had to have been collected for it to grow so much?
Jumping down stairs two at a time, Django knew that he was in the presence of a solar tree but he couldn't see it. Around him were trees that showed the boundaries of the area around him but there were none old enough to be the Solar Tree.
There was that really large rock though.
Surrounded by a moat.
Django eyed the water. He didn't completely hate water per se but he disliked it at least. He didn't like it before since he couldn't swim but now that he was half-Vampire, he had a natural aversion to it as he got hurt if he stepped onto a puddle as Black Django.
He had to know though. Even if he had to wait until night to transform into Black Django to fly over it. Glancing at the sky showed that that wouldn't happen for at least another three hours.
Walking slowly towards the shining rock, Django couldn't help but stare in awe of it. It was nothing that he had ever seen before and he couldn't think of anything that he'd encountered that compared with it. The closest thing that he could come up was were the Seals that had sealed the Immortals away except this was less refined.
When he reached the edge of the moat, Django could see a stepping stone the lead from the edge to the island from the other side that he was standing on. He hesitated; he could use them to jump across - he wouldn't get hurt as he was Red Django at the moment and not Black. Peering into the moat's depths, Django was fairly sure that he'd be able to stand up from the bottom if he did fall in.
Nodding to himself, he walked to the edge where the stepping stone was. The stone was wet, his mind noted. If it was wet, he'd fall in. 'And then I could just wade through the water,' Django thought stubbornly. He was going to find out what that rock was even if he had to cross over water to do it.
Readying himself, he hopped onto the stepping stone. He didn't slip that much. Gaining confidence from that, he jumped onto the island that the rock was on.
He gazed up at it in wonder. It was so completely... alien to him. Having the sudden childish urge to touch it, Django placed his palm onto a part of it that looked vaguely smooth.
He took a step back almost instantly while snapping his hand away at the same time, wide-eyed and heart racing. What was that? He'd touched it and then there was a sudden rush of energy that flooded through his body.
Looking at the hand that he'd put onto the rock, Django couldn't believe that all the sol energy that he had lost was replenished completely.
"So you know how to use a psynergy stone then," Django heard someone say behind him.
Whipping himself around, Django saw a girl with blonde hair and... purple eyes? "A sai-nare-jay stone?" Django said, repeating the unfamiliar word. "Is that what this is?" he asked, gesturing to the rock behind him.
The girl nodded. "Yep. They're not all like this though - quite a lot of psynergy stones are small, purple and can fit into the palm of the hand."
Django paused, running through everything he could remember. "No," he said while shaking his head. "I've never seen that or anything like this before in my life."
Here, the girl frowned slightly. "But the way you went up and touched it, it showed that you know what it did."
"I don't," Django said helplessly. "There was just so much sol energy coming from it... I - I had to touch it." He shook his head. "I didn't know that it would give me back my energy that way that it did."
"Sol energy?" the girl repeated blankly. "You could feel the energy coming from the psynergy stone all the way from Mia's house?" she asked, changing the subject before Django could answer.
"Yeah. Um, do you mind?" Django asked as he stood on the edge of the island.
"Mind what? Oh, right, sorry," the girl took a few steps back to allow the Solar Boy room to land when he reached the other side.
Django jumped onto the stepping stone. And slipped.
Splash.