Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun or Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Both those games are property of Nintendo and Camelot.
Special thanks go to Joker's Specter for helping me out with this. Everyone, go read his fics. Well, once you've read this, that is.
It was a pleasant summer day in Vale. The weather was warm, the sun was shining, and Isaac's mother had just made brownies and lemonade for Isaac's friends. Isaac and six of his friends were sitting on his roof eating the snack.
"Hey, where's Mia?" asked Sheba, grabbing a brownie.
"She had to go check on Harry, the blacksmith," Isaac explained. He grabbed a brownie, too. "Harry broke his leg the other day, and the Great Healer asked Mia to keep an eye on him."
"Oh," said Garet, his mouth full. "Hey, these are pretty good." He grabbed another brownie and stuffed it into his mouth.
Everyone sat in silence, enjoying the day. Jenna glanced over at the platter of brownies. One left. Slowly, she moved her hand over towards it, hoping no one would see her. However, Felix happened to glance over, and he saw what she was up to.
"Oh, no you don't," Felix mouthed, his hand darting toward the last brownie. Jenna grabbed his wrist with both hands and bent her head to try and grab the brownie with her teeth.
"Catch!" Isaac snagged the brownie with his Psynergy, but Garet reached up and pulled the floating foodstuff away from Isaac's grasp. Jenna, Felix, and Isaac got to their feet and simultaneously tried to tackle Garet. Standing, he managed to hold it above their heads, but then someone jumped on his back and grabbed the brownie by standing on his shoulders.
"Got it!" Sheba cried. Piers snatched it away. "Hey!" Sheba cried as the Lemurian stuffed the treat in his mouth.
Piers licked his lips. "That was delicious." He saw the others staring at him. "Heh heh... It's just a brownie, after all."
Jenna growled at him, and the other Adepts closed in on Piers. Luckily, a voice from near the ground called out before Piers could be mobbed.
"Hey, everyone," Ivan called up to his friends on the roof. "I've got some more brownies. They're fresh out of the oven, too. Dora sent me out with them."
"Great!" Isaac said, releasing his grip on Piers's windpipe. "Bring 'em on up, Ivan."
Ivan scrambled up the ladder, and Jenna relieved him of the tray he carried, snatching up two brownies before setting it down. As everyone sat back down to enjoy the new food, Sheba caught a glimpse of their last friend walking towards the house. "Hey, Mia's coming," she said.
Sure enough, the blue-haired girl was walking up the path towards Isaac's house, her arms wrapped protectively around something. When she was near enough, she called up to her friends."Everyone, come here! I have something to show you!" Her friends descended from the roof and gathered around her. When they were all there, she held out her surprise: it was a kitten.
"Aw!" Sheba and Jenna chorused.
Mia smiled. "I named her Snowflake. Do you want to pet her?"
"Okay," Jenna said, reaching out. The cat bared its teeth. Jenna gulped and withdrew her hand. "Or maybe not."
Mia smiled at the cat. "Oh, who's a good girl? Snowflake's a good girl, yes she is." She kissed the kitten. "Isaac, can I keep her?"
Isaac, whose house Mia was staying at, shrugged. "I guess so. She doesn't have fleas or anything, does she?"
"No, I don't think so," Mia replied, shaking her head. "I got her from some lady down in the town square. She was selling kittens, and they were so cute, so I just had to buy one."
Isaac, Garet, Felix, and Jenna exchanged looks. They knew who that woman was.
"The cat lady?" asked Sheba. "Who's she?" The four Valeans jumped before realizing that Sheba had read one of their minds.
"Oh, um, the cat lady," Jenna said, glancing at Mia and her kitten. "Well, she's this, er, nice lady that comes by occasionally to sell cats she's raised."
"Yeah," said Isaac. He, Garet, and Felix knew what Jenna was leaving out. The cat lady was insane, and so were her cats. All of Vale's citizens pretended not to notice the lady when she was in Vale. Mia hadn't known, so that was how she'd fallen prey to the cat lady.
"Let's go inside and get Snowflake settled in, Isaac," Mia said, heading inside. Isaac gave his friends a desperate glance before following Mia inside.
"Poor Isaac," said Garet. "Dora's going to yell at him for sure."
"What's the problem with this cat lady, anyway?" asked Ivan.
Felix glanced toward the house, then leaned towards Ivan and whispered, "She's completely insane."
"So are her cats," added Garet. "If Dora has any sense, she'll make Mia get rid of the cat."
"I doubt it," sighed Jenna. "She likes Mia too much, and Mia is too naive to understand that the cat is hell spawn."
"Is it really that bad?" asked Piers. "It is just a kitten, after all. All it did was hiss at you, Jenna. I think you are over-reacting."
"Then why don't you go pet it, Piers," Jenna told him sarcastically. "If it's such a sweet creature, you should have no problem."
"I believe I will," Piers said. He strode into the house confidently while the remaining five Adepts waited outside.
"Do you think he'll actually be able to pet it?" Felix wondered.
"Don't be ridiculous," Jenna scoffed.
"Ten gold says he'll have multiple bite wounds," Garet said.
"No, I say just one," Felix said. "Piers is a smart man, after all. He'll know when to get out."
"I'll take that bet," Ivan told Garet. "Another five gold says he's also scratched up."
"You people are awful," Sheba said, sounding disgusted. "Taking bets on how badly your friend is going to be hurt. It's disgusting!"
Ivan grinned at her. "So, I take it you're in for all fifteen gold?"
Sheba grinned back, nodding. "You know it."
Just as she finished speaking, a blue blur ran out of the house, screaming, "Ply! PLY!"
"Hey, Piers, get back here!" Garet yelled. "We need to see how badly you're hurt before we can collect on our bets."
Piers skidded to a halt several feet away. He looked terrible. There were several bleeding scratches on his arms, teeth marks on each of his hand, and one particularly nasty wound that ran from his forehead to his cheek. He glared at Garet. "Glacier!" Garet yelped and dove out of the way. Mia dashed out of the house just then and ran to Piers.
"Piers, are you all right?" Mia asked him.
"Jenna was right; it's hell spawn!" Piers cried as he cast Ply on his wounds. "I am never going near that thing again!"
"Snowflake was just being friendly," Mia said. "Why don't I bring her out, and you two can pet and make up."
"No!" yelled Piers. "I'm going back to your house, Felix!" he called as he ran away.
Back inside the house, Isaac was listening to the commotion outside with dread. Poor Piers. The man had come inside, confident in his ability to pet Snowflake. Isaac had tried to discreetly warn him off, but Piers either didn't understand or didn't care to listen. He'd bent over to pet the cat when Snowflake reached out with her talons and scored gashes in Piers's flesh. Isaac was a veteran of many battles, but this occurrence still shook him to the core. Piers had run out screaming, followed by Mia. Now Isaac was left alone with Snowflake. Isaac, standing next to the kitchen counter, reached into a drawer and pulled out a large steak knife. He felt better once he was armed.
Isaac stared at Snowflake. Snowflake stared at Isaac. Isaac stared at Snowflake. Snowflake stared at Isaac. Isaac's eyes began to itch from staring without blinking, but he dared not blink, knowing that the demon cat was just waiting for an opening. He would not end up like poor Piers. His eyes were itching something fierce by that point, though, so Isaac took a chance and slowly closed one eye, keeping the other trained on the cat. He reopened his eye and closed the other in a similar fashion. Snowflake stared at him, unblinking. It gave Isaac the willies.
"Isaac!" Isaac jumped at hearing his name. He turned and saw his mother entering from her bedroom. "Isaac, what are you doing with that knife?" Isaac looked sheepishly at the steak knife he held, then slid it back into the drawer. Then he noticed what his mother was carrying.
"Mom, what's the suitcase for?" Isaac asked, hoping that her answer would be, "for drowning Snowflake in".
"Your father and I are going on a little vacation to Vault," Dora said, dashing Isaac's hopes. "I'm going to pick him up from work now. We'll be back in a few weeks, or however long it takes you to get things sorted out."
"But Mom!" Isaac yelped. "You can't leave me here with that... that thing!" He pointed to Snowflake. "It'll murder us in our sleep!"
"Don't be silly, Isaac," Dora said nervously. "It probably won't. I mean, it definitely won't." She hugged him. "You be good. Don't let your friends destroy the house. We just rebuilt it." She kissed his cheek. "Good luck, sweetheart." She left the house, leaving Isaac alone with Snowflake. Isaac stared at Snowflake. The kitten glared at him. Isaac did a double-take. Snowflake bared her teeth at Isaac in a cruel parody of a grin. Isaac, not taking his eyes off Snowflake, reached into the drawer behind him for the steak knife. He swallowed hard. Getting rid of Snowflake was not going to be easy.
Well, then, mateys, here's chapter one of my first multi-chaptered fic. Please review. I welcome constructive criticism, but if you just want to praise me, that's fine, too. Well, I'll update this within the week, so until then, mateys!