Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun. The games and their characters are property of Nintendo and Camelot.

Warnings: This story contains blood and gore. Me, I think that it's not that intense, but if you're really squeamish, steer clear, or at least don't come crying to me.

Special thanks go to my mates Alex and Dante, and to the Golden Sun: The Lost Age board on GameFAQs.

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With a grinding noise, the Lemurian ship slid sideways onto the beach at Apojii. Most of the Adepts were able to keep their balance after the rough landing, although Sheba was thrown wailing from the vessel and smacked into a palm tree. She fell to the ground. Three coconuts fell after her.

"Ow! Ow!" Sheba cried as two of them hit her. The third one fell harmlessly in the sand beside her. Sheba stuck her tongue out at it. "Hah, missed me." Then a monkey jumped on her.

After Sheba had been healed and the monkey made into sandwiches for the hungry Adepts, the group walked along the island until they reached the main village. They looked around in awe. The simple islands had been transformed into a resort paradise!

"When did this happen?" Jenna wondered.

"A wizard did it," replied a villager. "Here, have a coupon."

Jenna took the coupon. "One free fish sandwich at Barney's Seafood?"

"I want a coupon!" Ivan said. "Gimme gimme!" The man gave him one.

"So, we heard that this place was in trouble," Felix said.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." The man laughed. "Funny story, really. We've all been infected by a horrible disease that slowly and painfully kills us." He lifted up his shirt, revealing an oozing sore. "See?" He grinned cheerfully at them, then fell over dead with the expression frozen on his face. The Adepts looked at each other.

"That is really gross," Sheba said. She shuddered. "Someone want to do something about that body?"

"I've got it," Isaac said. He created a mound of dirt over the corpse.

"Now what do we do?" Garet asked. "These people are dropping right and left!" It was an apt turn of phrase. Two other villagers who were standing nearby, one to the right and one to the left, fell over dead at that moment.

"That was kind of freaky," Mia said.

"Almost too freaky," Piers added, rubbing his chin. He pulled his hand away and stared at it. "What's this?" A sore was developing on the back of his hand.

"Oh, yes, this disease is horribly contagious, in addition to being deadly and painful and gross," another islander told him. She vomited on Felix's boots and continued, ignoring Felix's cursing. "I would bet that you're all infected now. If you're lucky, you will live long enough to kill yourself before the disease takes you." Her head exploded, giving Piers a faceful of viscera. He shuddered and blasted himself in the face with water created by his Psynergy.

"That was disgusting," Jenna moaned. She doubled over and threw up. She straightened up, wobbling as she did so. "I- I don't feel so well."

"Me neither," Garet added, his face just the right shade of green to compliment his shirt.

"This is bad," Ivan said. "What are we going to do? I don't want to die!"

"Stay calm, everyone," Mia said. She had experience dealing with such situations. "Look, I'll cast Wish. That should help, at least for a little while." She did so, and the other Adepts all felt better.

"Now what?" Sheba asked.

"The Water of Hermes will be able to cure everyone permanently," Mia said. "We just need to go to Imil and retrieve it."

"Great," Felix said. "Isaac, you've got the Teleport Lapis, right? Let's go."

"Yes, I have it," Isaac said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Psynergy gem.

"Isaac, that's the Burst Brooch," Garet said.

Isaac looked at the item he held. "Yeah, I guess it is. Here you go." He tossed the item to Garet and reached into his pocket again. "Here it is!"

"Isaac, that's the Lash Pebble," Sheba told him.

"Dang. Well, here it is."

"Grindstone."

"Here!"

"Cloak Ball."

"This it?"

"Orb of Force."

"This?"

"Catch Beads."

Sighing, Felix turned to Mia. "Do we need a Mercury Adept to get this Hermes Water?"

"No, the fountain is outside the lighthouse, and the citizens of Imil will help you with anything you need," Mia said.

"How about this?"

"That's a Potion, Isaac."

"Okay," Felix said. "You should stay here and heal as many villagers as you can. Keep them from dying. You too, Jenna," he added, turning to his sister.

"Huh?" She'd been wrapped up in watching Isaac pull odds and ends from his pockets. By this point, the pile of discarded items was halfway to his knees.

"You can cast Aura to keep the villagers from dying until we bring the water back," Felix said.

"Felix, I've been calculating," Piers said, "and it seems that we'll need a lot of water to cure everyone. I think at least three of us will need to go to Imil."

"All right," Felix said. "You'll come with me, Piers, and someone else, too. Isaac, have you found the Teleport Lapis yet?"

"Yeah, it's right-"

"Hover Jade."

"Damn!"

"I worry about him sometimes," Felix said. "Hm. Who else should come?"

"I'll go," Garet said. He flexed his arms. "You'll need someone strong to transport all the water back here."

"Fine," said Felix. "As soon as Mister Bottomless Pockets finds the Teleport Lapis, we can get going."

"Let's get started, Jenna," Mia said. "We don't want anyone else dying."

"Yeah," Jenna said. "All these dead people are just nasty." She incinerated a corpse. Felix, Mia, Piers, and Garet looked at her. "What? Those things are a health hazard. Think of it as, uh, instant cremation."

"I FOUND IT!"

"No, Isaac, that's- Oh, wait, that is it," Sheba said, surprised. She looked at the pile around Isaac and laughed. "Now the question is, will you be able to fit all of that back in your pockets?"

"I will," Isaac assured her. "Felix, catch!" He chucked the gem at the other Venus Adept, who barely managed to duck out of the way. Mia, standing behind Felix, was not so fortunate. The stone struck her squarely in the head and she fell over in a way not unlike that of the first man they'd met at the island. "Oh crap," Isaac muttered, trying to pull himself out of the pile of clutter that surrounded him.

Felix, meanwhile, cast Revive on the downed girl, and then he picked up the Teleport Lapis. "Piers, Garet, let's go," Felix said. The three boys grabbed hands, and Felix cast Teleport. In a burst of small, multi-colored lights, they were gone.

Isaac had by this point managed to free himself from the pile of junk. He dashed over to Mia. "Hey, Mia, are you okay?" He held out a hand to help her up. She glared at him but accepted the hand.

"Guys, come here!" Isaac and Mia looked to Jenna to see what she was shouting about. She and Ivan stood with one of the villagers, and she was waving at them to come over. They did so, and so did Sheba.

"Wait 'til you hear what he has to say," Jenna said. Her eyes were wide.

The villager cleared his throat. This developed into a coughing fit that lasted for almost a minute. He hawked up what looked to be an internal organ before taking a deep breath and speaking. "You kids are nice to try to help us, but even if you cure everyone of the disease, we'll just catch it again. You see," he glanced around, looking for eavesdroppers, then lowered his voice, "this disease was created and spread on purpose."

"What?" Sheba exclaimed. "That- how?"

"It's the new Alchemy in the world," the man said. "It woke the creature that rested in the caverns below our island. Legends tell of it; they say that it was drained of its power and sealed below by ancient heroes. Now it wants revenge, and while it regains strength, it sends up clouds of its noxious breath to poison us with this disease."

"Not good," Isaac said. He bit his lip. "I guess that we'll have to defeat it, then."

"Are you crazy?" the man cried. His eyes bugged out. One eyeball actually fell out of his socket, but he poked it back in and glared at Isaac with it. "You'll be killed. Iorgas is too powerful!"

"We're heroes," Isaac told the man. "We can take him down."

"Yeah," Ivan said. "Just tell us how to get to this cavern where the monster is." The man pointed to the ground. "You know, I was thinking maybe a bit more specific."

The man wrinkled his brow in thought. "Well, there is a trap door in my storm cellar."

Ivan nodded. "That's good. Let's hurry and get that thing slain."

"Ivan, Sheba, you two will come with me," Isaac said, "but either Jenna or Mia has to stay topside. Someone needs to keep the villagers from dying- There goes one now!" He pointed to a woman with oozing sores who was tottering across the beach. Mia sprinted over to her and cast Ply Well before the woman could shuffle off her mortal coil.

"I think we have our winner," Jenna said. "Besides, I can light the way." She cast Dragon Fume on a hapless palm tree to prove this point.

"Right," Isaac said. Mia rejoined them. "You're staying here," Isaac told her. "If the others get back, distribute the water as fast as you can, then come down after us."

Mia nodded. "Stay safe. I know you can do it."

"Thanks," Ivan said. "Good luck keeping everyone alive up here."

With their good-byes said, the four Adepts followed the old man to his house and down to his storm cellar. The man picked up a crate in a corner of the cellar. "It's right here."

"It's a hole in the ground," Sheba observed.

"What, you were expected something fancy?"

"Well, yes," she said. "Dullahan had a whole Sanctum, after all. So did Sentinal and Star Magician. You'd think that something powerful enough to kill off a whole island would have a nicer lair."

"Well, you can take it up with Iorgas when you see it," the old man said with a wheeze. He staggered back to the surface, muttering. The Adepts glanced at each other, then steeled their nerves for the descent into darkness.

The passage was definitely not well-maintained. There were rocks strewn everywhere, and at some points, the passage was too small for anyone to fit through. Isaac would have to use his Psynergy to enlarge the openings.

"At least there aren't any dumb puzzles," Ivan said once.

After an hour and a half, the four of them began to hear a noise coming from ahead of them. It was a heavy, rhythmic thumping sound. As they drew closer, they could make out a squelching, slurping noise, too. And once there was a wheezing noise accompanied by a rush of stale air.

"I can't breath!" Isaac choked out. "Jenna, Aura!" Jenna was having difficulty maintaining the flame that was lighting their way, and the air was affecting her, too. Nevertheless, she made a valiant effort and managed to cast the healing spell. It was just in time, too, as the bad air had all passed through. The four Adepts all slumped to the ground, breathing loudly.

Sheba lay on her back with her eyes closed. "That must be where the sickness comes from," she gasped out.

"Like the man said," Ivan agreed.

They lay in silence for ten more minutes. Finally, Isaac picked himself up. He had to use his sword to keep his balance at first, but he felt better than before. "Come on," he said. "We need to keep moving." There were a few groans, but they all knew that Iorgas had to be stopped.

It was very soon after this that they found the cavern where Iorgas lay. They all stopped in the entrance, horrified by what they saw. It was a giant worm-like creature, covered from tip to tail in thick slime. The cavern it occupied was enormous, but the creature's bulk was so great that it filled it, coiling up to the ceiling and back again so that its tail rested next to its head. Its head ended in a giant, tooth-filled maw which was open and drizzling fluid onto the ground. It possessed eyes, but they were small and filmed over.

After a moment, the creature seemed to sense the Adepts. Its head twitched, moving to face them, and they caught a whiff of its breath, which was staggering, but at least not as bad as the poisonous stuff they'd encountered before.

"I guess we'd better get started," Isaac said. "Magical Teen Adept Squad, go!" Isaac, Ivan, Jenna, and Sheba raised their weapons and touched the tips together. A bright beam of light shot out of this juncture and shone into the air before splitting and coming down to shine on the four Adepts.

A golden light engulfed Isaac, momentarily shielding him from view. When it disappated, he was half-covered in metal body armor. A headband kept the messy blond hair away from his eyes, and one eye was covered by an eyepatch. Isaac's sword had transformed into an ancient but powerful scimitar. "I am Isaac, king of the pirates!" the lad roarded in a deep voice, brandishing his blade. He looked around for his friends.

Jenna had changed, too. She was wearing a sailor-style schoolgirl outfit with a skirt that left precious little to the imagination. Isaac sent up a brief prayer of thanks to the gods of transformation. Jenna held her customary weapon, a staff, but this version of it was tipped with an iridescent star. She smiled at Isaac. "Magical Girl Jenna, reporting for duty, Captain Cutthroat!"

"Me, too!" whinnied Sheba. She pawed at the ground with a golden hoof and flicked her rainbow-colored tail impatiently. Her fur was white as ivory, and it had a lustrous sheen to it. Sheba's horn shone like the star on Jenna's staff. "Where's Ivan?" she added.

"I'm here, and I'm ready to go." Ivan stood, one hand grasping a wooden staff. His hair was gone, and in its place was a tattoo of a blue arrow. His clothes, too, had changed, becoming yellow and red robes. He thumped the staff on the ground and glider wings popped out. "I can make an airborn assault, Isaac."

"Excellent," Isaac said, the metal teeth he now had clicking strangely against his natural ones as he spoke. Isaac jumped on Sheba, who reared back to allow Isaac to raise his sword and pose heroicly. "Onward, companions, to battle, and let us not stop until the ground runs red with the blood of our enemy!"

They charged. Ivan, like he'd promised, covered the air. He swooped over Iorgas's head and rained Spark Plasma and Tempest attacks on the beast. The slime covering it seemed to keep the brunt of the attacks from Iorgas, but Ivan caught snippets of emotion from the creature's mind that assured him that it was being hurt.

Iorgas pulled its head up and opened its mouth, unleashing a tidal wave of acid. Jenna raised her star wand and cried, "Magical Angel Love Barrier!" A pink-tinted wall of light surrounded her, Isaac, and Sheba. Ivan, in the air, had been safe.

When the rush of fluid subsided, the barrier disappeared, and Isaac and Sheba charged forward. A small ball of light was forming at the tip of Sheba's horn. She darted back and forth in front of the worm, goading it. When Iorgas took the bait and snapped its head forward, Sheba darted out of the way again, but Isaac leapt onto the head of the monster. He immediately went to work, slashing at the thing indiscriminately. Iorgas tried to buck him off, but the thick slime of the creature actually provided an advantage. Isaac was held in place by it, so he continued his assault unabated.

"Shine Plasma!" Isaac was distracted by the call near him. Iorgas's head was in the air, and Ivan was fairly close by. The Jupiter Adept glided over and jumped down onto Iorgas's head. "Isaac, we're doing some damage. I'm getting snippets of thought from Iorgas, and we're hurting it." He paused, seeming to listen. "Sheba says her Unicorn Horn Blast is almost charged. That should be enough to kill it. Keep attacking, and I'll fly you down when she's ready to fire so that you don't get hit." Isaac nodded and continued to flay the beast. Ivan grabbed him by the arm. "She's ready. Let's go."

After prying Isaac's feet from the slime that covered Iorgas, the two lads flew off. Isaac's weight dragged the glider down faster than normal, but they reached the ground unharmed. They landed next to Jenna, and she healed them with "Ruby Healing Heart Beam!".

"Watch out," Sheba neighed. "I'm going to fire!" True to her word, she launched the ball of light that was sitting on her horn at Iorgas. The light ball was very large by this point, and it hit the monster square in the face. Iorgas screeched and writhed. Its tail and body thrashed around, hitting the walls and ceiling of the cavern. There were a few crashes as boulders were dislodged and sent to the ground.

"Rocks are falling!" Isaac bellowed. "We have to get out of here!"

"Where'd the exit go?" Sheba shouted back.

Isaac looked around. Iorgas's bulk had shifted during the fight. The exit was now blocked by the giant worm. "Damn," he muttered. There were a few tense seconds before he remembered his Retreat Psynergy. "It's okay, guys," Isaac said. "I'll use Retreat."

Jenna grabbed Isaac's arm. Ivan and Sheba took a hold of him, too. Isaac concentrated on an image of the old man's cellar, and then...

They appeared in a heap on the dirt floor of the cellar, their appearances back to normal. The ground trembled slightly, a testament to the might of the giant worm Iorgas.

"C'mon," Isaac said. "We've gotta let Mia know we're okay and see if the others are back."

They trooped out of the cellar and onto the beach. The islanders were all lined up, waiting to recieve the Water of Hermes from barrels monitored by Felix, Piers, and Garet. Mia stood by ready to heal anyone who couldn't wait for the water.

"Hey, we're back!" Jenna hollered.

Mia jogged over to them. "Oh, good! I was worried about you all. You took so long, and then there was an earthquake and we didn't know what happened. Did you kill the monster?"

"Yeah," Ivan said. "Sheba blasted it."

"And the old man was right," Sheba added. "It was what was causing the sickness."

"Speaking of which, you four must still be infected," Mia said. "You need to drink the Water of Hermes. Healing Psynergy can only hold it off for so long."

"Yeah, that's true," Isaac said right before falling backwards onto the sand.

"Isaac!" his friends cried.

"Get some of that water over here!" Mia called.

"Is he okay?" Sheba asked.

"Uhn..." Jenna moaned. She sat down with a thump and put her head between her legs. "I feel like I'm gonna die." Sheba, for her part, gave an impressive display of projectile vomiting, and Ivan began bleeding from every available orifice.

"Oh my god!" Mia screamed. If such a thing had existed in Weyard, she would have been thinking about getting herself psychiatric help at the end of this little adventure because, frankly, this was getting pretty disturbing. She frantically cast Pure Wish as Piers and Garet lugged over a barrel of the Water of Hermes. Felix followed behind carrying a water dipper.

Without preamble, Felix stuck the dipper into the barrel of water and dumped its contents on Isaac's head. He paused to make sure that some water had made it into Isaac's mouth, then moved on to his sister. Jenna was pale and shaking.

"C'mon, Jenna, drink this," Felix said, holding his sister up.

She wrinkled her nose at the dipper's contents. "That doesn't look sanitary."

"Just drink it," Felix said.

"You know I only drink filtered bottled water, Felix," Jenna said.

Felix rolled his eyes. "Look, humor me, okay?"

"I'll drink it and die of some nasty disease, and then where will we be?"

"Oh, the irony," Piers said.

"You're holding things up, Jenna!" Garet said.

"Fine!" she snapped, then gulped the water.

"How do you feel?" Felix asked, peering at her intently.

"I'm fine," Jenna assured him. She slowly got to her feet. "In fact, I think I feel a song coming on!" She pulled a feather boa from somewhere, and someone tossed her a microphone. Garet and Felix exchanged horrified looks, and then Garet dive-tackled Jenna into unconsciousness.

"What was that about?" Piers asked.

"It was an act of mercy," Garet said, standing up and brushing himself off. He took the boa from Jenna and stuffed in under her head as a pillow.

"Jenna's singing could wake the dead," Felix said, "and make them wish for death again."

"Speaking of death," Mia cut in tersely, "Ivan and Sheba still haven't been cured." She gestured at the pair. Ivan, under the blood coating his skin, was looking extremely pale. Sheba was going at it like a rotating lawn sprinkler, spewing the contents of her stomach along the beach. "And Isaac's still unconscious!"

"Oops," Garet said. He hefted the water barrel and staggered over to the two Wind Adepts. "Drink up, you two." Felix tossed Garet the dipper, and Garet passed it to Ivan. Ivan drank the water and took a second dip of water to wash the blood off of his face.

"That's so much better!" Ivan exclaimed. He passed the dipper to Sheba who managed to reign in the contents of her stomach long enough to take a swallow. She made a few faces, but finally she relaxed. She was cured.

"What's wrong with Isaac?" Felix asked Mia. The other Venus Adept still hadn't woken up.

"I don't know." Mia bit her lip. "Try some more water." Felix forced a dipperful down Isaac's throat. Nothing happened.

"Did we wait too long?" Ivan wondered.

"I hope not," Piers said.

Garet bounded over to Isaac. He grabbed his friend by the shirt and began shaking him. "Isaac! Wake up!" There was no response. Garet thought a minute. "Isaac! Jenna's doing a strip-tease! Right now!" There was still no response from Isaac, although most of the others raised their eyebrows at Garet's tactics. Garet growled. "Isaac, if you don't wake up, I'm gonna tell everyone..." Here he paused and whispered into Isaac's ear. After another moment, Garet stood up and shook his head. "Not even that did it."

"What did you whisper?" Sheba asked.

"Nothing," Garet said. "And don't you dare Mindread me, Sheba! Or you, Ivan," he added, shooting glares at each othem. Sheba stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's not important right now," Felix said. "Mia, can you do something? Take his pulse or check his heart? Is he dead or isn't he?"

"He's mostly dead," Mia said.

"What does that mean?" Piers asked.

"It means that only one thing can bring him back from the brink of death."

"And that is?" Felix prompted.

Mia ducked her head to hide the blush that crossed her cheeks as she spoke. "True love's first kiss."

"I'm coming, Isaac!" Garet said, throwing himself on Isaac and kissing him full on the mouth. "I'm not gonna let you die!" He sat up and stared hard at his friend, oblivious to the others' stares.

Isaac's face twitched a bit, and he opened his eyes. "Garet," he murmured, "you saved me."

"I wouldn't let you die."

"I heard what you whispered to me," Isaac continued. "I love you too, Garet." He pulled Garet close and kissed him.

"I wish I knew how to quit you," Garet told him, running his hands through Isaac's hair.

Laying a short distance away, Jenna slowly began to regain consciousness. She rubbed her head and sat up. Jenna looked around and saw that her friends were all grouped around something. She stood and walked over. "So, what'd I miss?"

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Thanks for reading! If you liked this, please review and let me know.