Disclaimer: ToL and all contents therein are the property of Namco.

Author's Note: A note of thanks to Annamae Tezuka for helping me come up with the ideas in this story. )

The Chase

Moses was humming an incoherent tune as he walked down the road in the Oresoren village, dragging a large brown sack on the ground. He was headed straight to Quppo's house to visit a certain little unseen spy who lived there. When he entered the house, he went straight upstairs to Jay's room. Jay merely stood in the center of the room, deep in thought. Moses carefully snuck up on the boy, holding the sack open.

However, as Moses was about to throw the sack over Jay's head, Jay rolled forward, effectively dodging the attack.

"Damn, I missed!" Moses exclaimed.

"What the hell are you doing, you stupid bandit!?" Jay shouted. "Are you trying to put me in the nuthouse!?"

"No, just into this sack," Moses told him.

"Ugh..." Jay groaned in frustration, then moved past Moses, attempting to exit the room.

"Wait a minute, Jay!"

Jay stopped. "What?"

"I got a challenge for ya. I bet ya can't cut your way outta this sack."

"What kind of challenge is that?"

"It's a good one! If you can't do it, you have to do what I tell ya."

Jay sighed. "Fine. I'm not going to lose to your stupid challenge."

Moses grinned as he held the sack open. "Then come on in!"

Jay moved towards Moses, who gently put the sack over his head, covering his entire body. Moses then laid the boy gently on the floor and tied the end of the sack.

"All right, let's go!" Moses began to drag the sack out of the room.

"Go? Go where?" Jay protested. "You never said anything about going anywhere! Moses!"

Moses ignored his protests as he dragged the sack back down the roads, eventually leaving the Oresoren village.

------------------

Cashel stepped into one of the empty rooms on the Legacy's bridge. There, he found Solon in the center of the room practicing his combat skills. Solon swung his sword in different strokes. He then performed a double flip, then landed on his feet and gripped his sword with both hands.

"Solon..." Cashel called.

Solon swung his sword at Cashel, who quickly moved back to avoid it. "Oh, Cashel. Forgive me; I can get quite excited when I train."

"It's all right. I remember you saying something about a new form of molestation. If you don't mind, I'd like to learn more about it. I'm always used to killing people, but I want to see how much fun it is to toy with them."

Solon grinned. "Oh, it's quite fun, let me assure you. In fact, I've been getting these urges lately myself. They say that experience is the best teacher...so what say we capture ourselves a test subject?"

"Sounds invigorating. But which test subject shall we capture?"

"Why, none other than my cute and adorable little apprentice Jay."

"Ah yes, he's perfect! I still owe him for that one time...if it weren't for him, I could have stopped Senel and his friends from reaching the Commander. Yes, it was all because of him!"

Solon put his sword away. "Well then, let us pack up and be on our way."

--------------

Jay poked furiously at the sack with his dagger, but he just could not break through. What kind of sack is this? And where is that idiot bandit taking me?

"All right, Jay, we're here!" Moses' voice called.

"Hmm?" Jay could feel the opening of the sack loosening. Moses carefully stood him up and pulled the sack off.

Moses grinned. "Looks like I gotcha."

"Moses, you idiot!" Jay growled. "What kind of sack was that!?"

"A strong one."

"Ugh!" Jay took a look at his surroundings, recognizing them as the Crystal Forest. "Wh...what are we doing here?"

"Nothin' much. I just felt like comin' here. But that don't matter anyway. I won the bet, so you gotta do as I say."

Jay dropped his head. "Fine...what do you want me to do?"

Moses pulled out a silky pink dress, similar to the one Jay had worn to the disco dance. "Put this on."

"What!? Why!?"

"Because you'd look real pretty in it?"

Jay gave the bandit a sour look as he snatched the dress. "Fine, I'll put it on. Just don't peek at me while I'm changing."

"Sure, whatever." Moses stepped back a few steps, then turned around. "And don't you try to sneak out of this either, or there'll be hell to pay!"

Jay began pondering as he stared at the dress. He wanted nothing more than to sneak out of there, but he knew that he would face Moses again sooner or later. And knowing what Moses was capable of, Jay knew that there really would be hell to pay.

As quickly as he could, Jay removed his normal star-spangled outfit and put on the pink dress. "Okay...I'm ready."

Moses turned around. "Ooh, nice! What about the hair?"

Jay felt his own nervous sweat. "What about my hair?"

"Aren't ya gonna take it down?"

"N...No!"

"Fine. Come on!" Moses wrapped an arm around Jay, casually walking down the smooth clear path of the Crystal Forest.

Damn...I can't believe I ended up getting stuck in a dress again, Jay thought.

"I wonder where we're going?" he said out loud.

"Well, I might just wander around the Legacy, showing everyone my cute date," Moses responded.

Cute date? Moses has one twisted mind...

Before long, Moses spotted a basket of fruit just sitting in the center of the path. "Ooh, fruit! Let's eat!"

Before he could start running to the fruit, Jay grabbed Moses' backstrap.

"You idiot..." Jay grumbled. "Who in their right mind would leave a basket of fruit in the middle of the road?"

"Hmm...somebody who wasn't very hungry?" Moses spat.

"Never mind...can't you see that this is obviously a trap?"

"No..."

"People give in too easily to temptation. If there was a speck of gald on the ground, people would pick it up without hesitation. Other people may take advantage of that temptation in an attempt to capture or kill them. It's the oldest trick in the book."

Moses gave him an annoyed look. "I have no idea what you just said. So what would you do if you were really hungry?"

"I'd walk over to that tree and pick something, of course."

They both gazed at one of the crystal trees, where shiny red apples were hanging.

"Can we even eat those?" Moses asked.

Jay didn't bother to answer as he walked towards the tree with the bandit in tow. However, when they got to arm's length, the ground suddenly gave out from beneath them, and they dropped into a deep pit. The pair picked themselves up.

"What the hell?" Moses gasped.

"Go for the fruit in the tree," he says, Moses thought. And I just had to listen to Jay of all people...

Jay rubbed his head. "What's going on? Don't tell me...reverse psychology!?"

"Reverse what!?" Moses asked.

"Whoever set this trap knew that we...or rather, I was smart enough to avoid the basket of fruit in the road. So they put a trap here, where the 'smarter choice' would have been."

"Man, I ain't understandin' this at all!"

"Final Embrace!" a rasping voice yelled from nowhere.

Jay gasped as he instantly recognized the voice. "Solon!"

Before they could react, a large block of ice appeared above them and crashed abruptly on top of them, knocking them both out cold instantly. A moment of silence passed before Solon and Cashel came into the open, standing at the edge of the pit.

"From the oldest trick in the book comes the newest trick in the book," Solon remarked with an evil grin.

"Brilliant, Solon," Cashel said. "Absolutely brilliant!"

"Yes, I know my young apprentice well. I knew he'd be smart enough to refuse the fruit in the road. So I set the trap here instead."

"So when can we begin?"

Solon dropped himself into the pit. He pulled out a soft cloth and rolled it up, then pulled the center of it into Jay's mouth, then tied the ends at the back of his head. Solon then took Jay's wrists and began tying them behind his back.

"I believe the bandits' former hideout in the Misty Mountains would be a good starting place."

"That's as good a place as any," Cashel agreed.

Solon stood up, cradling the bound apprentice in his arms. "Prepare yourself, Jay."

Both he and Cashel disappeared in a brown puff of smoke.