Chapter 9: Arrived at last! An adventure worthwhile comes to a close

After an intense battle against the undead creature of the Undead Forest, Axel and Linda can finally have some rest, although; their journey still has a long way to go. During their battle against the undead creature within the Undead Forest, Axel manages to unlock a new power known as The Art of Instantaneous Movement or Calm Instinct. Alongside his friend Linda with her bravery and her Stardust Spear. And with the power of Calm Instinct aiding him in battle, they've managed to nullify the army of undead creatures and quickly escaped from the forest, exhausted from the; battle.

While walking together, Linda helped Axel to walk due to him losing the Calm Instinct form causing a huge; strain on his body and causing him to become weak to move; she tells him while helping him walk,

"Sheez, you're really heavy, you know," said Linda, looking at him with an annoyed look.

"Sorry about that," said Axel. "I forgot that the form; will cause strain on your body the first time you've unlocked it."

"About that Calm Instinct form, is that why you were meditating earlier?" asked Linda.

"Yes, you're correct," said Axel. "I've heard from many elemental users, including my master, that the only to achieve that form is to calm your mind to the point where you move on instinct."

Linda nodded, and she takes some mental notes about how to achieve the Calm Instinct, then Axel turns to look at Linda and tells her,

"Hey, Linda, I think that's a perfect spot for us to rest; let's go over there," said Axel, pointing at a small patch of grass with huge tree leaves covering the sun.

She and Axel walk towards the small resting spot, and Linda carefully set Axel down on a patch of grass as she sits beside him; while looking up at the sky, Linda asks Axel,

"Hey, Axel, can I asks you about something...?" asked Linda.

"Sure, ask me anything," said Axel.

"How come you can get so strong? And, what kind of routine you do to make yourself stronger?" asked Linda, looking at him quizzically.

"I usually do some light training here or there, mostly; 3 times a day, but on certain occasions, I do; 5 times a day of training," said Axel, in a nonchalant attitude.

"5 times a day!? That must've been very rigorous, are ok doing that all day? Look now, I'm worried about you," said Linda worriedly. "You said that so casually like it was all right."

"Well, if you been doing it long enough, you'll get used to it eventually," said Axel, still in a nonchalant attitude. "Besides, I don't have anything to do."

Linda then thinks for a moment, and after that, she asks him again,

"Are there any things you do besides training?" asked Linda.

"Well, now that you mention it, hmm...back then, I think I once have a hobby of collecting mostly unique stones," said Axel. "But I got bored with it pretty quickly, so I don't do it anymore."

"Hey! You know, collecting unique stones can give you something good out of it," said Linda. "Some of those unique stones might be valuable, and you can get a decent amount of coins from selling it."

"I know that, but I guess...collecting isn't really my thing, you know," said Axel.

"Well, I can't argue with that. Other people do have different hobbies after all," said Linda.

The two of them then gaze up the afternoon sky, and they slowly begin to relax with the wind breezing over them. While viewing the sky, Axel and Linda hear something and turns around to see Linda's bag; shaking. That's odd; they think to themselves. Axel then slowly approaches the backpack, and he takes the bag to have a look inside; he opens it and pops out their pet rabbit Snowball, surprising both the two of them. Axel gave out a little chuckle and said to Snowball,

"Haha, what are you doing in there, you little pipsqueak?" said Axel, chuckling a little. "Hey Linda, look what I found from inside of your bag."

Axel took Snowball from Linda's and as she turns around, and she sees Snowball in his hands, she squeals excitedly and takes Snowball from his hand. She starts to play with her little pet as Axel continues to watch the clouds. Then while Linda is playing with her little friend, she hears her stomach growling. Axel also hears her stomach growling as he immediately turns around and sees his friend, face beet red with embarrassment. Axel gave a little chuckle and said,

"Heh heh, looks like someone's hungry. Good thing I brought lunch with me, want one?" asked Axel, offering his lunch to Linda.

"Whew, good relieve...thank you, Axel," said Linda, graciously take his lunch

"No problem," said Axel. "Come on, eat up before it gets cold."

The two begins to chow down their lunches together, and Linda gave a small bit of her lunch to Snowball as well; and while eating her lunch, Linda asks Axel, still with food in her mouth,

"Hey, Axel, can we-"

Axel then puts one of his fingers on her lips; gesturing her to stop speaking, then he tells her in his usual calm tone,

"Hey, don't talk to me with you're mouth full; you're gonna choke yourself," said Axel.

"Sorry," said Linda, muffled by the food still in her mouth.

She then swallows her food, and then she asks him again; now a bit shy,

"C-can we; do a little sparring match?" asked Linda shyly.

"Sure, after we finish eating our lunches first," said Axel, continuing to finish his lunch.

Linda nodded and then continue to finish her lunch, as well. A while later, the two finally finished eating their lunch. Linda stands up, and she reaches her hand out to Axel to help him stand up; he takes her hand as she helped him to stand up. After that, the two walk to an open field of grass field near their resting spot. Once they reach their destination and with the wind breezing through the calm grass fields, the two prepared themselves, Axel unsheaths his sword. And Linda pulls out her spear. The two stared at each other, and as a single leave drops to the ground, the two immediately charged towards each other.

As the two dashed towards each other, the two swung their weapons, and the two weapons collided. Both of them continue to clash their weapons with one another, and Axel compliments Linda's incredible spear-wielding talents,

"Haha, I'm impressed by your talent of using that spear of yours, not bad, Linda," Axel complimented.

Linda is surprised, and she blushed a little, and Axel succeeds in dropping her guard. With her guard down, Axel swings his fist towards her, but then she catches his fist, surprising him with her sharp movements, impressing him even more. A smirk formed across his cheeks as Axel then tells Linda,

"Heh, I'm impressed with your sharp wits. Now then, let's drop our weapons and fight with our fists," said Axel, sheeting his sword back into its holster.

She nodded, and she puts her spear onto her back; the two stands in their battle pose. And the two dashed towards each other as the two are now engaged; in a fist clash, the two continue to trade punch after punch, and as the two struck their final blow, Axel tells her, holding her fists with both of his hands,

"You're not bad of a training partner; this will serve as a lesson for you in the near future," said Axel, smiling proudly at his friend.

"Thank you; I really appreciate it. I could say the same thing to you too," said Linda, also smiling proudly at her friend.

The two let go of each other's fists as the two take some time to catch their breaths, and after the two catch their breaths, Axel tells Linda,

"Now, before we end our training today, I'll let you in a little technique I'm about to show you," said Axel, walking away not too far from where Linda is standing.

He then stops, turns around, and prepares himself. He then tells her, in his usual calm tone,

"Now watch and learn,"

Axel thrust his right hand back and opened his palm wide, and focused, then, a blue sparking energy formed on the palm of his hand, and Linda stares in awe. He then thrust his right hand forward as the blue sparking beam blasted from the palm of his right hand. And the blast almost creates a small shockwave when it's launched. Linda holds her ground as the beam; keeps on moving forward, and then the energy beam slowly disappears. He stands back up as he cleans the dust off his hands and tells her,

"And that's how you do an Elemental Magic: Energy Blast," said Axel.

Linda is amazed by the display of the technique Axel has shown to her. Astonished, she then exclaims,

"How astonishing!" Linda exclaimed as she runs towards him and almost catching Axel off guard. "Teach me! Teach me how to do it now!"

Axel looks down at his friend, who is looking at him with excitement in her eyes. He is surprised to see her this excited; he just smiled at her then explain to her although a bit little nervous,

"Uhh, I'm sorry, I already said to you that this is the end of our training. Sorry, Linda, maybe another time," said Axel, tapping her on the forehead.

She's surprised for a moment but then pouts, and Axel gave a little chuckle. The two walked back to their resting spot and put everything back into their bag, and as Linda puts Snowball on her shoulder and the two resumed their journey.

Hours later

With the sun still shining bright on the beautiful afternoon sky, Axel and Linda keeps on moving forward; determined to reach the hill and meet this Mysterious Sender, then the two heard a squeal from afar, and they see another wild boar charging at full speed in their direction, Axel a bit annoyed said,

"Ugh...I don't have time for this nuisance; get out of my sight, you animal," said Axel in a serious; tone.

He then uses his 'Elemental Magic: Wind Burst' to blow the wild boar away as Linda looks on at her friend, surprised but also scared. She then remembers the same thing happened where he saves her life from a boar attack days ago; she trembles in fear seeing Axel angry for the first time. He then calms down and apologized to her for his sudden anger,

"Sorry about that, this is the first time you saw my serious side have you?" asked Axel, now in his usual calm tone.

"Y-Yes..." muttered Linda, still shaking in fear.

"Well, even a gentle and calm person like me has its limits. I can't stand seeing you hurt, so that's why I acted that way towards the boar," said Axel, reassuring her that everything is all right.

Axel then walks over to Linda and softly rubbed her head; he looks at her directly in the eyes and asks his friend in a happy and cheery tone,

"Come on now, who's the most talented friend I know?" asked Axel.

"I-I am..." said Linda, shyly.

"That's right! Cheer up, Linda! If you keep being like this, we'll never find this Mysterious Sender," said Axel, encouraging his friend.

She took Axel's encouraging words to her heart, and little by little started to become more excited. And with a bit more; encouragement from her friend, she finally regained her courage, which made Axel proud as a smile slowly formed on his lips. With her courage fully restored, they resumed their journey. And with every passing time, the twilight sky is even more noticeable. Axel notices the sky starts to set down, and he slowly jogged; Linda then notices this and followed him; Axel said to himself in his mind,

"Darn it, not now!" said Axel, in his mind. "We better hurry before it happens again!"

As they jogged, Linda slowly catches up to him and asks him in confusion,

"Why are we jogging now?" asked Linda, jogging beside him.

"Keep jogging. Wait, I think I see something up ahead," said Axel.

And sure enough, as the two keep on jogging, they see something in the distance, a very rocky hill. The two immediately stop to catch their breath; the two are exhausted but also relieved that they finally reached their destination. The two gazed up at the hill, and Axel is amazed by how tall the mountain is, but Linda thinks differently; she is a little scared and is a bit concerned as well; she lightly pulls on Axel's gi; he then turns around and asks,

"What is it, Linda?" asked Axel, looking directly at her.

"Um, how can we get on top of that hill?" asked Linda, pointing up the hill.

"Hmm, I supposed I could use one of my other abilities, Lightning Speed," said Axel, while gazing up the hill.

"Lightning Speed?" asked Linda, slightly tilting her head in confusion.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm an Elemental User. I can use my Wind Magic to blow enemies away, and I can use my Lightning Magic to enhance my speed," said Axel, looking directly at her.

"Ohh, I see your point now, well I'm actually an Elemental User too, but I can only use Fire Magic," said Linda.

"That's all right; maybe I can show you a few tricks later," said Axel.

She nodded, then Axel takes off his backpack and put on the 'backpack' again in front of him as Linda looks at him, confused. He then crouched down and offered her a piggyback ride, she looks at him even more confused, but Axel just told her to get on his back now. She complies and hopped on his back, and as Axel stands up, a lightning aura surrounds them. And Axel zooms up the hill as Linda holds on to him tightly, almost screaming, and seconds later, they've finally reached the top of the mountain.

Axel turns around to see Linda looking dizzy, and he asks her quite bluntly,

"See? Wasn't that quick?" asked Axel with a slight smile.

Linda then regains her composure and exclaims,

"Q-Quick?! You almost gave me a heart attack! You should've told me sooner before we suddenly zoomed up the hill, you knucklehead!" Linda exclaimed.

"Heh heh, sorry, I just couldn't wait," said Axel, immediately apologizing to her.

Linda too apologized to him for calling him a knucklehead, and Axel tells her no need to worry about it, then they hear the sounds of a door opening, and they turn around to see a figure walking out from the door of a fairly-looking decent house,

"Ah, visitors...it's been a long time we've seen visitors around here..."