[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[tex]

"Don't care," Apollo spat, shuffling through his papers.

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at the man as he ignored his words. 'I've never used this technique on anything other than a door before, but...surely it's power will work here, too!' He thought, kicking powerfully at Apollo's desk in an attempt to split it in half. "FRONT DOOR KICK!!!"

[tex]

Apollo closed his eyes, backed his chair away, and rose his hands as the papers on his desk flew every which-way. He opened his eyes and looked at Jenso, appearing a little worried. He stood up slowly, with his hands still raised, looking at Jenso as he walked over to a nearby table, picked up a full mug of coffee, sipped for a solid 10 seconds, and finally sighed.

"Ok, I'm listening," He croaked.

[Hatman1801]

Alvios cleared his throat, crossing his arms. "If you would listen the first time, Apollo, this here is Jenso. He's come here from DIVER'S PARADISE and would like to have a word with you. He seems to have some questions about Corona, the Swarm--of which he killed hundreds of--and LUKE, that 'bandit' you tried to have killed." Hopefully, Alvios emphasized himself enough so that Apollo would actually listen.

[tex]

Apollo blinked a few times, processing what Alvios had to say. He walked back over to his chair and sat down, with yet another long sigh. "What do you want," Apollo asked, audibly frightened by Jenso's presence, not because of his power, but because of the information he wielded.

[Jensoman]

Jenso pointed at Apollo and glared at him. "You lied to everyone, and told them that Luke--my FATHER, and his people were bandits! You stabbed him in the back, and Luke has been thinking that Alvios was the one who betrayed him, all this time!" Jenso spat at Apollo. "Admit to what you've done to the entire city, or I will. And while I'm at it, I'll deal with this swarm problem once and for all, too." He added.

[tex]

Apollo cringed, "Your father? Feh." He didn't seem to concerned about much of what Jenso said. "I'm not admitting anything. Thanks to that little venture, this village adores me, and it's been more prosperous than ever. Would you really want to incite chaos in a stable economic environment during this dire time of need?" Apollo growled. "And don't go spouting nonsense about those crabby-things. We have a good thing going right now, even if our navy is useless.." Apollo paused and cringed. "We don't uh... I don't know where those bugs are coming from, either way. All you stand to do by exposing me, is destroying our village. I have a job that nobody else can do. So, as it stands, let's both just.. Keep doing our jobs. You deal with the termites, and I'll deal with the taxes." Apollo stood up, visibly bothered by something as he began gathering his papers.

[Hatman1801]

Alvios narrowed his eyes, and stepped closer to Apollo threateningly. "Apollo...what do you mean by 'we have a good thing going right now'? Are you playing some game that's putting hundreds of lives at risk, again?!" He was incredulous. If Apollo was pulling crap like this during these attacks...

[tex]

Apollo raised his hands and looked at Alvios with his usual, stoic, half-closed-eyes, total-douche-wagon stare. "It's good. Everything works fine. I'm doing a good job with what we've got," he urged.

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at Apollo as well, and walked closer. "Are you sure you don't know where those bugs are coming from?" Jenso suddenly asked, slamming his fist against the wall. "You don't sound very convincing to me."

[tex]

Apollo staggered back further and looked away from Jenso. "Ehm.. It's.." Apollo shook his head again. "It doesn't matter! Everything is fine the way it is! We have Alvios!" He shouted, pointing towards the swordsman. "Who do you think you are? Stomping into my city with your egregious nonsense?!"

[Hatman1801]

Alvios draw his sword, eyes locked onto Apollo's. "Apollo, you had best start talking, and talk fast. If you don't... He couldn't threaten to kill Apollo. He'd know that wasn't an option, and would likely laugh in his face for suggesting it. Alvios needed this information out of him. Or did he...?

"... You have me, do you? Well, it just so happens that Jenso is preparing to challenge an old enemy of mine. So, here's your ultimatum. You tell us everything you're hiding, or I just leave with him. His information helps me end a lifelong grudge, and yours saves Corona. Which do you think is more important to me?"

[tex]

Apollo was cornered. His narrowed his eyes, and then his composure shattered. Apollo collapsed back into his chair and leant his head back. "Fine, you win," He wheezed. "I know the coordinates of the cave that those creatures came from. I uh.. I accidentally opened it while we were blast-mining the Ki-Kiok reef- You know the one, Alvios. I was alone, trying to get Ki-Kiok jewels, when suddenly I.. Uh. I think I struck a nerve in the foundation.." He stopped and leaned forwards into his arms, which he rested on his knees. "The entrance is right there, under water. I didn't want to say anything, I thought our armies could hold them off. But with you around.. Maybe.." He stopped and sighed again. "That's where they are. They're in Ki-Kiok. If you really plan on going out there to stop them, you can take my boat."

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at Apollo. "Accidents happen...but I'm still not done with you.." Jenso said to him, referring to what he'd done to Luke. He turned to Alvios. "Alright, let's go!" He said to him, waiting for Alvios to lead the way to Apollo's boat.

[Hatman1801]

Alvios' eyes narrowed, pointing his sword at Apollo. "You've been letting me sit here and defend this town nearly on my lonesome for weeks, while you've sat back doing paperwork while knowing full well where to go to end this? People have been infested. People have died. It's your fault that I had to kill Cilia!" Alvios looked to lower his sword, depression grabbing him. "All because of your greed and pride. If the city didn't need you to organize a few things, then I might just kill you here. Repentance through death."

Before Apollo could react and relax to that statement though, he flicked his sword back up, slicing off one of Apollo's ears and sheathed his sword in one motion. "I hope you'll listen to pain's teachings at least. Let's go to the docks, Jenso."

[tex]

Apollo reeled back with a shriek, far higher-pitched than one might have expected, and fell against the back wall of his office. His secretary leapt into the room at Jenso and Alvios were leaving to noticed Apollo's ear on the ground before him. She was frozen in place, staring at him in horror, unable to believe what she'd seen. Apollo covered his bleeding ear and panted heavily.

"Jan," Apollo panted, "Cancel my 6 o'clock."

---

~ End Of Chapter 110 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 111 ~

_{Hold Your Breath}

Alvios had taken Jenso to Oar Bay, and showed Jenso exactly which boat was Apollos, before promptly hoisting the sail, and taking the two of them towards the reef. It was a little far out, but it didn't take long to get there. Alvios stopped the boat at their location, and looked down in the unusually clear water, where a giant jagged hole could be seen curving into the earth at the center of the reef.

[Jensoman]

Jenso looked down into the water as well, and noticed the hole. "Well, here goes nothing.." He said to Alvios, inhaling a lot of oxygen at once and then holding his breath. He dove into the water to move right into the hole, keeping his wits about him in case something decided to come at him or Alvios underwater. He couldn't use his flame powers here, so he needed to rely on his Ki for now.

[Hatman1801]

"Wait, we don't know--!" Well, so much for waiting to see what might be down there, or even how deep the cavern could be. Alvios took a deep breath himself, and dove into the water after Jenso. Guess we'll just turn around if we run low on air...

[tex]

Jenso and Alvios dropped into the dark Chasm, sinking continuously. They didn't meet any resistance, but within minutes, every last shred of light disappeared, blinding them both. The tunnel seemed to curve as they fell lower, allowing them to walk on the sea floor, but without their vision, they wouldn't be able to navigate.