ToT Chapter 3 - Part 3: Sealing the wounds

‘Zack, do you copy?’ Alex asked using his thoughts.

‘I hear you; you sent the distress call, right?’ Zack thought.

‘Yeah, we need medical attention immediately’

‘What happened?’

‘We have some wounded Pokémon. Sonya needs to recover, Stella is unconscious due the loss of blood and Jaina is reaching that condition’

‘Wait, you found Jaina?’

‘Yep, fighting against Oxnard and Bermuda, but I want to talk about that later’

‘You’re right, I’ll send my group to help you in getting back; Ryan the Marowak is the leader’

‘Got it’ And Alex cut the communication.

“Zack, what happened? You just stood there, looking in that direction” Stephan said.

“Nothing good; Gemma, we need help” Zack called her.

“Something happened?” She asked.

“Alex spoke to me via telepathy; he said that they have wounded Pokémon and need medical attention immediately”

“I’ll get the medical staff ready” She said and went immediately.

“Ryan, we have a situation”

“What is it?” Ryan asked.

“Some Pokémon who stole water from the reservoir are wounded, badly; I need you and the guys to reach them and escort them back to the camp; my friends are a Lucario with smooth spikes and a Scyther”

“Alex and Jack respectively?”

“Yeah, help them in any way you can”

“Roger that; okay boys, we have an escort mission; we have to find a Lucario and a Scyther, and help them in getting back”

“Then let’s go; the shorter they stay in the opening, the better” Charles said.

 

Then Sasha and Darius used Dig to travel faster; and the rest run in the direction of where the Aura sphere was launched.

 

“Zack, you’re still not telling us what happened, you said that some Pokémon are wounded” Stephan insisted.

“*Sigh* we found our friend, but she’s injured; Sonya needs to recover and Stella passed out for the loss of blood” Zack

“She what!?” He asked in desperation. “I need to get to her…”

“Stephan, no” Zack stopped him. “You will faint if you try to get to her; the best thing you can do is wait here”

“But…”

“Trust me, besides you’re not the only one who’s worried, but I have confidence in Alex, Jack, the others accompanying them and my boys; they bring her back alive; that I promise” He assured.

 

Stephan looked to in the direction of where Ryan and the others went. Resigned, he looked back to Zack.

 

“Okay, I’ll stay” Stephan said.

“Then let’s see if we can help the medics in any way” Zack suggested.

“Let me help, too” Lena decided.

“Can I help in something?” Robin asked.

“Yeah, the more the merrier”

 

Meanwhile, Alex and the rest of the group was still walking, looking everywhere for any bandit or assassin that would appear. Then they saw three silhouettes running in their direction. Vander gave the order to prepare to combat, but Alex told him to wait because Zack’s comrades are coming to help them. Reluctantly, he accepted; and Alex and Jack went ahead to receive them. The three Pokémon stopped at some meters from him and two more appeared from the sand. The Marowak approached to them.

“Lucario with smooth spikes and a Scyther; you’re Alex and Jack, am I right?” Ryan asked.

“Yep, and you must be Ryan, with a battle hammer” Alex said.

“Correct, that’s me; the others behind me are Charles, Darius, Sasha and Anibal; Zack said you need help”

“True, we have to make sure that we don’t face any imminent danger along the way while we transport the water and the wounded; and only Jack is scouting”

“You hear him guys, disperse in a semicircle  ahead of us; anyone who tries to attack, beat them up or alert back to the group; I’ll stay here in case they need some muscle”

“Understood” All of them said and went to their positions.

“Jack” Alex said.

“On it” Jack interpreted and joined the other four.

“Do you need help in carrying some of the barrels you have?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah, using Psychic to carry two barrels while I’m carrying Jaina is really tiresome” Alex said.

“I can see that” Ryan said and took one of the barrels.

 

Then they resumed the walk. With Zack’s comrades and Jack on the front, it was easier to spot the enemies and deal with them while the entire group was preoccupied in getting back. Sometime later, Alex asked to Ryan about the negotiations. The others turned their heads to them and listened.

 

“You really had to see that; Kapon didn’t believed that we betrayed him and Anibal trapped Oxnard with Grass knot before he could interfere” Ryan explained.

“That’s explains why he was so pissed off” Alex pointed.

“Yeah, but you have to hear this; Zack took a chair near to Kapon and made an aggressive deal with him with the warning of if he attacks all of us, he’ll send an entire kingdom against him and then he pressed more, even threating his life if he doesn’t agree”

“Heh, yeah, that’s what we talked with him about what he would say to Kapon”

“So, you’re not kidding about the persecution”

“Not really; we have little tolerance with guys like him”

 “I like your style; but you know, Kapon will retaliate with what is left of his forces, especially against you three for causing so much problems and opposing him directly” That sentence preoccupied the group.

“Zack warned us about that and we took some precautions; we’re ready to take them down until the last of them”

“Living to the limit, but always accomplishing the objectives; I see that Zack taught you a lot of things”

“That’s why we stay together”

“And now we’ll finish this bullshit, once and for all; I waited six long years for this to happen”

“All in time, Ryan” Vander said. “I waited more time than you and Zack, but we messed up Kapon so hard that he’ll be forced to take action; we just need to wait a little more”

“I know, but I hope he’ll attack soon; I only want to beat them, really hard” Ryan said.

 

Excluding a few bandits, there were no complications until they returned to the camp. Alex, Marth and Yang; accompanied by Lin Lin, Nox, and Ryan; headed to the medical tent with the wounded. Zack, Stephan, Lena and Robin were waiting outside. When Stephan looked to Marth, carrying Stella; he run to them. When he looked more closely Stella’s condition, he started to shake and breathe faster. Zack approached to them as well.

 

“Guys, the medics are ready to help” He said.

“Then let’s get inside” Alex said.

 

Inside, the medics treated them as best as they could, cleaning the cuts and patching them up. Sonya only needed to drink a recovering juice and rest for a while until she could get back to her feet. Lin Lin had to get out, because she’ll help in carrying some barrels, Ryan got out too; and Nox was the last, saying that he don’t want to cause problems. In that time; Alex, Stephan, Zack, Robin, Yang and Lena; helped the medics in bringing all the things they need. After a half an hour, Stella and Jaina were healed. One of the medics said that they need time to rest before they could wake up and more to recover their strength, but by the end of the day, they’ll recover completely. Robin said that she has to join Marth to help cleaning the water, so she went out. The rest stayed in the tent about an hour until they opened their eyes. The first was Jaina. Slowly, she moved her head to look around and fixed her eyes to Alex and Zack.

“How are you feeling?” Zack asked.

“A little better” Jaina answered.

“That’s good; one of the medics told us that you’ll need time to recover, but in a little while, you can move again” Alex explained.

“Okay; Alex, thank you for saving me; I thought I would die from the assassins” Jaina said.

“It’s a good thing we found you before that” Alex commented.

“What were you doing down there?” Zack asked.

“I guess the same reason as the tabirans; take the water from Don Kapon” She said.

“Why’s that?” Zack asked.

“I need it to perform a cleaning spell; since the waters are contaminated, the only place you can find water is the one in the hidden reservoirs” She explained.

“You were trying to clean the water of Ywary Canyon?” Alex asked.

“That’s right; since I lost my book in the Darkhowl woods, the only spell I remembered was that”

 

Then Alex took their team bag that Zack brought and took out the book.

 

“You mean this one?” He asked.

“You saved me again, but where did you find it?”

“With the witch Morgan, in her hut, while she was far away, from a punch in her face” Zack answered.

“Did you encounter her?”

“And interrogated her, we also took the liberty of writing the instructions of two of her potions for our use” Zack answered again.

“I guess Farius taught you well about witchcraft and how to deal with it”

“For being the best witch after you, who is a gentleman and naughty at the same time, yeah; we learned a lot from him” Alex said with a smirk in his face.

“Heh heh heh; well, it’s his way of teaching and besides, he always liked hanging around with you”

 

She opened her book, passing some pages. She found another spell to clean the water.

 

“This is the other spell; you can enchant a purifying heal seed or any cleaning material to speed up the process of purification and increase the amount of water to clean” Jaina explained.

“You have purifying heal seeds with you?” Alex asked.

“Yes, but without the book with the spell; I couldn’t do that”

“Well, we have another mission about helping in cleaning the water; maybe you could lend us a paw with that” Zack said.

“I’ll be glad to do that; the spell doesn’t require a lot of power, so I don’t have to worry about doing excessive work”

“Then we’re ready to tackle this mission” Alex declared.

 

Yang and Sonya, who got up after she recovered;went to Alex, Zack and Jaina.

 

“So your friend is a witch?” Sonya asked.

Alex turned his head and answered. “Yes, I’m sorry to hide that information from you; but Zack, Jack and I agreed to not mention it to not make massive hysteria”

 

She didn’t say a word and fixed her eyes to Jaina. She recognized something about her and asked:

 

“I’m sorry if my question is rude, but; you’re not come from a family of witch hunters?”

She tensed. “W-Why do you think that?”

“Because you’re similar to another Sylveon who tried to eliminate me some time ago”

 

She started to tremble. Seconds of awkward silence passed and Zack broke the silence, speaking to Sonya.

 

“Sonya, tell her”

“W-What?” She asked, looking to Zack.

“Tell her, some of the attributes of Jaina is being very kind and never held a grudge against anyone” Zack suggested.

 

She looked back to Jaina, not being so sure about telling her. Jaina spoke to her.

 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it; but I promise, I won’t judge you” She assured.

 

She took a moment to think it. She knew that her family hunted witches that didn’t even hurted anyone. That was one of the reasons she left them, but talking to a witch who was attacked by her family was a completely different situation. She looked to Zack again, then to Alex. He smiled a little and nodded, giving her more safety. She sighted and answered her question.

 

“Yes, I came from one; the Sylveon who attacked you was my sister; I-I really sorry for…”

“Dear, you don’t need to apologize” Jaina said.

“What? Why?”

“Because I know they had a noble purpose in the beginning; it’s not your fault what happened to them”

Sonya lowered her head. “I know, but…”

 

With difficulty, Jaina approached to her and placed her paw in her left shoulder. Sonya looked back to her.

 

“You’re not responsible of that and I see that you’re not your sister; that’s why you’re here and not with them” Jaina said.

 

The eyes of Sonya started to cover with tears. “I… I…”

Jaina changed to her left cheek and smiled. “Relax Sonya; this is not a judgement, we’re only talking, okay?”

“O-okay” And she closed her eyes, letting Jaina to keep her paw a little more.

 

Alex, Zack and Yang gave her a moment. Sonya rubbed her eyes and spoke to Alex and Zack.

 

“You better not tell anyone about this, okay?”

“We’ll take our secrets to the tomb if we have to” Alex said.

“You don’t have to be melodramatic, but thanks; I’m really glad to count with guys like you two”

“That’s what friends are for, right?” Alex said.

“Yeah, friends…” She said, smiling a little.

“I-I also heard t-that you would do the m-mission of purifying the water” Yang said.

“That’s right, want to tag along?” Zack asked.

Yang looked to Sonya, who nodded, and then she looked back to Zack. “Y-yeah”

Alex looked back to Stephan, Lena and Stella, who was awoken. “Excuse me for a second” He said and went to them.

 

The three of them looked to Alex and he felt in Stella a low confidence. He supposed that the battle against Bermuda damaged more than her body.

 

“How are you feeling Stella?” He asked.

“I’m fine, just a little shocked up” She answered.

“Are you really okay?”

 

She looked to the front without saying a word. Alex looked to Stephan; he turned to him and lowered his head. Then, Alex turned back Stella. There were some minutes of silence, until Stella spoke.

 

“Alex I… I’m sorry, I just messed up back there; I really thought… I just wanted…” Her voice broke.

 

Alex kneeled at her side and placed a paw in her right shoulder. She looked to him with a sorrow face while a tear was dropping.

 

“The only thing that matters is that you’re still alive and you can learn from the experience, so that won’t happen again; you’re not the only one who had a horrible day”

She only nodded slowly and Alex added: “Would your team want to help us with the purification of the water? Maybe a more relaxed mission will clear your mind”

“Yeah, I think that would do it, for now” Stella said.

“Okay, Stephan?” Alex asked to him.

“I agree with that, I just hope things will get better” He said.

“Come on, with the three of us together and these guys backing you up, things will definitely get better” Lena encouraged them.

“If she says that with that attitude, it has to be true” Alex said.

 

Stephan and Stella smiled at that. Lena’s good mood was everything they need to keep going in their situation. After two hours, teams Pathfinders, Electrophilic and Shadow foxes went out from the tent to help with the purification process. Jaina was carrying a bag with her book and the seeds she brought. In the way, team Harvester and Zack’s group joined them as well. It took them a while to find Sinclair and Menthe. When they did, they found Sinclair, carrying some empty barrels and Menthe, carrying some materials.

 

“Miss Sinclair, miss Menthe; we’re here to help you in cleaning the water” Alex announced.

“Hello there, I’m glad that you came” Menthe said.

“Oh, hi Alex; it’s good to see you and your friends again” Sinclair greeted.

“Yeah, I can say, the events of today were too tiresome; a more calmed mission is what we need right now” Zack commented.

“Tired of turn Kapon upside down?” She asked.

“What? You already know?” Zack asked confused.

“Gemma and Vander told everyone who weren’t with them what team Shadow foxes done against him; you guys have a lot of guts to confront Kapon directly  and got the upper hand” Menthe explained.

“Yeah, but we’re just the last straw; Kapon was about to collapse, even if we didn’t intervene; we just speed things up” Zack pointed.

“But that doesn’t take off the merit of hitting him hard; even if that involves to get his full attention” Sinclair mentioned.

“That’s what we planned; but for now, we’re going to keep helping” Alex said.

“That’s what I wanted to hear” Sinclair said. “Menthe, would you explain them what are we’re going to do?”

“Sure thing” Menthe answered. “As you already saw, we’re preparing to clean a lot of water; some of you need to help Sinclair in carrying contaminated water and if you can, explain to the Ywarans that we came to their aid, so they can show us a safer route to the river or alert us if Kapon’s goons are lurking around; the rest will help me in distribute some tablets I created in the barrels with the water for the purification”

“I’ll go talk to the Ywarans” Zack decided.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked. “They maybe still remember you, and that you worked with Don Kapon”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m going there; I have to repair some damages”

“At least we didn’t kill anyone and hurted them badly, or it could be worse trying to talk to them” Ryan mentioned.

“You need more people with you?” Stephan asked.

“No, this is something I have to do it on my own”

“Not completely, we’re coming with you, too; we also have to pay for the problems we caused” Ryan said with all his gang nodding.

“I really hope that you’ll succeed; Ywarans lives are in stake” Menthe said.

“Thanks, we’ll do it; well, let’s go” Zack ordered and his group followed him, moving fast.

“In that case, I’ll help with the water transportation” Alex decided.

“We’ll do that, too” Horace said.

 

Jaina made a signal to Alex and he approached to her.

 

“Do you need company?” Jaina asked.

“Don’t worry; Horace and Gary will join me; Jack is scouting for us and you still need to recover” Alex answered.

“Okay, I’ll stay here and help in any way I can”

“Good and remember…”

“I know, use the magic at minimum so it won’t cause panic”

“Yeah, but if it’s necessary, do it”

 

Then Alex, Horace and Gary went with Sinclair with some barrels and buckets to take the water. Teams Pathfinders and Electrophilic joined her while they were waiting Menthe.

 

“You guys are staying?” She asked.

“Y-Yeah, some of the b-barrels are too big f-for us” Yang explained.

“I heard that you have a spell to cleaning the water” Sonya mentioned.

“That’s right, but I only going to use it when Alex gets back; the people of Ywaru is afraid of the mere mention of magic, so for now, I’ll help in preparing some tablets”

“How you’re going to do that? I mean the spell” Stephan asked.

“The words I need are written here” And she showed everyone the page in her book.

“Uh… I cannot understand a thing of what it says” Stella said.

“I-I don’t know if I s-see it upside d-down” Yang said.

“That’s the reason I wrote a warning in the first page” She said while showing it.

“So, only you can read them?” Stephan asked.

“Actually you can, if you study the language; what you cannot do is use it, because you need to have a special connection with the magic to access it”

“And Alex can read it?” Sonya asked.

“I think so; since Alex, Zack and Jack studied witchcraft with another witch to, for example, read any kind of their books, it’s possible that he can read some pages”

“I guess that explains how they confronted Morgan without too much problems” Stella said.

“The witch who trained them, Farius, taught them that if you have to fight witches, you need to understand them first to predict their actions and know how to expose them”

“Well, if that is the case, if you have time, could you…” Sonya started.

“Help you giving you some tips? I don’t see why not”

 “What, really?” Sonya asked.

“Of course; witches have advantage with magic and potions, to balance it you need ingenuity”

“Well, that’s an interesting concept, thanks”

 

Menthe made a signal to approach to her.

 

“Okay, this is the list of the ingredients and how you have to make them” She said and gave every team a paper with the instructions. “We need to make a lot of them, since each tablet can clean a few gallons”

“Then let’s get started” Stephan said with excitement, hoping that he can show himself to Menthe.

 

The group of Zack took some time to get to the town. Upon their arrival, some of the inhabitants hidden in their houses, others took battle stances. Three Pokémon approached to them. It was an old Noctowl, a Bidoof and a Shelgon. Zack approached as well. None of them spoke for a few minutes.

 

“So you’re still alive and you came back” The Noctowl started.

“That’s right, Nathan” Zack said.

“Why? Our lives are really difficult with Don Kapon taking control over the fresh water; you’re only make our situation worse” Nathan explained.

“That’s the reason we’re here, to pay our debts and take out Kapon from his position of power”

“Y’ really think is that simple?” The Bidoof asked.

“No, that’s why I have new friends and allies; to ensure that happens”

“You mean the outlanders?” Nathan asked.

“Yeah, they’re coming to help you with the problem of the water and Kapon”

“Y’re coming with them?” The Bidoof asked

“Yes, besides I have personal reasons of crushing that old fool”

“How you plan to do that?” “The Shelgon asked.

“Actually we already set the plan in motion” And Zack explained a few parts of his life, what happened earlier and Menthe’s idea.

Nathan thought for a moment of what Zack told him. The new was too good to be true. As for the Bidoof, at first she showed fear while he explained that they managed to upset Don Kapon; then, a big smile, thinking of the numbers of volunteers they’re coming and how Kapon was weakened with just a few words and a lot of kicks in the asses.

 

“So, you quitted your bandit life to help a riolu?” He asked.

“Yes, that boy had something in him that changed me; I cannot explain it, but now I want to set things right” Zack said.

“And we too are going to do it; where the boss goes, we follow” Ryan added.

“If that is the case, we have some works for ya; and if y’ accomplish them, we can show you the safer routes to the river and update you about Kapon’s movements” The bidoof explained.

“Just show us what we need to do; we handle the rest” Zack said.

“Okay folks, let’s see what you can do; by the way, my name is Barley and he is Pinto” Barely presented.

“It’s good to see ex Kapon members fighting back against him” Pinto said.

“And we’re just started” Ryan said with a smirk in his face.

 

Nathan nodded and told the people behind them to stand down. Then they entered the town. Most of the Pokémon looked Zack’s group suspiciously, but they ignored them; it was their right to do it. Nathan brought them to his house, with some companion and with Barley, explained them the tasks they have.

 

“All of the tasks involves bandits; the things y’ have to do for us is to recover stolen belongings and money; drive them out and clear their hideouts” Barley said.

“Do you know their area of activities?” Anibal asked.

“The surroundings of the town and to the north, three kilometers from here” Nathan said.

“We can take them out in no time” Sasha said.

“Then let’s move; time is the essence” Darius said.

 

For a group like the one Zack was commanding, the tasks didn’t require much effort. They were coordinated, fast, and precise and never left a trail behind them. Those were the reasons of their versatility in the times they were working with Kapon. What he didn’t know was the fact that they always worked together, never killed anyone when he ordered them to do it, even protecting the people from the assassins. The only way Kapon didn’t suspect of that is that for the first case, they always were outside, so he didn’t see them that much; as for the victims, they took them and drove them out of the dessert, so he didn’t see them and assumed that they were taken care off; and as for the assassins, they were covered completely in black clothes to not be recognized in the fight.

An hour later, all the bandits in the vicinity, including some of the Kapon’s lackeys, were out of action. They took all the items and money back, using some of the bags from the bandits. At arrival, they returned everything and reported to Nathan and Barely that there were no more bandits to worry about.

 

“That was faster than I expected; I never saw a group that effective” She recognized.

“We tend to plan our movements and strategies, then act” Ryan explained.

“Well, you paid your debts and more; we’ll tell you the routes you need” Nathan said.

“I really appreciated sir” Zack thanked.

“If the Tabirans want to help us, we can even let them stay near the town; we have other types of problems and we need more people” He continued.

“I have the feeling they’ll help you in everything your people need” Zack assured.

“I never thought I would say this, but, you have my thanks for helping us”

“You don’t really have to; it was my compensation for what I’ve done”

“True, but you took responsibility of that; few bandits repair their mistakes”

 

Zack smiled for that and said goodbye to Nathan, Barley and Pinto. On his way back, a Flygon called him.

 

“Excuse me; you’re coming with the guilds, right?”

“That is correct; Zack from team Shadow foxes, to whom I have the pleasure to talk?” Zack presented.

“I’m Aurelio, a traveler merchant; I saw that you did a lot of things for this people and you’re coming with the tabirans”

“That’s right, what about it?”

“I have some things for them and, since you’re here, you can choose what you want”

“Really, without paying?” Zack asked.

“Of course; you can say that it’s a little reward for a work well done”

“Wow, thanks”

 

Zack looked for some of the items Aurelio brought and a certain ware caught his attention. He pointed with his wing at it.

 

“You want the dreamcatcher?”  She asked.

“Yes, this is what I want” Zack said.

“Okay, here you go” And she gave the dreamcatcher to Zack.

“Thanks” Zack said and put the item behind his wing.

“If you can, tell the tabirans that I have some items for them”

“I will”

“Time to go?” Charles asked.

 

Finding a place to take the water from the river wasn’t a very easy task. After the incident with Kapon, he ordered to find an eliminate Zack, Alex, Jack and the traitors for messing with him directly and accused them for conspiracy, theft and humiliation; focusing mayoralty on them, instead of the guilds and the Ywarans. Since Oxnard, Bermuda and a great part of his best forces were unavailable to act, the assassins sent to do the job weren’t the best choice. Even with that, Alex didn’t want to take unnecessary risks and with Sinclair, Horace and Gary, avoided them with Jack’s help. The places they found have a great number of sharp rocks, making the recollection really difficult. Sometime later, Marth joined them as well as Stella, who was bored of the tablet stuff. Marth explained that Robin stayed behind to help the others. Half an hour later, they stopped to rest for a while.

 

“Man, I know that you pissed off Kapon, but I never thought he would take the offensive that soon” Horace said

“I’m more surprised that he didn’t come by himself to finish us; anyone else in his case would take the problem in his own hands” Alex commented.

“It’s possible that Kapon is afraid of you; aside from us, no one else dared to confront him, even less survive” Sinclair suggested.

“Or maybe he doesn’t have the valor to do it” Stella added.

“I guess your option is closer; Zack said that all his work is done by his subordinates”

“It’s a coward’s tactic” Marth pointed.

“But effective, if he stayed in the power for so long” Gary commented

“In any case, we need to keep going; if we cannot find any spot, we have to rely on Zack” Jack said.

“I hope he made more progress than we did” Sinclair said.

 

Ten minutes later, they had to hide again, because a group of four Pokémon was scouting the zone. With their conversation, they found out critical information; Kapon was going to disrupt the work of the guilds, but their primary target was to eliminate the members of the Shadow foxes, since they represented a greater threat. Then they started to head to their hiding place. The group has nowhere else to go; the only remaining option is to fight them. Alex was about to throw an Aura sphere, when suddenly, the four Pokémon were hit by a Heat wave, a Discharge, Pin missiles and two digs; and fell to the ground, unconscious.  Zack and his group appeared.

 

“Why did you take so long?” Alex asked when he approached to them.

“Did you miss me?” Zack joked.

“Heh; you made it?”

“Yeah, they told us some safe ways to the river; also we took more of these guys out, so the area is clear to move freely”

“Can you show us the way?” Sinclair asked.

“No problem; Alex, you really need some help; how do you plan to carry ten barrels with water?”

Alex looked to the barrels he brought and scratched his head. “To be blunt, I have no idea of what I was thinking when I picked them”

 

Everyone laughed of that. With Zack’s indications, they found a good spot to pick the water. Once they filled them up, they went back to Menthe. In the way, the put some rocks to mark the path when they have to pick more. At arrival, Menthe and the group who stayed behind made a great number of tablets. Alex and his group distributed the barrels and started the purification. The process was slow; every tablet took from one to two minutes to consume it and for every barrel they had to use between three and five tablets, depending of the concentration of the contaminants.

Alex made a gesture to Jaina and, with the book, chanted the spell to one the tablets. Once it was finished, she threw the tablet into the barrel. It took at most fifteen seconds and cleaned the water completely. Alex called Stephan to watch the enchantment and asked him if he can take notes of the time and the number of tablets consumed in the normal process and with the spell. In the meantime, Zack replaced Alex with carrying the barrels with the help of his gang and distributed some of the tablets in the town. Jaina also helped Sonya and Yang, giving some of the enchanted tablets. Marth approached to Alex and Jaina.

 

“What are you doing?” He asked, whispering.

“Using a spell to speed the purification” Jaina answered.

“You don’t have to do it that way, it’s too dangerous; they can find out that you’re a witch; I warned Robin about that”

“Actually, I allowed that and Stephan made the estimations; also, the spell doesn’t drag to much attention, since she’s not touching the water” Alex explained.

“But what if…”

“If you’re referring about Menthe, I planned to tell that, but only to her”

“Really?”

“Yep, you can bring Robin here; she can learn the same spell and we can make the process faster”

“Are you serious?”

“Completely; I know you want to be discrete, but in this case, we can give a little boost without too much exposition”

“I really don’t like this, but I cannot deny that it takes time *Sigh* I’m going to regret this, but alright, I’ll bring her here” Marth said with resignation.

 

Marth brought Robin with them and Jaina taught her the words of the spell. Then both of them enchanted the tablets and dropped them into the barrels. Robin mentioned to Jaina about some type of enchantment in the water. She asked Alex a cup and a top. With that she took a part of the water and explained to Robin that she’ll try to analyze it later and if she wants, she can join her. After sixty three barrels; both Jaina and Alex went to Menthe to explain what they have done. She was a little afraid of what they talked.

 

“Have you done this before?” Menthe asked.

“Yes; it doesn’t contain side effects and the magic only affects the item itself, not the water” Jaina said.

“Stephan took notes about that, here” Alex said and passed the note to Menthe.

“Mmm, it’s well detailed the time, the number of tablets and some info about the spell and the normal process”

“With that, the Ywarans will know how many of them they’ll need and the time it will take; in our case we just speed it up, because of the number of barrels”

“I know that witches are not really appreciated, but I couldn’t stand down and let this happen” Jaina said.

“Well, you explained to me how you did it, you didn’t hide anything and you helped us by your own will” Menthe said.

“I’m sorry if I caused trouble for you”

“N-not at all; I mean, sure, a witch helping us is really rare, even a little… well… you know what I mean, but you didn’t altered the purification or anything and you noted your progress, with precise information”

“Thank you, and there’s one more thing you need to know”

“What is it?”

“There is a strange enchantment in the contaminant a friend detected; I didn’t analyzed it, but I guess the problem of the water is related with some kind of dark magic”

“Mmm, well, Madras had a theory that a powerful witch was responsible of this; do you think you could give me the results?”

“Of course, but I think you want to see it and analyze it, too”

“Well, you got me; let me bring some stuff for the experiments and I’ll call you later; if your hypothesis is true, then we can find who was causing it”

 

After Jaina clarified some of the methods and discussed other possibilities with Menthe, they said goodbye to her and with the others went back to the camp.

 

“The last mission is in six more hours” Alex said.

“You’re referring to the stone you have to establish?” Ryan asked.

“The same, Chandra decided that the mission will start during the night” Zack explained.

“I have the feeling that Kapon’s lackeys will attack us during that mission” Charles said.

“W-we’re all in this m-mission, right?” Yang asked.

“Yes, we’ll all stay together” Horace said.

“Well, that’s good; a lot of company is what we need” Lena said.

“If that is the case, then we better try to take a nap; who knows how many hours we have to be awoken” Alex suggested.

“Yeah, let’s hope it wouldn’t take long” Sonya said.

“If that is settled, let’s go to the tents” Marth said.

“Okay, we’ll see you in the night” Zack said.