Joysaleen gulped, but her composure did not falter. She quickly shrugged it off. "Of course I can," she said, forcefully rolling her eyes. "You can't expect me to only have non-damaging Etherskills. My Blest Cross can heal others while my Bane Cross can hurt others. These two Etherskills have saved me many times, so why would I not use them to their full extent."
"I don't know what you two're talking about," Hitryel said, folding his arms. "Fill me up, will you."
"When I used all my Ether to hit Balloonru with my awesome Dragon Chase," Ryuzio explained, "it was still not enough to put him down. But then a pink healing plus appeared on his chest…quickly turning into a purple hurting cross. He went down after that."
Hitryel turned his head toward Joysaleen for the next part of the story.
"It was because I had previously put a Blest Cross on Baru for healing purposes," Joysaleen said. "But when I saw that Ryuzio could be of more help, I decided to help him take Baru down. So I turned the Blest Cross into a Bane Cross, temporarily lowering Baru's Rank. The damage he'd taken from Ryuzio was too much for his weakened self, so he went down."
Hitryel looked at Ryuzio with disappointed eyes. "You made someone like THIS our squadmate?" he said coarsely. "She betrayed her captain right in front of your eyes and is here only because she saw more benefit in siding with you. Who can guarantee that she won't do the same to us? I've already been marked by her, Ryuzio, so you better be cautious yourself."
Joysaleen opened her mouth to defend herself…
Ryuzio grabbed Hitryel tightly by his shoulders. "She's our squadmate, Hit!" he said, looking into those darkened eyes to Hitryel. "Just like I am to you and you are to me! How can you ever doubt her! She saved your life and you think she's going to betray us! Not minutes ago did she tell us all about Ether and now you doubt her?"
Hitryel got off the floor, crunching his Stylestar paper and throwing it away, Ryuzio's hands falling off his shoulders. "Someone has to do it, Ryuzio." He looked down to meet Ryuzio's eyes. "She'll have to win my trust if she wants me to call her as my squadmate. Hope you understand that." With that, he climbed onto the bed to the right of the room and prepared to sleep.
"Hit…" Ryuzio said quietly, but then gave him a nod. "Okay."
Joysaleen got up as well, walking to the bed Hit was on.
Hitryel kept his eyes on the sheets he was unfolding. "Got a problem?" He saw a hand offered to him. "Huh?"
Joysaleen smiled. "I never said that I can't remove the Cross I put on people."
Hitryel immediately lied down, revealing his abs. "Get to it, then."
Ryuzio got off the floor as well, watching as Joysaleen removed the Blest Cross from Hitryel's stomach, her hand hovering over it. The Cross was invisible at first, but then it slowly showed itself, lighting up with a glittery glow. The glow eventually faded and the Cross disappeared altogether.
"All done," Joysaleen said, standing away from the bed after taking back her hand. "But you don't need to worry even when you get hurt in the future, because I'll be there to heal you. And of course I'll remove the Blest Cross from your body right after that even then, just like now."
Ryuzio smiled. "See, Hit! She earned your trust, yeah?"
Hitryel pulled over the sheets. "Good night, Ryuzio."
Joysaleen let out a nervous chuckle. "I wanted to discuss about the help in return for healing Hitryel, but I guess we'll have to put that off for tomorrow."
Ryuzio sighed, his body folding forward. "Why are you like this, Hit?" He found a hand held toward him.
"Let's make a deal, Ryuzio," Joysaleen offered. "If I ever betray you, you're free to hunt me dow—"
"No need," Ryuzio said a he straightened up, cutting her off. "I trust you, Joy. We're squadmates, after all."
Joysaleen's purple eyes widened, jaw relaxing. "I…"
Ryuzio went to the other bed. "It seems we'll have to share a bed tonight, Joy—"
She slapped him away. "No way, you moron! I'm sleeping alone! You go sleep beside Hitryel!"
Hitryel's head peeked outside the sheets he had pulled over his head. "If anyone gets on this bed, they'll get kicked off, no exceptions."
Ryuzio flailed his arms in bafflement. "Where am I supposed to sleep then, HAH?"
Hitryel rolled his eyes sideways to look at Ryuzio. "She's your squadmate, isn't she? Why don't you ask her? You two trust each other, after all."
Before Ryuzio could fully turn his head toward Joysaleen, she quickly looked away, quietly getting inside the sheets of the bed to the left.
Ryuzio sighed. Then he simply let his body fall between the two beds. "Good night, you two. When tomorrow comes, let's go and buy a skyjet—"
Joysaleen stood on her bed. "A skyjet? You serious?"
Hitryel stood on his bed. "Why'd you tell her about your goals, you idiot!"
Ryuzio put his arms behind his head as a pillow, smiling. "I can't wait to fly through the Eight Skies with you two and our future squadmates."
"Do you know how much one of them costs?" Joysaleen asked. "Skyjets start at around 50 million splinters."
Hitryel sighed. "Now she knows that you have 50 millions splinters, Ryuzio. She'll definitely rob you in your sleep."
Ryuzio smiled, lost in the thoughts of flying through the Eight Skies in a skyjet of his own with his squadmates. "I've been saving up for years for one, Joy," he said idly. "I'll buy a skyjet for us, even if it costs 50 millions splinters. 50…million…splinters… Wait…" He got his back off the floor while his squadmates watched in confusion. He counted on his fingers. "50…million…splinters…?" He turned to Hitryel. "How many zeroes are in 50 million splinters, Hit?"
"Huh? 7. Why?"
Sweat trailed down Ryuzio's face as he counted seven fingers, eyes widening more with each finger that her put—
"50 MILLION SPLINTERS FOR A SKYJET!" Ryuzio yelled out, eyes popping. "Skyjets are THAT expensive!"
"You didn't know the price of a top-end one," Joysaleen said, still on her feet, "yet you still wanted to buy one?"
Hitryel gulped. "Don't worry; we can always buy an older model. That should come under your budget, right? How much exactly did you save for a skyjet?"
Ryuzio nervously showed him an open hand. "50,000 splinters—"
Both of his squadmates fell on the bed they were standing on immediately after hearing this. "You serious!" they both yelled simultaneously.
"For 50,000 splinters," Joysaleen said angrily, "they won't even let you inside of a dealership!"
"How can you be THAT off, you idiot!" Hitryel shouted. "Do you even know how money works?"
"Why're you getting so worked up, Hitryel?" Ryuzio smiled innocently, nodding to himself. "I'm just off by a couple zeroes. 10 times what I have and we can buy a skyjet!"
"Even if you somehow get 10 times what you have right now," Hitryel said, sitting on his bed and explaining to Ryuzio how numbers worked on a sheet of paper, "you'd still need 100 times more of what you end up with!"
Ryuzio eyed the numbers on the paper with thin eyes, scratching his chin as even more sweat formed on his face. "That's a problem…"
Hitryel got under his sheets again. "Can't believe I decided to team up with you. How're we ever going to fly to Nova Zephpolis now?"
Ryuzio laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"I got you," Joysaleen said, pulling a closed hand to her chest. "I know EXACTLY how we can get a skyjet!"
Hitryel flipped the other way, back against her. "Don't make noise. I'm trying to sleep here."
Ryuzio looked up at her, rising to his feet. "What is it! Tell me!"
"We're going to raid a Grandshrine!" Joysaleen said with a smile.
"Heh?" Ryuzio said, picking his nose with a pinky. "Grand-what?"
"All you need to know," Joysaleen said, throwing out her arms, "is that a Grandshrine is a place brimming with resources worth millions! If we just get our hands on a few of them, it will mean a new skyjet!"
"Really?" Ryuzio said, smiling. "It's that easy? Where's this place?"
"A Grandshrine does not show its entrance every day," Joysaleen said, gesturing with a finger. "So when it does, you have to raid it and get everything it can offer. There are multiple entrances to a Grandshrine, known as Shrinegates, and luckily…one of them is just above this skybranch, in the City of Flight…
"Welkis!"
"Welkis, yeah?" Ryuzio said, not being able to contain his excitement. "So that's where we need to go. Awesome! I can't wait to get a skyjet!"
"You want to hear another good thing," Joysaleen said, pointing down at him. "Welkis is the only place in Imperos where skyjets are assembled! So we just have to go inside the Shrinegate that's waiting for us there, get the expensive resources from the Grandshrine, get out, cash them in, and we'll be rich enough to buy a skyjet! And best of all, without going anywhere!"
"AWESOME!" Ryuzio yelled out of excitement. "I can't wait! Let's get going!"
Joysaleen sat on her bed. "Are you forgetting about the skyguards?"
Ryuzio exhaled, folding forward, his excitement getting crushed prematurely. "Oh, yeah… Those guys…"
"But I have a plan for that as well," Joysaleen said with a smile. "Don't you wanna hear it?"
"Yeah!" Ryuzio said loudly as he returned to her.
Joysaleen leaned closer, saying a bit louder, "Let me whisper the plan to you so that no one else can hear it."
"Okay!" Ryuzio said with an innocent nod.
Hitryel shifted under his sheets toward them, still facing away.
Joysaleen chuckled. "We know you're wide awake and listening to everything. Just join us already."
Hitryel sat upright with eyes closed halfway, his lower jaw in front of the upper. "Of course I was listening. This is going to affect my future as well. Just spill the plan already, I need to wake up early."
"Positively," Joysaleen said, smiling. "Here it is: if the skyguards are searching for us in District One, let's just get out of here and leave them with ghosts to trail."
Hitryel snorted quietly. "That sounds like something Ryuzio'd come up with," he said, looking at her. "You know the skyguards track everyone going in and out of the districts and the city, right? Forget Sonas, how're we even going to leave District One without being detected?"
Ryuzio titled his head in confusion at Hitryel's remark on him. "Heh?"
"You're positively right," Joysaleen said, putting up a finger. "But what happens if we don't take any of the routes they guard? What happens if instead of Crossing a Skybridge to get out of Sonas, we simply…walk."
"Huh?" Hitryel said, his expression souring. "And do you think we can afford to walk for days on end?"
Joysaleen shook her head. "But we don't need to do that," she said, smiling. "I know a place that's just on the edge of District Three. It's called Ezlus, a small mining town turned into a resource facility on top of the largest lucentum mines of this skybranch.
"A lot of Baru's illegal trades involved resources smuggled from those mines, so I have the needed info on the place. Its close distance with Sonas makes it so that Skybridges are not needed for resource transportation from there to here. However, there is one place where the resources of those mines are transported to via a Skybridge and it is pretty far—on a different level of altitude to be exact."
"Why're you telling us the last past?" Hitryel said with a dismissive gesture. "We just need to go there and figure the rest of our way to Welkis. But this plan will only work if the security of those mines is weaker than the districts of Sonas."
"So you WERE listening, yeah," Ryuzio said with a laugh when he heard the name of their destination.
Hitryel flushed, eyes shutting halfway as he exhaled from his nose.
"The place that the resources are transported through a Skybridge from those Ezlus Mines," Joysaleen said with a finger pointed to them, "is none other than Welkis!"
Ryuzio's brows rose. "So we just have to go to the mining town and from there we can go to Welkis? Awesome!"
"I don't think it's going to be that easy," Hitryel pointed out with folded arms. "If those mines are so important, they must be pretty heavily guarded."
"But there's a chance it might work," Joysaleen said with a shrug. "Because if Baru could illegally smuggle resources from there, I think I can get us to Welkis through the Skybridge near those mines in maybe a transport vehicle without much effort."
"Okay! We're going to take this chance!" Ryuzio said, clenching his fists to the sides. "Welkis, I'm coming to buy a skyjet! Just watch me!"
Joysaleen pulled the sheets over herself, lying on her back. "We must rest for now. Tomorrow's going to be the hardest part of this plan to Welkis—to raid the Grandshrine for the resources needed to buy a skyjet—because tomorrow…we have to go from District One to District Three without getting seen by a SINGLE skyguard."