X2.1.4 – The Plan

The warm, steamy waters felt amazing, covering Roa's skin with goosebumps as he submerged himself. The air smelled of minerals and rotten eggs.

"Damn, I lost my little towel," he said, peering into the cloudy water.

"Please keep all towels outside. They clog the intake, which means I have to go and pull them out every night," a raspy voice said from behind.

The little boy turned around and saw a frog dressed in a bathrobe, standing on the edge of the pool.

"Froxo? We met in the Flooded Basements at Madame Water's bathhouse. Do you remember me? I'm—" Roa said before Shiro's hand popped out of the water and covered his mouth.

"Don't go advertising who you are all the time, boy," the white rabbit said, before turning to the frog and finishing his sentence with, "he's nobody."

"Yeah, yeah, everybody is nobody in Free Society," said the frog. "Real mysterious, Shiro. You keep your mysteries then. They eventually come out, anyway."

"You don't remember me? And Theya, the owner of the baths?" Roa tried again, a bit more cautiously with his approach, remembering what happened last time he told strangers his real name.

"Never met you before, kid," answered back the frog. "I've never been to the Palace Basements. They're blocked, remember?" he snickered, shaking his fat neck and letting out a croak.

"We've managed—I mean—someone managed to open the doors of the Basements," explained Rosso, popping out of the water. "Ardor's Forge has been freed."

"What? Seriously?" the frog leapt up.

"Yup. At least for now. The Shadows are coming, so who knows how long it'll stay open," explained Rosso.

"I need to check it out, then. My family has been divided for generations since the Gates came," the green amphibian said.

"Wait—so you must be related to the Froxo I met down there," said Roa.

"Froxo is our family name. We are one of the biggest owners of baths in Free Society. A lucrative business, to say the least, considering Jumper's passion for them," said the frog, leaping away in a hurry. "Gotta go!"

Nirvana emerged and stood out of the water, towering above them, revealing her completely naked body.

C-Saw giggled. "Your bush is the same pink shade as the hair on your head," she said, disappearing under the water as bubbles floated to the surface.

Nirvana rolled her eyes. "Someone get this kid out of here. She's so annoying." She grabbed a tiny white towel and placed it on her head before resting her arms on the side of the pool.

"What's the deal with bathhouses? It's the second one we go to," asked Rosso.

"They're real hot in Free Society," explained Shiro, causing C-Saw to giggle again at his unintended pun. He rolled his eyes and continued. "What's there not to like? You relax in a safe, secret space full of Jumpers, recharge your aura, maybe even exchange some valuable items, or information. You never know who you might meet in these places."

"Enough," shouted Nirvana as she rested her head and let out a long sigh. "If you lot think that simply because the First Gate has fallen that all is well now, you're in for a rude surprise. The worst is yet to come."

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"You're right. So—what's the plan?" asked the Sunflower.

"The plan is simple," Nirvana opened her eyes and her eyebrows curled. "The Old Order is powerful, and we are not. They are many, and we are few. Regardless—" she turned her head towards the boy and her eyes narrowed, "as you always told me—there's hope. We need to become stronger, and we need to become many—and then, we must synchronize our efforts into one, sacred revolution. Until we do, we won't stand much of a chance. Taking down the Second Gate won't be easy like the first one was."

"Easy?" asked Rosso with a look of surprise on his face. "We all almost died, lady."

"You had the element of surprise. You won't with this one, I guarantee you that much. The exact opposite, actually. Which means we need to level up, and do it fast. We need to step our game way the hell up. We need allies. Strong ones. The strongest ones we can find," Nirvana clenched her fist out of the water.

"That Dojo you told me about, right?" asked the Sunflower.

"Right. The Celestial Dojo of Parallel Valley. If my calculations are correct, it's almost the hundredth year in their calendar cycle," she explained.

"Which means?" asked Rosso.

"Which means that the head monk there is about to call the next tournament," she gazed into Roa's eyes. "Every century, a message is sent out to all corners of the Innerverse to call forth the greatest martial artists, the greatest wielders of aura, the most lethal, living weapons in Existence—to join the Seven Wonders Tournament," the pink-haired Jumper smiled.

"Let me guess—we're going there to get some training?" asked Rosso.

"You can, if you can reach the place in time before the tournament starts. More importantly, we are going there to do—or attempt to do two things. To convince as many of the fighters as possible to join the righteous cause; and to win the tournament's grand prize," she said, her eyes glittering as she spoke those words.

"A huge pile of money, I imagine?" said Roa, scoffing.

"No," she said, shooting him a nasty look, "the grand prize is half of all the aura of all the participants who show up. Which means that whoever wins, becomes extremely powerful—and we need all the power we can get to even make a dent in Default World," Nirvana pointed out.

"Win the tournament, convince the fighters. Got it. Then what?" the boy from Earth asked as he wiped his face with a towel.

"At some point, you need to meet with Pardus, also known as Pardus the Fat. He's part of the most powerful family in Free Society—the Vays. One of the oldest families among the Free. One of his ancestors, Righteous Vay, was with us at Black Fortia. More importantly, Vay's got money, power, and most of all—he knows the way to the de facto Capital of Free Society. I've seen it in the past--the immortal city, but its location has changed," explained Gunhand Nirvana.

"The capital was moved to another city?" asked Rosso.

"Yes, the capital moves. It has survived so long because nobody knows where it is, and only those who know someone on the inside get its location. If we could get to the moving city, the Greatest Fight could reach a whole new level of support—and Vay might just be the one who can get us there," Nirvana pointed out.

BANG.

A huge explosion rocked the walls of the bathhouse, causing ripples to run across the hot waters. The Jumpers looked at each other with a worried look.

"The Lord's army is already here?" asked Shiro. "How could they know we are hiding on this floor of the Palace?"

Several more explosions followed, causing everyone to amass in front of the windows overlooking the city.

"Fireworks?" asked C-Saw. "They're so beautiful."

"Oh no," murmured Nirvana. "You've got to be kidding me. Not now…"

"Is it—what I think it is?" asked Shiro, shifting his head forward near the glass as his nose twitched incessantly.

"What?" Roa asked. "What is it?"

The fireworks continued to go off, exploding at an ever-faster rate.

"It's the circus," said Shiro with a worried look.

"The—circus? Why is that a problem?" asked Rosso with his forehead against the glass.

"It's no ordinary circus, kid. It's Madame Solstice Impossible Circus—Free Society's largest, oldest, and most," he rolled his eyes and let out a sigh of exasperation, "spectacular spectacle in Existence," Shiro continued.

The fireworks became so numerous that the giant room of the Palace that Calyxx Town was tucket inside of was completely covered in colorful explosions. Then, all of the sudden—they all ceased at once, and there was silence.

"Here we go again. This is the last thing we needed," sighed Nirvana.

A deafening whistle followed. A single, blindingly bright firework shot up to the sky, causing the windows to rattle and almost shatter. However, instead of another explosion of light, out of it exploded a massive circus tent which quickly expanded, descending, enveloping everything as it plunged the whole city into darkness.

"Oh, crap…" said Roa.

"Cool," said C-Saw.

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