Chapter 16 - Takuta's Plan

Amy felt somewhat proud of herself that she let her insecurities go when it was okay to. She normally had a nasty habit of not trusting anyone with certain things because she was scared her parents would find out. But here, it was different There was no way her parents could find out about what she said. Besides, she was going to boe working on fixing her problem as soon as she got back home.

Amy wasn't tired yet, so she went off to the side of the clearing, so that she could be by herself and enjoy the scenery. This island was actually very beautiful and looked so peaceful. It was very hard to think there was something like what Takuta had become on that island.

While Amy was staring at the sky, she was surprised to feel herself being dragged off somewhere. Whatever it was that dragged her, its hand covering her mouth didn't look the least bit friendly. The other hand on her arm had started to dig into her skin. That is, until she heard a voice say, “Don't grip her so tight! We don't want to kill her.”

She was released from the hands' grasp, and once she was, she immediately turned to see who it was that spoke. Evidentially, whoever it was, they had some business with her. But what could it be?

“Its nice to finally meet you, Amelia,” the creature said. “Let me make things fair. My name is Takuta.”

Once she heard the name, Amy tried to run back inside the barrier, which she couldn't notice she was outside of since it was night. But Takuta grabbed her arm to stop her as soon as she moved.

“I am not here to hurt you,” he said, “but rather to make a proposition.”

“What for?” Amy said, cautiously. “I am not going to help you so you might as well not even ask.”

“I believe you will find that it will help you more than it will me,” he answered.

Amy opened her ears. “What exactly do you mean?”

“All I ask is that you help me with a few day to day chores. And, in return, I will not hurt you or any of your little friends. In fact, I could even go as far as making sure they stay safe from anything.”

Amy was surprised. Was Takuta, the one who is possessed by a spirit that that wants to kill everything in the Creature Islands, really offering her this? She wanted to do literally anything to help her friends. Even so, she was having a hard time thinking of how to answer to his offer.

“I also promise,” Takuta continued, “that if you accept my offer, I will not go back on my word. If you do anything I ask, your friends will not be harmed.”

Amy thought more about this offer. Takuta really seemed to be telling the truth. And, when she says she would do anything to help her friends and other people she cares about, she literally means anything.

Takuta seemed to have noticed she was having a hard time deciding on her answer because he said, “I'll give you the day to think it over and decide. I want an answer by tomorrow night,” and then left.

Amy walked back towards the direction she was dragged from (it was easy to tell because at some point her feet dug into the ground). When she sat back down where she was before, she was practically attacked by Sakra.

“What were you doing?” Sakra asked. “I turned around and you weren't there.”

“Did you go looking for me?” Amy asked, afraid that Sakra might have heard what Takuta offered her. She really didn't want any of them to know about that unless it was absolutely necessary.

“You came back right after I saw you were gone,” Sakra replied.

Amy was relieved and quickly thought of a lie to say to Sakra. “I was just walking around a bit. But don't worry; I stayed inside the barrier.” Well, at least she hadn't completely lied.

“Okay,” Sakra said. “Well, you should get some sleep. We're going to be relaxing and trying to take a break before we actually go to find and restore Takuta, so just rest, okay? The more you rest, the better.”

“Okay,” Amy said and walked over to where Joe, Kristie, and Tom were sleeping. She lied down where she wanted to sleep, and closed her eyes.

But she wasn't able to sleep. She honestly did try for a while to sleep, but she couldn't stop thinking about what Takuta told her. She understood that he was supposed to be evil because of the spirit inside of him, but she thought he was being completely honest when he was talking to her.

Having this on her mind, she didn't sleep at all that night. But, since she honestly wanted to try to rest, she tried to sleep even after everyone else had woken up.
After she had been “asleep” for a while after everyone else was awake, Joe tried to wake her up, saying that she should have gotten plenty of rest and that she should wake up.

And since she didn't want them to know something was bugging her, she got up. So much for sleeping... she thought.

But, while everyone else was having a good time talking and getting along, she tended to stay off toward the side, looking sad and trying to figure out what she was going to do.

Not too long after she was doing this, Joe went over to where she was to try to figure out what was wrong. “Amy, are you okay?” he asked. “You're not feeling sick again, are you?”

“No, I'm not,” Amy answered. “I'm fine. I'm just feeling really tired.” Actually, this was completely true.

“You should get more sleep then, right?” Joe said.

“No. It might be that I had overslept some, so my body just feels tired, although I really shouldn't sleep more,” she lied.

“Okay, well, I'm going to go talk to Kristie for a little bit. Don't faint on me again,” Joe said with a smile.

Amy smiled back. “Don't worry, I won't.”

When Joe was walking back over to where Kristie was, he noticed something he had completely forgotten the whole time he had been in the Creature Islands. He had something in his pocket. And when he remembered what he had, he smiled and had an idea.

He pulled the object out of his pocket. It was a necklace, with a silver chain with a pretty charm on it.

It was his mother's, and she gave it to him and Sarah soon before she was kicked out of the house. She had thought something was wrong with Joe's father, and had a feeling she was going to be leaving soon. So, she had left a few things behind for Joe and Sarah so that she could, in a way, still kind of be with them.

But they had a few other things left from her at home, and Joe wanted to do something to tell Amy how much he appreciated her for standing up for Kristie, and how nice she was to him. What could be better than giving her something special to him? Besides, this necklace was probably only a little bit more special to him than Amy had become. But he didn't want to give her this necklace just yet. He would wait until tomorrow, when she should be rested enough.

While Amy was trying to sleep, she was still trying to figure out what her response to Takuta's request would be. By the time a few hours had passed, she figured out what she would say. But she didn't think she would need to talk to anyone else about it. She figured it would be fine.



When it finally became dark, Amy sat down where she sat the previous night and waited to feel those unfriendly hands on her shoulders. But when she didn't, she got up and walked around a bit. At first she walked within the barrier so Sakra and the others would think that was what she was doing while she would be gone for a bit. When she exited the barrier, she noticed Takuta was there, waiting for her.

“What is your decision?” Takuta asked.

At first, Amy stumbled on her words, not sure if she should change her mind. But then, her response she thought of earlier slipped from her mouth. “I'll go...” She paused, but only briefly. “But you absolutely promise they won't get hurt?”

“Of course. Didn't I say I promised they won't get hurt? I won't let anyone hurt them. I already promised you that,” Takuta said.

“But if you break your promise, the deal is broken and I will no longer stay with you,” Amy said.

“Of course,” Takuta said. “I'm just guessing, but you didn't say goodbye to anyone, did you?”

“Amy's expression changed from serious to sad. “No, I didn't...”

“Well, then I will bring you back in the morning to let you say goodbye. “For now, just please come with me.” He reached a hand out toward Amy.

Amy didn't grab his hand, but she started to walk towards him. He put his hand down and walked towards the direction of the place he was staying.

The place was actually not that far away, but it wasn't too easy to find. It was hidden in a place you would never think of looking. When they were inside, Takuta showed Amy a room that he said was going to be “her” room. It was actually a decent-looking room.

Amy was still having a hard time sleeping. She couldn't help but be scared that something might happen to her. But, she was a lot more comfortable than she had been, since she didn't have to sleep on the hard ground. She actually did get some sleep, even if it was only an hour or two.

When it started to get light, Takuta woke Amy up. “If you want to say goodbye, now is the time to do it,” he said.

Amy immediately got up. “I know the way. Would I be able to go without you taking me?” She really did know the way, too. She was very good at remembering directions.

“Verus will go with you. I don't want you breaking our deal already. Don't worry. He'll stay in the shadows where no one can see him. That's a specialty of his.”

At that time, a quite scary-looking creature came into view. When Amy saw his hands, she noticed that was the creature that grabbed her the other night.

“Just be careful,” Takuta said, “because I wouldn't want any casualties.”

Amy became a bit scared at this. Was he talking about her or her friends? Either way, she was worried.

But, while she was walking back towards the barrier, she actually felt safe. It took her less time to walk back to the barrier than it took them to walk last night. When she got there, she noticed everyone looking around, worried. She didn't even have to wonder why.

She wasn't going to make her presence completely known. She wanted to tell only one person, someone she knew wouldn't take it completely badly. She searched around for him, and when she found him, she noticed it wouldn't be very hard to get his attention without making a scene. He was standing right inside the area with trees.

She came up behind him, quietly, and said in his ear, “Don't tell anyone I'm here.”

Joe turned around and his face brightened up. “Amy!” he said, quietly, but very excited. “Why not?” He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he hugged her, very happy to see her.

I have something I need to tell you,” Amy said, “and I'm going to need you to tell everyone else.”

“Why won't you just tell all of us now?” Joe asked, still with a big smile on his face.

“Come here,” Amy said, taking his hand and pulling him further away from everyone else. “I have something really important to tell you.”

Joe looked worried. “Is something wrong?”

“It depends on what way you look at it.” Amy grabbed both of Joe's hands, and she noticed his face turning a little red. “I'm not gonna be here anymore.”

Joe's expression completely changed to something Amy hoped to never see again. “What do you mean?”

Amy described the situation with Takuta, watching Joe's face become more and more concerned, sad, and a bit mad all at the same time. By the time she finished, he had let go of her hands.

“Why would you do that?” Joe asked. “I don't mean to offend you, but that is just plain stupid. He's possessed by an evil spirit. Didn't you think he might go back on his word?”

“I know there is a good possibility he will do that, it's just... I want to do anything I can to make sure none of you get hurt. And besides, if he does go back on his word, then we agreed the deal is broken and I will no longer have to stay with him.”

“What if he does and doesn't let you know? What will you do then?”

“It should be fine...” Amy said.

“And what about the command law? Didn't you even think about that while you were contemplating your decision?”

Amy completely forgot about that. That could be a very good possibility why he wanted her to go with him... Amy looked sad. “Well, there's nothing I can do about it now. I can't just come back. He has this creature named Verus with me. And he told me to be careful because he wouldn't want any casualties. I don't know who he was talking about, and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if any of you got hurt...”

Joe looked really sad. “Okay... I'll go tell them. You should probably go now... I don't want you to get into trouble.” He started to walk back to where everyone else was.

“I'm sorry, Joe,” Amy said. “I just tend to not think sometimes.”

Joe didn't turn back around or stop. He didn't want Amy to see how hurt he was. He grabbed the necklace from his pocket and looked at it, sad. So much for giving her this, he thought. He squeezed the necklace in his hand and started to cry before he went to tell everyone what Amy told him.

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