Arrange The Clues II

Stair To Heaven
"Where is our next target?" Jason asked Momoko as he helped the girls out of the well, Wendy climbing onto his back and just clinging there. "There were a total of seven, correct?"

Momoko scratched her head. "Correct. One down, six to go." She withdrew the map again and began to trace her finger along it. "According to the map, the next place we should go to is the Everlasting Stairs. That's to the south of here. We should reach it in about 30 minutes; tops."

Iris's ears fidgetted around, as if determining the quickest route to the stairs. Momoko just looked at her with an expression of pure 'what'. "...Huh."

"What are you doing?" Yasaka asked Iris, looking up at the girl. Like anyone, she got along fairly well with Iris, but since she was the only other one with animal characteristics, she felt a bit of a bond there. Still, Iris confused her like anyone else.

Iris pressed her pointer finger to her lip. "Sssh. I'm judging an appropriate path for us to get there in a jiffy."

Vivian sighed. "Will you stop using outdated sla-"

Iris's next words silenced Vivian. "Alright, follow me!!" The squirrel raced down the hill, zipping down into the town.

Jason immediately rang the bell. Iris was too hotheaded, running off without them when she was supposed to be leading.

Hearing the bell chime caused Iris' ears to perk up once more as she rushed back to Jason, chattering "I'mcomingI'mcomingI'mcomingI'mcomingI'mcoming" Zipping back to him at incomprehensible speeds, Iris leapt into his arms.

Momoko applied her palm to her forehead in exasperation. "Take it slow, please."

"Iris, you need to stop running when it comes to situations like these." Jason told her, setting her down. "If you have a decent grasp on the location, lead us."

Iris's ears drooped down. "Aww, alrighty...." She took upon a somewhat serious tone and air; somewhat dissapointed, yet somewhat relieved. She walked rather disjointedly, without the spring in her step that she once had.

Vivian bluntly told her, "Iris. All he asked was for you to take it slow, not jump off a cliff. It's not bad."

Sensing her discontent, Jason ran his hand over her ears, scratching them in the way she liked. He could feel Wendy's cheeks puffing as she clung to his back, but paid it no mind. He wouldn't disregard one girl for another. "Now Iris, lead us quickly."

Iris nodded, bobbing her head like she was a toy or something; her tone was that of her usual joyfulness. "Righty~" Her steps picked up the pace; but she didn't rush ahead as she normally would- instead, she was taking multiple twists and turns in order to reach the destination as quickly as possible. A few minutes later, Iris declared, "Here~" She pointed upwards at a set of stairs which ascended indefinitely, causing Ulalia to squirm.

"Seriously? That doesn't look too bad..." Vivian muttered under her breath.

Ulalia growled, "Darn stairs. My mortal enemy, we meet again."

Jason looked at the stairs, frowning. He could feel Gehaburn's essence shaking, as it it wanted to cut. "There's something waiting..." He murmured, using his hands to grip Wendy's own. He took a step forward, walking ahead of them now. "Let us climb."

Ulalia was completely paranoid about these stairs. "I don't like them. Sitting there, all smug, those stairs."

Momoko couldn't even hold back a short giggle. "Just shut up and let's go." She grabbed Ulalia and began to drag her.

As they ascended, Jason could see where the stairs got theor name. He couldn't see where these were heading; whoever built it had had much more time on their hands than someone should. This, coming from a man who wanted to create a new World Order. Hypocrisy at it's finest.

As far as the eye could see, it was just stairs ascending upwards. Momoko was beginning to become uneasy about this; but what was irking her more was the face that Ulalia was pulling as she was scrambling to escape from her clutches. "Look, it's not so bad. See?"

Ulalia...wasn't convinced. "I think I feel sick..."

"It's not that bad." Yasaka looked down at Ulalia. Tough words, coming from a cat who was flying up the stairs as opposed to walking. "Tought it out!"

"Yasaka..." Wendy chided. "Don't be so mean...you're not even walking." And yet, neither was she, clinging to her beloved's back as she was.

In an amusingly ironic turn of events, it seemed that Vivian was the only one not complaining. "Guys. Buck up and let's just keep walking. We're bound to reach the end...eventually-" Vivian then froze up; a look of pure disgust crossed her face as she let out a shrill shriek; causing the others to swiftly turn around.

Iris's face showed nothing but concern; she tried to run to Vivian- though she too was snatched up by an abundance of tendrils. "...Hurk-" Momoko too was immobilized.

Ulalia was snatched up, as she screamed out, "I told you all! I told you--!!"

Jason was remaining calm as he watched his girls snatched up by the tentacles, keeping Wendy well out of reach. This was all good, because at the site of tentacles she was clinging to him like her life depending on it. Jason looked at the tentacles, analyzing their movement. "I see. That explains these stairs...and the legend attached to them." He looked up at the girls. "All of you. Relax. Let the tentacles do as they please. No harm will come to you."

Iris sighed in something resembling relief. "Phew...but you never know. They could be like the slimes..."

Momoko wasn't convinced, using her ice powers to attempt to freeze the tentacles off, to no avail. "Damn slimy pieces of garbage...!" Ulalia shot her an 'I told you so' look.

"Momoko, calm down." Jason told her, walking right past the girls, descending down the stairs.. "Watch what the tentacles do, before you overreact."

"Why are we walking down?" Wendy asked, shuddering as one of the tentacles barely missed her.

"Watch."

The tentacles' grip constricted as the girls squirmed around frantically; in an instant, the tendrils contracted and then a vast abyss of nothingness manifested underneath them, dragging Vivian, Iris, Ulalia, and Momoko underneath the stairs in the blink of an eye.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--!?" Momoko let out a hoarse scream as she and the other three were spat out at the beginning of the stairs, covered in mud for some reason. "...What the hell just happened...!?"

"It's clear now." Jason replied, landing on the bottom of the stairs easy. "We're dealing with yet another demonic creature. It's quite possible every mystery of the Dragon Clan is merely a vermin we have to kill."

"Umm....they need to bathe..." Wendy pointed out the obvious as they were covered in muck. She as glad she'd clung to Jason.

While Vivian subtly dusted herself off, as the other hopped up from their struggling positions. "...The heck was that?" Those were the only words which were able to escape Vivian's mouth.

Momoko immediately summarized the situation. "So THAT's why the stairs are 'Everlasting'. They're not stairs at all; just some demon bonded to them, or a demon who took upon the physical form of the stairs."

"That brings about the question of what to do." Jason looked back at the stairs, thinking over the situation. "Destroying the stairs seems to be the easiest solution."

"That's rude though!" Wendy piped up from Jason's back. "We're not Fairy Tail, we don't want to cause property damage!"

Vivian seemed quite pissed off, for one. "...So? If it's evil, we destroy it. Simple as that."

"You think it's simple." Jason seemed to be reprimanding Vivian for such thoughts. "The demon is ancient, there are bound to be defences of a kind. We'll have to see."

Iris was as hyper as ever; though she quickly deduced something. "Let's all try everything short of actually blowing it up to try and make it move~"

Vivian growled, "I honestly believe that you just blurted out what EVERYONE was thinking, Iri." Vivian was always so mean to Iris for some reason.