Sky: The Other Side (II)

III: A New Beginning

The sun came up shining like it had never done. It made Eli wake up with a smile in his face, but Penny woke up with no motive whatsoever. She just did it to not become annoying, or slow, or anything negative she could think of. Eli went to talk to her, with his pouch in his back and a cape that wasn't his at first.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." She replied.

As they were about to leave, Eli remembered Skye. He was so focused on helping Penny he totally forgot to check on her.

"Oh, crap!" He thought as he rushed to her. She was barely waking up, and seeing Eli was there for her was a pretty sweet way to get up.

"I guess I was the sleepyhead now, right?" She said as she chuckled and hugged him.

Eli laughed a little as well and put her arms around her, when unexpectedly, Penny came by to look as well. She waved at Skye from a little far away, since she didn't want any problems or disaster to occur.

"We never really introduced ourselves, didn't we?" Skye said as she smiled. "I'm Skye! It's nice having you around here!" She walked towards her and extended her arm.

"Thanks, I suppose." Penny replied. She moved her arm as well expecting a simple yet nice hand shake. But it didn't go that way at all. Skye felt a pain that was hard to explain. It felt like if her hand was burning, yet no fire was involved. She freaked out and got away.

"Ow!" She screamed as she rubbed her arm.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Said Penny. Eli approached her beloved friend and held her arm to heal it.

"Feeling any better?" He said as Skye's hand glowed.

"Yeah, a little." She replied.

She was fine sooner than Penny would have expected. She felt a bit of relief, but she was still sorry deep inside. She tried to ignore it and waited for both of them to be ready once again. Skye was feeling brand new, but she refused to leave her Home. Something that made Eli get pretty confused.

"But, why?" Eli and Penny asked.

"I just know it's not going to work. I mean, didn't you see what just happened?" She said to Penny. "It's not like I don't want to be near you, but I don't want to slow all of this journey down because of things like that. Don't worry though! I'll take care of this place. Someone will have to do it anyway, haha!"

Eli understood, but he was still a bit concerned about her decision. She gave her one last hug before he left.

"We'll be back as soon as we possibly can, ok?" Said Eli.

"Don't worry about it! I'll be waiting for you..." Skye replied as she let go of him.

He then took Penny's hand with no harm, and they headed for the origin of Penny's dark beginning: the Temple of Dawn. And along with it, they would set themselves in an adventure that no one ever thought would be possible...

~

As they walked through the vast sand that showed the way to the Temple, Penny noticed something weird in Eli. He was happier than before—he had always been, but you could tell the difference. He would jump around from time to time or even whistle a melody that was stuck in his head. It was fun for him, but it got a bit annoying for her.

"What's all the whistling and jumping for, huh?" she asked.

"I really don't know, to be honest." Eli replied. "I somehow feel happy about being here!"

"Why would that be? I bet you've been here more times than you can count. Doesn't that get boring?"

"Not really, you know? Every time I come to these worlds, something new happens! And well, now that you're here, I bet something great will occur!"

Penny felt like she had to react in a certain way, but she never found the way to do it. She just stayed silent, glancing at the great temple ahead of them. Before she could even notice, they had arrived.

"So here's where it all happened... Why don't you take a look? See if you can find any clues." Eli said to her. And with her cape still ripped in half and a feeling of anger lurking inside of her, she ignored what Eli had said. She just approached a shrine in the middle, one that brought back a lot of memories she was trying to forget.

"It was all thanks to you..." Her hands balled up as fists. Her pupils turned into flames. Her cape waved like if a grand wind was approaching. She wasn't angry, she was furious.

"Why did you do this to me!? What did I do to deserve it!? I HATE YOU!" She screamed with all the rage she had inside. She tried punching the shrine, and she was successful. The anger that flowed through her veins was enough to make it crack. Eli was scared of what would happen, so she pulled her away.

"What do you think you're doing!? Get off me!" She screamed with all her might. "I have to get rid of this thing! I don't want it to destroy other people!"

"Wait! Please, stop it! My heart aches when you do that..." He felt weak and dropped to the ground. He was struggling to breathe, and he couldn't move at all.

"Wait, what!? Are you ok?" She said as she got scared.

"I never really told you, did I?" He whispered to her. "Skye and I are special. We were able to bring the Light back to this world. It is also our duty to protect it. If it gets harmed, we feel the pain as well. Hopefully she didn't feel it..."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry!" Knowing she wouldn't hurt him, she grabbed his arm and helped him get up. He was feeling a bit better, and so he approached the statue to fix it. The cracks were gone, and it was looking brand new.

"Now that's better, haha!" He said enthusiastically.

"I really didn't think that would happen. Oh, I'm always ruining everything! I'm useless!" She said. She turned around and grieved. A few tears dropped to the ground, and when they did, Eli came to hug her.

"It wasn't you fault. None of this was. So try to get that idea off your head, ok?" He said softly.

"I... I'll try to." She said to him and herself.

Eli focused on trying to find any clues around the place. However, there was none that he could notice. They both thought the same thing: if they couldn't find the origin of it all, they'd never find the rest. Eli was disappointed, and he started to walk away. Penny kept looking at the shrine, knowing she couldn't harm it. She was mad and disappointed as well. But when hope was inches away from fading away, it came back rushing in. The shrine started shining with the strength of a star. It was beautiful to look at, but there was no time to think of it that way. They had to focus, this had to mean something.

There were swirls of light flying all around the place, one of which approached Penny. She couldn't help having a smirk. This was something she had never seen, and it was alluring. The light entered Penny's cape, and she knew what this meant. She expected her cape to be repaired, but it wasn't quite that way. Her cape was now divided in two parts, and she liked the way it looked.

"That is amazing! You look incredible!" Eli screamed in excitement.

"Tha- Thank you!" She replied while blushing.

She felt powerful, and something she had felt before came back as well. She wasn't sad for once, but she couldn't tell what the feeling was. She tried to ignore it before something bad happened, and they headed towards the Sunny Grasslands to try to solve this mystery.