You may think that Lisa discovered this, but in fact, it was one of the rare joint efforts Greely and Sir Gilbert made! You may be thinking: "But they hate each other's butts so much they actually have attempted to murder each other!" Well, yes they do hate each other, but this time it was actually an order from Mira...
Sir Gilbert was fiddling with the armor in his cave, while eating ribs, when all of a sudden he heard something.
Pricking up his ear, trying not to take his eyes off the ruby-encrusted helmet, he heard a desperate cry for help.
"Just a moment..." Sir Gilbert growled, indenting his craftsmanship signature into the beautiful armor. Bats cried out far above him on the cave ceiling, but he did not heed their cries.
"HELP! SIR GILBERT, HELP!" The cry was irritating and loud, so Sir Gilbert put down his drill grumbling and unsheathed his claws, tensing as he ran out.
When he got out, though, Sir Gilbert saw a brilliant gem lying in the sea, and a vibrant coppery heron perched on it. A golden glow set about her.
"Mira!!!!" Sir Gilbert cried. Despite getting odd looks from the bikini babes resting on the fluffy towels on the bright yellow beach, Mira looked up and noticed him.
"Why, hello, Sir Gilbert, I came here to ask your help for two things! First, could you patch up this papercut I got from handling some papers from a few other gods?"
Her voice was laced with so much charmspeak that Sir Gilbert leaped towards her as if he were drunk and wrapped spell-infused linen around it. The golden ichor leak was shut off, and Sir Gilbert had to wonder two things: Where was the cut, and where in Jamaa did he find Cosmo's best linen?
Mira smiled, her black beak bending in a lovely way. She seemed like the creation of a perfect being, not that she was.
"Sir Gilbert, you are so noble! Now, to your cave. We need to assess the other problem I have on my hands...er, wings. You get the idea. Follow me."
It was as if a beautiful symphony was playing Mira's voice. Sir Gilbert was so enticed by Mira's voice that the great heron was already in the cave by the time he regained his senses and dragged the large garnet back to his place.
Along the way, a few surfer dudes whispered about him, probably wondering what was Sir Gilbert doing with a large jewel.
When he dragged up a stone table, Mira had already created a plywood perch for her to..well, perch on. The ceiling was very high up, of course, so a 30-foot something spirit had no trouble spreading her wings and relaxing.
"Sir Gilbert, you have such style in choosing wallpaper and location! Anyways, lets get to the discussion." Mira said. Sir Gilbert tossed her a tuna fish to eat before sitting down on his rock stool. Rough on the butt, but conventional and less expensive overall. Money, stock markets, all that stupid Twoleg stuff existed under the cover of a simple society.
"Two great warriors, you and Greely, are based in two popular lands. Peck is based in Coral Canyons too, but that isn't the point. However, there is no easy way to commute between both lands, but there is an old trade route called Coral Pathways that goes between both lands. The wolf pack that Greely came from is close to there, too. However, phantoms control it, which may be the undoing of Jamaa in case of emergency." said Mira.
Sir Gilbert scratched his fake beard.
"So? What is the point?" he said bluntly, impatience swelling like a blister.
Mira scowled at his rashness.
"You and Greely must work together to reclaim the pathway, and his pack, or we may fail the battle against the Phantoms."
Sir Gilbert nearly fell off his stool.
"That's absurd! You, of all Jamaasians, should know that our rivalry is fierce! We never would work together unless necessary!"
Mira glared at him crossly.
"And this is necessary! Do as I say, or be turned into an eggplant!"
Sir Gilbert was taken aback by her sharpness. Mira wasn't exactly someone that could be a fierce warrior, but now Sir Gilbert was keen to obey. Being the Alpha of warriors, hybrid or normal, he respected anyone who could hold their own ground, not letting the burden of life hinder them.
With that, Mira disappeared in a burst of scented smoke.
Greely was carefully studying some of the tomes Harper had stolen from a sunken ship when Sir Gilbert appeared in his room.
"Challenging me, rustic boy?" Greely growled, not even looking up. Phantoms floated around him, ready to attack at their master's command.
Instead, Sir Gilbert bowed. Greely smiled, an evil smiled that should have been the smile of an antagonist.
"Oh, so you admit I am your superior! How puny of you." Greely snickered.
His paws brimming with the essence of the large Wolf Spirit Stone below them (Greely's house was just above the Spirit Stone, right underneath the shaky bridge), Greely padded over to him.
"No."
With lightning-fast speed, Sir Gilbert sliced Greely's paws, disabling the powers. Cursing, the wolf retreated to heal them.
"Mira sent me to ask you to help me free Coral Pathways." Sir Gilbert said, voice brimming with calmness.
Greely sneered, the ugly battle scars on his face twisted now.
"So you say the Sky Mother sent you here, ey? Coward, I shallth evaluate that. After all, you could just be duping me!"
Sir Gilbert's eyes blazed with anger, yet he held his temper back.
Scanning Sir Gilbert like a metal detector, the steely cold eyes of Greely looked for any sign of a lie from Sir Gilbert. He flinched at the cold, burning hatred in his icy eyes... like the raging icefire of the Coraxese. Those vermin should go fall in a spiked pit, he thought.
Greely seemed appalled when he discovered Sir Gilbert had said 100% truth.
He probably wanted to beat some tiger pelt, thought Sir Gilbert.
Greely sniffed indignantly.
"Fine. Have it your way. Truce until the job is done." growled Greely.
Sir Gilbert forced a faint smile.
"Get ready in case this is a fierce battle." was all he could muster out of his mouth.
When they got to the pathway, immediately a dank, foul mist settled over their heads. A few shabti rotated around Greely like little moons, holding one-sided swords in case of attack. Several times glaring red eyes-well, glared at them, but most of the time it was just getting rid of the filth in the pathways.
"Shoo!" Greely would shout, and the eyes would go away.
Since they were rivals, of course, they didn't talk much as they rid the area of filth and cast their own spells to protect the area from further attack.
It was going well... until they got to the Flatrock where twisters usually happened.
Suddenly, a large tornado of phantoms attacked them, whirling and whizzing like gears in a machine! Ancient pottery, plants and homes alike were being sucked into the massive monstrosity, and it was all the two Alphas could do to resist the gravitational pull of the phantoms.
"Gah! A storm!" Sir Gilbert cried, scrabbling at the dusty path.
"Foolish tiger, its a tornado of phantoms, headed right towards us! If we do not avoid them at all costs, we shall be devoured like sandwiches! It seems as if the Coral Pathways general Venti is in the eye of the storm..." Greely growled.
Clinging on to a jagged rock, they tried their best to resist the howling winds.
"Greely, don't you have any spells to get rid of this storm?" Sir Gilbert shouted.
Greely shook his head.
"Then I shall destroy Venti!" Sir Gilbert cried.
"No!" Greely yelped, but by then Sir Gilbert's grip on the jagged rock was loosening at a dangerous pace.
"Greely, I know you are my rival, but please, trust me. Think I will beat Venti, and cross your claws I will make it through! Hang on!" said Sir Gilbert.
Sheathing his claws, Gilbert plunged into the tornado.
Pushing aside various phantoms trying to absorb his life force, Sir Gilbert fell onto a flat rock, the point where no twister could pass. The Flatrock was the other point, trapping the storms in the area. There, an enormous phantom with a red eye glared at him, its skin thrumming with static.
"So, we face each other now." growled Sir Gilbert.
"Yes, we shall." the phantom replied, its eye glowing fierce red.
Throwing a large RAV car at Sir Gilbert, Venti growled and threw electric javelins to distract him.
Sir Gilbert, keen to this trick, deflected the javelins and blasted the RAV back at Venti with an orange blast of energy... that smelled like citrus gum? Nevertheless, Venti hissed as a large cut opened up, oozing ichor.
Making a face, Gilbert took the chance to slash Venti with his claws. Managing to summon a tiger spirit, Gilbert sent the spirits to pummel Venti.
"Too easy," he muttered. "There has to be a catch."
He couldn't catch the catch quite fast enough.
Venti lashed out with a bloody tentacle, whipping Gilbert like a prize cow.
Throwing a spear of black energy, Sir Gilbert was impaled and bleeding. Thinking of all his memories, Sir Gilbert growled.
Is this the end of all of my misery? thought Gilbert. Throwing a last resort-type of attack at Venti--which was his avatar-- he took the spear out.
A hologram of his former Shaman self surrounded him, lifting him up. It seemed as if a mattress was stapled onto his belly,though, so it made movement limited.
"Venti," he declared, voice echoing. "You have terrorized this place enough. I, the Tiger Alpha Sir Gilbert, take back this sacred land your kind have tarnished for generations, and herby slay you!"
Pointing his claws at the great beast, Venti screamed and started to dissolve. His servants surged forward, but they too were crumbling.
"You shall not do what you did to the Holy Queen to me! I will not die! I will return, like she did!" Venti screeched.
Sir Gilbert's avatar's face was alit with a smile.
"So you say."
The last chunks of Venti crumbled, and so did his servants. The dark clouds covering Coral Pathways lifted, and the lizards climbed out of their holes to taste fresh air once more. A bitter desert breeze swept the area, and Sir Gilbert collapsed.
He awoke on a bed of cotton, staring up at Cosmo's endearing face.
"Why, Sir Gilbert, that was noble of you to kill Venti like that! Greely took you back here so fast I swear he broke the sound barrier. Who knew he had a soft side?"
While Cosmo blathered on and on about the latest Alpha gossip and about the dinosaur the Phantoms used back in their heyday, Sir Gilbert took the time to comprehend what he did.
Sir Gilbert had bravely let go of the rock, flew tailfirst into the tornado, and fought Venti with so much power that Venti and his goons crumbled at his paws--literally. Now, a huge commute line was open once more, and he could assist the others more easily now.
No matter what the phantoms threw at him, Sir Gilbert would defend Jamaa from the phantoms with his life.
