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A short story that turned into a long mess
Topic Started: Apr 23 09, 1:44 AM (1,905 Views)
RazorStar
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bump for people actually here.
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RaeMina
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Let me be your sword and your shield
Homework/NaNo/Razor's Story/Kaichou Anime/Sleep... Those are my lest of things to do now -.-
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RazorStar
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owwies. Short week for me, so I thought I'd have some time off, but I gotta help my grandma move.
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RaeMina
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Let me be your sword and your shield
Interesting. Chapter 10 and we're only at phase 1 >w>
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RazorStar
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Satoshi is a master planner, >_> <_<
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RaeMina
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Let me be your sword and your shield
Not bad for a now crippled Ossan >w> I remembered you said something about Cyrus being a Mary Sue >.>
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RazorStar
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He is, isn't he? He is my most despised creation, and I draw doodles of David Letterman.
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RaeMina
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Let me be your sword and your shield
XD Well he doesn't seem that bad to me... Just a little dramatic. I need to see more of the universe revolve around him and have J realize that he is his little brother and then Cy saves the world through the Power of Love <3
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RazorStar
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Chapter 11: Base

J's fist moved in fast, just grazing against Cy's cheek. The older one knocked back J's arm and delivered a hard kick straight at his jaw. J back flipped, taking the momentum of the blow with him as he bounced off the alley walls. “Come now J, you need to be less predictable than that.” Cyrus taunted the teenager.

J launched off the wall, packing his arm tight to his chest, letting the shoulder take the impact of slamming into Cyrus. The motion was too slow, as Cyrus had already dodged, and brought his heel down on J's back. “Agh!” J coughed out, pinned to the ground with nothing but Cy's foot.

Cyrus took his foot off, giving J the opportunity to move, but found that he couldn't. “That's 15 second paralysis, enough for anyone to win a fight. Your moves are too reckless, anyone with a hint of fighting experience can take you down.”

“So I guess that makes me your servant now?” J said, hardly believing what just happened. Motion came to him a few seconds later, leaving him numb. “Ergh, I stick to my promises, what do you want me to do?”

“You'll know when I tell you. For now, let's just head back.” Cyrus extended his hand to J, helping him up.

J bit his lip and gradually accepted Cy's hand. J brushed himself off and sulked out of the alleyway. Cyrus picked up his guns, slid them back into his pockets and walked back with a smug look on his face.

---

“You're not as heavy as I thought you'd be.” Marshall said.

“I think you might just be too strong.” Satoshi said, watching people slowly come out of buildings and hidden alleyways. “I wanted to ask you about something, if you didn't mind.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“How is Virgo treating you? In terms of pain and general lack of strength. I imagine your arm must still hurt from before.”

Marshall laughed it off. “Nothing compared to how bad it was when it first came off. It's basically just like I have a paper cut around there. I would have never imagined healing so fast, if it weren't for her.”

“That's great.” Satoshi relaxed a bit on Marshall's shoulders. “Looks like they were just waiting for us to get here. He pointed to the large gathering of people who started to look slightly bored with each other.

Marshall waved and greeted them, making sure not to knock the load off of his back. “You guys miss us?”

Sage answered with a resounding “Yes!” but otherwise the protectors didn't seem to care much.

“So what happened there, Satoshi?” Zerick stepped forward, and helped Satoshi off Marshall's shoulders.

“It was bad. I had to use the Dark Gate to seal the excess power it was emitting. It was almost like it was creating energy out of nothing. Or so I thought.” Satoshi looked over at everyone standing there, and back to Zerick. He nodded lightly, and Satoshi continued. “There's only one type of energy I can think of that would cause that, and I have no idea how a Duskon could figure that out.”

“So you mean...” A grave look appeared on Zerick's face.

Satoshi shared his concern. “Yes, Soul Potential Energy. When I took that barrier out, it took twenty-eight bodies with it. Let's just say my constitution isn't built for organic material. The Duskon that did this drained their souls while these people were just barely alive. That thing would have healed and kept getting larger and larger until it exploded. If it got worse than it did, it would have been equivalent to a small nuclear bomb in terms of destruction, anything close to it would have been wiped out in a blaze of heat.”

“Question.” Sage raised his hand. “What is Soul Potential Energy? From the way you make it sound it's-”

“It's about as bad as you think.” Zerick interrupted. “Soul Potential Energy is harnessed by draining living beings and taking out their life. A average human soul has the power to fuel a city block for a week. Given the nature of such a thing, there's a reason why we have kept this form of energy secret and untouched.” Zerick looked around and added. “Now that you all know this, I'll ask you to keep this a secret.”

Cyrus twitched in shock. “You can't be serious!”

Capricia added, “People need to know about this kind of thing, I can't stay silent about something like that.”

Zerick sighed. “I obviously can't force you to keep this a secret, but I ask you for the time being to please consider what revealing that would mean. The Duskon are already starting to cause panic in large cities like this, we have the press running around in circles, trying to keep this contained. Imagine the panic something like Soul Potential Energy would cause.” His pleading seemed to work, as Capricia and Cyrus begrudgingly let it go.”

“For the time being then.” Cyrus said. “Where are we going now that we're all here?”

Satoshi spoke up, leaning on Marshall to stand. “I'll open the way, we're going to Sardinia. Now then, Cyrus and Capricia you've gone through one of these before but for the rest of you, here is what you do. Once you enter the portal, walk straight ahead, do not take the forks in the road.”

“What happens when you take a fork?” J asked, wondering what he meant.

“You end up somewhere else. Where that place is, I cannot say. For your safety, don't try it just to find out.” Satoshi gave a sharp glare towards J. “Now then, I'll ask you all to stand behind me. The group of eight complied and stood single file behind Satoshi. With a relaxed motion, Satoshi lifted his right arm upwards and seemed to tear the sky with his hands. He pulled down, like he was opening a zipper, as a great blue hole opened in front of Satoshi.

“I need to be the last one in, or go in at the same time as someone. So who wants to help me out here?”

“My servant will help you out. Cyrus said as he walked through the portal.

“Take care of Satoshi, J.” Zerick said, following close behind. Kefir, Marshall, Sage and Capricia entered soon after.

Heath politely said hello to Satoshi and followed the rest of the group in.

J helped Satoshi onto his shoulders, but Satoshi shook his head before J could do so. He closed the portal behind Heath leaving the two alone.

“What the heck did you do that for?” J asked, looking at the old man inquisitively.

“How did you end up as the Parise's kid's servant?” he asked, leaning onto the balls of his feet.

J grit his teeth and put his hand to his face. “I lost a fight to him. Why do you care?”

“Most people don't agree with such ridiculous terms. Especially when they know that they're outmatched.” He leaned forward even further, almost falling over.

“Outmatched?” J said while pushing Satoshi upright again.

“You did realize how much stronger he was than you, didn't you?” The blank look on J's face gave him all the answers he needed to know. “You couldn't tell? That kid has a strength about him, so pure and violating.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” J said. “Things like auras, and power, they can't be discerned by feelings. Certainly not mine at least. Now then, why did you close the portal?” J said, letting his impatience creep through his throat.

Satoshi didn't answer. He pulled at the air slightly, creating a small hole right at J's eye level. The hole opened slowly until it was about the size of a broom handle. And that seemed to be exactly what shot out of it, as it bumped J right in the forehead. In an instant the world around them turned pale blue, and turned again into something J recognized.

Rows of nearly destroyed buildings stood, covered in grass and moss, tree roots ripped through searching for space. The air was exceptionally fresh, and J could immediately see why. A large oak tree, with the girth and height of a skyscraper stood directly in the centre of this overgrown city.

“Hmm, you've got an interesting place here, J.” Satoshi walked in front of him, seemingly without hindrance.

“You seem to be moving just fine now.” J blurted out, noticing his measured steps were back.

“Yes, if only because we're outside of reality.” The elder man settled down on a root that had shot out of the ground. “This is another dimension, in your case this is your mind. I've been able to tap into it and enter your subconscious domain.”

J's face twisted and contorted as he looked for words to express his anger and disgust, but all that came out were the sounds of exasperated grunts. Satoshi raised his hand to silence him, and took a deep breath, admiring the world around him.

“I will make you stronger.” Satoshi said, hoping that would shut him up. “Because in here, is the best training partner I can offer.” He turned back and glanced over his shoulder. A quiet tapping of feet against grass was heard, as a black haired woman emerged out of the darkness, wearing the same Meteor Cuffs that J had on his arms and legs.

“L-Libra?” J stuttered, quickly preparing a guard for himself.

The Cuffs descended down her slender arms, gathered at her knuckles, and extended into long claws. They followed suit at her feet, forming rock hard boots. A wry smile appeared on her face, and she immediately charged at J.

---

Heath was the last one out of the portal, as the contingent arrived in Sardinia. Heath knew this place well, it was one of the Alduane's vacation homes, and like everything else it was ridiculously fabulous. He knew his father as one to spend, almost in excess. Satoshi's portal had brought them to the central courtyard, and right in front of a magnificent stone fountain. A large pillar ascended from the centre, up to a large sphere at the top where the water came out in all directions. The sphere was like a sun, large rings were assembled around it and when the water was flowing it caused the rings to spin around in a multitude of dizzying angles.

Needless to say that wasn't the only excessive piece of this puzzle of excess. Glorious green grass grew, perfectly uniform and organized, walkways made of sheer white marble extended in all directions, guiding people to the beautiful gardens to the east and west, the stadium to the north, and the mansion to the south.

Sage whistled in excitement. “This is quite a place. It just screams 'I'm richer than you', you know?”

“Oh my yes. I am definitely richer than all of you. Combined even.” Zerick turned around and faced the Protectors. He took one step back and stared intently at each one, trying to shake their nerves. “Now then, I trust you're all ready, we're on a tight schedule.”

“Not yet, no.” Kefir blurted out. “J is missing, and your partner as well.”

“Satoshi had some business with J.” Cyrus said, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

Zerick raised his eyebrow, “Yes, how did you know that?”

Cyrus shrugged, “Just a guess.” He seamlessly changed the subject. “What are we ready for exactly?”

Zerick snapped his fingers, and the scenery flooded with people concealed in dark blue garb. They seemed to appear out of the air itself, but that was just the result of their camouflage. “Training, of course. Don't go easy on them, they are designed to kill.”

“I was wondering when you were gonna introduce us to your friends.” Capricia spoke out. “They weren't very sneaky for ninjas, right Cy?”

Cyrus had his pistols brandished, ready to go. “Yeah, they turned hostile fast. Though I have never met a nice robot ninja.”

Marshall seemed to be the only one who didn't notice them, as Sage had his finger pointed at the ninjas on top of the roof, and Kefir had his spear pointed east toward the ninjas in the gardens. Heath had already rushed towards the west, starting to take heads. Marshall pulled out his gun arm as fast as he could, ripping off the prosthetic and forcing the cold metal onto the bare stump. The process looked painful but only for a split second as the machine connected to the nerves in his arms.

“Well then.”Zerick ran towards the northern coliseum as fast as he could, avoiding the battle that was soon to happen. “Good luck!” He yelled, keeping his pace. The robot ninjas sprung towards the group of protectors, but they had already begun their onslaught. Walls of flame rose from Marshall's arm and burned through the cyber skeletons of the approaching ninjas. The survivors were met with hard punches and kicks from Capricia, who had seemed to outmatch the opponents with nothing but her bare hands.

More came in from the east, but they were quickly tore down by a combination of Kefir's spear and a few bullets from Cyrus. To the west, Heath and Sage were ripping them apart from a distance, as bolts of energy and a seemingly infinite collection of knives tore through the ninjas. Though they moved fast compared to regular people, they seemed sluggish to the group of protectors. In a matter of minutes, the last of the ninjas fell, shorting out from the sheer devastation that was wrought upon them.

“Too easy.” Cyrus spun the pistols around his fingers, turned on the safeties and slid them into his pocket.

“Heh, you can say that again.” Marshall reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, carefully using the flames through his arm, he light one up and smoked it. “Ah, nothing like destroying my lungs.”

“Easy? I don't know what you guys are talking about, I've never had to do something that ridiculous!” Sage said, “Even though it didn't feel hard at all...” He tapped his foot impatiently.

“He only had them at level 1. Figures.” Heath said, looking over at one of the destroyed heads. He held it up and pointed it to what seemed to be a number inside the retina. “I normally practice with level nines.”

“Excellent work everyone!” Zerick's voice was amplified by a loud megaphone, which he seemed to be carrying with pride. Behind him were six people, who carried an aura of strength about them. Zerick set down the megaphone on the ground, causing a butler to rush from the mansion, pick it up and return to the mansion. “Even though you all just met, you seem to work together quite well. Combining your short and long range attacks to get rid of those guys without taking a scratch of damage.”

“Would you mind telling us what the hell the point of that was?” Kefir asked, not bothering to hide any hatred in his voice.

“Oh, that? I just needed a distraction for you while I brought the rest of you from our coliseum. I figured you'd get bored without me around.” Zerick said nonchalantly. “Now then, I'd like to introduce you the people behind me. The six people fanned out behind Zerick, they were following single file before but had spread out, and revealed their faces to the other protectors.

A tall bulky woman was the first to introduce herself, running to shake everyone's hands. “I'm Linda Sykes, pleasure to meet you all. Especially you, stud.” She winked at Marshall, leaving the man visibly shaken. She ran back with the rest of group, casually talking to the short brunette girl beside her. She seemed shy in comparison, with her curly locks hiding her face. She asked Linda to introduce her to the rest of the group.

“Oh dear, you should speak up for yourself.” Linda tried to convince her to say hi, but she wouldn't budge on her stance. Linda accepted without any hassle and continued. “This little cutie here is Jennifer Barton. She's 16, and find some of you rather scary. Though I think you all look really cute. She smiled and settled back down.

This continued for a while, with all the protectors exchanging pleasantries. Next to Jennifer stood a man with model good looks, with long wavy blonde hair and a toned physique.”I'm Stephen Edwards, the famous model. Maybe you've heard of me?” he boasted, flexing his pecs.

“Yeah he's a real figjam, mate.” The next protector replied, he wore a cowboy hat hiding his short grey hair and light blue eyes. He was obviously older than the rest of the group but looked to be in good shape for his age. “I'm Graham Fisher, pleasure to meet you blokes and sheilas.”

“You're Australian?” Sage asked, wondering about the man's thick accent.

“That's right.” He extended his arm to Sage, which was graciously accepted. “Good to meet ya.”

That was it for the adults, the last two looked like they were just hitting puberty. There was a young girl with red hair and light brown eyes, conversing with the young boy. He had a shaggy mop of black hair and dark brown eyes. They both shared a taste for dark blue colours, the boy had a dark blue ninja suit, and the girl wore a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans in the same colour.

“Those little cuties are Arianna and David. They seem so nice. I have no idea what they are doing here.” Linda said, finishing off the introductions. Everyone had gathered, except for one.

“Excellent. You'll have to time to get acquainted and used to each other over these next few days. I want to tell you all what we plan to do. So gather round and listen up, I don't make a habit of repeating myself.” Zerick announced, dimming down the crowd.

---

The Duskon had travelled to Gibraltar in a manner of hours, riding in the shadows of people and the sun to their destination. A pair of people emerged in a dark alleyway, straight from the shadows in the ground and took form. An army general and a wispy haired business man, these were people with deep evil seated in their hearts, now taken form as monsters.

They hopped into a parked speedboat and rode westward. For hours they travelled, being cautious not to be seen by other boats along the way. They continued onto until they came across a set of eight rock spires, that started off thick at the base before shaving to a fine point. The pair drove the boat right in the middle of all eight spires, and started to rip apart the boat with their hands. Brute and Anshi began swimming downward into the drink, passing into a large rock which held the spires together. The rock split, and a jagged hole opened like a spider accepting it's meal.

There was an air pocket right by the spider's mouth, which gave any other Duskon looking for this place a valuable place to find some air. After refilling their lungs, the Duskon dived again, passing through a short tunnel further into the rock. The swim was short, as they came across the water lock. The first door opened automatically, letting in the duskon and a rush of water. When they closed the door, the water seeped from the lock and drained back into the Atlantic. When all the water was drained, they turned the wheel like handle on the second door and entered the lair.

“Where is that guy?” Anshi muttered, shaking the water off of his body.

“Probably in the harem room, where else?” Brute snipped back. “You go report to our ever ambitious leader, I need a drink.” Brute stormed off, heading down the series of caverns to his room.

“Heh, I wonder if he's finished with a few of those whores, I need more sacrifices.” Anshi said to himself, walking down towards the harem room. “sacrifices, sacrifices, they will look oh so nice. Cut off their heads and drink their blood, break their bones and hear the thud.” He sang a merry tune on his way.

The rock cavern was outfitted with furnished chrome walls in odd places, looking like a hodgepodge of prehistoric and futuristic. Anshi walked past the sliding doors, into a euphony of pleasured moans and grunts. Stepping over the writhing bodies, he continued onwards. Glaring at any whore who would make eye contact with him, he put a tangible fear into the writhing women. Anshi opened a large steel door and went into the back room to face the leader of the operation, hunched over in a soaked reclining chair, drinking brandy straight out of the bottle.

“Anshi,” He voice sounded hollow, “Prostrate before me.” As if he had no choice, Anshi got down onto his knees and bent his head low, with a scowl on his face. “What can you tell me about the humans that defy us so openly?”

“They're too strong to be normal humans. I have a feeling their abilities have been augmented somehow.” Anshi said, thinking about his precious barrier being destroyed. “There were five that we had encountered. I trapped one, but he broke out of the prison I made.”

The Duskon's leader shook his head, and rose from his chair, bringing his face into the artificial light. His head was clean shaven, and long scars traced their way around his ebony head, in artistic orbits and designs. His face was beautiful aside from the scars, but many Duskon would say the scars only enhanced his powerful gaze. Pure black eyes with crimson irises bored holes through Anshi, as the wispy haired Duskon tried to catch his breath.

“I see. It's good that we set you and Brute as a scouting party.” The leader relaxed his gaze, allowing the subject to move and breathe again. “Do you know where they headed off to?”

Anshi rose from his kneeling position, and worked a kink out of his neck, “They said something about Sardinia, the island off the coast of Italy. Brute has the full report, so talk to him if you want it.”

The Duskon leader sounded pleased, as he brought his palms together in a triangle. “Good. You're dismissed.”

Anshi scratched his neck. “Sir... If I may be so brazen as to ask, How is the surfacing plan going?”

“Quite well actually, Anshi.” The leader walked towards a large computer, with someone furiously typing code into the computer. “Your superior asked you a question.” the Duskon's long fingers pointed at the back of the programmer's skull.

“Sorry, wasn't paying attention.” He said quickly. Still typing, he added. “The North American economy is in for quite a surprise.” He twitched, “In somewhat unrelated news, we have stumbled across one hundred billion dollars. We should be able to resurface in a matter of days, Master.”

The leader grinned and shrugged. “Now that your curiosity is sated, you can leave. Take the whore with the lazy eye with you, she's no longer useful to us.” He withdrew his finger from the back of the programmer's skull and left him go to his own devices.

“By us you mean?” Anshi asked.

“Me obviously.” He said, shooing off Anshi.

“Of course.” Anshi bowed and walked out, making sure to take the whore with him. He pulled her by her long brown hair, letting her screams echo through the caverns of steel and rock.

“Shame, I kind of liked her.” The programmer mumbled, typing furiously into the keyboard. “What do you think we should do about those humans?”

The leader's lips twisted into a cruel grin, he leaned on the shoulder of the programmer's chair and said, “We'll send the Worm, until we resurface, we can't openly expose ourselves.”

“Sending the Worm isn't exposing ourselves?” The programmer scoffed, and then looked back into the dead serious Duskon's eyes. “Fine. I'll send the signal, it'll be there in about three days.”

“Great.” He pushed off the chair, and started to walk towards the harem room. Now I have some business to attend to, be a good boy and make sure no one interrupts me.”

“Yeah, I'll make sure you and your skanks aren't bothered. Can I have a break? I've been working two days straight.”

He shrugged, “Go ahead, Gatus, just send the worm before you do.”

Gatus opened up a window on the screen, showing an image of the great wall, and a great mound of dirt following the wall for a few miles. He typed in a macro, causing the mound near the wall to shift. Slowly it began crawling along the length of the wall, descending slowly so as not to be seen by normal people. The worm begun it's long journey towards Italy. Gatus smiled and closed the window. Sleepiness overcame him and he fell asleep on his chair.
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RazorStar
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BUMP FOR EVERY ONION!
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RaeMina
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Let me be your sword and your shield
Eeeew, onions =P

Pretty good, though I have to say I'm VERY confused about the plot :< It's like you have so many characters you're introducing but none of them get much spotlight after a time, and soon enough everyone bleeds together. The only one with a shred of individuality is J, but even then he's just kinda there >o>

Some homework for you, check out this girl's blog. She's got plenty of good ideas on writing, so reading some of it might clean up your style some?
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RazorStar
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I've got so much homework to do anyway. Admittedly proofreading is one of my personal character flaws, and I wanted to use the Gust Formula, introduce a lot of characters and plot elements early and develop them slowly later. I'm trying to go for subtlety in development, but right now it's next to nothing, I know.
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RaeMina
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Let me be your sword and your shield
Plus it's also a matter of taste, too. In the end though it just might be a better strategy to do one thing at a time, or something >>
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RazorStar
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<_< >_>
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Lenna Suzaka
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Supreme Goddess of the Ten Heavens
*agrees*
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RazorStar
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(Hey guys it's chapter 12, It's also really long, 8 pages!)

Chapter 12: Calm

I wanted to be relevant, when I was younger I wanted everyone to remember my name. There was no limit to my ambition, to my desire, and slowly but surely, I built up the world. Was I proud of it? No, the world can only adapt so much to my wishes, but the harmony was there, it was always there. The world gave me everything, this is the one thing I can do to pay everyone back. How many people died while I lived? How many sacrifices were made so that I could I rise to the top? How many lost their humanity before their lives?

I can not be sure, other than to say the number is unfathomable. I took up this cause because it was time to do something right. My cursed soul needs to finally lift itself from the darkness, and take the world as well.


---

"You're Capricia, right?" Jennifer acknowledged the blonde haired girl beside her, who was reading aloud a certain paragraph in the book she was reading.

"That's right." She smiled and looked over to the next page. "This book looks pretty interesting, what's it about?"

"It's about a king who sold his soul for immortality, and now is trying to redeem himself and finally pass on." The brunette flipped a wavy curl away from her brow. "The narrative is really choppy, but I like the premise and some of the ideas this author had."

"So he gained everything he ever wanted, apparently used people like cattle to get to the top and now decides he wants to do good things?" Capricia chortled, "that sounds a bit unfair, what makes him think he deserves to be redeemed?"

"Well that's what I'm trying to find out." Jennifer said bluntly. "Did you want something, Capricia?"

Capricia blushed a little and scratched behind her ear, "We'll you're the only girl here around my age, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out together. I have so many questions!"

Jen's brown eyes scanned the last few lines of the page before looking up to meet Capricia's green eyes. "Like what?"

"How about... where you're from for starters."

Jennifer closed her book and sighed. "Sure, let's talk."

"I'm not prying too much am I?" Capricia asked, wondering if she was being a nuisance.

The brunette shook her head, "No, I'm just not used to people being genuinely interested in me is all. It's weird."

"Tell me about it. I'm not really sure what you mean."

Jennifer looked up at the sky, remembering what she did before she met Zerick Aldaune.

---

To observers, time seemed to move still when encountering Jennifer Barton. Every day she'd claim her seat at the back of the class, reading a different book every week. Lessons would change, people would age, but Jennifer Barton would stay the same. She was happy, perhaps more than anyone would know, but the unchanging just becomes background noise in the swirling seas of life.

"Hey." Someone would say, greeting the young woman. They'd go on to introduce themselves, give a section of their life story, and try to be friendly. She would simply raise her gaze for a second and go back to her book. After all, they were different, changing shapes every week. A story would remain the same no matter how many days passed. A person only lasted as long as their will allowed.

"Cheh, be that way." They would walk away bitter as always. Not disappointed, just bitter. That alone told her their whole personality. Shallow, unreasonable, self centred, average. Nothing exciting or heroic about these people. Only rarely would she encounter someone with the persistence to keep trying.

She'd make idle conversation with these people, give them a fraction of her attention. Plain people with good hearts were better than miserable polite people. All in all though, she was just the background to all the main characters vying for attention. The stories of their lives would be pathetic, probably ending along the lines of being stuck in an office all day, drinking all night and finding only misery in day to day lives. People from Michigan were all the same in that sense.

She was walking home one day, brain racing with thoughts, plans and designs for fictional characters, when she bumped into a well dressed man waiting at the walk lights. "Sorry about that." She looked up and saw something interesting. Someone with strength in their character, and a long story to tell in their eyes. Someone who was interesting for once.

"Don't worry about it, I was looking for you anyway, Ms. Barton." He spoke, his voice seeming to drown out the sound of the traffic around them. It was if they were the only people in the world.

"You have me at a disadvantage. What do I call you?"

"Zerick is fine." He gave a polite smile, and then opened up the briefcase he was holding. He reached inside and pulled out a white crystalline spike.

"What's that?" She looked at the pure white crystal, it has a simple sense of beauty to it, but it was unlike anything she had ever encountered.

"It's a gift from me to you. You'll know exactly what purpose it serves in time." He handed her the spike, and closed her hands around it. "If you wish to return it, I will be here at the same time tomorrow."

Jennifer looked down at the white crystal, and then back up to where the man was standing, but he had already disappeared. She looked around a while, trying to find traces of the person, but he had completely vanished from sight.


---

"So you just don't like average people?"

"That's not entirely true. I don't like average people with average hearts. Whimsical, fickle, general ADD, those people. Turns out there is a lot of them." Jennifer explained. "Average people with good hearts are fine, as are extraordinary people with average hearts. But what I like best are people like you, extraordinary people with compassionate hearts."

Capricia blushed and scratched the bridge of her nose, "Thank you for the kind words, but you barely know me, I don't know how you can flatter me with praise so easily."

"You carry yourself well. You keep your shoulders broad, your eyes keep contact, and your voice doesn't waver. On top of that you pay attention to what I'm saying, and you don't judge until you hear the whole story. Someone with your patience is to be applauded, especially with a story as boring as mine."

"I had no idea I was doing all those things." Capricia admitted. "So what did you do with the spike?"

"Now that's the interesting part." Jennifer exclaimed, getting up from her seat. "I took it home with me, naturally. That's when I started noticing in more clarity what was going on. I walked home and saw swirling shadows under people's feet. All the people I knew as average or boring had these things under their feet, it had to have four out of every five people or so."

Capricia gasped, "That's ridiculous. There were way less where I was."

"I have my own theory on that, but anyway, I went home and placed the spike on the desk in my room. I could hear vague sounds coming from it, almost like whispers. I came closer to it, and as I reached out to grab it it started to shine bright yellow. I touched it and it starting to be absorbed into my skin. The pain was so intense and sudden that I was knocked out cold."

"When I came to, there was a note on my desk along with two weapons." Jennifer pointed to hip to reveal a long thin sword in it's scabbard along with a short stiletto styled dagger. "The other protectors here, namely Linda and David told me something similar happened to them as well. Weapons were born from the spike, along with a nagging voice in your conscious."

"Cyrus hasn't told me about a nagging voice in his head, but a pair of handguns happened to be formed when he came to." Capricia mimicked firing guns with her hands while making gun sounds. "However what he was given wasn't a spike at all, but some kind of liquid. It was white and sparkly, but a bit like a soup. It's difficult to explain really."

"And for you?" Jennifer asked.

"Nothing. I've always been able to use barriers when I'm fighting or even just doing regular things. Only recently have I been able to use healing abilities, but I've never needed a spike or any white crystal liquid whatever dillio." She snapped her fingers and a large blue transparent barrier surrounded her. "Lately these bad boys have been getting stronger, before they only used to form around my fists or legs at most." She snapped her fingers again and the barrier melted into a fine mist.

"Interesting. Would you like me to test the strength of those barriers? I need to get more practice with my blades, so any experience would help."

Cap smiled. "Sure thing, it'll be just like kickboxing practice." She tapped her fists lightly, cracked her knuckles and went to an empty spot in the courtyard with the young brunette.

---

"Take this! Fireball!" A ball of fire grew in her palms and shot out at the young boy with kunai knives. He brought his hands together, pinkies and index fingers touching, setting up a wall of water between him and the spellcaster.

"Is that all you've got?" The boy taunted, "it'll take more than that to beat me!" He threw his kunai in quick succession at the young girl, hoping to catch her off guard , but she had seen them coming.

"Modest land, Accelerate!" The earth beckoned to her command and shot up in front of her, creating a wall to deflect the flying kunai away. Just as the unsettled earth began to settle where it once was, the boy rushed forward holding a thin bladed wooden sword in both of his hands, raising the blade over his head he began a downward swing on the girl's shoulder. He stopped a few centimetres short, and lightly tapped her.

"I win!" He said, pumping his fist in the air. "I am the greatest! All around the world they will know the name David Myung!"

"Keep talking like that and you'll get a big head." the spellcaster whacked him with a whip made of water.

"Owwww! If you're gonna hit me do it with your bare hands." David complained, "They hurt way less than your spells, Arianna."

"Oh but it's so much fun." She whipped him again before letting the water dissipate into air.

Sage walked by the scene, and observed the two bickering for a while. He set his hands on his hips and sighed as the two seemed to start again. Before something could fly off the handle Sage walked up and put his hands on both of their shoulders. "Can we settle down a bit, guys?"

"Who the heck are you?" David asked him, glaring into his blue-grey eyes.

"We met earlier." Sage scratched behind his ear, "I'm Sage, one of the good guys."

Arianna smiled and turned to face Sage. "Do you have any neat tricks you can show us?"

"Yeah, you don't look very tough." The wannabe ninja laughed.

Sage raised an eyebrow. "Alright then, I'll show you something really awesome then." He kneeled down to look Arianna in the eyes. "Can you make a tower of earth, just like before? See if you can get it as close to that coliseum as possible."

She nodded, and with a quick chant a large tower of earth extended about 300 metres away. Sage moved himself into a shooting position. With one deep breath a ball of visible energy appeared on Sage's right index and middle fingers. Flicking his knuckles back, he let the ball fly straight on into the stone tower. As the ball made impact with the tower it shattered into thousands of small pebbles, falling neatly on the ground below. He cocked his fingers back and blew on them. "Tough enough for ya?"

Their youthful exuberance could hardly be contained, the pair cheered Sage on and asked his to do even more cool things, Arianna had stalagmites pop out the ground like a game of whack a mole, and the arrows from Sage's bow were the bane of their existence. They kept going until Arianna eventually got tired from using too much energy.

"Looks like that's enough for now." Sage chuckled."Phew, I'm thirsty, you know where I can get some water?"

David pointed to the mansion, "Just go in that front door there, and follow the hallway around until you walk into the kitchen. Make sure you come back, I got something awesome I need to show you." David had a mischievous grin parting his cheeks.

"Hah, sure thing." Sage laughed and sauntered into the large villa. His eyes went up to the elevated ceiling, around the walls to admire hundreds of paintings, many of them he had never heard of, but then again he never considered himself an art aficionado. He kept his eyes wandering the hallway as he himself wandered down, looking for a kitchen. On his way he passed by the older Australian, who was carrying a tray stacked with cups of coffee.

"What's the coffee for?"

"There's a good fight going on right now. That middle eastern fellow and that dumb blond bloke are going at it in the coliseum. They really seem to hate each other, it's quite entertaining, really." He laughed heartily and almost lost control of the cups on the tray. He struggled to keep them balanced but managed to prevent a big spill.

"Jeez, you're gonna drink four cups of coffee all at once?"

"Three." He corrected. "The fourth one is for that kid Cyrus, no way I could drink any coffee with milk, it spoils the dark magic of the brew. See how his cup is pink, serves the guy right. I'll see you around, guy." He continued on his way, stopping occasionally to take a large gulp of his magic brew.

After nearly no time at all Graham had made his way to the stony coliseum. He entered through the grand stone gateway and entered the stadium area. The ring was a large circle, with the diameter of a football field, extending from the circular ring area were large staircases filled with benches meant to sit thousands of people. However only four people were seated, directly in the front rows. Still, that was three more than last time he was here. The man with the cannon for an arm, Marshall, and the recruiter Zerick were there, along with his son, Heath. Cyrus was still watching, taking in every action of the two fighters, recording it in a pseudo laptop device.

"Graham, nice of you to join us." Zerick stood up and took one of the cups of coffee from him. "You shouldn't have, did you know I love coffee?" Graham stood dumbfounded as Marshall took another cup from the tray.

"Hmm, this is pretty good, are these special beans?" Marshall said taking a small delicate sip.

"The pink cup is mine, then?" Cyrus got up and took the cup from the tray, leaving Graham with his half drunk mug and a bucket filled with his tears.

"My... coffee..." He sniveled and sat down reluctantly, trying to slowly savour the meagre portion he had left.

Marshall leaned back and put his hands behind his head. Graham realized that Marshall indeed had two regular arms, and not the cannon he had before. "What happened to your arm?"

He shrugged, "It got blown off. By Kefir." He said without a hint of bitterness, taking another delicate sip of his coffee. "It's a prosthetic, but I can remove it without much hassle, and replace it with that cannon you saw earlier. No sense walking around with a weapon of mass destruction all the time, right?"

Graham was dumbfounded, he wanted to say something, but nothing really tangible would come out, so he just settled for watching the two fighters trade blows instead. Zerick leaned over and asked, "So why are those two going at it? I think it's good for them to be training and all, but I don't want either of them to go too far."

"Oh, If it's something that simple, I'll tell ya. Blondie over there called our good friend there a terrorist."

"Bwa-ha-ha, what?" Marshall exploded into laughter. "That guy? He's a mercenary, and I know you wouldn't believe it at first glance but he's a devout Christian. Complete opposite of a terrorist I think."

"I take it he told you that?" Zerick asked, adjusting his position on the bench.

"Yeah, he even apologized for my arm, so it's water under the bridge." Marshall downed a large swig of coffee this time.

"So that makes you a soldier then? Where else would you be dealing with mercenaries? I mean you're certainly well built and all." Graham asked, finishing the last few drops of coffee he had been chugging through.

Marshall nodded. "I had a squad of ten, but I don't now. I guess if anything, you guys are my squad... most of these guys were my age when I joined, now that i think about it." Marshall drifted into thoughts of his former squad members, but didn't linger for too long.

A loud clang resounded, Stephen's sword flew out of his hand as he crashed to the ground. Kefir brought the tip of his spear to the blond's throat and held it there. "You lose, scum." Kefir flipped the spear around and jabbed the butt at Stephen's forehead, knocking him out cold. The sword fell harmlessly to the ground, the blade dissipating into the air, leaving nothing but the hilt and guard. Kefir looked up at the small crowd and scoffed, walking off with his spear sitting on his shoulder.

"Ahhh!" Graham panicked holding his head in his hands. "I missed most of the fight!"

"Relax." Cyrus spoke up, lifting his eyes from his laptop. "I've got it all recorded right here. It was pretty boring though, Stephen is probably the weakest guy here, and Kefir is close to the strongest."

"Then why did it take so long, huh?" Graham panicked. "First my coffee, and now this? My life is over" He held his head in his hands and added, "Kidding. Let's see that recording Cyrus."

"I have received your command and will obey it." Cyrus said with a smile, and pushed the play button.

---

"I'll rip your ears off you bastard!" Kefir roared. Nothing clearer could be made in the world than Kefir's pure unbridled anger.

"You terrorists seem to do that a lot, sure you don't want to blow this place up while you're at it?" Stephen added. He pulled a sword's hilt out of his pocket. "And I'll cut down evil-doers any day of the week." He roared out and let his energy surge into the hilt. The hilt grew a wide blade, and forged itself into a mighty broadsword, with a single spike on the flat edge of the sword. "The Demon's Fang hungers for evil's blood!"

"Ah, now you speak a language I understand." Kefir pulled the lance off his shoulder, carefully undoing the wrappings around it. It gleaned in the sunlight, pointed at the blond's exposed chest. Kefir quickly jabbed the butt into his chest, winding him instantly.

"Urgh, you're fast." Stephen brushed himself off. "But I suppose evil must always be elusive to escape the blade of justice! Feel my fury, Tiger Blade! He dashed towards Kefir, holding his sword low, heading towards an upward arc. Kefir nimbly dodged the first slash, but the second downward slash caught him off guard, barely getting his spear in the way to take the blow. It had no weight to it so it was easily deflected.

Kefir had already prepared a counterattack, he crouched down like a feral beast, holding the butt of the spear towards Stephen, arm extended along the shaft of the weapon. In an instant, the spear shot forward and again nailed the blond in the chest, close to the heart.

Stephen made a horrible sound as he coughed out some spit. "You still have not drawn blood, terrorist! I will cut you down now!" Stephen tried to channel more power to his blade, and let it grow bigger and wider, almost to the size of an airplane's wing. He called out his ultimate attack, and brought the blade down over his head.

Kefir swatted the blade away with his spear, as if he was knocking away a pillow. Stephen had lost his balance and was caught off guard as Kefir continued to slam the butt of his spear into his chest, not once using the weapon the way it was intended to be used. Stephen was running low on breath, and small tinges of blood appeared in his spit. "Get up." Kefir taunted the blond, still pointing the butt end at him. "I hate to pick on the weak, but you leave me no choice."

"Weak?" Stephen chortled, "You don't understand who I am do you? The great Stephen Edwards is a hero to all, he's admired by the general populace, loved by millions of women world wide. I'm the hero this world needs, and I will purge the world of evil. Whenever they need someone to save them-"

"They'll laugh at the idiot who constantly refers to himself in the third person, like some kind of sub-human. Trash like you make me sick." Kefir decided that toying around was no longer in his best interests. He wanted to make this person understand him, but it was obvious he was too dense to understand how merciful he had been. He flipped his spear around and pointed it's deadly fang at Stephen's head. "May God forgive you, because he knows I will not."

The thrust came instantly, Kefir had proven himself the faster of the two, but in this attack he had proven himself the deadlier fighter. To Stephen it appeared that his spear had gathered the essence of death on it's form, and as it closed in, Stephen could feel his life slipping away. Every inch it came closer until just as it was about to pierce through, it stopped short. Fear entranced Stephen, and as if he had no choice, he fell backwards, trying to hold the rising bile in his throat.

Kefir flipped the spear around, and knocked Stephen out with the butt of the spear.

---

"That guy is incredible." Heath noted. "He had the power to finish him off and yet held the compassion to hold back, though I imagine what he did was much more cruel than killing him."

"I don't quite get what went on there." Graham said, watching the spear's deadly thrust fall short.

Cyrus rubbed his temples, "There seemed to be a physical manifestation of enmity in that attack, if I had to guess, he made Stephen fear death to the point of his body just shutting down."

"That's ridiculous." Marshall said, "I don't think he stopped on purpose. Nothing with the intent to kill will cease without something else stopping it." He got up from his seat and added. "I'm gonna check on Kefir, see you guys later."

"That's intriguing." Zerick stated, watching as a couple of medics had rushed in through the coliseum gates to check on Stephen. They signaled him with a thumbs up and he nodded ever so slightly. "I think this was a good experience for you all. As I mentioned before, we're still having a tournament between you guys. I was curious if any of you wanted to back out now. Arianna had already told me she would rather not fight you guys, and that she wasn't interested in any prize money.

"Speaking of prize money, how much was it again? I'm afraid my memory might be a little hazy, mate" Graham asked, stretching out his relaxed muscles.

Zerick stood up, and finished the last of his coffee. "The prize for first place is one hundred million, second place nets ten million, and you receive to hundred and fifty thousand just for competing. I trust you two are interested?

Cyrus shook his head. "Count me out, I don't need the money, and you'll need able bodies in case something happens during the fights."

"You know how badly I need money, Zerick, I'm definitely going to win this thing and put a nice shiny trophy on my mantle when I get home. Then I'm gonna have a nice lamb fried up on the barbie by my lovely wife. Oooh yes there will be a party in the Fisher house that night." Graham salivated at the thought.

"What about Heath?" Cyrus asked, turning to the redhead. Heath quickly hid inside his hood the second he felt eyes on him.

"I'll only be fighting the winner, I want to see how far you all come after this experience." Flushed with embarrassment, Heath jumped up onto the outer roof of the coliseum and disappeared from sight.

Cyrus and Graham had decided to leave as well, saying their thank yous for Zerick's generous hospitality, they took the side exit and left. Zerick smiled as Stephen slowly rose to his feet. He dismissed the medics and walked down to greet the fallen warrior. He picked up the hilt along the way and handed it to him.

"How do you feel, Stephen?"

Stephen winced in pain and held his hand to his chest. "Dizzy, nauseous, and, well... frightened." He shivered, knowing that he was being to open with Zerick, but he continued. "I've never been so close to death before."

Zerick grabbed him by the shoulders and stared into his eyes. "Stephen, you are not wrong."

"Pardon me?"

"Death frightens us all, but it is inevitable for most of us. Stephen, you're special, you have the strength to continue fighting when all seems hopeless and lost. You just need to choose your battles more carefully." Zerick gazed deeply into his eyes and backed off slowly. "As long as you continue to fight for justice, you will never have to fear death, of this I promise you."

"But what about that guy, he's too strong..." Stephen lamented, cursing his own weakness.

Zerick sighed, and gave the man a hug. "My friend, Kefir is not an enemy, he is one of us. He would not be here if he did not want justice as much as you do. Consider that he spared your life, when he could have just as easily ended it. That sort of mercy is rare from people and even rarer from Duskon."

Stephen closed his eyes and grabbed his head in pain. "I..."

"Hush." Zerick said calmly. "You will never have to be afraid of Duskon or of evil, but if you were to ever turn your back on what you believe is just, then you better just run away. That is my suggestion to you."

"And if I want to keep fighting?"

Zerick smiled, "Then you will need to keep training, and continue to get stronger. Become the kind of man you think you are, instead of the quivering mess I see right now." Zerick placed his hand on Stephen's head. "I believe in you."

Stephen nodded, with a renewed vigour. "I will not let you down, Zerick Aldaune. Thank you so much, my teacher.

Zerick laughed, and remembered a time when he was young like that. It had been so long ago, but the memories were still as warm and as fond as ever. He couldn't let the Duskon destroy the opportunity for the world to continue having those bright memories. He had to pay back his debt to this world after all, his debt to all the people who have passed on before him. Perhaps one day, they would recall nothing but bright memories of their world.
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RaeMina
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Let me be your sword and your shield
*slow clap* Brilliant, Raz! :D I loved this new chapter, and I mean it~! It was fun to see all the people(Do they have a collective name? I forgot if they did) just hanging out, so I see what you meant earlier when you wanted to introduce everyone and then give them personality. Those 8 pages just flew by~

:D :D :D :D WEEEEEEEEEEELL DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE :D :D :D :D
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RazorStar
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I told you I had a plan. :D Thank you so much.

As a collective, I'm just calling them protectors, but they don't have an official name.
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Lenna Suzaka
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Supreme Goddess of the Ten Heavens
Better than the previous chapter to be honest with ye. I LOVe your descriptions. They are poetic and they breathe life into the story
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RazorStar
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It's chapter 13! I was considering splitting it into two small chapters but I decided against it in the end, it flows together a bit better as one, I think. (It's over 5000 words!)

Chapter 13: Teamwork

Dark winds howled, as the rain began pouring. In the landscape of J's mind, the sun never shined, the sky was always overcast with clouds. The youth had begun sweating furiously, trying to hold on in his desperate fight. His lungs burned, and his breath was ragged but he still kept fighting his opponent. She looks just as worn down as he was, after all they were two sides of the same pillow.

Satoshi looked on and smiled, the boy was getting faster and stronger with each day that had passed. Time moved slower here, so the extra hours gained were surely necessary. After all, how does one change a normal student into a weapon of destruction in mere weeks? Still, his progress was remarkable, and his fighting sense impeccable. An eye for weak points, conserving as much energy as possible for long drawn out fights, J knew how to drive someone into his pace. The two had been going at it for nearly twenty minutes now, neither landing a really strong blow, but constantly defending themselves from the finisher.

The Meteor Cuffs were a weapon designed for long drawn out fights. The main attack function of such things are basically just boosts to the users speed over time, and using the force of gravity to inflict serious damage with the added mass. Satoshi noticed that attacking was not the best part of their design, they could mold at will to suit the user's needs, providing a shield and armour to deadly attacks.

"Agh!" J shouted, as Libra landed a clean shot, drawing blood with extended claws. They dug into J's hand and ripped at the layers of skin. J quickly grabbed Libra's arm with his other hand and swung his legs over to pin her arm. Quickly he made the meteor cuffs as heavy as he possibly could, in an attempt to bring her to the ground. Libra moved in for a quick strike with her free hand, jabbing straight at J's temple. He had no move to block this attack, so the claw drew dangerously closer until...

It was deflected and made harmless by one of Satoshi's barriers. He separated the two and called the fight over. Glancing sideways at J, he shrugged and pulled out a cup of tea. J sometimes wondered if Satoshi had everything in the world hiding in his portals, but the man would never give him a serious answer.

J looked down at his hand, and brought some of the cuff to cover the wound. Using the weight to stem the blood flow and take in the excess, it was a crude way of healing up his battle scars. He had spent over four days in here, although it was closer to three in what J had come to know as reality.

"Would you like some?" Satoshi asked, settling down on a solid patch of soil, drinking his tea patiently.

"I'll pass." J yawned and fell onto the ground. He laid back and stared up at the giant tree. He raised his hand up and commanded an apple to fall from it's mighty branches and into his palm. If there was one thing he could do here, it was talk to the wildlife. Unfortunately for him, the only wildlife here was that large tree.

"Suit yourself." Satoshi sat in silence in while, seeming to be in deep meditation, only breaking his concentration to fill his stomach. "I think it's about time we left here, and had you meet the others."

"Sounds good. The sooner I get out of here the better." J rose to his feet slowly, and threw the apple core in his hand up into the air, letting it land harmlessly on the ground. The ground rumbled, loud and low like a yawning elephant. "Oh no! I'm sorry for littering, me!" J tried apologizing to himself, slowly realizing how stupid he looked.

"No, that wasn't you." Satoshi spoke calmly. "This is outside interference, probably an earthquake or something."

Libra rushed out of one of the buildings, with a grave look on her face. "Satoshi, we need to get J out of here. Now!"

Satoshi understood the seriousness of the request and brought out another broom handled device. Hitting J in the forehead again, the world shifted back into reality, the mighty tree and destroyed buildings were replaced by the sunny skies of Italy.

The ground rumbled like a foghorn, as the people were once again brought into a state of panic. The ground had been torn up, as if someone was digging a tunnel westward, as J let his eyes follow the trail, a great worm shot out, wide as a four lane highway, destroying anything it's path. It's skin was a light black, with pink slime oozing out of it's pores. It was truly a monster of destruction.

"What the heck?" Satoshi limped forward, watching the worm tear a line of destruction through Naples. "This is bad." Satoshi panicked a little, trying to calm his nerves. After a few seconds of silence, he brought his full attention to the situation. "J, that thing is heading towards Sardinia and the other protectors."

"Seriously? You mean to tell me that's a Duskon? J stood in awe, not quite grasping the scale of the worm. People brushed by the pair, not even trying to make way for them.

"That's right. This must have been tens of thousands of people originally, going by the sheer size of this monstrosity. To think the Duskon would already have this kind of strength..." Satoshi said with a pang of regret. "Look, if I'm estimating it's speed correctly, you have about 90 minutes before it gets over the Tyrrhenian Sea. You have to at least slow it down, be a gnat long enough for other protectors to destroy that thing."

"Ha, I'll stop that thing dead in it's tracks." J boasted, excited for the challenge ahead. "Go ahead and warn the others, they need to get ready for this thing." J jumped into the sky, and brought out his wings. Chasing after the behemoth, J sped up, trying his best to destroy that monster before it could do more damage.

---

Satoshi quickly took several pictures of the worm with a quickly conjured camera, and then opened a portal to Zerick's vacation home. Walking down the blue pathway, he reached his destination in a couple of seconds, arriving right in the middle of the courtyard. He met the young David Myung, trying to create clones of himself with the water in the fountain. It was amusing to say the least, but they barely held shape and didn't seem to be reliable in any sort of way. He briefly acknowledged the young man, but David paid him little attention, desperately trying to make his clones better.

"Have you tried thinking like water?" Satoshi offered, watching him struggle with the method.

"What?" David's concentration broke, causing the watery form to explode and splash in his face.

"Water is difficult for young people to handle, it follows it's own path, and it takes discipline to use it correctly." Satoshi explained. "If you try to force it as now, it'll continue to deform and fight back at you."

"I don't really get it, shouldn't my power bend to my will? I-"

"I apologize for not being of more help, but I must find Zerick, there's a large Duskon heading our way, it'll be here in about 90 minutes."

"Already? I heard that it was going to take a couple of weeks." David let the sweat roll down his forehead, licking his lips in anticipation, "Does it look human, like the others?"

Satoshi shook his head, "Nothing close I'm afraid." He pulled out the camera and showed David the pictures of the large worm, ripping through the earth. "This is a strong Duskon, J is doing his best to hold it off, but at best he's a distraction, he doesn't have the destructive capabilities the others here have.

David looked shocked, but brought himself together. "Ninjas aren't afraid of anything!" He bellowed, trying to steel his nerves. "I'll go gather everyone here, I think Zerick is inside the mansion."

The young man ran off, with a determined grimace. Satoshi, turned and walked gingerly towards the lavish door.

---

J dropped his heel on the worm's back, letting the spiked rocks dig in a rip out whatever they could. For a creature this large, J only hoped that his attempts were not therapeutic. He continue to swipe at the worm, yelling as he kept up his furious swinging. "Come on, ugly! I got more where this came from!" The winged youth ascended and quickly dove downwards again, forming a drill with his hands and spiraling towards the squishy mass.

The worm kept on trucking, no damage J was doing seemed to have any lasting effect. He moved towards the front, flying as fast as he could along the long leviathan. There had to be some weak point on the creature, and J hoped it was it's eyes. Using a trick he learned from Libra, he turned the meteor cuffs on his legs into cleats, and ran along the top of the beast, taking any small bit of damage he could get. Finally after a few minutes of hard running, J came face to face with the beast. He prepared to drive his leg into it's eye, but came across the stunning realization... worms don't have eyes.

This creature did have a mouth though, stunning in it's wideness, bearing a demonic grin from ear to ear... if it had ears. The wide smile opened, revealing a sharp forked tongue. It lashed out at J, but he flew up to avoid it.

"Hi." It spoke in a cacophony of voices, mixing from high to low like someone smashed up a piano.

"Ah, so you're not a mindless brute like the others." J reasoned. He had already figured physical abuse was not a viable option, so he decided to try diplomacy.

"As long as I can eat, I don't care." It laughed, gurgled and spat all at once. "I just wanted to know that if you don't join me I'll kill you too."

J sighed in disappointment. "I'll just need to beat you up then." The worm lashed out it's tongue in anger, this time being caught by J's hands. With a hard yank, he ripped off one of the branches of the tongue, throwing it into the sea below. Before the worm could recover, J drove his shoulder into the worm's head, letting the crude spike he designed rip through it's flesh.

"AgggGGgHGGh AhahauaGHGH" It cried out in pain, dark pink slime gushed from it's forehead, as J flipped up onto it's back. "DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" Black slime replaced the pink, seething from all of it's pores, covering the beast in slimy armor.

"Somewhere an environmentalist is crying..." J muttered as he jumped off of the creature. He was getting more and more exhausted by the second, but he had to hold out as long as possible. An idea came to him as he watched the slime ripple throughout the creature. Calling out all of his strength, he flew up high into the air, pulling his fist up towards the sun.

"Running away are you? I won't let you GET away!" The slime shot like spikes from it's back, turning into thousands of flying bats, all charging towards J.

"Full Stack." J called out, as the entirety of the meteor cuffs gathered on his right fist. He fell towards the beast, letting the fist gather as much mass as possible. He began spiraling, unable to control his flight path as he fell downward. Still, nothing could stop the five hundred pounds gathered at a single point. The bats in the way were blown apart by the sheer amount of energy in J's hand. "Crush!" He yelled out as his fist tore through the worm's side. The blow grazed the beast, but it still did enough damage to slow the thing down slightly.

It gurgled in agony once again, but a trail of haughtiness was left in it's incoherent rambling. J flew up to the worm's back again, as the slime had focused on covering the wounds of the beast. Bats from the other parts of the worm surrounded J as he gasped for breath.

"The sirens are screaming and the fires are howling, way down in the valley tonight!" The worm taunted, laughing horribly as it sped up it's pace.

"Damn you!" J cried out, continuing to struggle against the army of bats. His breath ran short and ragged, but his fists kept flying, doing anything they could to keep him safe.

---

The protectors had gathered quickly at the shoreline, Zerick, Satoshi, and the other eleven stood on the rocky beach. Sage had his eyes on Heath, who had run off toward J the second he heard about the situation at hand. The kid ran so fast that he didn't sink into the water as he moved across the giant sea.

"So let me get this straight, there's a giant earthworm heading toward us? And it's some kind of Duskon earthworm so we have to destroy it?" Linda asked Satoshi for what might have been the third time.

"Yes." Satoshi said, "You've seen the pictures, and there is quite a few seismograph records to prove something is not right. J is fighting the thing right now, but he just doesn't have the skill set to destroy that thing. I haven't overseen your training, but I know Marshall, Kefir, and there might be a few more here who can actually destroy this thing.

"Then why are the rest of us here then?" Stephen said, "There no reason for the rest us to be here if we can't defeat that thing."

"Yet one of you who stands no chance against that thing is fighting for his life just to buy some time." Zerick pointed out. "You could all learn something from that braveness."

"Zerick is right." Satoshi continued, "Not to mention that not everyone here is accustomed to combat, and there has certain specific abilities which may be more helpful than a gun or a sword."

Cyrus nodded. "When you're crawling in a dungeon, you want to make sure you have your medic and buffer ready to save the day, this is basic group mechanics."

"Basically the rest of us are here to make sure we don't lose our attackers." Linda said, opening her arms out wide. "Don't you worry boys, I'll protect you!"

Kefir shuddered at the thought. "How close is this worm anyway? Shouldn't we get closer to it to prevent the island from being damaged?"

Sage had taken to scanning the horizon, knowing that thing would appear shortly. Slowly, a large mass came into view, just at the edge of his field of vision. "We've got company. That worm you mentioned is about seventy kilometers from here."

"How long does that give us, Satoshi? Hopefully we have enough time to actually launch a counterattack against this Duskon."

"By my estimations, we have about thirty minutes before it gets here, less if we have a means to cross the sea."

"I think I might be able to help there." David responded, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice. "Transformation Style, Great Turtle!" The sea shifted under his feet, as he moved his hands in a variety of patterns. Smoke rose from the water as the boy's body began to turn into it's reptilian form. The smoke cleared as the transformation completed, the boy had become a turtle large enough to carry two people on it's back.

"It's too small to carry all of us." Arianna spoke, "Is there anyway you can make it bigger?"

"Sorry." The turtle said, "I can't make myself any larger than this." He began swimming around in the water, getting a feel for his new body.

"I can help you there." Stephen jumped onto his back. "Go out a bit further to sea, you're gonna get larger in a second, buddy-boy." David nodded and swum out further, until he got a few hundred meters away from the shoreline. Stephen put his palm onto the turtle's back and begun channeling his energy into David.

"Whoa! I feel power flowing through my veins" David shouted as his body began expanding until he was the size of a yacht. "Amazing!"

Many of the protectors stood with their mouths agape, marveling at the sight. Others like Kefir and Graham were quick to board the beast, eager for the challenge ahead. "Let's get a move on, you blokes." Graham shouted to the rest of the group. "This beast won't be destroyed if you guys don't hurry up!"

"He's right you know." Cyrus said, stepping up onto David. Slowly the rest of the group followed until only Zerick and Satoshi stood on the shoreline.

"You two aren't coming?" Capricia asked, trying to find good footing on David's back.

"Sorry, this is where we part ways for now. These kinds of battles are out of our league, we trust you to handle this without us holding your hand." Zerick said, bowing in apology. "I wish you all the best of luck."

"You heard the man." Marshall spoke up. "We can't afford to waste any more time here with idle banter. Get going, David. We need to stop our comrade from fighting this Duskon alone." The turtle took to the command and started cutting through the water.

"Do you think they'll be fine?" Satoshi turned to his friend, "I'm a bit worried about them."

Zerick grabbed Satoshi and pulled him close to his chest. "There's not much to worry about. You haven't seen them train, they'll be fine. Just wait and see."

"I guess that's about all I can do these days." Satoshi sighed and broke apart from Zerick's embrace. "Waiting is always the hardest part."

"Indeed." Zerick said nonchalantly, leaning back against a tree. "Well, we know something about patience, don't we? What's an hour anyway?"

"What indeed..."

---

Blood is rushing from my forehead, one of those bats had bit me and got a good chunk of skin out of me. The worm and his cronies were too much, there's no way I could do this alone. Still, I needed to keep fighting, every bit of pain I could offer would help. I jammed my foot into the worm's back once again, grabbed a bat from midair and threw it into another of it's brothers. My arms are burning in pain, I need to fight, and stop thinking about useless things. Another bat had charged from behind, I was lucky to impale it with the meteor cuff. All I can do is hold out.

"Oh I SWEAR I saw a YOUNG boy down in THE gutter, he was starting to FOAM in the heat!"

"Shut the hell up, you fucking worm bastard! I'll end you!" I shouted, not even trying to be polite. I rolled into a ball, letting the rocky spikes carve a path down the slimy trail. The bats swarmed instantly, all dying to protect their mother. I would be glad to oblige them, as their reckless suicide slowed my roll, covering me in black blood. Dizziness assaulted me when I left the ball and the endless throng of bats surrounded me. This might have been too much to handle on my own. I considered praying to some god, but the feeling was too foreign, even at my death throes. They nipped at me, causing blood to pour from all my limbs, dozens of superficial cuts slowly began adding up.

I choked out a hard breath as I went to my last trump card. I fell to my knees, calling the lightning burning in all of my nerves. Flowing blood carried the discharge into the slime and fried a large section of the worm, turning it's flesh into a burning mess. The bats which had latched onto my skin had been burnt to a crisp. However, most of them had continued their charge. I had run out of energy, my limbs wouldn't respond to my commands any longer. The last bat had it's eyes set on my throat. It lunged, fangs wide to rip the life straight from my neck. I closed my eyes... and waited for the jarring pain.

---

Heath's knife cut through the bat, killing it instantly. The infinite swarm was slowly cut down by wave after wave of flying blades, each seeking targets to destroy. The worm's face curled in disgust. He hadn't seen the cloaked boy charge at him, he was too busy being distracted by the flier. Focusing it's attention on the new target, it convulsed into the air, creating giant waves when his girth hit the water. Heath had reacted quickly, hopping onto the crest of the first wave and quickly bouncing to subsequent smaller waves until he was close enough to board the worm.

"J, get out of here, you've done enough." He shouted, trying to get his attention. "I'll take it from here."

J continued his labored breathing, "Sounds like a plan. Don't overdo it."

Heath glanced over the blood covered protector. "I should be the one saying that. Don't worry, I got this under control." He flashed a small smile and pulled J up to his feet, surprising him with his strength. "Can you fly?"

J nodded. "Well enough. I should go west then?"

"Yeah, just head for the shoreline, try to hurry though."

J took the advice and moved on, barely getting up into the air, but quickly found the strength to fly away. The worm took chase but found it's movement to be a lot slower. "What did YOU do, human? I can't MOVE!"

"My knives are coated in poison, it's designed to dampen your muscles. How much energy do you think it takes to move that fat body of yours?" Heath pulled out longer hunting knives from his pockets and drug them deep into the worm's skin. "These ones are just for fun." Heath ran along the length of the worm's body, cutting x shaped slashes every few steps, letting the worm's howls fuel his assault. He reached the end and stopped. He prepared to launch his strongest attack on the thing, but held off when he saw a flash of light on the horizon.

"You're tired already, little boy? That's a shame, your friend lasted way longer than this." The worm taunted.

"Hope you have your last words ready, demon." Heath laughed, and jumped off the creature's back.

"Huh, what are you-"

---

"Change your angle about 5 degrees to the right." Sage instructed, letting the large soldier get him aim exactly right. "Little bit more... that's perfect." His eyesight had been so refined that complex calculations like this shot had been made child's play. "It's all you now, Marshall."

His arm cannon at the ready, his nerves steeled through years of experience, this shot was as simple as asking nicely. "Railgun firing. Stand back." His warning received by the other protectors, the cannon on his arm grew in size, until it was about as large as he was, and finally unleashed it's fury. The bolts of lightning danced on the water, seeking their giant target. Spiraling into the great beast, they covered the twenty kilometers in a matter of seconds, making contact with it's slimy skin. It's entire body fried, even igniting at some exposed sections of flesh. No single portion was left untouched, but it continued advancing, through all of the pain it was suffering, it's mind had been reduced to one thought, destroying every living thing it saw.

"Did we get it?" Marshall asked Sage, who had been trying to shake the bright light from his eyes.

"Hold on a second." Sage regained his vision and saw the thing increasing in speed, heading straight towards them. "It did a lot of damage, but it wasn't enough.

"You're pulling my leg, nobody could survive that blast." Graham stood in awe, still shaking the bright lightning out of his mind. "There's no-"

Graham's arguments were interrupted by a loud shrill screaming. "It hurts! THEY HURT ME! DIEDIEDIE!"

"We've still got more to offer." Cyrus laughed. "My turn." He pulled out both of his guns and pulled the triggers of both of them at once. The guns expanded around him, forming a metal shell. The shell grew arms, legs and a head as it stood about 15 feet high, loaded to the brim with an excess of weapons. "Go Go Go, Bullet Hell Storm!" He shouted out in triumph as every single weapon on the mechanized terror fired. The machine disappeared as quickly as it came, dissolved once it's entire ammo cache had been spent. Remarkably every single bullet locked onto the worm and ripped through it, bits and chunks of the beast went flying, as it's screams got louder.

"I'm not done yet!" Cyrus roared as he pointed his gun in the direction of the beast. "Surprise shot, one hit kill!" The gun fired a rainbow coloured laser, it's beauty was matched only by it's deadliness as it covered the distance instantly, and broke through the worm's teeth, breaking it's throat. Regardless, the worm still had energy to spare, seeming to further increase it's speed.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that thing and us... we're gonna meet in about 6 minutes, can you try and defeat it before then?" David spoke, leaving the edge in his voice.

"Anyone got a brilliant idea?" Jen asked, realizing that she wouldn't be much help here.

"Get me closer." Kefir stated, crossing his arms. "Otherwise we can wait and I'll destroy it. Right now we can't do anything from here."

"He's right." Marshall said, "I'm out of energy from that blast, and Cyrus over there doesn't look too hot either."

The redheaded mage beside them popped up, clasping her hands together. "I can get you there Mister Kef."

"You can?" He asked, letting the harshness leave his voice. "How?"

"Just watch and see, Mister Kef." She clasped her hands in prayer. "Spirits of the earth, grant me your eternal protection, Wood Pillar!" As she said the last words of her spell, she released her hands. A gate opened above the protectors, letting a large tree trunk fall from the sky and float seamlessly on the water. She smiled. "Hop on, and this will take you the rest of the way."

"Interesting..." Kefir flashed a small grin and hopped on.

"Go get em, Bangy!" Arianna clapped her hands, and the wood pillar responded in turn. Riding the water like a torpedo, it carved it's own destructive path through the water. Kefir readied his spear as he closed the distance between him and the charging worm. He looked down and saw the cloaked boy running on the water towards the other protectors, with the winged one right behind him.

"Looks like we're all accounted for now." Kefir thought. Soon the great worm had come into sight and Kefir could truly see the devastation wrought by his cohort's attacks. The worm had chunks of skin removed from it's body, it's face was bleeding profusely, with several large holes ripped through it. Charred all over, with blood gushing from it's sides, it was amazing that this creature still had the strength to move. Still the pillar finished it's job and smashed into the worm's skull, knocking it's head back. Kefir leapt from the wooden pillar and brought his spear down.

"Divine Buster." He said with ice chilling in his veins, as the worm's head compressed in fine powder with the strike of the blade. Not wanting to leave the work undone, he continued striking the beast where the trail of x's were left. Slowly but surely the worm had dissolved into a black foam, sitting calmly in the middle of the sea. These blows would not have done so much if the worm wasn't so weak from before. All he could do now is wait for David to arrive.

"Contumacia? Come in. Come in Contumacia." A weird murmur was heard in the mess of foam. Kefir located the source and pulled it from the bubbles. It looked like a tiny radio wave transmitter. "No response huh."

Kefir laughed and spoke into the transmitter. "Sorry, we ran over your pet, hope you don't expect us to pay for the funeral."

"I figured as much." The voice on the radio responded. "It's a shame that our worm was defeated, but we got some useful information out of this little excursion. That's a pretty nice attack you have there."

"You were tracking our movements? How the hell?"

The voice laughed maniacally. "God you're retarded, I think you got dropped on your head as a kid. Let me explain this to you since you wouldn't figure this out on your own, muscle-head. We used that Duskon to track your movements and find out your fighting styles. We've got some good data on half of you, and some ideas of what attacks you have. So the next time we send something at you, and we will, be assured of that, we'll have countermeasures in place. Considering how exhausted you humans were after just Contumacia's first form, I'd say we have you right where we want you." He paused for a second, letting his words sink in, and added, "Oh, and one more thing. What do you think Duskon blood does to the environment? I'll let you figure that one out on your own. Toodeloo, numb-nuts."

Kefir crushed the transmitter in his hand, and watched the sea around him start to turn black. They had been played for fools. Those monsters were ruthless, how many people had that Duskon been before it changed? Now they were nothing but corruption in the water, wasted lives for no good cause. Kefir closed his eyes and prayed that their souls would not be lost in hell. "They did not know what they were doing. Forgive them Father."

"Who are you mumbling to?" Someone's loud voice rang out. Kefir opened his eyes and turned to the blood covered person the voice came from. "I can't believe you won against that thing." He said callously.

"Yeah. Won, right." Kefir slunk off of the foamy remainder, and up onto David's back. "It's good to see you alive, J."

"Same to you, Kefir." He added with a grin, but changed his expression after studying Kefir a bit more. "Is something the matter?"

Kefir nodded slowly. "I have something I'd like to talk about once we get back, it's pretty important."

David turned himself around, and starting heading back towards Sardinia. The thirteen protectors had finally been gathered together. They shared their tales, the stories of their exploits, but Kefir remained silent, just trying to enjoy the waves as David swum by. There was just a bit too much clouding his normally clear mind.
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