RPGWW     > Fanfiction and other Writings         > The Hit (Rough Draft)
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Author Comment Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 641 (11/3/04 4:50 pm) Reply The Hit (Rough Draft) (Note: Do feel free to post all your suggestions/edits! This includes grammar as well as story. I'm sure there are some grammar stuff that I screwed up with. Also, what the story is lacking most at this point is a lot of detail/backstory. So if any of you are feeling creative, we can add that as well. Anyway, enjoy!) Word Count: 80,549 Pages: 375 THE HIT: THE UNABRIDGED EPIC Compiled by Molokidan Chapter 1 - The Hit It was night. End Reshiki huddled under a bush, assuming he was alone. "End. . ." a voice whispered. "You're becoming quite the wanted man, you know." End turned around suddenly, to face his new visitor. It was a small moogle, about the same size as himself, except this one was covered in brown spots. End didn't care who he was. He had no time for this. ". . .go away." "You must know that we've chosen you as the leader of the rebellion." the brown-spotted moogle insisted. "I don't know anything about that." End said, looking around suspiciously. "I just want to pilfer the Doman castle." "Well, an epic act calls for epic consequences." the brown-spotted moogle said, turning to move off. "Just remember that." **** A quarter of four huddled around the small fire, shivering in the cold darkness. They had been in the forest since dusk, due to the orders of a certain person named Folx Numeroso. He was a tall, brown-haired warriorfox, wearing a green vest with brown hiking pants. On his back was a bow and a quiver, usual fare for your freemill assassin. He was currently hunched down on the ground, tending to the fire with an extra sword. His companions, Cantor, Kira, and Lance, sat around the fire as well, shivering, and generally looking rather bored. "Folx, how long do we have to stay out here? I'm sick of this!" Cantor, a young elven mage, wearing a white shirt and grey pants, shouted. A small blade was sheated at his side, and had a lute hanging from his shoulder. He was currently clinging to an old-looking grey cape, his long brown hair hidden by a matching grey mage's hat. Folx smiled, staring into the fire with his deep blue eyes. "We're waiting for someone. You'll see..." Then, quietly, came a man in gold, with oval-shaped glasses. They were correcting the sight of dark brown eyes, and were joining the ears in the fondling of brown hair. He seemed... smart, to be perfectly blunt. As he sat down at the fire, Folx looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Are you the man?" "Uh, yeah, sorta. I'm the Chancellor of Doma, Smartz." He shook his gloved hand vigorously. "You're an assassin, the king wants End Reshiki dead. Put the 2 together okay?" "End Reshiki?" Cantor's ears perked up. "Who's that?" Smartz turned to Cantor, looking a bit less than interested. "Big loser. Wants to kill Doma. Leads this rebellion thingy. Got that?" "Man, how lame. . .h Kira whispered to Cantor. She was a beautiful elven girl, wearing light robes of white and pink. A brown wooden staff slumped to the side of her. "Hey, I heard that!" Smartz said, looking in the direction of the two elves. "So, gonna take the job?" "How much does it pay?" Lance, a tall warriorfox with black armor, dark brown hair and deep, brooding eyes, asked. He was sitting farthest away from the group, against a tree, just close enough to the fire to stay warm. "4,500,000 gil a week. Is that enough?" Folx looked a little shocked. "Uh, I need to, uh, consult with my party. Hold on." The fox and his confederates got into a huddle. There was some shouting, some jumping, and a little dancing, but overall, it was pretty tame. They broke the huddle. "After some consideration, we've decided to accept your offer." "Good. See you when the job's done..." The chancellor said, walking off and dissapearing into the darkness. The four watched Smartz leave, and then turned back to the fire, each a little uneasy at the task they had decided to undergo. Lance walked out in front of everyone. "One question. Exactly how are we to find this End Reshiki person?" "Don't you know anything?" Cantor cried. "We'll wander straight into the rebel stronghold, and eventually we'll run into him!" "I just thought we might actually for some reason just go and assassinate this person..." Lance muttered, shaking his head silently. Kira stepped between the two. "Stop that. Cantor is right, but maybe we could head back to the city to shorten our journey... at least until we get an airship or some kind of quick transportation." "Transportation. Now there's an idea." Lance said, pointing to Kira. "I'm following this lady." he said, arching an eyebrow in Cantor's direction. "Come on, Folx." Folx smiled, began to step in pace, and the quartet moved out of the forest as morning began to dawn on the world. *** Not too much long after that, Jak Snide awoke in his second rate bed in his third rate inn. He rolled over and fried a rat which was trying to make off with his morning bread. Groaning slightly, he hopped out of bed, bent over and picked up his rather burt toast. He took a bite, and the enitre roll crumbled. It was going to be a long day. He would never normally stay in a dump like this. He would normally stay in the hotel across town with the great mountain view, comfy beds and the attractive bar maid. However, that hotel had been commandeered by Doman troops and converted into a temporary headquarters. Something about a revolution of sorts. Quite frankly, he didn't care. As long as he could still be employed to fry things which move but people want dead, he was happy. Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. Changing into his green robes and his old, dusty, hat in about 0.46 seconds flat, he walked over to the door, and opened it, left hand with a fireball charged behind his back. At the door stood Kotoki, the owner of Kotoki's Bar and Inn, his current place of residence. "Pay up!" she growled. "Your rent is a month overdue, and you're my only tenant now that everybody else here went off and joined the rebellion... Stupid End Reshiki..." She tapped impatiently on the floor with her foot. "Well? Are you going to keep me standing here, or are you going to give me the 1000 Gil you owe me?" Aside her stood Molokidan, a short, cheery-faced boy with a mess of spiky blue hair on his head. He wore a green tunic, with a purple shirt underneath, and stood shorter than the cute yet frightening landlady herself. Jak had had the misfortune of talking to the 14-year old kid earlier, when he was trying to score a room. He looked back from Molokidan to Kotoki. 'Yep,' he thought to himself. '. . .this is going to be a VERY bad day.' "She's right you know, Mr. Snide!" Molokidan shouted, in a voice that was a bit too loud for the small room. "Everyone ran off to help out in that rebellion thingy! That's how I was lucky enough to get a job here with Kotoki!" he said, spontaneously wrapping his arms around Kotoki in an unsettlingly close hug. "Hey, quit it!" Kotoki said, pushing him away. "I only hired you because I had no workers left! Go get busy!" "Um...sorry for interrupting, but. . ." Jak muttered, pausing the rising tiff between the two. ". . .I do have a thousand gil. Will that do?' he said, pulling the coins from the depths of his robes. '1000 gil for a MONTH. . .' he thought. 'Even the land lady knows this place is cheap. Still...there is a reason for coming here.' he thought as he gave Kotoki a quick glance. 'Im suprised she doesn't have more customers, even with End Resh...' "END RESHIKI?!" He blurted out, his mind finaly registering the name. "Yeah. That's the guy in charge of this whole rebellion thing." Kotoki eyed Jak inquisitvely. "You didn't know? It's all over the place. I even heard there've been assasination attempts. Good riddance, I say. If I had even one extra tenant, I might get together enough money to actually renovate a bit..." **** "Are you sure we can go into this place?" Cantor stared at the front of Kotoki's Bar & Inn. The windowpanes were cracked, the paint was chipped all over, and there were numerous holes in the roof. The four hired bounty hunters were standing outside in the morning light of the streets of Doma City, currently looking for a place to find some breakfast -- as well as clues about where to find End Reshiki. "Stay out here if you want." Lance shrugged, swinging open the door. "I'll see you guys inside." Cantor's face drew into a grimace. He struggled to search for something to say, but nothing came out. Kira patted him on the shoulder. "I guess we should go inside, don't you think?" she smiled. "She's right, Cantor." Folx said, his smile never wavering. "Come on, I know you're hungry." The four entered the inside of the bar, a quaint, dim tavern made entirely of oak. For a moment, it was silent, almost serene. And then. . . "CUSTOMERS!!" Molokidan yelled happily, whizzing down the stairs. Kotoki followed Molokidan downstairs, still happily absorbed in her money. She grabbed a broom and forced it into Molokidan's hands, shooing him in front of her. "Sweep! Sweep! I need to make a good impression!" Jak watched the sudden turn of events with no real surprise, then turned around to begin to gather up his belongings. That was about the time he noticed he had a visitor. It was a small moogle, with white fur and brown spots. He had an orange antenna, and was currently sitting on Jak's bed, inspecting the cushioning. "This doesn't seem like your style-kupo," he said, beginning to sniff it. "What are you doing here. . .?" Jak said, rubbing his neck impatiently. "I told you only to contact me if you had business. How did you find me, anyway?" "Business I do have-kupo!" the moogle said, hopping off his bed to face him. "It is personal business as well." "Get to the point." Jak said. "You're not exactly on good terms, with me, you know. . ." he muttered. You didn't nearly pay me enough for poisoning those Doman soldiers." "Alright, alright." the moogle said, grinning. "It's about the rebellion." Jak sighed. "In any case, the rebellion has another mission to ask of you - one of utmost importance. This isn't your simple "poison insignificants and run like hell" - you're defending the life of End Reshiki himself. It is believed that Lord Doma's chancellor has hired mercenaries to eliminate our fearless leader. We have unconfirmed reports that they're in this very town, attempting an attack on headquarters. Your job is to eliminate them, hopefully with a really cool looking spell. Should you accept, you'll be rewarded handsomely, and End Reshiki will forever favor you." the moogle stood there, grinning, as if daring Jak to turn him down. "Do you accept, Jak? Or have I wasted my time?" Jak rubbed his chin, contemplating what the moogle had just told him. "So basically, I gotta stop anyone from whacking Rekishi? Sounds simple enough, how much are you offering? It best be more than 10K this time round. Keeping people alive isn't my speciality." --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/3/04 7:30 pm Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 642 (11/3/04 4:51 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 2 - The Incident at the Inn Kotoki dashed behind the bar and turned around to face her customers, smiling her best 'inviting' smile. "How may I help you?" Lance sat down on the counter. "A dragonale for starters." he said simply, looking around. "Nice place you got here. Real cozy." Kotoki served him the dragonale, as his other three companions moved up to join him. "I've been waiting." he said, turning around to face them listlessly. "I forgot that you guys kept the money." "Shoulda left him here. . ." Cantor muttered. "Well, I guess we gotta check in now, don't we?" Kira twirled around, staring at the dimly-lit inn. "This is a wonderful place! I can't wait to see our rooms!" she shouted, moving up the stairs. "Wait!" shouted Cantor as he ran after her. "We don't know what room we're in. . ." he trailed off, realizing he was talking to no one. Kira moved up the stairs, and swung open the first door she saw. . .coming face to face with Jak and the moogle. Kira stood in the doorway, a bit confused. "Oops. Sorry. I didn't know you were in here." Cantor caught up with her, heaving. "Kira, could you not run off without even knowing what floor we're on? Geez..." "Sorry." Kira said, taking a step to turn around. "I was just--" Suddenly, a column of ice shot up from the panel on the ground, completely encasing the elf's body. Cantor looked in amazement as Kira stopped moving. It was a few seconds before he noticed that she was in a thin case of ice. "K... Kira?" Jak twitched, a vein pulsating on his head. "Yes. . .that would be the ice trap I set up, specifically to keep idiot intruders like you outta my room!" he shouted. "Now, who the hell are you?" Cantor stepped back. A sort of angry look came into his eyes. His face showed signs of concentration, as if trying to get a spell to work in exactly the right places. "Hansaga firos PIRONAGA!!!" Suddenly, the ice melted around Kira and she fell to the floor. "I told you not to rush into here, didn't I?" **** "I will give you Suite 2B." Kotoki smiled maniacally. "It's one of our best rooms. . .not to mention one of the only ones that has four beds." 'And the most expensive!' she thought, trying to keep under control. 'This is great! At this rate, we'll be back on our feet in no time!! And then. . .money!!!' "That sounds fine." Folx said, pulling the leather strip that held the group's money. "We'll take that one." "Here is the key." Kotoki said, handing Folx a rusted key on an even rustier chain. "It's all the way to the back on the third floor." "Well, should I just leave you here?" Folx said, turning to Lance. "I'm going to go look for Cantor and Kira, and then get our things unpacked in our room." Lance finished his Dragonale, smashing it down onto the table with a loud crack. "I'm staying here." he said, wiping his mouth. "This is the best Dragonale I've had in some time. Hey kid!" he shouted at Molokidan, who was frantically sweeping the mountains of dust out from under the barstools. "Gimme one more of these!" "Y-yes sir!" Molokidan shouted quickly, dropping the broom and pouring another mug of ale. Folx moved upstairs, as Kotoki grinned and began leafing through her money. As if by cue, the door to the bar and inn opened again, this time revealing a tall man with dark clothes, chin-length brown hair, and a goatee. He was wearing a black wife-beater, green pants, and silver gauntlets. And strapped to his back, of all things. . .was a broom. Next to him was a young woman with light hair and a purple dress. She had a very gentle face, and seemed to emit an aura of calm and gentleness. The man walked up to the counter, "Hello there madam, my name is Ash Fanrico, and this is my travelling companion Christydia. I am here to purchase a room for the night. Any vacancies?" he asked with a gentle smile on his face. The two of them had travelled for a long time, and needed some rest for tommorrow. Ash noticed that Kotoki was fingering a handful of coins, a strange gleam in her eyes. But hey, unless it's some big ugly monster, or some evil wizard with a plot to destroy all humanity, or just destroy some property, then it was none of his business. Christydia was pacing back and forth waiting for Ash to get a room for them. She was very tired from all the traveling they have done, and wanted to rest her body on something more than rough ground or grass for once. "Hello!" replied Kotoki happily. 'I don't believe it!' she shouted. 'Six people in one day! There must be some festival going on that I don't know about. . .this is PERFECT!' "There are plenty of vacancies." she blinked, dragging herself back to reality. "It's 2000 gil for both of you, and if you'll wait until morning to pay because I need to do something..." She spun from the counter, staring at Molokidan, who had just finished serving Lance his second Dragonale. "By the way, slave," she yelled. "Go spy on Jak for me!" She grinned, but it was more than just a smile. It was the grin. . .of a maniac. Molokidan had seen it before, and he knew exactly what to do in such a situation. "Yes, ma'am!" he shouted, and began hauling his ass upstairs to see what was going on. Kotoki whirled back to face her two new customers, her 'inviting' smile immediately slapped back onto her face. "Would you like a refreshment or two first, or do you want to go straight to your room?" **** Molokidan dashed upstairs, and almost ran smack into Folx, who was currently patting the fainted Kira, trying to bring her back to consciousness. "It was an accident, okay?!" Cantor said. Jak had not moved from his position, and was holding a fireball in the direction of the three. "We were just trying to find our room, I'm serious! We've gotta find this End Reshiki person after we rest here tonight. We didn't mean to cause you any trouble!" All Jak needed to know was that these people were looking for End Reshiki. It did cross his mind that they might want to join the rebellion, but if he blasted them before anyone could find out it, would mostlikely mean a bonus for him. "Prepare to be destroyed, kwahahahaha!" he cackled. He charged the fireball a bit larger, and aimed it at the unfortunate group whose deaths meant his pay. "DUCK!" Cantor shouted, shoving himself at Folx and Kira, who promptly fell back, squishing an unfortunate Molokidan. The fireball went whizzing past its intended targets, but it did manage to find a new one. It smashed through the side of the inn, blowing a large section out, including the 'suite' bedroom, which was currently housing a mere two rats. "Sodit! Bloody light-armoured fighters. Can't stand still and get fried. . ." he muttered as he drew his dagger and prepared for combat. **** Downstairs, Kotoki's head jerked up in the direction of the incredible sound that she hoped she had not just heard. "Aw crap. . ." she muttered, hopping over the bar and dashing upstairs. Confused, and a bit curious, Ash nodded to Christydia and followed her up. "Hmph." Lance shrugged, taking another swig of his ale. "Wonder what's going on up there. . ." Kotoki jumped over the four fallen fighters, and rushed into Jak's room, screaming her head off. "YOU BLOODY FIGHTERS! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THE ROOM! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY THAT COST?! IT'LL TAKE YEARS TO PAY OFF ALL THIS NOW! YOU'RE ALL MINE!" Ash was the last to arrive. After surveying the damage, he turned to Jak. "Hey ya JERK, that was going to be our room!" he growled. Christydia got behind him as Ash drew out a large wooden Broom. He raised the legendary broom of legendary proportions over his head. "I dunno who all you people are, but this lady owes me a nice comfy bed!" he shouted, staring at Jak. "And it looks like you're trying to get in the way of my sleep!!" Jak found himself repeating his first thought of the day again in his mind. 'Today is not going to be a good day. . .' He already had to square off against the four people he just tried to incinerate. Furthermore, he had an enraged landlady with unknown powers. Oh, and some fool with a broom. Still, 4.2 vs 1 wern't too bad odds...although 4.2 vs 2 would be better... "Hey!" he turned quickly to the moogle, who was currently sitting on the ground watching the developments. "Are you just gonna sit there, or help me out? They're gonna kill Reshiki!" And with those words, the black mage shoved the moogle towards the group of people who meant him bodily harm. Cantor, Kira, and Folx stood up, brushing themselves off and taking a look around the room. Molokidan crawled out from underneath the warriorfox, and began to leave. "Where are you going?" Folx inquired. "Away from Kotoki!!!" Molokidan shouted, once again in that voice that seemed too loud concerning his current environment. "You've never seen her when she gets really mad, but I have, once!! And I don't wanna get hurt again!" he said. Folx shrugged, turning back to his companions. "Draw your weapons, but don't jump in just yet." he said, to Cantor and Kira. "I want to see what this innkeep lady can do. . ." "I knew you were gonna be a problem when I first laid eyes on you!" Kotoki seethed, stepping towards Jak, gripping a sharp-looking can-opener in her right hand. "I just didn't know how much! First, you fail to pay your rent on time, second, you bring strange unknown visitors into your room, THIRD...YOU DESTROYED MY INN!!" she shouted, madly leaping at Jak. "You're crazy!" Jak shouted, falling backwards and tossing the moogle in the way. Kotoki batted him across the room with her hand, and began advancing on the fallen Jak. Ash on the other hand, was frozen with anger. 'JUST WANTED TO GET TO A ROOM AND SLEEP WITH CHRISTYDIA, AND THEN CONTINUE MY JOURNEY AND SO ON BUT I WANTED REST!!! THEY WILL PAY!!!!' "Alright!!! That does it!! YOU ARE ALL GONNA PAY FOR DEPRIVING ME FROM PLEASURE AND SLEEP!!!" growled Ash, staring at Jak. "I'll gonna kill you--" "Ash, WAIT!!!" cried Christydia. "What?" asked Ash, frozen in mid-step. "You're a hero, Ash. Not a villian." insisted Christydia. "Damn Code of Legendary Heroes!" yelled Ash, throwing his fists up in frustration. "Alright, fine, I'm just gonna beat you all up really badly!" Kotoki swiped at Jak, shredding his robe and giving him a cut across his right arm. "Ouch! Holy shit, that actually hurt!" Jak yelled, backing up some more. "HEY!" A final person began stomping up the stairs to Jak's room, a mix between a bit drunk and a bit pissed. It was Lance. "You guys are interrupting my ale-drinking time! Now what the hell is going on?!" "Uh... Lance, look behind you," Folx motioned towards the huge pile of rubble across the hall. "Oh, okay. That explains it... I guess..." Lance turned back toward the people in the room. "So, what IS going on, anyway?" Kira decided to explain. "Well, I ran into the room and got frozen and then all of these people were in here and then the barkeeper attacked the mean man with the can opener and then you walked in." "Okay... anyone else?" Lance said quickly. "Ahem," Cantor cleared his voice and began. "Kira walked in here and was frozen solid. Next, this black mage attacked us with a fireball that resulted in what you see behind you. Then, This lady got mad because of the damage done to her hotel and attacked her own tenant with a can opener. Folx and I were just deciding on our next plan of action when you appeared." "Alright then. Now, go ahead and draw your sword so we can get in on this." said Lance, who was growing rather impatient. "Oh yeah." Cantor began to incant a spell. A bright aura of pure, wite light surrounded him. "For trying to incinerate Kira and myself-" "Get on with it!" Lance yelled. "Alright... Feel my blade: The Belthazar!" Cantor lunged forward. Folx moved this way and that, trying to dodge all of the blows being delt almost at random. "STOP!!!" Cantor and Ash, froze, each about to whack Jak with their respective weapons. Kotoki turned to stare at Folx, tapping her foot impatiently. The moogle, who was currently picking himself up off the ground, also froze. "This is insanity! Let's take this somewhere else. That way, we won't damage the hotel anymore and we'll have more room to fight." he looked to everyone, trying to sound pleasing and to appeal to everyone. "Sound good?" Jak stood up, taking advantage of the frozen onslaught to get a breather. This was not good. These people wern't the run of the mill scum that he usualy fought. They had a good idea of what they were doing and magic backing them up. If he continued fighting, he'd certainly end up where he sent those Doman soldiers a week back, and he didn't fancy getting an instant tan. "Okay, we'd better stop this, before my landlady commits homicide," he said, trying to impose some authority. "I say we just stop fighting altogether. "Let's just talk this over." 'Hopefully they'll drop their guard and when the time is right I can drop a small flame into the wood work and make a run for it.' he thought to himself. Ash shrugged, re-sheathed his broom, and went back to comfort Christydia. Cantor, seeming sort of dissapointed, put his sword away and returned to his companions. Kotoki shrugged and pocketed the can-opener. "Okay, then. We'll talk. First off, why are we all trying to kill each other?" "Well, firstly, these little bastards barged into my room. The only person who's allowed to do that is Kotoki here, mainly because she's my landlady and if I piss her off I get smacked on the head with a can-opener." Jak said. "From the look of them, I thought them to be assassins, judging from their equipment." he said, pointing to Folx, Cantor, Kira, and Lance, all lined up in a row. "Fearing for my own life I did what was needed to survive; end theirs before they could end mine. Thats why I launched a fireball..." he turned to Kotoki. ". . .and Phil here will pay for all damages done to the hotel, isn't that right?" he said, eyeing the bruised moogle. ". . .uhhh. . ." Phil looked around the room, staring at the various armed people, trying to find an exit. He pointed to Jak, turning to stare at Kotoki. "I don't know this man." Kotoki rolled her eyes. "Alright, let's see. We'll divide ourselves into three factions: Pro-Reshiki, Pro-Doma, and Neutral. I'm in the middle. This fight should be much more organized if we know what everyone else is." "Me too!" Molokidan said, coming out of the corner and standing next to Kotoki, feeling much more courageous. "I'm on Kotoki's side, so none of you crazy people can hurt me!" he said, grabbing Kotoki and hiding behind her. "Yes. . ." Kotoki said, squeezing a fist together and staring down at her only remaining worker. "And being on my side also means I get to. . .beat you up whenever I want!!!" she shouted, pummeling Molokidan into the floorboards. Jak, surprisingly, moved over next to Kotoki, throwing in a kick to Molokidan for good measure. "Now, I guess I'd have to be in the middle as well." he spoke up. "I'm a mercenary, I don't care who wins this war as long as I get some pay." "We're Pro Doma," said Folx, speaking for the party. "Actually, we're neutral, but were hired to assassinate End Reshiki. Just one thing. Will we be fighting both Pro-Reshiki and Neutral, or will Neutral be left out of the fight. . .with the exception of Jak, of course?" "Yeah, whatever. Let's just get outside so I can jump without hitting my head on the ceiling," Lance muttered. "We're not going to be fighting. . .as long as someone pays up the repairs." Kotoki said, slanting her eyes in Jak's direction. Jak, on the other hand, was staring at Folx. 'Aha!' he thought. 'So these little buggers are the ones I'm supposed to eliminate. Doesn't look like I'll be able to take them now. I best go find some old buddies to take down this lot.' With that, he began to move out of the room, shoving his way past Folx and down the stairway. "Dammit!" Kotoki shouted. "I can't let him get away like this!" She stared at Molokidan, her face with that wild and crazy look again. "What are you doing, Molo?!" she cried. "Come on! You know you're my personal meat shield!" "Y. . .yes, ma'am!" Molokidan shouted, running to Kotoki's side. Kotoki looked around. Phil, the moogle that had been around earlier, had already vacated the premises. She didn't blame him. That only meant one thing -- she had to get the repair money from Jak himself. She turned Folx. "Keep an eye on this place for me until I get back!" she said. "In return, you can stay here and eat the food." She started down the stairs, dragging Molokidan behind her. "I have to get that money!" "What kind of innkeeper leaves her own tenants in charge?" Ash muttered. "Well, whatever, I'm here, so I'm gonna get some sleep." he hoisted Christydia into his arms, and dissapeared down the hallway. "NOW what do we do?!" Cantor cried. "This is insanity!" "Quit your whining." Lance interjected, pushing aside Cantor and heading downstairs. "We have all the food you could possibly want! There's nothing to complain about." "Aren't we going to pursue Jak? He is trying to kill Reshiki, after all." Kira pointed out. "There's nothing he can do by himself." Folx shrugged. "Besides, he doesn't know where Reshiki is either. We should take a short rest here and then continue searching." "Fine with me." Cantor shrugged. "So, where do you guys want to sleep?" "We'll have to take single rooms. . ." Folx said, eyeing the destruction. "Well, lead the way!" Kira said happily, and the three dissapeared down the hallway. **** "Shit." thought Jak. "The last thing I need are partners I'll have to split the bounty with. Still, its either that or a botched job. And that's unacceptable." He continued walking out towards the edge of the city. He had no idea where to find who he was looking for, but he had to start somewhere. And so he walked back to the inn-turned Doman headquarters. If anything, he could at least taste some of their good home-cooked meals. The only problem was, he was hearing screams. Of pain. As he drew closer to the inn, he thought he could also hear some voices... "AAAAAAAAGHH! GET IT OFF MY LEG!" "Bad fluffy! Let go of the mean man's leg!" 'Well, this makes my life ALOT easier.' Jak thought to himself as he ran off towards the carnage. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/3/04 7:31 pm Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 643 (11/3/04 4:53 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 3 - That Annoying Thing Called Kidnapping A few hours away, in a town on the outskirts of Doma, something was going down that was not entirely unrelated to the current situation. This, in fact, was directly related to a small man whose name had become famous in the past 24 hours. "Ack!" End Reshiki had no idea what was going on some distance away fight-wise. He was, instead, currently trying to run from a Doman guard that had stumbled upon the plucky Dragoon by pure accident. "Well.. looks like I gotta do something about this guy before he tells Doma where I am..." Reshiki mumbled to himself, quickly making for a hiding place. His pursuer chuckled. Although he looked like your standard dirty guard, with no spectacular skills or personality at all. . .he was, in fact, the one and only heir to the throme of doma. . .the King. "I love this disguise..." he mused, pursuing Reshiki through the woods. "Um.. woof!" Reshiki spouted out rather stupidly as he turned and waved his arms like a chicken at the Doman guard. The guard stared at him blankly. "Gotcha!" Reshiki shouted, leaping into the air, unsheathing his lance, and coming smashing down on the guard, sending the King crushing into the ground. "Yay. . .I got him. . .kind of funny, though. This is the first time I had a Doman guard after me. Wonder if something's up?" the moogle thought to himself, picking his small body up off of the guard. His tail flicked to the left and right, as he began to pilfer the guard for any gold. Suddenly, the guard's hand shot out, yanking the moogle's tail in a flash. "Gotcha!" the King exclaimed. "Wha~?" said the puzzled Dragoon. "I... I know that voice! Who are you?" "That doesn't matter! Your destruction does! For the monarchy!" the King cackled, rising to his feet. "No way!" Reshiki shouted, trying to wriggle free. "You're the King of Doma?" he reached for his spear, for no avail. He was in a jam. . .a big one. "Wh. . .what are you going to do to me?" "Oh, you'll see. . ." the King said, pushing the dragoon to the ground, making sure to keep a firm grip on his tail. "For starters, I'll pull off this stupid tail of yours." he said, and with a yank, ripped the moogle's tail off! . . .or so he thought. "Hope you like the present, man!" Reshiki shouted, scrambling to his feet and running away. The King, baffled, took a quick look at the moogle's tail before he left, and then looked as to what he had in his hand. "A TAILWARMER?!" he shouted. "I didn't even know moogles wore these things! And it looks exactly like your fur color, too!" "It doubles as an escape device!" Reshiki shouted, dashing off into the brush. "Hey, get back here, dammit!" The King said, beginning to give chase. After a few moments, though, he stopped himself, and pursed his lips, through the Doman Guard mask. "Hmmmm... I think it's time... for a new disguise." he chuckled. "Yes. . .I'll definitely get him with the next one." **** As the clock struck noon in various places all across Doma, a man with dark brown hair entered the small town. The setting sunlight reflected off of his light blue armor, as he brushed the dust off of his tan coat. "Dammit..." Daniel Hyral though to himself, "Why did HE have to find me? I thought for sure I'd lost him this year..." He reread the letter delivered to him earlier by CPS (Chocobo Postal Service): Hello again Daniel, Just as the days eventually dims into night, and summer slowly cools to the howling winds of winter, The time has come once again to determine which one of us is the more dedicated swordsman. I shall see you in 3 days to determine which of us is the strongest member of the Hyral clan. Sincerely, (NOT!) Dark Knight Stephan "Why do we HAVE to go through with this every freaking year? Doesn't he have some small kingdom to take over to keep him busy?" Daniel said as he crunched up the letter in his hand. "And I've never even *USED* a sword in our battles either..." He sighed as he wandered into the city streets. "I need to find some lunch." A few minutes later, Daniel pushed open the door to Kotoki's Bar and Inn, which seemed to get more rickety every day. The place was empty, except for a lone warriorfox, drinking at the bar. "Hey. . ." he said, making his way up to the bar. "You guys got any decent food?" "Beats me." Lance shrugged. "The lady who owns this place is crazy. She ran off, and left the key with my pal upstairs. Not that I care! All the free beer I could want." "I. . .see." Daniel said, eyeing the fox oddly. "What exactly happened?" Lance wiped his mouth, clunking the now-empty mug back onto the table. "You ever heard of a person named End Reshiki?" "Nope." Daniel said, sitting down at the bar. "Well, anyway, there's this person named End Reshiki that some of these people are trying to protect, while the other group wants to find and eliminate him. Right now everyone's trying to figure out which side to join." "I see..." Daniel said, though he still seemed to be a bit confused. "So... which side are you part of, sir?" "My teammates are trying to protect him, but I'm just along for the ride." Lance shrugged. 'Damn...' Daniel though to himself. 'If I hang around here, I'm bound to get fried by one of these over-powered nutjobs. On the other hand, it's better than getting stuck in a long, drawn-out duel with that half-wit brother of mine.' He turned to Lance and asked, "Do you mind if I hang around and be neutral too for awhile?" "I don't mind. You can never have enough people who can't make up their mind." Lance said, burping. **** Jak ran down the street, and blew open the door to the Doman stronghold with a carefully aimed fireball. As he took a look around the environment, he found he had been a few seconds late. The place was on fire and one of the Doman soldiers was lying on the ground,whimpering about his mangled legs. "Hmph." he scoffed. "Better luck next time, I guess." Jak swiveled around ot leave, only to bump face first into Kotoki, as always, followed by the young Molokidan. "Waah!" Jak yelled as he jumped back out of suprise. "What the hell are you doing here? Don't you have an inn to run?" Kotoki shrugged. "That warriorfox is taking care of it for me. I'm very nosy today... Besides, my mother always said never to turn your back on a black mage or they'll steal your wallet." "Actually, he'd loot it. You can't steal from a dead person." Jak sneered. "Anyways, I suppose you're going to follow me around for no readily apparent reason arn't you?" Kotoki nodded. "Well, welcome aboard then." said Jak unenthusiasticly. "At the moment Im trying to hunt someone down for some help on a job. No offense, but after your display last battle you're only real use appears to be creating unusually painful scratches." he said, rubbing his arm. "I need some more power. You don't happen to know of a summoner called Dia do you? About yay high, has a pet dragon named fluffy. Enjoys random acts of destruction. Kinda like me, but prettier." Kotoki shrugged again. "Don't worry bout it. I don't know anyone named Dia, but I'm sure to learn some offense magic sooner or later... Besides, I'm a mean shot with a herring." Jak raised his eyebrow. Of corse Kotoki couldn't see this. "She's right!" Molokidan piped up, just pushing his face out behind Kotoki enough to talk to Jak. "Trust me!" "A herring...what do you do?" Jak threw his arms up in exasperation. "Throw it at them and it magicaly slaps them across the face?" Suddenly, a huge fireball zoomed over head, smashing into the inn, sending giant splinters of wood and charred soldiers everywhere. "Holy son of a what the hell!" Jak yelled. In the distance he heard another roar, as another fireball streaked towards the area. "Get down!" Jak shouted, shoving Kotoki and Molokidan to the floor as he flung himself downwards. A nearby tavern burst into flames, the windows shattering and sending glass flying into the street. Somewhere in the distance a cry of "Nooo! The booze!" could be heard. Jak stumbled to his feet. He looked at the two on the floor. "Are you alright?" Molokidan picked himself up. "Wow!!" he said, looking at Jak. "You're a nice guy after all! You saved my life!! Thanks, Mr. Snide!" "Whatever." Jak snorted, turning to Kotoki. "And you?" "Yeah, guess I'm okay..." replied Kotoki, still on the groud. "But what the hell was *that*? Something really weird is going on here..." She looked up in the sky for incoming fireballs and gasped. A giant airship filled the horizon, cannons blazing with flames. At the helm was a blue mage. **** Daniel sat at the bar with Lance, who had just started his fourth mug of Dragonale. It was then that Ash came crashing down the stairs, yawning, Christydia following sleepily behind him. "What's up?" he asked. "Um... hello?" Daniel waved. "My name is Ash... Ash Fanrico." he said, looking to Lance. "I think I already met you, though, didn't I?" "Yeah, maybe." Lance said, not even turning to look at the man speaking to him. "Where's that spoony Black Mage guy who was here?" asked Ash. "He's long gone... I think." Lance replied. "Oh sorry... my name is Daniel Hyral. Nice to meet you sir." Daniel said, suddenly. "The pleasure's all mine. Ash Fanrico." Ash said, seating himself at the bar. "Are you an adventurer as well?" "That. . .that I am," Daniel said, the image of his brother's letter still in his mind. "An adventurer of sorts." "I am too." Ash said, turning and staring at Christydia. "Well, sit down, hun." he said. "You thirsty?" "No." she said happily, still rubbing her sleepy eyes. "We're on a journey. . ." Ash said. "Christydia's father was a great man, but he passed a way not too soon ago. With that, he left her his death note. . .and we've been trying to fulfill his last wish." Christydia then pulled a ripped segment of a piece of parchment paper, which read: Ingredients: 1:The blood of a warrior. 2:The tears of a child. 3:The scale of a dragon. 4:The eyes of a darkling. 5:The feather of an Airal Elf. 6:The Obake spear. Then you must go into the light chamber in the Church of Broomada. A man named Anewuids will take care of the rest. "I'm not going to turn back now. I need to get that Obake spear." Christydia said to herself. "I know." Ash said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll do my best as well." "Well, that settles it, then," Daniel said, "I'll do my best to help you." he smiled. ". . .really?" Ash said, turning to stare at the knight. "But, we've just met each other. . .are you the type of person to make decisions so quickly?" "Yeah." Daniel said, still smiling. He patted Lance on the shoulder. "What about you? Are you just gonna stay here and drink?" "Sorry, I'm already engaged." Lance said. "I'm with those other three people, if you forgot already. Although I don't know where they went." "Oh, right." Daniel said. "Well, Ash, lead the way." "No problemo." Ash said. "Alright, Christydia, we're outta here!" he said, and with that, the three began to leave town. **** Jak, Kotoki, and Molokidan stared up at the airship before them, unsure as to what was going on. I mean, an airship shooting a fireball and almost killing them was one thing, but. . .a blue mage piloting it!? That made absolutely no sense at all! "Hear us. . .and hear us well." a voice boomed from who-knew-where. "We are the Blue Mages from the Cult of Broomada." they said. "We are searching for the one known as End Reshiki. We take it you are soldiers of Doma." they said, apparently speaking to the three below. Jak frowned, and then began to say something. Unfortunately, compared to the megaphone-like voice he was speaking it, it was very easy to be interrupted. "I-" "We will take you onboard as prisoners. In return. . .you must give us the whereabouts of End Reshiki. If we do not have them. . .we will let the DemonBeast deal with you." "DemonBeast?!" Kotoki shouted. "This is nuts! If you wanted the whereabouts to End Reshiki, why the hell did you bomb Doman headquarters?!" "Silence!" the voice shouted. "We will be teleporting you up shortly." "Aw, for fu-" In a flash, Jak, Kotoki, and Molokidan dissapeared. **** Cantor got up from his bed, shoved open the door to his bedroom, and began looking around for a bathroom. "Aw, man. . ." he muttered. "Don't tell me they destroyed that too?!" Grumbling, he made his way to a considerably large hole in the wall, and began to do his business. As soon as he started, however, he was subdued by an unknown foe. He was tied up, gagged and hidden in a cupboard in the room that Jak had been in just that morning. "Here," said the mystery figure. "A little something for your trouble." He dropped a bag of gil into the cupboard, promptly closing it. He then knocked on the door to the room that Folx was currently sleeping in. Folx opened the door, scratched his hair, and smiled. "What's up, Cantor?" "I was thinking. . ." the man who seemed to be Cantor but was not spoke. "We really shouldn't be taking it easy in this time of danger. I think we'd better get going, ASAP. I have a bad feeling." Folx arched an eyebrow. "Really?" he said. ". . .really." "Alright, then. . ." Folx said, shrugging. "If you say so. I'll go wake up Kira." Folx moved out of the room, and soon came back with Kira, staring at what they believed to be their companion. "Let's go get Lance, next." Folx said. "Then we'll be off." 'Cantor' smiled. **** "Crap. Crap crappity crap crap crap." Molokidan said, pacing around their holding cell aboard the airship. "Crap crap crap." "Shit." Jak spat. "Shut the hell up." Molokidan looked at Jak, his lower lip quivering, and then crawled back over to Kotoki, who was sitting in the corner of the cell opposite the black mage. "He started being mean again, Kotoki. . ." "Well, we're obviously not in the best of moods in this current situation, now are we, Molokidan?!" Kotoki cried. "We were mistaken for Doman soldiers, kidnapped, and taken aboard an airship that's going who knows where?!" "But that's no excuse to be mean to me!" Molokidan whined. "Who said we need excuses?!" Kotoki shouted, and then began pelting Molokidan with kicks. ". . .this has been a horrible day." Jak said, staring at the bars in their gloomy cell. "We need to get out of here, and quick. The only problem is. . .I don't know how." **** Phil peered out from under the bed of Jak's room. He had watched the man come in, beat up one of the people who had attacked him earlier, and then stuff him into a cupboard. . .with some gil. Phil didn't really care about what all was going on. . . But Phil liked gil. 'Jak? Where are you?' he thought to himself. 'You've gone and left me in a pile of burning wreckage again. . .I should have known better than to try to employ the services of a self-serving will bender. That guy certainly doesn't care for the greater good that will come about from Doma's fall, not at all.' He peered around the room again, making sure no one was looking. 'Well, at least I can help myself to a little treat. . .' He creeped across the room, and opened the cupboard with a small creak. "My god!" Phil shouted. "Is that man naked?" "MFF MFF MFF!!!" The real Cantor shouted, his eyes bulging out at Phil. "You think I'm gonna help you?" Phil said, quickly grabbing the bag of Gil. "You attacked me earlier! In fact, you tried to kill me! Thonkies for you!" he said, pulling a mop from the side of the cupboard. Cantor frantically moved the gag away from his mouth. "I didn't attack you! I attacked Jak, but only bacause he attacked Kira... and I. Anyway, that guy used you for a shield! You have no reason to be on his side! Now, could you get me some clothes or something?" **** "I don't know why the hell we're doing this." Lance muttered, looking particularly unhappy in the basement of Kotoki's Bar and Inn. "All the beer is upstairs, anyway. And I was perfectly fine drinking by myself." "Hush!" The fake Cantor shouted. "I need concentration for this." "You know, you've really been annoying me more than usual all of a sudden!" Lance shouted, pointing a finger. "Something's weird about you!" "Hush, Lance!" Folx said. "Just let him alone. We've followed him this far. He obviously has an idea." "For once." Kira snickered. "There we go. . .that should do it." The fake Cantor smiled. Suddenly, a large portal opened in the basement of the inn, crackling with magical energy. "Er, Cantor. . .?" Folx asked weakly. "Since when can you open random portals in basements. . .?" "That's a good question." The fake Cantor smiled, shoving the three into the portal, before following himself. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:41 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 644 (11/3/04 4:55 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 4 - How to Get Lost in an Airship "60 bottles of Dragonale on the wall. . .60 bottles of Dragonale. Take one down, pass it around. . ." The sound of a fireball being charged interrupted Molokidan's singing. "That's it." Jak said. "I may not be able to blow through those magically-reinforced steel beams blocking our escape. . .but I can blow through you, squirt." he aimed the fireball at the young barkeeper. "So either shut up, or blow up." Molokidan was silenced. Kotoki rolled her eyes. Suddenly, a familiar group of four came walking down the hallway. Kotoki could hardly believe her eyes. "Hey. . .those are my customers. . ." It was indeed the four, or at least three of them. The fake Cantor was followed by Kira, Folx, and Lance, that was for sure. They had been trudging through the lower cooridors of the airship for quite some time now. "Uhhh, where exactly are we going, Cantor?" Kira said, feeling more than a bit uneasy. "I don't know where we are." "Me neither." Folx said, looking around. "I've never seen this kind of architecture before." "It's. . .a secret passage." The fake Cantor lied. "Yeah. A secret passage." "HEEEEEY!!!" Kotoki shouted. "CUSTOMERS!!" Lance's head snapped around, and he grabbed the tail of Folx's shirt, holding him up. "Hey, it's the crazy barkeep lady. What the hell are you doing here?" "We got kidnapped!" she shouted. "Why aren't you watching the bar?" "Eh, no one's in there anymore anyway." he shrugged. "Besides, if I could have, I would have stayed. These nuts dragged me with them." "What exactly IS going on?" Folx asked. "I, for one, would really like to know." "No clue." Jak stood up, brushing himself off. "But you guys need to get us out of her, quick." "Hmmm. . ." I don't know about that." Kira said, finding her way back to the group. "You froze me earlier!" "That's just water under the bridge!" Jak threw his hands up madly. "Forget about it! We're pals now! We need to get off this thing quickly." "Who exactly is piloting it?" Folx asked. "As far as we could see, blue mages." Jak said. "They thought we were Doman soldiers, and took us aboard. They're looking for Reshiki as well." he said. "Well, we'll let you out." Folx said. "You know more than us, anyway." he said, finding the lock to the bars and quickly disassembling it. "Good." Jak said. "Now we need to make a plan of action." "Right." said Kotoki, cracking her knuckles. "Where's the controls for this thing and how do we destroy it?" "Yeah!" Molokidan piped up, following them out of the cell. "Let's beat our way out!" Lance looked to Folx. "Are you sure letting them out was a good idea?" "Just trust me." Folx smiled. "By the way, where did Cantor go?" Down the corridor, around the corner, the fake Cantor was fiddling with a strange device held in his fake hands. "Dammit!" he shouted. "I got it to work a few minutes ago, why won't it work now?!" he shouted, banging on it. "Confound it all!" After a few more moments of banging, another portal opened up in the ship. This time, someone stepped out of it. It was a tall man wearing spiked, black armor, and was covered in a black fur coat. The color of the fur matched his raw, black hair uncannily. He had the deep red eyes of a demon, and he clenched his huge fists at his sides. He smirked, stepping completely out of the portal and staring at the man in front of him. "This is certainly interesting to see so many people after a single Dragoon, especially Doma." he spoke, a deep growling voice escaping his purple lips. "I thank you for including me on it, Sire. I wonder if my friend Ash will involve himself in this plot. I should give him the reward for helping me with the reviving problem I had earlier." "Whatever." The fake Cantor shrugged. "Let's get down to business. How would you like to assist me in eliminating End? I will make it worth your while if you do." "I certainly never would have expected you to ask me for help. Are the humans you work with now not strong enough as usual?" "That's beside the point," Fake Cantor ran his fake hands through his fake hair. "I need this Dragoon dead now. Will you help me or not?" "I will do this in return for the usual payment, but remember that if you are discovered to be working with me I will acknowledge nothing of having been your aide." "Likewise." the fake one laughed. "If my people found out I was using a demon as assistance, I'd be in deep water too. So, you in?" "Of course." the demon grinned. "Not only can I claim many lives, but I'm very interested in this DemonBeast the jokers up there have gotten ahold of." "Anyway, I need you to go with Folx. If he asks about me, just make up some stupid story. But don't tell him who I am!" Fake Cantor shouted. "Fine, fine." the demon smirked, beginning to walk. The fake Cantor began to step into the portal, then looked back once more at his new hired hand. "Good luck. . .Darkblade." "That won't be necessary." Darkblade said, not looking back. **** "Cantoooor!" Folx shouted, making his way down the passageway. "Man, where did he go to? You're right, Lance, he really HAS been acting weird lately." "Isn't this great?!" Molokidan shouted, hugging Kotoki. "We got rescued! Now we just need to get outta this place!" "Yeah, yeah. . ." Kotoki said, taking a look around the strange, metal hallway they were in. "This place gives me the creeps, though." As the group reached the end of the hallway, Darkblade moved out from the corner, turning to face them. His hulking figure loomed in front of them, and the mad grin he wore on his face did nothing to put them at ease. "Hello." Darkblade smiled. "I believe you are the man known as Folx Numeroso?" "Y. . .yeah." Folx said, looking at the newcomer oddly. "Who are you?" "Who I am is of no importance." Darkblade smiled. "I am merely another hired hand from Doma. I have been ordered to join you, and speed up the process of Reshiki's demise." "I see. . ." Folx said. "But how did you get up here?" "That is my little secret." Darkblade smiled. "Hey. . ." Lance said to Folx. "This guy came from where we saw Cantor dissapear. Plus, who knows whose side he's really on? He could be a spy." Folx looked to Darkblade. "Well? What do you have to say to that?" "Hmmm. . .perhaps this will enlighten you, Folx." Darkblade put a hand behind his back. Although no one could see it, quickly, a small white letter with the isignia of Doma was materialized. He quickly produced it from behind his back, and placed it in Folx's hands. It read: Dear Folx, This is of course DarkBlade, I have request that he assist you on your hunt for End Reshiki. I hereby entrust you with the knowledge of him helping me in this cause, but you must not tell a soul that he is affiliated with me. Sincerely, the King of Doma. Folx looked at the letter, eyed it up and down, and then turned back to Darkblade. "This is weird. . ." he started. "But it DOES bear the seal of Doma. I guess you're right." he said. "Well, come along." "Hey!" Jak shouted, moving his way up the line. "Don't you be hiring hands or any of that crap while we're with you!!" he shouted. "Remember, we're on opposite sides, punk. If it wasn't for you somehow saving our asses back there, you'd be fried meat right now." "I know, I know." Folx said. "But we need to rely on each other now, until we find a way off the airship. We'll deal with all that stuff later." Darkblade watched the two speak, grinning. ". . .alright." Jak said, eyeing the demon. "What are you laughing at, buddy?" "You, mortal." Darkblade smirked. "This will be very interesting, indeed. . ." **** "You're right. . ." Phil said, considering Cantor's statement. "Jak DID use me as a human shield, didn't he? And I DO happen to have some potions, but I'm not lettign you loose until you tell me who you are and what you're doing here!" he shouted. "Answer me this - who do you favor in women's tennis?" "Um... women's tennis... hmm... That foreign chick! Uh... I can't remember her name... Anna... something..." Cantor trailed off in his wn thoughts, but after a bit turned back to Phil. "As for who I am; My name is Cantor Trinkett, the prince of Khirantha, wielding the sword Belthazar! Khirantha is a country in every single game out there, but is nevre accessable. I was found outside the front gate of my parents' castle, so I'm not really their son. They're humans, and I'm and elf, so it's kind of obvious. "I am obviously a bard, although I do hone some offensive spells. My specialty is a spell called "conflagration", the effect of which is obvious enough. As for what I am doing... it has something to do with some guy named End Reshiki. I'm sure Lance or Folx would know, but I'm always too busy keeping Kira out of trouble... I can never seem to do that very well, though." "Fair enough." Phil shrugged, loosening the ropes on the naked Cantor. "Well, you're free to do what you want, I guess." the moogle said, pocketing the gold. "Clothes are on the bed." "Great." Cantor said, dressing himself and beginning to take a look around the deserted inn. "Now where did everyone go. . .?" **** Ash, Christydia, and Daniel made their way down the streets of Doma, taking in the afternoon sights. "Well, we got almost everything, right?" Daniel said, trying to recall Christydia's list. "What have we missed?" gThe Obake Spear.h Ash said, ducking into a cool, shaded alley to sit down and rest. Christydia sat beside him, and Daniel stood in front of the two, out of the crowd in the street. "And frankly, I've run out of places to look." Suddenly, three robed men appeared in the entrance to the alley, staring at the trio. hThatfs definitely him.h One of the robed figures said. All their robes were blue, and dark eyes peeked out of the front of them. gYou sure?h the other said. gYeah.h The center figure replied. gI saw the picture.h hWhat do we do with the other two?h h. . .just kidnap them too.h The center figure shrugged. gAlright, if you say so.h hHey!h Ash shouted, standing up and pulling his broom out from behind his back. gWe can hear you, you know!h hThatfs okay.h The robed figure said, raising a hand. Suddenly, Ash froze, dropping the broom to the ground. eA paralysis spell?!hf he thought. He tried to move his eyeballs to look to the others, but even that was too hard. He couldnft move an inch. gWhat did you do to Ash?!h Daniel shouted, looking quickly to the robed figure. It was, however, too late for him too, and he found himself immobile. hYoufre next.h The third one said, quickly casting a paralysis spell on Christydia. The three were totally frozen. gNow to take them back to the boss.h One of the mages said, stepping into the alleyway. gThis spell only lasts for five minutes, so we have to make it quick.h hGot it.h The third mage moved deeper into the alley, and crouched on the ground. After around thirty seconds, a small portal appeared in the middle of the alley. gAfter you.h The central mage laughed at Daniel, shoving him inside. gGet the others, then follow me.h He said. And that was how Ash, Daniel, and Christydia were kidnapped by blue mages. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/3/04 11:10 pm Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 645 (11/3/04 4:56 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 5 - Making Good Relations, OK? "Hey! You damn thief! Get back here with my Gold!" "Sorry.. you snooze, you lose!" End Reshiki yelled as he jumped out of the city with a sack of gold. He promptly smashed down on the other side of the city wall, headfirst, rolling into a ditch filled with thorns. "Ow! Damnit.." End shook his head and peeled himself out of the hole, all of his joints aching. "Ugh..." As he got himself up, End thought a bit about the town he had ran from, and the attack Doma had made on him there, disguised as a guard. He couldn't help but wonder why Doma was after him. . .that had been the first serious attempt on his life that anyone here had ever taken! He briefly wondered what was going on. . .and then thought of something. 'Maybe if I could find Doma's castle and sneak in, I could find out what's going on?' It was crazy enough to work. He turned around, trudged back into the city, and began making his trek down the streets towards the looming figure of the castle. "So this is the place, huh?" he said, ten minutes and a short jog later. "Doesn't seem that scary." Abruptly, a pair of elves ran out of the castle, knocking past the two stationed guards. Still in a mad rush, they kept running right past Reshiki. One of them stopped, and the two elves collided. The shorter elf stood up, dusting herselff off. "Oops! Sorry, Kelan." Kelan got up. "Don't worry about it, Peach." Kelan dusted himself off. "It's not like it's all that bad to have you land on me anyway," he said quietly. "Did you say something?" "No..." Kelan turned to the moogle standing beside him. "Hmm... there was something I was going to say to you... but I can't remember what it was now..." End shrugged. "Tell me later. I'm busy now." And with that, End Reshiki mounted his lance, and did a flying leap over the castle wall. Landing on the other side, this time right side up, he ducked into a nearby shed, concealing himself from any patrolling guards. Kelan and Peach watched as End jumped away. "Oh crap! I just remembered what I was supposed to tell him!!! Can you cast invisibility, Peach?" Kelan shouted, slapping himself on the forehead. "Yes." Peach said, although she was unsure why. "We need to give him this amulet before it's too late." Kelan said, staring at the necklace in his hands. "Cast it and let's go." Two invisibility spells later, the two elves began walking back towards the entrance from which they had came. **** The six travelers, plus Darkblade, continued moving down the passageway of the airship. "This is getting nowhere." Lance muttered. "We've lost Cantor, picked up some weird demon, and yet we're still stuck in this airship." "I'm aware. . ." Folx said, growing a little impatient himself. "We'll find our way out of here, don't worry." Jak snorted. "Hmmm. . ." The next murmur was the voice of Darkblade. 'This isn't good.' Darkblade stroked his chin, contemplating. 'This is becoming more of an annoyance than anything. . .' He stopped walking with the group, staying back. He called out to the group members, turning around and beginning to pull a strange bag out of his armor. "I need to go take care of something Folx, I'll be right back." "Hey, you're not in charge here, mystery man!" Jak started going off again. "Just where do you think you're going, anyway-" Before he could finish, Darkblade had disappeared in a cloud of smoke and brimstone. **** "ACTIVATE ALL SECURITY MEASURES!!!" These were the words screamed by Chancellor Smartz, as soon as he had recieved a report that End Reshiki has infiltrated the castle. "And remember! keep him alive! The King will deal with him later..." gI want him now!!h The King shouted, having exited the portal just a few minutes earlier. gSmartz, what is the condition of the castle?h hSo far, so good, but. . .who the hell are you?h Smartz asked the Cantor-looking person in front of him. gItfs me, you fool!h the King shouted. gIfm in a disguise! Anyway, therefs no problems, are there?h hNone at the moment. . .h Smartz said, looking over his reports. gWell, except one small one.h hWhat?h the King asked, curious. gWell. . .there seems to be a rather large airship headed straight for the castle.h hOh, just a rather large airship headed straight for the castle. . .h the King repeated out loud, as if looking the words over in his head. gA large. . .h he mouthed. g. . .airship. . .h Smartz continued. gWHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR?!h the voice of Cantor screamed throughout the castle. gGET BUSY! How long will it take to get here?!h Smartz shouted down the hallway to a guard peering through a long telescope. gYou heard him, how long?h hHmmm. . .Ifd say, about ten minutes.h The guard said listlessly. gTen minutes. . .h Smartz said, nodding his head in agreement. g. . .ten. . .h hRemind me,h the King said, as he began dashing down the hall frantically, followed by Smartz, gto kill you after this is all over.h hY.. . .yes sir.h Smartz nodded. Reshiki sat out in the castle courtyard, eyeing the numerous guards from his shed. "Man, theres too many of them. Good thing they're all mindless dolts. Otherwise I wouldn't have made it this far." "Are ALL of us mindless dolts, Reshiki?" said an ominous shadow behind him. "GAH!" he says as he turns around. "Who are you?" "It is I, the infamous DarkShark! Doma's vilest! At your service... memorial service, that is!" "Wait a second!" said End, eyeing his new cloaked visitor. "Aren't you Jamie, Doma's little Eunuch Guard stooge?" End was gripped by a blackgloved hand, and his eyes were met by soulless black eyes. "Mention my brother again, and I'll RIP YOUR HEART OUT! But..." he dropped him, "for now, my king needs you alive. But... he didn't say in good health... so... let's make this quick? I have some torture to get back to..." Suddenly, a dagger that seemed as if it was floating flew to DarkShark's neck. "Could you at least finish what I'm trying to tell you?" An invisible Kelan said, speaking to End Reshiki. Take this amulet. You'll know what to do when the time comes. At least, that's what the old man who gave it to me told me after he told me to give it to you. I'm Kelan and this is Peach. Just one thing I'd like to ask you: You ARE End Reshiki, right?" DarkShark gulped. **** Darkblade appeared on a hill outside of the village of Kukuu. He brushed the smoke off his body. "One day, I need to remind myself to steal that teleporting device of the King's. . ." he muttered. "It's way more convenient than that stupid contraption." "Lord Darkblade!" a large, hulking demon ran up to Darkblade. "There you are, dumbass." Darkblade shouted. "And what have I told you about interrupting me during business? This had better be important." "Well, it's about the darkstone. . .I. . ." "WHAT?!" Darkblade barked. "What about it?!" "Lord Darkblade, you consider me one of your best servants, right?" the demon said, twiddling its thumbs. "Surely you are not dissatisfied with my actions with the dark priests I have been serving recently." "From what I've heard, you've been doing fine." Darkblade said. "So what happened to the Darkstone?" "Well. . .the priests. . .you see, they've totally drained its power." "WHAT?!" Darkblade screamed. A blue vein began pulsating on his forehead, adding to his grotesque appearance. "You should have thought of that before hiring yourself out to a bunch a humans, idiot. I want it back, and at full power, this instant. . .or else!!" "Yes my Lord as you command, but. . ." the demon said, looking down to the ground. "Shut the fuck up. You are making a mockery of yourself as a demon." Darkblade shouted, slapping his subordinate across its face. "Try to have more respect for youself and your powers. You should be more than strong enough now to over come the priests control without the aide of the darkstone." "Of. . .of course my leige." the demon said. "What was the name of those priests' cult, anyway?" Darkblade asked. "The. . .The Cult of Broomada." the demon said, shirking away. "Hmmm. . ." Darkblade stroked his pale chin again. "Where the hell have I heard that name before??" **** Folx, Lance, Kira, Kotoki, Jak, and Molokidan continued to journey through the depths of the airship. gMan, it seems like wefve been down here forever.h Kotoki said. gHow big is this thing, anyway?h Suddenly, a jerk rocked the ship, sending them all spinning to catch their balance. gWhat was that?!h Molokidan shouted. gWe must have changed direction.h Folx said, looking around. gWe need to find out whatfs going on, and fast.h hI believe we may have just found it.h Lance said, pointing ahead. What lied ahead of the adventurers was a metal ladder, leading up to a porthole to which light was leaking out. gI guess this is it.h Folx said. gAlright, everyone, prepare your weapons, if youfve got eem. We donft know whatfs going to be up there.h hGotcha.h Lance and Kira said, arming themselves with a lance and staff, respectively. gI got it, I got it. . .h Jak muttered. Molokidan pulled two chopsticks out of his pocket, and in a flash of light, they turned into two mid-sized katanas. Everyone turned around, staring at the kidfs little trick, more than a bit surprised. g. . .what?" he asked. "I'm a sushijin." "The kid's half fish." Kotoki said, pulling up Molo's shirt to reveal gills lined beneath his armpits. "He can breathe underwater. How that constitutes him transforming chopsticks into katanas, I don't know, but just trust me on this one." "Right.h Folx said, turning around. gIn any case, here we go.h He climbed up the ladder, and pushed on the porthole with all his might. After a few seconds of pushing, it popped up, flooding the dimly-lit tunnel with light. He scurried up the ladder, and everyone soon followed. They stood on the wooden deck of the airship, which was currently staying a lift from six huge propellers, in two rows, stacked on each other. There was a large room straight ahead of them, closed by two iron doors. Behind them, at the far end of the ship,were a number of blue mages walking about, tending to the airship. gAw, crap. . .h Folx said, just as Lance and Kira had peeked their heads up from below. gThey havenft noticed us yet, but if we all get up here, they will.h He looked around, and spotted two crates off to the sides. gAlright, everyone follow the person in front of you.h Folx moved forward, quietly, and quickly ducked behind the crates. Kira and Lance followed the cue, joining their friend. hI wonder if they kidnapped Cantor and put him in a separate cell. . .h Kira said. gOr worse. . .h gDonft worry.h Folx said. gWefll find him.h hGrr. . .Ifm not taking orders from that idiot fox.h Jak muttered, clambering up the ladder. gIfll toast those mages if they get in my way.h hJak, I can see up your robes!h Molokidan said, giggling. gShut the hell up! Youfre next, you wannabe ninja!h he screamed, making his way up the platform, before turning around to face the mages. gAlright, who wants some, bitches?!h Folx sighed. gDoes he know hefs endangering himself as much as us. . .?h The blue mages swerved around to face Jak, and began racing for him, charging up their own special blasts. Jak backed up. gCome on!h he grinned. gFinally, some bloodshed!h hJak!!h Kotoki shouted, popping her head out of the hole, seeing her danger, and fleeing behind him. Molokidan soon followed. gWhat do you think youfre doing?!h hRun for cover!h Kira shouted from behind the crate. gAlright, alright!h Kotoki said, turning to peer at the two iron doors on the building directly behind her. gQuick, Molo, letfs go in there!h hOkay!h Molokidan said, following Kotoki as she shoved open the doors. Jak let loose with his blasts, frying two approaching blue mages on the spot. gWell, we might as well help. . .h Lance shrugged, stepping out from the box and pulling his spear from behind his back. gEnguarde!h Folx shrugged, gIf you say so.h Kotoki and Molokidan smashed through the doors to the main room of the airship. gOh, HELL!h she shouted, as she stared in front of her. The place was littered with blue mages, each tending to their own control mechanism. In the far end of the room, there was a large window peering out in the sky. If one stood close to it at that specific moment, they would have seen the silhouette of Doma Castle on the horizon. Most curiously, however, out of the whole room, were the three figures tied up at the cockpit. It was Ash Fanrico, Christydia, and Daniel Hyral. They were facing the entrance, and their eyes grew wide as they saw Kotoki and Molokidan burst in. gWhat. . .what are you guys doing here?!h Ash shouted. gWe were looking all over for you!h hUhhh, we got kidnapped!h Molokidan shouted. gWhy did you kidnap us?h hDumbass. . .h Ash muttered. gAnyway, do you have any idea whatfs going on here?h hI dunno. . .h Kotoki said, peering around to look at the blue mages, who were all staring at her quizzically. gBut. . .h h. . .but youfll know soon enough.h A blue mage turned around from the cockpit controls, staring at Daniel. gYou are to come with me. Mages, kill the rest of the people onboard.h In a flash, Daniel and the mage were enveloped in a sphere of light, and disappeared. gAw, crap. . .h Kotoki and Molokidan said, backing up. gDammit!h Ash shouted, wriggling fruitlessly against his ropes. gWefre gonna get toasted! There must be around fifty mages in here!h The blue mages advanced on the two pairs, each of them charging their own blast, when suddenly Jak burst in, knocking Kotoki and Molokidan below him. gYEAAAAAHHHH!!h he shouted, letting loose a huge blast of Thunder magic from his hands, sending a stream of death throw the crowd of mages. Tears of pure joy rolled down his face as he saw the carnage. Placing his emotions aside for a moment, he charged a up a ball of lightning in his left hand, drawing up magical power with his right. With a brief sadistic glint in his eyes he unleashed a torrent of magical electricity onto another blue mage, turning the unfortunate man into a pile of ash. Jak laughed maliciously around him and began blasting through the crowd of mages. gJak!h Kotoki shouted, picking herself up. gWhat happened to the mages outside?!h hI let foxboy take care of them.h He laughed, ripping through the mages like a knife through butter. gI wanted to get to the jackpot, and boy did I find it!h Kotoki sighed helplessly. gMolokidan!h she shouted, kicking her meat shield into high gear. gGo help out my two ex-customers over there!h hY-yes mafam!h Molokidan hopped to his feet, brandishing his two katanas. gUwaaaaahhh!!h he shouted, running forward blindly, slashing randomly, hitting more air than anything. He and Jak made their way through the crowd, knocking dozens of mages down to the ground. Finally, they stood in front of Ash and Christydia. hfbout time you made it! Now untie me!h Ash shouted. gAlright, alright, hold your horses!h Molokidan said, jumping behind the self-proclaimed eLegendary Herof and undoing his bindings. Jak, likewise, assisted with Christydia. gHey, take a look at that. . .h Ash said, standing up and adjusting his broom behind him. He was pointing to the window facing out of the cockpit. Just beyond the nose, thousands of feet below on the ground, was Doma Castle. gHey. . .h Molokidan said. gIsnft that. . .h hYeah.h Jak said, hardly believing his eyes. gItfs Doma Castle.h --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/3/04 7:33 pm Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 646 (11/3/04 4:57 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 6 - Say Hello to Stephan "Uuunnnn..." Daniel finally came out of his spell induced sleep, and saw that he was no longer with his comrades. He appeared to be in another section of the airship, with only two small lanterns on a table lighting up the small room. The blue mage from earlier was hunched over reading documents of some kind. His captor turned around, seeing that Daniel was awake. "It's about time you got up, I was getting impatient waiting..." The mage told Daniel, walking over to the magic barrier and crossing his arms in front of him. 'Crap!' Daniel thought to himself, 'This guy definitely isn't your typical Blue Mage. Guess I'd better find out what he's up to before I try anything.' "Who are you? And why the hell did you only bring me here?" Daniel told the mage, as he pressed up against the barrier which encased him. "I go by the name of Midoku, but that isn't important..." The mage said. "What is important," he said as he paced back toward the center of the room, "is that my forces have finally obtained their objective." "I'd call kidnapping a random bunch of travelers a pretty stupid way of obtaining your goal..." Daniel answered sarcastically. "Ah, but you misunderstand." Midoku explained, a smug smile speading across his face. "Our primary objective wasn't just to take prisoners. Our goal was to capture you." "...what?" Daniel answered in shock. "Perhaps I should let my master explain..." Midoku spoke, motioning to a dark figure beyond the light of the table. The man entered the light coming from the table, illuminating his dark blue armor with golden trimming throughout. The man adjusted the Maroon cape which hung from his sholders, and ran his hand through the short, dark brown hair on his head. Daniel recognized him instantly. "...oh no... it's you..." "Oh yes," said the Dark Knight "You should know by now that I NEVER keep my word, brother." Stephan said with an arrogant smile. "Did you really think I would let you know how long it would be before I arrived?" "Are you kiddding me?!" Daniel yelled. "You're telling me you went though building up an army of mages and constucting an airship JUST TO CAPTURE ME?!?! Damn, no wonder you can never stay control in one kingdom... YOU'RE A F#*&ING IDIOT!!!" "He does make a good point, sir..." Midoku commented. "Silence!" Stephan commanded, "This will not be a repeat of the great Moogle Rebellion of '97!!! This time I WILL be successful in conquering a powerful kingdom." He walked up to the mystic prison, glaring into his brother's eyes. "And once I am in power, I will finally defeat you in battle in front everyone, and prove to the people of my new empire that I AM SUPREME!!!" "Damn it..." was all Daniel could think of to say... **** Shit!h Ash said, looking at the controls. gWhofs controlling this thing, anyway?h he turned around. The mages that had attacked Jak had been previously controlling the ship, and now that they were either on the ground, wheezing, or unconscious, there was indeed no one piloting the ship. Kotoki smacked her head. "You idiots! The controls are that way, right?" she asked, not bothering to verify her question as she started down the stairway towards themachines. Reaching the controls, she sighed in relief. "Disaster averted... now how do I work this thing...?" She looked down at the controls, fiddling with one idly. This caused the airship to sink dramatically and crash exactly into the throne room of Doma castle. "Oh, HELL!" screamed Kotoki. The ship jerked backwards, sending everyone skidding backwards across the bridge and out onto the deck. Folx, Kira, and Lance had been doing a pretty good job of holding off the remaining blue mages, but that was all thrown haywire when the airship crashed into the castle. Everyone went flying in random directions, the mages included. Jak picked himself up after the collision, looking around. Everyone, although they took a spill, were pretty much unharmed. This included the mages, who were now standing and running towards him, their spells charged to the maximum. gYou want some more?!h he shouted, his eyes still glazed over with insanity. gTAKE THIS!h A huge amount of energy was released from his body, sending electric death flying through the remaining about of mages. Everyone else watched in amazement, as such a spectacle of magical power was quite rare. Jak had quite clearly flipped. He had been spewing out his most powerful magic at an imense rate, which was causing severe damage to his physical body. It was fortunate that Folx and co. had destroyed most of the blue mage army, otherwise he would have expired well before he could have incinerated them all. With his last ounce of strength, he froze one of the retreating mages to the spot before collapsing, the manic grin still on his face. As he slipped into unconciousness, his mania subsided as the grin disapeared. All he could think of was the destruction he had caused. And he was satiated. **** The airship continued plunging downwards through Doma Castle. The monarchy was in an uproar. Soldiers, chambermaids, and prisoners alike ran for their lives, escaping to the streets, which were already strewn with rubble. "YOU IDIOT!!!!" The King shouted to Smartz, strangling him, as the two watched the airship jackknife through the castle. "I want soldiers on that thing as fast as possible! Whoever was piloting that -- no, anyone who was RIDING on that. . .I WANT THEM ALL DEAD!! NOW!!!" "We need to find Daniel!" Christydia shouted, after the destruction from Jak subsided. "Who is that?" Folx asked. "And what are you two doing here, anyway?" "Long story." Kotoki sighed. "But we don't have time for that now. The Doman army will be here any minute. We need to find Daniel and get the hell off this ship." "Sorry, we resign here." Folx said. "This isn't our line of business, anyway. We just need to get the hell out of here and find Cantor." "He's right." Kira said. "Sorry, thanks for all your help. But our paths end here. We need to find out what happened to Cantor." "There was one more entrance at the back of the ship." Folx said, walking over to the edge of the airship. "If your friend is anywhere on the ship, he must be in there." He turned to Kira and Lance. "Let's get out of this place." "Let's go!" Kotoki said, leading the way down. Arrows begin to rain on the ship, from the approaching Doman guards. Kotoki and Molokidan made their way to the back of the ship and began descending down a white corridor. "Come on!" Christydia said, pulling Ash. Ash, however, was in deep thought. 'Should I? Should I truly get involved in this? NEVER QUESTION!!! You are a hero, it is your duty to help others in need of help. You even helped DarkBlade when he needed help. But I just got this feeling... like a storm is approaching, a storm that will emcompass this entire world. But Christydia's right. . .we dragged Daniel into this. We have to help him, and then continue the quest.' Ash looked to Christydia. "Sorry." he said. "Let's go." Christydia ran over to Ash and embraced him, planting a big kiss on his cheek. "I knew you would do it Ash." said Christydia with a big smile. And with that, the duo began to catch up with Kotoki and Molokidan. Jak, who was too exausted to follow the group down below, had left himself lying on the deck. He did his best to remain still as the Doman guards investigated. "I think we got them all?" a Doman soldier said, climbing off the grappling hook attached to the ship and climbing aboard. Jak quietly reached into his robes and grabbed a healing potion. "Are you sure?" another soldier said, climbing aboard. Jak quietly drank the potion. . . "Of corse!" Boasted the first soldier. "I never miss, you know." "Well, this must be a really bad day for you then!" sneered Jak, as he rose to his feet, a fire spell charged in his hand. "Aw spoony." the second soldier muttered. **** "Why wouldn't sending hundreds of rabid Chocobos be a good strategy!?" Stephan whined to his 2nd in command. "For one thing, Sir, they would not only attack the enemy, but your own forces as well." Midoku pointed out, "Not to mention your future subjects, should they get loose outside the castle." "...good point ...aw damnit, isn't there SOMETHING vicious we can sic on these guys?" Stephan asked Midoku. "Well, there is the *BACKUP PLAN*..." Midoku suggested, as he recalled the specifics, "We placed it into each of our so-called 'Blue Mages', why not give that a shot? It won't be long before our forces are defeated." "EXCELLENT!!! Proceed with operation *BACKUP PLAN*!!!" Stephan ordered, turning his head upwards and letting out a "MWAHAHAHAHA!!!" 'God damn, how the hell *DOES* he get these people to follow him?' Daniel said to himself. He leaned back in the sphere and though about days gone by. It was right after their father died when Stephan started studying the arts of the dark sword... 'I wish you were still here Dad, maybe you could have shown him the error of his ways, like Mom did for you...' ...If only I'd been around more when he was growing up... As he leaned to the side, Daniel noticed a strange bump under his leg. 'Hmmm, what's this?' he though, picking up what appeared to be a crumpled up piece of paper. 'It must have been caught inside this bubble when number 2 over there trapped me...' He uncrumpled it to see what was written on it. It said: "Ingredients: 1:The blood of a warrior. X 2:The tears of a child. X 3:The scale of a dragon. X 4:The eyes of a darkling. X 5:The feather of an Airal Elf. X 6:The Obake spear. Then you must go into the light chanber in the Ichigo church. A man named Anewuids will take care of the rest. Father" 'Oh my... this must be Christydia's...' Daniel thought as he reread the list in his hands. He realized just how much the young girl must have gone through, and why she seemed so weary when they first met. The Eyes of a Darkling? Damn... Here he was, feeling sorry for himself, while Christydia had been trying to fulfill her father's last wishes, all on her own. Sitting there feeling guilty wasn't going to make things better, he had to do something. 'I don't know how, but I'm going to stop you Stephan...' He looked down at the paper in his hand... '...and I *WILL* get this back to you, Christydia.' While Daniel tried to find weaknesses in the mystic sphere that imprisoned him, Stephan began operation *BACKUP PLAN*. **** Kelan, Peach, and End ran from the destruction raining down on the castle. "HOLY CRAP!!! HOW THE HECK DID ALL OF THIS START?!" The airship finished its decent through the castle, smashing into the ground and sending the castle falling to pieces in two huge strips. "This way!" Kelan shouted, heading around the rear of the airship. "It'll protect us from the rubble." "Sorry, I have other stuff to do!" End Reshiki shouted, turning back to the castle. "Thanks for the amulet, though! Later!" And with that, the moogle ran back into the rubble. "I really don't understand that guy. . ." Kelan sighed. "Well, he has the amulet." Peach smiled. "That's really all we needed to do for now. If we get this done, even if it's the very moment when that DemonBeast is summoned, then it will have all been worthwhile." Kelan pulled himself and Peach up with his now free arm. "Anyway, what to do now? Doma Castle is back there, but this gem is still glowing. I guess it was the airship the whole time. Let's try to get inside somewhere." End was getting a bit stressed at that point. The two elves had saved him from the clutches of the Doman Empire, but that didn't do anything for his wounds. He looked like a gored piece of meat at this point, and his armor was pretty much useless. . . .such was the luck of the draw. End crawled into the rubble, looking for some sort of hiding spot midst the chaos. Another escape from an unsure fate, yeah.. but how long could he hold out from all of this? If only someone would tell him WHAT was going on. . . End crawled deeper into the rubble, breathing hard. . .the last thing he noticed before passing out was the amulet aorund his neck.. "What.. is.. this..?" He crawled a bit farther, until he was hidden in the back of the cave, and fell unconscious. **** Folx ran to the other side of the airship. "We've gotta jump!" The three leaped off the ship, landing on the ground below, just missing Kelan and the others. "So when did we lose sight of Cantor, exactly?" Folx said, pacing through the ruins of Doma castle. "Wasn't it around the time we met up with Darkblade?" "You're right." Kira said. "He must have found a different exit off the ship." she shrugged. "But then why didn't he take us with him. . ." Lance muttered. "I tell you, that guy is nuts." As the three passed through the castle gate, they suddenly heard a very familiar voice. The true Cantor rode towards them on a horse. "KIRA!!!" "Cantor?" Kira blinked. The party stopped. "How'd you get back there?" "I rode Shadow over here after you guys left!" Just then, a large rock fell exactly where Kira would have been if she had kept going forward. "Wow... to think... If I'd kept..." Cantor hopped off his horse and stood with his teammates once again. "Don't worry. That's why I came." "But we thought you were on the airship. . ." "The King of Doma disguised himself as me. That's why you thought I was with you." Folx stepped up. "That also explains your new attire. So that was the King of Doma? Hmm..." "Hey guys," said Lance, "Exactly what are we gonna do now? Doma's in ruins, End Reshiki is god knows where, and I'm hungry." --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:43 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 647 (11/3/04 4:58 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 7 - Ash Recieves a Present From the hill far from Doma, Darkblade watched the chaos, and grinned. "This seems to be coming together quite nicely." Darkblade watched as all the parties draw ever so closer to the final conflict, deciding who to aid at this point. "Hmmm. . .I believe I'll pay a visit to my old friend Ash." Darkblade moved over to a spot atop the remains of the airship. Punting the guards out of his way, he moved over to Ash and Christydia, who were just about to follow Kotoki and Molokidan downwards. "Yo. Ash." Darkblade spoke, standing behind his previous ally. "Darkblade. . .?" Ash spun around, genuinely surprised. "Wh. . .what are you doing here? I told you. . .our alliance was severed." "I realize that." Darkblade smirked. "But it seems you've got yourself wrapped up in something especially troubling this time." "The old code of the hero thing." Ash shrugged. "Oh yeah, that thing. Anyway, I had a few gifts to give you for helping me with my reviving problem a few months back." Darkblade smiled, removing a hand from his black cloak. "What I really need right now is for you to find me the Obake Spear, Darkblade." Ash spoke, not exactly excited about his ex-partner's new 'presents'. "I wish I could, but I can only involve myself so much in this whole array of events that are happening. I can do this though." Darkblade said, producing an item from his cloak. "What the. . ." Ash stared at Darkblade's item, his eyes wide. "What is this?" "The Broomstick of Darkness." Darkblade smiled. "Forged under the power of the Darkstone, by the Cult of Broomada." "The Cult. . .the one that wanted to use Christydia as a sacrifice." Ash said, staring at Darkblade with unforgiving eyes. "I can't accept this." "Stop your bitching." Darkblade rolled his eyes. "All it does is increase the power of the new weaponm, as well give you access to several black magic spells. I'll catch you later, Ash." Darkblade made his way off the ship, making sure to fry a few more Doman soldiers before doing so. "You have such scary friends, Ash. . ." Christydia said, clinging close to him. "What exactly is that Broom of Darkness, anyway?" Suddenly, she backed away from her lover. There was an intense change in his aura. . .she could feel it. It wasn't the Ash he was a minute ago. "A. . .Ash?" A crimson glow began to emit from the Broom of Darkness, as it sat in Ash's hands. He looked at it, his eyes lighting up. "This is gonna rock. . ." he growled. "Ash, what's wrong?!" Christydia shouted. "Are you okay?!" "The Dark One. . ." Ash spoke, in a voice that wasn't entirely his. "He is coming. . ." "OH SHIT!" Darkblade whirled around, just before he jumped off the airship again. "That idiot demon. . .what the hell was he thinking? That's why the Darkstone was empty. . .they emptied the entirety of its power into it! When someone accepts the entire power of the darkness into them. . .it. . ." he watched Ash closely. "It draws all the evil out of their body. . .and replaces it into a completely different ego!" Ash watched the Broom of Darkness with delight, the crimson aura dancing on its exterior. "I don't know what will happen if I use you. . .but I gotta risk it. I made a promise to Christydia's father. I must do this. Now it's time to see how big and bad this Broom is." he said to himself, and rushed down the corridor to join the others. "The wheels of fate have started to turn. . ." Darkblade shuddered, making his way back from the airship. "I wonder if this was such a good idea after all. . .I never thought that would happen, but I guess thats what I get for not thinking of the side effects of combineing a human with the power of the Darkstone. I wouldn't have expected that it would have drawn out Ash's opposite. . .now I have some anti-hero mixed up in everything. Then again, this could become really entertaining to see what he might do." Off in the distance, a horrendous voice laughed. "I can't believe the good luck!" The man looked almost similar to Ash, except for his head. Instead of Ash's dark brown hair, his hair was a stark, pale white. His eyes were deep and black, and his face was in the twisted expression of a psychotic on a killing spree. "I must make sure to thank him properly later. . .I must find my good ol' counterpart Ash, and take that Broom of Darkness from him. . .then, I'll be on my way to controlling the world!" Darkblade retreated to his hill across from Doma, reviewing his recent actions. "This sucks. . ." he muttered. "Ash Fanrico's counterpart. . .DARK Fanrico. . .was created using the good in Ash's heart, and the power of the Darkstone. He could completely mess up my plans to corrupt the Doman empire as it rebuilds. . .man, he is really going to screw up my day." the demon sat on the hill cross-legged, looking a bit down in the dumps. "That stupid Cult. . .they're really going to get it. . ." "You still haven't told me why you ruined my airship!!" Stephan screamed at Midoku angrily. "I demand to know why you've disobeyed my orders to continue the assault on Doma!!!" "Sir," Midoku started to explain, "may I remind you that almost all of your 'blue mage' forces were wiped out by those adventurers that snuck onboard along with your brother? Not to mention the fact that this was before the entire army of Doma engaged us? It would have been foolish for us to try and outdo them in a straight fight. Driving the airship into the heart of Doma itself was the only way!" "I still don't understand why you despise those blue mages so much, Midoku." Stephan inquired of his 2nd in command, "You always told me your dream was to command an armed force of your own kind?" "Because they're FAKES, that's why!" Midoku yelled, an annoyed look beginning to appear on his face. "I still can't belive you talked me into letting that cult use me, by making copies of my abilities into those things, and cheap copies at that..." 'So that's why everyone was sensing something odd about them...' Daniel though, 'That Cult he's speaking of must have created the mages with some form of dark magic. But... why would they help an idiot like Stephan?' "On the bright side, at least we managed to get that item the cult wanted before we left Doma..." Midoku started. "Yeah," Stephan started, "I'd love to see the look on the King's face when he realizes we took..." The conversation, however, was interrupted by a loud commotion on the upper decks. "The hell?" Stephan and Midoku said together. One of the surviving Blue Mages came into the room to report. "SIR, THERE IS A PARTY OF WARRIORS MAKING THEIR WAY TO THE HEART OF THE SHIP. AND ONE OF THEM APPEARS TO BE WIELDING A CAN OPENER." They came back for me... Daniel smiled to himself. "Ok, it's time I took matters into my own hands..." Stephan said. "Mage #41, go back to the control room, order all the mages to see if they can get the airship up and running again. Midoku, I think it's time we 'introduced ourselves' to Daniel's friends." He turned to his brother and grinned menacingly. "Don't worry brother, once I'm through with your friends, I'll be back to describe in detail how I took their lives away..." And with that, Stephan and Midoku left, leaving Daniel still trapped. "Damnit..." said Daniel, "I have to get out of this thing, AND NOW!!!" He couldn't allow Stephan to hurt anyone else. He thought back to the battle in town. "If I use my strongest attack on this barrier, maybe I can dispell it..." He sat down in the center of the bubble, and began to concentrate. Without his weapon (which Stephan had stupidly left on the table in the room) it would be difficult to focus his energy into the attack. He tried to think of things to get him mad enough to unleash a powerful attack. He thought of Christydia never fulfilling her father's last wishes, of her and Ash never having the chance to spend their lives together. He even though of the King of Doma never sharing another round of fuzzy navel wine coolers with his men. However, he couldn't perform the attack, as he felt sadness along with his anger. Then he though of all the times he had to 'Fluffy-sit' for Emperess Rydia. "PHOENIX CRASH!!!" Daniel yelled, a pair of fiery wings expanding from his body and into the forcefield. The bubble began to distort under the pressure of the attack, but it was obviously taking everything Daniel had to mantain it. "I... WON'T...GIVE UP..." he grunted, using what was left of his strength to power the attack. With a fiery explosion, the barrier shattered, dropping Daniel to the floor. "I... I... did it..." he said, as he dragged himself over to the table and picked up his trusty Phoenix Pinion. "I'm coming everyone, please hold on..." Daniel said, as he struggled to find enough strength left to pursue his brother and help his friends... **** Ash and Christydia had barely made their way into the tunnel, catching up to Kotoki and Molokidan, who were currently beating on the door to Stephan's room. "It won't open!!" Molokidan shouted frustratedly. "For once, he has a point." Kotoki said, a bit annoyed herself. Before they knew what hit them, a group of blue mages appeared behind the foursome. One of them snatched Christydia, and began pulling her closer to them. "Ah let me go!" yelled Christydia. "Unhand her!" shouted Ash. "Get your filthy ugly diseased smelly blue maged hands off of her!" Molokidan shouted. "Stupid girl!" the blue mage shouted, slapping the girl across her face. "Stop! We will take over." A voice said from behind the door. "You said something about blue mages being filthy, ugly, diseased, and smelly?" cooed a voice. The blue mages subsided from the group to reveal two men, one that looked slightly like Daniel, and a hooded blue mage. "That's not to all blue mages, just them!" said Molokidan as he pointed to all the blue mages that had grabbed Christydia. Christydia looks up to the man who looks a little like Daniel. "Daniel? Is that you?" she asked. "She thinks I'm Daniel? This killing thing is going to be a piece of cake." thought Stephan. "Yes, it is I Daniel. Now-!" Stephan tried to finish, when all of a sudden Christydia gave him a hug. "No! Christydia, that's not Daniel!" Ash yelled. "Hahahahaha!" laughed one blue mage, "The janitor is right, and best of all we have our first sacrifice!" sneered Midoku. Joy left Christydia's face as she look at the stranger she was huging closer and finally turned into fear. "Dammit Midoku! I was on to a plan! Oh well I would rather like to see my brother in pain now when I tell him the details of your deaths." Stephan laughed. "No....no..No!" yelled Christydia. "Yes, yes, YES!" Midoku laughed while he got a dagger out and headed for Christydia. "Leave Christydia alone!!!" Ash shouted in anger. "St-stop, leave them alone!" Daniel made his way out from the room, groaning in pain. "Ha! Stop, why?! Now that your here you can watch your friends die one by one. And you have a front seat." Stephan hissed. The blue mages rushed around Daniel, grabbed him, and held him down to the ground. "Let him go!" Kotoki yelled, rushing forward. "Don't move!" Midoku shouted, freezing Kotoki in her tracks. "Kotoki!" Molokidan shouted, only to be the next victim. "That should do it." Midoku smiled, turning back to Christydia. "Proceed, sir." **** "Gggh. . ." Jak made it to his feet, finishing off another Doman guard, at the far end of the airship. "At this rate. . .I'll be collapsed again before I know it." "Is there any way we can be of any help?" Jak suddenly heard a voice, to which he turned around. Two elves, namely Peach and Kelan, were standing in front of him. "Peach, please heal this man." Kelan said quickly. In a flash, Jak was restored back to his full strength. He stared at the strange girl, who had just assisted him. "What do you two want, anyway?" "We're just trying to help. You're trying to save Doma, right?" Kelan asked. "Yes, erm, well, you could say that." Jak said, trying to find the right words. "Then lead the way!" Kelan shouted. "They went down there. . ." Jak said, making his way over to the southern corridor. **** "There are more of these warriors than I expected..." Stephan growled, looking around. "Perhaps I should use that 'Baka' item we stole from Doma castle..." He held out his hands, and in them appeared some strange staff, with small spikes protruding all along the handle, and what looked like 20 or so long spires coming out of the top. "Sir, that's 'OBAKE', not 'Baka'." Midoku corrected him, backed up against the wall. "Obake is the name of the demon whose remains were used to construct that weapon." "The Obake Spear!!" Ash, Christydia, and Daniel cried out. Stephan looked at Daniel, stunned. "How did you know about that weapon?" he asked. "Uh... well... you see..." Daniel stammered. "Whatever, time to test this thing out! Take this!!!" Stephan yelled, as he held the spear parallel to the floor in front of him. He focused his thoughts, gathering power into the blade, before charging Ash and unleashing his attack. "Void Slash!!!" Stephan yelled, as he made 3 large swipes of dark energy towards Ash. Ash held out the Broom of Darkness in front of him, preparing for the blow. . .only to find that it, surprisingly, absorbed all the magic from the spear. "Sir, for the third time, you can't use your dark skills on this person, as he clearly uses dark arts such as yours!!!" Midoku yelled at his superior, sighing. "Luckily, that friend of theirs gave me the perfect spell..." Midoku closed his eyes, reciting the incantation that had been used on him earlier. "Holy!" he shouted, raining down beams of light on everyone in the room. Everyone was knocked backwards, including the blue mages, who were struggling to keep Christydia and Daniel down. Kotoki fell backwards towards the entrance, only to meet the feet of a familiar person. Jak had just finished running down the corridor, Kelan and Peach close behind him, to see Kotoki lying near death on the floor. Jak looked in the midst of his robes. "Only one potion left. . ." he said, staring at Stephan and Midoku, who were currently busy laughing at the destruction they had just caused. But as he stared at Kotoki. . .he felt some strange feeling come over him. It was a feeling of. . .niceness? For a reason he didn't understand, he walked over to her and poured his last potion onto her. Kotoki got up, smiling. "Jak!" she said. "I thought you were just a total bastard hellbent on mass destruction, but you're really... Well, still a bastard, but thanks for helping me." She turned back to Stephan, pulling out her can opener and turning to the blue mages. Jak smiled, then waggled his finger at her. "That won't work on these guys." he said. "Try some magic this time." Kotoki smiled nervously. "Can't. No energy left." She sighed and swiped at a blue mage half-heartedly again with the herring. "Unless you have another ether you would lend me... I could pay you back after the fight or something..." She winced as the blue mage attacked back at her. "Repayment? Done." said Jak as he tossed his last ether at Kotoki. "Now do something. I can't be bothered waiting 10 minutes for a single battle to finish." Meanwhile, Ash ran towards Stephan, the Broom of Darkness high above his head. "Let's see how powerful you really are!" he shouted, smashing it down on Stephan. "Ugh!" The broom cracked squarely on Stephan's chest, sending him smashing back against the wall. "Damn you. . ." Ash winced. When he had used the power of the Broom. . .it seemed to have sucked a small bit of energy out of him. There was something that just wasn't right about it, but he couldn't place his finger on it. "Why are you doing this?" Ash said, staring down at Stephan. "What does all of this bloodshed accomplish?" --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/3/04 11:05 pm Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 648 (11/3/04 5:00 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 8 - Two Deaths and Some Foreshadowing At a nearby mountain, surrounded by strange dark clouds which crackled with thunder, inside a temple, the Cult of Broomada could be seen on their knees, bowing in homage to a strange monument of some kind. A lone figure, his form hidden by a thick black robe, watches as the airship approaches their site of worship. "It comes..." said the mysterious figure... "Soon, that fool and his mystical assistant will bring us everything we need to fulfill the prophecy. And then we shall get rid of them..." **** Kelan and Peach scrambled around the battlefield, trying to get towards the door. "The DemonBeast has to be somewhere around here. . ." Kelan muttered, his eyes flitting about. "We have to stop them before they summon it! The results could be disastrous." Meanwhile, Kotoki unleashed her magic upon Stephan. "I've never tried this before. . ." she muttered. "So I don't know what it'll do!" She held out her hands in front of her, and summoned her power inside. As she did so, a large, green string bean flew from her hands, and slammed into Stephan's face. "What the hell was that?!" Stephan yelled, turning in the direction the flying string bean had come from. "This is getting ridiculous. Midoku? How much longer until the summoning is finished?!" "It's coming!" Midoku shouted. "The mages are still in the process of summoning it. It could be about 10 more minutes!" "That Darkblade guy better not have been lying. . ." Stephan said, holding the Obake Spear in front of him protectively. "Darkblade?" Ash said, looking over to Midoku. "What does he have to do with this?!" "He gave us the incantation for summoning the DemonBeast. . .the ultimate cultivation of demonic summong." he said. "Once it gets here, you're all toast!" "Oh just great..." Jak groaned, realizing that the string bean attack had brought them onto the airship, "I decide to do one nice thing for this decade and give you the ether you wanted, and you summon a STRING BEAN!? Do you know how many Fire 3 spells I could've cast on these idiots with that MP?!?" "Shut up!" Kotoki yelled at him. "It was the best I could do in the situation!" Jak turned to Midoku. "Ah, the epic final battle." Jak mused. "It always boils down to this. We have some half-witted evil warrior and his mage hench-git." He cracked his knuckles. "Well, time to get to business, pay or none, the villain must go down and I want a piece of it." Jak turned to Midoku. "Lacky! I challenge you to a duel. Stand aside and let us face each other in combat!" yelled Jak as he prepared his one-shot trick behind his back. "...what did you call me?!" Midoku snarled at Jak. "I think he called you a 'Lacky'," Stephan commented, "Which is true when you think about it, since I get to be your boss, and you do whatever I say, so when I ask you to jump, you answer..." "LOOK, DANIEL'S GIVING YOU THE FINGER!!!" Midoku shouted, pointing behind Stephan. "What?!?!" He turned around, Obake Spear at the ready. "YOU BASTARD, NOW YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!!!" Stephan yelled as he charged toward Daniel and the others for another round of battle. Midoku sighed, grabbing his forehead in annoyance, "One of these days I have to remind myself why I put up with him..." He turned to the psychotic mage who dared to call him a lacky. "Now where were we. . ." Midoku sneered, as he prepared his own attack against Jak. "Just one thing, you don't happen to have any amulets of protection or special garments on you?" mused Jak as he contomplated his move, bracing slightly for an attack. Midoku smirked, "Well, why don't you cast away and find out? Allow me to start...Aero!!!" A large, swirling wind filled the area around Jak, tossing him around the room like a ragdoll until he slammed into the side wall. "Not bad, eh?" Midoku said, taunting the mage. Had he known Jak Snide before today, he would have realized that was a big mistake... **** "... urgh.." End's eyelids flickered as he awoke to the grim reality of a hellish headache. "Agh.. damnit.." With a murmured curse, End got up onto his feet, his tail shaking unsteadily.. but he managed to regain all of his balanace.. to notice that his armor was fully mended and all of his wounds were gone.. "Woah... cool." The Dragoon smirked to himself, standing up all the way straight. Then he noticed the amulet around his neck, sparkling in the rays of the Sun. "Eh? I remember this...it's...ugly." End tossed the amulet over his neck, and began to head out of the cave. "Everything should be more or less died down by now." He was intent on heading back to the Doman castle, and getting to the bottom of this matter. **** Kotoki and Molokidan stood on the sidelines, watching Jak get up from Midoku's attack. "Go Jak, Go!" they cheered overzealously. Jak decided it was do or die. He'd been saving this little magical device for a while, mainly because it was too useful to waste. He smashed the orb behind his back onto the ground, a brief aura of 8 colours surounding him, and leaving a slight lining to his figure. Combined with the fact that he knew he'd be dead in 3 seconds if he didn't do something, he poured all his remaining mental and physical power into a a technique previously unatainable to him. "OMNI-FLARE!" he screamed, magical energy flying forth from his fingers, slamming into the Blue Wizard. Midoku was hit by the immense blast hard, sending him flying through the ship's wall into the next chamber. Before the smoke could clear, Jak dropped to the ground into a pool of his blood, right on death's doorstep. **** "Helllllooooooooooo?" End called out, strolling into the Castle. He Jumped inwards and smacked into a wall by accident, careening into another wall in the inner courtyard. "Yow.." End shook his head woozily. "Gotta work on my aim.." End recovered and started walking about again, scoping the castle around him, and wondering where all the guards were.. "Hey you! Stop right there!" Ah.. there they were. End turned to the guards swiftly. The first guard held a rather large sword in his meaty fists. "I know who you are, Dragoon! You shouldn't have come here.." Before the guard could say another word, End casted Quake. One of the guards tumbled into the crack in the planet's crust, but the other two dodged aside the opening. "Get him!!" End Jumped over the Guards, but one of them sliced at his leg, and the armor on his leg fell to pieces. Slightly thrown off course, End slammed into the ground. "Ugh!" The guards rushed back to attack him, and End quickly reached into his inventory. "Take this Bomb Fragment.. agh!" It slammed into one of the guards and exploded, stunning the two of them long enough for End to return to a stance on his feet. One of the guards suddenly tossed his axe into End's shoulder, opening up a huge gash. "Gahh!!" End snarled and tossed the axe back, and it landed chestdeep in the guard who originally threw it. This guard, naturally, fell dead. Reshiki turned to the last guard. "You gonna run?" The guard sneered at him. "From trash like you? Not a chance. I'm not going to allow scum like you to interefere with Doma.. TRANSFORM!" The guard's form began to glow, and then burst apart as a gigantic lupine creature lunged forward. And the fight started, with the Werewolf slamming both claws into End's chest. End, in turn, flew back into the castle wall behind him, sending debris flying. End groaned, beginning to bleed slightly. "... ugh.." Retaliating, he did a final fanatastic jump, slamming into the werewolf and sending it reeling. Falling off from the werewolf, End quickly slashed the next guard, sending him out of comission as well. But now the werewolf didn't wait much longer, and slammed into End, slicing relentlessly at him. "Aw, crap-" End turned around just in time to see his demise. **** 'Damn, damn, damn, damn...' Daniel though to himself, as he watched Stephan land another attack on his comrades. Christydia was obviously getting weary from protecting the others and fighting Stephan at the same time, and Ash, having the power of both the broom, was the only one still standing. 'I can't just lay here doing nothing... but I don't have any strength left...' Daniel thought as he tried to find enough strength to stand, and promptly fell to the floor again. 'What can I do? They've already defeated Jak, Kotoki and Molokidan are being overwelmed by the mages, and it looks like Ash might. . .might be. . .IF ONLY I COULD GET THE F*$#% UP...' Suddenly, Daniel heard the sound of a glass vial cracking open over his head. A strange liquid fell upon him, giving strenght back to his weary body. Daniel brought himself up, and saw the source of the substance which covered him. A small girl with pointed ears and orarge, almost peach-like colored hair was already getting another vial ready for Jak, while her male companion keeping Midoku distracted. "Now go, and help your friends..." Peach told him, flashing him a quick smile. "...Thank you..." Daniel told her, not knowing how to show her his gratitude. "But are you sure you'll be Ok?" "Don't worry about us," Kelan told Daniel, "We're not alone, and neither are you. Your friends need you, and you need them... remember that..." "I will, please be careful..." Daniel told her, and soon he was off to help his comrades. "We *WILL* prevail..." He told himself..."Somehow I know we have to prevail... no matter what..." *** End Reshiki found himself floating in the clouds. "What the. . .who took me here?" "I did." an old man said, appearing before the moogle. "Who are you?" "I am the old man of the clouds. I resurrect both light warriors and potential light warriors so they can continue their quests from an earlier prepositioned point." "So why don't you help me fight those guards?" End Reshiki asked bluntly. "I can't do that." "Why not?" "Union rules. Anyway, I'm here to inform you of what's going on." the old man digressed. "What do you mean? I'm being chased by Doman guards for no reason." End Reshiki shrugged. "Ignorance is bliss." the old man sighed. "Where should I start? There is a battle going on that may or may not determine the fate of the world." End Reshiki shrugged yet again. "And why should I care?" --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:01 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 649 (11/3/04 5:02 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 9 - The Broom of Darkness Outside the of the airship, the sky turned black and thundered as rain poured down. The waters over the lands turned a blood red, as if the all the people who died had their blood thrown into them. The vegitation in the lands dried up like the world sucked them of their life, and the people of the land watched in horror as this happened. Inside the airship, Stephan continued fighting Ash. "Stop, please stop it!" cried Christydia, as she was thrown another time to the floor which was covered in her own blood. Stephan pushed her aside. "Fine. I have no use for you anyway." "Ash, I'll love you forever....." Christydia whispered as she blacked out. **** Dark Fanrico watched the Cult of Broomada in baited anticipation. "NOW!!! IT IS TIME!!!" he hollered. The rifts of time and space opened. Everyone on the ship who wasn't unconscious stopped and stared.. Ash grabbed his forehead as if in extreme pain. A small column of fire appeared before all the warriors. And from that column, appeared a firey figure. Ash was on the ground writhing in pain. The flaming figure took shape. . .a shape that no one was ready for. The person looked like Ash but had firey red eyes, and stark white hair. His armor was pitch black and his beard was shaved haphazardly. Christydia opened her eyes, jerked awake from her slumber. She knew who he was. Memories of the Dark Being emerging from the crater not too long ago, his climactic battle with DarkBlade, but the thing she had remembered most... were his eyes. His firery, souless, demonic eyes. "Who in the blue hell are you?" asked Jak. The evil Ash looked at Snide. "YoUr WoRsT nIgHtMaRe..." said Dark Fanrico. Christydia was shaking violently, as the evil Ash finally noticed her. "Ah, If It IsN't ChRiStYdIa... LoNg TiMe No SeE." he hissed. Ash Fanrico got backup from the ground. "Who are you?" he asked the Evil Clone. "I'm you." he smirked, drop kicking Ash in the chin, sending him flying backwards. Dark Fanrico watched his counterpart fall to the floor in pain, and turned to the rest of the group. "Any other takers?" he asked, reaching for the Broom of Darkness. Kotoki and Molokidan blinked, and tossed their popcorn to the side. "What the. . .?" Noticing Jak, Kotoki ran over to his side and knelt. "Jak! Hey! Jak! You're alive, right? I mean... you can't die! You're too evil to die! I owed you money! You're gonna let me get away with owing you money?" She started to cry. "I mean... everything's a total mess and I hardly know what's happening anymore... My inn's destroyed and Ash is hurt and everybody's... But you're just... you... you're snotty and evil and maniacal and you don't die!" A shadow fell onto Molokidan, and she looked up in shock. "Hello, little one." cackled Dark Fanrico. "Your heart. . .it's so pure. I want to corrupt it." he smirked, moving closer to the 14-year old boy. Ash heard a scream. It was the young boy from the Inn. He needed help, but those punches that Ash had received were like being hit by blacksmith anvils. And yet he had to fight on. He drifted off into memories. Memories... of Christydia, sitting next to the ocean, smiling her warmest smile. His next memory was when he first met Daniel Hyral. They helped him save Christydia. They had no reason to... but just did. He had to repay them. He drifted off further...He was in an open field. Christydia was next to him, hugging him. Daniel was walking towards them. Just then darkness fills the skies, and out of nowhere comes a dark figure from the distance. In the blink of an eye he's behind Daniel. He grabs Daniel by the throat with one hand, and punches a hole through his back. Christydia tries to run, but the evil creature catches up to her and... Ash tries to do something but he can't.... Molokidan's scream echoes through his mind. The Dark Creature turns around, he has Christydia in his arms. He's cackling a devilish laugh. Anger builds up in Ash... as he struggles to get up. "I'll save you for later. . ." Dark Fanrico smiled, as he let Molokidan's unconscious body out of his grasp and drop to the floor. He then turned his attention to the Dark Knight and his Mystical partner. "So, you are the ones I have to thank for all this..." Dark Fanrico said. "Who the hell are you?!" Stephan demanded, keeping his spear drawn out in front of him. "And what do you think you're doing just barging onto my ship like this?" "It's quite simple really, I'm the one you two fools have been working for..." Dark Fanrico said with a menacing grin. "What are you talking about?" Midoku demanded, keeping his hand ready to draw his dagger, "We were sent by the Cult of Broomada..." "..To retrieve the spear and amulet for their annual ritual, correct?" Dark Fanrico gloated, pointing to Stephan's weapon. "Yeah, they said we would receive the secret to constructing the blue mages once we brought them the items..." Stephan pointed out, "What does this have to do with you?" "Ah yes, *MY* loyal followers have done well..." Dark Fanrico said, "You see... I am the one who gave them the ability to make those mages in the first place. In fact, their elder was very reluctant to help you, after the genius here called him 'The Dark Dude', wasn't he?" "...?! How did you know that?" Midoku demanded. "You weren't even there when it happened, the only person in the room with us was..." "Then perhaps you'll reconize this?" He said, his form slowy changing. He took on the appearance of a formless figure, dressed in a heavy dark robe... Stephan and Midoku both stared at Dark Fanrico in shock, realizing that he was the elder who sent them to Doma. "...Y ...YOU USED US!!!" Stephan gasped to Dark Fanrico. He suddenly felt his spear being pulled out of his grip by an unknown force, which brought the spear into Dark Fanrico's hands. "Now that I have this spear, my quest for god-hood is nearing it's end. And... I no longer have a use for you too..." YOU LYING SON OF A B#$?!!!" Stephan yelled, charging forward with his dark sword aimed at Dark Fanrico's head. However, Ash's evil counterpart easily stopped Stephan in place with his dark power, and knocked the knight across the room. "MASTER!!" Midoku yelled, running over to check on Stephan, "Are you Ok?!" "Owww... flying without wings is NOT fun..." Stephan groaned. "I don't know where the amulet is. . ." Dark Fanrico smirked. "Which is of no matter. If the DemonBeast eventually IS summoned. . .I'll kill it myself. With THIS." Dark Fanrico crossed the Dark Broom and the Spear of Obake in front of him, and began to channel a massive amount of dark energy into the place the two weapons met. From the amount of power being gathered, it was clear that neither of them would survive this attack. As he prepared to strike, Midoku looked to his leader. He had just enough magic to teleport one person away. The other *might* have a chance of surviving the attack, but it was unlikely. Midoku tried to think of all the reasons why he should just save himself and say the hell with Stephan... After all, he thought, this is the one who never paid attention to his brilliant schemes, the one who foolishly charged in without any kind of plan... ...the one who saved him and has been by his side all this time... He turned to his superior. "Stephan... did you ever wonder why I never left your side, even after all your failed attempts at world domination?" "Uh... sometimes I guess..." Stephan stammered, a bit surprised by the question at a time like this, "Why are you bringing this up now?" "I need to tell you something." Midoku said, bringing himself closer to the confused Dark Knight, "You may not be the brightest person in the world, but you never give up on something you believe in. That determination is what saved me so long ago, and that's why I had to stay by your side, and protect you..." he placed his hand onto Stephan's face. "Promise me you'll always keep that dedicated spirit..." "Midoku, what are you...?" "...goodbye..." he wispered, as his spell sent Stephan out of harm's way. Stephan landed with a thud next to Daniel, as Christydia was slowly coming back into conciousness. "Brother?! How did you get over here?" Daniel demanded. Christydia's eyes shot wide open when she saw the Dark Knight sitting nearby. Stephan, however, was too busy looking around frantically to notice, "Midoku? Where are you!?" he shouted, trying to get his bearings. The trio were then blinded by a bright flash of light. A loud explosion could be heard, as Stephan finally traced it back to Dark Fanrico's attack making contact with it's target. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Stephan screamed as he saw his partner's form slowly fade away into the intense light, "MIDOKU!!!!" "Oh my god..." Daniel said, as Christydia gripped his arm in horror at the sight before them, and screamed. But they were not the only ones screaming. Suddenly feeling a horrible jolt of pain, Dark Fanrico threw the Broom of Darkness away from him, staring at it in shock. "AUUUGHH!!" he shouted, stumbling backwards. "For the last time, put me down!" a voice came, surprisingly, from the Broom itself. Dark Fanrico stared at the weapon in disbelief. "Yeah, I can talk. Ash Fanrico!" the voice boomed. "Get the hell up and help your friends, shit for brains!" Ash snapped back from unconsciousness, following the orders of the new voice speaking to him. "Damn runic weapon. . ." Dark Fanrico mumbled. "That's right, dumbass." The Broom of Darkness spoke again. "There's no way I would allow myself to be wielded by the likes of you. I've choosen Ash as my master, so you better get ready for a SERIOUS ass kicking!" Ash grasped the Broom of Darkness, and its power radiated through him, refreshing him and pulling him to his feet. "First I'll take care of your friends, Ashy-boy." the Broom mused, as a deep blue light radiated around the room, bringing everyone, including Stephan, back to consciousness. The Broom of Darkness spoke again. "You people would be better off in the distance." And with that, the entire room was vacated, except for the two Fanricos. The Broom of Darkness continued glowing, pulsating in Ash's grip. "Time to finish this." "This is impossible!" Dark Fanrico screamed. "You're a hero and a human. You can't use spells of this type!! Darkblade. . ." he gritted his teeth. "I'm going to kill that bastard next!" "Unholy Ultima!" Ash shouted, holding the Broom of Darkness in front of him. "Oh. . .fu--" Dark Fanrico was unable to finish his sentence, as he was enveloped in light. **** Everyone woke up in different locations, strewn around the ruins of Doma. Apparently, the Broom of Darkness's teleporting spell wasn't too keen on the accuracy aspect. Daniel pulled himself up, staring at the beacon of light radiating from the airship. "What. . .what is going on there?" he wondered out loud. Suddenly, the airship exploded. "Ash!!" Christydia cried out, from a different place. Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her. "Yes, honey?" She turned around, to see her lover standing straight behind him. "That sucked." the Broom of Darkness scoffed. "Next time we do that, I'm gonna just leave you there." "Whatever you say, pal." Ash said, still marvelling at the situation. "Who are you talking to, Ash?" Christydia asked, looking at her hero with big blue eyes. "That's not important now." Ash said, looking around. "We need to get everyone regrouped, and go stop that ritual." "What?" Christydia asked. "There's no time." Ash stared at the horizon, a maniacal look in his eyes. "Come on." **** "This blows!" Dark Fanrico shouted, hitting his head against the limits of limbo. "That Darkstone is the cause of all of this." he grumbled. "Oh well, at least I managed to recover the Obake Spear." he held it in his hands. "I must obtain that power. Then my master plans will come true." With the flick of his wrist, he ripped a fabric through the barrier of limbo with the Obake Spear. "As easy as taking candy from a baby. . ." he snickered. "They don't know that I've just begun to fight." **** Ash, Christydia, Daniel, Stephan, Jak, and Kotoki left the ruins of Doma far behind, seeking sanctuary in the nearby town of Kokuu. They had tried to regroup as many people as possible, but had eventually given up due to exhaustion, and retired at a nearby inn. Christydia was feeling uneasy with this newer Ash. She felt as if her old Ash was being taken away from her. She kept her distance from Ash the whole trip to the temple of that Cult. Ash realized this. His inner selves were in conflict. He felt as though he was being taken over. He sensed Christydia's uneasiness. "Snap outta it!" said the Broom of Darkness. "You shut up!" replied Ash. Christydia just stared at him. Ash didn't pay attention to it. "Ash. . .why are you so different?" Christydia spoke out loud, to no one in particular. Ash felt as though his mind was being ripped apart. What will become of him and Christydia? What will happen to him if he continually uses this new Broom? The two lay in bed, and soon drifted off to sleep. Ash awoke to hear Christydia crying, she was out in a nearby garden in the village. Christydia remembered her dream during unconsciousness. She was about to be married to the man of her dreams. Now it seemed like that same man was being taken away from her. Ash walked up to the garden. But before he could take even one step into that garden, he was in a different place. Standing in front of him was the BoD. "What the hell are you doing Ash?" asked the runic broom. "The woman I love is crying cause of what's happening to me, cause of what you're doing to me!" replied Ash. "Listen, asswipe! I'm the one who saved your pathetic ass back there, so don't piss me off!" snapped the Broom. "I want things to be back to normal!" screamed Ash. "Sorry chuckles, but things aren't going to be normal for a while." hissed the broom. Ash awoke in his bed. Christydia was still in the garden, crying. Ash reluctantly and very regrettfully fell asleep hearing his loved one weep. **** Jak woke up in the middle of the night. He looked down at his robes. "Stained with blood...damnit, thats the last time I over exert myself." He stared at himself in a cracked mirror. 'Who am I kiding?' he thought to himself. He knew perfectly well that he'd sacrifice his physical frame eagerly to attain new levels of power. Luckily for him someone had been kind enough to heal him. Kind. Nobody had been kind to him before. He treated people like shit and they did likewise. It was the way things were. Yet back at the castle someone had healed him. And then, he had, out of the kindness of his heart, healed Kotoki. . . Jak rolled over in bed. "Whats becoming of me? Am I going to become a weak, sappy, emotionaly dependant person again?" Again...Jak purged all his unwanted memories from his mind. He did not want to deal with them now, or ever again. He rolled over to face the wall and tried to go back to sleep. He couldn't, though. He wasn't comfortable with the current events. Stephan should not be alive. When sombody tries to kill you its customary to kill them first. So why did Daniel insist on keeping him alive? He was at the most threat from him. And who was this 'Dark Fanrico'? Some magical experiment gone wrong? Still, he seemed like he knew alot of powerful black magic. Much could be learnt from him. He could join him... Jak shook his head. That wasn't an option. He was never someones lacky. Partner and companion yes, but never a lacky. Jak wished he could stop thinking and go back to sleep. He wished a white mage would cast a sleep spell on him. But wasn't he healed? That meant a white mage must be around. Nothing like a quick spell to cure insomnia. He hopped out of bed and went looking for a white mage. **** Kotoki thrashed violently in her sleep. "NO!" she screamed. "You... you can't-" She woke up and promptly slapped herself. "Oh, great." she muttered. "It's starting again... damn. Thought it might actually skip over this time... Why's it always have to be *me*? Jidai never complained about it, and he was... a lot stronger than me, for that matter." She got out of bed, slipping her clothes on as fast as possible. "We didn't find Molokidan back there. . ." she said. "It's really worrying me. He won't be able to survive out there all by himself." She took a quick peek down both ends of the hallways. "Guess I'd better go. They're all very nice people... I'm sure they don't need an extra problem on their hands." She tiptoed downstairs praying that none of the others were awake yet. **** Upon entering his room, Daniel saw Stephan sitting by the window, holding his knees close to his chest and staring blankly at the full moon. After much arguing with Jak and the others, they had agreed not to kill Stephan on the spot and decided to let Daniel keep an eye on him. 'I should be furious with him... it's his fault we're all in this mess...' Daniel thought for a moment. 'If he hadn't agreed to go on that stupid mission... If he hadn't run away from home all those years ago... If he hadn't decided to become a Dark Knight...' Daniel couldn't stay upset with him though, not after what happened today. He thought back to the encounter on the airship, when Stephan kept screaming Midoku's name even after they had been sent away by Darkblade. 'I haven't heard Stephan scream like that since the day... the day we found out father died... They must have been, really close...' As much as Daniel wanted to keep torturing himself over the events of his life, he felt his tired body begging for him to go to bed. "Stephan, I'm going to bed now. Just let me know if you need anything, Ok?" His brother continued to stare blankly out the window. "Even if you just want to talk, I don't mind you waking me up. It's been so long since you and I have just 'talked', without yelling at each other..." Stephan didn't move a muscle. "Good night, brother." Daniel said, as he layed back in bed and closed his eyes. And as he drifted off to sleep, his own nightmare began to creep into his dreams... **** As the darkness of the night approached, Folx, Cantor, Kira, and Lance made their way into the ruins of Doma. "I know he's in here. . ." Cantor spoke. "I just have that feeling." "I agree with you." Folx said. "This is the place that it should end, anyway." And there he was. End Reshiki, lying in a small ditch, apparently asleep. They had come all this way, suffered all these hardships. . .and there he was. Sleeping silently, like a baby. Lance drew his spear. "Well, I guess this is it. . ." he said. "Wait!" it was a voice from the entrance to the castle. An elf came running up to the foursome, panting. "Please. . .don't kill him." Kelan begged. Peach joined up with him, not a moment later, breathing heavily. "If he dies. . .so does our world." Lance cocked an eyebrow, spinning around. "Tell me more." --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:27 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 650 (11/3/04 5:03 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 10 - Late Night Drinking and Nightmares "No... leave me alone!!" Daniel was running, he didn't know where to or who from. All he knew was that he had to keep running. "DANIEL... " eerie voices called out to him, "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT..." "NOOO!!! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" He yelled back, pushing the tangle tree branches out of his way, continuing to run through the dark forest. He suddenly came to an impassable grove of trees, with no way out but the way he came. As Daniel turned around, he finally saw the forms of the voices which persued him... It was Ash, Christydia, and Stephan. And they were all dead. All their clothes we dirty and torn, and their weapons were all tattered and broken. Their skin had patches of decay all over. Christydia was missing half the flesh on her head, Ash had one eye that was hanging out of it's socket, and Stephan was missing his lower jaw. "It's all your fault, Daniel..." Ash gurgled, lurching forward using his cobweb covered broom for support. "You weren't strong enough to do anything..." "It's your fault I'll never hold Ash in my arms again..." Christydia gasped, one of her decaying arms falling to the ground as she continued toward him. "Now you must pay..." "It's your fault I'll never find true happiness..." Stephan told him, reaching to his side and drawing his dark sword. "It's all your fault Midoku is dead..." "It's all your fault..." The corpses said in unison. Daniel had never been so terrified in his life. He didn't know what to do. He dropped down to his knees, tears beginning to form in his eyes. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... **** "Damnit..." Stephan said out loud, finally breaking his long silence for the evening. He stood up and began pacing in front of the window. He had spent most of the night watching the moon, which reminded him of the day he met Midoku, and all of their adventures together... He knew if he didn't talk about it with someone, it would drive him insane. And there was only one person on this planet who'd lend him an ear. "Damnit..." Stephan said again, and walked over to bring Daniel out of his slumber. "Ok bro, I give, let's chat." He shook Daniel to wake him up, but all he got out of him was a groan. "It figures," Stephan said, "you say you'll be there for me, and all you can do is snooze..." "AAAARRRGGGHHH!!" Daniel suddenly screamed. "What the hell?" Stephan yelled. Suddenly, a large gash appeared on Daniel's face, fresh blood slowly starting to pour out of it. "Oh shit, Daniel it's time to get up!!" Stephan told Daniel, knowing that something was terribly wrong. "No... Please... ASH... CHRISTYDIA... STEPHAN..., please..." Daniel pleaded in his sleep, tears seeping out of his eyes "I'm sorry... don't kill me, please... I'm so sorry..." Daniel groaned, his face in pain and covered in sweat. "This isn't good..." Stephan said to himself. He knew someone or something had to be behind this. But.. why the hell did he care anyways? He and Daniel had never been able to get along for long periods of time, and the Paladin had a bad habit of foiling any plans he had. He should just let whatever was messing with Daniel's dream and walk away from him, this inn, and everything else that had happened today. ...but he couldn't. He couldn't just forget about everything he and Midoku had gone through together, and even he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to Daniel and he did nothing about it. "I know we'll probably end up fighting again the next time we meet..." He recalled Daniel telling him once a long time ago, "but if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm always available." "Why would wanna talk to me?" Stephan asked him. "I know you hate what I am and what I do, why would you ever want to speak to me?" "Because..." Daniel told him, smiling, "your my brother... that's all that matters..." "No matter how much we despised each other, you'd always tell me that after we fought..." Stephan remembered. He got up from the bed and knew what he had to do. He left the room to go in search of help. "...what have you done to me, Midoku? Now I'm just as sentimental as you..." Stephan asked himself as he went to find someone willing to listen to him... **** Christydia was in still in the garden. She couldn't sleep at all. Her memory of all the things that happened that morning. Her dream she had while unconcious, filled her with hope of making it to the end with Ash and seeing her dream come true. Now because of the Broom of Darkness, it was all gone. To make things worse, the evil Dark Fanrico was back. She was very angry at how everything had turned out. Her Ash was being taken away from her, she hadn't fulfilled her father's promise, Dark Fanrico could return anytime, and everyone's in a bad mood from various things that had happened before. Kotoki came outside to see what Christydia was doing, since she saw Ash leave then come back. "Hi Christydia, what's the matter?" asked the Inkeeper. "I... I just want Ash back to normal." said Christydia as she started to sob. "Calm down Christydia, we'll get him back eventually. But right now we need him if we're going to run into Dark Fanrico again." said Kotoki in a soothing voice. **** Dark Fanrico stepped out of the portal, appearing in a vast canyon area just north of Doma. "Well, time to go to the Cult of Broomada. Cause that's obviously where Ash and his newfound friends are going to go. So in a few hours the Broom of Darkness and Darkstone will be mine." said the demonic clone as he started off. **** Ash was having another dream. He was with Christydia, they were back at Kotoki's inn. They were sharing a bed, and enjoying themselves. Just then the door got kicked down. In the doorway was Ash himself, but he was dressed in a black armor, holding the Broom of Darkness. The Black Armor Ash grabs Christydia and right before regular Ash's eyes, sets Christydia on fire. "NOOOOO!!! STOP IT!!" he screamed in his sleep. He awoke in a pool of sweat. He got out of bed. He went downstairs, and out the door, towards the nearest pub. **** The summoning was finished. The cult members stepped back from the enormous hand-crafted summoning portal, and watched the DemonBeast come to life. It had 4 long, purple wings that came out of its massive back. Its fur was dark blue, and it had two dark yellow eyes, and a huge, gaping mouth. Three tails flicked behind it. As it materialized out of the summoning device, it found its form too huge to stay inside the small back room of the temple. As the summoning finished, the DemonBeast crashed through the wall, flying out into the sky and away from those who had called it. It was searching. . .for something. . .someone. . . **** Folx & co. just stood there. End, of course, didn't move either. They stood there, in silence. Eventually, Lance broke the long period. ". . .come again?" "That's all the old man told me." Kelan said. "He's a part of our world's destiny. Didn't you notice that amulet he has on?" Cantor looked at End. "What?! That's... that's..." **** The Old Man and End had been arguing for nearly an hour in the mystic realm where RPG characters hang between life and death. "Listen, you little punk." the old man spat out. "You NEED to care about what's going on. This situation involves many people, and whether or not you can contribue to the battle, you must try to make your own mark on the situation. " "And.. I should care why? I have no close connections with any of them. I'm a loner. I fight alone, I train alone." "Maybe you'll realize EVENTUALLY what you need to do.." the old man said, enuciating every word to perfection. "For now, I will leave you to your rather self-righteous attitude." And so, End Reshiki returned to consciousness. Lance stared down at the moogle, and the moogle stared up at Lance. "... and.. who are you?" His tail flitted about suspiciously, scrambling for his spear. "I'm Lance." Lance said, not loosening his grip on his own weapon. "I was sent to kill you. And just before I was going to do so, and end this stupid mission, I was told by a friend that you were going to decide the fate of the world, or something along those lines." "Uh, Lance," said Folx, "What are you doing?" "What? I thought you were the party's leader." Lance snapped his head around, obviously irritated. "I'm turning command over to you." Folx said meekly. "You seem to know a lot more about what's going on." "...okay then." Lance grumbled, swerving back around to face End. "Al. . .right," responded End, reminded of the Old Man, "if I'm supposed to help save the world, where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? I'm not doing much here beyond considering robbing the Doman castle." A smile spread across Cantor's face. "Who says we can't pillage the castle? We could just say we needed the stuff for our quest here." Peach looked sidelong at Cantor. "We might not have time. The DemonBeast might already be summoned, or could be being summoned as we speak." "DemonBeast?" everyone said simultaneously. "I can't remember exactly what it's called," Peach said. ". . .but it's capable of mass destruction beyond what you'd think anything can do. We might want to find where all the other people chasing you went. . ." ". . .Or, we could head towards that mountain." Kelan spoke up, pointing towards a tall mountain on the nightline. "That's where I was given the amulet that you wear right now, End. The old man there might be able to tell us more about what's going on and about the amulet's power." "....... this sounds familiar." End muttered. "Well, whatever you guys wanna do is fine. As long as I get some cash. I'm not free, y'know." He looked at the small group around him, and sneered slightly. "After all, I'm a good guy, but I don't sacrifice my life for nothin'." "Y'know, Lance, there's a storeroom not far from here." Folx pointed to the direction of the storehouse. "I guess we can take some treasure from that room, but we can't waste any time sarching the castle, alright? Hey End, we'll pay you with what's in the storehouse." "I'll need a few ethers," said Cantor. "I'll take any arrows or bullets," claimed Folx. "I want some ethers and potions, as well as a new staff, if there are any in there," was Kira's claim to the room. "I don't really want anything from there, so you can have everything that they haven't claimed, yet." Lance muttered unenthusiastically. "Okay.. that's cool. I'll take any gold, jewels, or scrolls in there, kay?" End murmured as he looked off in the distance, slightly troubled. Another threat to the world? How many of these were really necessary? He shivered a bit, and then realized that it was happening again. He began to panic a bit, and looked towards the others fearfully, hoping they hadn't noticed any changes. "We must catch up to the others, now." Kelan said, bowing to the five. "We wish you good luck in your journeys. Come, Peach." And the two elves left. "Right." Folx nodded. "In any case, our destination is the mountain." The warriorfox said, pointing ahead. **** Ash went into the pub. He sat down at the counter, and waited for the bartender to give him a drink. "What'll be mack?" asked the bartender. "Scotch on the rocks." replied Ash. The bartender went into the back. The door to the pub swung open. There was Kotoki. "Oh Ash! You're here?" she asked. She hadn't figured on this happening. "Shouldn't you be in bed right now?" asked Ash in a cold, calm voice. Kotoki walked up to the counter and sat right next to Ash. "I was about to ask the same to you." replied Kotoki. The bartender returned with Ash's drink. "I'm thinking about leaving the group." said Kotoki. Ash took a sip on his drink. Kotoki now really noticed what Christydia was talking about. Ash looked more pale, more depressed. "Whatever, it's your decision, i'm not stopping you." replied Ash. "You okay, Ash?" asked Kotoki. She now was wondering if this was the same gentleman who had entered her inn so many hours ago. "I'm perfectly fine." snapped Ash. "Everyone seems to be in a bad mood, Ash." said Kotoki. "WELL, I'm Sorry! What'd you expect? Daniel's brother lost a dear friend! Molokidan's dissapeared. Jak's all worried about himself and YOU." yelled Ash in a not-so-heroic tone. "What about Christydia?" asked Kotoki. Ash seemed to calm down. His angry expression faded. "Christydia's worried about me. So am I." replied Ash in a soft tone. "What don't you do something about it?" asked Kotoki. "I can't. I don't know if this "gift" is either truely a gift or a curse. But I need it's power to defeat Dark Fanrico." replied Ash. The whole place was silent then. Kotoki eventually ordered a glass of water as Ash was still sitting there deep in thought. Kotoki drank her water. "Well..." she said. "I don't know if you should be taking my advice, but... Christydia is worried about you, right? She's really worried. And if it's because of that broom... I think you should throw it away. If not now, as soon as possible." She got up, waving a bit. "Bye." She walked out the door, feeling guilty about leaving. **** Jak had wondered off. He had a bad feeling, and it told him not to go to sleep. Something was wrong. "Understatement." he thought. Something is really wrong. "That guy just woke up from a dream with a fatal wound." He was pissed off on two accounts. One; some bastard had magical powere he hadn't even heard of. Two; he could sense the evil. Someone was going to die...he knew these things. It wouldn't be like before, when everyone barely pulled through. There was death in the air and it smelled like a rotting corpse. At times like this there was only one thing to do. He was just about to enter the pub, when he noticed Kotoki leaving. "What are you here for?" he asked in a sullen tone. Kotoki sighed and began to push by Jak. "Last orders before I leave the party. Things are- nevermind. I don't have to explain myself to you. Nice knowing you, I guess." Kotoki was leaving the party. Not a bad idea. But he wasn't leaving. And he didn't want her to leave. 'Time for a bit of black mage charm.' he thought to himself. "Coward." he muttered to Kotoki. "Excuse me?" asked Kotoki angrily. "I'm *not* a coward! You have no idea why I'm leaving, so don't act like you do!" "Well go on, indulge me," sneered Jak. "because if you don't you're going to be remembered as the coward who couldn't take it." Kotoki shurgged and turned to face Jak. "Okay. You want the boring flashback? You get the boring flashback. Sit back and get yourself some beer, this might take a while. I was born into a clan of vampires. One of my ancestors apparently started to procreate normally instead of churning out zombies like most of us do. Anyway. My parents lived a fairly normal life in the city, being as they had made a solemn vow to never bite a human. Yes, I know most people think we die if we can't feed off you, but if we drink animal blood we don't. It's a bit difficult to stick to and you're hungry all the time but it beats having to live with yourself- if killing bothers you, which I'm sure someone like you really couldn't understand. I grew up like a pretty normal girl; I didn't even know I was a vampire until my parents told me. I don't grow fangs unless I make an effort, I can't turn into a bat or a wolf or anything, I can go out in daylight, and my mother managed to slip enough blood into my meals that I never realized most people aren't always starving. I don't like crosses but that's about it. Anyway- about the same time she told me, our city was a bit freaked out. A little girl had told everyone that my brother Jidai bit her and sucked her blood. It's really ironic; my brother was a vampire and the entire town thought he was for the wrong reason. People got hysterical and then angry and then burnt our house down. I think my mother might have been a white mage- she teleported me and my brother out of there before she died. We were seperated and I woke up in Doma with no food and no money. I had this heirloom, right? And I sold it to a collector to get that run down inn and my unknown magical abilities. Unfortunately, the heirloom was actually just a cheap trinket my father had put a spell on so that I wouldn't want human blood. He had really high hopes for me... I'm working now to buy it back and see if my brother survived. None of this would be relevant at all if I didn't have this problem- most of the time I can control myself, but for about a week every other month I can't. And bad things happen. Like PMS, only with everyone involved dying messily and then being sucked dry. And I don't want that to happen to you people. There's Dark Fanrico, Stephan, the DemonBeast...not to mention I endangered my only remaining barkeep. You don't need someone inside the party after you all as well. So I'm going away." Kotoki snarled at Jak. "For that you call me a coward?" Jak had frozen mid-drink after hearing Kotoki's back story. This he had not expected. Maybe this was the death he sensed earlier on. No matter, he had set his mind on keeping Kotoki in the party and he was going to do it. "Fine then, leave. But then what? Are you going to live a happy 'normal' life somewhere else until the urge rises, butcher the locals then flee with tears in you're eyes? You said you could control you'reself 3/4 of the month? Why? If you don't want to kill people you find some random townsperson late at night, smack the sod over the back of the head with that rod of your's and drink a tiny bit of their blood. It keeps you satiated and nobody dies. Look, if you need some damn blood right now you might as well take mine. Better than ending up a messy corpse in my opinion, and if losing a little blood every now and then is what it takes to keep you in check thats fine by me." Jak had rolled back his left sleave, revealing for the first time in a decade some flesh. He looked at Kotoki with more seriousness in his eyes than ever before. "Well, whats it going to be?" "Well..." replied Kotoki. "If you're gonna be so nice about it, I can't really refuse. Her canines grew long and pointed, and she tentatively bit into Jak's arm. Jak was slightly suprised by this. He'd been entertaining the notion that Kotoki wasn't really a vampire and she'd just said that as an excuse. Well, considering how she was drinking his life blood away and he was starting to feel faint he was wrong. He hoped she knew when to stop. "What the hell are you two doing?" asked the barman in a strange tone. 'Fork!' Jak thought as he remembered they WERE in a pub. "Uhh...she's really drunk and she's got a fetish for arms. Yeah...thats it. Arm fetish." The barman gave his a strange look. "Talk any more about this and you will be cooking on that spit instead of the pig!" he sneered, pointing at the roasting swine with his free arm. The barman took the hint and went off to attend to the other customers. Jak smiled to himself at his dazzling inteligence. Then he noticed his arm had gone pale white. "Uh...Kotoki?" he muttered. "Mmmph?" she replied. "Please get off my arm. Now." Kotoki looked up and grinned. "Tastes like chicken." she said, standing up and stretching. "Okay! Feeling much better now... thank you." Jak looked at his wrist and noticed most of his blood from the region was gone. "How often do you get the munchies?" he inquired. "Well..." mused Kotoki. "I don't know. Maybe... two, three days?" Jak sighed. "Well, this will be interesting." he said. "Come on, let's head back to our rooms. . ." --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:29 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 651 (11/3/04 5:05 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 11 - Stuff Gets Complicated Dark Fanrico walked into the nearby town. The people were going at their usual business, but soon that wouldn't matter. Dark Fanrico walked to the middle of the town. He raised his hand and pointed it at the closest thing he could find, which happened to be a church. His hand started glowing and in a brillant, and impressive show of power shot a large fireball from his hand. The church went up in a spectacular way. The once busy work environment turned to chaos in splitseconds. Dark Fanrico looked towards the clouds and started cackling. **** Ash got up from his seat. Kotoki and Jak were complaining about something to each other and he didn't care. "Whatever." he muttered as he left. He went back to his room and slept. **** The town was a sea of fire. Dark Fanrico was just leaving, when from the other side of town there was a low growl. He spun around. There was a big ugly-looking monster at the other side of the sea of fire that was once a peaceful town. People were running left and right, screaming things like "IT'S HERE!!" or "IT'S TOO LATE!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Dark Fanrico stepped through the town, watching the destruction. And then he saw it, face to face. "You must be that DemonBeast I've heard so much about." said Dark Fanrico. The DemonBeast growled and then let out a deafening roar. "Oh, you want some of me... fine! Come get some!" replied Dark Fanrico. The DemonBeast rushed at him on all fours. Dark Fanrico just slowly strolled. The DemonBeast was foaming at the mouth, and his eyes were going wild as he continued to rush towards the new target. Dark Fanrico laughed. With amazing speed Dark Fanrico rushed at the Beast, and clotheslined him in mid jump. "Don't see why everyone's afraid you, you stupid animal." snarled Dark Fanrico as he drew out the Obake Spear. The DemonBeast got back up. It lunged at Dark Fanrico with its mouthful of teeth wide open. Dark Fanrico shoved his gauntleted arm into the creature's mouth. Then with a simple flick of his otherhand's wrist, he plunged the spear deep into the DemonBeast's heart. "RULE NUMBER ONE!! DON'T TRY TO REPLACE ME AS MAIN VILLAIN!" he yelled as he held the mighty Obake Spear in the Beast's Heart. "RULE NUMBER TWO!! Don't start something you can't finish. Say hello to Oblivion!" said Dark Fanrico as he tore the Obake Spear through the shoulder and chest area of the DemonBeast, killing it instantly. Dark Fanrico turned around, and continued his pilgramage to the Cult of Broomada. **** Peach and Kelan entered the inn just in time to hear Stephan screaming down the hall. They arrived just as he closed the door to his room. Kelan kicked in the door, and Daniel's screams could be heard clearly. Peach ran in screaming, "You monster! How-" She saw Stephan still too far from Daniel to be doing anything. Kelan walked to Peach. "Wake him up, quick!" Peach glowed with a green aura for a second. "Wake!" No effect. "Wake!!" Still, nothing. She concentrated much more energy into this one. "WAKE!!!" Daniel woke up. "Thank you..." said Stephan. "This will take everything I have... I'll need an elixir after this, but here it goes, anyway." She started to glow in a deep green aura. She drew energy from the entire room. "Cure!" Daniel was healed, and Peach fell to the floor. "Peach!" Kelan caught her, and quickly lowered her onto a bed. "I guess I'd better explain this to you two. . ." he started. **** On the hill above Doma, Darkblade felt a prick of energy that alerts him to the event of one of his minions being slain. "MaSterrr darKBlaaddee...." a silhouette of the DemonBeast came floating towards its master, seeking the source of power it was borne from. "This is just great." Darkblade sighed. "He was my most loyal subject. And it took all that time for the Cult to power him up. . .I've just about had enough of this." His hands crackled with purple energy, restoring the DemonBeast's form. "And that's the last time, you hear me? Now get your ass over to the temple and do some protecting." As Dark Fanrico gloated in victory, Darkblade appeared in front of him. "You certainly were careless in revealing your location like that." Darkblade smirked. "Aw, shit." "You needn't worry yourself at the moment, but you will sit and listen to what I have to say." Darkblade approached Ash's counterpart, and enveloped the two in a portal. Darkblade and Dark Fanrico are transported to a room where the latter found himself bound to a chair with some kind of glowing chain. "What are you playing at, Darkblade?" "You have much to learn, my young little darkling." The hulking demon smirked. "I have something to show and tell you." A large crystal appeared in the center of the room. "What is this?" Dark Fanrico grumbled. "Shut the hell up and watch the crystal." The crystal dimmed and clearred to show an image of Ash and company at a tavern. "Just what are you trying to show me, Darkblade?" Dark Fanrico yawned effortlessly. "I hadn't noticed until recently that an unusual side affect of your revival has started to make Ash. . .kind of like you." "He should be so lucky," Dark Fanrico snorted. "but what does that have to do with anything?" "This." Darkblade walked up to Dark Fanrico and slashed him across the shoulder. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" Dark Fanrico growled. "For the second time, shut the hell up and look at the crystal." Dark Fanrico was shocked to see that Ash had suddenly developed the exact same wound on his shoulder. "What the hell is going on Darkblade. . ." Dark Fanrico started at the crystal in shock. "What did you do?" "A remarkable thing has happened, Dark Fanrico. Not only is Ash becoming like you, he is actually turning into you." "This is a bad thing. . .right?" "Depends on how you look at it, I suppose. With the event of your resurrection and my bestowing the Broom of Darkness and Darkstone to Ash, he is transforming into an evil incarnation of himself. That is exactly what you are Dark Fanrico, an evil form of Ash, just a lesser version." "Are you trying to tell me that Ash is becoming a bigger and better Bad Ash than me?" "In a word...." Darkblade rubbed his chin introspectively. "Yes." "But why didn't I feel anything when I was beating his ass down earlier?" Dark Fanrico interjected. "The transformation hadn't fully begun yet." Darkblade explained. "And, the problem for you is that if Ash is allowed to fully transcend into his darker form....he will absorb you." "That dosen't sound too bad," Dark Fanrico considered. "I'd become a part of am extremely powerful being then, right?" "Not exactly." Darkblade held up a clawed finger. "You'd join him, but everything that you are now would be erased. You are merely a very small part in comparison to the whole that is Ash Fanrico." "I'd never go without a fight, and since we can't hurt the other without hurting ouselves. . .we can't kill each other." Dark Fanrico said, dawning on an idea. "Wrong again. To tell you the truth, the transformation began at the exact moment before Ash casted the Unholy Ultima spell." "You mean to say that if he uses the Broom of Darkness on me, it won't hurt himself." "Correct." Dark Fanrico frowned. "Then I'll just kill myself to kill him." "Are you sure about what you're saying? If Ash were to die than any hopes of you ever coming back would be nil." Dark Fanrico clenched his fists, growing tired of Darkblade's games. "Then just what the fuck am I supposed to do?!" "You're asking for my help?" Darkblade grinned. "I.. don't know. Wait just a minute here, you could just revive him if he dies, though." "Haven't you been paying attention? Look at what he is becoming and how tainted his soul is now. If he dies, then he's gonna be on the express airship to hell, most likely to become a demon knight or mabey even a general for an army down there, while your pathetic self would be cast into a pit." "You never stop to make my existence a living hell, do you Darkblade?" Dark Fanrico asked, with no sarcasm whatsoever. "It was an accident that his happened, and nobody asked you to revive yourself. I must admit though. . .that I wouldn't have expected you to learn so much from your last encounter." "Now what are you babbling about?!" Dark Fanrico shouted. "I'm just complementing you on the torture you've been giving the party of 'heros' recently in their sleep. I didn't think anyone could learn to use Nightbane magic so quickly, especially in limbo. Dream walking is a very powerful and useful technique to use on your enemies." Darkblade decreed. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, Darkblade. From the moment you defeated me back there, I've done nothing but remain in suspended animation until I had the chance to revive myself." "That's odd. Then who could have done such a thing to my friend Ash and his friends?" Darkblade stared at Dark Fanrico for a moment, saying nothing. "Anyway, I'm going to let you go now. . .and I hope for your sake that nothing happens to Ash." "Wait Darkblade tell me more about--" Dark Fanrico suddenly found himself in the burning willage he just left with the Obake Spear in his hand. "This is impossible!" Dark Fanrico shouted, for the second time that night. "How can I kill that upstart Ash without endangering my own life?! Hmm....Wait a minute...the Darkstone of course. It's whats turning Ash into me no doubt. That broom is just a runic weapon and wouldn't have that kind of affect on him. Besides, who ever heard of combining a human with a Darkstone. . .That Darkblade is either insane or a brillant dark magic scientist. Be that as it may I must remove the darkstone from his forehead and break the physical bind between us. Then I will have no problem in furthering my plans of world domination. Just you wait Darkblade, I will kill you and your powers will be mine." Darkblade watched Dark Fanrico from afar. "You fool." he laughed. "You are so gullible and inexperienced. I can't wait to see the expression on your face when my next plan unfolds." Darkblade waved his hand before the crystal to end the magic transmission, when the image of a crying Christydia appears. "Do not worry youself little one, Ash is on the verge of a new and wonderful transformation. His change will not last much longer and then you will have your old kind hearted Ash back." he said, peering into the crystal and laughing a terrible laugh. **** Ash grasped the newly made cut on his shoulder, which by the way woke him up. "What the hell?" he asked. He got up and went to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror. "This looks bad. Cuts appearing out of nowhere and for no reason. Damn that broom! Damn That crystal!!! Damn this all!!! I want my life back!! I want my Christydia to love me again. But.... why is this happening to me? The nightmares... the new abillities... do they mean something? Is something happening to me? "I feel as though when I'm around others that I got no emotion or feelings whatsoever. Even Christydia's crying didn't phase me too much. Dammit DarkBlade, what are you planning?" Ash asked out loud. Ash walked out of the bathroom, he had a medkit in his hand. He bandaged up the wound and looked outside. "Am I in control of my fate or is someone else? I must find that answer!" he said to himself. His only other regret was bringing Daniel and the others into this. **** "...it's hard to believe..." Daniel started, after Peach and Kelan explained what had been occuring to them that night, "so somehow, our nightmares were being crossed into reality?" "I suppose that's the easiest way to explain it, yes." Kelan answered, as he helped Peach back to her feet. "It's crazy, this whole situation is just totally insane..." Daniel thought out load. "So, this means that Dark Fanrico can get to any of us, from anywhere?" "Not necessarily," Kelan answered, "I checked with everyone here, and you two and Ash were the only three who were affected. I would guess that Dark Fanrico wasn't powerful enough to put everyone completely under the reality crossing effects of the spell. That would explain why everyone was having nightmares as well." "Next time, he probably *will* be strong enough, then we'll be screwed..." Stephan commented. Daniel sighed. 'Always the optimist....' He noticed that Peach seemed distracted. "Peach, are you Ok?" he asked her, "It looks like something is bothering you." "...I don't think it was Dark Fanrico who did this..." Peach stammered. "What?!" her 3 listeners yelled out. "Are you sure?" Kelan asked, looking concerned, "How do you know this?" "...the dark power I felt in the dream, it was... *different* from Dark Franco's," Peach explained, trying to think of words to descibe what she felt. "I don't know how to explain it to you, I just know that it wasn't him..." "This situation is getting out of hand," Kelan said, "I only hope those four can guide End Reshiki to the mountain in time." "Damnit... If you all want to sit on your asses and hope he gets there, fine," Stephan said, irritated, "but I'll go to Doma myself and DRAG Bend Rashaba-what's-his-name back here if I have to!!!" And with that Stephan stormed out of the room. "...your brother is certainly... 'determined', isn't he?" Kelan commented. Daniel nodded, "It's one his few good traits though, I have to say..." "I hate to admit it, but I agree with your brother." Kelan said, "We have to do something now, before it's too late." "In that case, I think we make a follow-up party to aid Folx and co. in guiding Reshiki to the mountain." Peach stated. "Then let's get going." Daniel said. **** "Why is my magic drained?" asked Cantor. "I haven't used it at all since I last drank an ether." They were fighting a pack of wolves off. Cantor had just gotten bitten because he was unable to teleport out of the way. "There doesn't seem to be any barrier," said Kira as the wolf that she charmed helf off another that was trying to get at her. "I can use my magic." "So can I," said End. "You don't think..." "No. It couldn't be. I thought you defeated... him," Said Kira with a shudder. "Who are you talking about?" asked Lance. "We're talking about..." Cantor waited to say it. It pained him to say it, but he had to say it. "We're talking about... me. I have a dark side to me. But it couldn't be me, because I'm completely aware when I turn... evil. Unless it's... I've grown stronger. I'm not sure what I'm capable of now, that is, while I've turned dark." "I don't have any light or holy arrows, so you'll have to try with everything you have to keep the Belthazar if you split again." Folx shot an arrow through the last of the wolves. "No... Cantor..." Kira said, walking over to Cantor. "Split?" said Lance. "Yes. I might split into 2 beings, both with the same consciousness. If I can gain complete control of myself, I won't need to split... or I might split and take almost all of my power..." Suddenly, the party stopped talking. The small moogle with which they were previously paired with. . .was gone. In his place, lied a small note. 'Toldja I could use magic!' it creened. "We lose again." Lance muttered. "The little guy squirmed out of our grasp once again." Folx sighed. "Well, this only leaves us with one option left. We should probably get to the inn that the others are at. They might be able to help us," And so, they started to move in the opposite direction of the mountain. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:48 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 653 (11/3/04 6:55 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 12 - Decisions and WynnWolves Ash was sitting on the chair for quite a long time. The cycle of recent events were constantly running through his mind. He was worried about what would happen to everyone he had grown to become friends with. "I can't let them get hurt, this is my problem not theirs." he said as he sat up and wrote something on a sheet of paper. He pulled out a dagger from his belt and stuck it on the letter to the surface of a table. He started walking out the door. He turned around to look back upstairs. Memories of meeting all these people and becoming good friends with them all. He went out the door. He started walking down the street of the town they were in. Jak and Kotoki saw him as they headed back to the inn. "ASH!! Where are you going?" asked Kotoki. Upon hearing this, Christydia ran up to where Jak and Kotoki were. She saw her loved one walking away. "ASH!!! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? WAIT FOR ME!!" said Christydia as she started to follow. Ash just continued walking, not stopping to look back or anything. Tears started running down his face as he walked away from his companions. Christydia stopped and fell over in the street, the mix and rush of sudden emotions was too much for her. She started crying non-stop. Jak noticed the note on the table. He quickly read it, his eyes enlarging slightly with suprise. He then turned around to look at Ash. He looked utterly pathetic. "Bah, what a loser." He thought to himself. "Might as well let the idiot go of alone. Got plenty of meat shields here already." As he was about to turn away he saw Christydia crying. Normally this wouldn't have bothered him. He'd killed such a child's parents and walked away while the child wept. He didn't give a damn back then. Back then he'd reveled in his malicious evilness. But now...he gritted his teeth. Things were not the same. If his fellow scum found out about this he'd never live this down. He span around and blasted the ground in front of Ash. "Where the hell do you think you're going? You're not running out on us. Nobody is. Next person who tries too dies. Like it or not, and trust me I don't, we're stuck together. Someone higher than us has seen it fit for us to work together, and damnit, I'm seeing this through to the end or dying in the process, and so are you! Now get your ass back here before I incinerate you!" Kotoki nodded. "Jak is right. We're a team, aren't we? I was going to walk away from all this too, but Jak helped me. If someone like him can actually be such a good person, then you have no right to leave. We're sticking together. Who knows? Maybe there's some way to get you back to normal." Ash spun around to confront the mage. "Listen pal! Did you happen to see Dark Fanrico in action? He wiped one guy out of exsistence. He hit me to unconsciousness with three punches. Now imagine what he'd be able to do to you Jak." said Ash as he walked back and seemed to be not paying attention to Christydia. "I'm not going to drag you people into my problems, especially if they involve a pretty good possibility that you all could die!!" he snapped to Jak. Kotoki and Christydia were wide-eyed at the usually calm and kind Ash who now looked like he was about to tear Jak to shreds. Jak seemed to sense it too. But he also seemed to not care as much as Kotoki or Christydia. "Got anything to say Jak?" asked the angered Ash Fanrico. Without warning Jak sucker-punched Ash! Ash fell over onto the street. He got up, dusted himself off and looked back the others. He seemed to have calmed down. "Thanks! I needed that. Sorry." he said in a sheepish-regrettful way. "If you hadn't realised already we're willing to follow you and die with you Ash.' muttered Jak. 'I have no idea why were doing it but at the moment you're problem is our problem. Now get up and tell us where to go and what to kill." **** Cantor started to say something and everyone jumped. "Hm?" "I guess... we've just been on edge since we figured out that your... dark side was back," Folx pointed out. "Now, we can't be sure of that. No serious evidence has come up. A little this and that, but I haven't done anything that you guys have been saying anything about... have I?" "Nothing that I've noticed," responded Kira. Cantor saw something in the distance. "Look. It's the town! We're almost there. We should be there right after dawn." **** Daniel, Kelan, Stephan, and Peach made their way past the tavern and proceeded out the front gates of the town. Peach brought out the map she carried for the Doma area, and they started to made their way to the castle. That was, however, before Stephan insisted on taking a break to go to the bathroom. "Where did Stephan get off to. . .?" Daniel said, looking around. "He said he was just going to take a leak. . .man, what did that idiot get himself into this time?" However, they barely made it another step before they heard a dull moaning sound. "What is that?" Kelan wondered. "It sounds like it's coming from behind those bushes." Daniel said. They went around a large cluster of bushes, to find Stephan lying on the ground, with scratches and bruises all over his body, and his armor covered in blood. "Brother!!!" Daniel yelled, running over and kneeling next to him. Peach was soon over in the same position. They both closed their eyes and began to recite their healing arts. "Cure!" They both exclaimed, their two healing powers convering into one spell. The mystical energy enveloped Stephan, and soon he was able to move around on the ground. "Stephan, can you hear me?" Daniel said to his brother, "Are you Ok?" "Unnnnhhh... that f*%&ing hurts..." Stephan groaned. Daniel sighed, "Yup, he's Ok." "Stephan, what happened to you?" Peach asked, as she tried to mend the small cuts and bruises on his arms. He brought himself up to a sitting postion. "...It was very stupid of me... I was angry and careless..." "So, tell us what happened?" Daniel asked him. "...I got into a fight with a WynnWolf Pack..." "A PACK of them?!" Kelan exclaimed in shock. He noticed that Daniel had no idea what they were talking about. "WynnWolves are a very large breed of wolf, which also have strong elemental affinity and magic. Most people can barely survive an attack from ONE of those creature, let alone a whole pack of them!" "How did you get into a fight with them in the first place?" Daniel asked. "...I saw one while I was walking," Stephan started, "I knew I should have left it alone, but I was so angry that I started a fight with it." He rubbed his leg where one of the wolves had given him a deep gash. "Before I knew it, the damn thing's entire pack was after me. I should have run away, but I stayed and fought. Once the 3rd one was disposed of, one of them knocked my Dark Sword out of my hand, so... I had to resort to brute force on the rest..." The trio were all too stunned to speak, so Stephan continued. "There were at least 5 left by that point, that I could see anyways. Once I'd taken out two of them, I used Dark Matter on whatever wolves weren't smart enough to get up and leave. I barely had enough strength left to get behind these bushes..." Stephan turned and stared at a nearby tree, as Peach, Kelan and Daniel though about what they'd just heard. "Do you know where your sword is?" Kelan asked him. "Somewhere back in those grove of trees over there," Stephan said, pointing to a small grove a few dozen feet away. "at least I think it is, I'm not 100% sure." "Why don't I go find it while Daniel here patches you up?" Kelan said. "Wait Kelan, it's too dangerous for you to go alone." Daniel told him. "Wait until Peach and I are finished patching Stephan up and we'll all help you." Kelan came up next to Daniel and leaned close to his ear. "I think you and Stephan need a little 'brotherly bonding' time alone." Kelan whispered to him. "Don't worry, we'll come running back here if I run into any trouble." He smiled, grabbed Peach, and went running off. The two brothers sat there for awhile, neither one sure what to say to the other one. Daniel decided to break the silence with the one question he was relunctant to know the answer to. "...you wanted to die, didn't you?" Daniel asked Stephan. He responed by staring at a nearby tree. "Come on Stephan, tell me the truth, is that why you picked a fight with a dangerous monster all alone? Because you didn't want to live anymore?" "OK, SO MAYBE I DID FEEL THAT WAY, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU CARE!?" He yelled at Daniel, his eyes never leaving the tree. "Stephan... Look... I know there's nothing I can say to make this better..." Daniel started. "No... there isn't. You have no idea how I feel right now..." Stephan told him. "Enlighten me then." Daniel told him, crossing his arms, "You know, my offer still stands, always has, always will." Stephan kept staring for about a minute, then finally took Daniel up on the offer he'd made countless times before. "Do you know how alone I used to feel?" Stephan began, "It's not easy being a servant of darkness. Either everyone is afraid of you, or they're trying to kill you to be 'heroic', or they're trying to kill you so they have less competition." Daniel was tempted to say something, but Stephan continued before he could. "No matter what I tried, I couldn't succeed. If I tried taking over a town, they knew I was coming and ambushed me. If I tried kidnapping someone, they were a mage or knew martial arts. Everything I tried failed." "The fact that you're hurting people may of had something to do with it..." Daniel said absentmindedly. Stephan glared at him. "Look, you're the one who said he was going to listen, so shut up." he told his brother. Daniel obeyed. "Then one day while I was captured," he continued, "I shared a cell with a strange wizard." Daniel knew he was talking about Midoku, "He told me he'd been put in a cell because he was a spawn of the devil, or some crap like that. I don't know why, but i felt sorry for him. He was being locked up just because he was different from everyone else, just like I was different..." "What do you mean 'for being different'? Was it because he used stronger blue magic?" Daniel asked him. "You mean you didn't notice on the airship?" Stephan said, surprised. "Didn't you notice that his hands were blue? Or that his eyes were bright green?" Daniel thought back, he had been too busy being angry at both of them to really notice. "So what is it you're trying to tell me?" He asked Stephan. "I'm saying that Midoku wasn't human." Stephan told him, "That's why he was in the prison. Some of the local townspeople had been disappearing, and they blamed it on him and his 'demonic powers'. Idiots..." "Well, what WAS he then?" Daniel asked. Stephan sighed, "I'm not sure, I don't think Midoku ever really knew what he was either." Stephan looked sad for a moment, but then composed himself. "...But we're getting off track here." He continued his original story. "I told him if he helped me I would get him out of the prison. With his help, we came up with a plan and we managed to escape." Stephan smiled as he remembered those days gone by. "It was the first time I had been successful at something. Figures that it would involve doing the 'heroic' thing and saving someone's life." Daniel couldn't help smiling at that remark. "I told Midoku that he was free to do whatever the hell he wanted, but for some reason... he wanted to stay and help me. Even though we still had our share of failures, ...at least now there was the slightest chance of success with us working as a team. I've never felt so alive... or so close to anyone in my life..." Stephan began to stare at the tree again. "And now... I have nothing..." "That's not true..." Daniel told him, moving to look his brother straight in the eyes, "Do you really think Midoku would have saved your life if he didn't think it was worth it? He did it because he knew you are worth something, Stephan. I may not agree with you all the time, but you're a strong, determined man who never gives up on his dreams. I know that, Midoku knew that, and you do as well, even if you don't want to admit it. You shouldn't throw that all away." Stephan just sat there for a minute, thinking about what Daniel said to him. "...I'm gonna bring him back..." Stephan suddenly blurted out. "Huh?" Daniel said, surprised by the comment. "You heard me. And don't tell me how stupid it is. Maybe there isn't a way, maybe I'll be wasting the next 50 years in a vain search. But I don't care, Midoku deserves the chance to live a full life, and I'll be damned if I'm not gonna do something about it." "...I won't try to stop you." Daniel told him. He leaned over and gave Stephan a hug, something which would normally cause him to punch Daniel in the stomach right then and there. But he didn't. "If you really believe that, then I'm not gonna stop you from trying. Just remember, I'll be there if you need to talk," Stephan began to smile, "And my Quills are always Poke 'N Stab ready if you need help." For the first time in a long time, Stephan looked at Daniel, and smiled. "...Thanks." He told him, returning the hug. "You know," Daniel started, "I think Locke once did something like that in his world, when he ..." "Damnit..." he said, pulling away from Daniel's embrace, "I knew it was only a matter of time before your 'Idols' got involved in our conversation." Stephan said sarcasticly, smiling. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean!!" Daniel demanded, glaring back at him. "Daniel, Stephan!!!" Kelan and Peach shouted, running up to the two brothers, dark sword in hand, "For some reason, we just saw Folx's team heading this way!" "It doesn't make any sense. . ." Peach murmured. "The mountain is in the opposite direction." "It must be that Gen Rabiki guy then..." Stephan commented. "Uh... it's END RESHIKI, brother." Daniel corrected him. "Damnit...who cares," Stephan said, getting up, "let's just go back and follow them." And with that Stephan started off back in the direction of the village. As Kelan got ready to follow him, Daniel suddenly asked him. "So, I guess that sword wasn't that far away." Kelan looked like a Rabite who was about to be hit with a Firaga spell. "Uh... what do you mean?" she stammered. "Well for one thing, you're not out of breath after 'running' over here to tell us the news about End." Daniel said, then a sly smile spread across his face. "Another thing is that I saw the sword behind those nearby bushes before we got here. I know you were behind them while we were talking." Kelan fidgeted nervously, trying to think of a rational explanation for what Daniel had just told him, "Well, uh..., you see..., the sword was REALLY nasty looking, with the blood and all... so I was... you know... cleaning it, yeah, and..." Daniel place his hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I don't mind. At least this way if Stephan forgets what he just said, I've got a witness." "Thanks," Kelan said, blushing, "You know, he may be misguided, but I think if he doesn't give up, he may actually get his friend back, even if it meant fighting all the Spirit Beast..." Daniel smiled, "Well, let get going before he gets into a fight with Bahamut himself." They continued walking when they came upon a small grove of trees. After going through here, they would have a clear path back to the town. As they approached the trees, Daniel began to have flashbacks to his nightmare earlier. Kelan noticed that his hands were trembling. "Daniel, are you ok?" Kadina asked him. "What's wrong?" "...my nightmare tonight, it was in a forest like this..." he confessed to Kelan, keeping his eyes on his hands. "I guess it's still bothering me a little..." Peach took one of his hands into her own. "It's Ok, we're here with you." "Yeah, don't worry bro," Stephan bragged, "if anything shows up, I'll kick it's ass right into..." At this point a group of bushes to their left chose to rustle. The 3 of them stopped in their tracks, turning toward the moving foliage. "...didn't you say some of those WynnWolves may have escaped?" Kelan asked as he looked around nervously, his hand ready on his bow. "Guess we'll know once our guest makes an appearance..." Daniel commented, keeping his Phoenix Pinion ready. Something jumped out from the bushes behind them suddenly. "GAAAAAHHHH!!!" All 3 of them screamed, as they turned to face their suprise assailant... ...and it turned out to be a fox. "You little bastard!!! I'll teach you to sneak up on us!!!" Stephan said, as he withdrew his dark sword and charged at the fox. "Stephan, stop!!!" She yelled, as Daniel chased after him, tackling him to the ground. "You idiot," He told the dark knight, "You almost got yourself killed doing this earlier!!!" "It's just a dumb fox damnit!!!" Stephan yelled back at him, trying get up. "For your information, I'm not a fox." The small creature told them, angry. "...What?!" They all said simulaneously. "Is this some relative of Folx's?" Peach speculated. "Leave it." Stephan grumbled. "Let's just get back to the inn as soon as possible. This hasn't been my night!" --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:32 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 654 (11/3/04 6:57 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 13 - On the Road Again. . . Folx, Cantor, Kira, and Lance reached the town. "Let's go to the tavern-" "Said the drunkard to the fox with no alchohol tolerance." finished Folx, though that wasn't as Lance intended to end it. "Drunkard?" "Well, booze is the first thing you think about when we reach a town, but I'll go with you anyways." They walked into the tavern... **** "THUNDARA!!!" Stephan yelled as he ran, electrocuting the two nearest WynnWolves at his heels. The 4 travelers were busy running for their lives through the forest. From what Peach could tell (since her senses are much better than Daniel and Co.), there were still at least 7 of the beasts giving chase. She hoped her instincts were right and that the wolves would stop persuing them once they were out of the forest. She knew that Daniel, Stephan, and herself would probably be able to make it, but Kelan looked like she was almost on the verge of collapse. Daniel was up ahead, pushing the tangled tree branches out of his way. No.... this is this just like my nightmare... Daniel shook his head, this was definitely not a dream. Those were real wolves chasing them, and if they didn't get the hell out of the woods, they *would* be corpses. Peach spotted patches of night sky ahead, as well as the lights from the town. "We're almost out everyone!" She yelled. The group put what stamina they had left into making a break for the plains beyond the forest. "AHHH!" Kelan suddenly screamed. Peach, Daniel, and Stephan turned their heads to see what had happened. It looked like Kelan had caught her foot in an old tree root, and was being surrounded by the pack of beasts "KELAN!!!" Daniel shouted, immediate running back to Kelan's side as the wolves closed in on the pair. "...You know we don't stand a chance against 7 of those things, right?" Stephan asked the young elf. "Yes... but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try to help them..." Peach told the Dark Knight, withdrawing her weapon and going to protect Kelan and Daniel. "...So this will be how my life ends, huh?" Stephan chuckled, drawing his sword and running over to help the pair, "Ok then, bring it on you bastards..." **** How far was this fucking temple? Dark Fanrico had been traveling for hours and felt like he was getting absolutely nowhere fast. "Mental note! Tear out of limbo closer to destination next time." he said as he trudged forward. "Well at least I killed that STUPID DemonBeast! I really do hate other hellspawns hogging the spotlight." chuckled Dark Fanrico to himself. But then he remembered Darkblade's prophecy. "So Ash is gonna become an even eviler Bad Ash than me? Well, that shit ain't gonna happen!" hissed Dark Fanrico. The Dark Warrior was a fool... Ash would rather die than become an evil deathmachine on wheels. Plus he's human! But... he has that accursed Darkstone and that stupid Broom of Darkness! Dark Fanrico knew he had to get his hands on the Darkstone to stop Good Ash from becoming Super Bad Ash. "Lotta luck that's gonna do me when I'm like hundreds of miles from my destination!" groaned Dark Fanrico. **** Ash was rubbing the sore spot on his face from the big punch from Jak Snide. "I wasn't thinking straight! I let my guard down. But he's right. We're all in this together now... no turning back now." he said to himself. He looked over Christydia. She was still recovering from all of the recent events and Ash knew the emotional stress was unbearable for her. He turned to Jak and Kotoki. "Where the hell are Daniel Stephan, and that little barkeep boy?" he asked. Jak and Kotoki looked around, apparently they had forgotten too. "We don't know!" replied Kotoki. Ash noticed something about Kotoki, she looked more alive than she did a few hours ago. To add to that; Jak seemed to be hiding his other arm under his robes. That'll have to wait for later. Now's the time for planning. "Now what shall we do? Wait for all those guys to come back? Or do we head out for that Temple?" asked Ash. **** "I have to run off and catch up with Folx." Kelan said. "We can't let them get away when they're so close. Peach. . .please hold these wolves off for them." he said, before dissapearing into the darkness. "Daniel, Steaphan, can you Hold the WynnWolves off for a little bit?" said Peach. "Sure," Daniel responded for the both of them. Peach started to mutter an incantation, and slowly but surely, a red aura built up around her. **** "Kelan!" "Lance! You're back!" Kelan said, running to the group. "Why aren't you heading towards the mountain, though? And . . .hey? Where's End Reshiki?" Folx sighed again. "Well, you see. . ." **** The red glow around Peach grew larger and larger. It engulfed all four of the humanoids and they disappeared. The ground split. Out of the crack, flames spouted out and scorched two of the wolves. A firey demonlike figure crawled out of the crack. It had horns on its head and a firey look in its eyes. It was Ifrit. He lifted hi hand and the flames grew larger and larger. Flames started to emit from him as the fire grew. Eventually, a good sized clearing was burned out of the forest they were in, as well as the WynnWolves. "Well, now that that's settled." Peach said, sighing and taking a breather. "Let's go regroup, shall we?" **** Ash Fanrico exited the inn, followed by Christydia, Kotoki, and Jak. "Hey!" he shouted, in Folx's general direction. "What have you guys been up to?" "Lots of things. . ." Folx rolled his eyes. "In any case, where are you headed?" "To the temple of the Cult of Broomada." Kotoki said. "We're going to stop this once and for all." Jak smiled beneath his blank expression. The party was back together, everyone was back to their usual happy (and/or malicious) selves and everything was generally fine. Only one bad thing could happen now. He waited for a moment, expecting to hear a wicked female cackle from the shadows. But none came. Maybe today wouldn't be too bad. **** "7 OF THEM!? Wow, you 4 are lucky to be alive..." Cantor commented to Peach, as the party mingled and got caught up on what had occured. "Look, we went over this last night Kotoki, remember? He gets to come, I'm responsible for him, Ok? Please?" Daniel asked Kotoki. Man, I must have had too much to drink last night... including Jak over there... Kotoki thought to herself. "Well, I guess he DID help someone other than his brother..." Kotoki admitted. "Fine, I won't object to him coming along." She turned to Stephan, staring him in the eyes. "But, try ANYTHING funny, and not only will I do unspeakable acts to you, but Jak here will roast you like a chocobo pot pie, got it?" Kotoki told him. "Hmph." Stephan grunted. "I don't plan on doing anything to any of you. All I want is Dark Franco's head on my blade. And now that we've found this Ding Redushi guy, lets stop yakking and get moving... uh... speaking of which, where is the idiot?" "Well. . .the thing about that is. . ." Cantor started. Ash and the others all looked at each other, trying to think of how to explain that Reshiki had gone off alone again. "Don't tell me, DON'T F*#&ING TELL ME HE'S GONE AGAIN!?!?!" Stephan yelled at Kotoki. "HEY, Don't you DARE raise your voice to me!" Kotoki yelled back, her anger level rising. "We're not his damn babysitters, Ok? If he's going to be a fool and run off on his own, so be it. Isn't that what YOU did last night Stephan?" "Are you looking for a fight, is that it?" Stephan spat at her. "STOP IT!" Ash yelled, slamming the broom of darkness to the ground. This caused a rather large tremor, which knocked everyone to the ground. "Woah..." Folx and Cantor both commented. "...oops, sorry everyone." Ash apologized, as he helped Christydia to her feet, and eveyone else got themselves off the ground. "...so what do we do now?" Daniel asked, brushing himself off, "If Reshiki is so important to the fight with Dark Fanrico, do we go on without him or try to track him down?" "He's probably going to go after Dark Fanrico by himself." Ash answered him. "How can you be so sure?" Stephan asked, glaring at him. "Let's just say I can understand how he feels..." Ash told him, giving Jak a quick glance. "Ok, fine, then we're going to go look for End Reshiki again, and follow him to Fanrico." Daniel said. "But how the hell are we going to FIND him?" Jak said, "It took us THIS long to find him the first time, who knows how long it will take now..." "Well, we haven't technically LOST him yet..." Kelan commented. "What do you mean?" Kotoki asked her. "Simple, we have a way to track End." Peach answered. "Yeah, Kelan and Peach explained it to us at Doma earlier." Folx explained to the group, "They can sense where the artifact Reshiki's wearing is located." "He speaks the truth," Kelan said, "we can sense when the pendant has been in an ared, but the resonance will only last for so long..." "Then let's not waste anymore time, it's time to head out." Ash said. "I can become a beast of burden for a few hours, but the time is cut severely if I become too big of one. I can be a chocobo for a good while, or a horse for two or three hours." Peach wanted to help more, but she knew that that was beyond her power. Cantor began to play a melody on his lute. A horse could soon be heard coming. "Someone can ride my horse if they're tired." Kotoki lifted herself onto the horse. "Thanks!" she chirped. "Anyone wanna ride in back? It's a big horse." Jak contemplated Kotoki's offer. If she was feeling more friendly towards him after his donation he'd certainly enjoy a ride with a view. Of corse if she wasn't feeling to friendly/noticed him admirering said view he'd end up with a quick trip down to the muddy road. His mind was made up in less than a second. "Don't mind if I do." he chirped rather uncharacteristically and jumped on the horse. And so, the party of twelve headed down the long road to the Temple of the Cult of Broomada. **** Agh!!" Reshiki cried out as the Black Dragon sweeped over him, tearing into his blackened armor with utter ease. He flailed helplessly for a bit, but managed to return to his feet and Jump over the oncoming dragon, managing to come downward fast enough to grab hold of the dragon's tail. Of course, when the dragon moved, so did End. Very, very quickly. The dragon proceeded to blast through the air, apparently trying to shake off Reshiki with some tricky flight manuevers. End realized that he wouldn't be able to get out of this alive unless he did something about his enemy... he quickly began to climb up the dragon's back, gripping each of its scales as he moved up the dragon's spine. It hissed as it felt the Dragoon moving up its back, and did a 360, STILL trying to toss End off. While this succeeded at throwing End into a dizzy fit, Reshiki held on as tightly as ever.. and finally stabbed his lance into the neck of the beast. He managed to drive his weapon far enough into the creature to suddenly cause it to choke, and it soon plummeted, overcome in pain. "Halp!!" End yelled out, Jumping just as the dragon smashed into the mountain range. He landed softly alongside the dragon. "Yay! I won. . ." Reshiki murmured, looking at the dragon slightly. "Wonder what was with her?" He began to walk off, and soon came to what he had been looking for. The Oracle's Cave. He stepped inside, the see the very same old man he had seen in his dream. "So, you're the Oracle, huh?" End said, feigning interest. "Yes, I am, Reshiki." "You don't look all that smart or wise." End scoffed. "Hey!" the old man's face cringed up again. "Shut the hell up, you little punk. I would kick you out of here, but apparently your future is important to the fate of this world. Let me concentrate..." "...." "..... what happened to your fight against Doma?" "Huh?" End was truly puzzled. "The Kingdom of Doma. There were originally a group of people fighting against Doma's tyranny, but you seem to have forgotten." "Well.." "Well, WHAT?" "I've been busy robbing people and killing bad things." "Simple pleasures for the simple-minded.." the old man shook his head. "You need to get a hold on your principles once more, Reshiki. Your responsibility is not only to seek out the truth of all of this, but to fight against Doma once more.. you're the inspiration for others to fight him, you must reclaim that.. End shrugged. "Now, do you want to know about your CURRENT situation?" "Um, yeah, that might help." The old man thought silently for a while. "Jak Snide is out. He's looking for you, along with others.. some of them originally assigned to kill you. They need you for some sort of task important to the world." "That tells me a lot." End rolled his eyes. "I'm only an Oracle, I'm supposed to be enigmatic, not enlightening." "Well, what about this Amulet?" The moogle fumbled with the necklace he was currently wearing. "Is it used for anything? Yes, indeed. You need to continue up this mountain range. You will meet a man that will tell you everything you need to know about the Darkstone... maybe." "Maybe?" "Yes, maybe. I'm not so sure here. Depends on how hard you quest or something." "Would it be so hard to be a LITTLE more specific?" "Bite me, I'm an Oracle!" the old man shouted. "I don't have to pander to your tastes!" And with that, the moogle was booted out of the cave. "Grumpy bastard." End muttered, and continued up the mountain, at least having a definite goal in mind. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:34 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 655 (11/3/04 6:58 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 14 - Dark Fanrico on the Art of Friend-Making Molokidan was alone. He had been alone since last night, and it was morning now. He had a feeling that he was walking in the wrong direction, but he wasn't sure. In any case, he was alone, and was in a wasteland-looking place that seemed very characteristc of someone who was to be alone. The 14-year continued walking, until he grew too tired. The last night's events had proved very entertaining, but they had also sucked a lot of energy out of him. "I wonder where Kotoki is. . ." he muttered, before slumping down onto the ground and falling asleep. Not more than five minutes later, a certain white-haired individual made his way up to Molokidan's current sleeping spot. As he spotted the 14-year old boy, curled up silently among the dust, a grin began to spread on his face. "Ah yes. . ." Dark Fanrico crooned, eyeing his previous prey. "I remember you. . .the young child, with a heart as pure as fresh-fallen snow. . .so pure, and so innocent." He curled a fist and held it next to Molokidan's body. "So perfectly easy to corrupt. With all the goodness in your heart right now. . .if I reverse it, you'll be pure evil, sweet little one. . .and then. . .you'll be the perfect henchman." He loomed over Molokidan, a huge, tall skyscraper over a tiny bug. "This should do it." he said, shoving his fist into Molokidan's stomach. There was a flash of purple light, and suddenly, the 14-year old boy began to change. No longer was his hair a shiny blue. It grew darker, darker, until it was black, long, and hung off his face like a weeping willow. He grew large circles under his eyes. His face began littered with random piercings, along his long sushijin ears, across his red lips and eyebrows. Finally, his clothing began dark and tight, with locks adorning every corner of it. He wore a long-sleeved silk shirt and pants, each tied tightly to his thin figure with a silver cross-lock. He stood up, admiring his new pale skin, and stared up at his master. "I. . .I. . ." "What did they used to call you in your previous form?" Dark Fanrico quickly asked him. "M. . .Molokidan." The child who was not Molokidan stated. "I see. Then, I shall call you Demondan." Dark Fanrico smiled. "From this day forth you are my henchman. I can't be expected to kill EVERYTHING by myself. So I need a little of your help. You are to listen to my every command, no buts! And for that. . .I shall reward you with amazing power." Demondan grinned, his yellowed teeth appearing behind his black lips. "This is gonna be a hell of a lotta fun." And the two burst into a stream of maniacal laughter. **** "Guh?!" Stephan suddenly grunted, as he fell to his knees, clutching his chest. "Brother, are you Ok?" Daniel asked him. The rest of the party stopped to see what was going on. "Is something wrong with your brother?" Ash asked, as Folx and Cantor came over to see what was the matter. "No... it's Ok..." Stephan said, breathing heavily, "I think... I pulled something running from those wolves earier." "Just great..." Jak grumbled, "First you run off and hold us up, now you're wining about a few sore muscles? Pansy..." "Look *VIVI*, I'll be Ok, just go on without me, I'll catch up." Stephan told Jak. "Oh no, we're not leaving you by yourself." Kotoki told him, as she tried to keep Jak from frying the Dark Knight on the spot, "Someone here has to keep an eye on you. You may want revenge against Dark Fanrico, but I still don't trust you." "Ok, fine... let Daniel stay behind and keep an eye on me." Stephan told the former inn-keeper. "Are you Ok with this Daniel?" Ash asked the Paladin. "Uh... I guess so." Daniel stammered, "...I'll keep an eye on him, and we'll catch up in a few minutes." "Ok then, don't take too long." Ash told them. "Yeah, the last thing we need is to look for End *AND* the two of you." Jak told them. As the remaining party rounded the next bend in the road, Stephan got up and looked Daniel straight in the eyes. "Daniel, we are in some deep sh%t." Stephan told his brother. "I think a dark being of untold power would be an obvious sign of deep do-do." Daniel said sarcastically. Do-do? How the hell are we related? Stephan thought to himself, then continued, "I'm not talking about Dark Fanrico. I'm talking about the new help he just created for himself." "What? How do you know that Dark Fanrico has help?" Daniel inquired. "When I fell over earlier, that wasn't a cramp." Stephan explained, "Dark Knights can sense changes in the balance of dark power, much like you Paladins are supposed to sense the powers of light, holyness, or whatever the hell you guys call it." Well, I *would* be able to, if I hadn't dropped out of the academy... Daniel sighed to himself, then continued listening: "What I felt earlier was a massive increase in power, enough for a single being turning to darkness." "So you think Dark Franco forced someone to become his ally?" Daniel speculated. "I don't have any other idea." Stephan said. "His power is based on the reversing of all the good in Ash's heart. I assume he cando the same to other people, if the need arises." "Ok, Ok," Daniel conceeded before an argument ensued, "but why are you only telling me?" "You honestly think they're going to believe me?" Stephan laughed, "Your friends Peach and Kelan there thought I was trying to kill you when I was out looking for help. I hope you'll understand that I wanted to tell you first. I figured you'd at least listen to me." "...Ok, I believe you." Daniel told his brother, "...So what do we do about it?" "There's not much we can do... except be prepared..." Stephan stated. "Fine, I'll talk to Ash and try to warn him that Dark Fanrico may have a few friends with him." Daniel told Stephan. "Thanks..." Stephan told him. "You know, despite still being a Dark Knight, I think this whole thing has had a positive effect on you..." Daniel teased his brother. "What are you talking about?" Stephan demanded. "You know, working together with us, warning us about a possible risk to our lives." Daniel commented, then his mouth shaped into a sneer, "In fact, it's almost as if you were starting to be more like a Paladin..." "YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU BASTARD!!!" Stephan yelled back at Daniel. "OH NO, PLEASE DON'T CAST 'HOLY' ON ME, HERO!!!" Daniel teesed back. "THAT'S IT, I'M KICKING YOUR A$$!!!" Stephan yelled, getting ready to beat the crap out of Daniel. "YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST, NYAH!!!" Daniel yelled back, as he ran off with Stephan in hot persuit. And so the brothers continued their argument, as they went to catch up with Ash and Co. **** A chill ran down Jak's spine. Although miles away, the tug created on the planet's magical flow had finaly hit him. A great deal of black magical energy had been tapped, which either meant something very large had been turned into millions of small pieces or someone had done something unimaginable powerful. He sneered with envy, since he would have liked to do either of those options. Stephan was cramping his style, being yet another evil-good guy. Plus he just didn't trust dark warriors. He spat at the ground. He controled his paranoia. He'd been nervous around evil warrios ever since then...but that was behind him. He'd forgoten that time and was no longer the child he used to be. He focused on what was in front of him (which happened to be Kotoki) and tried to convince himself that he had forgotten. Kotoki waved her arm in front of his face. "Jak! Earth to Jak Snide!" The black mage blinked, or at least she couldn't see the glowing dots in his robes for a moment. "Yeah?" "Hey... I have a question. Been wondering this for a while, but... What exactly do black mages *look* like, anyway?" "Well, maybe you can see later.' said Jak, pushing his low charisma as far as it could go. Kotoki swatted lightly at him. "Ha ha, very funny. Seriously! Do you all have some horrible disfiguring disease? Are you aliens? Do you just do it for the mystery?" "Well, we each have our own reasons to don on these robes." Jak explained to Kotoki. "Some of us wear them to conceal our identity, others have had their bodies twisted by powerful black magic. Others are trying to forget who they are. But the basic fact is you should NEVER try to take off a black mages robes or hat. The results are messy." **** "Well, what the hell do we do now?" asked a bored Demondan. "Funny you should ask. The only similarity between us, I hope you know, is our demonic powers. There's where the rest of it ends. I was created differently than you." replied Dark Fanrico. "As in how?" asked Demondan. "I was created by the Heart of Ash Fanrico, The power of Darkblade, and the fiery pits of hells. I'm, to sum it all up, a demon-warrior. You, on the other hand are still a human. You've just had your heart reversed, and every good quality in you is gone. Any GOOD powers you had are either gone, or twisted into it's evil counterpart." replied Dark Fanrico. Demondan was still confused. Dark Fanrico sensed this. "Could you explain all of this to me?" asked Demondan. Dark Fanrico sighed. "Ash Fanrico, the Legendary Hero of old, died thouasands of years ago. Somehow he was brought back in recent times. His first act of heroics and bravery was surviving a fight with Darkblade. In the end, Darkblade used a very deadly spell called 'Dark Holocaust Wave' or something like that. It's a spell that's basically a suicide spell, as it also kills both its summoner and it intended victim. So Darkblade was left bodiless, and stuck in Hell. His spirit contacted Ash Fanrico, since they had grown to respect each other during their recent fight, and asked if Ash would allow Darkblade to use his heart to resurrect himself. Ash, having been reincarnated, knew of way that Darkblade could use his heart and not have to suffer any nasty side effects. He told Darkblade to use his old heart from his older body. "So during the resurrection ritual, Ash still had his current heart ripped out of him and both the hearts were plunged into hell. That's when I was created. I came to the surface in a spectacular entrance and fought Darkblade. Needless to say, he beat me. Darkblade gave Ash back his heart, the one that didn't go through the hellfire, and Ash was saved. I was created 'cause of the infallible rules of Legendary Heroes. They can't be turned into Evil Minions of the Darkness. I was made so the balance could be kept at the time." said Dark Fanrico. Demondan still had another question. "And all this heart transplating shit has nothing to do with Ash?" Dark Fanrico answered. "No, he has his own side-effects. He's slowly turning into me, but a bigger, badder, more powerful version of me. It's being caused by the power of the Darkstone being emitted from the Broom of Darkness. So I gotta stop him, cause if he finishes his transformation he could very well absorb me and make me a part of him. Also cause I'm the Baddest Ash, and the only one that will exist... ever." He made sure to stare into Demondan's eyes as he said that last word, putting enough emphasis on it to wake the dead. Demondan scratched his messy hair, and stared back at Dark Fanrico. It seemed that even becoming a demon failed to due anything for inborn stupidity. "But I thought he couldn't be turned into an evil minion of the Darkness. How is this all possible?" "Because the Darkstone is an object of immense power. Besides, the rule says they can't be CHANGED into one. Meaning they can't be turned into one unwillingly. Since he willfully accepted the power of the Broom of Darkness into his body, and willfully used some Dark Warrior spells that came with his new found powers, he can now be turned into a minion of darkness. But he will be stronger than even me! So I gotta stop that and now so do you." replied Dark Fanrico. They continued walking. "Hey, wait a second. So I'm immortal?" Demondan said suddenly. "No. You're just a human who has been possessed by demon powers. You can die AND you can still be turned back to good side if any people of the White Mage calibur can switch you back. So keep that in mind." replied Dark Fanrico. And with that, they continued their journey to the Temple. **** Cantor tried to hide his pain. The shifting of the darkness had affected him, too. Both his dark and his light side felt it. He had now realized that his dark self was still in existance. Deep within himself, he always knew that it dwelled dormant, but now it seemed to have become active. Suddenly, he realized why Stephan had stopped. "His pain started at the same time mine did..." he thought. "I'm going back to help Daniel and Stephan." Kira walked over beside him. "Can I go, too?" "No. I'm sorry, but I also have to discuss some things with them that only they can hear." Kira's face saddened. "Okay. I guess if you have to leave me behind..." "Make sure they hurry up when they get moving," said Lance. "We need to get going at a faster pace as soon as possible." Cantor turned around and started walking toward Daniel and Stephan... "Hurry back!" said Kira. "Don't leave me for very long," she whispered. **** End continued his journey up the mountain.. So far he had met a great deal of undead, Shadows, and other evil creatures.. he could feel something. Something pulsing from the planet itself.. that felt WRONG. It was an evil.. a great evil.. the same evil he still remembered that the Black Mage emitted.. that Black Mage that destroyed his former 'home' a few years ago... ... he paused, clearing his mind of the troublesome memory. He had tried to remain a quiet figure of stability whereever he went, but every now and then his memories interfered. And that was usually when he lost it to his more unstable dragon half. Suffice to say, he was aware of his draconic half's monstrous nature, and any risk of releasing it again would be disastrous. He didn't rememeber what had happened the last time... and that worried him.. but, this wasn't the time. He still had yet to reach that old man... **** Meanwhile, a father and daughter are busy returning home from a trip to a nearby township. The girl was busy swinging around a new toy, her brown hair being tossed around in the morning air, green eyes full of joy. Her father pulled their cart, full of goods, wishing they had thought of finding a horse for this outing to town. However, as he watched his daughter playing, with eyes that matched hers, he was full of content. "Dad, do you think Mom'll be mad we bought so much stuff?" The little girl asked, as she cradled her new Tonberry plushie. "Don't worry about it Gina..." her father told her, "I'm sure Mom won't be TOO upset..." I hope he thought to himself. I can just hear her now... "JONAS!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO AFFORD ALL OF THIS CRAP!?" he imagined his wife yelling at him when they got home. "I'm sorry Lisa, but you know I can't help passing up great deals..." he saw himself trying to explain. "Don't try pulling that excuse with ME again!" he imagined her yelling back... The sad part is, I know she's right... Jonas sighed to himself. "DADDY!!!" Gina yelled, pointing off into the distance, "what's that?" "Hmmm?" He wondered, pushing his blond bangs out of his eyes to see what the commotion was about. He saw what looked like a pile of wreckage, with tiny pillars of smoke coming out of parts. "Oh my!!!" Jonas gasped, realizing that it was a wrecked airship. "Daddy, what's wrong?" The little girl asked, frightened. "It's Ok sweetness..." he conforted his daughter, "can you wait here by the cart with your new doll Tommy?" "Ok..." she told him, hugging her little Tonberry tighter. "Thanks Gina. I'll be right back." He said, giving her a small hug as he ran over to check the wreckage. By the gods... he thought, looking at the twisted wreckage, It looks like an army of mages took down this ship... "Daddy, why's the ship all broken?" Gina suddenly asked, standing behind her father. "GINA, I told you to stay by the cart!!!" He yelled at her. "But... I'm scared..." Gina said, burying her face in the doll. "*SIGH*, Ok sweetness, just stay close to daddy, OK?" Jonas asked her. "Ok." She said, holding her father's hand. The father and daughter continued to inspect the wreckage, finding nothing but discarded mage's clothing. What the hell's going on here? Jonas thought, gripping his daughter's hand tighter. "Daddy, why is that man all blue?" Gina asked pointing to a pile of nearby wreckage. "Huh?" Jonas said, looking in the same direction as his daughter. He saw someone pinned under pile of debris and support beams. All that was visible was one of his blue hands, and a little bit of red hair. "Poor man..." Jonas though, holding his daughter close to him. "Uh...." The 'dead' man suddenly groaned. "Daddy! He's OK!!!" The girl exclaimed. "How can he still be... when his skin's... stay here Gina, I'm going to get him out." Jonas ran over to the man, carefully removing what beams he could until he could pull the man out. From the way he was dressed, he appeared to be a magic user of some kinds. "...what are you?" Jonas wondered, as the man flickered his bright green eyes open for a moment before speaking. "...Stephan..." --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:36 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 656 (11/3/04 7:01 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 15 - Chocobo Hunting, With Style Reshiki had finally made it... there was a sign hanging overhead a nearby cave stating 'Wise Old Man's Cave'.. End walked into the cave. The spiderwebs were a bit much to take, but after he brushed them aside, and stepped into the central torchlight....... "..... holy.." There was indeed a figure sitting inside. But it was not a wise old man. It was a skeleton. Rags of flesh remained on some of the exposed ribcage. The rest of the skeleton was dressed in a brilliant cloak. It was obvious that this skeleton had been a living being only so long ago... "Damn!" End muttered to himself. "Someone got to him.. and..." He looked at the previous old man once more and shuddered. "This is bad.. I have to head back to that Oracle.." **** "Hey, ya old fart!" End shouted, running back down the mountain "Something bad happened.. that second old guy ya told me about is...." There, in the cave, was another flayed corpse. ".... dead." Reshiki suddenly had a VERY bad feeling.. something was wrong.... VERY wrong.. the two old farts who were supposed to tell him everything were now dead. But.. who killed them? End didn't wanna hang around to find out. "Time to get out of these Mountains." End reared up and charged out of the Cave, heading back down to the forest. **** 'How DARE you bring that, that monster into this house..' 'But Lisa, I couldn't just leave him there... ' 'Yes you could have! What if he tries to kill all of us?... ' 'Mommy, do you hate the blue man?... ' 'Gina, go back to your room...' "Uh...." the blue man groaned, slowly starting to come back into conciousness. He couldn't remember too much of what had just happened to him. "Where... where am I?" He wondered, "How did I get here...?" Then he remembered... He had never seen Stephan so scared in his life. "Midoku, what are you..." Stephan had asked, looking afraid of what he would answer. "...Goodbye..." Midoku interrupted him, sending Stephan away so he wouldn't have to answer... He watched as Stephan landed safely next to his brother and that white mage woman. Tears came to his eyes as he saw Dark Franco's attack come at him... "...I wish we could stay together..." Midoku sat up in the small bed, still in shock that he was still in this world. "How...how did I survive?" He wondered. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by a small intruder in the room. "Hi." a little girl with brown hair and green eyes said to him. "Um... hello." Midoku stammered, "...is this your house?" "Yup! I live here with mom, and dad, and Tommy here!" She said, showing him her little Tonberry doll. "Oh, that nice..." Midoku told her, deciding to make conversation, "my name is Midoku, do you have a name too?" "Yup! I'm Gina." She said walking over to the side of the bed, where she promply grabbed his hand and shook it. "I'm glad you're feeling better." "Thank you young one..." Midoku said, blushing a bit, "...do you know how I got to your house? My memory's a bit foggy..." "Yup! My daddy found you, under some broken stuff from an airship." Gina said proudly. "He thought you weren't moving, but then we heard you go 'UH', so we brought you home!!!" He must have thought I was a corpse, *sigh*, must have scared the hell out of him when I started moving and groaning... Midoku thought to himself. "Gina?" A tall man with short blond hair said, peeking into the room. "Oh there you are sweetness, I was..." he noticed that the 'dead' man was awake. "Ah, you've finally woken up I see." Midoku just stared at him, not sure what to say to him. "Gina, could you go help mommy with dinner please?" Jonas asked his daughter. "Aww, but I wanted to ask Midoku why he's blue instead of pink!" Gina pleaded with her father. "Gina, that was very rude, please apologise to our guest." Jonas told her. "Oh no, it's Ok..." Midoku told him, then smiled at Gina. "I'd be curious too if I saw someone like me." "He he he!" Gina laughed. "Ok ok, off to mommy now sweetness." Jonas told Gina. "Ok daddy!" she answered, giving him a quick hug before going to leave. "Bye Mr. Mid!" she told the blue wizard, then left the room. Midoku wasn't sure what to say to the man, as he came over to the bed to talk to him. "I see your wounds have healed a considerable bit..." Jonas told him. "Yes, my body tends to recover rather quickly when I'm resting..." Midoku answered. "That's good..." Jonas said, unsure of the right way to ask the wizard what had happened. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you help me?" Midoku asked Jonas. "Hmmm? What do you mean?" Jonas asked him back, a bit confused. "You know what I mean..." Midoku said, purposely blinking his bright green eyes and pointing to his sharp fangs. "why help someone who's not human..." "Now hold on a sec..." Jonas interrupted him, "I don't care if you had 4 arms and 6 eyes, I'm not going to leave someone behind who's hurt." Midoku was a bit surprised to hear this. He had spent most of his life being tormented and hunted down for being what he was. And now here was someone who didn't care. "...I guess all I can say then is, thank you for helping me..." Midoku told the man. "Don't worry about it," he told the wizard, smiling, "as long as you're still injured, you're welcome to rest in my home." "...thank you..." Midoku told him again. "Honey?" a brown haired woman interrupted, pushing her braided hair off of her sholder, "dinner is almost..." she noticed that their guest was awake. "Oh, you're awake..." "Lisa, I would like to introduce our guest, Mr..." Jonas started, before he realized he didn't know the wizard's name, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name earlier..." "That's alright, my name is Midoku Tornas." He told both of them, then turned to Lisa, It is a pleasure to meet you madam..." "...dinner will be ready in a few minutes..." Lisa told them, then promply left the room. "...Your wife didn't sound too pleased with me being here..." Midoku told Jonas, which caused the man to look at the floor, "... I apologise, that was a rude thing to say..." "No, it's Ok, my wife's just... had bad experiences with 'non-humans'" Jonas explained to him, "You see, her home was invaded by a clan of were beasts when she was a little girl. I think she still holds a grudge against most non-humans because of it... but I try to help her..." Midoku wasn't sure how to respond to this, so he just nodded. As much as he appreciated the man's kindness, however, he knew he had to get going and try to find his partner. "I apologise for causing you any trouble, so if you don't mind I think I'll be going..." Midoku told the man, as he tried to get out of bed. He grabbed his chest in pain and fell to the floor. Jonas ran over and helped Midoku get back into the bed. "...then again, maybe not..." Midoku groaned. "You're still injured, I don't think you'll be Ok until at least the morning." Jonas told the wizard. "So please at least stay the night." "I'm sorry, it's just that... there's someone I have to find..." Midoku said, staring out of the bedroom's window into the night sky. "... I understand," Jonas told him, having a good idea what he meant, "I'd search the entire world for Lisa if I had to..." Jonas sat down on the bed, trying to think of a way to keep the injured man here for the night. "Look, my daughter and I need to make a return trip to the local township tomorrow, I still have a few crafts of mine that I can sell. Why don't you come with us? Then you can decide where to go from there." "...Ok." Midoku agreed. "If you want, I can bring you some of my wife's cooking, she's practically a gourmet when it comes to low income meals." Jonas said, praising Lisa. "No, thank you, but I'm not really hungry." Midoku said. "Well then, I guess I'll see you in the morning. Just holler if you change your mind." Jonas told him, as he got off the bed and headed for the door. "Good night." He told Midoku, as he left the room and closed the door behind him. Midoku rolled to his side, so he could watch the stars as he tried to get some sleep. So many thoughts were running through his head he couldn't think straight. Why was he alive, why was that man so kind, why did he agree to go with them to the town, what would he do now? The only question he knew the answer to was the last one. I *WILL* find you again Stephan, even if I have to go to the netherworld itself... And with that thought, Midoku drifted off to sleep... **** "That wasn't such a PALADIN thing to do, was it?" Stephan gloated, as he held Daniels's face in the dirt with his foot. The dark knight finally let him get up. "Ok ok, *COUGH* *CHOKE*, I SAID I was sorry, OK?" Daniel spat out, as he brushed off his coat and armor. "Why the hell do you have to be so violent?" "Why don't YOU ever learn not to piss me off." Stephan sneered. "...Touche." Daniel conceded. "Excuse me guys..." Daniel and Stephan both turned to the voice, seeing that it belonged to Cantor. "Hey Cantor, what brings you back here?" Daniel asked the royal bard. "Don't tell me, the others think I've already beheaded Daniel here and am off to kill them next." Stephan said sarcastically. "Actually no, I told them I needed to come see you two..." Cantor began to explain. "Oh, why's that?" Daniel said. "...we need to talk..." Cantor started. "I'm sure you two have sensed the change in the balance of good and evil. It's not good at all. My evil side is becoming more powerful and I'm afraid that he... I might hurt someone. I may be a rather evil person, but what comes out when I let my guard down is true evil. We've got to hurry. Let's get back to the rest, alright?" 'I wish I could live without this evil buried deep within me,' Cantor thought to himself. 'I could live without fear, and could do what I wanted without this constant inner conflict. Maybe Daniel can help me after this is all over... if it doesn't end up with us dead, anyway.' **** "Hey Ash! We're back!" Daniel yelled, as he, Stephan and Cantor finally caught up with the group. "*SIGH*, I guess you win the bet Kotoki." Jak conceded, "I thought for sure at least one of them would come back with an injury, even a bone fracture." Jak was in another one of his foul moods. He regretted what he had said earlier, since the group had yet again proved itself to be the largest band of idiots South of his home town. Firstly, there were the two stooges, paladin and dark knight, bickering like 3 year olds. Then there was Folx, who was just plain wierd, and his elven chums...well, at least they weren't those elves. Next we have Mr Hero, who was in more emotional turmoil than a Qu asked to choose between two meals, and his romance, who could have filled up the East sea with all her crying. "Well, at least there is Kotoki" he thought to himself. "But even then she is rather...unusual." He shruged it off. People were different, and he wouldn't be suprised if people took him for a three times round the bend pyromaniac with an evil streak larger than the Kefka family put together. 'Guess this is just another day in a party of 'good-guys'' he thought to himself. "Which means you owe me a peak under that hat of yours one of these days..." Kotoki smiled. "Now wait one damn second, I never agreed to that..." Jak began to argue with her. "Oh really? Let's review our betting contract, shall we?" Kotoki said, whipping out the rather long sheet of paper which contained the conditions for their wagers. While Kotoki and Jak settle things, Daniel speaks with Ash about the feelings Cantor and Stephan had. "... so you think Dark Fanrico's got help now?" He asked the Paladin. "We're not 100% sure, but there's definitely been an increase in dark power." Daniel explained, "Stephan thinks it was large enough to be a person turning to darkness." "And you felt this as well Cantor?" He asked the bard. "Yes..." Cantor answered him, "I felt it around the same time that Stephan fell down, but I didn't realise it was due to the same source at the time." "Ok then, we'll have to be extra careful everyone..." Ash told the group. "We can be careful all we want, but we still need to find some transportation." Folx pointed out to the group. "Well, I did notice a herd of wild chocobos about a mile ahead of us." Peach commented. "Ok, maybe we can tame a few of them?" Kadina suggested. Out of no-where, a slightly off-beat, high tempo wacky tune can be heard by everyone. "OH DEAR GOD, NO!" Ash and everyone else yell out, except for Stephan and Kadina. "...what the hell is wrong with you people? Getting scared over some weird music?" "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S HAPPENED, DO YOU?!" Jak yelled at Stephan. "Aside from really crappy music? No." Stephan snapped back at the black mage. "What's the big problem?" Kadina questioned. "We gotta catch those buggers." Daniel mumbled. "If one of those bloody moogles shows it's face we'll be eating furrz kebabs for dinner!" scowled Jak. "Right!" shouted Kotoki, pushing up her proverbial sleeves. "It's chocobo huntin' time, y'all!" Digging around in her pouch, she found a bunch of carrots and waved them at the nearest Chocobo. "HEEEEEERE, BOY!" Suddenly, a small furry moogle appears from the bushes, who for some reason is carrying a small book and wears glasses. "Good day sirs, my name is Kupipo. Would you like to learn how to tame the mighty chocobo?" Jak practically lit up at seeing a new target to practice his arts of cremation on. "Come here ya little bastard!" he yelled as he charged a fireball in his hands. The moogle exclaimed "W-W-W-Wait, kupo! If you tame the chocobo, you can get treasures and win races! So, what do you think(Please dont kill me!)?" Jak froze mid blast. "Treasure you say...very well. But if I don't find something decent you're supper, got it?" "... then you press X plus right on the directional pad to raise the chocobo's mindset from mildly interested to fascinated. Then press G just before the chocobo turns away to keep it's hapiness quotient above 50%..." Kupipo continued to explain to the party members, at least those still concious during his lengthy explanation. "Wait a second..." Peach asked the moogle, reading over the notes she'd taken, "How are we supposed to raise it's hapiness if we haven't lured it yet with the 'P' button?" "But I thought you used 'B' to lure the chocobo?" Daniel asked, confused. "No, 'B' is used to keep the chocobo looking at you, 'T' is used to lure it." Folx explained to the paladin. "...I HATE THIS..." Stephan grunted, as another chocobo kicked him in the face. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/3/04 7:43 pm Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 657 (11/3/04 7:04 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 16 - An Old Friend Pays a Visit The forest. A lush forest scene is overcast by calm, placid skies filled with playful, fluffy clouds. The forest itself is filled with the sounds of tranquility and peace. Nothing could possibly break this. "...... yyyyyyyaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" THUD! Reshiki landed headfirst in a tree, and as he tried to pull himself out, he ended up flipping the tree over and sending himself straight through it. At this point, End had more then a splinter. "Aw.. damnit.. I gotta practice my aiming when I Jump.. ow.." Reshiki had peeled himself away from the wood and had begun to walk through the woods. As he clutched his amulet tightly, inspecting it, he began to think.. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm missing something really important by wandering around out here?.." End continued to wander through the forest, unsure of where to go.. he wouldn't jump, cause he was afraid of smacking his head on a branch.. And as he did, he suddenly felt as if someone was standing behind him.. as he turned, he felt a swishing of the air, and a swinging staff smackeed into the back of his head, sending him down. "Still weak, eh, Dragoon? Just like the rest of your elders.." came a sneering voice, and as End turned up towards his attacker.. he realized... "Astrynax...." **** Ash ran up to a Chocobo. "Time to ride on out of here!" said Ash as he climbed up onto the Chocobo's back. "WARK!" squawked the Chocobo as it bucked him off and while Ash was in mid-air, it mule-kicked him. "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITT!" screamed Ash as he flew in the air... right into a shack. He bust through the walls of the shack. A voice could be heard from in there. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING PUNK!?" bellowed the voice. Jak and the others ran into the shack. In there was Ash laying sprawled on the ground and some scientist-type guy standing over him looking quite pissed. "HE ALMOST HIT MY CREATION!!!" yelled the scientist-type guy. Christydia helped Ash up. "What are you making in here?" asked Daniel. "Ah funny you should ask that. My name's Birkley. What's your name?" asked the Scientist-type guy. "Well Birkley, my name's Daniel. That guy who just flew right into your shack is Ash Fanrico." replied Daniel. "Ash Fanrico? Funny, I think I've heard that name before..." said Birkley as he pondered that and went to his bookshelf. "WHAT? You know who I am?" asked a confused Ash Fanrico. "HA, found it!" said Birkley in a triumphant voice. He pulled out a dusty old book from the shelf. He blew the dust off. "Now let's see here... Ah there we go! You are Ash Fanrico right? The Legendary Hero of old?" asked Birkley. Ash nodded, not knowing what to do, think or say... "You died fighting Merr, that was about 3000 years ago! How did you come back to life?" asked the even-more-confused-than-Ash scientist. Ash shrugged his shoulders. "Well anyhoo, um... oh yeah my invention." said Birkley as he walked back over to where he was previously standing. He was next to a large metallic mechanism of some sort. "This is my greatest invention. I present to you... the MotorBike!" said Birkley. "A motorbike?" asked Jak, who was still on the horse with Kotoki. "Yes. Soon with this vehicle... we won't need Chocobos anymore. This baby is motor-powered. Plus it's very fast." announced Birkley. Everyone was clearly interested. "Wow! Let me ride it!" said Daniel as he ran to try to get on. Birkley stopped him. "Sadly it's not finished yet." sighed Birkley. "Piece of junk.... " mumbled Jak. Kotoki pouted. "Awww... Hey, I'll make you a deal! You finish it right now and we'll test-drive it for you! Better yet, make a whole bunch!" "Hmm...ok you guys can test-drive them when I'm done, but if you want to keep them, they'll cost you. Oh, but since Ash the hero is on your team, I'll make the cost low." said Birkley. "Um if you don't mind me asking do they come in any colors?" asked Kira. "I never really thought of that. I guess people would like to have color on their vehicle..you guys can choose from some colors of paint I have. There's Blue, pink, yellow, green, black, purple, white, red, light blue, grey, and metallic. Choose which ever you want and I'll paint it. In the mean time you all should take a rest, you can all sleep in my house for the night while I make your motorbikes." replied Birkley to the group and pointed to a house not far away. "Okay, then in that case make mine peach." piped up Peach with a smile. "Ok, yours is purple..." Birkley said while writing down on a little note book, "Who's next?" asked Birkley. Jak had eyed the chocobos suspiciously. He never trusted anything this convenient. He also knew never to accept 'gifts' from demonic servants. He looked back at this 'moat-oar buy-keh' with equal suspicions. Strange things, metal beasts of science, and he didn't trust science one bit. It defied the natural law of things and just seemed...wrong. But still, the 'moat-oar buy-keh' did have a strange charm to it. He couldn't figure out what it exactly was but it seemed, well, powerful. And Jak liked power. "I'll take one of those 'moat-oar buy-kehs'", he muttered to the scientist. "And make it black." Ash was still pretty suspiscious. "No essential Details?" he asked as he eyed the Black bikes. The suspicion and anger towards his friend DB's motives was making the strange feelings and depression from the other day pop back up. But this time they were ten fold!! "Ash, are you okay?" asked Christydia. Ash turned around, his eyes looked no different than Dark Fanrico's. Christydia screamed. **** Demondan and Dark Fanrico continued moving through the desert. Demondan had grown to the habit of chewing his long nails, turning them into gross, gnarled protrusions. Dark Fanrico looked at him in disgust. "Hey," he said, smacking Demondan on the back of the head. "If you're going to be my partner, get some manners, alright? Just because we're demons doesn't mean we have to act like slobs." he rolled his eyes. "You better make me not regret creating you." "Hey. . ." Demondan pointed ahead, oblivious to the smacking Dark Fanrico had just administered to him. "What's that huge thing on the horizon?" "Heh." Dark Fanrico smirked, staring ahead. "That, my idiot apprentance, is a town. However, beyond it. . ." he said, raising his hand along the horizon. "That is the Temple." The two trudged into town, smirking. "For starters, let's level this place." Demondan grinned. "Not a bad idea." Dark Fanrico smirked, taking the Obake Spear from behind his back. "You do have a weapon, don't you?" "My formal self carried these. . ." Demondan pulled out Molokidan's chopsticks. "They were a keepsake from the village. Only a sushijin can transform them into. . .this." he said, quickly changing them into katanas. "Although they're a bit small." "Give them to me." Dark Fanrico said, ripping them out of Demondan's hands. "Here. . ." his hands began to glow, pushing the katanas into each other. The result was a long, thin katana, with a blood red hilt. "The Demonseye. This should suit you fine." Demondan stared at the sword in awe, and then looked back towards the town. "What are we waiting for, then?" **** Jak took no chances. He imediatly saw the demonic look in Ash's eyes. There was now way he was going to allow the leader to attack the party in some demon possesed state. "Duck and cover!" he yelled as he shot of a modified blizard spell, encasing Ash in ice without doing significant damage. He turned to Christydia. 'WHAT THE F*CK IS GOING ON!?' he screamed, confusion and anger taking control. Jak was shaken badly. Ash had *those* eyes. The same ones he remembered from all those years ago... he shook his head. He tried to forget the images and sounds that came flooding back to him. The flames, the blood, and *those eyes* staring down at him, a cruel laugh echoing in his skull. Years of repressed torment came flooding back to him in a moment. "Die demonspawn!" he screamed, as he leveled has hand at the frozen Ash, lightning crackling between his fingertips, eyes burning bright red. "Holy crap!" Daniel yelled. "Oh my god!!!" Kadina gasped. "JAK, NO!!!" Kotoki, Folx, and Kira yelled at the mage. "ASH, NO!!!" Christydia screamed. "Woah, cool." Stephan commented. Jak was about to unleash an electric torrent on the hero, when a small, tiny voice in the back of his head told him to stop. He ignored it easily, his rage pushing it aside. However, heavy blows to the back of the head are not so easy to shrug off. Jak collapsed to the ground in a semi-conscious state. "I'm sorry, Jak..." whispered Kotoki, clutching her aching fist. "But... I won't let anyone hurt my friends anymore... not even you..." A sudden explosion startled the party. As they turned to face in its direction, Dark Fanrico and his servant appeared from a swirling mass of flames. "How beautiful, little girl." said Ash's dark side cooly. "My heart aches in sympathy. However, I think you'll find that I myself cannot be contained by a punch to the neck..." "It's time to die." added Demondan gleefully. **** As Jonas, his daughter, and the blue wizard traveled to the town, the Midoku could sense that something was not quite right... "Jonas... I think you and your daughter should go home..." Midoku suddenly told the man. "Why Mr. Mid? You look scared..." Gina said. "Is something wrong?" Jonas asked Midoku. "...maybe, I just sense that a lot of magical activity has occured around here recently... it may not be safe for you and your daughter, you should go back home..." "And leave you all by yourself? I don't think so," Jonas said, grabbing his large wood-chopping axe from the cart, "I didn't save you so you could run off and get yourself killed. Besides, if something is here, who's to say it may not find us at our home?" "Daddy? What's going on?" Gina asked, gripping her father's leg tight. "Nothing I hope, sweetness." Jonas said, taking his daughter's hand. "Midoku thinks something bad may have happened in town." "Oh no! Is Mr. Birdy gonna be Ok?!" Gina asked, near tears. "I'm not sure honey, but we're going to find out. Stay close to me, and I mean it this time, Ok?" "...Ok daddy..." Gina said. "Well, it looks like you have some help then Midoku." Jonas told the wizard. "...Ok then, but I'll lead the way, just promise me you'll take your daughter and get out of here if something happens..." Midoku said, then smiled, "And *I* mean it as well. "...Agreed..." Jonas conceeded. The three made their way to the gates of the village, an uncomfortable silence in the air. Usually at this time of day, there was always activity by the gates (merchants selling, drunkards resting, etc.), but now it was like a ghost town. As they entered the gates, they found out why it was so quiet... "Oh my..." Jonas gasped at the sight. "IIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Gina screamed. There were at least 9 people laying before them, their bodies burned, frozen, and blasted beyond recognition. Gina buried her face in Jonas arms, unable to stop screaming. Midoku ran over to one person (they were beyond recognition as human beings), who seemed to still be alive. "What happened here?" Midoku asked. "...A man, and his assistant, started killing everyone..." the person said, coughing and wheezing. "Is anyone else still alive?" Midoku inquired further. "...everyone else... ran..." the person said, coughing up blood. "Who did this?!" Jonas asked the man, the rage visible in his eyes. "...dark man... broom..." the person gasped, then breathed his last. "...Dark Franco..." Midoku said, a shiver running down his spine. "Dark who? Do you know this man!?" Jonas asked the mage. "...yes, but you may not like what you will hear..." Midoku told the craftsman. "I don't care! Who is this man!" Jonas asked him angryly. "...he is the one who almost killed me..." Midoku stammered. "My god..." Jonas gasped. "Now you know why you should leave now, I'd hate to see anything happen to you or Gina." Midoku told Jonas, looking serious. "If we don't find and stop this Franco you speak of, he'll most likely find us leaving town..." Jonas told him, "Our home is by the trail that leads to this town, so you'll understand that I want to help you stop him..." "...it seems I owe you again..." Midoku told Jonas. "DADDY!" Gina cried, "I WANNA GO HOME TO MOMMY! I'm so scared..." Jonas kneeled down, looking Gina right in the eyes. "I know you're afraid, sweetness, but if we don't find and stop this man, he may hurt more people. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you..." "*SNIFF*, ok daddy..." Gina said, holding her father's hand. "Ok then, Midoku, where do we go from here?" Jonas asked the mage. "Hmmm... it looks like the, um... 'trail' of bodies leads to that Inn over there..." Midoku commented. "Then let's get going." Jonas told him. **** Dark Fanrico sensed a power he'd only felt back in Doma... the power of a blue mage. A robed figure stepped forward, sheilding a man and a small child. "Stephan?" asked Midoku hesitantly. "Stephan, is that you?" "It can't be..." Stephan gasped, "...it, it has to be a trick..." He nearly dropped his blade as he saw Midoku come over to him, the young man and his daughter in tow. "...Hello Stephan..." Midoku choked out. He took off his hat, revealing that tears had been falling down his cheeks, "...I didn't think we'd see each other again..." Stephan suddenly grabbed Midoku, a loud sob escaping him as he cried openly in his arms. Everyone in the room looked on in surprise, even Dark Franco. "Brother..." Daniel choked out. "...M...Midoku...I...missed you... so much..." Stephan told the blue wizard, holding him tight. "...so did I..." Midoku told the dark knight, refusing to let go. 'Now I know why you were still alive,' Jonas thought to himself, holding Gina close to him, 'There was someone who needed you...' "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Cantor, interrupting the scene. "The darkness... is... too... great... no..." His voice weakened as he spoke, and he eventually split in two. Two Cantors, standing next to each other. One was in shining white armor, the other in crimson and black. They looked at thier sides. "The Belthazra hasn't split!" they both exclaimed at the same time. They both looked in the space between them and saw the sword. At the exact same moment, the grabbed for it. THey hit heads and fell to the ground. Dark Cantor grabbed at it, but the Cantor in White got it first. "No matter. I will still have my magic, and to that, you cannot win. You've been developing your dark powers more than those of light. I will win, this time!" "Not if I have anything to say about it!" A staff came down on Dark Cantor's head, causing him to fall ot the ground. "Kira... how could you do this to me?" "You're not the Cantor I know! You only want others to suffer and to rule over them!" "Thank you, Kira. I'll slay this villan before he can do any-" Before he could finish, he was on the ground from the same staff. "You're also not tha Cantor! You only want to defeat him! You don't really care about the rest of us! You may be a Paladin, but all you care about is yourself! I want the old Cantor back! The one who took me to the city to be taught all of that time ago! The same Cantor who sang to me every night on that journey! The Cantor that came back after 5 years! The Cantor who I fell in love with! I can't stand this any longer!" Her staff began to glow, and the two Cantors rose into the air. They drew closer and closer. Suddenly, Dark Cantor broke free. "No! I won't be part of him!" Daniel bashed him over the head, knocking him out cold. "Go ahead." Kira's staff began to glow again. Dark Cantor rose into the air and as soon as contact was made with the other, the fusion began. Everyone else made no movement at the spectacular sight. Light and darkness both consumed each other, leaving nothing in the area of the two Cantors. Sudeenly,a figure wearing grey stepped out of the void and fell to the ground. It was Cantor, and the one that everyone knew. Kira ran over to him. "Cantor! Are you okay?" "I'm alright, just exausted. Let me rest... I'll be looking forward to waking up and seeing your face." And with that, he faded into unconsciousness. Meanwhile, Christydia couldn't take it anymore. She ran up to the block of Ice that Ash was encased in. "I've got to do something besides crying. I've got to get Ash to help out here." said Christydia as she started charging up a fire spell. While she was doing that all hell was breaking loose in town! Demondan and Ash Fanrico crashed into the room, knocking Kotoki and Jak aside. "Stop right there!" Folx shouted, arming himself with his bow. Lance and Kira soon followed with their own respective weapons. "Don't play jokes." Demondan laughed, running forward with his own blade. Lance parried, but Demondan quickly kicked the warriorfox in his knee, knocking him off balance for a second -- just enough time for the demonic 14-year old to slash him across the chest. "Lance!" Folx shouted, firing an arrow at Demondan. Dark Fanrico jumped in quickly, knocking the arrow away with the Obake spear. "Hey now. . ." he said. "We're already outnumbered here. You think I'd let you gang up on my subordinate?" Christydia used the Fire spell, and the ice started to slowly melt. Ash was starting to come back to consciousness. Before he could start doing anything she spoke to him. "ASH! You have got to fight this!! FIGHT IT ASH!! You're stronger than this! You taught me how to recover from my father's death. So I'm not going to stand by and let you go down like this!!" she said to him. The ice was gone, and Ash's eyes were still red and yellow. He seemed to not even notice his love in front of him as he started to walk towards the carnage. Christydia ran up to him and hugged him. Ash stopped in his tracks. He looked down at her. Christydia pulled him down and planted a big kiss on his lips. Ash seemed to be frozen after that. His love for Christydia gave him enough power to fight back his evil side. He breathed deeply as he regained control of his body. "Christydia?" he asked. "Ash! You're back!" she said. "You brought me back, my love!" he said. Suddenly, Folx's charred body flew to Ash's feet. He looked up. Dark Fanrico held his hand in front of him, smoking from the blast of magic he had just released. Christydia pulled out Ash's old broom. "Now! Go out there and fight! You can do it Ash! I believe in you... and I love you." she said as she gave him a peck on the cheek and stepped aside. Ash grabbed the broom, moving forward to fight once again. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:44 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 658 (11/3/04 7:06 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 17 - Battle in the Shack "Yes.. " Astrynax sneered, walking a few feet away from the fallen Dragoon. "So you still remember me.." "Of course I remember you... you, Black Mage, were the one who destroyed my old home... you killed all of my Dragoon elders!!" The Black mage snickered. "Good, you still remember. Those Dragoons were meddling in my plans already.. my actions were simply so that my plans would not be effected by mere interferers.. such as the Dragoons.." End growled. "You monster... I don't know why you showed yourself to me again, but I will not let you get away again!!" The dragoon quickly tackled Astrynax, but the Black Mage quickly Warped the two away, and as the spell was cast, End's amulet flew to the ground... "Arghble!" End growled as his environment shifted away from the forest to an odd set of ruins.. "Where the hell did you take us?!" "Heh.. where, indeed? Don't you recognise the rubble, Dragoon..?" ".. this.. this is...!!" "Yes.. your old 'home'." "Why did you bring us here?!" "You were meant to die with your elders, Reshiki.. I finally managed to track you down using the magical structure of that amulet, and now I shall slay you along with your entire meddling confederation of Dragoons.." "You're a little too confident in your abilities, Astrynax.. this time, I will not hide while you run away.. I'll see you dead on this very day.. and end all of this.." "Oh, you little fool... so dedicated to avenging your Dragoon elders.. so blind that you do not see past the time where I slayed them all.." "What..? What are you trying to say?" End paused. "... die!" Astrynax snarled, and with that, the sky flashed. End Reshiki was gone. (Author's Note: Reshiki's storyline from here on out is continued in his solo works.) **** Kotoki stared in disbelief at what was unfolding in front of her. "Molokidan. . .?" The boy who had just slashed Lance across the chest looked the same age and size as her barkeep. . .but that was where the similarities ended. The pangs of guilt Kotoki had felt before for leaving him behind suddenly came back to her heart in tenfold, sending her to her knees in grief. 'He's fine. . .' Jak had told her, earlier. 'Knowing that guy, he probably hopped on a caravan and went home. It's better than he's not involved with this, anyway. It's too dangerous.' Demondan turned to face the innkeep, who had called him by his past name. He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows mockingly. She could barely believe her eyes. Demondan stepped forward, his shiny new blade brandished in front of him. "Hi there. . ." he smiled. "Thanks for not saving me earlier!" he shouted at her. "It's given me a whole new perspective on the world! In fact, I think I'll give you a present, you stupid bitch!!" Demondan raised the Demonseye, but was suddenly knocked away by a blast of electricity. ". .. Jak. . ." Kotoki said, looking at the now-standing black mage. "What the hell did you do to him." Jak didn't even turn to Kotoki. He was staring at Dark Fanrico. Dark Fanrico listlessly watched his subordinate fly across the room. He turned his eyes back to Jak. "I improved on him." Jak turned back to Kotoki. "Get out of here right now." he said. "Stuff is going to get very messy." "It looks like we're going to be the good guys for once..." Stephan commented to Midoku, preparing to attack. "You've always had it in you, you know..." Midoku told him. "You ready, brother?" Stephan asked Daniel. "Yes, it's time to put an end to all this..." Daniel said, his weapon ready. "LET'S GO!!!" Stephan shouts. "Hey!!" Dark Fanrico shouted, his broom locked in battle with Ash. "Demondan! Get your ass up!! I need help!" "Ugghg. . ." Demondan pulled himself up, eyeing his burnt right arm. "That really hurt. . ." "Shut the hell up!!" Dark Fanrico shouted. "You better handle all these other guys, quick!" "Yeah right. . ." he said, watching Daniel, Stephan, and Midoku running towards him. "I'm getting the hell out of here!! You're insane!" He turned around, just to see a huge, hulking beast in front of him, roaring. "What. . .the hell?!" he shouted, staring up at the fangs of the DemonBeast. "Argh!" Dark Fanrico was knocked away by Ash, who stared at him with dark eyes. "Jak!" Ash shouted. "I need some more firepower!" Dark Fanrico picked himself up, looking to Demondan, and then the DemonBeast. "Hot damn!" he shouted. "I thought I killed your ass." The DemonBeast simply looked to Dark Fanrico, blinking. "You know this thing?" Demondan said, staring at the beast. "Yeah, I whupped its ass a few hours ago in a nearby town." Dark Fanrico said. "It must have been drawn here by all this fighting. I dunno how it came back to life. . ." he rolled his eyes. ". . .but I have a pretty good idea." "ARRRGH!" Demondan turned around quickly, just in time to lock swords with Daniel. "You look very familiar. . ." Daniel shouted, pushing his sword harder. "Haven't I seen you before?" "Get the hell off me!" Demondan shouted, spitting in Daniel's face and then shoving him away. "Dark Fanrico! You better think of something fast!" "Alright. . ." Dark Fanrico stared at the beast. "We'll ride this bitch outta here." "WHAT?!" Demondan shouted, running over. "We can really do that?" "If you don't let us ride you, your ass is toast." Dark Fanrico shouted. The DemonBeast nodded, in a very beastly way. With that, the two dark heathens jumped onto its back, and the DemonBeast rose into the air. "Dammit!" Midoku shouted. "They are getting away! I'm not finished charging my spell yet, Stephan!" "Hold on!" Dark Fanrico shouted, after the DemonBeast had risen far above the house below. "I want to kidnap that Christydia bitch before we go." "Do we really have time for--" "Shut the hell up before I feed you to this thing." Dark Fanrico muttered, steering the Demonbeast down towards the house again. "Hmmm..." Demondan thought to himself, "If my master is going to kidnap a woman, maybe I should too..." He took a look at all their adversaries. As the DemonBeast ripped the roof off of the house with its claws, he took a gander at all the people down below. Then he saw the man who'd come in with that Blue Wizard... ...and his sweet, little, innocent daughter clinging to his side... Jak looked up from the floor. Although the insane rage was mostly gone he was none to happy about being smacked over the back of the head. It apeared there was a battle going on, you know, the sort of the fairly epic type. And he wasn't taking part in it. He slowly got to his feet. Scanning for a target. Then he saw the DemonBeast. This was enough to get the evil little voice in the back of his cheering for carnage again, throwing in traumatic experiances from his past to boost his rage. The good little voice was cheering on as well. He leveled his hand at the dark warrior and shot off a bolt of lightning. Suddenly, however, the magic was dissipated. This was due to the fact that the DemonBeast had shot a huge stream of flame from its mouth, cutting everyone off from the left side of the house. . .the side that the women happened to be on. The DemonBeast swooped down, snatching up Gina and Christydia into its two claws, before returning to the sky. Ash heard a scream, and he saw Christydia in the arms of Dark Fanrico. The Demonic Clone of Evil was kidnapping his lover. "NOOOO!!! CHRISTYDIA!!!!" he screamed as he shot off to chase his evil clone and save his girlfriend. But it was too late. Dark Fanrico had already hopped back onto the DemonBeast and they were flying off towards the Temple. "Christydia... my love... errrrAUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" screamed the mournful Ash as he saw them in the distance. Kotoki and Jonas were right behind Ash. The look of their faces was of sorrow. Ash beat his fists into the ground. "BASTARD!!!!" he screamed, his heart full of rage. Ash got back up. He looked back at Birkley's lab/shack. He started walking towards it. Jak ran up to him. "Don't be a fool, Ash!" he snapped at the enraged warrior. Ash didn't even seem to pay attention to him. He busted open the door to the shack where Birkley was trying to clean up the mess left over from the ice block. "Fanrico?" he asked. Ash paid him no heed as he walked over to the Motorbike. "Wait! I'm not finished! I don't know how to get it started." said Birkley. Ash kicked the MotorBike, and the machine came to life. "Well... there's always that." said Birkley sheepishly. Ash hopped on. He looked over the MotorBike. Jak and the others were in the doorway. "Wait for us, Ash." said Kotoki. Ash looked at them. "It's me he wants. Why else would he kidnap Christydia?" said Ash in a grave tone. Jak stepped forward. "WE'VE BEEN ALREADY OVER THIS ASH! WE WILL FACE THIS ALL TOGETHER!!!!" he screamed at Fanrico. Ash looked at the Black Mage. His eyes no longer red and yellow. His eyes were full of anger and rage. A look Jak knew well. Ash kicked back the kickstop and the bike was off and running and was taking Ash with it. He smashed out of the wooden shack walls, paying no attention to small cuts he recieved as he sped on down the road to catch up to Dark Fanrico. Midoku went to check on Jonas, and found him kneeling on the floor, his face full of rage, a trail of tears coming from both eyes. "Jonas, are you Ok?" Midoku asked the craftsman concerned. "...couldn't stop him ...must save Gina ...can't ...loose ...control..." Jonas stuttered, he face twisted in pain. His breathing was very heavy, his hands clenched into fists. It was as if he were trying to fight something... "Midoku, is your friend there Ok?" Peach asked concerned, as she and the others came over to see what was going on. "Look Jonas, we'll find Dark Fanrico and get your daughter back, just stay calm..." Kotoki said, trying to confort the man. Even if he had heard her, it wouldn't have helped. "...NO, I CAN'T!!! I SWORE... I WOULDN'T... FOR LISA... NO!!!!!...." Jonas growled, his eyes becoming bloodshot. "Jonas, what is it?! What's happening to you?!" Midoku asked, as he began to get nervous. "AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Jonas suddenly screamed, his entire body convulsing. "What the hell's going on?!" Kotoki and Jak both yelled. Before their eyes, dark yellow fur began to sprout over every inch of Jonas' body. His face grew narrow and elongated, his ears pointed and toward the back of his head. His teeth changed from molars to sharp fangs. By now, it was quite obvious that Jonas wasn't just a craftsman. "Oh shit..." Stephan said. This seemed to be a never ending day of frustration and rage for Jak. In the latest installment of his misery, Ash had run off after Christydia by himself, trying to face him problems alone. Again. Next thing was that some random townsperson had just changed into a werewolf. He sighed to himself and decided to relieve his anger by blasting the poor sap into the nine hells. But as he leveled his hand at the rabid beast, Midoku grabbed his hand, stopping him from his much needed stress relief. "GAAAH! Why won't you all just let me KILL something!" he screamed, his evil and good voices taking cover in the back of his skull. Kotoki stared in shock at the werewolf. "It's okay!" she screamed, as much as to herself as to him. "You can fight it!" She turned to Jak. "I know this isn't the best time to be asking, but... can I borrow some blood here?" Jonas' mind was a jumbled collection of thoughts, most of them not his own: ANGRY... HURT... MUST KILL THOSE WHO HURT... He looked at the band of adventurers, his rage out of control. YES! THEY MUST PAY... THEY MUST DIE... NO!!! Jonas thought, what little humanity he had left trying to break free, It's not their fault... THEY WILL DIE... "GGGGRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" The werewolf yelled, lunging forward, his claws and fangs ready to tear anyone and everyone to shreds. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/3/04 7:46 pm Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 659 (11/3/04 7:10 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 18 - Wherein the Temple is Found, Destroyed, and Restored Ash was riding on the MotorBike towards the direction that he last saw Dark Fanrico and Demondan flew off to. He was having second thoughts on his latest decision. But he already made his decision. But he finally realized what Jak Snide was talking about. However. . .they had their loved ones on them. He already failed to kill Dark Fanrico on many occasions, but he wasn't going to let Christydia down, she was counting on him. He just hoped the others were having some better luck than him.... "Dammit Darkblade, just what are you planning?" asked Ash as he sped onward. 'Hard to imagine. . .' He thought 'Just the other day me and Christydia were just walking into an inn, trying to get a room. We had no idea that this shit was going to happen. But he has met alot of new comrades. Molokidan, the innocent boy who was corrupted by his alter ego, Daniel and Stephan, a paladin and dark knight who spent as much time fighting each other as they do fighting the monsters, Kotoki, the lovely and mysterious inn owner, Jak Snide, a homicidal Black Mage, and Birkley, a wacky scientist who is the only other person who knows of my past heroics.' If one thing was for sure, it was that it was gonna be real interesting to see how this all was going to turn out. Suddenly, in the distance, Ash saw the top of a moutain which housed the Cult of Broomada's temple explode in a huge black fireball. "What the hell?" "PARALYSIS!" All of a sudden the area around Ash froze in his tracks. "What the hell. . .I can't move." Ash said, frozen. "I bet you can't, Ash." it was the voice of Darkblade, coming from behind him. "Phew." he sighed. "I won't be able to hold this for long, after spending the bulk of my energy on that blast. I'll have to make this quick." "What is the meaning of this?!" Ash shouted, enraged. "You know I don't have time for this, Darkblade!" "I just came by to say goodbye for awhile, as I will be leaving this dimension for a short period of time." "Where do you think you're going? Did you just blow that mountain range?" "But of course. You at least don't have to worry about Dark Fanrico going to the Temple now, just your little girl friend that he took." "Why the fuck didn't you do anything if you knew about it!?" Ash shouted, straining his head as much as he could to turn around and stare at his past rival. "Now Ash. . .I can't go involving myself in the threads of fate that spin around a "legendary" hero like yourself." Darkblade snickered. "Yeah right, Darkblade. . .then what the fuck do you call the Broom of Darkness, collateral?" "Actually. . ." Darkblade smirked. "That's what I came down here for anyway." While Ash was still unable to move, Darkblade placed his hand on the Broom of Darkness and began to chant. "Don't worry Ash, this won't hurt me." Darkblade whispered, already beginning to laugh. "AAAAAAUUUGGGHHH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Ash shouted, as the Broom of Darkness was ripped from his grasp, taking all of the Darkstone's power with it. "What a cry baby. . ." the Broom of Darkness spoke. ". . .but the experiment has gone exactly as you had planned master." "You are correct." Darkblade replied. ". . .but we have one more stop to make before we leave." "What the hell are you talking about, Darkblade?" Ash said, recovering from his sudden loss of power. "Did you plan this whole damn thing from the begining?" "In a word....Yes. I spread rumors that Doma was becoming more of a tyrant than he is already, to get the moogles involved. I knew that one of them had a very pesky amulet, which seemed to interfere with the demonic power stored in the Cult of Broomada's temple. I came to the King of Doma, bearing 'secret information' upon his demise, the demise that I had planned from the very start. He began to confide in me, thus allowing me to increase the grip that the Cult of Broomada had on the world. It gave them enough resources to use the powers of the Darkstone in secret, and create the Broom of Darkness. . .not to mention summon the retrospectively pointless DemonBeast." Darkblade shrugged. "Sorry I couldn't tell you, but it would have interfered with my work." "Aside from me being too pissed to compliment you for your shit-headed brillance. . ." Ash muttered. "What the hell did this have to do with blowing up that mountain?" "Nothing really, I was bored." Darkblade shrugged. "You what?!" "Anyway I thank you for your assistance in this whole ordeal." Darkblade smiled. "It has been a very interesting experiment on my part, and I am sure it will cause this world chaos for the years to come." "What about the Broom of Darkness?! I thought it had chosen me as its master?" "Just look." Darkblade spoke. Ash watched as the runes that were etched along the side of the BOD disappear. "I'll leave you one last gift, that I give you my word of honor as a knight has no strings attached." Darkblade smiled, placing a potion in Ash's pocket. "This liquid will temporarely enchant your broom into a holy relic. The exact type of weapon that can kill your dark twin and banish him to the abyss." Darkblade yawned, turning around to leave. "See ya later, Ash." Darkbalde vanished into a warp, and Ash unfroze. "I won't forget this or forgive you if Christrydia dies, Darkblade." Ash said, staring into the sky, mounting his Motorbike again. "Just you remeber that!" **** "I guess we won't be going to that temple now." Dark Fanrico spoke, watching the temple explode to smithereens. "Well NOW where the hell do we go?" Demondan said, looking a bit dissapointed. "I'll figure something out." Dark Fanrico said, stroking his goattee. Suddenly, out of a portal in front of them came Darkblade, floating on the Broom of Darkness in the sky. "Hows it hanging, guys?" Darkblade smirked. "I suppose that you're to blame for this Darkblade. . ." Dark Fanrico sighed. ". . .and since when do you ride a broomstick? Don't tell me you're going to intervene in my plans, Darkblade." "Not really. . ." Darkblade said, his eyes shifting around. ". . .but I am going to leave this dimension for awhile." "I can't say that I'll miss you." Dark Fanrico said bluntly. "No you probably won't," Darkblade said, his face slowly distorting into one of insanity. "BUT YOU'LL CERTAINLY MISS YOUR DARK POWERS!" He pulled the empty Darkstone from his pocket. "Darkstone, absorb!!!" "What are you..." Dark Fanrico writhed on the back of the DemonBeast. "AAAUUUUUGGHHHH!!" Darkblade flung the Darkstone at Ash's counterpart. It halted in midair and blasted Dark Fanrico with a white light that began to flow from Dark Fanrico's body. "This will conclude the experiment won't, it master?" The Broom of Darkness mused. "Yes it will!" Darkblade exclaimed. "And it worked perfectly in fact, thank you Dark Fanrico. You are now just a normal low-class demon, congratulations!" Before a horde of obscenities could be screamed from Dark Fanrico, Darkblade made his leave. "I'll leave my DemonBeast in your hands as a going-away present." he laughed. "It's worthless anyway." **** "This is great." Darkblade said, moving through time and space, juggling the Darkstone in his hands. "All I had to do was look to my #1 nuisance to restore the power to the Darkstone. To think that those demon lords said that it takes a minimum ten thousand years to make one, when it took me about a week." "Where exactly are we going now?" The Broom of Darkness floated along Darkblade's side. "I have some more business to take care of." Darkblade said, staring ahead. "I honestly hope you didn't believe everything I told those idiots back there." he said, smiling. "There is a little book in my possession that I am sure one of them will come looking for." "I really don't understand why this stuff entertains you. . ." the Broom muttered. "You're really weird, you know that?" **** "Guh!" Jonas grunted, as Lance's spear connected with his head. This knocked the werewolf to the ground. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep him down. Jonas staggered back to his feet, letting out another low growl to the party members. "Man, there's gotta be SOMETHING we can do for him." Daniel stated, as he treated some minor wounds on Jak and Lance. "I'm not sure what we can do..." Midoku said, a sad look in his eyes. 'Is this why you saved me?' Midoku thought, 'Because you know, too, how it feels to be feared and hated?' 'Calm down already!' Folx tried barking to him again, 'We want to help you!' '...Just kill me...' Jonas suddenly growled, a growl that Folx understood. 'Huh? Is that you Jonas?' Folx barked back. 'I can't control it... too much anger... my baby girl... save her...' Jonas growled. "Ok dog-boy, it's time for a little training..." Stephan said, as he prepared to attack Jonas. "WAIT!!!" Folx yelled, "Let me try 'talking' to him one more time." He ran over to face Jonas, who was still hunced forward growling.... "We won't kill you! We're going to save Gina!" said Folx. Maybe this'll help Folx thought. "Just hang on! Maybe you can even help us. Calm down and come with us and we'll be able to save Gina... together." Jonas stopped growling, just staring at the floor. 'I'm just a monster now... I should die...' Jonas told Folx. '...you've never truly faced this part of yourself, have you?' Folx asked the werewolf. '...I hate it... don't want to hurt anyone... don't want to hurt Lisa...' Jonas told the fox, ...My kind killed her family ...I don't want that to happen to her too... because of me... The group looked on as Folx and Jonas continued their canine conversation. "Do you think he'll do it?" Kadina asked. "I hope so..." was all Kotoki could think of to say. "Jonas, don't give up, I know you're not a monster..." Midoku said, as Folx continued to 'chat'... 'Look, I know what you're going through, your mind and your heart telling you one thing, yet your instincts are screaming for control...' Folx started, 'But you can't ignore those instincts Jonas, or you'll never control them. You have to face them, and accept what you are, only them can you gain control over your gift...' Jonas looked up at the fox, the rage in his eyes slowly dwindling. 'Don't give up Jonas, anyone who'd rather die than see his child hurt is no monster...' Folx told him. Jonas got up to his feet, and looked at the rest of the party. "I'm sorry..." The werewolf spoke to everyone... Everyone nodded, except for Kotoki, who was still busy sucking blood out of Jak's arm. Kotoki wiped her mouth walked over to Jonas. "Are you alright now, then? Good. I'm sorry, too... I was right next to Gina and still couldn't save her. I promise I'll get her back for you." "Wow... it's a good thing that I never healed you, Kotoki," commented peach as she watched Kotoki feed on Jak's arm. "Dammit! We don't have time to wait here! I'm going to catch up with Ash," said Cantor in a weak voice. He stood up and started to play a now famailiar melody. His horse walked in through the hole in the wall. Cantor jumped on. "Come on, girl. We need to catch up with Ash." "Cantor! Wait!" Screamed Kira. "Don't worry about him, Kira," said Peach. "I'll get you to him." Peach began to concentrate on one of the black chocobos still in the shack. Suddenly, she bagn to glow. Her limbs turned into wings, he legs changed to that of a bird's, her neck grew longer, her head transformed, and her clothes turned to black feathers. "Kweh!" "Thank you SO much, Peach." Kira hopped on and flew next to Cantor. "Well then, I guess we'd better get going, too," said Folx. "As soon as Kotoki's finished... uh... drinking... let's go ahead and tame some chocobos!" "But at least we stand more of a chance on chocobos than on foot," added Lance. **** Ash couldn't believe it... He was a pawn all along. The person who he thought was a respectable friend turned out to be quite an asshole. He was still feeling pain from having the Broom of Darkness ripped away from him. But he didn't care about himself. He cared more about Christydia. He had to go and save her. "Darkblade...that bastard... this is the thanks I get for saving your miserable life? Should've never trusted him. Never... not for even a moment. He was probably angry that I survived our battle long ago." He remembered Darkblade standing on front of him, his huge broadsword covered in the hero's blood. Likewise, Ash's broom was stained with the blood of the demon. Ash clutched his stomach, staring at Darkblade. "I'll never give up. . ." he muttered. "What are you talking about. . .?" Darkblade said, collapsing to the ground in a pool of blood. "You've already won, idiot." Ash snapped back to reality. "What am I going to do now?" he asked in a pitiful tone. The wind blew and the grass danced in the breeze. The answer came to him. "First, I'm going to save Christydia and kill Dark Fanrico. Then I'm going to hunt down DarkBlade. Make him pay for the amount of lives lost just for one stone." he said in a deep serious tone. **** Dark Fanrico's powers were gone. His goal was in pieces and the sinking feeling that he was basically being used this entire time began to set in. "Hey dude, are you okay?" Demondan asked warily. "Darkblade was using me... he lied about Ash transforming, lied about our link and bond, lied about me being asorbed... all lies. I'VE BEEN A FOOL!!!!" screamed an extremely angered Dark Fanrico. Then it hit him. He was looking for the Book of Drendar, the book that was the key to becoming a god. But that spell would only work if the caster had a sufficient source of dark power -- such as the Broom of Darkness, or the Darkstone itself. The book was at the temple. It was kept in an iron strong-lock box. It might still be there. "DemonBeast! Down there to the Ruins... now." ordered Dark Fanrico. Christydia was shaking and shivering in Dark Fanrico's grasp. "Soon Darkblade...soon you shall pay for what you've done to me... " mumbled Dark Fanrico as the DemonBeast lowered itself into the ruins of the Temple. "Now. . .WHERE IS THAT DAMNED BOOK? WHERE IS IT?" screamed Dark Fanrico as he tore up the what little was left of the Temple looking for the Book of Drendar. He then realized it. "He has it..." he gasped. The bastard Darkblade had taken the Book of Drendar. Demondan came up from behind. "What is this Book of Demdarg?" he asked. Dark Fanrico spun around to face his minion. "The Book of DRENDAR is a book filled with bizarre burial rights, necromancy, Demon Summoning spells, and hordes of other forbidden texts and spells that man was not supposed to have and/or know of." replied a frantic Dark Fanrico. "It's probably how Darkblade summoned that idiot DemonBeast out there, as well as learned of the secrets of the Darkstone." Dark Fanrico was going apeshit. He knew what the book could do. Dammit, DarkBlade seemed to have thought of everything. . .the bastard was always one step ahead of him. Now he has a book powerful enough to pull down the heavens... if there were a spell that could do so. Worst of all... he's a low-class demon now. Dark Fanrico tried to look on the bright side of things. He still knew all of his sword techniques, fighting moves, and still had his strength. Whatever Darkblade had planned...it was big. Big and obviously unignorable. He still couldn't believe he had fallen for that stupid lie about Ash turning into a superbeast. Maybe it was time to reconsider some parts of his plans and some of his strategies... "Hey, what do you think this does?!" Demondan shouted from afar, where he seemed to be standing over a metal contraption of some sort. Suddenly, the ruins began to shake. The gargoyle fell backwards into the gears and got demolished. The ruins began to rise out of the ground. No sooner than that was a whole castle out of the ground. "What is this!?" Chrystidia spoke up. The castle kept rising, until it was high above the ground. "What?!" Demondan looked over the side. They were floating in mid-air. The DemonBeast flew up. "Mwowr?" "Don't ask me. . ." The 14-year old demon said, then turned to Dark Fanrico. "Any ideas?" **** The heroes rode on, Jonas now added to their ranks. Some of them were on Motorbikes, others on chocobos. Eventually, they caught up with Ash, still trying to sort out his next plan of action. "Ash!" Kotoki shouted. "Are you alright? Why did you stop?" She was interrupted, however, from the sound of the Temple rising up into the sky. "Eeeee~!" screamed Peach. "What's happening?!" yelled Daniel. "What the F*&% is going on?!!!!" Jak said. "What in the world?!" Ash said. "It's an earthquake!" shouted Kotoki to everyone. "More like something else!" said Kira, pointing upwards. A large castle flying in the sky was now seen over yonder. "What H&!! is going on?!" shouted Stephan looking at the castle. "The DemonBeast is there too." commented Midoku looking at the sky. "That means that they're up there, then. . ." Lance said. "Yeah, but how our we suppose to get up there?" asked Cantor. "I wonder..." said Kelan. "Yes, how indeed." Folx pondered, staring over at Jak. "Oh, alright. . ." Jak said, creating a warp hole with his hands. "You could have just asked!" Cantor was the first to follow Kotoki into the portal that Jak created, followed by everyone else, and finally, Jak. The portal closed after Jak's entry. The black mage stepped around, looking at his new surroundings. "Roomy..." he commented. Ash wasn't really paying attention to the others. He was more set on finding Christydia and that young village girl. "So what's on the agenda Ash?" asked Jak. Ash turned around. He had a puzzled look on his face. "I don't know. This IS a big temple. So we might have to explore a bit before finally reaching to where Dark Fanrico and that minion of his are." replied Ash. Ash was also worried about one more thing... Darkblade. He mentioned he would return. Ash wondered if he was strong enough to fight against him. Especially without the Broom of Darkness. But whatever happened, Ash knew he would stop it... somehow and no matter the cost. **** Hmmm. ." Demondan stood on the top of the ruins, looking down at their new visitors as Dark Fanrico tended to the captives. "They're here. I say we do what most evil continent-uplifters would do, and create a gigantic maze for them to go through!" The 14-year old snapped his fingers, and the ruins below began to rearrange themselves, in a perplexing and nonsensical way. "DEMONBEAST!" Demondan screamed. "You guard the entrance to this spire. If they come, it's up to you to fight them. Heh heh heh. . ." The demon stared back at the grisly maze. "They'll NEVER make it through this!" --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:49 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 660 (11/3/04 7:11 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 19 - Into the Floating Ruins Kotoki blinked and felt dizzy as a huge maze sprug up from the air in front of her. "Oh, *wow*." she breathed. "It's huge... guess we'll have to go through to get to the DemonBeast. Jak, can you warp us there?" The black mage shook his head. "Nope. Something's blocking me... damn!" Peach looked around. "We need to get Christydia and Gina back, so we should probably get going." "Yeah, what she said," commented Kelan. As Daniel prepared to enter the maze, he thought back to everything that had led up to this... He remembered all he'd wanted that day was to avoid a duel with Stephan, but then the fight over End Reshiki broke out and Kotoki's Inn was destroyed (for the Nth time). Then he met Kadina, Ash, and Christydia, and he was pulled into a journey that he'd never forget. He'd seen Kadina living up to her promise and being strong, Ash, Kotoki, Cantor, and Jonas standing up to their dark selves, Christydia and Kira never losing faith in the men they loved so dearly, and Peach, Kelan, Folx, and Lance doing whatever it took to help put an end to this. He'd even seen that his brother had a glint of decency in him, and it looked like his partner Midoku would help to keep that light alive... ...so much has happened... Daniel thought, ...I've met so many interesting and great people... I have to be strong so everyone will have a future to look forward to. With that, Daniel followed Peach and Kelan into the maze, quickly followed by Stephan, Midoku, and Jonas. "Oh my..." the craftsman commented, looking at the intricately designed walls, "Look at all the mirrors on these! This place must be at least 3,000 years old..." "How the hell would you know that?" Stephan asked Jonas bluntly. "Brother!" Daniel scolded him. "Nah, it's Ok, I study a lot of ancient artifacts and books for my woodwork and stuff," he explained to the group, pointing to the golden design that ran along the outer edge of the mirrors, "These markings look similar to the ones used by an ancient magic society that existed long ago, like I already said." "If what you say is true, then this maze may be very dangerous..." Midoku said, "who knows what kind of magical defenses may exist..." "Whatever's here, can we get moving already?" Stephan wined impatiently, "All these mirrors are giving me the creeps..." "Yeah, it feels like there's an army of 'US' watching our movements..." Daniel said. As the quartet walked past the mirrors, they had no idea that their reflections were no longer moving, and were now watching them... "Hehehehe..." Daniel's mirror image snicked... "...Hello, everyone. Care to let us join you?" As the party stared, their mirror images stepped out from the wall and towards them. "Welcome to the maze." said Peach's twin sadistically. "We're so sorry..." said Stephan's double in mock honesty. Jak's mirror drew a fireball into his hand. "But we're going to kill you now." "Hold it right there asshole!" Jak sneered at his miror image. "If you ARE a reflection of me, you should be my exact oposite, meaning you'd be a wussy, crybaby, "I love fwuffy bunnies" type of person." Jak narrowly ducked the fireball, which sailed off into the background behind him, shattering a few hundred mirors. "Hah! You mi...AAAGHHH! You singed my hat! Prepare to die!" "How about we kill you?" said Cantor's twin. Peach, seeing the fireball in the mirror Jak's hand, started to chant a protective spell. "Let's see if I'm as accurate as I am fast..." said Folx as he drew an arrow to his bow. "What kind of abilities do you think these... reflections have?" inquired Kira. "I don't know, but for all we know, they have our abilities... or maybe even more," answered Cantor. "Let's just kill these guys!" said Kelan enthusiastically. "I've needed to give my dagger a bit of practice." He pulled out his long dagger, hoping that his reflection didn't know that the mug was a weapon. 'I wonder if these reflections have blood...' thought Lance. 'I haven't had any for a few days now and I'm getting kind of hungry.' "Alright. I'm ready." he said, drawing his spear and putting his helmet on. "Arg!" Daniel yelled, as his doppleganger managed to hit him in the arm with his Vulture Spier. "You're pathetic, you know that?" Mirror Daniel told him, a wicked smile on his face. "Shut up!" Daniel yelled back, attempting to swing his Phoenix Pinion at Mirror Daniel's head. "See... I know everything about you, and why you REALLY obsess over those stupid books of yours..." The Mirror image snickered, dodging the assault. "You can't STAND the thought of anyone hating you, you know why? Because they DO all hate you. They know about those selfish thoughts of yours, the ones you try SO HARD to supress. They know you'd rather do what YOU want then help others, and that's why they'll never befriend a heartless bastard like you..." "THAT'S NOT TRUE!!!" Daniel screamed, charging the mirror paladin with his quill staff. However, Mirror Daniel easily side steps the attack and knocks Daniel to the ground. "See? I was right!" the mirror laughed, picking up the Phoenix Pinion and pointing it at Daniel's throat. "Your selfishness has done you in. Just like it did in Stephan's heart, remember that?" the mirror image asked the Paladin. "I... I..." Daniel didn't know what to say. "It's your fault he's the way he is, and now you will pay for your sins..." the mirror told him, as he prepared to drive the quill through Daniel's throat... Kotoki, meanwhile, was desperately trying to fend off her alter ego. Both had transformed and were trying to fight each other's attacks. "Hard, isn't it?" hissed the double. "Because I'm not afraid of my natural powers like *you* are." Kotoki bit her lip, trying to fend off another attack. "I'm used to it." The evil twin parried her easily, pushing her to the groud. She spat. "You're pathetic. And when I say that, I mean it. Among the worst... Trying to live a normal life and pretend you're not what you really are. Trying to make friends, even? These people? Stephan, Daniel, Peach, Lance, Kira, Ash, Molokidan... they don't care about you. They couldn't care less." "Now I *know* you're lyring." retorted Kotoki. "These are my friends. They've stood up for me and I've stood up for them. That's how it works." The double continued without listening. "And *Jak*! You really think that bastard cares whether you live or die? Get real! He's a black mage. He's burnt down everything in his path, and I'm sure *you'd* be simple to kill... especially since you seem to trust him so much." Kotoki's eyes went wide. "No..." The evil Kotoki grinned evilly as she continued pushing her into a corner. "Yes." Jak and his mirror image squared off. A torent of dark magic flew from each of the combatants, creating a spectacular display mid field as spell hit counter spell, mirros shattered and the floor cracked and melted. 'Whats the matter?' inquired Jak as he shot off a break spell at the clone. "Nothing to say to me? No comment on my inner self? No attempt to reduce me to an emotional wreck." "Not in this form." the mirror Jak sneered. "However, I think you'll remember..." In a flash of dark light, the mirror image transformed into... "...me." sneered the new figure. She appeared to be an elf, although her dusky skin betrayed her true lineage. She sneered at him, staring at him. With the same yellow, demonic eyes he remembered from all those years ago. "..." Jak proclaimed in shock. "You remember, don't you? How I slaughtered you're friends and family, burnt you're village to the ground, and left you there, cold and alone?" "Silence yourself, hellspawn!" spat Jak, with more bile in his voice than ever before. "I remember perfectly what you did to me, weak and stupid me. Was I such unworthy "sport" back then for you and you're kin? Well, perhaps I can offer you a challange!" "Pft. The pitiful creature that you are couldn't stand up to me then, and can't stand up to me now." the dark elf sneered, drawing her two swords. "The "pitiful creature" named Jack Soloman died that day." said Jak in a low tone. "You now face Jak Snide, master of the black arts and bringer of your doom! You don't stand a chance!" yelled Jak, his eyes flaring red as the rage built within him again. "We shall see!" hissed his nightmare, as she charged him. **** "Time to see if you really do have blood!" said Lance. "Wha?" Before Daniel's clone could even finish that word, he had a spear through him and was laying on the floor, Lance pulled his spear out of the mirror image. "I guess you do." Just then, Lance got a spiked club to the side of the head, and was on the ground himself. "Ha! Did you forget about me?" said his mirror image. "So, why do you not tell them? Why do you always keep it such a secret from them?" He drew closer and closer to Lance. "Are you afraid that they won't like the fact that you're... a vampire?" He picked Lance up and bit his neck. Lance felt the blood being sucked from him. "Not so good to be on the other side, is it?" "Back off!" Kelan tackled the clone of Lance. "I have absolutely no problem with him being a vampire!" Kelan stabbed the clone's chest. "Hey Lance! Go ahead and get your blood back... and his, too." He got up and Lance stuck his spear into the reflection's chest, sucking the blood from it. "Come on, bring it on!" Shouted Kelan to his clone. Kelan had his dagger and mug in his hands, while the clone had a rapier. Kelan used his dagger to parry and attacked with the ale mug. Cantor and Kira were back to back, while thier mirror images were circling them. "Let's take this somewhere else," said Peach's clone. They were teleported to large room without any features to it, wheatsoever. The reflection started using black magic, while Peach put up a barrier to each spell. "I guess I'll have to hurry this up so I can get back to help my friends... I know!" She started to emit a light blue aura, and suddenly, a stoer of ice replaced Peach. Out of the ice, came the frail figure of Shiva, but out of a crack that formed in the ground came Ifrit, who melted Shiva's ice. The two summoned creatures disappeared, and the Peaches came back. Peach tried her other summons, but every time, the other peach just used the opposite element to defeat the fisrt one. "I have no other choice..." Peach dissapeared, and a roar could be head in the distance. Suddenly, the dragon god blasted through the wall. Tiamat blatsed through the opposite wall. The two gripped each other's claws and pushed in a test of pure strength. They pushed and pushed, but eventually, Bahamut pushed Tiamat into the wall, and tiamat dissapeared. Peach's clone reappeared and screamed at the site of Bahamut. Bahamut was ready to blast The reflection, but Peach reappeared. "STOP!" Bahamut froze his position. "I'll let you live, but if you attack me again, I'll have to do something I don't want to." Bahamut disappeared. "Fool!" Peach's clone charged at peach, but peach turned around and smacked the mirror image with her hammer. "No, you're the fool for attacking me again," she said as she struck the final blow in the weakened clone. Peach was exhausted from summoning bahamut, and didn't have enough magic left to heal herself. She walked through an opening in the wall, which led to the back of a mirror, which she could see the fight through. She shattered the mirror with her hammer... **** Kotoki started to tremble as her twin approached. "You mean..." she whispered. "He doesn't..." The mirrorgirl smirked. "So you finally see the light. Too bad you're going to die so soon now." She stood with Kotoki at her feet. "See? You're pathetic-" Kotoki started to laugh. "Great acress, aren't I?" she asked, leg snapping out from under her and into her twin's kneecap before the other could react. "Sorry. I've gone through all this angst already. I may be struggling, but I can do *that* perfectly well on my own, thanks." Kotoki ran up towards the dark elf woman, growling. "I don't know who you are, but no *way* are you gonna hurt Jak!" Jak laughed as he blasted another section of the ground out from in front of his assailant. She easily dodged it of course, bit it stopped her from making mincemeat out of him with those blades. He then glanced off to the side, and saw a very angry and irate looking Kotoki walking towards his nemesis. He cracked a smile. 2 vs 1 were odds he liked. His smile quickly faded when the dark elf disapeared and reapeared behind Kotoki a split second later, blades across her neck. Jak froze. He could easily incinerate both of them. His nightmare new this. But...he couldn't do it. Not to her. She had been the first one to show him kindness, and seemed to actually care about his miserable existance. This was one life he couldn't end. And his nightmare knew this as well. "Come here if you want the girl to live." Jak sighed. He knew what was going to happen. He walked over to her. The elf smiled, and cast a quick silence spell on him, preventing him from making any last minute changes to his decision. "Hmm...well, I can see you're not the heartless bastard you thought you were. Too bad your cowerdice will forfeit her life." she sneered, tensing her muscles... ...only to get a dagger right in the eye. She let go of Kotoki and howled with pain, clutching at her bleeding socket. Jak sneered with complete malice. He was going to enjoy this... He reached into his robes and pulled out a small pill. He swallowed it, and waited for a moment before a light blue arura surrounded him. "Ah, much better." he said, walking up to his now pathetic opponent and stabbing her in the other eye. She barely had time to howl in pain before he kicked her to the floor. "I afraid you are wrong. I am the heartless bastard I know I am. I just make a few exceptions for the some people. However, this still leaves me with enough mental torment and pain to find torturing a crippled opponent very satifying." he chuckled evily, kicking the two katanas away from his subject. "Now, you shall learn the pain I feel every moment of my life." he scowled, enchanting his blade with a hearty complement of poison magic. Then a lightning bolt flew over his head, bouncing off some mirors before dissipating. "On second thought, maybe I'll just kill you quick. Comrades to protect and all." he said rather jovily as her plunged his dagger into her head, abruptly ending the dark elf's life. He turned back to Kotoki, wiping the blood and brain giblets off his blade. "Sorry about that. Old score to settle and all that." --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:47 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 661 (11/3/04 7:14 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 20 - Fighting Yourself, and How to Deal With It "Heh heh heh. ." Demondan stood high above the maze. "I'm the strongest evil being alive. ." he chuckled. "Now. .let's see what they're doing. Interesting!" he paced around. "I'll let them get further, then see what I can do. . now that I've blocked all exit magic, I should think of something else. ." he stood high above, casting a dark, pint-sized shadow down on the whole continent. He let out a bellowing laughter. "THE WORLD IS MINE!" **** "That sounds like the barkeep," said Folx while dodging one of his mirror's arrows. "Maybe we should have paid a bit more attention to him..." Folx fired off an arrow, which missed as many others had before. His opponent was as quick and agile as he was. "Let's see you dodge this!" He pulled out his gun and fired off several different specialty shells, which ricoched (sp?) off of the mirrors and hit the reflection from all directions. The clone was first paralysed, then set on fire, then encased in ice. Folx drew out his vorpal blade and put his gun away. "This is where you die!" He brought the blade down on the ice, shattering it and the clone, which reverted to shattered bits of glass. Cantor and Kira had been split up. Kira was fending off her opponents magic with her own. She felt a terrible stress on her mind, but with her magic returned the stress to its sender. Thier magics were locked in the middle, a contest of magical endurance, being fought by two equal opponents. "You're only fighting me to fight yourself, you know." "What?" "Yes, you think that this will redeem you for your terrible acts." "What are you saying?" "You've struck the one you love, beaten down he who your heart longs for. You really hate him!" "You're just starting to sound lame. What are you trying to convince me of? They weren't the one Cantor who I love, those were his alternate selves, only half of him that wanted to destroy the other half! I also know what you... things do! What you have been doing to all of my friends! They're really also your friends, but you're so scared that you're trying to kill us!" "What?" "You know what I mean!" Kira took this mement of confusion and weakness and amplified it with her magic. The clone's mind was twisting and distorting. Her mind felt as if it were melting, tearing apart, and shattering all at once. Soon, she was reduced to a sheet of glass, which Kira pushed over, and it shattered. Cantor was in a battle far more intense. "DIE!" "Your wish to kill me cannot be granted, Paladin." "What? What did you call me?" "Paladin, don't deny it! You're no dark warrior and you know it. Just accept your place in life. If not,I'll make you accept your place in death!" "I am no Paladin. They threw me out for using my powers which I had, they abandoned my for using black magic, though there's no reason I shouldn't have!" "It's all about your code of honor, Paladin." "It's not Paladin, I am called Cantor. My honor is to be that of a great musician, not to fend off anything the slightest bit evil. My own methods are evil." "Then why do you not use your dark magic, Paladin?" "you won't trick me, Mirror!" He took another swing with the Belthazar. "better yet..." He charged up a spell. "yes, YES!" Cantor released the spell, but into the ir above. The clone looked up at it. "what?!" Cantor charged and thrusted the Belthazar into the clone's chest and casting conflagration after that. The clone was reduced to bits of mirror, melted into the floor. Kelan was locked in battle with his clone. Neither could hit the other. The two went on attacking and being blocked, then blocking and attacking. Suddenly, A spear went through the clone. "Just thought I'd return the favor," said a refreshesd looking Lance. Kelan took that oppurtunity to stab with his dagger and then shatter the opponent with his mug. "Thanks, Lance." **** Ash confronted his mirror image. "Not another one of you assholes." growled Ash. The Mirror Image simply laughed. "You are such an idiot. You worry too much about others. Besides you're far too trusting. You trusted DarkBlade, look what if got you. Now you think you can trust these people? Half of them wouldn't even care if you died Ash. You brought pain and suffering to them all. You started this all for them. They just wanted to go on with their lives and quests. But you had to draw them in and will in the end be their undoing. You only care about your pride and that silly code of yours which you cling to constantly. You also dragged in Christydia. You don't care about her at all do you? You've just had your true thoughts and feelings brought to the surface by the Broom of Darkness." hissed the Mirror Image. "You lie. You are not me. You don't know the faces of the people I've had to see in my past. The faces of the people who lost loved ones, their homes, or even their very own lives." snapped Ash. The Mirror Image chuckled evily. "You trusted the demon known as Darkblade. You were to ignorant or too stupid to realize that it would later come back to haunt you." cackled the Mirror Image. It pulled out a large sword and attack Ash. "You are weak, Fanrico! You are so weak that you won't ever see Christydia again cause you will fail her, cause you are not strong." screamed the Mirror Image as it slashed Ash's arm. Blood spurted out of the wound as Ash clung to it. "You have caused pain to these people you travel with. Because of you Stephan almost lost his friend, and whole villages have been destroyed. Kotoki lost her inn, and still you drag the others along. You are a souless WEAK bastard." snickered the Mirror Image. Ash had had enough. "Foul demon of lies and deceit. I do fear for others. But they made the choice to follow me and help me. I have repaid them countless times by aiding them and will continue to do so even after this hell is over. You can say what you want about me and my self-respect and you can say all you want about my trust in others. BUT YOU WILL NEVER SPEAK ABOUT CHRISTYDIA AND YOU WILL NEVER STOP ME FROM SAVING HER!" yelled Ash as he brought out a large blade. Ash rushed his opponent with an unstoppable or controllable rage, but the Mirror Image just leaped to the side. "Too easy." smiled the Mirror Image. But Ash pivoted and slashed off it's head. "You're right. It was too easy." he chuckled as he put his sword back in his sheath. He then ran on. **** Dark Fanrico heard his assistant carrying on. He walked straight up to his minion. "The world is whose?" he asked. Demondan looked at him. "IT WILL BE MINE!!!" said the 14-year old, laughing even more. "Don't kid yourself, you old fart. We both saw that Darkblade guy take away your powers. Give up. You're the minion now!" Dark Fanrico rolled his eyes. "You think for one second that I am weak without my magic powers?" the demon laughed. "Remember one thing, Demondan. . .I KILLED THE DEMONBEAST WITHOUT MAGIC. I can make short work of you, rookie." he snarled. Demondan became silent. "Besides, I already have a plan to regain my powers." growled Dark Fanrico. Demondan looked puzzled. "How?" he asked. Dark Fanrico grinned in that super-evil way that only Dark Fanrico knew how. "You'll find out. But right now I'm going to drive this continent." said Dark Fanrico as he moved towards the controls, smiling all the way. He pulled a lever and a little compartment popped up out of the wall. The controls to the continent. He pushed the button and the Floating Continent rumbled to life. He whistled a random tune as he turned the mighty continent around. 'I STILL HAVE ONE MORE ACE UP MY SLEEVE DARKBLADE, oh yes, and this one will really fuck-up your little experiment.' thought Dark Fanrico to himself. **** Darkblade stood at the foot of the floating continent, staring up, a bit puzzled. "I thought you blew up that temple, Darkblade." the Broom of Darkness spoke. "I must be getting older than I thought." Darkblade growled. "I should have just toasted the entire landscape along with the whole mountain." "That seems like a bit much. Can you really do that?" ". . .shut up." Darkblade silenced the broom. After a moment, the broom sighed. "I miss the old days when I was only your sword, sheathed when you went to visit a harem of whatever you were in the mood for. Sometimes I was even unsheathed for other uses." the broom recalled past memories. "You sound like you enjoyed it." "Not really." the broom shrugged. "I didn't mind being transmogrified into this broom, but I still prefer to have you hack me into a worthy opponent. They're haven't been many of those around anymore, unfortunately." "Don't worry, my companion," Darkblade smirked, still staring at the castle above. "I'm about to rectify our problem of not having anyone to play and have fun with in battle." "I would enjoy that most verily." "I do hope that Ash gets to Dark Fanrico first, though." Darkblade said, palming the Book of Drendar. "I would rather not have to eliminate any obstacles that happen to be his friends." "It's their own fault if they get in our way, now isn't it." the broom spoke, a bit of jest to his words. "It sounds like you want them to get in our way." "Oh, I'm just bored." "Be patient, my friend." Darkblade rubbed his chin. "Everything is going as I have planned." **** The two Kotokis struggled with each other as Jak tried to keep track of the real one, but it was to no avail. Then, suddenly they span out of their fierce melee, standing apart, leabving Jak a clear shot at one. But which one? "I'm the real Kotoki!" they both cried in unison. Jak blinked. "She's the imposter!" they both yelled similtaniously, pointing at each other. Jak looked, looked again, and sighed. "Oh well, guess I'll have to incinerate you both." he said in a reluctant tone. "Hah!" the imposter Kotoki cried, overjoyed that proof for her claims had been given. She then noticed the black mage laughing as he leveled his hand at her. A split second later she blown apart by a powerful lightning bolt, glass shards flying everywhere. Jak turned back to the real Kotoki, rubbing the back of his head. "Ain't I bitchin'?" he joked. Kotoki grinned at him. "We sure are." She turned around to look for the others. **** Lance helped to get Daniel back onto his feet. "You Ok there, Mr. Paladin?" The Dragoon asked him. "...you didn't have to help me, you know..." Daniel told him, still shook up by what his clone told him. "Look, I don't know what that piece of glass there told you, but don't listen to it." Lance told Daniel, "All of us have an aspect of ourselves we aren't too proud of. What's important to remember is that there's an aspect of ourselves that we ARE proud of, like your devotion to your brother, despite all he's done." "...you're right," Daniel told Lance, looking down ashamed "...sorry about that..." "We'll have time for sorry's later, right now we've got to help the others." Lance explained. "Right, be careful Lance..." Daniel told him, gettting his Phoenix Pinion back from the pile of glass shards on the floor. "...and thanks for saving my life..." Daniel said, smiling. "Not a problem, though if I get hungry, I may need to call in a favor from you..." Lance teased. Daniel had to laugh at it, "Well, we'll see, Ok? Let's get going." And with that, Lance and Daniel were off to help the others. **** Stephan blocked yet another attack from his clone, still too in shock to retaliate. "Why don't you fight back?" The clone snickered. "Could it be because I reflect the true you?" What scared Stephan so much was that his clone, aside from having his green eyes, looked exactly like Daniel. "You hate admitting that there's good still in yourself, don't you?" The clone teased the Dark Knight. "That's not true! I'm a servant of darkness!!" Stephan yelled at the Paladin, swinging his Dark Sword to take his clone's head off. The clone easily blocked it with his Legend Sword. "How ironic, that you would choose to be evil because you think that GOOD is evil..." The paladin clone taunted. "What are you talking about? Even *I* know that makes no sense..." Stephan told it. "It may make no sense, but that *IS* the answer, isn't it? Your father always told you stories about how good deeds reward you, yet you know that is why your life, and his, turned out so terrible..." "Just SHUT UP AND FIGHT, DAMNIT!!!" Stephan yelled at the clone, charging a Firara spell and launching it at the paladin. It countered by casting holy, a devastating attack for a Dark Knight to endure. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Stephan yelled, the pain from the spell being amplified by his dark alignment. "See? 'Good' has hurt you again. Just like your father doing the 'Right' thing got him killed in that war, your brother doing the 'Right' think made him abandon you, and like you doing the 'Right' thing got you thrown out of your home..." "...damnit..." Stephan grunted, low on energy and not sure how he'd get out of this alive. **** Aqua Torrent!!!" Midoku cried, unleashing a powered up version of Aqua Rake at his clone. The clone easily countered it with a L8 Flare spell. "Why do you fight with these people?" The clone asked him, "Do you really think they could care what happens to you?" "I don't have time to argue with you!" Midoku yelled back, Casting Aero3 and launching his clone into the air. However, he copied the spell and brought himself back down to the floor unscratched. "I'd say we do, considering we're evenly matched..." the clone said, "but you don't like to think abou that, do you?" "I don't have to think about it, I know some of these people care about me..." Midoku answered back. "I think there's SOMEONE you wish cared about you." The mirror image said, "In fact, you wished he cared for you a lot more..." "Don't drag Stephan into this," he warned the fake blue wizard, "He knows that I care for him and I know he feels the same way..." "You're a liar." The mirror told him, "You only THINK he cares about you because he used you to free himself. In fact, he's still using you..." "BE QUIET! Blow Fish!!!" The blue mage countered, launching a thousand needles at his clone. The clone countered with his own Blow Fish spell, neutralizing the effects. "No one could ever love you, not even Stephan..." the Clone tormented him. "He knows you're just an outcast..." "...and a monster..." "AARRGGGGHHH!!" Midoku yelled, charging the clone with his mithril dagger... **** Jonas couldn't move. He was horrified by the sight he saw walking toward him. A creature with blond fur, which had traces of red blood on it, drew closer. His claws had bits of human flesh on them, his fangs dripping with saliva. "So... we finally meet Jonas..." his wereform growled to him. "...you're not real, you're just some big magical illusion..." Jonas stammered back to the wolfman. His clone gurgled and grunted back, sounding almost like laughter, "You fool, I'm just as real as you, but you don't like to admit it. I'm every urge within you to hurt someone, every dark though you've ever had, your lust for blood..." "SHUTUP!!! I'M NOT A MONSTER!!!" He yelled, bringing up his Axe and swinging for the wereform's midsection. The werewolf dodged the attack, swiping at Jonas with his claws. He managed to graze his stomach, but Jonas was still able to stand. "You know that your wife would kill you where you stand if she knew what you were..." Jonas was taken aback by this, which gave his clone the opportunity to launch himself straight at Jonas, knocking him to the floor. "UHG!" the craftsman grunted as he hit the floor. "You fool," he repeated, "Lisa knows what a horrible creature you are. Your kind killed her family, simply to appease their lust for blood. And you know you'd do just the same..." The werewolf pouned onto Jonas, sitting on his stomach. "I'm going to enjoy ripping you to shreds..." The wereform told him, the drool from it's mouth dripping onto Jonas' face, "You should be thanking me. One bite to your neck, and you'll never be able to hurt anyone again..." The werewolf taunted him, licking it's lips. "Not even that little angel of yours..." "...Gina..." Jonas grunted, before it reminded him of a day gone by... "Daddy!!!" Gina had screamed on that day, running over, "Something attacked that poor deer over there!" Jonas looked at his daughter, not sure how to explain to her why the deer had been killed. "It was probably a wolf or something sweetness, but you don't have to worry about that with Daddy around." Gina was visibly angry. "Those mean wolves! I wish they'd all die!" She had yelled out. "Gina, you shouldn't say things like that..." he tried to tell her. "Yes I should! Why'd they have to kill that poor deer? It didn't hurt them..." she said, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks. Jonas took Gina into her arms and tried to comfort her. "I know it's sad, but it's the way nature works. The deer eat the plants, the wolves eat the deer, and when the wolves pass away they help to make new plants. We're all part of the chain of life, Gina." "*sniff* Really?" She asked her father. "Yes really. I know it seems mean that they killed the deer, but they have to do that if they want to survive. Deer is all the wolves can eat Gina, just like you and I eat chicken and ham. They can't eat anything else, it's what they are..." "Daddy, would the wolves eat something else if they could?" Gina asked him. "I'm sure they would sweetness," he told Gina, "After all, wolves don't just hunt all the time, you know. They have feelings too, like you and me. They have families to look after, just like mommy and I have you..." Jonas said hugging Gina, and smiled to himself after saying it. "Daddy, do you think I'll ever see a wolf?" she asked her father, taking his hand as they headed home for lunch. "...maybe someday sweetness..." He had told her, aware of the irony in his promise.... 'What have I been doing?' He thought to himself. 'Why did it take me so long to realize...' "Goodbye human..." the werewolf told him, exposing his sharp fangs, lurching forward to sink them into his neck. Unfortunately for him, Jonas gave him a big punch in the jaw before kicking the clone off his stomach. Jonas was on his feet, the rage and anger back in his eyes, fur already beginning to sprout on his face. "These people were right..." Jonas growled, fangs beginning to form in his mouth, "...I'm afraid of you because you might hurt people I love. But your rage and anger are not all there is to my were-side." Jonas was now completely transformed, his eyes not only filled with anger, but determination, "I've never given myself a chance to know what I really am. But today I start finding out..." He hunched forward on all four paws, his mouth drawn back to expose all his sharp teeth. "Well then, let's see what you truly are..." the were-clone growled, as the two beasts locked in combat. **** Gina was frightened, more frightened than she'd ever been in her entire life. She hadn't been able to stop crying when they first took her, and now she found she had no more tears left to cry. "It's ok, hunny..." Christydia comforted her, as she had been throughout the entire ordeal, "We're going to be OK, don't worry." "But what about my daddy?" She asked the enchantress. "I'm sure he'll come too." Christydia said, smiling to Gina, "I know I'd be here in no time if you were my daughter..." "Thank you Miss Chrissy." Gina told her. She began to fiddle with the trinket she found earlier. "Oh, what is that? Did your daddy make it?" 'Chrissy' asked Gina. "No, I found it in the forest when that little meanie was getting some water for big meanie." Gina explained. "May I see it?" She asked Gina, who handed it over to her. Christyida looked at it closely. It appeared to be an elven amulet of some kind, radiating a strange power she'd never felt before. "I wonder who dropped it?" she wondered, just in time to see Demondan moving up towards them. "What are you whispering about to each other?!" he shouted, sticking his face in between. "Why the long faces? You two are going to be part of history!!" he laughed, his red tongue licking his lips. "You'd better keep your eyes on me! Because I'm going to. . .rule the world." he said, making sure to lower his voice for that last part."If you guys need anything, yell." he chuckled and walked back over to Dark Fanrico. "Of course, it might be hard distinguishing your screams over the others that will soon come. ." he looked over to the dark one. He could see that he was definitely concentrating on something. "What's wrong now?" Dark Fanrico was still piloting the continent. He had joyful thoughts of seeing Darkblade's face when he would reappear with his powers, full-charged and ready to cause all sorts of destruction. His pride was greatly hurt when that fool had taken away all of his energy. But he will make up for that soon... very soon. Christydia hid the little amulet in her top. She was worried about what Dark Fanrico was planning on doing with this flying continent. The little girl huddled up closer to Christydia. "It's alright. . ." she whispered. "Ash will be here soon." --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/4/04 4:39 am Molokidan  Sushi Ninja of Love and Peace Posts: 662 (11/3/04 7:16 pm) Reply Re: The Hit (Rough Draft) Chapter 21 - Dark Fanrico Goes Off the Deep End Ash was watching the others fight their mirror clones. He ran over to try to help, but a hand shot out from behind and grabbed him on the shoulder. His Mirror Image wasn't dead yet, it just didn't have it head on. Ash shoved it off of him. Ash then jumped into the air, spun around in mid-jump and sliced his mirror image in half. Right down the torso. The Mirror Image finally fell down and stopped moving. Folx, who had long since disposed of his clone, look to his right, to see Stephan dealing with his own problem. "Hang on, Stephan!" he shouted, and soon came running. "You pathetic weakling..." The mirror Paladin told Stephan "You hate depending on others, yet you always end up crying for help from others..." "Shut up asshole..." Stephan grunted. "I don't think so, especially since you've sunk so low as to need a wild animal's help." mirror Stephan snickered. "HEY! I'm NOT a wild animal!!!" Folx growled at him, keeping his sword at the ready. "Don't listen to him Stephan! He's not the real you!!!" Folx ran for another attack at the mirror Stephan. "SILENCE!!!" The mirror yelled, casting another holy spell on Folx. "AAAAAHHHH!!" the fox yelled out, falling to the ground. "Pathetic..." mirror Stephan sneered, then walked over to the Dark Knight. Stephan tried to raise his sword, but he had almost no strength left... "Look on the bright side, hehe..." The mirror told him, "Maybe you'll see your father before they send you to hell..." "Stephan, get up!" Folx yelled, as he brought himself up and tried to get over to the Dark Knight, before the clone did. It looked like he'd be too late... "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" A voice cried out, lashing out and knocking the clones Legend Blade to the ground. "Get the f*#$ away from my brother..." Daniel growled at the mirror, as he connected the Phoenix Pinion with the mirror Stephan's chest. "Daniel!!! Nice save!" Folx yelled out. The mirror Paladin began to stagger to the ground, as Daniel went to check on Stephan. "Are you Ok, bro?" he asked, casting a Cure2 spell on the Dark Knight. "Yeah, I'll be ok..." Stephan told him, as he got back up to his feet. "Hey Folx, thanks for helping him out." Daniel thanked the fox, giving him his own dose of Cure magic. "Why'd did you help me?" The Dark Knight asked the fox. "Well, why not?" he answered, "It's not like you've tried to kill me recently... well, at least today anyways..." "Hehehehehe..." the mirror Stephan giggled. Folx, Stephan, and Daniel turned to see the mirror paladin over what was left of Daniel's double. "You think I'll go down that easily? I can't allow the both of you to live and fulfill your destinies..." "Huh?" Stephan and Daniel both said, confused. "It's time to show you what power you two truly have..." mirror Stephan told them, lifting his palm over the shattered remains of mirror Daniel. A strange light emitted from his hand, pulling up the glass pieces into himself. Before their eyes, the mirror's form began to twist and distort, glowing between a dark purple and a bright white. Before their eyes, a new foe emerged from the light. He wore Black armor, the same shape as Daniel's, with a White cape and black spikes, just like Stephan's. He had the same face as Stephan and Daniel, yet his eyes swirled between green and blue. In one hand he held the Legend Blade, the other the Vulture Spear. "It's time for you two to die..." The Dark Paladin told them, in both Stephan's and Daniel's voices. "Oh boy..." Folx gasped at the sight of their new foe. **** "URG!" Mirror Midoku grunted, as Midoku's blade pierced his chest. "You're not me, you're just my worst fears given flesh by magic..." Midoku told the copy, "So say whatever the hell you want, I *WILL* defeat you..." Mirror Midoku laughed, casting White Gale to heal himself, "You can never defeat me Midoku. No matter what spell or attack, I can easily counter it. And since I have more power, even you know how this will turn out." "What about someone else helping out?!" A shadowy figure cried out from the shadows. "What the hell?" The mirror asked, as the figure leaped in front of Midoku, striking a pose. "How dare you torment this poor soul!!!" Kotoki yelled at him, while performing some elaborate posing, "I will not allow you to extinguish the burning flames of love and justice and... whatever!!! I am Kotoki, Owner of Kotoki's Bar & Inn!!!" "I have no time to deal with you woman. Go back to your kitchen..." The mirror Midoku grunted. "...what did you say?!" Kotoki yelled at him, rage slowly building in her eyes, "TAKE THIS!!!" The vampire screamed, raising her arms in preparation for her ultimate desperation attack. "I'm out of here!" The mirror Midoku said, starting to cast Teleport. Midoku quickly stopped him by casting a confuse spell. "BAGAGAGA!" The mirror blue wizard began to babble incoherently, while doing the moonwalk dance. "I...AM...NOT...A...VENUS...5...CHICK!!!" Kotoki screamed. "AAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!" The clone screamed, before shattering into millions of glass shards. "Thank you miss Kotoki, I am in your debt..." Midoku told the sailor inn keeper. However, she seemed too angry to have heard him. "And why... may I ask... WOULD YOUR CLONE SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?!?" She yelled at Midoku, anger in her eyes. "...errrr..." Midoku stammered. They were interrupted, however, by some kind of commotion on the other side of the hallway. "What the hell IS that?" Kotoki said, watching the light show going on by the fox, paladin, and dark knight. "...big trouble..." Midoku told her, grateful for the distraction. **** Darkblade began scaling the earthen island that was the Floating Castle, the Broom of Darkness in tow. "This thing is staying pretty sturdy, even with all that fighting going on up there. This temple may have more to it than meets the eye." Darkblade declared. "You mean aside from making the entire mountain rising from the ground and flying around." the Broom of Darkness said, floating beside him. "Didn't I tell you to shut the hell up?" Darkblade growled. "Hey, go up there, and make sure I'm not missing anything interesting." he added. After a few minutes, Darkblade had more or less reached the entrance of the temple. The Broom of Darkness flew up and over the edge, Darkblade soon following. "Uh, Darkblade. . .we got a problem here." The Broom of Darkness said. "You'd better not come up here." "What are you talking about?" Darkblade muttered, pulling himself up. A mirror then caught the reflection of Darkblade in it and created a clone. The clone however had instead of black hair with a matching dark outfit appeared as a white haired, white robed, and angelic version of Darkblade, complete with a beautiful set of golden colored wings. "Your apperance is one that I have not seen of myself for many years." Darkblade murmured. "I do have the look you had in times forgotten long ago, don't I?" the mirror image replied. "If I remember correctly. . .it was an age when I was an idiot." he spoke. "You of course know that you have no chance in hell of beating me." "I actually have no intention of fighting you, Darkblade. I am an image of what you were and how you used to think. In other words, I bare no malice towards you at all." "I do feel great regret when I think how absolutely stupid I used to be, and that I did nothing when I had such power to help so many. As you can see. . .I have changed greatly." Darkblade spoke. "You do know that you would be welcomed back the moment you asked for forgiveness." The mirror image said slowly. "I would rather be ass-raped by satan." Darkblade spat out bluntly. "I suppose. . .that would be considered a no." The image sighed. "At least you catch on quick for a mirror clone." Darkblade grunted. "Now begone, before I show you a whole new meaning of pain." "Very well, Darkblade. I hope that someday you will find the anwser you are searching for." With their conversation finished, the mirror clone shatters along with the mirror. "That certainly was....nerve racking." the Broom of Darkness piped up. "I must admit that I had actually forgotten that you used to look just like that." "Don't remind me. I have enough trouble dealing with old friends when they come calling." Darkblade growled. "I find it entertaining to engage in a battle of god-like power." "It is fun to pass the time, but we have more pressing matter to attend to." Darkblade said, brushing himself off. "If you say so." **** Jak wondered through the maze. He knew he was close. He felt the winds of magic wash around him, vibrating frequently...although not as much as the first time he encountered Dark Fanrico, but the aura was definatly his...and that barkeep-turned-demon was nearby as well. Changing sides, something even he wouldn't do. Well, unless a large amount of money convinced him otherwise. "Pst, hey, over here!" whispered Kelan and Peach, who had already made their way to the end of the mage. Jak creeped up to the corner and peeked around. And there they were. He could see Chrystydia and Gina, tied up and not secured to anything. Typical slopy work. Of course he doubted that he and Kelan could take them both on. He best just wait and listen to the inevitable ranting Dark Fanrico was doubtless to be doing. **** "Well... this is going to be... interesting..." Folx was getting worried. He was out of ammo and using one sword agains a dual wielding foe. "My cards!" Folx reached into his pocket. He had taken one card with him. He was expecting to fight end in the beginning, so he brought an upward barrier card. "Guess it's better than nothing," he said. He held the card above him and recited the incantation on it. A magical shield was now protecting him from above, but the dark paladin could still swing from the sides and thrust his weapons. I'm going to have to think through my next move he thought as he jumped over a swing of the legend blade. "Aha!" He jumped headfirst at the Dark paladin and thrusted his sword forward. Folx's diving attack landed square in the center of the Dark Paladin's chest, drawing blood. The Daniel/Stephan clone, however, seemed unphased. "Hehehehe, that tickles..." it laughed in the brother's two voices. The mirror creature swung it's sword and spier straight for Folx's head. He managed to dodge the Spier, and was only knocked backwards by the blow from the Legend Blade, thanks to the protection of the barrier. "Ow... that smarts..." Folx said, rubbing his head. This thing was MUCH more powerful than the other clones, which meant they were in for a long fight... "Void Slash!" Stephan yelled, attempting to use his darkness attack on the creature. The Dark Paladin's armor appeared to absorb the dark energy, so instead of harming him the attack healed. "Hehehe, thanks for the energy 'Bro'" it taunted him, slashing at him with the Legend blade. Stephan barely dodged it as Daniel charged forward for his own attack. "Divine Strike!" Daniel cried, assuming a holy based attack would have better luck. Before his eyes the dark paladin's cape and armor swiched colors, causing Daniel's holy attack to also restore his health. "Why 'brother', I had NO idea you cared..." it taunted him, striking Daniel with the Vulture Spier. Daniel was knocked backwards, as Stephan and Folx gathered by him. "This is nuts!" Daniel commented, quickly healing some of his HP, "How can we harm it if can change affinity for light *AND* dark at will?" "...I've got an idea..." Stephan said. "Daniel, give Folx your Phoenix Pinion..." "What? What am I supposed to with his weapon?" Folx asked the Dark Knight. "Don't worry, you'll see." Stephan said, turning to look Daniel straight in the eyes, "Please brother... I know what I'm doing this time..." "...Ok..." Daniel agreed, giving the fox his spear-like weapon. "This had better be a GOOD plan this time, Stephan..." "It *WILL* work, here's what we're going to do..." Stephan started to explain... **** Kotoki looked at Midoku. "You want to help them, I guess, and I'd love to join you, but I'm worried about Jak..." "You seem rather attached to him, considering his mass bloodlust and all." commented the blue mage dryly. She shrugged. "Well... you get used to it. I don't think he's really honestly evil... just kind of a jerk. That's okay with me." Midoku sighed a bit. "Yeah. Sometimes you can't help caring for a person, even when you know they're doing the wrong thing half the time... I suppose that makes us a bit alike." He ran off to the battle with the dark paladin, waving goodbye. "Good luck with finding Jak!" "Thanks!" yelled Kotoki in return. She wandered off through the maze hoping to find a trace of the black mage. **** Dark Fanrico knew where they were going, and they would soon reach their destination. Demondan was truly impressing him. The kid had now become quite skilled in the art of magic, especially making that maze out of pieces of rubble and debris. But that would also mean that the power could be getting to his mortal head, which meant he could possibly reverse the effect of the spell. . .or even worse, target the dark one himself. "Hey, look over there! It's a giant hole in the ground." cried Demondan. Dark Fanrico stopped the continent. He picked up Christydia and took her over to a nearby window. "Tell me Christydia... do you recognize this area?" asked Dark Fanrico. Christydia looked at the landscape, at the giant hole in the ground, and the destroyed trees. She then remembered and it was filling her with unimaginable dread. "The... the.. hole that you created when you appeared that night... the night you were created." she managed to get out. Dark Fanrico's fiendish cackle could be heard through out the ruins. "Yes you are correct. The very hole where I was created. The very hole which leads to the Hellfires in which I was formed. The very Hellfires which will give me back my power." hissed Dark Fanrico. "But Master, didn't Darkblade say you were a low-class demon now? Won't you fry in the hellfire?" asked a totally astounded and confused Demondan. Dark Fanrico smirked. "He meant I had the power of a low-class demon. I'm still fucking Dark Fanrico" snapped Dark Fanrico, as he set Christydia down. "Demondan, try to stay alive and protect the hostages while I'm gone. I'm counting on you and that damn DemonBeast of yours. So don't disappoint me." said Dark Fanrico as he got out onto the edge of the ruins. He walked right up the where the continent ends. "Ah, the smell of hellfire and brimstone." said Dark Fanrico as he prepared himself. He pulled out a potion from his knapsack. "After the descent." he said to himself. He knew Darkblade was probably watching him... or Ash. He let out another fiendish cackle as he jumped. The descent to the ground was long, but as he hit the ground really hard, he drank the potion he had taken, which restored half of his health and mended his wounds. He walked up to the hole in the ground. Fond memories of seeing the look on Darkblade's and Christydia's faces when he first appeared came back to him. "Imagine their looks when I come back even stronger!" hissed Dark Fanrico. Since he knew in probably two seconds DarkBlade might come and stop him, Dark Fanrico leaped into the chasm and into the the Hellfire. **** "Hey! The continent has stopped moving." said Jak. The room quieted down, and he watched Demondan closely. "What's Fanrico-sama doing?" asked Demondan as he and Christydia watched Dark Fanrico walk towards to edge of the continent/ruins. "Has he gone nuts?" The 14-year old turned back around. "Hmm. .He's left me in charge. ." Demondan walked to the south side of the tower, looking over the gigantic maze. "Seems about the time when I should find a convenient power source that supplies me with more and more as the time goes by. ." Demondan went over to the controls, and started messing with them some more. "What. ." Demondan stared at the orb in the center of the controls. "What is this?" he placed his hands on the orb. The light reflected off his eyes, creating a terrible glint in his black pupils. "This. . power. .it's. . overwhelming. ." he pushed the orb into the tower. "Now I see this tower. ." he said, looking around. "It's. .it's just a vortex. A vortex for all magic. . .and because of the upsurge off all these demons and hell beasts, the power was overloaded. .thus, it collapsed, or retracted, back into the earth. But now. . .I see. Like a bank. It took my power, and is now multiplying it. . .this vortex. . .creating even more energy. .all. ." he turned to Chrystidia and Gina, his eyes turning blood red, and his teeth like fangs grinning. "All. .for me." Demondan took the power. "Yes. ." he said. "This magic. . is. . .amazing. ." And so the metamorphosis began. --------------- "Well slap a dead fish on me and call me Molokidan!" Edited by: Molokidan  at: 11/3/04 11:07 pm

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