 
80 Evreux

Book Title: Evreux

By: Andy Quesada

### Evreux

By

Andy Quesada

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Andy Quesada on Smashwords

Evreux

Copyright © 2012 by Andy Quesada

Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

Part: 1

Prologue:

The world had changed the development of an outer space satellite station which gathered energy to power appliances and so forth all across the world. It was a time of change where countries had made peace treaties and every continent had its own solar power satellite to provide its own people with energy. Surely everything was going good until an army corporation made the grave error of experimenting on humans and enhancing their performance and the field of science in genetics became tainted with dark arts. It was a new age, and with it a new language was forged to make countries connect with one another easier and this language was named Evereux the tongue of networks. It was a day in summer school for Ryu Palace when he nearly gets ambushed by six opponents .He dodges a fist being launched at him from his left. Then one from his right, he is backed against a corner surrounded by six shady guys. One about six feet tall with blonde hair, three are five' three with jet black hair and the others two are five seven with silver hair at shoulder's length. These guys were skinny yet muscular, but Ryu is five three with jet black hair, red eyes and you can tell, it'll take all six of them to get him down. Ryu is fifth-teen years old and in huge trouble since he messed around with Alexis, Kiter's girlfriend. Kiter sent these six to solve the problem since he found out what was going on. Ryu finds himself out numbered; The Falls Senior High School is not your regular high school. This high school hovers over the city of Melaz. Ryu tells the guys "I have to warn you I was a white-belt in karate", meanwhile he puts his left foot against the wall and pushes himself forward, flying to the silver haired one closes to him, in a split second shifts his weight to the right smashing the blonds' chin with his elbow. Ryu quickly jumps back before the two silver heads can hit him. Five are now standing and furious for what he has done , a shadow moves in back of the two silver heads and knocks them out from behind; Ryu takes advantage of this, and jabs the last two on the stomach knocking the wind out of both. One being left and at a disadvantage he sees Ryu's smirk across his face, pleads for forgiveness and runs away. "You are lucky I was around, Ryu or else you would have been a pile of rubble", screams Cross a fifth-teen year old replica of Ryu only two inches taller and has blue eyes. "Those guys were going to get it, why the hell did you get in my way, I had it all taken cared of until you showed up" replies Ryu in a harsh tone, "Oh! Come on, shut up and tell me how you got into this" says Cross slapping Ryu across the back. Both head to the main entrance of the school to catch the elevator, meanwhile Ryu goes over all the details with Cross. "You need to watch out I heard Kiter belongs to something big in this school but we freshmen's are not represented by them nor have any representation. Well you should take my advice of settling down with one chick instead of going around stealing them, look at me and Elizabeth." "Grow up I'm Fifth-teen, I'm good at what I do, anyways this is the third time this happens, I bet he gave up" announces Ryu leaving Cross to dwindle upon what he had just said. Ryu and Cross go their separate ways; now that he is going south on Adira Avenue is spotted by a hover car that is trailing slowly behind him. The car rapidly accelerates, Ryu in a daze realizes too late and semi-jumps, but he is to slow and the hover car nails him on the back, leaving him in a zest pool of blood. Lights flash in his face, doctors performing a surgery on Ryu's spinal cord; he shacks and shrivels up like a prune. A terrifying squeal of agony escapes his throat, and he falls back to sleep. A hazy figure appears before Ryu, "Baby are you okay? We've been so worried; you have been out for two days and were shacking", utters his mother a black hair woman in her late forties, that appears to be twenty-five. Ryu gets out of bed, with a drunken move almost falls, but feels the cold hospital air brush up against his skin. Ryu feels out of his own skin as if everything around him is moving slow and he has no control over it all. "What have they done to me?" asks Ryu to his mother. "Honey they found you in the sidewalk dripping blood from your hands and back, a policeman patrolling the area found you" replies his mother hugging Ryu nearly squeezing him to death, while she let it all sink into his mind, she continues "They rushed you here to St. David hospital, they had to inject your spin with the anti-paralysis cure, or else you wouldn't be able to walk or even move. Thank goodness we're in the year 2087 and our technology is more advance than when I was a little girl."
Ch.1

"Ryu please report to room three, zero, five. Ryu please report to room three, zero, five" voiced the loudspeaker in Ryu's fifth period class, luckily for him it was World History class he was getting out of. Ryu gets up lazily and heads towards the hall making a left to go to the room he was instructed to go. He begins to feels the unease caused by the hallway since it leads to only one room, and was it were things happen. The creepy, poor laminated hallway starts to make sweat run down Ryu's palm especially once he is closer to the door. He gently turns the knob to walk into a room full of color; pictures of past elites in gold frames flood the room, a nice touch to the room's actual red color. Zeida Rodriguez sitting in the middle of this room with hazel eyes and just seventeen years old looks up at Ryu content. She is five-nine; quiet a big girl you can say, motions to Ryu to have a seat. The creepy hallway still fresh in his mind, reminds him of a horror movie he saw once , but even more freighting was how it transformed into this picture filled room with a lavender desk and different shapes of cushion seats. It could be said that Zeida had done the decorating, since she had dyed her hair lavender with the tips red. "Ryu, you may go in now, they're waiting for you", said Zeida with a soft wink, taking the order Ryu heads towards the door besides her. "Good you're here! Now we can get this show on the road" announces Roy Damoz an eighteen year old, with white hair and black eyes. Roy overlapping his subordinates at six three, sort of seemed as a skyscraper over the other two." This is Pilot Quesada" says Roy as he points to a seventeen year old, skinny blonde and green eyes kid. "You've already met Kiter Williams" has he eyes Kiter, a six-teen year old blonde with pitched black eyes, five-seven and has a great dislike on his face for being in a room with Ryu. These three stood in back of a black wooden desk in a royal red room. They were the so called Elites that controlled the school, now Ryu was really feeling the cold creeping up his spine and sending a chill up into his skull. Roy sat down and Ryu noticed how the others follow, "Well I will not detain you from your education anymore, let me cut through the chase" stated Roy, putting his hands together over his desk, "We know everything. Pilot and I are embarrassed by Kiter's actions, since he acted without our consent. Kiter, as you see has quiet a temper, even if in the past we have warned him." Kiter gets up furious "This is bullshit, why must we apologize to a freshman" saying the last word has if it was a burden to carry the freshman class in his mind "They're a bunch of pests in this school that know nothing, they can't be allowed to enter into any of our events", shouts Kiter across the room has he slams his fists on the table knocking down a picture of Roy and an older light brown haired man with red eyes. Roy says in a soft tone has if he was talking to a young boy "Listen you, I'm the top dog for now, I really don't need your troublesome attitude in our ranking, yet alone in my office". Directing his attention back towards Ryu, Roy begins to speak once more, as if nothing can upset him "Now, where was I? Listen, Ryu we Elites are the top ranked fighters of our class, as you can see the freshmen class doesn't have one. We've been considering that for a while, but more importantly on behave of the entire Elite body we thought you were qualified for the job since you and your buddy beat Kiter's rank 6 fighters. Out of 7 ranks of course, his 7th rank being his squad that is. But what do you say?' shouts Roy to Ryu, rather happy than concerned by his subordinates reaction. Kiter slowly gets up glares at Ryu; near the door he grabs a yellow elite jacket with a gryphon emblem on the chest and leaves. "Man you really know how to get the best out of him ," barks Pilot with his face unchanged since Ryu stepped in. "Well I had enough of this; you know we think alike and you still bother to get me into this boring meeting. Christine gets mad at me for skipping classes, already as it is. Plus now she is scared about my position next year. Later bud!" as Pilot walks out he grabs his red jacket with a phoenix on its chest. "Hmmm.....I guess I should be leaving to?" questions Ryu afraid of the decision placed in front of him. "Well, tomorrow I want you here first thing in the morning, you'll give me an answer" announces Roy. Ryu gets up and walks out of the room. "Well, see you tomorrow Ryu, hope Roy didn't give you too much to think about" shouts Zeida as Ryu exits the room. Ryu goes to his sixth period class practically in a trance; he stumbles into an open locker door but continues to walk to his class. So he began to think about how he would be in charge of the freshmen class and if he ranked high again for the next years to come, he might be able to have Roy's position. His thoughts raced, as he walks into his Earth Space Science class Cross startled him with a yell from across the room "Hey! Man so you're going to tell me what has mighty Ryu confused all about a sudden." Ryu looks at him as if not believing in reality yet and says "Just sit down and I'll tell you everything, I don't like to make a big commotion over things and you know it." Ryu speaks nearly whispering "They want to make me the Freshmen Elite." "What!!!! Let me get this straight, you get naughty with an Elite's girlfriend and they want you to represent us the freshmen. Most of all, haven't you heard of the tournament they have to go through every six months? There's going to be big fuzz about this all around and the whole school might get up on that arena and challenge you. Ryu honey please tell me I'm dreaming" replies Cross to Ryu's statement. "Well you see Cross I don't really know but I don't want the job. It entitles you to do too much work. So don't worry about it, that job is pointless for me" exclaims Ryu at his bewildered friend. They walk out of the class at two, thirty minutes before the bell .Mr. Azar walks five seconds behind and shout "Hey! You two at least have the decency of turning in your work," Ryu and Cross look at one another, their eyes meet but they have a blank stare, since they don't do any work in class. Ryu shouts back "Don't worry about it; we'll turn it tomorrow we just want to work a bit more at home. That's all." Mr. Azar please by Ryu's statement returns to his class. Heading to the elevator they're stopped by a skinny tan kid who appeared to be Ryu's height and silver hair can be said to stand out among the three ,his blue eyes seems to suck the heat from the place. "You must be Ryu, the so-called new freshmen elite" says the stranger moving forward. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dayan Rinehart, I too am a freshmen. I thought about getting a piece of the new elite before the tournaments came in, so here I am. My you look wimpy" smiles Dayan, his eyes clashing with Ryu's. Ryu laughs and cracks a smile; cheerfully he says "Give me a break kid! You look like a werewolf with that silver mane running down your back. For your information I'm no elite, but I will accept your challenge". Ryu goes into Tai Chi stance, as his breath slows down, he stretches out his lower body, then his upper body. Dayan just stands there in front of Ryu with his fist clenched by his side, without a word he moves rapidly towards Ryu aiming with his two front knuckles at his head. Ryu realizes too late and is struck by Dayan, as he stumbles he seems to be in shock by Dayan's speed and force, but he shakes it off and attacks Dayan. Ryu unleashes multiple kicks at Dayan keeping him at bay, has a second passes of this Ryu takes control of the fight and switches his left kick for a right jab and slams an elbow into Dayan's nose. Dayan now bleeding from his nose seems to release a smile and says "Wow! It's been a while since someone has gotten to me like you just did. Well that's enough for today; I guess I'll see you around." "Wait, what? That's it you're going to leave in the middle of the fight just like that? You had no right in calling me a wimp in the first place then" Ryu shouts angrily at Dayan, as his new friend walks away. "Can you believe the nerve of that guy?" Ryu asks Cross, they

start to descend to the city when Cross opens his mouth as if to catch a fly but stays in deep thought, Ryu seems bewildered as he has never seen his friend think so hard, decides to hurl him into a poll that had the avenues written on it. "Hey!! Why the hell did you do that for you idiot?" screams Cross at Ryu " For your information we have to train hard for those Tournaments and you can't be saying you're a white belt and make it sound like if you're a novice since you are considered an Elite . You as usual get in trouble and this one is so big you can't say you're so weak you can't defeat any of your classmates" shouts Cross to Ryu as he realizes also that since he is Ryu's friend he might be targeted as well and lets out a hard drawn sigh. "Holy crap! If what you said is true then I won't be able to slack of as much and from now until the Tournaments everyone is going to want a piece of me! Man you see why I don't want the job. Like I said before, it's too much work" announced Ryu as they made a left on Adira Ave. towards three-thirty-three St. Ryu gazes at the sky as the two walk silently, Ryu appears to be in deep thought along with Cross about being an elite even though he would not admit it to anyone. "Sweet! We are here! I love coming here to Baisho" screams Cross as he runs towards the door has if to caress it. "You always think with your stomach Cross" remarks Ryu as his own stomach begins to growl "Would you look at that am hungry too" mentioned Ryu with a smirk Cross pushes the white doors as if to own the place when the smell of hamburgers , fries ,salad, fish hits his face . Baisho was a doomed building with a bartender serving singles in the middle, next to the bar was a dance floor on one side and a ring on the other. The seats in Baisho were set to outline the room so that you can view anything going on in the arena or dance floor. Ryu and Cross take seats westward of the center of the place when a kid with blue hair to ears length and brown eyes 5'7 stir Ryu by the shoulder "Yo! Mind if I join you fellas I can give you some information about the tournament" mentions the stranger, as Cross and Ryu make side glances at one another. "Sure! What's your name kid?" asks Cross, "Well the names Ray Triba. I'm 15 years old, and I came to inform you, Ryu Palace, about the Tournament."

Startled by the revelation, Ryu looks at Ray with a crazed eye, but he responds "Why don't you have a seat? You see we're new to this system since we transferred from our middle school into the high school, as you can see we need a high school that can teach us what we want and how to control this strength we have that is beyond normal." "Well I hope you fellas have time because it's very lengthy" says Ray as he gracefully combs back his hair, "Well for starters there are only one on one fights. Who ever win is Elite. Elites get challenged at the end for their title if no challenges their term continues. Elites can be challenged to private duels if they accept. No hitting below the belt and if you step outside the ring you lose. The ring is square about 57 feet long and 80 feet wide so you won't step out that easy" announces Ray with another graceful gesture "Oh! One more thing Elites have their own personal squad which consists of four of the Elites most trusted and topped ranked fighters and of course it's in May just 2 months away" tells Ray to Ryu and Cross. "So that's it huh? I thought it would be something more complicated really, but that part of picking four is really tricky Ryu honey" mentioned Cross as the waitress brings him their usual round.
Ch.2

"What the hell is that terrible buzzing, I warned Cross about detaining us in Baisho. How can he eat so much and then wake up early the next day?" groans Ryu as he knocks the alarm clock over. Today is a big day and everyone around feels it even Ryu's mom is humming in the kitchen making breakfast. Ryu gets dressed and heads towards the kitchen, gives his mom a kiss on the cheek and cheerfully seats down. "My! Aren't you joyful today? Why don't you comb that hair for once?" mentions Ryu's mother as she serves him pancakes. Ryu waffles the pancakes down and heads towards the door, "Later mom!" screams Ryu as he fades from sight. Ryu arrives to school late to his first period class , which is the school's dojo for students that want to improve or train their fighting skills .Ryu takes off his shoes as he gets ready to bow , his sensei signals him to come quickly towards him . "What's the problem old man?" questions Ryu to Master Veguer a bald old man 5'3 with crystal blue eyes, at the age of 67 but holds a posture as if he were 40. "Listen you idiot! You were called upon by the Elites; I don't know what they want with you since you lack a great deal of skills. Now get on with it and don't dirty my floor" tells Master Veguer as he turns and leaves Ryu to his own thoughts. Ryu on the west wing of the school cuts quickly through and dashes towards the center wing reaching the corridor were room three zero five was. A loud noise alerts Ryu of trouble as he approaches the door knob. Out of the entry walked out a black hair kid with white eyes, at a height of 4'9 feet he seemed like a pre-schooled .The only weird thing about this kid was his cold, white eyes that seemed to be blind. Ryu entered the room as the stranger passed him by without even a backwards glance. "So you're here!!! A bit late but you're here. That guy always gets the best of me though so don't worry if I seem mad it's not towards you" said Zeida her pony tail lashing out, she seemed different this time , like if something important was going to happen . Zeida had on formal clothing, this time instead of lavender all around the room her reddish orange dress stood out. Ryu astonished by Zeida's beauty was trying to figure out how to respond. "Well don't stand there, with your mouth open staring at me!! Get in there. They are waiting for you" decreed Zeida. Ryu pinched himself once, twice then started towards his destiny. "Well hello" says Roy once Ryu steps in, "I hope you bring me some good news", Ryu notices a gleam in Roy's eyes which weren't there the other day. "Well.........Anytime now. Come on don't be afraid I need to teach you a few things anyways, you also have to learn how to control it" Roy tells Ryu. "I've decided I want to become an Elite. I shall train very hard" Ryu whispers. Roy turns his back on him and starts to search for something in a box in back of his table. Ryu unsure of himself repeats it all again but this time a bit more confident. "Yeah I heard you. Boy am I glad" mentions Roy with a chuckle as he throws an orange jacket towards Ryu. Ryu catches the jacket and exams it with a critical eye, his fingers rub against the cloth of the jacket. He begins to search for an emblem when he finds it moments later appears the image of, Zepar a soldier dressed in red armor. Ryu mesmerized, letting go of a broad smile looks at Roy who is studying his every move. "Ok! Listen what am going to tell you next. It is classified information released only to those from 10th grade and on. About thirty years ago there was an explosion, which you should know, about that changed mankind forever." "Of course I know of this my father was the lead scientist but he died in it when my mother was pregnant" mentions Ryu staring at Roy.

Ryu has a sit while Roy begins to walk around the room, "Yes we all know about this but the other side to it is something that I have spoken to various people and they agreed that the earlier the next generation learns about it the better. Mothers and fathers won't have to hide the secret any longer" Roy now standing still tells Ryu ,"Those scientists changed the face of mankind for ever because they gave us, their children a power that is awaken at your age Ryu, but few are aware of it until their 10th grade. Some don't ever figure the power out or yet alone can use it. The people who can't use it are called Kenton; those that acquire and can use it are called Flux. The power is called Armorth can be used for various things. In a way it looks like an armor that enhances peoples' performance, of course the stronger the person the better you are enhance. Armorth is like a form of energy so if you are weak you can collapse or worst end up in the hospital." Ryu baffled by all this explanation begins to speak "So wait your telling me all our parents/neighbors/families/grandparent/everyone beyond the age of 16 knows about this and the next generation following mind does not?", "Well you see by the time you graduate kids in 5th grade will get a lecture on it and in 6th they'll be taught how to use it. It's like I mentioned earlier I've spoken to government officials about this little project of mine, I might also have to stay here as guidance for Pilot's generation although I won't be needed since Pilot and I are almost equally matched in knowledge and skills" says Roy having a seat "Now for the other part you are an Elite now. You will have to fight in the Tournament and beat everyone for their respect and of course for your ranking. If you can provide me with at least four fighters that will be in your squad I'd be grateful." Roy now looks at Ryu with a smile since Ryu as a cold sweat trickling down his neck, "Well I know one for sure is Cross the other is Dayan. Hmm I'd have to go with Ray and Randy Sotolongo as the other two. The last three I don't really know but I see they are loyal.". " I'll have them come into my office and I'll give them the same explanation I gave you. Maybe in a week from now the entire 9th grade body will know of Armorth." "Well I better go then", mentions Ryu while getting up and puts his jacket on. Ryu now is standing up as if to be a scourge walks out of the office, Roy wave's farewell as Ryu exits the room. "Glad to have you as an Elite. Your teachers were informed about you being a bit tardy to their class, so don't worry" yelps Zeida from her desk as Ryu waved farewell to her as well.

Ch.3

Ryu walking proud with his jacket on goes to his World History class and gives the tardy pass to his teacher. While taking a seat at the rear of the classroom he notices a 5'5, 15 year old black hair, with a well defined body. The kid seemed to be transferred into his class, while looking at him he notices that yeah he must have been transferred since Ryu had seen him around the school. "Hey bud! What's your name?" asks Ryu to the stranger, and as if he had read the guy's mind the kid responded "The name's Randy Sotolongo, who are you?", "Well my name is Ryu Palace, I've heard about you around the school, you're supposed to be a decent guy with a lot of talent for fighting" responded Ryu. "Keep it quiet boys or you'll get to stay after school doing extra-training with the senior class" indicates Mr. Pearl. "Well yeah you've heard correctly but yet again not everyone in our grade is that strong. I also noticed you were an Elite, which is new because our class has never had one, congrats on making that title. I've heard rumors about this being done never thought I'd see it but whatever I don't really care about Elites, just here to improve," mentions Randy to Ryu starting the class work and forget about the awkward conversation. The bell rings and Ryu and Randy are the last to leave the class, "Hey, I hope you sign up for the tournament then man, see ya around I guess" tells Ryu to Randy and heads towards his last class of the day. Ryu meet Cross out in front of their 6th period classroom and give each other an inhumane look, like two sides of the same coin, but what was weird about this look was the barrier growing between them. "Hey man you dig the jacket?" asked Ryu to Cross smiling, trying to shake of the awkward moment in between them. "Yeah it looks nice but, what do you think? Should we just skip this class and go eat?" responded Cross getting used to the new side of his friend. Has the bell rang Ryu and Cross were push to separate sides by a wide crowd of students trying to get into the class . "I challenge the both of you" voiced an unseen shadow from across the hall. The mysterious stranger that had passed by Ryu in the Elite's office was calling out to them. "Hey! Did you two hear me? And to make it fair I have my brother here to help me since you have your bud , with ya" as the stranger said this another 4'9 feet kid with green eyes and blonde hair appeared next to him as if he had come from the shadows . Suddenly this kid looked like the alive twin. "Prepare your-selves!" they screamed as they rushed Ryu and Cross at the same time. They came swooping in from behind in an instant , soon enough it appeared to Ryu and Cross that these two where moving so fast their eyes couldn't keep up with the strangers movements . As 30 minutes passed a watch alarm began to ring and time appeared to have stopped. "Hey wake the hell up!" shouted a gruesome voice to Ryu. Ryu in a trance stood up from the ground everything began to gain color. Suddenly there was a weird figure standing in front of him with an angel's face ,the stranger stepped forward, it became cleared he wasn't. The figured tossed aside his red cloak to reveal an armor made of plate in white with a blood red outline to match his cloak. "How are you feeling, young one? It appears that those strange kids used their guardians to blind you and your friend. It's an awful trick to use on someone like you that has no way of noticing when his opponent is using Armorth, especially after they masked it that well. I believe those two are of the senior class" explained the weird half angel almost demon type of figure. Ryu regaining strength and control over his voice mouthed "Who or what are you? And how do you know all these things?" "Well you see Ryu my name is Zepar am the picture that you have on your jacket. If you didn't know that picture wasn't there before, it only appeared once you grabbed it. But most of all I'm your guardian, you can channel Armorth due to me" responded Zepar as he got closer to Ryu "This place is my domain and for starters you should feel lucky that those two boys attacked you, if not you might of never met me, for it was your darkest and most hopeless hour that brought you here to learn and bond with me" Zepar now standing in front of Ryu now, takes a seat. Zepar's realm was like a dessert except the sand was white and there was a sun in the sky except it didn't shine instead it looked like a black hole, you can see some trees in the distance but they had no leaves. It was weird, it almost made you feel empty since there was no sign of any living thing in here, how can he live here Ryu wondered. Zepar looked like a human with flawless skin and a golden circle surrounding his crimson eyes. Port still analyzing all this took a step back and recalibrated his next choice of words "Well then......Zepar......Tell me. How does all this work? Have you always been with me? Can you sort of explain everything to me, am kind of freaked out now:" Zepar knowing that this was going to take a while he demonstrated a devilish grin; he passed his hand by his chin enjoying its smooth skin "Well you see.....?I've been with you since you were born Ryu and have guided many of your punches, but like many young kids, you never noticed. Now you must learn how to draw upon my power at my convenience." Time passed by for what seemed like hours, maybe even days Zepar so far answered all of Ryu's questions and says "Now it is time for you to leave my realm and return to your own. Remember that only you have the power to use my Armorth. Good-bye" he disappeared and a blinding light took over as Ryu had an outer body experience. "Yo wake up, those guys got us good!" screamed Cross into Ryu's ear while shaking him. "We've been out for 30 minutes now" Cross informed Ryu. Ryu began to open his eyes and directly in front of him stood Zepar on his jacket. Now that they had met Port jumped up at noticing this and looked at Cross, with his hand covering his eyes trying to block the light. Ryu re-adjusted to the hallway and looked at his watch; it was 30 minutes exactly after the bell and he felt like his conversation with his guardian had been a dream. The two boys had woken up and now were standing side by side "Yo am going to go home, I can't believe all the stuff that has been happening" said Ryu to Cross in a hoarse voice. Ryu dashed out of the hallway faster than what Cross could respond and ran all the way home without being worried about anything else.

* * * * * *

Roy gets in front of Ryu a few blocks before his house. "Did you meet him?" he asks Ryu. "Meet who?", "Come on you don't have to hide it from me. Anyways come along we have training to start on," Roy alerts Ryu.

Ch.4

Ryu has been training with Roy now for a week and finally got the hang of his Armorth and how to use it. It is a Monday and he steps into his 1st period class with a hardened look on his face. He changes into his work-out attire, begins to stretch in silence as everyone stares at him, since strange things were happening. Something seemed different about him; something had changed in just one week, his eyes where less dreamy now. He seemed as if to man up to his real rank and everyone noticed, like if he had dyed his hair or gotten an awkward hairstyle. "I challenge you!" said Richard a 5'8 kid with his long hair tied back into a pony tail; he was known for his old fashion Japanese martial arts. Ryu still stretching and stumping his feet on the hard wooden floor of the dojo didn't pay attention to Richard, he just walked over to a punching bag and began to slam hit with soft kicks and punches as if to shake the cold of his joints . It was a chilly morning but it always started like this in the spring. "Hey you idiot am challenging you to a duel .Do you accept or not?" asked Richard now even more annoyed, "Fine! If it's what you really want to do on a Monday morning. Mind re-scheduling for tomorrow maybe?" responded Ryu letting his old-self settle in. "Are you serious?" asked Richard , "Yes, but if it pleases you we can start now , that am ready to train" answered Ryu as he moved to the center of the ring . Richard followed and bowed to Ryu but took up his stance as quickly as possible as if afraid to be caught off guard by the Elite. Everyone was watching and waiting to see what would happen next, the clock ticked and seconds passed along like hours. The clocks giant hand struck the seven and Richard flew towards Ryu with a lighting fast kick, once he connected his kick he back stepped to go in with another blow from his left foot. Ryu was hit twice now and Richard was charging him again and everyone saw that Ryu had not moved an inch. Richard threw a jab, landing it on his belly; still Ryu had not flinched or changed his face. The entire class was stunned by all that was going on now, their new 9th grade Elite was being beaten by a rank 4 from the 7 ranks of fighters that attended the school. Ryu grinned now but the letter Z escaped his mouth within seconds Richard was unconscious on the ground. The crowed was stunned with bleak eyes trying to find out what had happened, how can a person mutter a single letter and have his opponent on the ground like that, they all feared to even direct a word to each other. Yes the entire 9th grade class had attended a reunion last Friday held by Roy the senior Elite and were informed about Armorth and Kentons and Flux. Those three words echoed in their minds as if they were all synchronized, everyone was wondering if this was the power that was explained to them by Roy. "Yes! This is Armorth. If you didn't notice I did move and blocked all of Richard's hits" spoke Ryu, and then he added "I was told of this by Roy just like all of you, with the only exception that I'm an Elite. I've been missing for a week now, that's because in my last duel, on which I got beat up like a plum" he smiles "Inside me awakened something that all of you might have and I wish you the best of luck if you want to compete in the tournament," the crowd still amazed, listening to Ryu's every word with their mouth's half wide open. What would of seem to take minutes had taken seconds , Ryu wiped two beads of sweat from his brow and began to walk towards the sand bags again. The crowd began to form groups and began training as if Ryu's effect had worn off when he stepped out of the center. An hour passed and Ryu was drenched in sweat from hitting the sand bag at a slow pace, all his movements were now precise and orderly hitting the right spots. He walked into the locker to take a shower and change but was stopped at the entrance by Cross. There was time to talk they had two more hours before they had to go to class. "So? You're going to tell me what you've been up to for the past week?" asked Cross as he stood between the locker entrance and Ryu. "Well you see if you let me take a bath I can get back to you on that. I have never seen anyway who is resilient to my strong manly odor" announced Ryu with a smirk, Cross let him passed by. Now in the shower Ryu began to talk "You see once I got home the day on which we got our butts handed to us by those little gremlins. Roy contacted me to go to a dojo by the night with a bag full of cloth to train for a week. I followed his instructions and followed him to it. The site was old and in the center of the city, I would of had never imagined such a place. Well to wrap it all up I had to train rigorously where I believed I was going to die. Then it happened, as Roy was taking me to my limits I tapped into my Armorth and tugged at the power for a minute or so. It was wonderful I could actually see Roy's movements and almost keep up with him after," Ryu now finishing his shower went to put his school uniform back on followed by his jacket, "You see that happened on the third day of training and boy was I scared after a while. But then I learned what I was looking for and tapped into Armorth again and was covered with a white armor with red outlining , a red cape at my back and my eyes had gone black , although my hair didn't change . It was amazing I can't describe it man" Ryu was smiling from his accomplishment but Cross wasn't too thrilled or interested. Something was growing in between them and neither would talk about it, they just acted as if nothing had changed. "Well man that's all that happened now I can control my power and use it at my will, even mask it for just a few seconds like those punks that hit us, they did it so well we thought they were average fighters," concluded Ryu, "Well while you were being trained by Roy, your squad was being informed and trained by Pilot." Ryu was stunned by the sudden revelation "I tell ya it wasn't easy, one of us got the hang of it on the 2nd day but we're not allowed to talk about it or comment on who might be the strongest. Well we're all strong just some growing faster than the others. I gatta hand it to ya though. Thanks to you the four you recommended to be in your squad awoke their Armorth and we all thought we were going to die as well," summarized Cross as he sat on a bench near the class exit. "I tell you something, bud. This Armorth thing is kind of scary sometimes I wonder if I'm even controlling my guardian .It's the other way around and it's only been a week since I uncovered mine" Ryu tells Cross joining him on the bench. Ryu begins to wonder now which of the four from his squad tapped into Armorth even before him. Both Elite and subordinate sit side by side not making a single move nor directing a word to each other, they just sat and watched the lower ranks train.

Ch.5

Time passed by now and its two weeks before the tournament and everyone is psyched about it. Ryu, along with his squad members have been very busy, training with one another growing close and creating bonds. There was a criminal on the loose, the news had said, he had escaped from Sisura a heavily guarded prison in Alaska where those who used Armorth for evil doing were kept. The criminal's name was Serot, no one knew where he had originated from or how he became so powerful but this six foot man with light brown hair and red eyes was looking for something. Ryu had heard about this crazed, blood thirsty psychopath for a week now and he wasn't so thrilled of the idea. He then began to wonder how many schools like his were out there. How many Armorth users were in the entire planet, because surely the new fifty Armorth wielders along with the 10th, 11th, 12th users weren't the only ones. Suddenly Roy's words hit him like a hazy flashback "....I have spoken to various people and they agreed that the earlier the next generation learns about it the better. Mothers and fathers won't have to hide the secret any longer...," then it all fades once Alexis comes into view. "Hey! How's it going?" says Ryu as he gets closer to her he notices something that is tugging at her face. "Listen, am sorry about what I got you into a while back and I'm even more sorry now is when I tell you. I've been busy training for the tournament," announces Alexis, suddenly remembering her friend she presents , which she presents a moment later, "This is Xinaly," introducing the golden hair girl with blue eyes next to her standing at her shoulder's length. "So are you still with....?"Asks Ryu shyly and embarrassed by the only thing running through his mind, "No, I broke up with him after I heard what happened. He disgusts me , what he did is unforgettable" responds Alexis with a smile now on her face as if she read Ryu's intended actions. "I challenge you Alexis to a duel" screamed from the middle of the hallway a green hair girl about 5'7 tall and blue eyes. This girl stood out like a sore thumb due to her hair, more importantly was the professional men's boxing belt hanging from her shoulder. It was clear that she was not an easy challenge and was insanely mad about something. "Well did you hear me? You said anytime after school, and guess what its after school," then Alexis responded "Alright Jackie you got me, but let's do it at Bashido's at least there we can fight in a ring." Even more amazing was how nice and calm the four of them walked to Bashido since Alexis and Jackie weren't going to fight for another half block nobody showed any sign of inconvenience. Minutes after arriving Ryu had to ask "are you seriously going to fight? You don't look like a fighter to me" but as Alexis turned around and gave him a grim look he sank into a nearby chair. Both girls now on the ring staring fiercely into one another's eyes took their stands , moments later a clash of fists was heard throughout the entire room. Kicks were tossed at each others' neck, while punches where aimed to one another's chin, it went on for a full ten minutes and neither one of the two girls looked tier. Their fighting was like a dance between the two, everything perfectly executed and Ryu dazed at the show. "Well, well I've seen you've gotten a bit better Jackie. Let's end this please I have sort of a date coming up" Alexis shouted in the middle of the room has she winking at Ryu , "Fine I'll power up if you do it as well , next three hits wins" said Jackie and for what it seemed Alexis had accepted the terms . Then it began, Jackie turned black with a sun imprinted on her skull, and Alexis stayed in her same form except her hair color is now black. Jackie is moving at a hyper-speed since it appears instead of a defensive Armorth she has an offensive one just like Alexis. "Emerald-burst" yells Jackie charging Alexis with glowing green fists. Alexis now glowing in yellow and dodges the move by inches and let's go of a small red ball into Jackie's back. The fight was over; Jackie was on the ground picking her-self up grunting at the pain inflicted on her by Alexis' tiny attack. Ryu both wondering and amazed at what happened, he came into terms with his first Armorth duel. "Do you mind?" asks Alexis has she motioning to Ryu to help her get down the stage. Everyone cheered at Alexis' strength, but weren't very pleased that she was hanging out with the new Elite. "Ummm...Sure why not" says Ryu rushing towards Alexis blushing at the sight of her smile. Alexis and Ryu waved farewell to her everyone and walk out of Bashido without speaking a word the two didn't know how to start a conversation after the events. Trying to break the ice Ryu asked Alexis "So you have a date to get back to?" he smiled at her indicating he caught the statement between her and Jackie, "Yeah? We have a lot of catching up to do, you honestly think I only wanted to make Kiter mad?" blurts out Alexis. Now being a few blocks away from Bashido and Ryu getting used to Alexis' cheery personality he makes a stop, "Well I go this way" uncertain of how she is going to reply he begins to speak again "I can...", "I thought you'd never ask" mentions Alexis cutting Ryu of, "My house is this way follow me," Alexis now grabbing Ryu's hand takes him towards a tree across the sidewalk they were previously walking on. Ryu in a trance by the soft, warm touch of Alexis' skin on his hand nearly drools, especially when she stops right away without any indications and a wisp of her perfume baffles his entire nose. The sweet strawberries scent nearly knocks Ryu of his feet and into heaven, "You see this tree right here?" asks Alexis in a soft tone, "I've climbed this tree since I was a little girl. Over there is my house" Alexis points towards a big white house with a picket fence. Ryu notices that Alexis is gone and begins to look around, then follows the strawberry scent up the tree seeing part of Alexis' underwear, he grins and drools a bit, "Hey! Come up" says Alexis indicating to Ryu the right path to get where she is. Once Ryu grabs the last branch, meanwhile a short pain begins to run through his arms, he has to hurls himself over the final branch to have a seat next to Alexis when she makes a forward motion. The stars are coming out now and the moon's light is hitting the try, as Alexis presses her warm lips into Ryu's, he begins to feel woozy like the last time they had kissed. Ryu is trying to figure out how this normal day led all the way up to this perfect moment, but his right foot begins to slip without him noticing and the lovely moment begins to change. All at once he shifts his weight on his left foot but has already lost some of his balance; about to fall something grabs him "Silly!" responds Alexis to his bewildered look. She gets him back on her branch and waits for him to get comfortable. The two being hit by the light of the moon look into each others eyes and kiss once more. "Well, I gotta go now, thanks for walking me home and everything else," says Alexis to Ryu in a flirty tone descending, "No, thank you for a wonderful evening. I guess I'll see ya around?" "You better," Alexis reply's to Ryu.

Ch.6

Alexis and Ryu begin to date and everyone still can't get used to it. As the time passed Ryu appeared to be dominated by Alexis since he changed a bit for her .But finally the two weeks are up and all the fighters are fired up for the competition to gain a new rank. Serot was still on the loose and it seemed he was heading towards a southern states, it was announced as of early this morning mentioned the loud speakers of the school hall way. Ryu is getting his new kimono out for the competition since it went on for some days, meanwhile the pre-eliminations rounds were beginning. Cross turns a corner as if looking for something evidently, bumps into Ryu with his new gear set. "I see you're ready for all this. I don't think you'll get any challenges after the demonstration you made in the dojo some weeks ago," Cross tells Ryu in a wired tone , " Well I'm hoping I get challenged at least once I want to go all out now that I've got this thing residing in me. You get me?" replies Ryu, and Cross answers "Yeah! I know exactly what you mean I was getting bored of just normal training" the two best friend chuckle at their statements but still avoid their rival eyes as they look at one another . "Hey you idiot, you haven't changed a bit. Why don't you go back to middle school?" shouts Dayan from behind them. "Great, I can't believe I thought about putting you in my squad. Now I have a werewolf pet," replies Ryu as he starts to laugh. "Now, now guys. I'm for one am honored to be in your squad" announces Ray flicking his hair back like a super model. "1...2...3...Um isn't someone missing?" ask Ryu since that someone appears right behind him and tells him softly in his ear "Me! Amazed you missed me" declares Randy holding a box with him. Ryu being surprised finds himself in back of Cross and giving Randy a confuse look about the box. "So, you brought me chocolate?' asks Ryu, trying to taunt his most intellectual squad member. "Well you see it's not really for you. I got called in today into Roy's office and he gave this to me. He told me not to open it until I was in front of my squad's elite. So here I am thrilled to see what's inside. I can hardly control myself," of course being the kind of guy Randy is you can tell he is saying all this in a sarcastic way. Randy begins to open the box now in front of everyone calling out jacket size and one by one each reach out. It turned out that they had squad jackets made just like Ryu's except each had their own guardians on the emblem. "Wow! This gets cooler by the day, but why did they have to match me up with you lame-os?" asks Dayan as Ryu stares at him. The five begin to walk towards the school arena on the 4th floor where there's an indoor stadium that the entire school and spectators could watch the tournament. It was a nice day for a fight you can say, the sun was out, it wasn't too dry or too humid which made everyone loosen up a bit. "Please sir you're going to have to follow me , you have to watch the tournament from the Elite quarters," tells a tournament official to Ryu as he arrives "Um ok?" replies Ryu and he waves farewell to his friends. "Alright listen up; we have to win if we want to keep this stuff. I'm going to challenge Ryu myself at the end so don't be surprise," announces Cross to the squad leaning against the wall waiting for his name to be called so he can go into the arena. The other members watch him closely until Dayan blurts out "Hey me to Jack, you're not the only one. I want to see if I can serve under him or I'll gladly take over," "Hey me too" says Ray a bit cheery. Randy looking at them lets out a cruel remark "Shut up! I can't concentrate on the screen," but of course Randy felt the same way the entire squad wanted a piece of Ryu. Far away a plan was taking place that could change the tournament rules a bit. It was Serot who had arrived at Melaz, Florida and had heard about his brother being in the tournament and he planned on meeting him there. "Dayan Rinehart vs. Oscar Chead, please fighters report to arena 4" announced the loud speaker in the locker room. "Well guys I guess I'm up" says Dayan in a soft tone while stepping out of the locker room the loud speaker comes on again and dictates "Cross Ceror vs. Syusk Hernandez, please report to arena 2, Ray Triba vs. Renji Moritebu please report to arena 3 and Randy Sotolongo vs. Ruald Peterson please report to arena 1," " Well that's new but cool that we all get to go in all at once" comments Dayan as the four accompany one another until they've reached their side .

Ch.7

Ryu now sitting with Roy looks at the screens and he can see everyone fighting and some of the upper classmen nearly tearing apart the arenas. He notices that it's been so far a long time since the tournament had started and he hadn't observed his friends in any of the fights. "So how's the Elite life treating ya? Do people challenge you a lot more now?" ask Roy as he takes a seat next to Ryu on the couch. "Well, after you trained me and I got back to school I did have one challenger. I did away with him so quick everyone was stunned and amazed, but of course the guy was a rank 4 fighter, still wondering why the other top ranks haven't made a move against me?" announces Ryu, Roy observes him as he is saying all this and responds, "Well you see, I had the same result except that those people that didn't challenge me at first are the ones that freaked me out later on. Since they saw my abilities they trained to be the same and maybe even better than me. You'll see." All of a sudden the screens began to display Ryu's squad at the semi-finals already; at first he is amazed by how quick it had all happened but begins to get irritated since he couldn't see any of their previous fights. Ryu begins to get annoyed since the five of them used to train together but never showed one another what they were really capable of doing. First it was Dayan who appeared standing in front of a 6'7 feet guy with a muscular physique and black hair and eyes. Dayan's opponent looked like an alien of some sort but neither of them was fooling around, Dayan quickly shot three jabs at the guy and jumped back, and Ryu was able to catch the name of the guy Dayan was fighting. His name was Doug Rivera and was a rank 6 fighter. Both fighters eyes were locked onto one another, the crowd seemed to be thrilled by the show, but then Dayan's mouth began to move and Ryu couldn't keep up with it, Doug smiled at what Dayan said. Dayan clenched his fists and his legs began to shape into something different, his face was being taken over by new spots of hair. Doug on the other hand had a gold plated armor on him with a Greek sword to match his armor. The two had transformed and were using Armorth; Dayan looked like a werewolf with silver hair and Doug a gladiator. The two began to speed things up of course Dayan not having any heavy armor on was much quicker but Doug's Armorth covered him well. This lasted for five minutes has the two exchanged blows and charged one another again and again. Ryu all of a sudden read "White-Fang" from Dayan's lips, has Dayan disappeared from view. Doug's armor was ripped from the back and the front, Dayan was moving now at a quicker pace than before, having the upper hand on speed, giving Doug the final blow, the hit connected leaving Doug with a black spot on the surface of his skin. The match was over, Ryu was amazed by these two fighters and missed Cross' and Randy's matches. He was able to find Ray now with red hair and with an orange armor; he looked almost feline especially with a whip that had thorns. Ray was fighting Enmor Solace another 6th ranked fighter. But the fight didn't last like Dayan's had; Ray seemed to have no control over his guardian and reappeared in back of his opponent with his whip spinning rapidly letting go of a red lightning. The matches were over; Ryu's squad had gone to the semi-finals to challenge one another now. Of course there were other fights going on like Pilot's squad and Roy's squad as well. But Ryu then noticed the two small-fries that attacked him and Cross the day he met Zepar. " Hey , you set it all up , didn't you" as he screams to Roy , who was now wondering what is all the commotion about, looks at the screen and realizes he has been caught , "Well no need to get angry , I simply had to see if you were a Flux or a Kenton and it proved true . It has happened where there have been times when we've had Kentons be Elites of course" Roy tells Ryu. "You see it is also hard for you to be in a life or death situation that is controlled, like it was in that attack .I did it for your own good," Roy states trying to calm Ryu down. Kiter's squad has also gotten to the semi-finals but Ryu's thought get interrupted by an announcement on the loud-speaker which requires for him to go to arena 5, he was being challenged.

Ch.8

"Hello brother long times no see" voiced a 6 foot figure from the other side of the special room from where the Elites watch the tournament, "Indeed , brother , but tell me what brings you here?" responds Roy standing up and looking into Serot's blood-shot eyes "Honestly , you have learned to control Armorth better than before . I'd like to thank you for waiting all this time until my young comrade left," "Well you see, he is one of the reasons why I came here to talk to you about," Serot takes a seat and begins to talk, "You see I'm wondering why out of all the 9th graders in this school and all over the world did you pick this one little brother. Do you think he is the one to have as a lab rat or can he be the one you're looking for to try finding the sphere? It'd be a shame if I had to break out of that dump and came all this way, for you to tell me that I might be wrong." Roy tries to relax since he knows Serot has become stronger than him but still lacks brains and decides to see what happens, Roy then begins to speak "Well brother, I see you haven't forgotten of the stuff we dug up years ago that predicted a Armorth user would obtain the power of a sphere that'll give him power to promote evil or good in the world. These being the case I also believe that you should conduct a bit more of research for me if you truly want my answers. Go to South America to the temple of Iris, nobody really knows where it's actually located or if it exists. But go now Serot or you might put us both in jeopardy by your simple intrusion." Serot tiered of being the henchmen replies to Roy "I always do the research and get in trouble. Don't ever forget I remember you were the one who put me in that prison Roy," but Roy knowing it was going to come down to this , makes a shrug and voice a simple comment to Serot that made him be on his way " You killed those kids , and lost control of your guardian." Now Serot being gone, Roy stood their alone in the room, while a small tear rolled down his eyes he muttered the words "That was the day I lost my brother."

Ch.9

"Baby," Alexis calls to Ryu, "I wish you the best of luck," she lets him know and gives Ryu a good-luck kiss. "Don't worry about it. I'm dying to test my strength," remarks Ryu softly, "Well you better not lose!" Alexis states looking straight into his eyes, like a mother sending her son into the battlefield, Ryu gives her a farewell kiss and keeps moving towards the arena. And now the finalist in today's 9th grade division is Cross, Ryu hears as he is a few steps from arena 5. He admits it to be a bit shocked to hear that Cross is the finalist, but he is more concentrated on who has challenged him. Stepping into the arena, filled with spot lights that nearly blinded him he sees the image of a 5'5 feet figure in the middle of the ring. The person is turned back and Ryu still can't see who the guy really is until he reaches the middle and the figure turns around and his eyes are burning like a blue flame and his muscles are more ripped than ever. It all goes hazy for Ryu, since he has seen this person before but can't seem to put the two images together to become one. Ryu doesn't recall seeing this person shirtless in fact he is the only one from his squad, that was wearing a long sleeve shirt, he recalled. It's funny because on top of all this he hasn't seen the squad member smile for a while, especially not with that wicked smile he has on now. "Hello Ryu honey," mentions Cross with a soft grin, "You see I couldn't let myself ruin the surprise, especially that look on your face it's remarkable. Of course I had to train a bit rough to be able to beat the squad you put together. I have to admit bud you do know how to put a team together," Ryu then responds "I see, so I take it you're the one that figured out how to use his Armorth on the second day huh? So are you going to tell me what this is about?" Cross now takes a step forward to be more up close and replies "Well you see. I wanted to see if you had what it takes to be an Elite. Plus it doesn't take from the fact that we've been rivals every since that day, we were attacked. You weren't the only one that met his guardian." This all begins to sink into Ryu but the announcer's voice cuts right through his thoughts "Now begin," and the two boys take corners. Cross calls upon his Armorth and turns black with a small sort of armor on his body, an angel painted on each fist, his hair now blue to match his eyes. Ryu does the same and this time Zepar's face is imprinted on his right hand and the armor appears, Ryu's hair also turns red to match his eyes. Both friends look into each other's eyes, as if fire and ice were being pressed together. One dodging the attacks of the other, none have hit their target, Ryu jumps throwing his left knee towards Cross's chin only to be blocked by a fist and tossed back. Finally Cross tells himself I got him, "Nice one," declares Ryu "But it's time we show our real strength don't you think?" Cross now looks at him with a smirk and implies "How did you know?" "Well you're my best friend; I'm doing it too," answers Ryu. Both fighters begin to enrage, now it's finally going to come to an end they think, the ring begins to receive tiny holes from the pressure. The spectators watching all this thrilled of who is going to win as they can't see the kid's next moves, watching from above is Kiter trying to get a clue of how strong Ryu is. "Black sun" screams Ryu a black ball begins to grow at his palm and charges at Cross , in the meantime Cross takes a step back and makes some type of summoning and mist begins to appear all over . Ryu now blinded by his enemy begins to move fast along the ring tossing his black sun attacks were he pleases. "A thousand swords of ice" speaks Cross like a whisper, Ryu now realizing something is wrong looks up high above to find his buddy and gets hit by an icicle to his left arm.

Now realizing what is going on Ryu evades as quickly as he can and uses the icicles to climb up to where Cross is. "Black sun," shouts Ryu, but this time it's different since the black sphere at his hand as gotten larger and in the shape of a lance , aimed at Cross's head . Cross watching this taking place is too late to do anything about it, but Ryu misses. Ryu has gone by Cross missing him by mere inches but he took too long to decide all this and Cross's body is surrounded by black particles as he falls. Ryu now begins to descend fast enough to catch his buddy before he hits the ground, while having a bleeding hand nearly cracks his skull. The crowd began to cheer at the show these two 9th graders had put on for them stunned at the sight of their Armorth. "Thanks for catching me, you really are something," Cross tells Ryu as he is being stood up and Ryu puts his arm over his shoulders. "Anytime," Ryu responds to Cross, then added "It was a good fight." So far all the fighting has stopped and everyone has gotten new ranks or a look at the 9th grade Elite and his squad already. Kiter seeing Ryu carry Cross out of the arena, whispers to himself "Weaklings, carrying one another out of the ring like that. Friends? Who needs them?"

* * * * * *

"Hmmm, I see he has grown to be a strong boy. But he'll have to die, if he gets in my way, doesn't matter who my kin is. I will get rid of all the Flux and become supreme leader of the world!!!" states bald man in his mid 50's, although he isn't a man exactly, the accident years ago changed him forever. He begins to laugh to himself enjoying his dark plot and takes a sip of wine, while looking over the city of Melaz, on the top floor of his 35 story hotel. He turns around and looks at a portrait of his former self with a young woman, pregnant of a small boy, no tears run down his face, no signs of feeling anything for his past life. He simply has the portrait to remind himself that he was human once and he had a family once...............

Ch.10

Ryu arrives the next day at the dojo to find a celebration party taking place. He walks in and watches his squad come over to him, standing out from the rest of the students. "How is your arm?' asks Dayan, "Its ok now that I got it wrapped and stuff. Where is he?" replies Ryu, "Well he is with his girlfriend right now. But hey we all got this celebration party going since we have a new 9th grade Elite," responds Dayan almost cheery. Ryu please can you report to the Elite's office instructs the loud speaker, "Great! What now? Well I got to get going. See you guys later and train hard," shouts Ryu leaving the dojo. "Good you're here already," implies Roy, as Ryu walks in and is greeted by Pilot. "You see I have something for you to do and it's very, very important so listen up. Do you understand?" Roy now moves a bit closer to the desk to pull out a map and a pen, "Yeah! I'm up for anything. What is it? But can Alexis come with me? I haven't been dedicating much time to her, and she sure is pissed about it" asks Ryu ready to commence his Elite role. "Well since there are no tournaments for another five months. I've got something for you to do , you see a long time ago I was searching with my older brother for something called the sphere of Bauza . It is believe to be a secret weapon for Armorth, because it enhances a Flux's power to great levels. Another thing is that we have been assigned to this task by the world government and assign it to you. Do you accept? And no she can't go with ya" Roy asks Ryu like he has an option, seeing him shrug he continues "The problem is the sphere is said to be located in Sudan but it's a clue we don't know exactly where it is. So here take this map and this key, it'll direct you in the right direction it was the only thing we could find from the burned laboratory. Also the sphere was broken in three pieces it seems" Roy hands Ryu the stuff, but the key is not any original key it went in perfectly into is precise. The precise being the new cell phone went on the user's face like a pair of sun glasses except with a clear screen. "I know I found it awkward to that it fit in there. But get going! Oh here is your envelop with everything you'll need. Also take Cross and Randy with you." Roy tells Ryu as he pushes him out the door. "Do you know, what you're getting him into?" ask Pilot a bit displeased, "Yes, but it's for the greater good of this world remember that some Kenton's are looking for the device as well and you know how jealous some of them are of those who can wield Armorth." Pilot stands up and gives a look at Roy, but then smiles and whispers "They can't get it, or else the Flux race will be wiped out." As Pilot exists a shadow appears in back of Roy's door "I knew it!" the person says, "Alright go with them but hold your distance, I've been informed that Kiter, our 10th grade elite has disappeared since yesterday" Roy tells his brother. "I should hit you for not obeying my orders of going to South America you know. Now I might have to send someone else instead, less capable of finding what we're looking for." "Whatever traveling to Africa will be a lot better," replies Serot to Roy disappearing into the shadows once again. "What will this world come to when the truth is out," whispers Roy.

* * * * * * *

Ryu goes to find Randy, and Cross to tell them what's going on but first decides to pass by Alexis 'classroom to tell her about the trip. He walks into the class and asks the teacher for permission to speak in private for a few seconds, the teacher accepts and Alexis walks out with Ryu into the hallway. "Let me guess you're being shipped to Africa and came to tell me you have to cancel on meeting my parents?" Ryu bug eyed about the question can't believe she knows he is going to Sudan and asks her "You know?" "Know what?" she asks him back "That I was summoned by Roy to go to Sudan and retrieve some sphere thingy and you can't come along, I leave in two days . Cross and Randy get to come with me though....." He lets her capture every word and looks at the ground hoping not to get yelled at by Alexis-zilla the non-typical type of girlfriend who might be even able to defeat him in a one on one. "WHATT!!!!" she screams "I'm going to talk to Roy about this. You're supposed to meet my parents this weekend!!!" she begins to think out loud furiously, Ryu is too afraid to interrupt her since he might receive a K.O. blow. "It's ok honey; there is nothing you can do about it. But once you get back you have to promise you'll meet my parents," Alexis finally lets out a clear statement, "I promise" responds Ryu. The two lovers look into each other's eyes and kiss like they haven't seen one another in ages. He releases Alexis and watches her every movement until she is behind the classroom door, he wishes he could have taken her; it would have been like a camping trip. He begins to move again and heads towards the 9th grade dojo to find Randy and Cross sitting with the others. "Hey Cross, Randy come here for a second," Ryu shouts across the dojo at the two. Both men get to where Ryu is, Cross asks "What's the deal?" "Well we're going to Sudan in two days, so pack up fast. We have to retrieve the sphere of Bauza, I'll explain the rest while we're on the plane," Ryu tells them both. "Great, can't it wait? Elizabeth will kill for sure this time if I stand her up," remarks Cross, "No sir it can't! Trust me you're not the only one that might get hanged for this," Ryu lets his friend know. "Hmm, women are all the same, that's why I prefer to be single," states Randy. Ryu hands each their plane ticket and waves farewell to his friends since its time to go to the next period.

Ch.11

"Ok I've summon you five here for an important mission. You have to recover something valuable to us, that if it lands in the hands of any Flux, we Kentons will have to walk around the world scared. I wish you the best of luck Roleb team," instructs a shady figure from an arms chair and handing the five an envelope containing the pictures of Ryu, Cross, and Randy along with their destination. "You are dismissed!" Once again he looks at the portrait sitting on his desk and utters one word "Ryu," like if venom was being injected into his blood. "Franklin, get all troops mobilized, we're hitting them with everything we've got once the sphere is in our hands," the being gives the orders to his leading commander. He gets up now and walks towards the wall of the office where a bookshelf stands. He pulls forward a book on the far right corner then another at the very top to the center of the shelf, a book pops out and flips horizontally to demonstrate a keypad. He engraves his initials _C.P._ and the bookshelf flies up into the ceiling, an Armorth standing on a glass case can be seen now on the other side of the wall. On one hand a canon and in the middle is a circle where a sphere can fit in. The being unlocks the glass door in front of the Armorth and runs his fingers through it enjoying the metallic cold exterior of the armor. "Soon, soon I'll show how much stronger science is than an Armorth from a Flux."

Ch.12

"Great out of all the places we could have been sent to; it had to be to Sudan. Did I mention how much I hate the heat," complains Ryu while sitting under an Acacia tree. "Well you wanted to be an Elite right? This is what you get, now we are going to be eaten alive by these wild animals," cries Cross, taking a seat next to Ryu. "Oh! Come on you big babies! We have to walk just a few more miles to our first destination remember, and then we might have to go somewhere else to finish this expedition. We might end up in Fiji!" exclaims Randy trying to make them lighten up, but he' feeling the heat and it might be getting to him. "I've seen this before I tell you. Three young adults get send into the wild with a map and some weird instrument believed to be a key. They never come back," Cross whispers into Ryu's ear, making him get scared and tense. The three now huddled together under the tree, begin to drink water, the sun rising now even more and a wind began to pass by the tree. The loud snort of a beast wakes the guys up from their Fiji daydream, Ryu being the first one to be up, points at it, "What is that thing?" "That thing is a Renore. It's a new high-breed of Rhinos that got affected by the experiment has well" Randy responds to Ryu's question. "Hey guys? He doesn't look to happy!" Cross mentions stepping back, a hand on his water container and the other on his bag of supplies. "Holy cows! Run, he is about to charge!" screams Randy passing by Cross and Ryu leaving a trail of dust behind. The three start to run for what seems like ever until Randy finds a small opening in the ground, jackpot it was the perfect spot to get away from the beast trailing behind them. Randy motions to Ryu and Cross to follow him as they get closer to the cave entrance. The three make it into the cave and crack on their glow sticks; the cave was weird looking with jagged rocks sticking out from the ceiling dripping water. Ryu hurled his glow stick forward has hard has it could and it a wall displaying three different ways to go and of course they couldn't turn around because of the giant beast was outside smashing it's giant horn into the cave entrances trying to get in . Cross let's go a hard drawn sigh but is interrupted by Randy's voice, "Cool! According to the map that Roy gave us we're in the right place except.....Hmmmm.....Well it's not specific on which path to take to the get across." "Great I guess we're going our separate ways on this one. Unless you want to take care of that beast outside," announces Ryu to them, and trying to man up to the darkness of the cave engulfing everything at arm's length. "Fine, we should tune into frequency forty-seven point six on our precise so it can be used as a radio", Randy let's Ryu and Cross do as he instructed and begins to walk towards the three passages. Randy does a quick iny mini mieni mo and goes into the middle passage. "Well I get the left one then, cya," Cross tells Ryu as he begins to head his way. "Great! From all the things I could have been doing I had to be an errand boy, I didn't accept to be an Elite for this," grumbles Ryu heading into his corresponding entrance.

* * * * * * *

Randy is alone now walking slowly through the central tunnel with his glow stick held high in front of him. He begins to whistle after five minutes of slipping and bumping into rocks, wet damp rocks that shouldn't be there. How could a cave like this one be here in the middle of nowhere and especially be this humid when out-side was blazing hot, Randy began to think to himself.

Terrified to death by the squeals of bats passing by him he lets out a loud yelp which Ryu and Cross ask "Are you ok?" over the precise and Randy answers "Yes! It was just some bats. That's all." "Ok......if........can......" Ryu's precise begins to break up, "Hello! Ryu are you there?" Randy yells, "It sounds like your breaking up. Hello Cross?" but it is no use all three of them are disconnected from one another and it would be hopeless to walk all the way back now, especially after he is so far in. A far more damp smell comes into Randy's nose, he feels he is getting closer to something and begins to run. Nearly stumbling over a set of rocks Randy comes into a small clearing, up in front is a small lake with a waterfall coming from god knows where. It is not so dark anymore, and Randy can make out some figures a bit better now, he notices a torch a few steps ahead and grabs two rocks to spark a fire. "Come on! Come on!" Randy repeats to himself while slamming the rocks hard against one another. After six unsuccessful tries he decides to take a seat and wait some more minutes before he collapses trying. After ten minutes of giving a hard and concentrating look to the two stones that won't spark up he attempts a seventh time but sadly fails. "You stupid in animated object!" he screams tossing it against the wall, only to see sparks flying out. He now had an idea, why not put the torch near where he tossed the rock and repeat his actions surely the sparks would fly into the torch's cloth. As he put things into their places he wondered how Ryu and Cross where doing and of course if they had found anything at all. Randy goes for the pitch with his left arm and sends the rock flying towards the wall with all his might, like he had done earlier. The rock hits the wall and tiny sparks go into the torch, Randy rushes over and begins to blow air softly into it so the sparks would burst into flames. "Yes!!! It worked!" echoed through the clearing has a joyful Randy carried the torch forward. But there was more than meets the eyes in this place and he finds another torch and then another and another all in a row surrounding the clearing. Randy ponders a bit, but it doesn't take him long enough to realize to touch one torch with his to see what happens. He lets only the tip of the torch touch the other has if scared all his hard work would be wasted , the other torch lights up and fire goes in a straight line as if it were soaked in gasoline and all the torches in the clearing begin to catch on fire , lighting up the room. Randy is dazed by all this, he notices a small match box near the way he came in , and looks at it angrily "Darn it!!" he lets out . Randy begins to inspect he surroundings and tries to guest the last time there was a human in this place. He searches south and north, east and west but finds nothing in the clearing to indicate that there is something hidden in it. An object sparkles once and fades and then it sparkles again in the waterfall, Randy seeing this leaves his bags close to the lake and begins to fold up his pants and shirt. The water was ice cold and it felt like it was going to peel off Randy's skin, once he got to where the water fell he saw the sparkling thing once more, got closer and closer to the wall and touched it. Nothing happened, so he took out the map, on it read "Tap, Tap, Tap, three, three, three," great is this prank, he asks himself. "Well doesn't hurt to try" Randy said out-loud, and did has he read on the map, seconds later a digit panel came out from where the sparkling thing once was. On it he presses the number three, three times and nothing happened. "I knew it! This was just a waste of......" but was cut off by the moving wall. The middle of the wall split in two and a light pierced through it, what looked like a rock wall was now two sliding doors revealing an entrance to a room, Randy confused by all this nearly falls back, but the entrance is a few inches high and he climbs up.

Too curious to find out where this new entrance leads he leaves his stuff behind by the lake bed, the walls are made out of concrete and there are lamps on the ceiling, the place looks modern, but the scary modern type you wouldn't expect to find inside a big scary cave. "Jackpot!" he exclaims at the sight of what he is looking for , in the middle of the room Randy walks into is a map and on top of it is a one-third of a sphere .He goes and grabs the sphere first inspecting it with his eyes first then with his hands, now tier of touching the weird sphere with his hands he goes to grab the map. "Ok....This was....Easy," he tells himself while opening the map. Once the map is open he notices it's in Egypt in a village called Luxor, where Ryu, Cross, and him have to enter another cave and retrieve another third of the sphere just like this one. "Not so fast kid! I'll be taking that" calls out a voice from behind him, Randy turns around and finds himself looking into the face of a ninja, the guy had a katana on his back and in a black uniform with a giant red K on it. From what Randy could tell his visor was a scanner of some sort and the rest of his face was wrapped. Where did this ninja come from, had Randy confused, and who was this guy working for? "Well am from Roleb team kid, a Kenton. I need for you to behave well and give me the third of the sphere and most importantly the map," shouts the stranger, "Oh yeah! Come and get it punk," Randy responds.

Ch.13

"Hello! Randy! Can you hear me?" shouts Ryu into his precise but all he receives is static. "O well, I just hope he is having better luck than me," Ryu tells himself, as he keeps walking further and further in. The glow stick held high, he looks back and can see only darkness; he looks ahead and finds the same. Ryu gets a bright idea of tossing the glow stick like he did before to see the end of the tunnel. "Z" he whispers in the darkness and out goes the glow stick like a missile speeding towards it destination. After a few minutes of seeing the glow stick's faint light keep going he hears a soft thud sound. "Great, that's like eight minutes of more walking, and that was my last one," shouts Ryu angrily into the darkness. Figures that he was right eight minutes later he was standing next to the glow stick and what it had hit. "Are you kidding me!" he screams and stomps the floor angrily. Ryu had found his path to be a dead end and now he had to walk all the way back.

* * * * * * *

Cross having found his tunnel was a dead end, just like Ryu, was already five steps from where he started. A giant mace with spikes strikes the floor right in front of him, Cross jumps back at the sound. "You are Cross, right?" a voice from up ahead implies, "Well am a ninja of the Roleb team, I'm a Kenton. Don't think because we can't use Armorth we're not dangerous. Please give us the map and you can go free." "Well unlucky for you, I was looking for a fight and no I don't have the map," replies Cross. "Well then I can't let you join your friends then, now that you know of my whereabouts." The ninja tosses the mace once again at Cross, only that this time Cross has already popped out his armor and grabs it. Cross now mace in hand attempts to freeze it , but the ninja presses a bottom on the other end and the mace falls to the ground and what used to be a normal mace was now in the form of a whip , being swung in the air at a rapid rate. The whip's head crashes into the ceiling and chips of it start crashing down on Cross's head. Cross is hit but manages to dodge the second attack made by the ninja. "That's a cheap trick," Cross states, but the ninja responds "If you liked that one you're going to love this," the ninja disappears into the darkness. Cross now knowing what to do puts his back against the wall and closes his eyes trying to visualize where is the ninja hiding. "Thousand swords of ice," screams Cross as the icicles start to fly forward crashing into everything. The cave now full of ice, Cross stares straight ahead of him but detects no movement. He turns around but only in time to have the mace crash into his face and sent him spiraling back. Cross now ticked off and with a bleeding cheek , picks himself up and screams , wiping the blood out of his mouth "His that the best you got?" Cross fills the entire cave up with ice. "I see you gave yourself the home field advantage kid," voices the ninja from the darkness. Cross lights up a glow-stick and keeps it near himself , the ninja sends the mace after Cross again but having the glow-stick near Cross has a second to react and grabs the chain. "A thousand swords of ice," screams Cross but he is smarter this time, "That cheap trick again," responds the ninja to Cross's attack. Cross holding the whip pulls the ninja towards him, he made his fist into pure ice and slams him once on the left cheek , only to jump up in the air and catch him off-guard once again and freezes his lower body. The ninja un-able to move now Cross smacks him around for a bit shouting "This is for my face you idiot!" Cross gets some rope from his back and ties the ninja up and begins to drag him towards the tunnel entrance but the ninja manages to grab a kunai knife and commits suicide. Cross jumps at the sight and is now sick looking at the guy with a sliced throat. "WHAT THE???!!!!!!"

Ch.14

"So kid hand over the map and nobody gets hurt," voices a ninja at Ryu, "Who are you, and do you mind your in my way," Ryu responds and attempts to pass by but the ninja goes to strike him and but Ryu jumps back. "I am from the Roleb team and a Kenton. Please hand over the map now or I'll have to fight you," spoke the ninja trying almost to not fight with Ryu at all. Ryu felt a bit weird since his enemy seems peaceful and by the looks of it, it's a girl so he just has to ask "Are you a girl by any chance?" "Yes, Ryu I am. Now prepare yourself," the ninja states almost offended by the question. Kunai knifes begin to be tossed at Ryu but they have a red glowing dot at their ends so Ryu has enough time to dodge them. Dodging the knives, one by one they begin to explode and send Ryu flying forward to the feet of the ninja. "Black-Sun," Ryu shoots the ninja on her left waist, "Damn it" the ninja screams and tosses the damaged piece of armor to the ground "I have to admit your pretty good," mentions Ryu to the ninja. Ryu now knowing what to look for tossed his glow stick at the ninja and hides behind a boulder nearby. Unfortunately for Ryu the ninja hides as well and both seem to be lost in the darkness, except you can hear Ryu inhaling and exhaling air and the ninja just figured out where he was. A harsh thud fills the room, the kunai hits the boulder Ryu is in back of, noticing this he jumps aside but is hit by bits of rocks flying out of the explosion. "Great, just great," mentions Ryu just remembering that Roy never told him that he was going to be harassed by maniacal ninjas with exploding devices. "Black-sun," he uses it this time to have just a bit of light ahead of him, the ninja jumps out of her hiding spot and charges Ryu. Ryu's attack now in the shape of a lance , moving towards the ninja in a head on collision , both were tired of playing games it appeared and wanted to get it over with. Ryu's lance slicing though the air, misses the ninja and she attacks him from behind with what appeared to be a hundred kunai knives. Now Ryu's attack was taking affect on the ninja's body, in fact it was so hard, she was on her knees .Ryu fired another attack against the kunai knives and it led to a blinding explosion in the tunnel, and the ceiling began to collapse. He begins to run away in the direction of the cave entrance but looks back every second to

make sure she isn't chasing him or that he is not running into a trap.

* * * * * * *

"Ah! I see you ran into a bit of trouble yourself," hollers Cross as he can see Ryu approaching him now. "Yeah, but let's discuss it later, Randy isn't back," Ryu responds to Cross and both friends begin to run towards Randy, now hoping that he has found something or worse, he has lost against a Kenton.

* * * * * * *

"So, you're a Kenton? A pissed off one to boot," remarks Randy unleashing his Armorth. The katana wielding ninja now with a hand on his sword ready for anything that'll come his way. Randy now with orange hair and the helmet of a sphinx, wrapped in cloth and some bits of plated golden armor, can't forget his black eyes and scimitar. "Sands of time," he calls out as the place begins to become filled with sand, his sword now glowing he says "Now! Combine with me," his sword transforms into bracers at his wrist and hands now full of flames. The katana comes at Randy with great speed and he is able to catch it with his palms, holds it tight, thrusting it up. Randy looks up to the flying sword but is hit by the ninja on his stomach, crouching down he gets slammed by the ninjas two hands on his back making him feel the cold wet floor . The ninja jumps in the air reaching for is sword, pushes his body from the ceiling down to stab Randy in the middle of the back, but is too slow and Randy blocks the move with his bracers. "Nice!" mentions the ninja , but evidently notices that was because he had gotten Randy off-guard , Randy charges him with flaming fists only to pass inches of his ribs . He now is tiered and angry from the beating he just took and cries out once more "Sands of time," to perform his ultimate attack. The ninja takes to the skies to capture a clear view but is no match for Randy's move he covers his eyes to keep the sand out , only to be strike down by Randy's flaming fists once , twice and then slammed into the ground . The ninja attempts to get up fast trying to block all attacks from his enemy but yet again is too slow as Randy pops up from behind the sand without being noticed and does two jabs and a quick hook . The ninja unable to take it anymore attempts to concentrate on Randy's movements and takes a wild stab at the sand nearly hitting Randy but only to get his sword stuck on the wall. "Sand storm" calls Randy from behind and the sand that was blinding the ninja now becomes hard and begins to pierce his skin. Seconds after Ryu and Cross arrive to meet him. "Wow! Seems you took care of him," mentions Ryu has he takes a look of the ninja , taking a piece of his Roleb team emblem and trying to see if he can find something out from this guy . "Hey guys.....Fiji is out of the question, guess what?" Randy shouts, "We're going to Hawaii instead right? Please tell me we are" implies Cross, since he can't take this heat anymore and wants to be home really bad. "Well you're not that off. The place does have a lot of sand. It's in Egypt in a village called Luxor." "Hey guys! Here it says theirs five members in a team, and by the looks of it we each faced one, so that's three and two are missing," Ryu remarks in his most serious tone.
Ch.15

Roy is a bit ticked off since he has had to find the temple of Iris all on his own. He is mad about Serot not listening to him and even more pissed about Pilot giving him his I'm sorry Christine will really get mad at me speech. In green cargo shorts and a green shirt that says _I'm with stupid_ Roy walks through the Amazon jungle now, his boots full of mud. Looking at the map wondering if the last villager he saw told him two hundred miles or was it kilometers.

* * * * * * *

"DAMN IT!!!" he screams as he steps on what seemed to be monkey droppings , but it gets much worse as he is walking now stomping the ground with rage , trips over a vine and lands face first in mud. "I hate doing the hard work!" He continues to walk, while cleaning his face with a handkerchief when he reaches the end of the jungle's floor. Looking to his right side he sees a path going down, now since he is at the jungle's end he can see down and can make out an ivory temple. "Checkmate!" he screams and begins to descend. He reaches the bottom face to face with the temple. Roy looks around suspicious as if he is being watched but finds no clues or detects anything. He moves cautiously towards the doors and pushes them open, dust in the air so thick it makes him cough, and cover his mouth and eyes. He stands back to get some fresh air then turns on his glow-stick and waltz right into the place. Making sure the place is not bubby trapped he takes every step with care, Roy hears the sound of a rope being snapped and looks down to notice he stepped into a latch on the floor that has triggered something. A rock the size of a meteor comes into view as it is tumbling down from underneath the door at great speed. Roy now tense says to himself, "Just great! Guess the shirt does suit me!" He begins to run but only to step on more traps on the floor and the holes in the walls begin to spit fire scorching his clothing. Now ticked off about his cloth and getting burned a bit and chased by a giant boulder he unleashes his Armorth. His black eyes turn silver as his hair begins to show rays of light blue. On his body a leviathan imprinted on his chest plate armor, covered in a semi-knight sort of thing and with a long sword in hand, he swings at the boulder with great ease slicing through it like a pancake. "That was easy," he exclaims and begins to walk towards the door at the end of the corridor, opens it wide so that the light from the entrance can make its way inside and lets the dust come out. The room is a shrine for Iris, the goddess of water and beasts. A mermaid herself, her sculpture in the center, with her arms in a v-shape spread out with her palms flat as if to hold something. She had green limestone eyes and her body made of crystal and with something on her belly button. An object that seemed almost foreign, by the looks of it, the object wasn't made with the statue nor was it part of the goddess. Roy looks to the floor and tosses a pen hard against each tile before moving forward. He gets to the statue and without hesitating grabs the object on her belly button. A kunai strikes above his hand and a voice warns "Don't touch that or you'll pay with your life," "I'm afraid this is the reason why I came here, so I do beg your pardon if you don't mind stepping aside," Roy responds. "I am from the Roleb team and my men along with my vice-captain have probably retrieved by now the other thirds of the sphere," "Oh, really? And do you know what to do with it once you have it? Also, then if you know that then you know that the squad and Elite I sent out are possible candidates. So I wouldn't take them lightly," Roy remarks. The ninja shoots another knife at Roy but he is already using his Armorth and blocks it with his hands. The ninja surprised intents to get behind Roy and attack, but Roy is too quick for him and doesn't let him. "Am sorry, you must not know who I am then? If not I'd be concern right about now," Roy goes head to head with the ninja and hits him once with his sword on his left side , then strikes another blow with the hilt of the sword to his opponent's jaw .Bummer. I hope for their sake not all of them are this weak, Roy thought to himself, as the ninja attempts to get up on his feet again, but Roy steps on his back kneeling on him. "So tell me! Who send you?" but the ninja does not answer "Alright I see you're a tough guy," he slams the blunt side of his sword against the guys back making him squeal, like a wounded animal. Roy does this several times but receives no answer, disappointed by such a fight, he sighs and moves toward the statue to collect the third of the sphere. "Run along now, I'll let you live, but tell your boss, once we get that sphere he'll have to pick a side." Roy walks off into the sunset with half a short and his shirt now sleeveless, with a broad smile, but he begins to get concern and reaches for his precise to contact the others. After several attempts his broad smile fades and he gains a grim look over his face. "Serot, are you there?" calling his brother now, but no response. "What's all the commotion about? I was sleeping, while your squad was inside the cave," Serot responds on the fifth incoming message. "Are they alright?" Roy asks, "Yeah, they're coming out now, a bit banged up and dirty but they're ok," Serot mentions. "Ok! Good stay with them, I just ran into a Kenton ninja trying to get the shards as well. See you later."
Ch.16

Now it's been a few weeks since Ryu's squad had gotten out of that cave and were making excellent timing on their way to Luxor. They arrived at dawn the very next day; all three dirty from the sand and of course their previous encounter. The map took them west of the village near the river bank; it showed no trace of a cave or anything except a big x and directions of how to acquire the shard. If they were being watched or stalked, they couldn't notice since in this dessert there were few places to hide. Not even a cactus stood in this place, it seemed abandoned, but no traces of humans ever living was ever found. Ryu being who he was he began to complain, "Great nothing, nothing, nothing. Why can't there be a cave or something that we can see." "Well, we might have a way, start looking around the river bank to see if you can find any clues," states Randy as he goes south of the Nile. "Not this again, doesn't this guy get tiered of splitting up," Cross mentions as he begins to walk in the opposite direction, "Hey! Wait up" yells Ryu from behind catching up to Cross. Cross and Ryu begin to walk but don't notice the ninja hidden in the sand trailing behind them. Lucky for them Serot is also hiding in the sand and notices the ninja.

* * * * * * *

Serot creeps up on the ninja and holds his mouth shut, until Ryu and Cross are out of range. "Now tell me who you are?" asks Serot to the ninja beneath him, "I am of the Roleb team and get off me you Sasquatch," the ninja responds. Serot does as he is instructed and uses his Armorth. Serot's Armorth was like no other, he had black wings coming from his spine and black claws instead of a hand, his eyes now gleaming red and his body covered in scales. "What the hell are you?" the ninja asks looking at Serot, since he had never seen a Armorth of such power, especially controlled so well. "Now, I don't have much time," hissed Serot "But yes! I am one of the few who can unlock his Armorth all the way to rank S. Your team leader messed with my brother, but he hardly uses his full power, so he should still be alive." Serot disappears into thin air and claws at the ninja's right rib and then kicks him on his spine. Serot's movements were precise and he executed them without thinking. The ninja looked into Serot's eyes and saw a burning hell that was awaiting him; he screamed at the top of his lungs when Serot sliced him in half.

* * * * * * *

A scream is heard in the distance and Ryu; along with Cross begin to head back to the start of point only to find Randy sweating there as well. "What was that?" Randy says panting, "I don't know, we thought it was you" responds Cross. The three of them got back to back and gave intense looks to the horizon but the wind carried sand from place to place and nothing came into sight. It was three in the afternoon and the sun was blazing hot, making the boys take a dip in the Nile. "Wow! This is refreshing" comments Ryu sinking into the cold water neck deep. Cross a few steps in back of Ryu stumbles with a rock and falls face first into a tile on the floor. The tile has an eagle on it, with its wings spread out as if to fly away. Randy reads the map out-loud "Once you find the soaring bird of the dessert touch its beak and then each eye, once done wait five minutes and pour water from the Nile on it." Ryu did everything h\as instructed and seconds later the sand around the tile began to sink, startled by it, they all jumped back scared of falling in. The tile broke in two and one half was being pulled to the right while the other was being pulled to the left. A small hole appeared on the desert floor with a set of stairs carved into the walls ages ago.

Randy this time dropped his glow stick all the way the bottom but it took several minutes to see it land on the floor. The three noticing it was a long way down pushed their bags inside and then followed them. Once at the bottom the three took out their glow sticks and began searching around the room. It was very dark, but unlike the cave, it wasn't damp or humid instead it resembled the chamber Randy found the shard. Ryu stepping on a tile sinks in for an inch and arrows begin to come from the sides, the boys dodge them but could not escapes unscathed , Ryu himself had received an arrow to his left leg , Randy caught one with his hand before it could reach his face . And of course Cross had gotten hit by two on his forearm, all minor wounds but without any first-aid kits they needed to take out the points quickly and wrap the wound in the best manner they could before it slowed them down. Randy was the first to wrap his up and began to walk slowly through the room examining the paintings on the walls. Similar figures like the one they had encounter outside were everywhere, by the looks of it they just had to find the right one. "Hmm. It says here the next bird thingy we have to press its chest first then it'll give off a glow and a number pad will come out. Any ideas?" indicated Randy , "I've got one" said Cross as he changes form and screams out "Thousand swords of ice," all of the icicles hitting each tile on the wall . One begins to glow and they run towards and find the keypad, on it Randy inserts three, zero, five, zero, two and the keypad is swallowed by the wall. Seconds later to the east of the stair they climbed the walls begin to move and open up into a chamber. In the chamber there is the eagle once again, in its talons a shard in the other a piece of papyrus. Ryu takes the shard as it begins to glow, along with the other one in his pocket, he puts both shards next to one another and they begin to merge to form half a sphere. Static by all this is Cross since he can't imagine how such a small thing can be so important to those Kentons and Roy. Randy goes for the papyrus, once he has it on his hands he unfolds it and on it, are instructions with an image of the sphere of Bauza and what it can unleash. On the the papyrus read _Dear fellow humans: We scientist have created a sphere for the better of mankind , so far we haven't lived divided like our fathers have and therefore scared of a dark hour happening in the future we have made this sphere to empower a human if he has the right blood. A blood type so rare it has never been categorized before. Well moving on, this sphere has been made in Echo Lab for the good of mankind as we've mentioned above. We split the sphere into three pieces so that it won't fall into the hands of evil instead. Good luck and safe journey home!_ "Echo lab? That's where my father used to work," Ryu remarks, "Hey wait! If your dad worked for these people then, these are the same people who have split the human race into Kenton and Flux. Also if the Kentons are trying to get their hands on it, it can't be for a good reason or not Roy wouldn't had sent us here," states Randy and then continues "Therefore we must go into the nearest town and buy some new clothing and head home as quickly as possible, am sure that Roy has a safe place to keep these shards." "Agreed," Ryu remarks but then is interrupted by Cross "Well! What if we're on the bad side, shouldn't we keep one shard to see what happens?" to which Ryu answers " If we would of known this sooner then I think I'd keep the shards apart. Don't you?"

"Well, we have no choice, but to keep our eyes open for anything. Roy already knows we've got this much of the sphere since he did send us. So let's just go, the sooner the better," Randy mentions as he begins to climb the latter and goes out into the desert.

Ch.17

"They got it bro, the half we're missing. Now for phase two, just wonder if you are right," tells Serot to Roy over the precise.

* * * * * * *

Finally the trip is over for everyone and its one month from the next tournament. Ryu, Cross, and Randy are in an old warehouse, used for training at the center of town. It is midnight and they just arrived hours ago from Egypt. Each exhausted from the trip and wondering why Roy has made them come all the way here, to this weird and shady place. "Glad to see your all back," remarks Roy from the shadows of the room, flipping on the lights. Ryu remembers the place now, since he was kept in here for a week trying to figure out how to use his Armorth. "Screw you!" shouts Cross, flicking Roy off, "Well, well. Why so aggressive now?" "Well besides sending us to the sun you didn't tell us anything about ninjas with weird weapons attacking us," says Cross to Roy. "You see. I thought you guys could handle yourselves well. And here you are. Please let me get what I sent you guys for," Roy says as his hand reaches out to receive half the sphere. "Hey ,we read this paper here," speaks Randy from behind Ryu and steps forward saying "We are concerned about what you have in store for it," Randy tosses the paper to Roy so he can read. After minutes of reading, Roy begins to speak "Well, it's all true and I need that half of the sphere to merge it with this one," he shows them the half he collected from the temple of Iris, "It's for safe keeping, as you can tell the Kentons want to get their hands on it and do away with us Flux, since we're somewhat of a high-breed. Furthermore, I have a secret safe you are all welcome to seeing it with your very eyes. It is where I'll hid it and latter on try to destroy." "Sounds fair to me," remarks Ryu as he begins to think about the power the sphere could grant and even worst is the way he has become edgy lately, having dark thoughts about becoming supreme ruler or worst a destroyer . Ryu now clutching the half of the sphere in his hands hard as if trying to squeeze a bit of power out of it , he can hear Zepar whispering "Let's do it......Lets become......" he hands half the sphere to Roy now looking at it and sweat running down his forehead. "Are you ok?" asks Roy noticing the change in Ryu's eyes. Roy holds both halves together and just like before they merge only this time becoming a purple, crystal sphere with a black inside. "Well, I don't need to see anything. In fact I don't really care, I just care about stopping the psychos that'll try to dominate this world or try to eliminate us Flux," Cross tells Roy , "Yeah same here! Count me in for any bad guy thrashing" adds Ryu. Ryu and Cross now tier begin to head home, since they have school tomorrow and are exhausted from the trip.

Randy stays with Roy to see the safe and ask him some questions. Once they are alone downstairs in the basement of the warehouse Randy asks Roy "Do you think one of us poses the rare blood indicated on the papyrus?" "Well, maybe, for all we know it might not exist. Remember this was written before humans were separated into Flux and Kentons," answers Roy "But if it was one of you three. Do you think I'd be showing you where I will keep the sphere?" "True. Well I'll be going now," Randy lets Roy know and leaves the warehouse. The sphere now in Roy's box locked away from harm's way or so we believe. Serot appears in back of Roy commenting "So? You don't think it's one of them after all. Well we should start getting ready for war then brother. If it's one thing I know is that we're going to get attacked anytime soon. Remember that Kenton boss is desperate now." Roy just takes the comment and strolls on to the roof with his brother trailing behind. "Indeed brother, indeed" Roy remarks and just lets the wind pass by his hair and the stars are shinning bright. The entire world is at peace and it's all aligned to perfection. Not a single tint of darkness is roaming the earth tonight.

* * * * * * *

"Begin the assaults" shouts the shady being from behind a desk....................................

Ch.18

Ryu is standing in front of the world now and it is burning. His eyes have change and Zepar is next to him standing. "If the Kenton get their hands on that sphere the world will be like this. You'll be hunted down and killed like wild dogs. Let me guide your moves." Ryu wakes up sweating from head to toe as the images of the burning world and him being hunted down by Kenton retreat into the back of his mind. Some dream he thinks to himself but just remembers what Zepar told him "Let me guide your moves." It's a nice lovely day outside and Ryu can't seem to get used to the feeling of being back yet. He is now going to his first period class, with a broad smile as he takes in the sun, which he detested a few days ago, but now enjoyed its warmth. "Ryu please report to the Elite's office," this time it was Zeida on the loud-speaker. "Darn it! What do they want with me now!" screams Ryu as he is irritated by it all already. Once close to the Elite office he can see several squads outside awaiting instructions. Ryu walks in since he doesn't recognize anyone and his squad hasn't been called on yet, it seemed. Roy in his office with Pilot looks at Ryu when he walks, simultaneously, "So? What's up now?" he asks the two men with grim looks on their faces. "It appears that all around the world the Flux schools are being attacked by ninjas. Am afraid that they'll be here any minute so we need all Elites to be here along with their squads to be prepare," answers Pilot, "Your squad Ryu , should be arriving any time soon . I'll direct them all including Roy's and Kiter's and also assign them spots." "Yeah! While he is doing all that. I need you and me to protect the sphere at all costs. Pilot would have been with us but since Kiter has been missing for some time now. I need Pilot to take care of the squads." mentions Roy. "Wait Kiter is missing? Since when?" asks Ryu to Roy, "Well three days since I sent you to Sudan to recover the sphere. But that's the least of our worries now." Alarms start to go off all around the school indicating Roy's prediction to have come about true. "Alright Pilot, carry on with your orders, Ryu we must stay here," says Roy taking a seat and puts a chair for Ryu to seat next to him. All over the world a war was being waged by Kentons against the Flux. The Flux were small in numbers compared to Kentons but they had Armorth which made them count for much more than one Kenton. Everyone at the Falls Senior High was fighting five or more Kentons at the same time, the school was being overrun by ninjas. It didn't take long for the students to begin a counteract using Armorth since the large flood of ninjas didn't stop coming. At this rate, the Flux where pushed back as far as the Elite hallway where Pilot and the squads where. Now surrounded by every single ninja in the entire area only Cross and the alive/undead twins, which ambushed Ryu and him stood in front of Pilot ready to attack. The three squad members charge into the ninjas and begin to use massive attacks, but little did they know, their boss would be there in person. The alive, looking twin is knocked all the way back to the door, followed by his undead looking counter-part. Both were hit hard by some kind of weapon used by the enemy, which now stood in front of Cross. The Kenton leader was dressed in heavy armor with a cannon on his right arm and a synthetic left hand, He looked half man half machine, but it appeared that his armor was light-weight for he moved fast and knocked Cross out with one jab to the stomach. "My name is Caleb, can I please have the sphere," the man said, Pilot on the other hand still shocked by his kindness answered "No. Who or what are you?" "I'm the leader of these ninjas and I was in a lab accident years ago which explains why I look like a cyborg," answered Caleb. Caleb was 6'5 feet with a bald head, he looked powerful and within minutes Pilot was down to the point of exhaustion. "Phoenix-inferno," Pilot screamed as he changed into a new form, Pilot is encircled in fire and has a halo on top of his head, the rest of him appeared to be like if he'd never even used his Armorth. "Oh! I see you are the Phoenix of the sky, Roy has kept all the good ones to himself," remarks Caleb. Pilot disappears in the blink of an eye and kicks Caleb on the ribs with all his might slamming him against the metal walls. Pilot moving at hyper-speed, appears to be flying through the air making the shape of a phoenix. "Arise now from the ashes, and take into your talons your prey," voiced Pilot and a flaming bird appears in between the two fighters, it screeches loudly and in a matter of seconds the room bursts into flames consuming Caleb completely. Pilot at the brink of death, as a seat to admire his work, but the smoke begins to clear and in the middle of it all stands an unhurt Caleb with his canon glowing red with fury. "Let's see how you like your own attack," the mad man screams and unleashes Pilot's own attack on him. Pilot takes the blow directly since he is to exhausted to move , in his mind pictures of Christine begin to trickle by , he wonders why didn't I ever listen to her . Pilot collapses in front of the Elite office door, his body burned at 300 degrees.

Ch.19

Serot appears in front of Roy and remarks "He is here brother, lets power up," startling Ryu who was already nervous about the noise being made outside. "Wait! You are his brother? And you have the sphere of Bauza?" exclaims Ryu to Roy , but Roy responses in his defense "I know the current situation Ryu now do as Serot just said and power up." Serot goes into his gruesome form and Roy now displaying his true nature stands in front of Ryu with a dragon tail and glowing blue eyes. Roy's body is covered in blue scales and his hands like Serot's are claws. The two brothers stand side by side like twin dragons. Roy shouts to Ryu "Here take this and keep it with you" tossing the sphere over to Ryu. Both brothers charge into Caleb as Roy screams "Run."

* * * * * * *

Kiter is on the roof top and he is eyeing Ryu running across the school field. He calls upon the power of his Armorth and grows golden wings and is in a golden armor now with a shield and sword. Kiter lands on top of Ryu making him eat dirt, he hisses "Where are you going?" Ryu stunned by Kiter and not to thrill of seeing him responds "Kiter get of me, we're being invaded by Kentons who want this sphere for evil purposes." "I know you weakling. But what are your intentions with it is what I want to know?" Kiter questions Ryu as they both stand face to face for the first time over eight months. "Me? You're the suspicious one who has been gone for months now and now you turn up and attack me in the middle of a war?" Ryu tells Kiter unleashing his Armorth. A voice is telling Ryu _use the sphere_ but he decides not to pay attention to it. Kiter begins to slice away at Ryu. Ryu dodging and evading the best he can but is hit by Kiter's shield.

* * * * * * *

Meanwhile Ryu and Kiter duke it out, Roy and Serot are facing Caleb. Things became clear now and Serot grabs a hold of Roy, but Roy breaks away from Serot and manages to claw at Caleb's armor by the back. Serot charges Roy and their immense energy starts to chip at the walls since the two seem to be playing a game of mercy. "Give yup brother!" shouts Serot, but Roy bends his knees, and head-butts Serot's chin. Serot shaking the blow off looks forward to find a giant blue beam coming straight at him, he directs the same attack only red right back at Roy, the two beams clash together and the places goes white for a few seconds. Serot disappears into the darkness and Roy immediately puts his back against a wall , but not nothing his brother's power had increased so rapidly , Serot appears in back of Roy grabbing him and lets him be strike by Caleb's cannon a couple of times . "Well done, I'll make sure you are well compensated for your aid Serot," Caleb says. "Now go find me the sphere," Caleb tells Serot and he does as he is instructed. Roy manages to get up with his arms his body full of blood and strikes Caleb from behind "You scum!" Roy states. "Here I thought you would be defeated easily ," remarks Caleb pointing his cannon towards Roy, but instantaneously Roy fires a blue beam and manages to strike Caleb. Roy takes advantage of the situation, since Caleb's guard is down now he whispers "Rise Leviathan" and the huge blue dragon appears made out of mist and strikes Caleb like a snake. Caleb reflects the attack last minute and begins to use his cannon to do what he did to Pilot. Roy not knowing this technique sends his leviathan flying towards Caleb head on but it disappears half way. "You fool, just like that last Elite I killed. You underestimate me. Now pay with your life!" Caleb unleashed Roy's own attack on him.

* * * * * * *

It doesn't take long for Serot to find a tiered Ryu and Kiter fighting one another. He sends a blast to make them stop fighting at once. Ryu jumps away from Kiter and both are on different sides as Serot stands in the middle. "You traitor I knew it from the start" Kiter screams, but Ryu thinking it was with him response "Me the traitor? How dare you." "Not you dimwhit I'm talking to Serot. I was inspecting his case and figured out who he was since I had remembered seeing a picture of him on Roy's desk. It just happens that Serot disobeyed Roy and killed some kids, therefore sent to prison. Turns out he had help breaking out and came to Roy for help. Roy knew he couldn't trust him that's why he tossed you the sphere. Serot knowing it would be harder to take on his brother and stood by letting it happen," Kiter says "Then why have you attacked me?" asks Ryu. Kiter explains to Ryu how he had a dream in it where his guardian had come to him. Ryu amazed connecting it to his dream begins to wonder what to do, while Kiter charges Serot and they begin to fight. Ryu begins to run again away from the fierce battle taking place. Both Kiter and Serot are aiming for each other's throats and bits of their power are flying everywhere. Kiter strikes Serot with a yellow beam to his chest but Serot's Armorth is too hard to penetrate, he'll have to get within arm's-length if he wants to even put a scratch on Serot.

"You idiot! You can't go up against me!" indicates Serot as he begins to form a black hole in the middle of the field sucking up all his surrounds, tress and patches of dirt began to fly in and Kiter starts to lose his footing. Kiter is being pulled towards Serot's black hole and decides to just let it all go and he does. "Gryphon of truth I command thee," Kiter's beast appears before him and it screeches making the glass from the windows of the school break, it fires a golden light at the black hole and it is gone. "Nice trick!" Serot tells Kiter and disappears, Kiter flies into the sky and begins to aim and fire rays of light at the ground making the field burst into flames, Serot has no choice but to show himself and Kiter fly's in his direction. Both are inches from each other, but Serot remarks "Damn I didn't want to have to use this. Darkness Fall!" Kiter's body is pierced by a shadow talon of a dragon, but he has enough time to strike Serot with his gryphon's attack at close range. Both bodies are pushed in opposite directions from their attacks. The field is destroyed; Serot and Kiter don't make a move from the strip of grassless dirt.

* * * * * * *

Ryu reaching the elevator but is stopped by Caleb. Caleb now looks at Ryu and smiles "Hello. Son" Ryu freezes in time and even move the slightest muscle looks into the eyes of his father. "No. It can't be. You're supposed to be dead. The car crash... it was all over the news," "Yes I know son. But hand over the sphere and we'll act like none of this ever happened," Caleb tells Ryu hand reaching out. Ryu looks at him in the eyes, so confused now, after everything he has been through, especially all the pain and suffering coming back to him, pictures of seeing his mother being destroyed because of the lost. Was this what his father had become, a self-fish, arrogant man who traded away his family for power? All these questions invading Ryu's mind, he gathers strength and speaks "You have done this, all of this, created two separate races, and it's all to end the harmony in which we live in? You are not my father!" Ryu lets go of it all and lets Zepar take over. His body being controlled by his guardian now changes form. He has Zepar's wings and features, all of a sudden Ryu does not exist and it's his guardian standing face to face with Caleb with the sphere in hand. "No, it can't be! I won't let you demon!" shouts Caleb and moves forward to attack Zepar but he is too late , "Black-Sun" hisses Zepar and Caleb is stroked where Roy had claw at his armor, now his back is fully exposed and wide open to any attack.

Zepar chuckles at the sight of seeing Caleb on the floor now with a humane look, like if in a split second he had regain consciousness from being mind control. Zepar holds the sphere tight in his arms until his hand is bleeding, the blood covering the sphere. The sphere of Bauza begins to glow and Zepar is launched into the sky with a glowing light covering his entire body. He looks down with no pity at Caleb and remarks "Black-Sun!" the whole world shakes , as a new era has began and the sphere of Bauza merged with a Zepar . Ryu was now forever lost in Zepar's realm and stood in front of the world and it began to burn just like his dream.

Part two:

Ch.1

It's been 50 years now since the world lived in harmony and peace. Now the earth had a tyrant who had the power to make craters and demolish any resistance with a flick of a hand. The world had changed now and for the worst, but a rumor of a resistance is circling around the globe with hope of ending this mad-man's rage. One thing for sure was that no one was safe. Seritu was now 16 years old, he was 5'6 thanks to his mother. This young man had red hair and white eyes, and if it wasn't for his hair he would appear to be a wolf in the snow hunting his prey. Seritu was different ever since he was born abnormal things happen around him but since he lived outside the city of Greece, alone with his mom in the forest nobody ever noticed. The king would be interested in him, furthermore it was said that the king was enlisting men with special abilities into his army. Seritu was born to a Kenton mother, named Abigail Ceror, his father he never met since he was part of the army. Seritu called forth his guardian a harpy, half bird half women with talons for hands and hawk feet. The harpy's feathers that hung from her elbows where violet just like here bottom torso, her hair short and sapphire to ear's length, on her upper torso a sapphire chest plate, sleeveless. They harpy held in a hand a sword the size of a katana and in the other a dagger. "Yes master? What can I do for you?" her soft voice sounded nearly human if not for the rest of her body any mortal man would be baffled by such beauty, "Well you see, we have to catch at least a deer to eat tonight , think you can help me," Seritu tells his guardian. "Of course master. Shall I also grant you my power so we can catch one easily?" asked the harpy to Seritu , "Um sure thing , let me have it Jazz," in minutes Seritu was covered in a similar armor to Jazz but completely black , on his back was a katana wrapped in a black cloth . Both harpy and Flux run into the forest, Seritu spots a herd of deer and calls for Jazz to come and help him, she descends from the sky and stands a top of a tree. "Now," he cries , jumping out of the bushes with rapid speed and stabs the oldest deer he can see and Jazz appears from above scaring the herd since they've never seen such a thing , but are too late and one is caught by the throat by Jazz's dagger. Seritu begins to decapitate the game they caught and begins to put small portions into his knapsack. "Do you mind carrying me home Jazz?" asks Seritu to his guardian, "Not at all master." Jazz begins to gain altitude with Seritu on her back, but she has to force herself a bit more than usual because of the extra weight. Jazz goes high enough in the sky so that anyone looking would think is a bird, but forgets suddenly about Seritu and lowers her altitude a bit so he can breathe. It's been an hour or so now and a house begins to appear in the middle of a clearing with smoke flowing out of the chimney, "Looks like mom's already cooking, wait until she sees what we've caught," Seritu speaks to Jazz. Jazz began to go down slowly, once 50 feet from the ground, her wings stop flapping and she begins to soar while losing speed. Seritu gets of his guardian and runs to the door, walking into the house he finds his mother watching over a boiling pot filled with soup. Great not this again Seritu thinks to himself, "Hey mom look what I brought," putting the meat of the deer on the table. "Oh! That'll have to be for tomorrow then, put it in the freezer," Abigail indicates. On the way to the freezer he notices some rugged pieces of clothing on top of a chair folded neatly, he puts the meat inside the freezer and moves towards the chair, inspecting the clothing. "I see you found my stuff," a voice from behind him indicates, there on the back door stood a figure 5'3 with a black beard covering his entire chin, his hair was short and spiked up, his eyes a solid blue color . Seritu begins to back away slowly towards the living room where his mom was, but she bumps into him "Oh I forgot to tell you. Your father just arrived." "But my father is in the king's army?" Seritu infers, "No way son, I'm with the resistance!" Seritu's father remarks.

Ch.2

Cross now stands in front of Seritu looking straight into his eyes, and begins to explain his whereabouts to his only son. "Well you see, I'm one of the people in charge of recruiting members and also making assaults. The king is making an army and it is our goal to stop him before he has the young Flux's in training become actual soldiers. Son I'm sorry I've been gone for such a long time but let me explain. You see I met your mother 20 years ago when the king was still trying to conquer some missing parts of the world; we fled from place to place so I wouldn't be caught by him. If you don't know your mother is a Kenton and I'm a Flux. Fluxes have the ability to use Armorth which is granted to them by their guardians. A guardian is the source of a Flux's power and it comes in any form," Cross sits down in front of Seritu letting him take it all in. "I know you are not a Kenton, just like I know you're not a normal Flux. I can see your power from a mile away and I've come to take you with me. You my son have something that has evolved through time , your Flux ability are un-match able and best of all you can actually call your guardian out to appear in front of you at will," "Wait you mean you can't do that?" Seritu asks his father. "Well yes. But if our lives are at stake, they appear and or when we use our most powerful attacks," Cross responds to his son. "Son, we need your power. I've already had a chat with your mother and she agrees with it as well. So it's all up to you. I leave in three days," Cross tells Seritu and begins to go upstairs to take a bath. "Mom, you can't be serious! Who will protect you?" Seritu tells his mother looking into her eyes, so gentle and peaceful he can get lost in those eyes, "I can protect myself Seritu. You must go with your father; he really believes his own son can stop that veil tyrant. It makes him feel so proud sometimes," Seritu's mother responds. Seritu decides to go upstairs to have a talk with his father, which he can't believe is here. He reaches his mother's room in it is his father seemed to be praying for the dead, "Come in" Cross indicates Seritu. Father and son staring into each other's eyes, without making a movement, they seem like brothers at one extent. "So you're what? Like 30 years old?" remarks Seritu, "No I'm actually 67 years old," Cross lets Seritu take it all in once more. "WHAT! That's impossible my mother is 37 years old!" Seritu shouts, "Well let me explain it all to you Seritu, have a seat here next to me," Cross instructs his son and begins to explain everything about the Flux, especially how they stay forever young. Hours pass and Seritu amazed by what he has learned but just can't take one detail out of his mind "So? You lived before the king was in power? How come you didn't do anything then?" Cross has now a grim look on his face and dictates his whole life story to his son, especially how nobody imagined a 9th grade Elite would be lost to the darkness since the Elites always symbolized strength and leadership and beyond a doubt for the greater good. Cross explains how he was attacked by Caleb and managed to be knocked out in one blow, but his guardian at the last minute came to his rescue and she flew him on her back to the city below into an old abandoned warehouse, then seconds later the sphere was absorbed by the only person with the rare blood to unlock its power, thus the king coming into power. Cross also mentioned how he healed himself using the guardians power and returned to the school only to find two elites and the three escaped with their lives , thus forming the resistance. Seritu absorbed every detail like a sponge and looks a bit shocked at how his father is one of the leaders of the resistance, the man that was supposable in the king's army, never to be seen again.

* * * * * * *

The next day Seritu wakes up to find his father making waffles and pouring maple syrup on them, and setting up the table. "Where's mom?" Seritu asks his father, "I let her sleep, so she can rest I imagine how hard it is for her to raise you by herself. I have no way of making up for the time I've been gone since as you know the king wants my head," Cross tells Seritu . "After you're done with your breakfast, let's go out into the forest and train a bit. I want to see your guardian, if you don't mind that is?" Cross tells Seritu. The two finish their breakfast fast and shout farewell to Abigail. Now at the forest's center Seritu voices "Jazz come out please", the harpy appears in front of them and says "Yes master?" Cross looks at the guardian amazed and goes around her inspecting her from bird feet to human head. "Who is this master?" Jazz voiced at Seritu, "I'm sorry to not introduce you both. Jazz this is my father, Cross. Father this is Jazz," "A pleasure to meet you," Cross tells Jazz, and she responds "The pleasure is all mine." "Ok son are you ready?" Cross asks and Seritu nods, "Jazz we have to fight my father; he wants to know the limit of our power. Go easy on him," "Ok master," Jazz replies to Seritu. Jazz hovers a couple of feet from the ground waiting for Cross to make a move, Cross taking this as a sign of being ready, just takes a causal stance. Cross appears to be motionless, no expression on his face, the light goes through his image and Jazz and Seritu realize it was a glimpse. Jazz turns around to find Cross about to strike her; she jumps back and screeches an attack so powerful the birds and the nearby animals flee in terror of the noise. It appeared that the attack was to slow and Cross was in back of her now once again, but this time he manages to give her a quick jab sending her flying into a nearby tree. Jazz not accustomed to this type of fighting picks herself up and begins to walk towards the battle ground, "Master would you like to join me?" she asks Seritu and he nods in acceptance to her request. Seritu walks in between the two opponents and hugs Jazz. She disappears and Seritu is standing in front of his father with his Armorth on, this time his form is different from before, he has his harpy's wings making him look like a black angel. "That's nice! I wish I could do that," Cross tells his son with a broad smile on his face, "Don't say you didn't ask for it," Seritu barks. Seritu disappears and so does Cross, both begin to clash at hyper-speed only leaving behind glimpses of them. Cross seems to be enjoying the fight, now in his most powerful form, his body incased in a light blue armor and two blue swords on each hand, the face of his guardian, Vitrax, the warrior of ice on his chest. Father and son begin to clash swords with one another, for minutes this rages on, but Seritu begins to get tiresome of his father not taking him seriously. He then begins to run away so his father can chase him, they jump from tree to tree, Cross keeping on Seritu's tail. Seritu jumps up into the sky with the sun in back of him and says "Got ya! Sonic burst!" a noise comes from his two swords being clashed together , but his father , Cross , is more skilled than he is and tells Seritu " No you didn't . Thousand swords of ice," Cross's icicle swords begin to shatter under Seritu's attack but make a powerful mist around him , giving Cross the advantage to perform the attack once again without it being blocked. Seritu manages to dodge a couple of them but is hit by a few on his arms and legs and begins to descend down into the forest. Cross catches him before he can hit the ground and lays him on the soft grass. "Damn! Forgot you are still young. Let's heal him Vitrax," Cross speaks and his guardian appears like a mist in front of Seritu, incasing the boy in an ice tomb and healing all his wounds. An hour passes and Seritu begins to gain consciousness, he opens his eyes but quickly puts his hand to cover the sun. "Sorry about that. But you did good with a few years of training who knows what your capable of doing," Cross tells his son. Seritu attempts to get up but his legs begin to wobble and Cross catches him just in time. "Well lets head back home now, we've had enough fun for one afternoon," Cross tells Seritu and both begin to walk home. Smoke is seen coming from the distance and Cross with a grave look on his face urges Seritu to walk on his own so they can get home faster. By the time they reach the house it is covered in flames now and collapsing on top of its self. "Mom!" Seritu screams as he rushes forward, Cross follows him. Both men reach the house and can't seem to go inside, Cross calls upon his guardians power "Thousand swords of ice" and the ice melts a top of the fire making it cease. Seritu is the first to go in, through what was left of the entrance. No trace of Abigail is found; it appeared that she was burned alive or worst taken away by the king's henchmen.

Ch.3

A couple of miles later into the forest Cross and Seritu begin to talk. "This is your entire fault!!! You should have stayed away!" he screams at his father, Cross just takes it. "Listen, am sorry we should have had left yesterday so this wouldn't have had happen. I couldn't just walk in after 16 years into Abigail's life and say hi honey I'm taking the kid," Cross mutters. "Whatever! I don't want to talk to you, just tell me where are we going?" Seritu tells his father and he responds "We're off to find the Dagger of Yaril , it's said to be the opposite to the Sphere of Bauza, it absorbs power instead of giving it. We got word of it being here, in Greece a couple of months ago, and that's when I decided to stop by. The Elites will meet us at Athens where it was said to be at. Now let's move we have a week to get there,"

* * * * * * *

Seritu and Cross trained every day by the night once they had camp made and detected nobody around for miles. This went on for a week as Cross had indicated it was what would take for them to reach Athens on their guardian's back. Finally there Cross is looking around and finds the cave instructed in the map, once inside two figures move toward Cross and Seritu. "So this is the boy we've heard so much of?" a white hair man with black eyes standing at 6'3 feet, said as he examined Seritu briefly. "Do you really think it's possible, Cross, that after that dagger is used he can finish the job?" asked the man. Briefly after appears another man about 5'7 feet tall with blonde hair and black eyes , both were wearing some kind of robe to hide their physique and give them a monk sort of look. Cross points to the white haired man and tells Seritu "This is Roy Abreu, he was the 12th grade elite and my trainer," Cross now points to the blonde one and says "This is an idiot and you don't have to worry who he is," the guy just glares at Cross and speaks for himself, "The name's Kiter Williams, former 10th grade, and I can kick your father's ass on a one on one. Hope you really turn out to be our secret weapon, I've faced him before." The three begin to talk and Seritu felt isolated from these great men, they've defied the king's verdicts over and over again and here they were, it gave bravery a whole new meaning, and the best part was that his dad was standing among them. In an instant Seritu forgot the hatred he had carried for his mother's death that he held his father accountable, since now he realized that she believed in this man. These three were incredible, Seritu walks towards them to catch a glimpse of the map and what they were saying. "It says here 3 miles down a lab was made at the same time the sphere was made just each in opposite directions. Listen to this, since the dagger didn't cause any harm to anyone and its sole purpose was to be used if the sphere was used for evil. It's all in one piece," Cross smiles saying this with a great relief, as he remembers when Ryu, Randy , and him were sent to retrieve the shards , then the images darken as he remembers seeing Randy killed by Kentons that day and Ryu changing completely . Cross just like Kiter had face Ryu, or should we say Zepar while he was fleeing with Abigail from country to country , when he realized that he had to send his wife with his son away so they wouldn't be in harm's way. "All set then. Let's move out," Roy commands and the four begin to walk the 3 miles south.

* * * * * * *

It was just like the map said the lab was 3 miles south of the cave they had been. At first they couldn't find it since it had been ages ago since it was up and running, but they noticed by the way the rock formation was and found the steel doors the same color as the mountain walls. The entrance was lock so Kiter fired a few beams at it to crack it open , dust came out making all four cough heavily . Roy was the first to walk in and turning on a lamp he had in his bag, leading the way now with Kiter and Cross trailing behind. The lab looked gross, moss was coming out from every crack in the walls and a dead animal smell floated in the air. The four split up to cover more ground this way and find the dagger as quickly as possible before company arrived. Which it did after 30 minutes of them being inside the lab a squad of four Flux appeared on the lab entrance and split up to find and kill each and every one of them.

* * * * * * *

Kiter is hit by ray of light; he is knocked into some lab tests and gets his robes all dirty. Ticked off now, he looks around and finds Alexis looking at him. "Well, I see your king has you getting your hands dirty," he barks at his ex-girlfriend. "Ta ta now. You know when I found out I just had to come and see you," Alexis lets out playfully. Kiter now in his gryphon form ready to attack looks at Alexis in a different form from the last time they had met; it appeared she unlocked her guardian's full power. Alexis was now covered in violet with two gigantic knives sticking out from her hands. "Solar-eclipse" Kiter said has a black beam begins to form in front of him and seconds later he launches it at Alexis. "Swords of light" Alexis cries out and deflects the attack only barely, Kiter catches her off guard and gives Alexis a right hook into the ceiling making bits of rock fall down and the room be filled with dust. Kiter doesn't hesitate and slams a knee into her stomach once she falls from the ceiling; he begins to smash her into all the surrounding walls or objects in the room. Alexis's face is about to be crushed into a wall when she strikes Kiter's armor on the right shoulder with one of her blades, he quickly lets go of her as the pain runs through his body. "Now now, I let you have your fun," she tells Kiter. His shoulder is wounded badly; he has to keep his distance now that he knows Alexis's actual power. She charges at Kiter with blades crisscrossing one another, aiming to cut his throat in one blow. Kiter's hand intervenes, drops of blood taint the floor, and "You think you can kill me with such a weak attack? You idiot remember that when you were mastering your abilities I had already mastered mine," Kiter pushes her back with his bloody hand , he holds the blades together so she wouldn't move , a glowing yellow beam now is forming on his fist and it goes straight into Alexis' face crushing her cheek bone. He tosses her and in mid-air calls out "Solar-burst" a golden beam is fired at Alexis' body, making her spiral into the walls once again. Kiter looks pleased by his work and begins to keep moving on with his search. He hears the rocks from on top of Alexis' body move and a giant piece of rock comes straight at him. Kiter jabs it twice in the center making it split into different pieces, in back of the rock was Alexis charging once again but this time with a white-light shining of her blades , it looked like her last move . "Are you crazy you're going to tear this place apart, and we'll both die," shouts Kiter at her, but she is determined to kill him and keeps moving. Alexis strikes Kiter , but he does his Solar-burst once again to deflect her attack and aims another at her stomach knocking her out cold . Alexis' attack hits the ceiling and the room begins to collapse, Kiter as little time now to get out.

Ch.4

Cross is with his lantern moving around in a room filled with computers; it looked like the main research part of the lab. Little did he know that someone was watching all his moves, but him being Cross and being followed for so many years' notices a flicker in the shadows and keeps what he is doing. He stops in the middle of the room and displays no sign of having using his Armorth and does his Thousand swords of ice in the room filling it up full of icicles. The figure dodges the attack but blocks some of the icicles revealing her position, once he blinks once again Cross is nowhere to be found and she is surrounded by a thick mist. "So are you going to tell me who you are?" asks Cross from the shadows , the figure uses her Armorth and her skin becomes black and has horns now in a spiral , she has a tail and on her chest is a demon's face , her hair turned white and her eyes green . "I'm Nesudes Gonzalez, am here to kill you Cross," the young female announced, almost sure of herself, "Ha! Go home kid, the battlefield is no place for someone as young and lovely as you," Cross implied. A spear appears in Nesudes' hand and she begins to twirl it around making the mist disappear, Cross is standing right in front of her with no care in the world. He doesn't even feel worried about the mist being gone, "I think your ego, is getting the best of you sir," Nesudes tells Cross, but he gets a sad look on his face once hearing the word sir. "Well let's get this over with; I have a dental appointment at 3," Cross remarks giggling to himself since he felt it sounded cool, "Good! I can smell your breath from over here, what do they call you, Smokey the fire breathing dragon?" she comments on Cross' statement, which evidently ticks him off. Cross disappears once more, moving around Nesudes at hyper speed, now wondering why he got the smart ass for an opponent he unleashes his swords on her from the right then from the left. Nesudes dodges them all, but an un-expected attack from above gets her on her lower back, making her scream from the terrible agony. Nesudes takes the shard of ice from her back and tosses it aside, "Damn, you're going to make me go all out then aren't you?" Cross asks and she replies with a nod. She manages to get behind him and grazes his cheek, only to jump back again just in case Cross decides to attack. Cross heals his wounds and Nesudes is shocked now, since she'll have to crush him into a million pieces, s he won't heal himself again. Cross takes out his sword and goes into his final form, both of their eyes are locked and they charge at one another. Cross' sword releases fragments of ice as it clashes with Nesudes' spear , he commands these fragments to attack her from all parts making her draw back so she can evade every single attack . "Blade storm" Nesudes calls out and her spear begins to gain speed as she twirls it on top of her, soon she is engulfed in a tornado consuming everything around it and cutting the walls, Cross analyzing her attack begins to fly from side to side trying to get a clear view of her exact position. "Blizzard" Cross calls out and the air is heavy with shards of ice, since Nesudes blade storm is drawing everything towards her, she is hit directly in the middle of the tornado. Her legs and arms are now frozen solid and she can't move, "Damn, how did you manage to do this," she asks surprised by Cross' attack. "Well you see, on your records I can only do my thousand swords of ice, but through time you pick up new moves here and there and you get wiser. At the end I just filled the air with ice and aimed it at your spear, making it go directly to you and once I had your hands frozen I aimed my attack a few feet lower and got your legs. Ta daa," Cross explains with pure joy, "Now I need to be going and in order for me to do that you can't be following me or attack me anymore if I want to find that dagger," Cross tells Nesudes. "So here is what am going to do. Plan A: is just leave you here and eventually someone will come for you. Plan B: says I kill you and that's the end of it. What do you say?" Cross asks his opponent, "You better kill me now. Am not going back to the king like this," she tells him , "Yeah I thought you would say that," Cross states as he stands up and points his sword at Nesudes' throat , he lifts it up in the air and states "Chronic-frost" freezing her entire body . Nesudes' body is now incased in ice with the exception that it'll melt in some hours due to the heat inside the lab and by then Cross and his group will be long gone. "That should hold you for a while, I don't kill unless it's necessary," Cross whispers to himself and begins to be on his way again.

* * * * * * *

It's been nearly an hour now since Seritu had been going his separate way, he hadn't heard from anyone yet or any shouts of indication that the dagger was found. It send a cold chill down his spine to think the others had run into trouble , but something moved in front of him and interrupted his thoughts . He blinked and it was gone now he looked everywhere but saw nothing the room was filled with file cabins and he opened one to see if he could get some more information on the dagger and its location. He noticed a sudden movement from his left side but so small he didn't have time to catch what it was once again. Next to him appears a golden hair girl with blue, making Seritu jump, "Who are you?" he demands to know. "Well, my name is Xinaly Latia, my guardian is a Valkyrie and her name is Susil. Nice to meet you, what's your name?" she asks Seritu, like if they weren't enemies "I'm Seritu and Cross is my father. If you must know my guardian is a harpy and her name is Jazz. What do you want," Seritu asks knowing that she shouldn't be smiling at him and staring into his eyes. "Well, you see I don't like to fight the people I like. Even if I'm as old as your father and went to school with your father, I have a clear understanding of your Armorth," she states. Seritu both surprised at the statement she made about liking him and a bit concerned about his enemy being this beautiful women that stood in front of him. "That doesn't explain why you are here," Seritu tells Xinaly wanting a better answer, she sits down on top of the file cabin and begins to talk "Well you see our actual mission was to come here retrieve the dagger and kill anyone in our way. But! I have a problem with my current orders," she launches herself off the cabin and stands face to face with Seritu looking straight into his eyes , like lovers do. Seritu stares back into her big blue eyes and can't help getting lost in them, he jumps back remembering she is the enemy and calls for Jazz to come out. "Don't do that please I do not wish to fight you. If you must know you're on the right path to the dagger you just have to take a left and keep walking until you get to a chamber where there is a blue dragon on the side of the entrance and that is where it is kept," Xinaly tells Seritu moving closer to him, beginning to run a soft hand by his face, Seritu just stands there letting her do as she pleases. "Shit, sorry I must go I believe my friends are in danger," Xinaly mutters and begins to walk away but Seritu grabs her hand and both look once more into each other's eyes and kiss..............................

* * * * * * *

Roy notices the change in climate inside the room and jumps back as a fireball crashes into the floor inches away from his feet. "Great I wasn't expecting companies for another few minutes or so, do you mind at least showing yourself?" Roy tells his attacker, a moment later appears a red head with bright brown eyes, about 5 feet tall. "My name is Dailyn Quesada," Roy shocked by the last name, asks "Are you Pilot's sister?" the girl nods. "Great from all the people in the world who he could of have had sent after us, he had to pick this squad. God damn you Zepar!" Roy screams out. "Just because I'm Pilot's sister doesn't mean you should go easy on me. Remember am your opponent" now," Dailyn tells Roy, she uses her Armorth and is now covered in a lava incased suit with two daggers on her hands, her fire red hair gleaming in the darkness.

* * * * * * *

Dailyn runs up to Roy with the two daggers covered in flame and swipes at his face , Roy catching her hands with his blue claws looks at her straight in the eyes wondering what happened to such a small girl, Roy asks himself. "Flaming tornado" Dailyn states and her daggers move fast through the air, the attack is blocked once again by Roy. Evidently Roy can out power any one since he is the oldest and most skilled, but he decides to not knock her out so fast, and find out what she knows. "So are you going to tell me why exactly you work for the king? I understand you do owe him for killing Caleb," Roy states but Dailyn keeps attacking him head on and after several attempts to hit him she begins to speak "I owe the king my life, for what he did to that monster that killed my brother, like you said. I serve for this reason only and do not care who gets in my way as long as I repay the king." "Even if you have to kill innocent people and make others suffer? Your brother would be ashamed of you!" Roy exclaims, since he is pissed about Dailyn's narrow-mind, "You can't honestly believe in the work you do. Your brother wouldn't stand by it," "Shut up! I don't care about that. You don't know what it is like to lose the person you admire most," this statement catches Roy off-guard and she strikes him in the stomach hard, making him lose his breath. Dailyn panting jumps back, tears now in her eyes as she remembers Pilot's face and remembers how he used to hang out with Roy all the time and trained together , Roy the very person she was sent to kill if he stood in her way. Dailyn stops using her Armorth and just stands in front of Roy looking at him, trying to figure out why she is so confused now, this very moment, after so many years of chasing after Roy, Kiter, and Cross, finally figuring out that before she hadn't confronted a single person who had actually trained with her brother she begins to walk away. "Hey! Where are you going?" Roy asks, but its no use since Dailyn keeps walking, Roy appears in front of her and she runs into him, face first. Dailyn wraps her arms around Roy and begins to shed even more tears remembering those afternoons when Roy used to pass by her house to give Pilot the update. Roy hugs her back and whispers into her ears "It's ok. It'll be all better now."
Ch.5

The four meet in front of the entrance now , Kiter dragging a body , Cross happy to see the light coming in from the entrance and Seritu holding something wrapped in a piece of cloth. "So that's it?" Cross asks Seritu, he replies "Yup!" From the north comes Roy carrying in his arms a red head girl with bright brown eyes, "Hey guys! Oh this is Dailyn Quesada. Pilot's sister," Roy presents his new friend to the group. But Kiter and Cross look at one another astonished by it all. "Isn't she a threat to us?" Kiter asks, but Roy tells him "Don't worry about it; I'll take full responsibility for this." "Well let's go to the base, it'll take us a month to reach it from here. Also what are we doing with that?" Cross says and points at Alexis' body. "Well I thought you can ask your guardian to heal her and then just leave her here," Kiter tells Cross, Seritu states "Yeah, that's a good idea Xinaly will get her and take her back," everyone looks at him with a weird eye. "How exactly do you know Xinaly son?" Cross asks, "Well. I ran into her while looking for the dagger, we had a moment, and she directed me straight to it." "What do you mean exactly by _had a moment_?" Cross looks at his son mystified, Seritu looks at them all since even Dailyn as stopped shedding tears and her entire attention is turned to Seritu. "Well......We kissed...." Seritu eventually says and Kiter puts his palm over his face, Roy then says "Well, that's Xinaly alright. But it's still a bit weird how she still told you where to find the dagger." "She knew the exact location , actually she is the one in charge of directing this mission," Dailyn speaks out , she is a bit concerned as well for what her squad leader had done. " Very well , let's head out to our base , in the meantime we have to train you Seritu, you can't face Zepar as you are now," Cross states and the five leave behind a healed Alexis .

* * * * * * *

"Open up!" a golden hair into a communicator at the entrance. Seritu goes to meet her at the entrance and she runs into his arms, the scent of pine trees and leaves waffle his nose. Dailyn trailing behind waves at Seritu and keeps moving into the base. "So far we found that the king will be at Melaz to celebrate his coming of power, later on he will retire into his private quarters in the Rocky Mountains. Also we've been informed that he only has a few guards stationed there. So how was your day honey?" Xinaly tells Seritu. "Well after a year of training and trying to uncover the true nature of my Armorth, I've finally beat my dad," he tells Xinaly, "That's great," Xinaly responds to Seritu. They both walk hand in hand into the center of the base , it looked like an old abandoned warehouse from the outside but at the bottom it had seven floors of men and women who hated the king for ending the peace in the world and destroying those who opposed him. Months later after Seritu arrived at the base, Xinaly who appeared to be following them, became part of the resistance. Her alibi was that she liked Seritu and had no more business working for the king, evidently she proved herself by spying on the king along with Dailyn, for the resistance. Things for a few weeks after Xinaly entered the resistance got awkward since nobody trusted her yet, except Seritu who was baffled by her beauty and most of all what she had done just to get to know him. Of course Xinaly was a bit like a mercenary since, as she spoke to Roy, she could easily be working for both sides, if she really wanted. Having this in mind Roy himself observed her work along with Dailyn's, just in case, after several months of doing so, everyone began to trust the new additions.

Reaching now the center both Xinaly and Seritu walked into the command center, where everyone was listening to the information Dailyn had gathered. "Good you're here," Cross says when Seritu comes into view. Xinaly waved at Cross and the others and has a seat nearby, the command center was an oval room filled with monitors displaying the outside security cameras it had contact with other resistance bases throughout the world, the place looked good for a fifty year old hidden base, which Roy had made when he began to suspect the evil plots of the Kentons. Roy was really prepared for anything it seemed at times except for the time when he added the 9th grade Elite and not keeping an eye on him, or carefully testing what types of guardians do what and at what stage can Flux really handle their Armorth. It was a mistake that cost Roy dearly but who would of had known that demon guardians can be so influential on the Flux and that someone can be controlled by his own guardian to the extent of losing total control over his body. Roy still couldn't help but hold himself accountable for the rising of the world's tyrant. "What's up?" Seritu asks, "Well, we're attacking him, when he is in the Rocky Mountains son. Kiter, Roy, you and I will go in to do this while Xinaly and Dailyn distract the guards," Cross instructs. "Fine, I'm ready to face anything now," Seritu informs the whole room.

* * * * * * *

"So they think they can come into my domain and kill me. Those pathetic Flux, have no chance," growls Zepar as he is handed the information about when and where the resistance will attack him. Zepar looks now out of his castle window and tells Alexis "Have they begun drilling already?" "Yes, my king," she responds. "Good, once I harvest the planets energy I will become a god. Now begin the counter-attack for the resistances at once.I want them all dead and gone for good," Zepar instructs Alexis and let's go of an evil laugh that makes the entire castle shake. He looks at himself in the mirror, but finds Ryu staring back at him. "You shouldn't do such a thing, Zepar. I don't approve of any of your actions. Give me back my body!!!" Ryu screams at Zepar, but he is powerless and entrapped in Zepar's old realm. Zepar looks at Ryu and smiles, "You insignificant Flux, you can't control me," he tells Ryu and breaks the mirror. Ryu whispers into his conscious "We'll see who as the last laugh, I've had enough for fifty years."
Ch.6

Seritu arrives at the cave entrance into the Rocky Mountains, next to him is Cross, Kiter, Roy, Xinaly and Dailyn. "Ok, there is a west and east bound route to reach the King's chamber. One will take us directly and the other to the engine chamber for the drill," Roy indicates by pointing out all figures on the map. Roy hands the dagger to Seritu, "Seritu, Xinaly, and Kiter, you are too go straight to the king's chamber we'll destroy the drill. Once we are done with our task we'll come to your aid and vice versa," Roy gives everyone an old Precise communicator, "What's this?" Seritu asks, "It's called a Precise, it's a communicator from our time, we scrambled it and tweaked it a bit so they won't know what hit them," Roy tells Seritu, then instructs him on how to use it. The two squads split up wishing each other the best of luck in the process.

* * * * * * *

Roy, Cross and Dailyn go east as the others go west. The tunnel is dark, with a lantern each; it's hard to not slip or trip over a rock. The tunnel walls only permit two at a time so Dailyn trails behind them. Kentons begins to appear from up a head, each in a ninja suit. "Crap, we've been spotted," Roy indicates, shocked about how quickly it happened, it wasn't even an hour since they had reached the cave, this only meant one thing , someone had informed the king about the assault , but who , Roy began to wonder as he called upon his Armorth and told the rest to just fight through them without stopping. As they did so, Cross was hit by a kunai knife on his wrist, but kept on moving knowing the gravity of the situation. Dailyn was also hit by a kunai knife but on her knee, she too kept fighting and moving forward. After moments of fighting, a door comes into view and each make an even greater effort to reach it fast. The three finally reach the door and manage to open it, inside was the drill that was drilling into the earth. This thing was huge; on top of it clouds could be seen , for a second it looked like something that fell out of the sky. Its drilling made a horrible sound, that hurt Dailyn's ears instantly; the room seemed vacant, which was no surprise after the number of Kentons they had to face in the tunnel. They found the drill controls to be at the center of the place with a bridge connecting it, the room was just a floor going around the giant drill. Dailyn looked down towards the earth's core to see how, bad was the damage, only to find small amounts of lava spilling, they didn't have much time. "Let's start moving to the controls before it's too late," Cross states but he is tossed against the wall by Alexis' kick. Another flux appears in front of Roy and slams a giant club on his head; Dailyn jumps quickly to the bridge and begins running. Cross picks himself up only to find Alexis' standing on top of him, he uses his Armorth and is wielding is sword now, "Thousand swords of ice," he exclaims but Alexis evades all the icicles. Alexis in a blink of an eye stands next to Cross with a blade pressed on his throat, "Now, now. I wouldn't make another move if I were you. If you must know, you do have a traitor in you flock. Too bad she is already on the controls," she whispers into Cross' ear. "We know this, now are you going to get of me? We still have to shut it down," Cross remarks to Alexis and she releases him, "You did well now let's stop her before it's too late," "Fine! But I wanted to play evil just a bit longer," Alexis tells Cross. Both Cross and Alexis begin to run towards the controls, Cross shouts to Roy "Are you going to need help?" and he responds "No , nice to have you back on our side Alexis." Roy is now facing an 8 feet monster with a club covered in a silver Viking armor, in one hand a club and in the other a shield, the guy had no facial expressions, but his black hair and red eyes made him look dangerous besides his enormous size that is. "So am guessing you're not going to make this easy on me?" Roy asked the gruesome giant, which lets go of a smile as if to reply a no. The clubs came smashing down on Roy but he holds it with his claws, but forgets about the giant's shield and gets his ribs bashed. This wasn't going to be any picnic like the previous fights the 12th grade Elite had, the monster moved at jet speed, in seconds he was picking up Roy's body and swinging him round and round, with a flick of wrist he tosses Roy into the air, appears above him and hammers him down into the floor. Astonishing how this giant monster was moving and how hard Roy was getting hit for. He staggers a bit, but manages to stand up and face the giant, "You are one tough cookie, I can give you that much," Roy remarks with a smirk. The club came racing towards Roy, but he has had enough of the constant beat down and flies up, coming down fast on the giant with a clenched claw. The impact is tremendous and the giant is blocking the hit with his shield but Roy's power is so much he begins to sink into the ground, crushing the floor underneath him. Roy appears from behind and claws at his back then at his chest, slithering through the giants grasp he slams a kick to the giant's nose making him staggered back .Roy begins to notice that his most guarded part is where he holds his shield, the shoulder blade in back of it, it appeared to of just been stitched a few days ago. He must break the giants shield if he wants to win this match and he begins to move through the air quickly and the giant trailing behind , he ascends and then turns around to attack the giant head on , Roy throws a small blue beam at him . The giant deflects it with his shield but doesn't realize that Roy is already next to his club and cries out "Leviathan garrote" the dragon appears and crushes the giant's wrist in one blow. The giant stumbles forward and release the club, he is now kneeling trying to pick himself up in time but Roy once again strikes him from the left sending him spiraling into the wall. The shield comes raging through the air at Roy and he jumps out of the way but it begins to follow him, it appears like a cat chasing a mouse for a couple of minutes until the giant appears in front of him, grabbing Roy by the throat. "It's been a pleasure fighting you," states the gruesome monster and begins to strangle Roy, "The pleasure's all mine," whispers Roy as he kicks the giants chin and states "Tidal wave" and a huge water like beam comes racing at the giant's shoulder-blade. The giant takes the full hit and his entire arm was torn off by Roy's attack, he falls to the floor kneeling now with his eyes rolled back into his skull. The giant doesn't voice a single thing, Roy looks at him for a minute and inspects the body to see if Zepar had altered the Flux's body, but finds nothing. Cross and Alexis reach Dailyn on the control platform , Cross does his "Thousand swords of ice" but the icicles melt by Dailyn's fire attacks , Alexis now throws a white beam at Dailyn , but she to his hit by a fire attack . Both Cross and Alexis trade glances and launch themselves at Dailyn without hesitation, "Blizzard" Cross states and Alexis comes from behind calling out "White thunder," the Dailyn can't handle the two attacks at once and is nearly thrown off the platform. Cross races to give her a hand but she throws a flaming dagger at him. Cross blocks it and Alexis sends another white beam at Dailyn cracking the platform on Dailyn's end leading her to plummet into her demise. "No!" Roy screams but is too late to catch the young girl, tears flow down his eyes as he remembers the entire year he spent training her, just like her brother.

Ch.7

Seritu's group is ambushed by Kentons, but they quickly fight through them, reaching the entrance. "Black-sun" Zepar states from the other side of the entrance and a black ball comes racing towards Seritu. They manage to escape the attack unscathed and enter the room to find Zepar with another Flux standing in the middle. The other Flux looked average he had gold hair, purple eyes and nothing else; they imagined he was in his final form. The Flux next to Zepar directed some words to Seritu, "My king challenges you to a one on one. I'll be fighting one of your men as well, but you get to pick who." Seritu accepts his offer and Kiter quickly jumps forward saying, "I'll fight you, am Kiter ex-10th grade elite. Brace YOURSELF!" he uses his Armorth and charges the guy at full force. The Flux dodges all his attacks and states "My name is Anir, am my king's right hand." Kiter and Anir begin to exchange blows fiercely leaving glimpse trailing behind, Seritu couldn't almost keep up with them, every time one would strike the other would block making small typhoons. "You have to pay attention to your opponent," Zepar remarks as he flew towards Seritu with a black lance in hand , aiming the tip at his head , but Seritu transformed into his final stage and blocked the hit. Seritu had a black cloak on his back and the harpy's armor on, in one hand a dagger in the other a katana, his red hair glowed and his eyes seemed to burn a hole through any image. At first Seritu noticed he can keep up with Zepar dodging and crossing blades with him, until Zepar decided to get serious. Xinaly watched the two fights from the entrance, clutching the dagger in her hand wondering what she should do. Kiter was hit by Anir, he went crashing into the room's wall, and seconds later Anir began pounding on his body. Kiter released a small golden beam at Anir, but it was blocked by Anir's hand. Kiter was surprised at this since he couldn't pierce so far his opponent's skin, no matter what move he did, he had to think fast before his body gave up on him. Seritu clashed into Zepar's lance with his dagger and used the katana to take a stab at him, he was hit by Zepar's lance on his left arm, Seritu felt a little unconscious but stood up. Seritu was too late and Zepar was already charging a "Black-Sun" attack the size of Seritu, which tossed him from one end of the room into the other. Blood running out from Seritu's nose, mouth and arm, began to drip on the floor, a bit more and he would of had lost his head, thank god for the swords he told himself. Xinaly jumped in back of Zepar the moment he was going to crush Seritu further into the wall but failed to make a successful stab, she was held in mid air by Zepar which in turn directed the attck on to her. Xinaly went flying with her wrist broken and her body burned by Zepar's attack. Seritu didn't know what to do, his futile thoughts were getting the best of him, and he began to think about a strategy but was lifted up by Zepar and tossed from one side to the other, Zepar slamming kicks and jabs at him constantly. Seritu just like Kiter had to think on their feet or they might not be so lucky on the next move. Cross and Roy appear with Alexis from the other entrance of the room, they were successful on their part of the mission. Cross looked at his son being tossed like a ball from side to side and catches him at once. Roy slams a claw on Anir , finally someone was able to pierce his skin , but Roy's claw had suffer some damage also , he could only attack Anir a couple more times before he couldn't use that claw. Kiter launched a huge golden beam at Anir right after Roy pierced his skin sending him spiraling through the air. It wasn't over that quickly once Anir got up he began to move even more rapidly, to a speed Kiter couldn't sense or see where he was, luckily Roy was there, Roy stated "I'll be your opponent as of now," and Anir accepted the offer . Kiter was able to get a break and leave Anir to Roy; he went to where Alexis and Xinaly were. Cross and Seritu trying to evade Zepar's attacks were getting exhausted to the point where their bodies couldn't keep up with it. Roy had to defeat Anir fast; he could sense the gravity of the situation getting worse and worse as time passed. Anir jabbed at Roy but he analyzed his movement last minute and caught the jab with his claw and made them sink into his fist, Anir cried in agony and jumped back, but Roy was on a roll, he sank another claw at his chest. Anir moved from side to side running Roy into the wall, but it was no use Roy wouldn't let go, it was in this moment where he said "Leviathan garrote" his opponent's chest cavity began to break and the crushing of bones could be heard from miles. From Anir's back side Roy directed his tail and pierced his heart from both sides at once. Anir stood there, his eyes full of terror and lifeless, Roy move on towards Kiter. Zepar was crushing both father and son now into the ground, the creator was deep enough for a casket, "RYU!!!" screamed Alexis and Zepar looked at her; he kept looking as if something in him was changing. "Ryu" she screamed again and Zepar's expression changed, his body began to shake "My love, kill me please," Ryu said but Zepar took over , listening to Ryu's instructions was Roy who launched himself at Zepar with dagger in hand stabbing him on the side. The dagger took effect immediately; Zepar's body was in the air surrounded by a black light that was draining his power vastly. 'Now Seritu!" screamed Roy , since this was their only chance at victory , Seritu stood up , and screamed "Harpy's Screech" from his mouth a terrible sound came out heading towards Zepar's body , bursting all his nerves and veins. Zepar began to bleed from his eyes, ears and mouth all at once; he was suffering now from internal bleeding and had only seconds to live. Ryu takes over again the body and with his last breath states, "I'm sorry all, please forgive me......" he chokes on blood but is able to tell Alexis once more how much he loved her. Hearing Ryu's last words Alexis began to cry and falls down kneeling , to her left comes Cross struggling to walk with an unconscious Seritu, Cross begins to heal Xinaly in no time , but her wounds are too deep and he only manages to close them. "Her body will have to take care of the rest I'm afraid," Cross tells everyone.

Ch.8

"It's sad isn't it?" Seritu asked his father as he held Xinaly, "It truly is my son," remarked Cross as the casket was being lowered into earth. "Forever beautiful she was, but her love and desire to be love evidently lead her to her demise," Roy spoke out loud. The woman's parents cried and it seemed the tears were never going to end. Roses began to fall on the casket as it reached the end of its trip. It began to rain and the tombstone began to cry on it read _Here lies Alexis_ , next to it stood another grave with the words _Ryu Palace._ Kiter watching from afar began to cry and cry like he had never done before, the terrible lost consumed him and he looked into the sky, what a horrible day it was "Stupid, stupid, stupid." he screamed but was able to control himself enough to state "We live to die . If life worth living we ask ourselves, but never take a second to stop and smell the flowers." Months passed and everyone grew apart, Cross and Seritu were never the same again since they were unable to find Abigail, each lived in a different corner of the planet. Seritu build his old house again and lived with Xinaly, which she was bearing a small girl from him. Cross returned to Melaz to train the next generation, and of course to keep trying to track Abigail, he never gave up hope. Roy became a huge icon and was involved in politics; he made it clear that he didn't want another 50 years of a tyrant to ever happen again. Kiter began to roam the world, traveling from one location to another ,nobody ever got to know why, it might have been the lost of Alexis maybe or after the king's death there was really nothing for him to do. Everything began to change for the better now and the earth was free from evil. The Kentons began to disappear more and more over the years making the Flux the actual human species, of course they, the Flux, began to evolve like Seritu and become far more different and more dangerous than the early generations.

Part3:

Prologue:

On a dark stormy night, the wind blew and shocked the trees down to their roots. Winter was just beginning and the drastic change in climate in Drash could almost be visible. A mansion stood at the far end of the town with flickering candle lights from its basement window. Thirteen men in black robes stood around a newborn humming hellishly, the young child as if tasting the veil evil in the air cried to the point where her screeching voice was rasped. The ringleader stood aside from the men chanting "Ute naranura coman du furandu etemi, trojeck marania demon," (We the Dames wish to speak to a great and powerful demon). Moments later a dark sinister tear appeared on top of the child, once more the ringleader spoke "We the Dames grant _THEE_ these twelve guardians as a tribute to you demon , so that you shall bind with Clair." A demon's face appeared at once, his angel features and white armor with red outline stood out from the dark empty whole. "What say you demon? Will you inhabit her and use her for your unfinished business here on Earth," the man said only to be responded by the demon, "Quiet!" the humming stopped and the demon began to speak once more his tongue spitting out the words "What do you gain from helping me?" "Simply my lord, just a humble place in your empire, along with some small portion of your infinite power," the ringleader explained. "Sounds tempting.....Is this all you ask for?" the demon asked, "Yes" the leader replied. "My lord, if I may add something for a brief moment?" he asked the demon, but was held in place by the demon's cold stare, "What is it?" the demon asked, "Well my lord you'll have to wait twenty-one years before you can claim the girl's body entirely. But do not worry we shall see to it that she grows strong," the leader told the demon. "Let the sacrificing commence," shouted the demon shaking the ruler of the house of Dame's hand then disappearing as the disciples chanted a few words and entered the child's body by her mouth like a black smoke turning her hair blood red and eyes fiery orange. He would remain dormant in Clair's body for twenty-one years.

Ch.1

The awful humming tune of a motorcycle began to get closer to the oasis in the middle of the Sahara desert. It was the middle of summer, but here it was always this hot. The motorcycle had a roof with air conditioning vents from the speedometer, its sandy yellow color made it almost impossible to be seen from afar. The driver stirred in slowly into the oasis until he reached the middle where the lake was, unbuckling himself and tossing the helmet aside revealing his golden hair at neck's length held in a ponytail. Beads of sweat began to running down his forehead almost instantaneously; he stripped down to his drawls leaving the golden cloth cape and other desert attire in the sun. The driver felt almost in sync with the desert, without any hesitation he jumped into the lake swimming from side to side enjoying the cool water on his sweaty desert worn skin. "Hello!!! HEY!!! Are you there?" a voice from the precise on the motorcycle begins to disrupt the little peace and tranquility the place had. The man jumped out and picked up the call "Kiter here, what's good?" he replied, "Bastian is two miles away, remembered that if you bring him alive you get an extra fifty-thousand bucks. By the way Roy spotted us a few minutes ago and he is sitting right next to me, he would like to have a word with you," announced the voice from the precise. Kiter murmurs "After twenty-five years of bounty hunting and escaping him over and over he finally noticed he had to come on his own if he wanted to really find me. Damn him I told him "NO!" 3 years ago in Rome." Kiter gets dressed angrily and heads towards Bastian's location. Reaching his destination nearly twenty minutes after he left the oasis Kiter reached a large shack hidden in the desert, it had a gruesome look, said to harbor fugitives, assassins, and even mercenaries. Kiter parked his motorcycle among the others in front of the shack; he took his helmet off but placed over his head the hood from his cape to hide his face until he had sight of his man. Stepping in not trying to make a scene he grabbed everyone's attention since he was kind of scrawny now and ripped, moving over to the bar he took a look around as if to try to spot Bastian in an instant. The bartender's voice was hoarse and unfriendly; he told Kiter "How can I help you?" Kiter looked up at him and said "Give me a shot of your best whisky and can you please tell me if you know a man by the name of Bastian?" The bartender froze hearing Bastian's name but was too slow to hide his reaction and replied "Bastian? No sir. But here is your whisky." Kiter took the drink in his hand and turned around towards the room full of delinquents, he gazed from side to side trying to make out faces in the poor lighten room. To his right was a man dressed in a dark brown robe with his entire body covered, except his hands and a small portion of his face could be seen. To his left were two men, one dressed in white pants with a black sleeveless shirt and the other with brown cargo pants and a white shirt. The two men to the left seemed to be traveling together while the man to Kiter's right seemed to be a loner; the billiard section had a few shady characters but none that could be identified as the convict he was looking for. Turning around to ask the bartender for another shot he feels the presence of someone in back of him then physically felt a stern hand on his shoulder, to his surprise it was Bastian in the flesh. "So you're here to take me back?" Bastian told Kiter, letting him go and stepping back, "Yes sir! Now want to do it the easy way or the hard way?" Kiter responded. Bastian began to walk towards the exit looking back towards Kiter indicating to follow him , Bastian's brown hair and green eyes came into view and his 5'4 feet tall stocky body could be more visible now thanks to the sun's rays. He quickly unleashed his armorth which surrounded him with an armadillo's shell imprinted on his light armor covering his entire body; in his right hand was a whip that resembled the armadillo's tail. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. All I want is a nice quiet duel. If you win I'll go quietly if you lose you can't chase me. What do you think?" Bastian said stretching and getting warm-up. "Fine , if that's what you want lets have ourselves a duel then," Kiter responded his armorth changing into its last form , his gryphon scales gleamed in the light, he had been a bounty hunter for some years now and his claws looked sharper than ever. "Are you the gryphon of the desert?" asked Bastian and Kiter responded with nod, "This will be interesting then. Armadillo spin!" cried out Bastian becoming a brown ball moving at a supersonic speed through the sand , he charged at Kiter's upper body but missed by a few inches since Kiter was able to fly up at the last minute. Kiter didn't know what to do his opponent seemed had the advantage on the ground, he had to do something to keep up with him but his train of thought was interrupted by Bastian's whip lashing out at him in the sky scrapping his arm. Kiter began to shot golden beams at the ground in order to cover himself up with the sand but it was no use Bastian's super speed cleared all the sand far too fast for Kiter to make a surprise attack , Kiter flew a bit higher so that his opponent's attack wouldn't reach him. "Solar-eclipse" Kiter says from a top and a black beam began to form itself in front of him heading now towards Bastian's shell, Kiter predicting that Bastian was going to hide in his shell he mutters "Solar-burst" firing another beam this time in gold that headed out towards Bastian just a few milliseconds after his last attack. Bastian was tossed back like a ball, not peeping out of his shell scared, "Ha! Come on, your supersonic speed can't take the heat? That is the problem with all you new Armorth wielders, unfortunately power comes with seniority," stated Kiter appearing behind Bastian and unleashing a Solar-burst attack on him sending him flying into a sand hill just across from where he was. Bastian's back was scorched by Kiter's beam and returns back to his normal form , he gets up grunting nearly out of breath from the fight and tells Kiter "Fine. You win," falling down into the sand.

* * * * * * *

Kiter reaches his base a day after leaving Bastian to the authorities and collecting his reward to find Roy sipping hot coffee on his comfy sofa chair made for relaxation. Roy was dressed with khaki cargo shorts, brown boots and his Blonds are dumb: t-shirt on, he didn't look anything like the typical government official who made policies or made treaties. To Kiter's amazement Roy still looked the same as the first time he met him when Kiter was appointed 10th grade Elite, his room was plain the walls where metal and his bunk bed stood to one corner of the room, a self-portrait of himself with the his Elite jacket stood on a wall while on the other side of the room was Roy on his sofa chair. "Hello!!! I see you don't take friendship too well," stated Roy once he saw Kiter, then he went on to say "It's been 3 years since I tried to contact you, if you can please hear me out its of a more dire mission than the last," "Go ahead am listening," replied Kiter heading towards the bathroom to take a cold bath. Roy trailed behind and came to a stop at the door of the bathroom and shouted over the noise that the shower was making, "You see. I need you to go kill a young girl that is harboring Zepar." Kiter jumped once he heard the name of the king Seritu killed ages ago, he quickly got out of the shower and asked Roy , "How sure of all this are you?" "Well you see about four years ago the previous mission I was going to send you on was brought up to my attention by Xantu. He is a seven-teen years old who can see into the future and travel back in time as well," Roy told Kiter taking a seat on the sofa once more. Kiter brought out a chair and sat right in front of Roy and said "Xantu? That name sounds familiar," "Well he did mentioned to me he had met you before , which sounded a bit strange since you do not stay in one spot for more than a week," commented Roy.

"So what do you say? Can you go kill Clair Dames and rid the world once more of Zepar's evil? Asked Roy to Kiter with a grim look on his face, but Kiter responded "Why can't you do it? You are stronger than I am," "It's simple. Xantu asked for you to do the job. He is quiet fund of you," Roy said. "Xantu also indicated to tell you not to fall for her," Roy stated handing over a map to Kiter which held his next destination, "Can I ask you something?" said Roy standing , "Um sure" Kiter responded taking the map into his hands , "What happened to you? Why this style of life?" Roy asked. "You try to ward off evil with your politics, I do it with my bounty hunting. Or maybe it's just because we live for too long," Kiter told Roy and walked towards the base's cafeteria. The base wasn't that big, it had about seven rooms with bathrooms included in a cafeteria towards the center, it could fly towards any destination it needed to and the place was always quiet due to the low amount of staff in it. The cafeteria had a few tables in the center and the daily meal towards the right, on a table was a small boy eating spaghetti not leaving a clean trace on his face. Kiter moved towards him and said "Nice one! You couldn't keep us hidden enough until I was finish?" the boy looked up with sad eyes and responded "I'm sorry the thing is that Moto was cooking this awesome spaghetti and I just couldn't help myself," the boy pointing at the computer chef , Kiter rubbed the boy's violet hair and looked into his red eyes for a second remembering when he was young "It's ok, we're going to Drash now though."

* * * * * * *

The base hovered over Drash, Florida at an eagle's altitude. Kiter reached the cockpit to find Alet the small boy with his violet hair in a frenzy and his red eye seemed a bit pink compared to his reddish eyelids from the all-nighters he had pulled researching on the Dame's family. The youngster raised his head and told Kiter "Yo! I found a picture of her. It seems her mother/father is un-heard off so she was taken by her grandfather when she was nearly born," he minimized all his data to display Clair's picture to Kiter. She was in every way flawless, a tan skin as if fitted upon her body to perfection, her eyes a fiery orange, fire red, waist length hair held in a bun , but was loose enough to let the hair cover her shoulders. It seemed she was 18 at the time of the portrait, her white maiden dress so awkward for its time, it was from Kiter's generation, he thought to himself. The lighting of the image seemed to gloom as if a shadow was sitting behind her planning its escape. Clair was sitting on a high chair with her legs crossed, her hands rested on her lap enwrapped in white gloves. To the chairs contrast which was brown and red cushiness was the wall which was of a royal purple. Kiter blinked once more to capture the essence of her peculiar smile for it seemed she rarely dressed this way, it could be self-evident on how she resembled Alexis. "Hey are you ok?" asked Alet to Kiter, "Hello!! Remember that is your target." The word 'Target' bouncing off the walls of Kiter's mind like a tennis ball being slammed from side to side. "Wait?...." Kiter pausing and trying to sort out his thoughts, "Search for the _DEMON BOOK OF LIGHT.,_ this just got complicated." "What's that? Can you at least explain yourself Kite?" said Alet baffled by such a demand from his Armorth Master. Kiter paced around the squared room with his arms crossed and fickle eyes looking out into space, it took him five minute to speak and when he did his voice seemed to quiver at the sight of Clair's face. "A decade ago before Roy contacted me, I was out in Greece, in a small village called Kalamata, where I came upon a bandit, his Armorth was dark and vicious as if his guardian was plagued by something evil. He had a pentagram on his right wrist, and a black cloak that surrounded his body. The bandit's name was Jafar, it didn't take me long to notice that his Armorth was emitting a strong dark force, just like the time when Roy, Cross, Seritu, and I battled against Zepar. I bagged the guy but it left me so astonished I asked around the town. To my liking I found a book called _PARASITICAL FORCES_ , it talked about summoning or picked by demons to empower a person. Of course like Ryu the bandit got taken over by his demon. Although all Flux wield, Armorth which comes from their guardians, these guardians are usually creatures of light or things that are legends in different cultures for example your guardian Oda Nobunaga the blind swordsman and mine, Rotan gryphon of the desert. Flux that go crazy with power or have dark sides clearly get a guardian fit more to their personality, and if they are after power they will usually try to ask a demon for help. The only person so far that was actually born with a demon guardian was Ryu his predecessors could only go insane by the hands of the demon or lose control of their bodies. The book gives instructions on cleansing a person from the dark tints of the demons they've contacted; it just might save her life. Get Roy on the screen we must talk with him," Kiter explained to Alet who was amazed by all of Kiter's hidden knowledge. The screen displayed an out-going call to Roy which was picked up in three seconds flat; Roy was on his usual t-shirt with a weird open-eye kid. The kid seemed familiar to Kiter; his huge plain white eyes/hair seemed so strange. The image of the kid clicked in his mind and the images from a dream he once had ages ago, a day before Ryu was taken over by Zepar to be exact. In the dream was the kid displaying everything that was yet to happen, Kiter spoke "You must be Xantu." "Yes, Kiter and we know why you have called. Trust me I've seen all possible futures and they all end the same. You know I tried stopping Zepar from coming into power ,no matter how I've helped you, there was no way you could have had avoided that battle with Serot always leaving you unable to intercept Ryu and Caleb. I tried solving that age like a puzzle but noting seemed to stop Ryu from being born and becoming Zepar. Thus like now our only advantage would be to kill Clair, that book is not going to save her Kiter," the owl eyed Xantu spoke making the words crush into Kiter like tidal wave. Kiter began to shake nervously but couldn't let this little runt tell him what to do, in his heart a powerful strive to save Clair was burning like an eternal flame. "I guess you know the path I will take then, won't you?" Kiter asked Xantu to receive a nod in response. "Don't be foolish..." was all that Xantu was able to say before Kiter broke the communication. "Alet scramble all communications with Roy and everyone else," "But Kiter!" exclaimed Alet understanding the position he was putting them in. Kiter didn't bulge and his cold hard stare made Alet not question anymore and scramble the communications. "We must grab her tonight, prepare the sleeping gas please," instructed Kiter to Alet walking out of the cockpit towards his room.
Ch.2

A balcony window was open on the pale mansion's second floor, it's curtains were of a solid red color which seemed to make the balcony warmer in the dark night. From a few yards away was an intruder bouncing from tree to tree , he did the best he could to blend in with the night for he wore a black shroud and jet black clothing. On his side he only seemed to have a small gun like object and small pack on his back. A black scarf covering his face only leaving his night black eyes out to indulge his surroundings and furthermore the path that he had chosen. The intruder stood on the tallest tree nearest to the pale white hallow mansion , to his amazement the place was empty , no guards stood patrolling . A chill ran down his spine realizing that it might all be a trap , but without any further hesitation jumped over the fence and quickly took out a rope with a hook on its end , and with a flick of the wrist tossed it onto the balcony. The metal made a faint noise once it made contact with the stone , but the intruder knew what was at stake so after giving the rope a hard pull to check if it could support his weight , he began to ascend. It was pitched black and to his amazement there came a siren from the four corners of the place . Darting fast into the room to find a women in a white gown , sitting up on the edge of her bed , her hard glance seemed to make a whole in the intruder's skull. "Why are you here?" the women simply asked , for she was still trying to shake the sleep from her body , the intruder moved a bit fast towards the maiden and grabbed her as gently as he could. His left ear began to rang after he received a hard slap from the maiden , "I'm sorry but we have no time!" he told her , a bit irritated by her course of action. The gun like object was already in his hand and he used his super speed to move behind the maiden and make her take a breath of the sleeping gas the object retained. No more than mere seconds later, she was fast asleep on the intruder's arms , he tossed her hair back and began to trace a finger through her face admiring such youthful beauty. This had gotten even more dangerous the intruder felt, it had only been ten minutes since the sirens were set of and he felt the rushing of feet on the mansion's stairs , he quickly took out a folded black bag and covered the maiden with it all the way to her feet and placed her over his shoulder. The door burst open and their came a shout "Stop right there!" , a spiked hair man enshrouded in black armor stood in the door way, his eyes red as blood and of a normal stature. The man was strong for he held a fighter's stance , he dashed towards the intruder as best he could , but at mid-way he had to change course since golden beams came his way. At last , the man was at arm's length of his damsel in distress , the intruder unleashed a more powerful attack and he was forced back and blinded by such light . "Damn it!" he grunted for in that split second the intruder had escaped with Clair.

* * * * * * *

"Where am I?" Clair asked as she stood up to find herself in a desert made entirely of white sand , a black sun stood in the sky. "You are in my realm," answered a man with an angel's face , his red cloak hid a white armor with a red outlining. "Who are you?" Clair asked the strange man , but all he did was walk close to her. "Please sit " the stranger told Clair as a chair appeared from behind her , and another behind him . Both seated face to face now , Clair couldn't hope but to ask more questions , but to her astonishment the demon answered every single one of them without hesitation. "So you're a guardian , what is your name then?" Clair asked the demon , it was a long minute before the stranger answered her. "My name is.....Zepar," the demon unraveled with a sweet melancholic voice , "No! It can't be! You can't be my guardian!" Clair began to shout , standing up pointing her finger at the stranger who seemed without a care in the world. "You are a demon!" the words escaping her mouth as if not believing that she possessed another guardian within her and this one was Zepar the tyrant king that was killed decades ago. "You have nothing to fear princess for it was your own kin who made you this way. And now I'll shall take over your body and rule the world once more!!" indicated Zepar his throat unleashed a horrid laughter , but to his amazement there came a shinning white light from above . The realm seemed to of had collided with another and a tear in the dark sky displayed a white light so powerful that Zepar had to shield his eyes with his hands. Seconds later a white lion appeared in front of Clair as if protecting her from the demon's grasp , "Reinkur , you're here," Clair said relieved that her yang guardian had appeared. "I came as soon as I noticed you were in trouble my lady," commented the lion, "Now hop on my back and let's get out of this vile place." Clair did as she was told , Zepar sat on his chair and just watched them fly off into the tear in the sky. "Run all you want , for once your next birthday comes I shall have the last laugh!" shouted Zepar into the sky. Clair had to close her eyes from the bright light ahead and couldn't help but falling asleep on the lion's white fur.

* * * * * * *

The glistening sun in the sky, the scent of fresh April dew on the grass. A motorcycle's humming disrupted the forest, it stopped in a clearing , the rider checking his safe-point for anything out of the ordinary. The darkly dressed rider uncovers his face to reveal his golden hair and grabbed a sack where white skin and slippers can be seen from the end , he gently takes off the sack from the woman and places her softly on the grass. On his way out of camp for food , Kiter hears Clair ask "Where am I?" her eyes burned by the sun's rays. "Hi, well this might be awkward but, I'm Kiter and I'm here to rescue you."

* * * * * * *

"My lord. My deepest apologies , I've failed you when you most needed me. I shall endure any form of punishment you wish to bestow upon me," his red eyes gleaming in the sunlight embracing the shameful defeat , his spiked hair looked like if it were always held in place for it did not move at all. The ringleader of the Dames was seating on his brown chair with its red cushions , the room was of a royal violet color with red curtains trying to conceal the room from light as best it could , but it was no use , there wasn't a place in the world where one could hide from the sun's golden light , it ate all the darkness. The Dames had always given of a demon like vibe to the people of Drash, as if their very existence was to unleash an evil without bounds on the world. Clair's grandfather had been the ringleader now for mostly over twenty decades since he didn't want to pass down the position to his son. The ringleader's face was tan and that of a seventy year old for he was not entirely a Flux but one can only imagine what dark deeds he had done to have his life-force fueled to live as long as he had. He had a bald head and his fingers full of white gold rings which contained faces on them , one different from the other. "Don't worry Arthas. No need for that, you are after all the strongest in my court and most youthful. How could I cripple thee in such a time?" indicated Thane , his tone full of anger, his tongue lashed out a few words from his demonic language , choosing his words wisely he began to speak once more, "Arthas, first in command of my court , take Leartes with you and bring back Clair. She must be retrieved before a month from today. Go now!"

"Yes my lord as you wish," responded Arthas as he dashed out of the room heading towards Leartes quarters on the first floor right under Clair's room. Thane relaxed a bit and traced his skull with a boney finger , he moved towards the back of of his high-chair where a book-shelf was. The shelf contained nearly two dozen books on each of its rows, Thane stood in the middle and pressed a book in, the book's golden spine seeped in and out came a number pad in which he dialed a code. Seconds after came a scanner with an audio box on top , after the scan was over he said into the audio-box, "Begin preparing the ritual regardless of our current situation."

* * * * * * *

The door slid open and in walked a troublesome Roy , for his old compatriot had turned against him, "You don't have to worry about him , if its someone who keeps messing up in the futures I've seen , is Kiter. Sad it all ends the same for the poor guy," Xantu interrupted Roy's thoughts. Roy reached into his pocket and grabbed a hold of the small cube which contained enough solar energy to run half of the North American continent , he knew how it felt to hold such a powerful object but he didn't like power of that magnitude to be simple to obtain , if not for Xantu's action towards Zepar he would of destroyed the thing at first glance. "So? Are you going to tell me why you had me re-charge this?" Roy asks Xantu taking a seat in the apartment's living room , the place was rather odd for it didn't contain anything at all just furniture , his bedroom only contained a mattress flat on the floor , the only thing separating him from the cold hard white tiles. The apartment was in the center of Phoenix , Arizona , of course it was very far away from where Roy conducted his meetings and where Kiter was but Xantu enjoyed watching over the city of Phoenix as if expecting company . "You see , if this current path ends up like all the others . I only have a brief moment to decide where and when will I travel to stop it all from happening. Of course the only option now is to go back in time and nearly wipe out the corporation who granted us these powers. If that is our final resolute it'll change the world we know once more as you may understand," Xantu spoke moving over to the window to look down on the city, "Are you mad? To intercept that corporation will not only erase you from being who you are but it'll send us back hundreds of years. Did you not study how that corporation developed the world's economy and united all countries through its solar and electrical engineering," announced Roy a bit ticked off. "Well you see , once you've traveled though time as much as I have you tend to leave behind all the big accomplishments civilization has made and only become concerned about vanquishing the evil at hand," Xantu replied and glanced at Roy , he moved towards a seat near Roy and looked at him straight in the eyes and said " I hope that your emotions don't get in the way of our current goal . It'll be most shameful to have to bring down or shackle someone of your knowledge and power."

"Don't worry about me , I just hope that your predictions are well planned . My apprentice and I ,will personally take over the mission and see that everything you've said comes about and Zepar gets vanquished," Roy said to Xantu and walked out of the apartment unable to take the tension between him and Xantu. Both Roy and Xantu had learned to compromise , since Xantu was the most radical of the two, but Roy felt at times as if he wasn't doing enough , clearly this was why he had told his men to back down and took over the mission personally. Xantu on the other hand stayed in his apartment watching over the city trying to figure out what else could he predict before the day was over , of course he knew that Kiter had already grabbed Clair and fled but all he could do is have Roy and his apprentice wait for the right moment to strike and kill the girl. Xantu's skin was a bit radiant but it never took away from his cold white eyes that engulfed everything , even his own reflection at times.

* * * * * * *

"So wait . You have me here hostage in a nightgown and you expect me not to be angry? Why can't you give me your pants and shirt at least to cover myself up . Have you no respect for a lady," shouted Clair to Kiter as she pointed a finger at him unveiling her bosom, Kiter turned red at the sight and looked away as best he could. "Well what do you say? I also don't buy this 'I'm trying to save you bullshit'," Clair once more announced to Kiter , the poor guy didn't know what to do with himself anymore and Alet was running late on picking them up. Kiter neared his motorcycle and grabbed from his bag a second pair of trousers , a black shirt and tossed it over to Clair , which she grabbed and changed behind a tree as best she could. "I'm sorry , really. Our situation really isn't the finest , but I do apologies for making a beautiful women such as yourself be treated in my current manner," Kiter informed Clair speaking from the other end of the tree where she was changing , to his amazement , his cloth looked painted on Clair's body and her figure could be seen from every angle as that of a fair maiden . Clair got a bit close to Kiter , looking into his eyes she spoke softly , understanding and a bit sympathetic towards her savior "Its ok , really . I'm sorry if I shouted I've been taught better." The two locked eyes upon one another and their faces began to call upon one another's lips , it could have been interpreted as love at first sight but to their inconvenience arrived Alet in the ship. "Damn little runt!" exclaimed Kiter only to be answered by Alet , "I heard that! Come on lets go I found out the location of that book of yours its only a flight away." A hanger was dropped from the ship big enough to fit in the motorcycle and strong enough to carry Kiter and Clair as well. Once upon the ship Alet went to greet them and rudely commented "I see why you had droopy eyes when I showed you the painting," and began to display a broad smile , which irritated Kiter a bit but the boy was right.

* * * * * * *

Arthas was red with shame , the look in Thane's eyes still vivid in his mind. He couldn't help but to wonder how did he let his best friend Clair get kidnapped , he began to swear on how much he'll get that intruder back . Once he approached Leartes' room he knocked on the door once and almost instantly the man appeared , he wore black armor like Arthas , his gleaming purple hair was at shoulder's length . Leartes was six feet tall and six years older than Arthas , he seemed prepare to go on whatever trip for he had on the doorway a pack , Learters' eyes were the color of sapphire. Arthas noticed the look on Leartes eyes ,seconds after he saw the scimitar on Leartes' side the hilt had a strange face on it as to resemble a demon , Arthas saw in those cold sapphire eyes understandment and how his close allied new of the defeat . "So , where should we go ?" asked Leartes looking down upon Arthas , not a trace of any emotion on his face , his posture firm. "Well.." Arthas responded , biting back the shame , "We have to track down Clair and bring her back. That's about it." "Very well . I take it that it'll take a bit of time before _THEY_ can scry on her location," responded Leartes indicating that _THEY_ , Thane's dark arts members could track Clair. It was an odd ritual in which the dark arts members sacrificed an eagle to find people all over the world, of course they couldn't rely on their guardians power since they had offer them to a darker being , but their dark books showed other means. The mansion was dead, all around not a sound was made , not even the lose board creaked nor did a single door be slammed. The place would hold banquets every year celebrating birthdays and so forth but nature seemed to resent it for not even the tiniest shrub flourished more than a hundred feet near the grounds. The fiendish humming commenced once more deep inside the mansion's basement.

Ch.3

The screen once more projected several images and data . Alet had done his research well like always , the _DEMON BOOK OF LIGHT_ was back in Japan , he carefully weaved a timeline back to when the book was first created several years before the drastic human evolution. Kiter wondered if those scientist knew about it and could it have been used to create the objects. No one really had much data on the corporation that changed the face of the world , it was odd and for a century or more , Roy was the only one who seemed to know the most facts. Kiter couldn't help but to ask , "Can you see if it ever crossed paths with Caleb Palace?" seconds after Ryu's father came on the screen , he appeared human like a family man . Short black hair and dark brown eyes his glasses were circular , Caleb had a soft smile and a book on his side . The books spine was black with velvet letters , making it look like the twin of the image they saw of the _DEMON BOOK OF LIGHT ._ It all clicked inside Kiter's head , how could he of had not researched his history all the way back to the founders of the guardians. Caleb was said to be a demonologist who worked for a corporation , along with three scientists who also had to do with dark creatures. Kiter took a step back his eyes twitched , Clair asked "Are you ok."

* * * * * * *

It had taken the dark art's members a bit over a week and three days to finally be able to spot the intruder's vessel in the forest of Kashima Jingo , Japan . Leartes had gone after the intruder into a shrine three miles away . It became clear to Arthas that he was being expected for a mere child was standing waiting on something on the vessel's drawbridge , he was completely wide open for any attacks. He scurried around the oak trees as much as he could to grab a close look of the lad , his mane was violet and eyes red as blood . Arthas felt like he was being made fun of since Leartes was sent to take on Arthas' previous opponent ,which he did failed to defeat , was Thane worrying about his lack of completion , it was the only objective he failed to complete . Arthas asked himself what was he to do against a strong opponent especially one who produces light and can obliterate Arthas only on his first phase . He wasn't going to take this mere child lightly , that was one thing he learned from the intruder , to never underestimate someone until you know the full extent of they're power. Arthas stepped forward , the boy remained calm , Arthas' black armor glistened in the moonlight and it clanked as he walked forward . "So you're Arthas ?" Alet asked , Arthas shocked at the lad's knowledge he nodded and replied " And who might you be?" "I'm Alet . Am here to inform you that Clair doesn't want to go back with you ." Arthas looked at Alet furious thinking what had they done to her to make her make such a rash decision , that could be his opponent's power , the child could mind control people . Alet began to walk forward towards Arthas and then said out-loud , his voice a bit skeptical since he wasn't used to combat unless it was training with Kiter , "Oda Nobunaga" a man in black plated armor appeared next to Alet , his sword was a light shade of purple on the sharp side , his hair was held back in a bun , his Japanese features stood out among all things , the hilt of the sword was wrapped in a purple velvet fabric . "Shall we merge my lord?" asked Oda to Alet to receive a brief response in which the samurai disappeared and Alet became incased in his black armor with purple dragons outlined on the breast plate , he now had Oda's sword and most important of all his face plate resembled that of a dragon's . Arthas took a step back and did the same , he too summoned his guardian Eligos . Without saying further instructions Arthas was wrapped in a black armor with jagged wings sticking out form his back , a black plated helm only displaying his face and on his hand stood a spear with a jagged sword tip and the hilt had a sharp end , as if to stab anyone from behind instantly. It was remarkable the way Arthas resembled a black night in the dark glooming forest ,he didn't need to actually speak out loud, it seemed he could connect with his guardian by just thoughts. Arthas was on a much higher level than Alet and it could be seen by the way he simply twirled his spear in the air at a hypersonic pace , it made the hairs in the back of Alet's neck nearly stand on end , especially when Arthas' cold thirsty power began to reach towards him. Alet appeared in back of Arthas and tried to stab him from behind but missed and his sword was deflected by Arthas' hilt , he then sprang back and the out of his sword came a purple liquid which he tossed at Arthas, who then twirled his spear rapidly once more and the liquid became vaporized into the air , it was then sucked in by the trees and bushes near them. The tall looming oak became sort of pale , its trunk was caving in and the entire tree was losing its leaves , Arthas released a smirk as to be amazed by such a trick , he looked towards Alet only to find the sword drenched in the purple ooze , "Nice attack, but unless you have something stronger , you won't defeat me," shouted Arthas to his enemy , his voice full of contentment and arrogance. "Well if you like that attack you will mostly like my next one . Scatter dragons!" Alet announced ,the two became wrapped in a purple fog which then became solid as if in a different dimension .Arthas looked around and he could not see the vessel anymore nor any of the trees . Arthas blinked, from behind him came Alet's sword scrapping his armor a bit then once more disappeared into the purple fog ,Arthas stood on his guard has best he could , he then tried to break the fog with his power but it was no use. A purple being stood in front of him in mid air , its sword pointed at Arthas' heart , once more he blinked and he didn't see Alet anymore , the fog was seeping into his mind clouding his every thought , crap he thought to himself , he can't let a messily attack like this get the best of him. "Got ya!" said Alet from above Arthas stabbing his left arm from a top of him and once more disappearing into the fog , he then once more came back from behind and did the same to his other arm and his right leg. Arthas was in shock by all this , he couldn't move an inch of his body anymore , was the purple liquid in his veins , he asked himself . Alet appeared once more in front of Arthas at spears length and said "Am sorry but , the power of Oda Nobunaga is to fill his opponent's mind with dread and with his sword paralyze the wounds he makes. Now for the final attack. You should of had listened to me !" Alet began to glow once more his dragon face plate seemed to come out on its own and charge Arthas with Alet trailing behind the dragon and his sword aiming towards his opponent's heart. Arthas' eyes stored terror , horror , how could he lose , no he wouldn't let this boy kill him no , once the dragon's head and Alet's sword was within reach he sprang to the side and said "Eligos meteor!" The sky became black , Alet's sword stabbed only a rib and was thrown back by Arthas' vast power , black rocks of meteors began to fall on the ground , Alet rushed to put distance in between himself and Arthas but was too late as a meteor crashed near him distracting his gaze and out from behind came Arthas with his spear's jagged end stabbing Alet in the back. "You will not make a fool of me! Eligos howl!" Arthas said , form his sword's tip came a screech that no bird nor animal could stand and blasted through the poor boy's

body. "No! Stop it!" the voice of Clair came from behind the two warriors , she was crying , tears already streaming down her cheek , a sigh of relief engulfed Arthas , his wounds didn't seem to bother him now. "I'm here to rescue you Clair , let me finish this lad of once and for all and I'll take you back," Arthas said but to his amazement Clair had taken Alet into her own arms and was guarding him , she directed an argument towards Arthas in a sobbing voice that not even the most vicious of animals could resist , it could be noted in that one moment Arthas' awful actions towards a young boy "I'll go with you , if you leave him alone!"

* * * * * * *

The candle lit temple flickered as if the flames were nearly about to die , Kiter entered the ruined temple and shouted a hello that was heard throughout the building , Alet's report had told him that if he was to find the book he needed to find the Triads. The temple clearing was built from the same oak trees that surrounded it making it blend in a bit , the clearing in the center was a bridge over a little lake which contain a wild variety of fish , there was also a tall tree which had branches that covered most of the clearing . Kiter looked around but found no trace of the Triads , the monks who protected the forest seemed to be all gone , "Who are you?" a voice seemed to come from ahead of Kiter , but he couldn't see in fact if it wasn't for the bit of light the candles granted him , he would trip on every single pebble the ground contained, "I'm Kiter. I have a small request that I must ask of you."

"We know why you are here Kiter . Xantu informed us many moons ago about you . But he did say , you had good intentions. What is it Kiter that is lurking in your heart? Tell me the truth and you shall be rewarded you have two tries," the voice said , Kiter began to ask himself , what could this man know about him and how, "I just want to save a life , that's all," Kiter answered . An arrow went right towards him missing his head by a few inches "I said to tell me the truth . Next one , will not miss," the voice indicated. Kiter sensing how grave his situation was , especially the way he couldn't detect that arrow until it passed by him gulped and said "The truth sir . It is a bit complicated you see. But here it goes," Kiter paused then said "Clair reminds me of Alexis . A woman I once fell in love with. For my own actions towards Ryu , Zepar's last flux body , she left me for him and began to love him . Alexis , sir , then committed suicide once we managed to kill Zepar , thus ending the life of Ryu. And this , sir , is the real truth." The voice didn't reply and there came no more surprising arrows instead from ahead came a short bald man covered in ancient Triad robes an orange kimono with tiger paws on each side , his eyes didn't display any emotion for the man was blind. Kiter looked at the man ,he was not old at all , just maybe a few years younger than Kiter but near his time. "Come and sit with me . I have a lot to tell you , before you can take the book and am afraid we don't have much time," the man said and Kiter followed his instructions walking into the monk's chamber and closing the oak sliding door behind him , he sat on a brown pillow in front of the man. "My name is Orey , if you haven't noticed am just about ten years younger than you Kiter , I grew up wanting to be an Elite . Unfortunately some events came to pass , that dream was shot down and I went against Zepar on my own thus losing my sight." "This book will show you how to capture , summon and relinquish any demons but first let me explain how we came to be who we are today , Xantu shared this with me. The corporation that changed mankind was actually an army based business , it was looking for things that would enhance a human's abilities where the dagger and sphere came into play . The scientist who created the objects new of how dangerous it would be to pose them , those men where smart and split the most powerful of the two objects , the sphere , and hid it among themselves it wasn't until when Caleb became part of the corporation that they decided to lock all the items in secret chambers sensing his dark intents." "Thane was at the time a colleague of Caleb's and both men began to use their dark ways on the super human program which then lead to supersonic wave which changed man's DNA with just a flick of a button . The two monsters didn't stop there for Caleb then found this book and began sacrificing animals and combining the waves they had invented to enhance a soldier's performance. Then , both men were resented by the corporation since they had the power to control the soldiers themselves and make them turn on nearly anyone. The corporation tried to shut down the two by surrounding their lab with very deadly explosives but the plan had an opposite effect , instead of making the lab cave in and exploding it ,the sonic waves where transmitted via satellite and the entire world got a high dosage of these demons and enhance performance so vast some even went crazy, It didn't stop there for Caleb and Thane had opened a portal between different realms where the heart of men decided on its own which guardian they acquire . Caleb was the only one who got to leave his son with a binding that has since upset the balance of harmony which we had. Sorry now I must go and you must face your opponent," Orey ended his conversation with Kiter , stood up and headed towards the other side of the room disappearing into the dark forest leaving the book on the ground, through the oak door slid the blade of a scimitar and Kiter waited for his opponent to come in. The man stood ready to fight in his scarlet armor pointing his spear with a sword tip towards Kiter's face , "You must be the intruder who has caused us so much trouble. I'll teach you not to mess with us . Bathin howl! " Leartes said . The animals who lived near the temple all began to flee the grounds sensing a terrible feud about to take place , but to Kiter's astonishment he didn't hear anything at all , like if all the sound had left the world. "That's the power of my Bathin , he drowns all sound," said Leartes in Kiter's mind . He began to freak out by such an attack and unleashed his second phase brightening up the room , his golden wings knocking out the sliding door behind them , "So wait , no cool theme song music in the back ground? That takes the point out of a fight scene," Kiter informs Leartes and giggles a bit. Kiter clawed forward towards Leartes only to receive a hit from the spear to his left arm , it was powerful , it shattered some of Kiter's armor on impact , Kiter knew now what he was dealing with and began to accelerate at hyper speed so his enemy wouldn't get a hold of him . The gigantic Leartes unleashed his howl attack once more and took an edge out of Kiter's speed , the blast seemed to have a slow down effect as well , Kiter noticed. Great . Guess I'll have to try something else then Kiter thought to himself , "Solar-Eclipse" said Kiter from what it seemed like four different angles at once , his speed was back to its usual state ,if he stayed hovering a bit, Leartes effect seemed to only work on the ground or wherever he was standing . Leartes' spear head stabbed at Kiter from behind doing the same thing once more to his other arm , Kiter jumped back astonished by how Leartes was able to get away from the four lasts so fast and launched another attack to blind him a bit. Leartes then twirled his spear and directed the attack upwards blowing off the roof of the room in which they were. Kiter seeing how his attack was easily deflected flew out of the temple and into the forest making Leartes trail behind. Finally reaching a place he felt was good to fight in spotting enough oaks around them he then tossed another attack but was held in place by the spears point , Kiter had to grab the spear with both hands and let go of a solar-eclipse to divert the assault. Leartes stood in front of Kiter looking at him trying to figure out why this man was still stronger than him , he felt he had to use his most powerful attack once and for all to end this fight or else, Bathin , the demon feeding on him would take over. "Hmm it still seems you are amazed by how vastly different in strength we are? O well you fools still don't get that the longer you live the stronger you are?" Kiter shouted angrily with his arms shedding a bit a blood where Leartes had struck him , Leartes knew his enemy was getting irritated and said " That's it I've had it with you . Abyss beam!" Out of Leartes mouth came a black beam that stole the life out of anything that stood in its way , the trees began to wither at the sight and the bushes instantly lost their leaves , the attack seemed to take its power from all living things. "Where ever there is darkness , light shall prevail. Solar-eclipse" said Kiter using his attack to divert Leartes' and was able to get in back of him . Kiter whispered "Solar-burst" a gold beam burst through Leartes from behind engulfing his body with purity. Kiter stood there a bit longer looking at Leartes' body examining his armor a bit and his spear , "Damn demons , they shouldn't of had messed with that stuff," said Kiter grabbing his communicator and began to call Alet , but to his surprise he received no answer . A cold sweat started to ascend Kiter's neck as he started to imagine the horrors that might of happen to the kid , and all of which were his fault for believing that it was safer on the ship . "Darn it!" Kiter screamed to himself as he flew towards his vessel . As he arrived at the clearing where he had left them he saw how the oak trees were and the battle that had taken place , with a crazed eye he looked all over the clearing but didn't find Alet or Clair , it was when he had nearly given up looking for Alet that he noticed the boy on the other side of a tree facing towards the temple , a bleeding back and his cloth all torn from the battle . "Alet!" Kiter screamed as he rushed towards the boy , he cursed himself for being so careless and flew into the ship looking for a medical kit .
Ch.4

"Why must we wait? Can't we just go and attack the place?" said a soft voice a town away from Drash . "Well Danler you see , we're suppose to wait for Kiter to fail at one point and infiltrate the estate and stop Zepar from being resurrected," Roy told his apprentice , Danler , who was Seritu's son . Danler was about forty years old but compared to Roy , he was just a boy , he resembled his father except for his orange hair and the way he choose to wear an earring . Danler was Roy's shoulder length and always seemed to have a careless expression on his face opposed to his in a rush attitude. "Come on me and Agon can tear the place apart!" Danler shouted towards Roy and everyone in the bar looked at the two with a weird eye . Both men were dressed about the same except Roy had refurbished his elite jacket for some reason he still kept the thing and made one for Danler , they were to wait a week or so before they could make a proper assault on the Dames , Roy was always patient although he felt a bit at edge form his last encounter with Xantu , how could someone want to destroy something to such a length. Roy did agree with some of Xantu's methods but still felt a bit scared about being a normal human being and especially losing his Leviathan.

* * * * * * *

"Where am I?" Alet asked in a life-less voice , his body had taken a lot of damage and he was in the ship's infirmary station hooked up to some iron lung machines that was keeping him alive for now. The bed's cold color sheets crept inside him , he looked around but only was able to find where the tubes stuck inside his arms where coming from , apparently Kiter had acted before he could die and injected morphine into Alet's veins. "Hey you're up!" Kiter let out a sigh of relief since he was taking care of Alet day and night for the past three days now. "Don't move around so much , we still gotta get ya to a doctor to completely close that hole in you . I bet it's going to leave a mark that the babes will go crazy for" Kiter said to Alet in a cheerful manner trying to hide all the guilt he felt for leaving him with such a tough task, Kiter laid the events of that day over and over in his mind and it could be seen in his eyes for he wasn't sure of his next moves , all of a sudden it felt as if the world he carried around him had taken a taint of grey . Kiter didn't forgave himself one bit for his mistake and his pride was hurt deep inside , his next move was to sit along the bed of Alet promise him that and even more , to himself, it would never happen again , in which Alet responded with a careful "I know , but it's not entirely your fault Kite . Someone had to stay and I rather have the book than nothing," Kiter pat the lad on the head realizing he had done what he promised himself ages ago to never do , to have feelings for those around him. Kiter had live lonely just using Alet to get him around and even if he tried to stay away from the kid, he couldn't help it but get close to him, they had built a father, son bound in just one year. Kiter then stood up and told Alet, "Listen I'm sorry but once I drop you off at the hospital. I have to go and find Clair if it isn't too late. We still might have a chance to save her." "But Kiter..." Alet immediately said but was shushed seconds after. Kiter felt the center of his world shift just a bit, he felt as if the task still at hand was like Xantu said, a failure. He wanted to try , but what could he do if the ship would take another week to get back to Drash due to the blown engines Arthas had given them and the town was too far away for him to fly to.

* * * * * * *

"Unhand me already. I think I can walk into my own mansion on my own," erupted Clair since Arthas still kept her tied inside the ship , its black metal made it even look more fearsome , all the birds wouldn't dare to even cross it or fly next to it . "Fine," replied Arthas and let Clair out of her shackles , he looked at her in the eyes for a moment wondering if everything she had told him was true, it couldn't be Arthas told himself , the voice inside his head kept telling him Thane would never do anything like that. Clair was walking into the mansion when the guards posted at the entrance quickly ceased her and wrapped a bag over her head, "Hey what! What's the meaning of this?" Arthas demanded to know but to his surprise Thane himself was already in back of him, this time he was in a black robe nearly covering his entire body, "It's ok Arthas . I'll take it from here. She just has to be punished a bit, by the way am sorry about your comrade Leartes," Arthas was told by Thane. Thane said in a thorny tone, "Take her to the dungeon. Strip her of all her possessions and just give her food until the time is right," with that said, everything Clair had told Arthas became true and he didn't know who to trust anymore, Thane the father figure and the one who gave him what he wanted more than anything in life, power or the intruder who was trying to save Clair. Arthas' pride was crushed like a twig standing under a boulder, the vast hole of defeat was back once more but this time from his own side, it was despicable.

* * * * * * *

Xantu stared once more to the city beneath him, it looked so peaceful. "It's almost time for me to get going. Time hhhmmm what a pretty little word to describe something that has been going on forever," Xantu grabbed his coat and tossed over his shoulder while he pocketed the object Roy had given him , "What is one to do when he has nothing but time , especially when he can fast forward or rewind."

Ch.5

"Hey stop right there" the mansion's guard's yelled only to be hit by a blue claw from Roy. One could be aware of Roy's attitude towards the mission, he was already in his final form, Danler took note of this and he carried Agon's hammer in between his hands , his silver plated helm and armor made him look like a titan . Danler twisted his hammer and slammed it on the heads of the incoming guards, he told Roy "Yo! Let's get moving in before we're too late. I think the ceremony will be done at the bottom of the mansion." "Yeah I know. These fools don't know what they are protecting!" Roy exclaimed back towards Danler as a figured soared through the sky towards them. "Hey! Glad you can make it!" Roy shouted to Kiter as he approached, grabbing a guard by the back and slicing him. "O shut up. You knew all this was going to happen, you could have had at least send your apprentice to help Alet," responded Kiter full of sorrow sensing that Alet's life might be at an end. The three united and began to break through the mansion's door only to be interrupted by a black plated armor man , he was standing in between them and the entrance , the guy in his hand had a two hander axe, a bulls face plate with horns he wore, his eyes glowed red. "You guys go along. I'll stay here at the petting zoo for a bit," Danler said to Roy and Kiter and charged the man with his hammer it wasn't until moments after that he said "Lighting bolt" and a massive white lighting shoot out towards the man making him fly off towards the inside of the mansion . Kiter and Roy sensing the gravity of the situation ran past the minotaur as fast as they could. It wasn't until Kiter and Roy where out of range that the man picked himself up , he then glared at Danler and said "You fool , you don't know what you've gotten yourself into!" Danler's hammer clashed with the minotaur's axe and both were sent back , after three times of the same thing happening the minotaur said "Minotaur stomp" and stomped the floor making a crack in the earth heading towards Danler . Danler threw another bolt of lightning at the earthquake in front of him and quickly flew to one side of the steps, "I see you're not going to make this easy," Danler mentioned to a smirking minotaur. Danler tried to gain a bit of speed so that the beast trailing behind him wouldn't expect his next attack but, both men were equal in speed he had no other choice but to use the environment around him to make a plan that would work, the minotaur charged him at full speed inches away from him he directed another lightning bolt towards him but couldn't help but to get caught up in the pushback of his own attack. Danler was tiered; his muscles began to ach from swinging his hammer, only a thought rang in his mind, hey if my father knew about this he would be dishonored that his own kin lost in such a way. The minotaur said a few words at Danler his nostrils flaring feeling the pressure of the battle as well, "Ha! Didn't I told you . I'll have fun now when I get to rip your limbs apart and use you as a sacrifice for my demon." The minotaur's voice crept inside Danler he looked into his glowing red eyes and imagined a black abyss , the thought of being killed here in this place made him doubt himself . Danler had to do it , he felt compelled to using his powerful attacks at the beginning but it was time , Roy had always warned him that he shouldn't ever hold back in deadly combat and here he was he holding back this entire time only using about a third of his power. "All right, you want me? Come and get me!" Danler shouted his eyes now displayed his anger , he regretted not treating this fight seriously and it made him think they would lose the battle because of him , he couldn't go back home with that shame burning deep within him , what would he tell his own father , Danler thought to himself. The minotaur rushed towards him and said "Charge!" thus disappearing form view and reappeared a few inches behind Danler nearly thrashing him, the axe's blade lade on his hands and held it in front of him.

The minotaur's attacked seemed to be able to crush boulders, but Danler was not fooling around anymore he immediately surrounded himself with lightning bolts making the clouds above him swirl. The minotaur seeing such concentration and momentum charged once more but his attack this time was deflected by the bolts of lightning surrounding Danler now, but he kept at it and on his third try he saw a crack in the shield but moments later Danler himself broke out fully recovered and charged. Danler looked at the minotaur, such a pitiful fool, "Heavens from above grant me your might. Thunderstorm!" The clouds over the two men began to make a crackling noise and then a massive bolt of thunder came crashing down on the minotaur but he used his charge ability to escape the attack once and then twice, Danler sensing how much power he was losing knew that the only way he could actually hit him was to cripple him, so it was on the second bolt that he appeared in back of the minotaur striking his ankles with his fearsome hammer. The third and last massive thunder bolt came and the minotaur laid in place kneeling unable to move, Danler watched the black armor disappearing and so did those red glowing eyes.

* * * * * * *

"Hey stop right there!" the inner guards of the mansion screamed to Roy and Kiter but to their astonishment they were powerless against these two. The two men moved quickly through the manor, without hesitating, they had to stop the ritual and kill Thane. A sight of relief engulfed each of them once they finally grabbed a guard that told them how to get into the manor's basement. It didn't take them very long to get to the basement, in fact all that separated them was a door , "I want you to stop the ritual and maybe save Clair if you can," Roy said to Kiter and then voiced "I'll take care of Thane," Kiter's replied with a nod and looked straight at Roy's eyes and said "Good luck to us brother , I guess that's what I've gotten to look at you as . This isn't the first time we fight to maintain world peace. But let's make it the last," and with that said both men opened the room to find thirteen men in black robes and only one standing away from the circle where Clair was inside. Clair was on top of a table with only a white shroud, she was sleeping peacefully, the men surrounding her just standing there, the ritual was over and were waiting for the Dark King to regain conciseness inside this new body."You swine!" Yelled Kiter rushing towards the acolytes killing each and everyone with a quick claw through their ribs. Roy stood at the door looking for a fast way to get out of the place if need be , but the roof was two stories high on top of them and the walls seemed to be built of a strong material to keep the sound in and most of all hold attacks. The few candles that were lit inside the room gave it a dark tone , and it wasn't for seconds after that Thane took of his hood revealing his gruesome face , "You are too late gentlemen!" he told Kiter and Roy. Roy charged the old man but it seemed that under his thin shrouded body was a silver armor in which his body was incased, he only managed to take of the old man's shroud and there it was in one hand a silver gauntlet and in the other a gold one. Thane seemed to be composed of two guardians it appeared for the rest of his armor was silver and gold, "This is the power of the demons young man. I haven't had a chance to use this Armorth before, but thanks to you I'll get to test my power," Thane roared and his wicked laughter soon was heard throughout the entire room. Kiter lay in front of Clair, running his hand through her face admiring such beauty, but most of all he couldn't help it but blame himself he had failed Alet and now Clair, tears of sorrow began to run down his cheek. Kiter began to sob now feeling a defeat like no other, now all he had to do was wait and attempt to use the book on Zepar so that Clair would return to her body. Roy began to fight with Thane both men didn't know where to start each could sense the others vast power, but only one knew that his power was artificial and that he had to hurry up before the demons he'd bind to took over his body. "You think I don't know that? I know how you demon binders work, your power runs on time!" Roy answered breaking the momentum building between the two and Thane's surprised face answered Roy's thoughts. "I guess that the rumors I've heard about you are true. You do study an enemy down to its roots," Thane said releasing a smirk and attacked Roy head on. The two men grabbed each other's hand and tried to twist one another's arm but it was no use they were equally powered, Roy new that he couldn't lose to this demon binder so he began to use his actual attacks on Thane. "Rise Leviathan," Roy states and the huge dragon appears in a mist cloud and attacks Thane like a snake, the attack seemed to of had been a direct hit but once the mist began to clear Thane was wrapped in a black cocoon. Thane rushed Roy on the spot and was able to knock the wind out of him in a single punch, he stood in back of a kneeling Roy and said "My power can be limited; I might not have your special abilities. Who needs it when you have power?" Roy felt terror building inside his stomach , the thought of his Leviathan losing was unremarkable really ,he had to go all out of he even wanted to defeat Thane and most of all he couldn't be scared of dying.

Ch.6

Clair's eyes began to open, it wasn't her, it was Zepar and he was resurrected and wanted revenge more than ever on those who vanquished him years ago and what a treat it was he thought to himself to have those same men in the room in which he was reborn in. Zepar began to change Clair's body in seconds and best of all his armor began to incase the once woman body. Kiter stepped back from the table where Zepar was getting ready and directed a solar burst towards the demon to stop him , Zepar deflected the attack and appeared in back of Kiter, his cold voice making Kiter's hairs stand on ends , "How nice . You came to welcome me."

* * * * * * *

Thane felt time passing by too fast for his own accord and his moves began to get sloppy since his only goal was to obtain a quick victory. Roy's blows began to come crashing in on Thane he unleashed a Leviathan garrote crushing the old man's lungs and ribs , Thane instantly shocked the attack of and managed once more to put a dent in Roy's armor . Roy and Thane stood on each side of the room looking at one another, it was when Roy decided to finish it and Thane's eyes approved of it. "Tidal Wave!" screamed Roy a huge water like beam went racing towards Thane but he countered with his own black force , Roy and Thane were equally matched , the two beams didn't move, instead the two attacks kept crashing into one another and neither of the two seemed to let go. Moments later Arthas appeared behind Roy and whispered in his ear "I'll grab him. Please do not feel remorse for me," and with that said Arthas did as he told Roy, it was their only opportunity but Roy did feel sorrow for the poor man who was sacrificing himself , "Now do it!" Thane shot Arthas from behind using every ounce of power in his body to cripple Thane. Roy's tidal wave attack came towards the two with a vast speed obliterating the two men on the spot making a huge hole in the wall, Roy had done it , he had defeated Thane with the help of Arthas. Now for Zepar , Roy thought to himself but was too weak from his last attack and quickly collapse on the spot.

* * * * * * *

Zepar's spear pierced Kiter like a fork running though a worm. It was over, Kiter felt it in the back of his mind, he had failed everyone and most of all Xantu's fears seemed to become true. Death grabbed Kiter, he was going into the abyss, Danler's face appeared in the door way, his face red with anguish a sight of terror in his eyes. Danler voiced "Get up the two of you please!" but neither Roy nor Kiter could make a move, Roy being drained and Kiter suffering a life threatening wound. Zepar had ran his spear through Kiter's ribs then, he stopped to look into his victims eyes, "I'm going to be the last thing you see in this earth!" said Zepar. Kiter's vision became foggy and everything around him began to lose color and fade away, he had died trying to save the image of the woman he once loved and for not listening to the words of the wise he had failed. Failure the word sounding deep inside of him and he laid there on the floor still and his eyes lifeless

* * * * * * *

"Where am I?" he asked , as the white lights in front of him seemed to grow dimmer , he had died moments ago , was this where all dead Flux go after death Kiter thought to himself. "Hello Kiter , be careful once you stand," Xantu instructed , they were inside the apartment that Xantu used to watch over the city of Phoenix. "Was it all a dream?" Kiter asked his kiddy voice settling back in , he looked in a mirror his reflection was that of a fifteen year old nothing like the man he saw in his dreams. Kiter felt weird , he didn't remember the day , all he could actually remember about this current time that he had lived in this city all his life and his dieing mother was taking the groceries inside the house when this man hovering over him abducted him. "So you are Xantu? Was that a dream! Tell me!!" Kiter demanded to know; beads of sweat rolled down his face .Xantu went to the window, took a breath and said, "Listen now, young one. As you know am from the far future, the dream which you had is very true and am here to change everything for the best. Now I brought you something that you must use. You have to go to Florida and find Ryu Palace. Vanquish Zepar now before he is awaken," with that said Xantu disappeared, but before he could vanish into thin air he pointed at his desk where a book, its spine was familiar to Kiter then once more it all clicked inside his mind and every moment of the dream came into view, and with his last breath Xantu said, "The future of the world is in your hands now."

