Chapter 50

Vivien arrives at the gates of the temple to find a metallic wall had blocked the front door. As Vivien flies over the front gates to head to the Temple, she could see Darkwind and Syntax waiting in the courtyard. A sound from the street behind Vivien took her attention. She turned to see the MobilBlade in it’s tank mode, coming towards her. “There’s the traitorous monster now!” Vivien heard Mal yell. Captain Koror must have told them what had happened through their ComBlades. Vivien quickly flew to the Temple and flew up into an open window. The window was a little tight. Vivien’s skinny frame was enough to fit through. “The evil demon’s gone and fled into that temple!” yelled Mal at the controls. The MobilBlade crashes through the front gates and onto the courtyard. “Isn’t that Darkwind and Syntax?” asked Emhril as soon as he saw the horses. “HOLY GIN!” reacted Mal, “She’s going after the twins! We need to get in there!” “But the doors look to be blocked off!” said Emhril. “Load your Blade in the MobilBlade’s Cannon,” instructed Mal, “We’ll make short work of that wall.” Vivien had found herself in a room with piles of used and smelly training uniforms and several wash tubs. Vivien could smell which pile has the most blood stains on them. It did not smell as like the people who were wearing the uniforms in this pile bled to death. It smelled as if the blood came from minor injuries. Vivien found the door and quietly exited into a long hallway. There was a window that looked down into the main temple but the glass on it did not allow her to go through. She could see the twins, some one dressed like a pirate captain and a man with slicked back hair with a long chain hanging from his belt almost touching the ground. They were standing around a giant chess board with animals on it. A second look showed Vivien that Pawn, Rook and Knight were among the animals as well as mono colored versions of them. Vivien could only guess that these were the Blade Temple’s Blade Animals. She needed to get down there. She needed to get to the twins.

Outside The EarthBlade gets blasted out of the cannon with the eternity chain trailing behind it. It hits the metal wall that already has a few dents in it from other attempts. The EarthBlade falls to the cratered ground once again and the eternity chain begins to pull it back into the cannon. The doors of the MobilBlade open as Mal and Emhril step out. Emhril jumps forward and spins on his feet to swing the heavy EarthBlade around and lets go with a grunting, “I NEED TO GET IN!” before letting go. The EarthBlade hit the metal wall creating the deepest dent ever and shaking the ground around it violently enough to knock Mal, Emhril, Darkwind and Syntax off their feet and hooves. The EarthBlade falls to the ground making the crater deeper. Emhril and Mal get back up on their feet again as well as the horses. “Maybe the wall is finally giving,” said Mal. A high pitched sound strikes them. It was the sound of screeching metal. The wall bent and pulsed until it looked the way it did when Mal and Emhril arrived. “I have an idea,” said a very angry Emhril, “I’ll put my EarthBlade in the cannon and you go in and fire it over the wall. The EarthBlade will take me with it and over the wall.” “As long as one of us gets in there to help the twins,” said Mal in agreement as he turned and climbed onto Emhril’s large chair behind the cannon. Mal fell back hard into the chair that made him feel very small. The seat had taken the shape of Emhril’s backside. Emhril loaded his EarthBlade into the cannon before Mal began to crank it up to aim for the top of the wall. Emhril pulled out a good length of eternity chain before looping it around one of his feet and waist. Mal made sure that his aim was perfect and pulled the safety pin out before pulling the trigger launching the round EarthBlade into the air and over the wall. The EarthBlade stopped when the eternity chain became tight between it and Emhril’s foot. The EarthBlade began to fall straight down, behind the wall. Emhril hopes he can make the EarthBlade heavy enough to pull him up. As the EarthBlade slides down one side, the eternity chain pulls Emhril up to the top. Emhril stands up on top of the thick wall and pulls the EarthBlade up to him after he removes the chain from his waist and foot. Emhril throws it across to a balcony. The EarthBlade lands and becomes heavy enough to keep itself from moving. Emhril takes the chain again and swings down to the ground before pulling the EarthBlade down and made his way around the temple to find a door going inside.

Dark and James finds the door behind James’ horse named Reliant. “As soon as we take back control of my Blade and regroup my security team, I am going to find that vampire and personally put a stake in her black little heart,” said James as he brushed the hay aside and opened the door to reveal a four foot by four foot passage leading deep into the walls of the ship. “James. There’s no need to think so darkly about Vivien,” said DarkRaptor as they both begin to walk on their hands and knees down the passage, “We should give her a chance to defend herself.” “Defend herself?” asked James, “You said she’s a spy. Why do you of all people think she should be given a chance to defend herself?” “We don’t know her motives for her actions,” said Dark. “Her motives are simple!” said James, “She is working for this Master guy and her actions are being governed by him.” “James,” called Dark causing Koror to turn in the tight hallway, “I didn’t want to do this but I think I should let you in on my plan.” “And what plan is this?” asked James. “You have to understand, just like that woman holding your ship hostage, her master is holding this world hostage,” said Dark, “The Mysterious Master has been more than a few steps ahead of the twins even now. He must have an ability or have someone with the ability to see into the future.” “He knows what’s going to happen before it does?” asked James. “I don’t usually believe in things like that, but the course of events I heard from the twins, and the fact that the Mysterious Master was able to get his spy into their group even though they were using an inherently unpredictable means to choose their Blade Masters. You have to believe that not only will the Mysterious Master know where the SunBlade will land. He could be already there. So, if his spy isn’t successful in obtaining what the Mysterious Master needs, he will destroy the SunBlade and this world’s only hope of survival.” “Wait!” said James with his eyes wide open, “You mean you lied to us? You don’t really know who the spy is?” “I do know who the spy is,” said Dark, “I told you it was Vivien to take the twins attention as well as yours away from the real spy.” “But why?!” asked James. “I already told you,” answered Dark, “Had you or I stopped the real spy from completing the task given to them by the Mysterious Master, he would have retaliated by causing everyone’s destruction.” “So Vivien is innocent?” asked James. “Yes she is,” replied Dark, “She is not the spy.” “I think I owe her a very deep apology,” said James. “Let’s get your ship back first,” said Dark. The two begin to crawl down the tight passage again.

“Rook from King’s Bishop one to Queen one,” ordered Salem. The white rook moved from the square next to the white King to a new square. “How can you two be so silent?!” yelled Captain Crellis in frustration, “You only talked to order your moves! Others would be talking up a storm trying to communicate with each other through some keywords! How are you doing it? Are you not going to talk even to answer me?!” The twins remain silent only looking at Crellis with unblinking eyes filled with hate. “Answer me!” yelled Captain Crellis. Pawn began to chirp at Crellis, reminding him that it is his turn. “You are not humans. You two are demons, and I will bring about your end! Pawn!” ordered Captain Crellis, “From King’s Bishop six to King’s Bishop five! The Black Pawn next to the real one moved up one square. Selene, “Queen from King two to King three.” “You are so right. It’s time to use the big pieces,” said Crellis, “Queen from King seven to King’s Bishop seven!” Selene “Pawn from queen four to Queen five!” Crellis began to panic again when he saw that this move was threatening both the real Pawn and the real Knight. “Not this again! You are a real crazy bitch!” reacted Captain Crellis, “Rook from Queen eight to Queen Five!” The black Rook copy took flight and grabbed the white Pawn with it’s TalonBlades and taking it high above them to drop the Pawn. The white Pawn landed on the game board and shattered into pieces. The square under it opened up allowing what was left to fall in and a new perch raised up for the black Rook copy to land on.

Salem did not hesitate when she ordered, “Rook from Queen one to Queen five!” The two Rooks met in the air with the white Rook grabbing the black one by the wings with it’s TalonBlades and squeezing until the wings broke in two small explosions. The white Rook dropped what was left of the black one in the hole before the perch was placed there before the square closed up. The white Rook took it’s perch on the new square. “Except for the Pawns, only the real Blade Animals are left on his side,” thought Salem. “Pawn from King six to Queen five!” ordered Captain Crellis. The real Pawn gave a frightened squeak and turned his head to Crellis to make sure it was he who was supposed to move. “I said to go to Queen’s five you rat!” Pawn turned his head and gave a gulp seeing how a newly moved piece had been taken by another piece. Pawn walks over to the white Rook and looks back at Crellis. This was clearly putting Captain Crellis in a fowl mood, “Destroy that piece and take the square!” Pawn looked back at the white Rook as it looked back at him. “Do it already!” yelled Crellis as the KingBlade on his head began to glow purple again. Pawn opened his ThievesBlade’s void and took the white Rook in before closing. Pawn took the square after the perch had retracted and the square closed. Pawn was now looking around to see if there were any pieces that were about to take him. Selene, “Queen’s Knight Pawn to Queen’s Knight three.” Pawn was relieved to see a white Pawn move up and nowhere near him. “King from King’s Knight eight to King’s Rook eight,” ordered Captain Crellis. Salem, “Queen from King three to Queen’s Knight six!” Queen runs over to a black Pawn copy and pounces on it and bites it’s neck until it was dead. A hole opened and the white Queen dropped the dead black Pawn into it. “I see what you’re about to do!” yelled Crellis who was obviously taking this game very hard, “Rook from Queen’s Bishop eight to King’s Knight eight!” The real Rook flew from his perch to the new one next to the real King protecting him from a side attack from the white Queen if the twins moved it to the 8th row.

Selene, “Queen from Queen’s Knight six to Queen’s Bishop five.” This move put Pawn and Knight in danger of being taken. Captain Crellis did not give himself time to think when he ordered, “Pawn from Queen five to Queen four!” The real Pawn moved one square forward but he did not feel any safer. “He moved Pawn who could only move one space,” thought Salem. “And yet he did not think to move Knight. Knight is a more important piece and he could have moved to where the Queen could not take him,” thought Selene. “Then it’s time to bring this to an end,” thought Salem. “Yes sister. The time is right for us to make our final moves,” Selene thought back. Salem, “Knight from Queen’s Knight five to Queen six.” “Uh, Pawn from King’s Bishop five to King’s Bishop four!” yelled Captain Crellis. “Knight from Queen six to Queen’s Knight seven.” ordered Selene. Knight vanished and the Pawn is slashed to death by an invisible force. Knight lands on the perch that appears on the square. “Knight from Queen’s Bishop six to King five.” Ordered Crellis. Salem, “Queen from Queen’s Bishop five to Queen five.” Captain Crellis, “Pawn, King’s Bishop four to King’s Bishop three!” Selene, “King’s Knight Pawn to King’s Knight three.” Captain Crellis, “Knight from King five to Queen three.” “Knight is in position to take our Rook,” thought Selene. “I will move Our Rook to safety then,” thought Salem. “Rook from Queen’s Bishop one to Queen’s Bishop seven,” ordered Salem. Captain Crellis orders, “Rook from King’s Knight eight to King eight.” “Position our Knight to take Rook,” thought Salem. Selene, “Knight from Queen’s Knight seven to Queen six,” “I think it’s time to make my final moves,” said Crellis, “Rook from King eight to King one, Check!” “King from King’s Knight one to King’s Rook two,” ordered Salem. “He has the same idea to bring this game to an end as well,” thought Salem. “He is too close to the edge to continue,” thought Selene, “He wants to end the game as soon as possible now.”

“Knight from Queen three to King’s Bishop two,” ordered Crellis. The real Knight vanishes and the white Pawn who was standing on the square started to develop deep cuts all over it’s little body until it exploded in dust and stone. The square opens up allowing the leftover stone and dust to fall in and a perch pops up. Knight reappears already sitting on top of the new perch. “He is closing in on our King,” thought Salem. “Well, we have a surprise for him,” thought Selene before ordering out loud, “Knight from Queen six to King’s Bishop seven. CHECK!” The white Knight vanishes and slices up another black Pawn copy before taking it’s square. From the white Knight’s new position, he could bring down the real King. “WHAT?!” yelled Captain Crellis. “You better not lose Crellis!” yelled Stanza, “The Master needs that SaintBlade!” The twins were concentrating so much on the game, they both had completely forgotten that Stanza was standing there, however the man did not look like he would pose much of a challenge, even if he was the master of the SoothsayersBlade. That Blade would really require a natural born talent in order for it to be used in a fight. “King from King’s Rook eight to King’s Knight seven!” ordered Crellis. “Of course he had to move King,” thought Selene, “Too bad we were ready for this.” Salem smiled and ordered, “Knight from King’s Bishop seven to King’s Knight five. CHECK!” After the white Knight moved, the white Rook was clear to take King. “King from King’s Knight seven to King’s Rook six!” yelled Captain Crellis.

Christina chased Sky Arian from over the YeagerBlade and over the water to over the empty town of Koror. Zealot and Whip Arian were busy dodging each other’s whip cracking attacks. Lagan found a foe in Archer Arian who has been taking shots at each of them. It did not matter that Christina was about a hundred feet in the air and probably flying as fast as sixty or seventy miles an hour in the air chasing after Sky Arian. Archer Arian would shoot at least every third arrow into the air and has nicked Christina every time. It was Christina’s awareness of her surroundings thanks to her GullBlade being like another pair of eyes behind her that has kept her from being hit directly. All Lagan could do was to take cover behind the boarding ramp that led inside the YeagerBlade and reload her single shot musket. Lagan fires at Archer Arian again only to have the musket ball stopped by a metal arrow. It was not hard to guess what the power that Archer Arian’s StingerBlade was. The arrows that have been fired would disappear only to show up in Archer Arian’s quiver to be fired again. Behind the TidusBlade, Cold and PurpleRaptor find a way out through one of the Blade’s exhaust tubes. “We are out,” reported ColdRaptor to Dark through her wrist communicator. “Since the main engine is broken, might as well use the exposed exhaust,” replied Dark in a hushed voice, “Now get to the YeagerBlade. The other Blade Masters could be in trouble as well.”

The two Raptors climbed up onto the dock to be met with a thick crowd of panicked people. Although most of the fishing vessels and freight ships had already left, people were still standing on the dock in hopes that a new ship would come. ColdRaptor transformed into her Velociraptor mode and gave a frightening scream. The crowd parted giving the Raptors room to run. PurpleRaptor shook her Soundwave guitar dry and threw it up into the air so it could transform into a mechanical jet propelled bird allowing Purple to morph into her Velociraptor form. The two Raptors ran as fast as they could to the YeagerBlade. It did not take them long for them to see that the others did need help. ColdRaptor transformed into her humanoid mode and pulled out what looked like a revolver from inside her leg. Cold tossed the revolver to Lagan who caught it. “What is this thing?” asked Lagan although its shape suggested that it was some sort of musket. Lagan took the strange weapon and fired it to see what would happen. It fired a bullet at Archer Arian who was able to shoot it out of the air but it got closer to her. Lagan faded back to try and figure out how to reload it. A thought came to Lagan, “This almost looks like Salem’s GunBlade. It can fire multiple shots without reloading.” Lagan aimed again and fired. Archer Arian just fired at Christina again and then stopped the bullet coming to her. Lagan quickly fired again with out waiting to see if the first shot made it. Archer Arian was not ready for the new shot and is hit in her right arm. Archer Arian falls, holding her injured arm as Lagan emptied the gun into the blonde’s back, killing her. The other two Arians gave an agonizing yell. Zealot took advantage of this and made his move with the SabreBlade. The sharp tip of the Blade whipped from one side of Whip Arian to the other. Sky Arian gave another yell as she dropped to the ground. Whip Arian stood in one spot until her head nodded forward and fell off. The headless body fell to the ground soon after. Sky Arian pulls out the JumpBlade and quickly uses it just before Christina lands with both of her swords landing where Sky Arian’s head was.

Selene gave a smile and ordered, “Rook from Queen’s Bishop seven to King’s Rook seven. CHECK!” Captain Crellis went through every move he could think of but he knew it was hopeless. What if he conceded? That really is not losing. He could just use the KingBlade to make them give him the SaintBlade anyway. “Crellis!” called Stanza. “I concede!” yelled Captain Crellis. “We are sorry we had to do this Crellis,” said Salem. “But I am afraid that conceding will still mean your death,” said Selene. “Maybe, but at least I took one of your Blade Animals with me,” said Crellis, “And you are the ones who ordered his death.” “I am afraid not, Crellis,” replied Salem. A square opened and the real Bishop popped up on a platform. “You see, only Death Blades have the ability to kill with magic or by some remote means,” said Selene, “All other Blades, including the all powerful KingBlade can only kill through physical contact.” “Here is the bad news,” said Salem, “you wagered your life using the KingBlade. This has caused the KingBlade to summon someone who has a Death Blade.” Death became visible at the corner holding his ScytheBlade up high, ready to strike the unlucky loser of the game. “No.” reacted Captain Crellis, “NO! I BEG YOU!” “If only I had a collon for every person who has begged me for their life,” said Death as he closed in on Crellis. Captain Crellis tries to run but is stopped by the clamps on his feet. “I have the KingBlade! I order you to stop and kill the twins!” yelled Captain Crellis. “You made the wager and the KingBlade will not allow you to take it back after the match had been played,” said Selene. The clamps around the twins’ feet finally let go and both they and the separation wall sank back into the floor.

Vivien finds her way into the large room in time to see Death slash his ScytheBlade taking the soul of the pirate captain. The KingBlade, KaleidoscopeBlade and pouch holding the unknown book fell to the ground. Vivien sees the KingBlade falling and flies to grab it. Selene yells, “WitchBlade Tangle!” Infection vanes shoot out of Selene’s WitchBlade and capture Vivien. “No you do not, traitor,” said Salem. Death turns into his human form and runs up to the entangled Vivien. “What are you doing?!” yelled Jarody. Stanza jumps for the discarded Blades but stops just before getting his hand cut off by the passing GunBlade in it’s Death Disk Mode. “You stay where you are!” ordered Salem, “You have questions to answer.” The GunBlade was about to hit a wall to ricochet back to Salem when it is stopped in midair. The KingBlade and the KaleidoscopeBlade rise and floats to Stanza’s waiting hands. You don’t think the Master would have me here without protection,” said the greasy looking man. Force Arian steps out from behind a pillar with the GunBlade floating over her. “What?” both twins reacted in shock. “Oh, there are more of her,” said Jarody as he untangles Vivien. “Well then you should know that Vivien is a spy working for these people!” yelled Selene. Emhril comes running, huffing and puffing. A picture of a man who was about to collapse. “Emhril!” called Salem, “Attack her!” Emhril was so tired from running, he threw his EarthBlade as hard as he could at the person Salem was pointing at, but it was stopped in the air by Force Arian. Her KineticBlade, a black headband, began to glow. It was beginning to give out as the EarthBlade started to get heavier and heavier. “What are you talking about?” asked Jarody, “Vivien isn’t a spy!” “At least she’s not our spy!” yelled Stanza as he picked up the bag and put the KingBlade and the KaleidoscopeBlade in with the book that was already there.

Selene yelled, “WitchBlade Infection!” as vanes shoot out to infect Stanza. Sky Arian slices through the infection vanes and stands in front of Stanza to protect him. “All we need now is the SaintBlade,” said Stanza to Sky Arian. “Need Help Force?” asked Sky. Force Arian tossed both the EarthBlade and GunBlade aside and let them drop where they were before turning to Vivien and Jarody and quickly pushing them flat against a wall. “Now this fucking sucks!” yelled Jarody as he drops his curved dagger. “You will never get the SaintBlade!” yelled Salem as she lifted the SaintBlade up in a threatening manner. Emhril grabbed the SaintBlade out of Salem’s hand and throws it to Stanza who catches it. “There! Now give me back my wife!” yelled Emhril. She’ll be waiting for you at the island,” replied Stanza just before Sky Arian used the ReverseJumpBlade on him. Arian turned to use it again on Force Arian but the walls around Force turned into long spikes, skewering the woman. “This entire temple is a Blade called the AresBlade,” said Salem. “And the master of the AresBlade is King,” said Selene. Sky Arian used the JumpBlade on herself before she too was captured. “Explain yourself, Emhril!” yelled Salem. “Girls!!” yelled Jarody. Vivien and Jarody were still being pushed up against the wall, and the pressure against them was growing. “WitchBlade Infection Vanes!” yelled Selene. The Infection Vanes wrap around the black metal headband on Force Arian’s head and pulled it off. Jarody and Vivien fell to the floor. “That is why all of your Blades are black,” said Selene taking a close look at Force Arian’s KineticBlade, “You poor thing. You made Death Blades.” “And with every Death Blade she made, she split herself in both body and mind,” said Salem. “That is the only explanation why there is more than one of them.”

Jarody picks Emhril up by his shirt, “What I want to know is why did they think my sex pet was a spy and what reason did you have to give them the SaintBlade.” “They have my wife!” yelped Emhril. “The dead one?” asked Selene. “Yes,” answered Emhril, “Haiku’s mother. Stanza and a bunch of pirates took her away one night to get me to deal with him. Stanza stayed at the Bill’s Miller until you arrived. They told me that you would choose me as a Blade Master and I were to travel with you until I could take the real SaintBlade from you. If I did that, then they’ll return Shiori to me!” “But how can they return your bitch to you when you are dead?” asked Jarody pulling up his dagger. “No Jarody!” demanded Selene, “We still need him!” “And anyway, he was being manipulated against his will,” said Salem. “You will have a few things to answer for later, Emhril,” said Selene, “So you are not out of any trouble yet.” “Sorry we thought you were a spy, Vivien,” said Salem. The small group heard weak laughing and turned to the remaining Arian. “So you figured it all out,” said the dieing blonde, “You will be too late and the Master will get the power he seeks.” “What power is it?” asked Selene. Her question went unanswered for this Arian was now dead. Pawn returned to Salem’s shoulders as the twins looked up at the sun as it begins to fall from the sky.

Dark and James climb up a skinny ladder to go through a trapdoor under a carpet in James’ Captain’s office. The doorway was almost too small for DarkRaptor’s large muscular body but she was able to push her way through. James checked his desk for his musket. Dark put her ear to the door. Dark remembered what the main Bridge looked like. From what she could hear through the door, Dark knew that there were five of them. One of them were sitting at the helm, one walking around the Captain’s chair, three more walking on the upper deck between the security controls and the main engineering panel. James pulls out his musket. “You stay in the office James,” said Dark. “This is my ship!” began James. “You will get hurt,” said Dark. “I know how to fight,” said James. “I don’t mean that they will hurt you. I will hurt you,” said Dark, “I am going into the bridge and I am not going to hold back. I will kill anything living in that bridge and I will not stop to see if you are a friend or an enemy. Understand?” “What about Commander Ajax and the Ensign that was with him?” asked James. “From what I hear through this door, they are knocked out or already dead,” said Dark before turning to the door, “As long as they stay down and lay completely still, they will be safe.” Dark waits until she hears one of the five in the main bridge come close to the door before opening it and tackling Silent Arian. Trance Arian turned and pulled out her black WatchBlade. Electro Arian pulls her VoltBlade sais out of the control panel cutting off all but the emergency lights. DarkRaptor spins Silent Arian around and tosses the blonde into Katana Arian who was about to attack with her two PolarizeBlade katana swords. Spike Arian’s SpinalBlade armor activates as she runs to the large black haired woman. DarkRaptor vaults over the control panel to land on the main floor of the bridge and drop kicks Trance Arian into the captain’s chair.

The lift door opens and five more Arians enter. “Ten of you,” says DarkRaptor, “Still doesn’t seem fair for you.” The room was very dark but Dark’s visor made the room look as if it were in direct sunlight. Rock Arian jumps into the air as her StoneBlade pendant activates turning her into a moving stone statue of herself. Dark moves out of the way in time as Rock Arian lands on the metal floor and denting it. Dark ducks in time to avoid an attack from Katana Arian. Dark grabs Katana’s leg and uses the woman as a weapon to knock both Logistic Arian and White Arian over the handrail and onto the main floor of the bridge. Blur Arian uses her QuickBlade boots to run up to DarkRaptor and trips her. Dark, who was still holding onto Katana Arian, hits Blur Arian over the head with her sister and the two fall unconscious to the floor as Dark grabs the handrail and pulls herself over to the main floor and lands on her feet on top of White Arian and Logistic Arian. Rock Arian waves a rock covered arm to try and clothesline the large woman but Dark just grabs the arm and tosses Rock Arian over her head to land in an odd position into a control panel. As Rock Arian waves her arms and legs around like an overturned turtle trying to get back up again, Electro Arian fires a bolt of electricity to DarkRaptor. Dark grabs the handrail and pulls it up into the path of the electric bolt. The Bolt hits the handrail and flows safely into the floor. Dark pulls the handrail completely from the rest of the rail and throws the heavy piece of metal to Electro Arian knocking her off her feet.

Dark turns and sees Trance Arian swinging her WatchBlade not far from her eyes. “Your legs are stone” said Trance Arian. Dark quickly back arms Trance Arian in the face and tries to turn again. Dark’s legs don’t move at all. Dark was stuck in the middle of the room as the ten Arians starts to regroup. Spike Arian’s armored spikes were stuck in a wall so she deactivated her Blade to free herself. Rock Arian deactivates her StoneBlade pendant and is able to pull herself out of the control panel. Logistic Arian and White Arian stand up again to join the eight others circling around DarkRaptor and moving in. “We have you now,” said Trance Arian. Dark looked around the room and remembered an old move that could help her. Dark sucked in all the air she could and gave out an ear splitting Raptor scream. All ten Arians covered their ears. “Just wait for her to run out of breath,” thought Trance Arian, “As soon as she stops, we will capture her.” The other Arians agreed and stood their ground. The glass on the view screen began to crack and fall apart. The same thing happened with all the Mirror Blade view screens all around the room. The glass of the view screen on the ceiling began the crack. This is what Dark Wanted as she poured on the power in her scream. The glass crumbled and sharp dagger like shards began to fall on them all. Dark kept on holding her scream as she used her fists to knock away the larger pieces of falling glass but she was still getting cut up by smaller pieces. The Arian were caught by surprise by the attack and were too late to prevent themselves from becoming pincushions for the large glass shards. Spike Arian tries to activate her SpinalBlade armor but Dark hits a large shard that was about to hit her and it flies right into Spike Arian face, killing her.

Dark’s legs return to normal as DarkRaptor catches her breath, her body cut up by the smaller shards of falling glass. Around Dark were ten very dead look-a-like blondes with large pieces of glass sticking out of them from their back to the top of their heads. Dark moves across the glass covered floor back to the captain’s office to check on James. Dark gives a thought and steps aside as she opens the door. A single musket ball flies out. “It’s me James,” said Dark. James comes up from behind his desk. “Are you alright?” he asked as he moved over to the door. “I could use a few band-aids,” joked Dark. “What happened to my bridge?!” yelled James as soon as he saw the devastation that was caused by the fight. “You’re going to have to find more glass,” said Dark. James looks around then a long sword bursts out of his chest. Dark turns and catches James as he falls forward. Sky Arian pulls the JumpBlade sword out of James Koror’s back and uses it to vanish. Dark falls to her knees cradling the dieing man in her arms. Dark gives another roar. “You missed one,” said James in a weak voice. “That one will be the next one I kill,” said DarkRaptor. “Not if I kill you first,” said Sky Arian behind Dark before using the sword’s hilt to knock the large woman out. Tears fall from Sky Arian’s eyes, still feeling the pain of the death of her sisters, “You muscle bound fool. All of this was just to capture you. You didn’t have to kill my sisters.” Sky Arian attached the ReverseBlade to the JumpBlade and sent DarkRaptor away with a single swipe. James watched as the blonde woman put the ReverseBlade back into her pocket and used the JumpBlade to vanish.

The MobilBlade arrives at the dock next to the YeagerBlade. “Selene!” called Zealot, “Where have you been?” “We had a game of chess to play,” answered Selene. Zealot sees Jarody step out of the MobilBlade. “And you, you asshole!” Yelled Zealot, “Where did you go? We needed you!” “Hey, Puff the Masturbation Dragon!” answered Jarody, “I was summoned! I had no choice in the matter!” Zealot turned back to Selene, “With the help of Cold and PurpleRaptor, we were able to kill the women who attacked us, but!” “What is wrong?” asked Salem. “They all look like that woman that was killed back at the Raptor valley.” “We ran into two more of them back at the Blade Temple,” said Selene. “The TidusBlade,” said Salem with a shocked look on her face. Selene pulled out her ComBlade, “Captain Koror.” Salem pulled out her ComBlade and called Koror. ColdRaptor stopped showing Lagan how to reload the revolver and activated her RPG, “Cold to Dark, your twenty please.” A loud sound started to come from Cold’s RPG and a red light flashed. “We must get back to the TidusBlade,” said Cold to Purple before running off down the dock leaving Purple and the others behind. “Wait! What happened?” called Salem after the running ColdRaptor. Purple begins to sign, “The alarm means that the vital signs being detected by Dark’s RPG show that she has been knocked unconscious and may need help.” “Quick Blade Masters, to the TidusBlade,” ordered Selene. The group left the YeagerBlade as quick as possible.

ColdRaptor arrived at the TidusBlade and began to scan the body of the giant ship for a way inside. Selene was running as fast as she could with the others as Mal followed them in the MobilBlade. Christina and Vivien both took to the air and were the next to arrive at the TidusBlade to see Cold jump into the water. Jarody appeared out of nowhere behind Vivien and he gave her a hug. The others get to the ship. Salem was panting when she said, “Can you not wait to show affection for Vivien?” “No I cannot,” said Jarody, mocking Salem. Selene looked at the large ship and said “We need to!” Selene’s ComBlade began to ring. Selene pulled it out of her pocket and answered it. “Selene,” called Ajax, “get to the bridge now and bring that little girl with the spider.” “We are stuck outside,” answered Selene. “I’ll have a port door emergency open. IT will blow off real fast so stand away from the TidusBlade,” said Ajax. “Understood.” answered Selene. The group began to step back when a door near the back of the TidusBlade blew off and went flying in a high arc to land on the roof of a nearby building with a heavy ring. The Blade Masters ran to the back of the shop and jumped through the open porthole. Salem pulled out her ComBlade and dialed 474. Haiku was in the infirmary helping Legs with the injured engineers who suffered a few burns from the exploding main engine. Haiku pulled out her ringing ComBlade, “Yes?” “We need you in the main bridge right away,” ordered Salem. “I’ll be right there!” yelled an excited Haiku and she ran out of the infirmary with the HealthBlade running after her before it jumped and attached to her back.

The Blade Masters and Lagan run through the tight corridors and jumped through the hatchways. It was not long until they ran into Lieutenant Commander John Koror. “We are trying to get to the bridge,” said Selene. “So am I, I was called there,” said John. The group squeezed into a lift with no more room for Christina, Lagan, and Emhril. “Take the next one!” ordered Selene as the doors closed.” Ajax helped James to his captain’s chair. Ajax brushes the broken glass from the chair and rests James onto it. “We need to get you to the Medical wing,” said Ajax. “No. My place now is here,” said a weak James. The lift doors opened and Haiku jumps out. The HealthBlade jumps off of the little girl’s back to fly over the security control panel to land on the back of the captain’s chair. The seven year old girl runs around the top level of the bridge, around a few of the dead Arians, to the nearest stairs leading down to the main floor and to the captain. “There is a great loss of blood and major organs have been sliced open beyond repair,” said the small child. The lift door opens again. James and the Blade Masters almost fall out as they exit into the room. “Father!” yelled John as he made the same jump over the security control the HealthBlade made before but landed on one of the arms of a dead Arian, in front of his father. James opened a small door in his armrest, “TidusBlade command,” he said in a very weak voice, “I, James Tidus Koror, hereby transfer Mastership to my eldest son, John Koror.” “But father,” said John as he fell to his knees in front of his father. The loud booming voice of Tidus, Caretaker of the Sea said, “Does John Koror take responsibility of all the benefits and drawbacks as the Master of my Blade?” John could not speak. He was not thinking about what was going on, his mind was on his father. He did not want his father to die and wanted to do what it took to keep him alive. He did not want to do this now. “Tidus is waiting for your answer son,” said James, “Do me proud and watch over everyone on this ship.” “Yes,” said John, “YES I WILL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!” “My Blade will now recognize you, John. Master of the TidusBlade,” said the giant voice of Tidus. James smiles as he takes his son’s hand, “We made quite a mess he!” James slips away and falls into his son’s arms. “Holy crap!” yelled Jarody, “How many of these bitches are there?” Everyone else stayed quiet as John picks up his father from the chair and carries him through the lift doors just before they closed behind him.

The twins did not have to wait long for their captor to show himself. He walked down the grand stairway that led up to the living quarters. The man was dressed like a typical pirate captain except for the KingBlade around the top of his head. “Greetings, Legendary Gemini Twin HexBlade Masters,” said the man as he approached them from the other side of the large checkered platform, “I am Captain Crellis.” He takes a good look at the two women at the other side, “You two look very young for women who are over four thousand years old.” “What is the meaning of this?!” yelled Salem. “What have you done to the Blade Animals?” asked Selene. “This is just a little trick I can do with my KaleidoscopeBlade. We can’t have a friendly game of chess with only one of each piece,” said Crellis as he steps up to his side. The floor under him opens as clamps emerged and clamped around his feet, locking him down as well. “You see, Ladies. I am willing to bet my life on this game as well. So here are the terms,” said Crellis, “I will bet my life, The KingBlade, and this book my Master wants from your secret library.” Captain Crellis puts his hand in a small bag that was at his side and pulls out a small black hardbound book with paper sticking out from two pages. It was obviously a marker, holding a place of the information in the book that the Mysterious Master needed. The twins could not see what book Crellis had taken from their private library. They themselves had not been in their own library for about a thousand years. “As for your side of the wager, Not only will your lives be on the line but you will put up the SaintBlade. The real SaintBlade, not that poor copy that was here before.” “Is that all?” asked Selene. “And the secret that Terra gave you,” said Captain Crellis. “That secret? We have told almost everyone about it. Even your spy should have told you!” yelled Salem. “Not the wish you have to reinforce in the name of the Caretakers. I’m talking about the thing she gave you. A thing Stanza couldn’t see with his SoothsayersBlade,” said Crellis. The twins looked at each other. “You weren’t supposed to tell them that!” yelled Stanza as he stepped out from behind a stone pillar, “They were never to know about me!” “So that’s how your Master’s been doing it,” said Salem. “He’s been predicting what had been happening all this time,” said Selene. “Relax, Stanza,” said Crellis, “They’re not going to be alive much longer.” Crellis puts the book back in his bag and pulls out a very short black staff, “My KaleidoscopeBlade has made it so the winner will be freed and the loser of this game will be instantly killed.”

“What makes you think that you will win?” asked Salem. “I am Captain Crellis. I know everything. My greatest natural gifts are strategy and mathematics. This game is both,” said Crellis with a smug look on his face, “I’ve never been defeated.” “The Mysterious Master is waiting!” yelled Stanza, “Lady Slambrawn has killed the Caretaker and the SunBlade is on it’s way to the island! We need to get going!” the twins had heard what Stanza said but chose not to react to it. They knew, to let emotion take them now will mean their deaths. The focus has to be on the game. Captain Crellis takes off the bag and hands it to Stanza. “First, I think we need to get the game board in the right place,” said Crellis. The KingBlade on his head began to glow yellow and the large platform began to turn. “Hey!” yelled Salem. “To make this more interesting, I’ll be black,” said Captain Crellis, “This should give you a little obstacle in the game.” The platform comes to a stop with the black side, the side the Blade Animals are on, in front of Crellis. The white side was in front of the twins. “Before we begin,” said Captain Crellis, “please show your bets.” “Pawn, SaintBlade,” ordered Salem. Pawn did not do anything but look sadly at Salem. “So you have the SaintBlade in that obnoxious void,” said Crellis. “It will only allow the SaintBlade to exit,” said Salem. “Pawn,” called Captain Crellis with the KingBlade glowing purple, “Be a good boy, and give the twins the SaintBlade.” Pawn opened the ThievesBlade’s void and the SaintBlade flew out of it to be caught by Salem. “Great! Now take it from them and let’s get out of here!” yelled Stanza. “But they haven’t lost yet,” said Captain Crellis. “Lost? You mean you’re actually going to go through with this?” yelled Stanza. “Where is the other item?” asked Crellis. “What item?” asked Selene. “What the Caretaker gave you!” snapped Crellis. She didn’t give us anything else,” said Salem. “We will find out at the end of the game then,” said Captain Crellis, “White moves first.” Salem and Selene looked at each other then Salem turned and yelled, “King’s Pawn, ThievesBlade’s void!” The Pawn that was standing in front of the white King copy opened his mouth and the ThievesBlade’s void opened just as it would if the real Pawn were doing it. The black copies were beginning to be pulled in. Suddenly, the white Pawn exploded. Pieces of stone and dust flew everywhere and the ThievesBlade’s void closed. “We’re playing by the strict rules of Chess. Any illegal moves will result in a lost piece and turn. Lucky for you, this was only a starting move and I being a deep believer of the game will give you your piece back as well as your turn,” said Captain Crellis as he looked through his KaleidoscopeBlade and created a new white Pawn, “I trust you two will not be making the same mistake again. OH, and I almost forgot, you will be taking turns in moving your pieces. Only trouble is, you will not be allowed to talk to each other or use any fancy signals.” A wall comes up between the twins. “Again, just to make the game interesting,” said Crellis, “I believe it was your turn Salem.”

Electro Arian took her VoltBlades, two black sais, and placed them inside one of the control panels of the TidusBlade. Power quickly returns to the bridge and the screen lights up to show the dock and sea outside. “Silent Arian,” called Trance Arian, “Lock all doors and passages leading to the main bridge.” “Trance Arian, most of the crew is in the engine room,” said Spike Arian. “That won’t matter,” said Trance Arian, “They won’t be able to stop us unless they can get to the bridge.” “I found the panel with the automated repair control,” said Katana Arian. Trance Arian goes over to take a look at the panel, “Yes, that is what we need.” Trance Arian turns to Force Arian, “Take your place at the security control and lock out all panels except for the bridge.” Trance Arian turns back to Katana Arian, “Deactivate all automated repair, now.” In the main engine room of the TidusBlade, James and John were overseeing the efforts to get the main engine up and running by the time the twins return from the temple. “What?!” yelled Engineering Chief Lara Koror, James’ 31 year old baby sister. “What’s wrong Lara?” asked James. “Not only has the main engine been damaged more than ever before, but the auto repair sequence has stopped,” said Lara. They walked over to the engineering control panel to see why it has shut down and to reactivate it again. “Well that’s odd. It was simply turned off,” said Lara. “Maybe some one accidentally turned it off,” suggested James. Lara begins to restart the auto repair sequence. The panel gave an unauthorized message. “What do you mean?!” yelled Lara, “Why is this happening on my first week at Chief?” “Let me try,” said James, “You may not have been completely cleared through the system yet.” James turn six dials clearing his sister’s six digit authorization number and putting his own. Then James tries to restart the repair sequence. The panel gave an “Unauthorized” message again and shut down so no further attempts can be made. “What’s going on here?!” yelled James as he pulled out his ComBlade and called Ajax. On the bridge, a tone was coming from the unconscious Ajax. Trance Arian pulls out the small mirror that was making the noise and pushes the small bump on it that was flashing green. “Ajax, what is going on up there?” said James as he appeared in the small mirror, “Who are you?!” “I am Arian, and I am holding your Blade and everyone inside hostage,” said Trance Arian. “What?!” yelled James into his ComBlade, “What do you hope to gain?!” The blonde woman on the other side just turned off her ComBlade without further explanation. “Close and lock down all hatches, exits, and the Mirror Blade in the main cargo hold,” ordered Trance Arian.

“What should we do?” said a voice in Selene’s head. “We have an advantage,” thought Selene to herself, “He has no idea of our condition and ability to communicate like this.” “So you want to play and have him think he has an advantage over us?” thought Salem to herself. “Yes sister. Only it is not much of an advantage,” thought Selene, “We are still evenly matched. No matter what he does, it is a game where either of us can win.” “But he will be playing thinking we have to guess what the other will do,” thought Salem. “This is true,” thought Selene, “Make the first move, sister.” “King’s Pawn to King four,” ordered Salem. The white Pawn walked two spaces forward. “Excellent!” yelled Captain Crellis, “And so the game begins. Queen’s Bishop Pawn to Queen’s Bishop five.” The real Pawn, who was standing in front of the real King, watches the black pawn, which was in front of the fake Bishop, walk two spaces forward. “Now it’s your turn Selene,” reminded Crellis. “Queen’s Bishop Pawn to Queen’s Bishop three,” ordered Selene. The white pawn in front of the Bishop on the white Queen’s side moved one space forward. “Good, good. So far, by the book,” said Captain Crellis, “I guess you’ll have to go by the book in order to know what your sister is going to do next. Queen’s Pawn to Queen five.” The black fake Pawn in front of the real Queen moved forward two spaces. A lump in Salem’s throat grew as she mentally contemplated with her sister about her next move. “He thinks we are making our moves based on a basic strategy chess book. You have to do it. It’s not the real Pawn anyway,” thought Selene. “Pawn from King four to Queen five,” ordered Salem. The white Pawn in front of the White King opened the ThievesBlade’s void and sucked in the black Pawn before taking the black Pawn’s place on the white square. This move shocked the twins. “As so goes the first piece,” said Captain Crellis, “Had that been the real Pawn, I would have made the void take him in. It doesn’t matter if he has a soul. I changed the properties of the Blades. But now, it’s my turn. Queen to Queen five!” The real Queen, a black cat who is the master of the VentriloquistBlade, jumped forward and attacked the Pawn copy. The fake Pawn squeaked and squealed as Queen grabbing it by the neck and bit down until it snapped, killing it. The Pawn copy exploded in stone and dust just as before. Queen took her place on the white square where the white Pawn was before. The real Pawn was shocked at the demise of his look-a-likes.

Dark and ColdRaptor enter the engine room where James and John were talking to Lieutenant Henry and a large group of security officers. “I hear that we are being held hostage,” said Dark. “We’re going to correct that now,” said James, “Check every passage and every door. If you can’t get through, find a way around it. If there is none, then cut your way through! We must regain control of the bridge!” The security teams followed Harke and John out of the engine room as Legs came up to James and Dark, “David has reawakened and he’s doing fine,” “We just tazed him,” said Dark, “It would have been better if the right target had been tazed.” “What a day I’m having,” said James, “My long lost son gets phased!” “Tazed,” corrected Dark. “Whatever. My Blade’s main engine gets bashed in by a spy who gets away and suddenly, we are under siege,” said James, “And on top of it all, one of the suns have exploded.” “Like that hasn’t happened to me before,” said Dark. “How did power get restored to the bridge?” asked Legs. “I’m not sure about that,” answered James. “More Blades are the only answer for this,” said Dark, “Is there any secret way to the bridge?” “Only secret passage in the TidusBlade leads from my office to the stable,” said James. Dark looks at James for a while with her yellow cat like eyes. “What?” asked James. Dark looks deeper into James’ eyes. James felt as if Dark was sizing him up for her next dinner. “Wait,” James hits himself on the head, “We can access the bridge through my office! We got to get!” “Wait,” said Dark, “It’ll be better if it was just the two of us. I can take out that blonde in the bridge. You lead the way.” James and Dark ran to the stables.

“Your turn Selene,” reminded Crellis. Selene shakes her head and orders, “Queen’s Pawn to Queen four. The white Pawn in front of the white Queen moved two spaces to stand in front of the real Queen. “I must say that the book can have you do the most riskiest things with your pieces,” said Captain Crellis, “But I’m not falling for it, even though you will be killing the real thing, I’m no fool to lose my best piece. King’s Knight to King’s Bishop six.” The black fake knight takes to the air from the perch he was on and flew over the fake Pawn that was in front of him. The black square that was in front of a black Pawn on the King’s Bishop square opened and a new perch raised up as the original sank down. The fake Knight landed on the new perch. Salem did not hesitate and ordered, “King’s Knight to King’s Bishop three.” The same thing happened with their white Knight. “Still sticking to the book,” said Crellis, “Queen’s Bishop to King’s Knight four.” The black fake Bishop became a blur as he moved from his white square to a new white square, threatening to take the twins’ newly moved Knight. “Let’s see if you’ll stick with the book now,” said Captain Crellis. Selene ordered, “King’s Bishop to King two.” The white Bishop on the King’s right side jumps to take the square in front of the fake white King. “I guess you have no choice but to stick with the book,” said Crellis with a smile, “King’s Pawn to King six.” Pawn gave a frightened squeak. “You heard me,” said Captain Crellis as the KingBlade begins to glow purple again. Pawn moves up one square. Salem called out, “King’s Rook Pawn to King’s Rook three.” “Oh no, you are not going to take my Bishop,” said Crellis, “Bishop from King’s Knight four to King’s Rook five!” The fake Bishop moved back by one white square taking it out of harms way. Selene, “Castle the King!” The King took the King’s Knight one square and Rook took to the air to land on a new perch on the King’s Bishop one square. “Now that is a smart move,” said Captain Crellis, “And still by the book. Queen’s Knight to Queen’s Bishop six!” The real Knight leaves his perch to land on a new one on a white square. Of all of the Blade Animals that were on the board, Pawn was the most unsure of what was happening. He did not want to be playing this game at all. All of his copies made him feel very uncomfortable and the man giving him his orders had a potential to put him in harm’s way.

Salem called “Queen’s Bishop to King three.” The white Bishop quickly moved from his black square to a new black square on the King’s row. “I love this! War is just so expensive and you lose people who want you to be king. If I had it my way, all disputes between countries would be decided by a game of chess. In fact, that is what the Master has promised me. So welcome to the first world battle to change all of Colloquy. But then you won’t be around to see it,” said Crellis, “Pawn from Queen’s Bishop five to Queen four.” The black Pawn copy opened his ThievesBlade’s void and pulls in the white Pawn to take it’s place on the black square. Selene, “Pawn from Queen’s Bishop three to Queen four!” The white Pawn did the same thing to the black Pawn as the black Pawn did to the one before and the white Pawn took it’s place on the black square. “King’s Bishop to Queen’s Knight four,” ordered Captain Crellis. The real Bishop ran so fast, it looked as if he simply vanished from his black square and magically appeared on the new square. Salem, “Queen’s Rook Pawn to Queen’s Rook three.” The white Pawn moved into striking position to the real Bishop. “Whoa!” exclaimed Crellis whose eyes almost fell out of his head. Panic hit him and he stuttered a little as he yelped out, “Bishop from Queen’s Knight four to Queen’s Knight five, NO! Queen’s Rook five!” Bishop moved back a black square. Crellis gave out a large exhale and then began to laugh. “You surprised me. Not only did you make a move not in the book but you threatened one of your precious Blade Animals,” said Captain Crellis through his laughter, “You made me panic. Oh dear Salem. You diverted from the book, and for what? To scare me? What will your sister do now?”

The twins remained quiet to keep from being accused of cheating and losing a turn and a piece. Maybe this was a plan of his to have them do. They were not going to fall for it. But unknown to Crellis, they were in a flurry of discussion about his reaction to the move Selene made Salem do. Selene wanted to know if he would panic again. Selene called out, “Queen’s Knight to Queen’s Bishop three,” moving one of their Knights in striking position to kill the real Queen. “I see a trend,” said Captain Crellis, “First, the sister on the left makes a move off the book and puts one of your Blade Animals in danger, and now the sister on the right makes a move off the book, not that it matters to stay on it anymore anyway now, and places another Blade Animal in danger.” Crellis looks over the large game board. “I should just leave Queen where she is to see if you would actually take her,” said Captain Crellis, “But that would be making an idiot of myself. Queen from Queen five to Queen six.” Queen moved back one square. Salem, “Knight from Queen’s Bishop three to Queen’s Knight five.” “What?!” yelped Crellis, “Are you crazy bitches trying to kill my Queen?! Queen from Queen six to King seven!” “He panicked again,” thought Selene. “He does not want the Blade Animals hurt any more than we do.” thought Salem. “No, we are only shocking him with our unexpected moves. He is only protecting Queen as a good player. No Chess Master in their right mind will ever give up their queen,” thought Selene. “Knight from King’s Bishop three to King five,” ordered Selene. The white Knight landed on the new perch that appeared in the black square just in front of the real Pawn. Pawn was even more shocked at the twins’ moves, and now he felt that he was about to meet the fate of his copies.

“Now you are playing it safe. You didn’t leave much for your sister to work with,” said Captain Crellis, “Bishop from King’s Rook five to King two!” The black Bishop copy runs to the white Bishop and makes circles around it until the centrifugal force tore the white Bishop apart in a spray of stone and dust, and then took the white Bishop’s place. Salem, “Queen to King two!” A meow sound came from behind the fake Bishop causing it to turn quickly. This continued until the black Bishop was made to turn so fast, it met the same fate as the white copy. The white Queen took the white square that the Bishop was on. “Now that was unexpected,” said Captain Crellis, “It would make sense if I was playing a single opponent. But I know for sure that playing two people will lead them to a disagreement even though they are playing for a common goal. Could it be true that twins think alike? I think it’s best to be careful. Castle the King!” The King took the King’s Knight eight square and the black Rook copy took to the air to land on a new perch on the King’s Bishop eight square. Selene, “Queen’s Rook to Queen’s Bishop one” “Hmm. It just amazes me how you two can work together without any contact between each other except for the game board. I’m sure I’ll figure it out by the end of the game. But for now, I’ll just make a simple move. Queen’s Rook to Queen’s Bishop eight” “He made the same move,” thought Salem as the real Rook moved to his new square. “He is just using his turn to see what we would do next. The same reason why I moved our Rook,” thought Selene, “Let us go through with the plan, sister.” Salem, “Bishop from King three to King’s Knight five!” The white Bishop ran two squares to the new space it was ordered to. “Now we are just wasting moves. Very well,” said Crellis, “Bishop from Queen’s Rook five to Queen’s Knight six.”

The GullBlade stands on one of the large wings of the YeagerBlade, oblivious to what is going on in the sky. Christina looks up, transfixed on the horrific beauty happening before her. Jarody, Zealot and Detective Lagan, who were also waiting on the dock next to the YeagerBlade, were also frozen where they were, watching as a third blast of energy exploded from the smaller of the two suns. Jarody smiles when he looks back down to see the frowns of panicked people running from the town and start jumping onto every boat at the dock. Captain Koror has sent security officers to barricade people from trying to board the YeagerBlade. The TidusBlade was too far away from them to see what was happening there. “I knew this was going to happen, but I never thought it would look like this,” said Zealot. Kasey jumped out of the YeagerBlade and ran to one of the four lines that were securing her Blade to the dock. “What are you doing?” asked Lagan. “I’m getting us to safety!” yelled back Kasey as she began to untie the line, “Quick! Get in!” Zealot grabbed Kasey’s arm and pulled her away from the line. “Have you forgotten why we’re here?” yelled the lizard man, “We have to wait for the twins and see where the SunBlade falls so we can save this world!” “But I’m scared!” said the frightened girl in the rabbit costume. “We are here to assure your safety,” said Christina. Then an arrow flew threw Christina’s thick hair and passed under her ear to fly over Kasey and Zealot’s head to stop, locked in the middle of the security line. The Blade Masters turned to see a blonde woman standing over several dead security guards holding a large black bow and a quiver full of black metallic arrows. Zealot did not hesitate to jump over Christina’s head and use his SabreBlade to attack the archer. SNAP! Cracked a sound as a black metal whip wraps around Zealot’s SabreBlade and pulled him out of the air to land hard on the ground. “GullBlade!” called Christina as she ran to help Zealot. Lagan grabs Kasey and pulls her into the YeagerBlade. “No one gets a drop on me!” yelled Jarody as he pulls out his curved blade dagger. SNAP! The blonde with the metallic whip knocks the small weapon from Jarody’s hand and moves aside to allow another Blonde with metal wings and two swords attack. Jarody moves out of the way with a slight step to the right and begins to simply walk to where his Blade had landed.

Zealot stands up before Christina gets to him and he uses his SabreBlade in whip mode to stop a new attack from the blonde archer who was about to shoot Jarody in the back. The tip of the SabreBlade’s eternity chain knocks the arrow out of the woman’s hand. The blonde with the wings flies past Zealot and slashes his arm to stop his attack on the archer. Christina gets to Zealot and turns to the flying blonde who takes to the sky. “Oh no you do not!” yelled Christina, “GullBlade, angel mode!” The GullBlade opens it’s five point harness and attaches to Christina complete with breast plate. Christina leaves the ground to fly after the blonde. “Wait one second here,” said Jarody as he picks up his dagger, “Do these look-a-like women look familiar to you?” Lagan jumps back out of the YeagerBlade and fires her musket. The blonde archer shoots the speeding musket ball out of the air with an arrow with frightening ease. “Yes, these women look like that dead woman back at the Raptor’s valley,” said Lagan as she reloads. Sky Arian turns around and dives down to Christina who blocks the first attack with her double swords. The two women fight in midair. Four swords clashing and a flurry of blonde and platinum white hair connected to silver and black wings twisting in the air. Jarody extended the blade on his dagger and transformed into his true form as Death, “This time when we kill you!” Death just stops in mid sentence and turns to face the direction of the Blade Temple. Archer Arian fired an arrow through Death’s back but the black metal arrow just penetrates Death’s black cloak and out the other side missing Death’s skeletal frame. “Stop standing there and fight!” yelled Zealot as Whip Arian’s metal whip wraps around his thick neck. “I’m being summoned. There are some beings who are about to die over there,” said Death just before vanishing in a puff of black smoke leaving Zealot, Lagan and Christina with the three Arians.

“Is your game plan to try and prolong your loss?” asked Captain Crellis, “I would stall too if I knew I were going to lose my Blades and life.” Selene looks intensely at Crellis and orders, “Bishop from King’s Knight five to King’s Bishop six.” The white Bishop starts running around the black copy of Knight. The owl tried to fly away but is sucked in by the circular rush of air and gets twisted apart in dust and stone feathers. The white Bishop takes it’s place on the black square. Captain Crellis was visibly taken by surprise. He did not expect that to happen. “Ha, so you were able to get a move by me. No big deal,” lied the pirate, “One piece for another. King’s Knight Pawn to King’s Bishop six!” A Black Pawn opens it’s ThievesBlade’s void and sucks in the twin’s white Bishop. The Pawn was in position to do the same with the twins Knight forcing Salem to quickly order, “Knight from King five to Queen’s Bishop four. “You know where that puts us?” thought Selene. “I don’t blame you. I would have done the same. I see that the Knight you just moved has you in the position to take my last Bishop. The real Bishop. And you know what? I am not going to move him,” said Crellis with an evil smile on his face, “You tested me too many times in this game. So here is my test. I already know what you are going to do. And to make sure you understand my intentions. Rook from King’s Bishop 8 to Queen 8.” The black Rook copy moves from one perch to a new one on a new black square. “I made my move,” said Captain Crellis with his arms wide open, “are you going to take my last Bishop? This means killing the real Bishop if you had forgotten. Or are you going to show mercy and waste this move?” “Selene,” thought Salem, “Please do not do it. That is Bishop! The real Bishop! I know what could happen, but I do not want to chance it.” “If we do not do this move, then he will have us. He will use the Blade Animals as shields to prevent us from winning this game,” thought Selene, “We have to make this move, sister.” “There are too many questions. No one has ever used the KingBlade like this. What if we are wrong?” Selene looks at Bishop and gives the move order.

Chapter 48

The twins were eight blocks away from the temple when the sky changed from a clear blue to a frightening red and yellow. The horses stopped once again, but it was out if instinct this time. The twins looked up and saw what they were expecting but never thought they would see it. The smaller of the two suns appeared to be exploding. It was Selene who jumped off of her horse, almost falling off and landing on the ground to her knees. Salem jumped off of Syntax to join her sister. “No!” yelled Selene, her eyes drowning in her tears. “We have to get to the temple, sister,” said Salem, trying hard not to start crying as well. “She is dead. SHE IS DEAD!” yelled Selene, “Terra!” “It hurts me as well, but we made a promise to her to make this last wish. The KingBlade is in the temple. We must get it back,” said Salem. “She was like a mother to us, Salem,” said Selene. “We will mourn her, but right now, she needs us to complete this task,” implored Salem. Selene collapses onto the dirty cobblestone street, crying and grasping at each stone on the ground as she was taken by grief. “I cannot, I cannot go on,” said Selene under her tears. “Sister,” called Salem, holding Selene and trying to pull her up from the ground. Selene shakes. The feeling was overwhelming. Salem brought her sister’s head to her chest and held on tight. The twins sat on the street, alone, as the rest of the town’s population became panicked from what was going on in the sky and ran in all directions, trying in vain to escape the scene.

The Palace of the Hoofar had more security around it than ever before. Not even the religious war eighty-two years ago had as much protection on it as it did now. Hoofar Isis sat alone in her throne room until the silence was broken by a court clerk who pulled open the heavy fabric curtains from the entrance and announced, “Your Majesty, from the country of Lysts, King Abbot.” Abbot entered the large room with Raphael behind him as well as a woman with an arm full of rolled up parchments. “Isis! Very happy you’re able to see me in short notice,” said Abbot. “Why leave your country? Why didn’t you just have your Ambassador from the Lysts Consulate?” asked Hoofar Isis. “Because I feel that this requires a personal touch,” replied the King. “This form of travel does not seem very necessary,” said Isis. “You will change your mind when you can travel from one kingdom to the next in less then six hours,” said King Abbot. The sound of some one running in the hall got louder and louder as they ran into the large room. It was one of the Hoofar’s guards, “Hoofar! You must look outside right away! The Sun god has been angered!” Abbot, Isis and Raphael run to the closest balcony in the palace to see what was happening. The sight had left them speechless. The frightened screams and yelps of Isis’ people could be heard below them. Isis turned to one of the three guards who were posted on the balcony, “Go and have the horns sound. I must address our people before the panic becomes unstoppable.” The guard leaves his post while Isis, Abbot and Raphael start to head down to a different balcony that was better suited to talk to a crowd that will be at the palace soon. “Your Hex Blade twins are responsible for this,” said Isis as they weaved through the long ornate hallways. News of what was going on outside was clearly beginning to spread among the palace servants. “I don’t see how the twins could possibly do anything like that or even why,” said King Abbot. “With the KingBlade missing, whoever has it could be causing the SunBlade to act like that,” said Raphael. “What?! The twins have yet to recover the KingBlade?” yelled Isis, “I thought once they met with Terra, they would have the KingBlade right now.” “I don’t think you realize how hard it is to find an object as small as a crown when it could be anywhere on the planet,” said Abbot. The sound of the great horn on the highest tower could be heard now, calling the people to the Palace. “I’m afraid I’ll have to return to my country,” said King Abbot, “My people will be scared too.” “I understand,” said Hoofar Isis, “I wish you a fast and safe journey home.”

In the Palace City of Lysts, Captain Waller of the P.C.P.D. was at his desk opening a package that had just arrived from Detective Lagan. “I ordered her to return to the department immediately, and she sends me some souvenir from Corsair,” Waller mumbled to himself. He opens the package to find Lagan’s PCPD Detective’s badge and letter of resignation. “That fool of a woman! She’s going after Detective Pacer!” yelled Waller. An officer bursts into Captain Waller’s office, “Sir!” “Haven’t you heard of knocking?!” yelled an already agitated Waller. “Look out the window behind you!” yelled the officer. Waller turned to see that the sky had changed around the smallest sun as the first blast wave leaves it to be followed by another. The Captain accidentally loses control of himself and wets his pants. Determined not to let the officer behind him know what had just happened to him, Captain Waller yells, “Well get out there now and have everyone hit the streets! The city will be going crazy!” “Yes sir!” said the officer. “Well, GO!” barked Waller. The officer left his office leaving Waller to dive into his shelf to retrieve the extra pair of pants he had for such an emergency. The local Church was being packed full of believers, looking for an explanation from the church leaders. The rich and the royals started to retreat to the palace to see the king. The Keeper was busy giving excuses and organizing the arrivals into separate rooms of the palace trying to keep things from getting out of hand.

Selene finally started to get a hold of her emotions and with the help of her sister, she stood up again and shook herself off. “Feel better?” asked Salem. “Yes,” answered Selene, “I had to let that out.” “Now quick, we must get to the Blade Temple,” reminded Salem. The twins quickly mounted their horses again and continued up the now empty street to the temple. They could see the Temple of the Blades now as they closed in. The red energy streams on top of the temple were fluctuating. “Whatever is happening is using a lot of energy,” said Selene. The twins arrive at the gates and pass through at full gallop. The twins had never seen the courtyard this empty, ever. There was no one around. The twins reach the steps to the temple in no time at all. They dismount Darkwind and Syntax and run inside without a word. They reach the top of the stairs when the ground under them shakes, almost knocking them off their feet. Both Salem and Selene make a quick jump and land in a kneeling position. Sections of the walls move in and cut the twins off from the courtyard. “I see,” said Selene. “Whoever has the KingBlade must want us to stay,” said Salem. The twins run into the temple and through the main entranceway that leads to the main temple where the Blades are kept. The twins enter to see an unusual sight. The floor had changed and the area that once had the fake SaintBlade was now a large checkered floor where all the Blade Animals were now sitting. Not only were all the Blade Animals there, but there were two Kings, two Queens, four Knights, Bishops, Rooks, and sixteen Pawns. “Rook?” called Selene. “Pawn?” called Salem. Only the real Pawn and Rook turned their heads but they stayed in place on the checkered floor. There was a black rook with dark gold TalonBlades on its feet along with five black fur Pawns with black metal ThievesBlade masks on. On the other side were two white Rooks with silver TalonBlades on their feet as well as six white fur Pawns with white silver ThievesBlade masks. The same was true for all the other Blade Animals, except for King and Queen. White versions of them on the other side were the only copies.

People were running all around the TidusBlade manually flipping switches and changing around power conduits, trying to transfer as much power as possible to the more important systems on the ship from the emergency battery. The bridge was empty except for Ajax and First year Ensign Stevens. There was only enough power to allow Ajax to monitor the ship’s power flow. Ensign Stevens was sitting at a powerless helm in front of a blank view screen. It was OK with Stevens, he was only there as a policy formality. He was never trained on piloting the TidusBlade. That was an honor for forth year first class Ensigns. Not freshmen 3rd classes like him. He did not even know the first thing to do if the power had been restored to the bridge. Below, Emhril quickly retrieves his EarthBlade from the bashed in and broken main engine. “Mal is waiting for you in the MobilBlade outside!” yelled Dark down to Emhril. “Are you sure?!” asked Emhril, “My Blade!” “The twins need you and Mal, NOW” Yelled Dark, “Go now!” Emhril rushed out of the engine room and headed to the closest access hatch leading outside to the dock.

Captain James Koror and his son, Lieutenant Commander John, show up in the vehicle storage bay. “What have you done to my ship?” yelled James as he walked in. Dark turned from the access hatch she just talked to Emhril through to the angry Captain. David steps forward and says, “Emhril’s sorry about it, there is no!” James pushes David aside and continues to walk to Dark who stands tall in front of him. “Do not do this,” whispered Dark, “We need!” “With all due respect LORD. This is my ship and it has been damaged in a way that strikes too close for comfort for me!” yelled James before stepping around Dark and quickly walks right up to Vivien. “You monster!” James began to yell into Vivien’s surprised face, “They tell me that you could have stopped Emhril’s Blade from rolling over the edge.” “Be fair, James!” yelled Dark, “Only Emhril is able to use his EarthBlade. It is too heavy for her!” “She’s a blood sucking, Gin forsaken, VAMPIRE!” interrupted James as he grabbed Vivien’s right arm and lifts it up in the air, “She can lift a horse with just this arm alone! She could have stopped that Blade! She didn’t even need to lift it!” James turns and places his face so close to the young red head, their noses were almost touching, “You let it fall on purpose. We know about you. You are A SPY for the Master who’s working against the twins!” Vivien shakes her head “No” in fright. “Don’t lie to me! Lord DarkRaptor has already outed you, and I trust her word more than yours!” yelled James as he throws the young vampire on the hard steel floor, “Security, take this monster to the brig!” ordered James. ColdRaptor and PurpleRaptor also ran into the vehicle storage bay with a large group of security guards. Vivien looked around to see that she was surrounded by many angry faces. “Take her by any means!” yelled the Captain. “There’s no need to hurt her,” said Dark, “We have a way to capture her with no one getting hurt.” ColdRaptor stepped up and opened her left arm to reveal a small keypad and screen. Vivien could not hear what Dark was telling James. She was beginning to panic and wanted to run. Vivien had her RPG in her hand but there was no use to try and write out a plea of innocence on it, they probably wouldn’t take the time to read it anyway and the only ones here who understood her sign language were the ones who say she is a spy. David did not want Dark or any of the Raptors to capture her. They would hurt Vivien in the attempt. So he pushed his way through the guards and starts to run to Vivien. “The RPG we gave her has a tazer inside it. It will stop Vivien before she knows what happened” explained Dark, “ColdRaptor is activating it now.” Vivien turns and sees David running to her with his TsunamiBlade. Vivien was panicked already, this just pushed her over the edge. Without thinking, Vivien throws her RPG at David and jumps into the air to try and escape whatever attack he was about to launch. David stops and catches the RPG just as arcs of blue bolts starts to shoot from around it, knocking David unconscious on the floor. “Stop that monster!” yelled James as soon as he realized what happened. Seeing what had just happened to David, all Vivien can think to do was to escape. She had to get out of the TidusBlade and to safety. Vivien takes out her MirrorBlade. “Look out! She’s going to attack!” yelled one of the guards. Security Chef Harke arrives with more guards who draw their musket pistols. Vivien quickly waves her Blade around and disappears. “What happened?” asked Harke. “She cut our view of her,” said Dark. “I see her,” said Cold. Dark did a hand signal and Cold ran out of a door close by. “Where’s she going?” asked James. “Looks like Cold is chasing Vivien into the hallway,” said Dark. “Quick!” ordered James, “Follow ColdRaptor!” The security team exited the storage bay running after Cold while Legs enters. She sees David on the ground and runs to him. “He will be OK,” said Dark, “He just needs to sleep off the shock.”

Vivien flies through an open hatch just as she becomes visible again. The dock was full of people trying to board ships and small boats believing that they would be safe out at sea. “Hey!” yelled a guard standing on the dock, “There she is!” “Shoot her!” yelled another guard. Vivien quickly flies up into the air with musket balls chasing after her. Vivien out flies the small ballistics and vanishes out of sight. James, John and Dark arrive at a porthole to see Vivien escape. “We lost her,” said James hitting his fist on the rim of the porthole. “No we didn’t. She’s gone to look for the twins,” said Dark. She still has to retrieve the SaintBlade for her Master.

A lift door opens in the main bridge and a female crewmember falls out and lays on the floor. Ajax runs to the crewmember to see if she was alright. Another female crewmember jumps out of the lift and kicks Ajax in the face. The first woman gets up and jumps over the security panel to get to the helm. Ensign Stevens jumps up from his seat and pulls out his musket. The blonde woman kicks the weapon out of the young Ensign’s hand. Stevens is able to block the other kick and retaliated with a kick of his own. Ajax grabs the foot of the other woman and throws her face first into one of the control panels. The lift opens again and four more women jump out. Ajax and Ensign Stevens finally get a good look at them and see that they all look like the same woman. “What are you?” asked an astonished Ajax. “We are Arian,” said all six women at the same time before they began to attack again. This time there were three to each of them. Ensign Stevens was easily taken down with a kick to the back of the head. The last thing Stevens saw before blacking out was all six Arians piling on Ajax.

Chapter 47

Captain James was happier then he had ever been before. He has DarkRaptor on his ship and is now showing her around. But the thing that has made him the happiest man of all is his son is traveling with her and fighting at her side. David did not see it that way. David felt like a real disappointment. So far all he has done around Dark was fail to ride a horse, did not get to a fight, followed around a woman who was not there, make love to Christina, and in the last fight, he was completely useless. Even Emhril, who is sleeping most of the time, joined into the fight and used his EarthBlade to bust up a platoon or two. All David had managed to do was to clean the Phantom army’s armor. “I can’t believe you’ve never been on the TidusBlade before!” said James. “I had very little faith in the Blades back then,” answered Dark. The lift doors opened and James escorted Dark onto the bridge. “This is the main bridge,” said James. “Main bridge?” asked Dark, “Is there more than one?” “Well there’s a second bridge but it’s completely unusable,” said James. “Let me see this unusable second bridge,” said Dark.

After awhile James with Dark, the twins and a crewman arrive at large double doors. The doors were actually sideways and the room looked to be located on the portside of the TidusBlade. James called into his ComBlade, “Engine room, restore power second bridge.” “Aye, Captain,” replied the crewman in the engine room. The lights around the sideways double door began to light and grew brighter and brighter. The doors slid open with one door going into the floor and the other going into the ceiling. “Wow,” said Selene, “None of your forefathers has ever shown us this room. “Well there’s no mystery why,” said James, “It’s completely useless.” The group looked inside to see a copy of the main bridge but it was all turned sideways to the right. “The TidusBlade has gravity generators in it,” said Salem, “Can you not just use them to allow you to enter the room?” “We can do that,” said James before he turned to the crewman who was with them and gave him the signal to turn the room’s Grav Generator on. The crewman opened a small door in the floor and he connected some wires. The lights inside the second bridge started to brighten. James showed them the way to step into the sideways room and the others followed his example.

Once stepping in the room everything looked right side up again, everything but the world outside. The screens were showing the ocean standing to the left side. “That is one reason why this bridge is unusable. We can’t navigate when the view is sideways like that.” A look at the control panels revealed that they were closer to the floor than the ones on the main bridge. “The seats,” said Salem, “Look at all the seats in this room.” “They are all half the size of the ones in the main bridge,” observed Dark. “This Blade expects children to use this bridge?” Selene asked herself out loud. “The controls on the panels are smaller too,” said James, “There is no way a full grown person, especially in a high pressure situation, can use these controls without hitting the other buttons around the one they need to use.” “Hence, why you say this alternate control room is unusable,” said Dark.

After seeing the sideways room and being taken on a more expansive tour of the TidusBlade than James gave the Blade Masters at Hellion, the twins returned to the deck where their room is located. The Blade Masters were busy exchanging rooms between themselves. Christina had already gathered her things and moved them to the Koror Family deck where David’s room is. Vivien moved in with Jarody. Zealot moved out of his and Jarody’s room and into Christina and Vivien’s old room to have a room to himself. Detective Lagan has her room to herself without Pacer. “I have an idea sister,” said Selene. “I know. You want to move in with Zealot,” said Salem. “Any objections?” asked Selene. “Go ahead. I will have Lagan move in with me so Dark, Cold, and Purple can have a room,” said Salem. “Are you sure there is not any other motive to have Lagan in the room with you?” asked Selene. “How can you think that?” asked Salem. “I honestly do not know,” jokes Selene before knocking on Zealot’s door to ask him permission to move in. Dark and PurpleRaptor exit the lift and onto the Blade Master deck. “We have a room for you, Purple, and Cold,” said Salem. “Cold is staying on the bridge. She doesn’t need to sleep,” said Dark, “Captain James tried to give me the Royal Suite. I told him, ‘Thank you, but I think its best that I had a room here, where I can keep an eye on that what we were talking about,” said Dark. “Good thinking,” said Salem. “Oh, I’ve taken the liberty of filling the captain in on what needs to be done and why it’s important,” said Dark, “Hope I didn’t overstep my bounds.” “Don’t worry Dark. I bet it had more impact coming from you,” said Selene, “If you excuse me, I will go get Lagan to move into my room so you can move in.” Soon after, the Blade Masters and Raptors finally settled in and enjoyed the heated showers and the soft clean beds.

Night had fallen and a heavy rainstorm had arrived just when Lady Slambrawn, Nuclear-Chipmunk, the LightningBlade and Dalton entered a cave. The cave was large but it was long and winding. A sign, recently carved into the rock, showed Lady Slambrawn that she was in the right cave and headed in the right direction. “Get up Dalton,” said Lady Slambrawn, “My destiny waits.” Dalton gets up after they had taken a few hours to rest at the entrance and begins to pull the large hourglass by its handle as the wheels moved along the uneven surface. The hourglass itself is being kept upright through a series of hinges and wheels. Lady Slambrawn lights a torch, to see in the dark cave. The light was bright enough to see that the sand was a little more than one forth the way to the end. Dalton was halfway hoping that the sand had gone farther then where it is now. Dalton wanted to get the task that the Mysterious Master had sent them on over with very quickly. Deeper and deeper into the long cave they walk with Nuclear-Chipmunk giving a chirp every few feet or so for even he knew that what they are doing is very dangerous.

David introduced Christina to his parents as his girlfriend. James was very happy that his son had found a very VERY proud chested woman to share his love. Lydia, David’s mother, had a different opinion about women with large chests. Everywhere the TidusBlade had been the land women with large chests usually dance naked for money in taverns and pubs or they would mate with anyone for money. Christina had the largest chest Lydia had ever seen, meaning that Christina probably does both. James wanted to talk with David and Christina more, but there was another child of his that he needed to talk to. James waited in his office while he added a new entry in his log as John enters. “You wanted to see me, father?” said John. “Yes, John,” said James, “You know, I have to explain to the philosophers why we had to dump their precious labs into the sea for a bunch of barbaric warriors.” “With respect, Father,” John interrupted, “I thought you regarded the Blade Masters as valued friends.” “Yes, I do. I’m glad you were able to make the choice without having to consult me even with your brother being with them. I know how you feel about him,” said James, “This has shown me that you are ready. When the time comes for your mother and I to leave the TidusBlade for an old couples’ log cabin next to the sea somewhere, I know I will find rest easily knowing that I had left the TidusBlade in the right hands. Your grandfather had to deal with the burden of making me captain. I bet the old man still tosses and turns in his bed at night, not knowing if I have run this ship aground yet.” “You still have a good twenty years in you father. Why are you talking like this now?” asked John. “Can’t I talk with my second in command while the feeling is with me?” asked James, “I’m telling you how proud I am son and you are acting as if I’m chastising you.” “I didn’t!” began John. “Just promise me that David will always have a place here,” said James, “He may stay with the twins or he might go out on his own again. Whatever happens after all of this, no matter what he’s done or what he’ll do. I want him to always have a place here..” John looks down at the floor taking in all his father was saying, “Yes, father.” “He may come and go but he is still family,” said James. There was a knock on the door and Dr. Billing entered, “Excuse me if I was imagining it but I thought I ordered you to bed.” “That’s right, you did,” said James, “A few things came up.” “But they are over now,” said Billing, “Back to bed with you, go on, Doctor’s orders.” “Yes, Legs,” said James as he, John and Legs left the office. “You have the bridge,” said James to his son.

The night was a short one as the TidusBlade heads to the west where the first of the two suns were just coming out from behind the horizon. They had arrived at the busy seaport of the fishing town of Koror. The twins were successful in getting everyone out of bed and gathered in the main cargo hold. A few of the large doors have been open giving the Blade Masters a great view of the busy port as they close in. Almost at the other side of Colloquy, Lady Slambrawn, Nuclear-Chipmunk, the LightningBlade and Dalton arrive in a large chamber. “There she is,” said Lady Slambrawn pointing at a wall in the unbelievably large space. Dalton could not see what his master was pointing at but Nuclear-Chipmunk’s reaction seemed to confirm it. The small rodent turned from happy pet to an animal ready to kill. “The Slambrawn family name is about to join the few,” said Lady Slambrawn, “with Battenberg, Copperfield, Koror, and even the Gemini Twin HexBlade Masters. To kill a Caretaker is to carve your name in history for all time.” This had reminded Dalton to check the large hourglass he was pulling. “I believe we are about ten minutes away from the end,” informed Dalton. “Very good,” replied Lady Slambrawn, “Just as I planned. You know what to do my pet.” Nuclear-Chipmunk gave a squeak of acknowledgement before scampering off to a hiding place. “You stay out of sight Dalton and call out when time is almost up,” instructed Lady Slambrawn. Dalton quickly pulled the large hourglass behind a large rock and tried his best to keep it and himself out of sight.

Lady Slambrawn approached the center of the large arena like room and activates her Blade hidden underneath her very elegant looking dress. The ThunderBlade armor tore her dress into nothing more than confetti as it covers her arms and legs as well as formed the large cannon in its ready position on her back. Lady Slambrawn stops when she thinks she was in the absolute center of the room and looked around. The ground was not only unnaturally smooth here but it was the cleanest rock floor she had ever seen. The ceiling was so high, to look at it for too long made Lady Slambrawn feel dizzy. Rocks were staked at places and shelf like ledges could be seen as well as a small leak dripping down obviously coming from the heavy storm still raging on outside. Lady Slambrawn gave a very crooked smile before the ThunderBlade cannon flips from her back to come to a rest over her left shoulder. The narrow barrel of the canon slowly changed from being cannon like to start to widen until it was a large cone shape and a smaller cone folded around to stop in front of Lady Slambrawn’s mouth. “Terra!” called Lady Slambrawn, her voice being amplified by the ThunderBlade and filling the huge room. Dalton jumped when the si0lence was broken by his master’s booming voice, but the silence quickly returned.

A Plan was made among the Blade Masters. The twins will take Darkwind and Syntax and return to the Blade Temple with the SaintBlade so the monks and Blade hopefuls can see the real thing at least once. While Emhril, David, Vivien, Mal and Haiku stayed aboard the TidusBlade just incase the SunBlade started to fall and headed to a place out to sea. Jarody, Christina, Zealot and Detective Lagan were waiting on the dock next to the YeagerBlade ready just incase the SunBlade looked to be heading towards land when it falls. “Does anyone else find it odd that our plan requires a sun to fall out of the sky in order to work?” asked Zealot. “At least it doesn’t involve tickling a snakeman,” said Jarody. The Twins were with Captain James and the Raptors on the dock watching the crew offload the cargo they had brought from Hellion, The country now called Isis and Cragorus. “We will be ready very shortly,” said James. “Coming with us Dark?” asked Selene. “I think I better stay on the TidusBlade. The less time I spend out in the open here, the better,” said Dark.

The rock wall Lady Slambrawn was looking at began to move and rocks were falling from such a height that they became dust when they hit the floor. Lady Slambrawn stood her ground as the cavern started to light up with strange phosphorescent rocks that were positioned to cover every corner of the room. A large withered looking rock foot emerged from the wall and was quickly joined by another. Before Lady Slambrawn knew it, she was facing a rock giant of a very old woman. “What do we have here?” asked the giant. “I’m Lady Slambrawn of the house of Slambrawn and soon to be queen of all of Colloquy,” said Lady Slambrawn, “I am here to bring death to you and to earn my family the recognition it deserves!” “Oh I see,” said Terra, “Soon to be queen? And you say you have brought death? Sorry my dear if this makes me laugh but I never thought the world would have needed a single queen. As for bringing Death, some good old friend of mine had already brought him by and I must say he really enjoyed my turkey pot pie.” Lady Slambrawn did not take being treated this way very lightly. The ThunderBlade cannon transformed back into it’s attack mode right before, “SLAM!!” A wave of concentrated sound hits the old Caretaker on the leg causing Terra to stumble. Terra saved herself from falling by grabbing onto a nearby ledge. “I’m not playing around you old hag!” yelled the angered Lady Slambrawn, “You will die tonight and at the exact time the Mysterious Master wants you dead!” Terra begins to defend herself by causing a few large stalagmites to rise up in the path of Lady Slambrawn’s next few attacks. “Slam!!! Slam!!! Slam!!!” yelled Lady Slambrawn as she ran across the room.

Dalton had never been as frightened as he was now. He was sure that the large Caretaker will not only kill his Lady, but him as well. This thought in Dalton’s mind caused him to stay curled up behind the rock next to the hourglass trying in vain to stay hidden. Dalton hoped that his Lady did not call out. “Dalton, the time!” ordered Lady Slambrawn as she ran and jumped around to avoid the falling rocks from the stalagmites she was destroying. Dalton took a good look at the hourglass and yelled in reply, “Five minutes to go, my Lady!” Lady Slambrawn stopped when she reached the side of the room she was aiming for. Terra began to create stalactites just above her attacker and letting them fall. “Why does your master want me dead at such a specific time?” asked Terra. “Slam!!!” yelled Lady Slambrawn to intercept the falling stalactites and then turned her attention to the trickling leak almost in the center of the room. “Slam!!!” Lady Slambrawn launched an attack at the leak and caused the ceiling to cave in at that spot. Rocks fell on the Caretaker along with a heavy torrent of water that had collected on the mountain. The waterfall was steady and did not look to be ending quickly. Terra is at the center of the large waterfall leaving Lady Slambrawn to wonder what had happened to the giant. “Because your death will bring down the SunBlade,” said Lady Slambrawn’s amplified voice, “You have to die now for it to land right where the Mysterious Master is waiting for it.”

“Three minutes, My Lady” called out Dalton whose voice was almost drowned out by the falling water. Terra emerged from the waterfall which had now began to slowly come to an end. The water had turned Terra’s body to mud, smoothing her old features and causing Terra to look young again. Terra’s mud body also gave her the ability to transform her arms. This was very evident to Lady Slambrawn as Terra’s right arm turned into a giant ax and began to fly at her with blinding speed. Lady Slambrawn avoided the attack and returned with one of her own, “Slam!!!” The attack hit Terra on the side and blasted a hole in the large Caretaker. “Then I better try and live a little longer,” said Terra as her mud body merely refilled the hole before she attacked Lady Slambrawn again with her other arm now looking like a wrecking ball. Lady Slambrawn was almost caught by this attack escaping it with inches to spare. The waterfall had completely stopped now replaced by a view of the stormy sky. “One minute, My Lady!” called out Dalton. “Now my pet!” ordered Lady Slambrawn. Nuclear-Chipmunk sent the LightningBlade into the large room. Lady Slambrawn saw the glint of the LightningBlade’s golden body as it flew skyward through the large opening after attaching the wire to the Caretaker. The LightningBlade had just left the hole when a real lightning bolt hits it and the energy travels down to the Caretaker. Terra falls to her knees when hit and her arms return to their original state.

“Again my pet, don’t stop!” yelled Lady Slambrawn. The LightningBlade repeated it’s attack over the over again on the Caretaker and continued to find real lightning bolts to amplify the attack power. A heavy steam had covered the giant women and hid her from view. Lady Slambrawn’s ThunderBlade stopped halfway between amplification and attack mode. “Poof,” said Lady Slambrawn as the sound wave blew the steam fog out of the way showing Terra standing very still. “I just made you into a statue,” said the evil woman, “A very easy process I know.” “My Lady!” called out Dalton, “The sand is almost out!!” “I now end this with my family name,” said Lady Slambrawn as her Blade changed back to it’s full attack mode again. “Slambrawn!” yelled the woman just as the last grain of sand fell to the bottom of the hourglass. Terra’s body exploded in a shower of rock and dust. Dalton ducked down again and is quickly covered by rock while Nuclear-Chipmunk jumps back behind the rock he was hiding at and is also covered by rock and dust. Lady Slambrawn yelled, “Slaaaaaaaaaam!!!” creating a protective wall of sound waves around her. The rock and dust was repelled by the waves leaving Lady Slambrawn untouched when the explosion was over. Lady Slambrawn ran to her pet and gently pulled him out of the dust and rock and brushed him off. “My lady,” called Dalton from under the heavy rock. “Should we save him my pet?” asked Lady Slambrawn. Nuclear-Chipmunk gave a disapproving growl. “Aw, but who will row the boat back?” asked Lady Slambrawn before turning the cannon to the rocks covering the servant. “Slam!!!” yelled Lady Slambrawn destroying the rocks and freeing the man. The hourglass was destroyed and looked to be the thing that saved Dalton. “Come Dalton, we must get back to the ship,” said Lady Slambrawn. “What about the Mysterious Master’s hourglass?” asked Dalton. “We were going to leave it here anyway,” said Lady Slambrawn, “If he wants another one, he can get one for himself after he gets whatever it is he wants and makes me queen.” Lady Slambrawn carries her pet as Dalton limps behind her back through the cave.

Mal had bought Darkwind and Syntax onto the dock for the twins when Pawn begins to flinch and jumps off of Salem’s shoulders. The small animal is a blur of silver and fur as it runs up the dock and down the main street. “What happened to him?” asked Selene. Rook also took-off quickly, flying to the Temple of the Blades along with Knight right behind her. “Look!” yelled Salem,” Knight is visible!” “But Knight never flies visible!” said Selene. Then both twins look at each other and say at the same time, “The KingBlade!” “Some one is using the KingBlade at the Temple!” yelled Selene. “The Blade Animals can feel it!” said Salem. The twins jumped up on their horses and began to ride to the temple as fast as they could. Selene took out her ComBlade and called Mal who they just left in a cloud of dust, “Mal, find Emhril and get the MobilBlade to the Temple! You do not need any of the horses in battle mode. We may need it.” “Right,” said Mal as he ran back inside the TidusBlade. Dark and the other Raptors ran after James who also ran back inside to get to his control room. “If someone has taken over the Blade Temple, then it’s not good at all,” said James while running to the nearest Com panel. “Why is that?” asked Dark. James touches the Com panel and yells, “All hands, this is the Captain. I’m calling a red alert, All hands to battle stations.” Alarms all over the TidusBlade began to sound and the halls are quickly filled with crew members rushing to get where they need to be. “The twins never told you?” asked James as he and the Raptors continued to run to the nearest lift to the main bridge. “Told me what?” asked Dark. James and the Raptors jump into the lift. “The Temple of the Blades is a Blade,” said James, “It is the AresBlade. You know, as in Ares, Caretaker of war.” “I take it that is not a good thing,” said ColdRaptor in her monotone voice. The four arrive on the bridge. “Get me a magnified image of the Blade Temple!” ordered James. Ajax steps up to James and says, “I’m sure that whatever is going on at the temple can wait for what is happening now.” “What do you mean?” asked James before looking at the main screen. The image of the smaller sun exploding was on it.

Mal had grabbed Emhril and took him to the storage bay where the MobilBlade was. David, Vivien and Haiku followed them. The MobilBlade was stored next to the platform the BoltBlade was on. Pixie Dust was complaining to a crewman about there being no track in Koror for her to unload her Blade. The Blade Masters had entered the storage bay when a female crewman pointed up and began to scream. Everyone looked up and saw the horrific sight of one of the suns exploding. Only the Blade Masters knew what it meant but it did not take away from the horror they were seeing. Emhril, without thinking dropped his EarthBlade on the ground and it began to roll to the BoltBlade’s platform. The EarthBlade was getting heavier and heavier as it got closer to the BoltBlade. Vivien was the only one close to stop it but like Emhril, she was in a state of shock that paralyzed her. Pixie Dust saw the Blade rolling to her and the long indentation it was leaving behind on the thick steel floor. This told Pixie Dust that it was indeed heavy and will damage her Blade if that thing hits it. Pixie Dust runs to the platform controls and knocks over a shocked crewman. She finds the button to lift up the platform and hits it. The BoltBlade rises to safety as the heavy EarthBlade falls down the hole under the platform and down into the TidusBlade’s engine room. The EarthBlade pulverizes the main engine and causes an explosion. Engineers run in a panic while others begin to help those who were injured in the explosion. On the bridge, warning lights began to flash and more sirens sound. “We just lost the main engine!” reported Ensign McCloud. “Massive crew injuries are being reported Captain!” said Ensign Moody. “Get Security to the engine room now!” ordered James. “Where are the Blade Masters that are still on board?’ asked Dark. “They are in the vehicle storage bay just above the engine room,” said Ajax. “Captain,” called Dark, “The spy. She has struck and disabled the only ship in this dock.” James became very angry, “Security to the vehicle storage bay NOW!” James left the bridge to face the spy once and for all, “You have the bridge John.” “Stay on the bridge Purple,” ordered Dark before leaving with the Captain and ColdRaptor. Purple turned to the main view screen to watch the sun.

Chapter 46

The YeagerBlade was high over the Mantyan Expanse headed to the Mantyan Falls so Kasey could get a better idea where to turn to head to Koror where the Temple of the Blades is. A yellow warning light began to flash and a gentle tone sounded. “What is that?” asked Selene. “The engines are starting to heat up past normal levels but it usually does that whenever I have not flown it in a long time,” said Kasey. “How long has it been before we came to you?” asked Dark. “About two years. Just no need for me to go flying around like this when I’m the only teacher in my village,” answered Kasey. “Two years?!” reacted Selene, “Kasey, you never leave your Blade sitting like that for that long. It is best to take your Blade out and fly it on weekends. Blades are like people. They can become out of shape or even lose their ability if you have them just sit like that without using it.” “What about the KingBlade? You and your sister have it sitting in that secret cave somewhere,” said Kasey. “It’s ability is being used constantly, making sure that you are the only one who is able to use your Blade,” said Selene, “We keep it clean where needed.”

The Mantyan Falls comes up real quickly as Kasey dips the YeagerBlade low to fly through the heavy mist coming off of the falls to wash off the ash from the rest of the large battle wing. When Kasey was sure that the YeagerBlade was clean enough, she opens up the throttles again and heads skyward, above the falls and turns. “Next stop, the fishing town of Koror,” said Kasey. The yellow light begins to flash again along with the soft warning tone. Selene and Dark stare at Kasey. “I told you that it always does that,” said Kasey. Salem enters the cockpit, “Why are we flying so erratically? Are we under attack?” “No,” answered Selene, “She was just giving her Blade a good cleaning.” The yellow light on the control panel turned off. Only to be replaced by a red light and an even louder attention grabbing alarm. Dark puts her hands on her waist, “And how often does it do that?” “I got us to Mount Obelisk without problems,” said Kasey. “You didn’t fly through a thick cloud of ash on that trip,” said Dark. A second tone began to sound. “What is that for?” asked Salem. Kasey just sat at the controls, turned off the second tone and faked a smile, “Engine three just stalled out, but we still have three working engines.” The second tone began to sound again. “Did engine three start up again?” asked Selene. “No, that’s engine number two,” said Kasey, “It just stalled, BUT we can still fly with just two engines! We’re doing fine!” “I am about to be in the first plane crash this world has ever seen,” said Dark, “Can this ‘Blade’ float?” “I’m afraid not,” said Kasey, “But there’s no need to worry, We have two strong engines.” The second tone sounded again. “Let me guess,” said Dark, “We lost an engine.” “We can still fly with just one engine, right?” asked Salem. Kasey turned off the alarm tone and turned to Dark and the twins, “Do you know how to swim?”

“No need to get wet. Look,” said Salem. Below them was the TidusBlade cutting through the water on it’s way to Koror. Selene pulled out her ComBlade. In the main bridge of the TidusBlade John was sitting in the captain’s seat allowing his father to catch up on some well needed sleep. The trip between the Mantyan Falls and Koror is always an uneventful one. It was not like the trip between Hellion and the sea port of the Hoofar. All that was needed for this trip was the constant checking on the bearings to be sure they were on course. “Lieutenant Commander John,” called Lieutenant Harke, “We are receiving a call from Selene.” “Put her on the main screen,” ordered John. Selene appeared on the large screen. “Hello Selene! How are you?” asked John. “We are not doing very well,” said Selene. “Oh? What is the trouble?” asked John. “We are on the YeagerBlade but ash from Mount Obelisk has caused the engines to stall out,” said Selene, “We need to land on the TidusBlade or we will crash into the sea.” John started to go through his head on how to handle this. “I’ll go get the captain,” said Lieutenant Harke. “No, Wayne. Don’t get my father,” said John. Harke turned to John, “But we need him on the bridge.” “Didn’t you see him when he left the bridge?” He could hardly walk,” said John, “My father needs his rest. We can do this without him.” “John!” objected Harke. “I am giving you a direct order Lieutenant!” yelled John, “Do not wake my father.”

“Commander,” called Ensign Jeff, “The YeagerBlade just exited out of the clouds and is in sight.” “Selene,” called John turning to the screen, “How long can you stay in the air?” Selene turned to Kasey, “All we have left is engine number four. It can keep us in the air but as you can see by this, it is about to stall out,” said Kasey, “If it does, we will be gliding until our momentum runs out and we will fall the rest of the way like a stone. That is if I don’t keep up our speed by going down. We can fly just above the surface but that won’t last very long.” “Why don’t we call on Yeager herself and have her keep us in the air?” asked Christina entering the cockpit. “She may be the Caretaker of the sky and clouds, but even she needs solid land to stand on,” answered Salem. “Anyway, for her to keep us in the air, she will have to throw us like a normal battle wing. We cannot land on the TidusBlade if we are spinning.” “Well how about calling Tidus?” asked Christina, “Can he not catch us and connect us to the TidusBlade?” “Yes, he can do that, however only the Blade’s current master can call Tidus and they do not want to wake James from his sleep,” said Selene. “We need to give them a time,” reminded Dark. “Thirty minutes,” guessed Kasey. “John,” called Selene, “Kasey thinks we have a good thirty minutes before we are forced to land in the water.” “I do not know if you have noticed, but that ship does not appear to have any deck space for this plane to land on,” said Dark. “I am guessing that ‘Plane’ means ‘Blade’ in the language from that other world and assure you, Dark, that all Blades have a way of connecting with each other,” said Salem. “Have these Blades ever been connected before?” asked Dark. “Never,” answered Selene.

The tension in the bridge was high. John knew what he needed to do and wondered how his father would take it when he finally woke up. “Commander,” called Commander Ajax, “In order for the YeagerBlade to land and attach to us, we will need to disconnect, eject, and dump the philosopher labs and observation towers into the sea.” “If we have to,” said John, “Wayne, take a team of security officers and evacuate the philosophers as fast as possible.” “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Harke, “We need to tell your father first.” “And what will he do differently?” said John standing up off the captain’s chair, “You can’t lead me to believe that my father would keep a bunch of wood and metal and allow the Gemini Twin HexBlade Masters to fall into the sea! Go evacuate those philosophers now and hurry! They don’t have much time!” Lieutenant Harke turned to the lift behind him. “I’ll help out,” said Commander Ajax as he joined Harke in the lift. The lift doors closed and John fell back into the captain’s chair filled with regret and guilt. The lift reaches the main level of the TidusBlade and the doors open. “Come on Ajax, we’re getting the Captain,” said Harke as he turned to head to the resident quarters. Commander Ajax grabs Harke by the arm to stop him. “John is right,” said Ajax, “James would do anything for the twins. Trust me Wayne. This is the only way. We need to support his son. James will not find rest in his retirement if he thinks we can’t trust his son enough to follow his orders. I will tell him, but you have a job to do Lieutenant. You’ve been given an order.” Harke agreed with Ajax and the two men parted ways with Harke heading to the philosopher labs and recruiting security personnel along the way to help with the evacuation. Ajax stops at James’ quarters and leaned against the wall next to the door and stood guard until the right time came to call on his old friend.

Selene could see the large main doors of the TidusBlade slowly open to reveal the large structure and tower inside. “There is where we are going to land,” said Salem. “But there’s no room,” said Kasey, “That tower part of the TidusBlade is in the way.” “The structure and tower is not part of the TidusBlade,” said Selene, “It was added to the TidusBlade so philosophers could have labs to work in. They will have to demolish that structure in order for us to connect with the TidusBlade.” “Well I hope they do it fast. We are very close to losing the last engine,” said Kasey. “I feel that we’re overlooking an option,” said Dark, “Can’t we simply repair the other three engines?” “We can, but the tools we need are with Sturmer on the TidusBlade,” answered Salem. “Christina,” called Selene, “Go to the back and have everyone get ready for a rough landing.” On the TidusBlade, philosophers are running all over with boxes and bags shoving what materials of their research they can save as security officers try to bring order to this large mess.

“Lieutenant Harke, It’s Tiberius,” reported one of the security officers. “What’s the matter with him?” asked Harke. “He’s locked himself in his lab,” reported a female security officer. “Oh sh! Not now,” said Harke as he followed his officers to Tiberius’ lab door. Harke uses the butt of his dagger to knock on the thick door. “Tiberius, open this door!,” yelled Harke at the door, “You have to leave!” There was no response. Harke turned and gave his officers a hand signal. The security officers moved to the door and began to undo the bolts holding the door together. The last bolt was pulled out and the door falls with a heavy ring. The officers move into the lab space with Harke following them in. The lab was filled with equipment Harke had never seen before. This bothered Harke because he had to personally approve of all philosopher equipment brought onboard. “Tiberius!” called Harke, “Unless you want to end up at the bottom of the sea with your lab, you must leave now!” The Philosopher named Tiberius appeared. The man was not very tall and he looked more turtle like than human. But the face, it was a face that did not belong to a philosopher. The face was more fitting to a man who makes a living by killing others. It had to be his eyes. He had the darkest eyes of any man living. “Tiberius, you have five minutes to gather what research you can carry and leave,” said Harke. “That is alright Lieutenant. I have what I need already,” said the diminutive philosopher with a voice of an old priest. The man had the handle of a metallic case in his hand. “I will now return to my room inside,” said Tiberius. “Wait,” said Harke as he stopped the man with a short stick, “What is this equipment and why haven’t I seen it before?” “What does it matter, Lieutenant? As you said, it will all be at the bottom of the sea soon,” said Tiberius before leaving the lab.

The philosopher labs were evacuated and every door was opened to allow water to flow in. The longer it stays near the surface increases the risk it could hit the TidusBlade. Engineers as well as Sturmer were busy undoing the bolts and welds that held the structure to the metal deck. A few angry philosophers who had overheard that the captain was asleep in his quarters grouped together. They were stopped by Commander Ajax in the hall. “What you are facing is only temporary. We will replace what necessary equipment that is needed for your research, but right now we have friends who need help and as philosophers, I am sure you know how important it is for the Captain to get his sleep,” said Ajax. On the bridge, Harke on his ComBlade tells John that the structure is ready to be ejected. “OK. Ensign Jeff, fill only the starboard side tanks,” ordered John. “Aye, Sir,” responded Jeff, “I am filling starboard side tanks.” The engineers and Sturmer quickly move inside and seal the doors just before the TidusBlade begins to lean to the left. The philosopher lab structure begins to moan and creak the steeper the deck becomes. High above, the Blade Masters in the YeagerBlade watch the TidusBlade slowly tilting. In the cockpit, the stalled engine warning sounds again, telling them that the last one has just shut down. “This is going to be interesting,” said Dark.

The large structure finally slid off the deck and into the sea. The TidusBlade straightened out again and was ready for the YeagerBlade. “We have a problem,” said Selene on the main screen, “You will have to catch us as we glide down. We have no speed control and turning the YeagerBlade will cause us to lose momentum.” “We understand Selene,” answered John, “Hold your direction and rate of descent and we will catch you.” Mage Khet enters the cockpit yelling, “What does that walking milk bag mean we have to get ready for a rough landing?! We are over the ocean! Are you planning to land us on the water?!!” Dark grabs the palace mage and drags him out of the cockpit. On the bridge, it was clear that news of the YeagerBlade making a landing had circulated in the ship when Detective Lagan entered. “Where are they?” asked the extremely tall woman. “They are just ahead of us heading down but all we have to do is to make a sharp turn port side and speed up until we are under them and match their speed until they are safe on the open deck. The combining of the TidusBlade and the YeagerBlade should be automatic,” said John. “Combining?” asked Lagan, “You mean that this ship and that large wing will become a single Blade?” “If all goes well, yes,” answered John. The TidusBlade moved through the water like a dolphin trying to get under the lowering YeagerBlade and doing it’s best to stay just under it. “Be very careful now,” ordered John, “That is no sea bird. If she hits the water, she is lost.” The two Blades were very close now where a wrong move will cause a crash. “Keep things steady Ensign Jeff,” said John, “The lives of the twins and everyone else on that Blade are in your hands now.” The lift doors open and Commander Ajax enters the bridge with Captain James behind him. Ensign Moody was the only one to see this and stands at attention as he announces, “Captain on the bridge.” John quickly stood up from his father’s chair but quickly yelled, “Don’t break your concentration Ensign!” to Jeff. The rest of the bridge crew stood up at attention. Without a word, Captain James walked down the steps and to his seat. “As you were,” said James. The bridge bustled with activity as people started to move about again. John stood at his father’s right side. “I hear you had to dump the philosopher labs into the sea?” asked James. “Yes sir,” said John with a shaky voice. “Glad I wasn’t here to make that choice,” said James.

“Are we in contact with the twins on the YeagerBlade?” asked Captain James. “Yes sir,” answered Ensign McCloud as he transferred the ComBlade signal to a side screen leaving the main screen for Ensign Jeff to use. “Hello Jim,” said Selene, “Are you not supposed to be in bed?” “Couldn’t sleep with a group of philosophers yelling at Ajax outside my door,” answered the Captain. “We are almost there,” said Ensign Jeff. “You better find something to hold on to. We are almost connected,” said James. The two Blades were close now and almost connected. The TidusBlade was cutting through every wave, being as still as solid ground. The YeagerBlade was a yard above the flat deck. Kasey did not dare drop too early, or the resulting shock may cause them to bounce off. Half a yard now and the Blades were very close. Captain James stood up and yelled, “TidusBlade, combine with YeagerBlade!” At this, sections of the deck open as long rods and electric powered magnetic plates pull the YeagerBlade down and the long rods enter small doors in the belly. The YeagerBlade separates into four sections. The cockpit and passenger compartment enter the main body of the TidusBlade and becomes a room. The engines and intakes move into the TidusBlade’s main engine room and slid into place to become a secondary propulsion system. The wings take their place on ether side of the TidusBlade to become part of it. The large main doors closed up tight once again. “We are now the YeagerTidusBlade,” said Captain James. “The Blade Masters and Raptors exit the YeagerBlade passenger compartment and cockpit through a door to be met by Lieutenant Harke, “Welcome back ab!” Harke became dumbfounded when he saw the large woman with them. Harke did not have to guess at who it was. There was no mistaking the person. “The twins and I have to talk with the Captain as soon as possible,” said Dark.

The other Blade Masters had left to return to their rooms to find them the way they had left them. Kasey, the Raptors, Mage Khet, and the Twins were being escorted to the Captain’s office where James was waiting. The YeagerTidusBlade had resumed it’s course to the Town of Koror while Sturmer repaired the YeagerBlade engines and removing the ash that had become caked inside. The twins were the first to enter the office. James jumped up and gave them both a healthy hug, “Girls! I’m so very happy you’re safe. That was a real close!” James felt like falling back onto his chair. Not only did it look like Lord DarkRaptor had entered his office, but there were two of them. “I have a feeling that you already know DarkRaptor,” said Selene, “These other two are ColdRaptor and PurpleRaptor.” “The master of the YeagerBlade, Kasey,” continued Salem, “and!” “I see my reputation has preceded me,” interrupted Mage Khet, “No need to be so astonished, I am the well known and loved Palace Mage of the Hoofar. You may call me Mage Khet.” “Who?” asked James. “Cold, Purple, take the illustrious Mage Khet outside. We need to be alone with the captain. “Do I need to be here?” asked Kasey. “You may leave if you want to. I don’t see what I have to say will affect you,” said Dark. “It’s OK. I have to find out how to send a message back to my village. I don’t want anyone to wonder where I’ve gone and start to worry,” said Kasey as she left the office with Mage Khet and the other two Raptors.

“I’ll tell you everything about where I’ve been Captain but we have something more important to talk about right now,” said Dark. “Well, we do have the time,” said James, still not believing he was talking to Lord DarkRaptor. “We have an adversary who’s been working against the twins since they left the Temple,” said Dark, “The twins had filled me in on the events that had happened up until they met with me at my home. I believe that this adversary, who we only know as the Mysterious Master right now, has a Blade Master spy in the group of 6 that are traveling with them.” “Oh? One of the Blade Masters is a spy for this Mysterious Master?” asked James. “I do not see how it is possible,” said Selene, “There is no way to predict who a Blade will choose as a master.” “Selene and I have seen millions of Blades choose a master and we have yet to see any pattern to it,” said Salem. “Is there a Blade that can see into the future?” asked Dark. Salem and Selene thought it over for a while. We did make a Blade called the SoothsayersBlade, however it chose an old poem writing gypsy woman as a master,” said Selene. “That was over two hundred years ago. The SoothsayersBlade could have changed hands since then,” said Salem. “However this Mysterious Master did it, there IS a spy in your group. The last fight had shown me what I needed to see. I now know beyond any doubt who this spy is,” said Dark, “But we must continue as if we do not know. You remember what Terra told you Salem and Selene. All eight of you are needed to restore Gin’s wish.” “Wait! I thought this was to find a missing Blade,” said James. “Things have changed since we were last together,” said Selene. “Well, that is very obvious. Here we are with Lord DarkRaptor talking about a spy in your group,” said James, “So out with it already. Who is this spy?” “I think you got this wrong James. I am not the leader. Selene and Salem still lead this group. I am just one of the people coming along to help,” said Dark, “As for the spy. I now know it is Vivien Leblanc.” “Vivien?!” yelled both of the twins. “The vampire?” said James.

“What do you have to support this?” asked Selene. “It started at the Tagi Challenge. You told me that General Carcass was very brutal with his opponents on the first day of the challenge,” said Dark, “He had fought every one of them to the death. Yet, on the second day when he faced Vivien, all he did was grab her and cut her sleeve open to expose her to the suns’ light and let her go so she can run away to the closest shade. Why did he do that? Because he knew she was needed for his Master’s plan. The next time you saw her was at the Bill’s Miller Tavern. I am surprised that you found nothing strange in the fact that Vivien appeared at the tavern of the inn you were staying at on that day when she had not been there before. Then there was the last day where Vivien had disappeared. We can only guess what she was doing on that day. Then on the TidusBlade, when you were under attack by the megalodons, you found her on the level were Emhril was knocked out. Did you not suspect a thing when you found Vivien moving to the back of the ship away from Emhril when the back was filled with water and Emhril was lying in a section where the water was only ankle high?” “You mean she helped those convicts steal my mirror?!” yelled James. “I do not think there was anyone else on the ship. She did it alone,” said Dark, “You were distracted by false information you were given by a convict who had nothing to lose. There are many other suspicious acts, but the one that told me what was going on was at Mount Obelisk. Vivien pretended to have been knocked out by some unseen force. Vivien was actually waiting to see the result. If the Phantom army had killed us, Vivien would not have to do much being a dark creature, the army would have left her alone allowing her to dig for the SaintBlade herself and then take it to her master. The deadly gas was no factor since vampires do not actually breathe anyway. Their bodies get oxygen from the blood of their victims. But we beat the army and so Vivien has to continue her innocent act until the time is right for her to take the SaintBlade from us and deliver it to her master.”

This information was very shocking to the twins. James was ready to call his security force to have the vampire thrown in the brig. “We must not let her suspect we know,” said Dark. “You mean I have to let that thieving bitch walk around the ship as if were ignorant of her doings?” said James. “Well you could always post guards on her like you did before. Just make sure they do not leave her side this time like during the megalodon attack,” said Dark, “But now I think ti is time I filled the captain in on where I have been for the last twenty years.” “We have things we must do before we arrive at Koror,” said Salem. “Remember, do not treat Vivien any differently. She might think that you know and will fly off. We will be in a real jam if we don’t have her to restore Gin’s wish. And don’t tell Jarody. He might warn her and tell her to run where he can meet up with her later. “He would do something like that,” said Selene. The twins leave the Captain’s office while Dark begins to tell her story to James.

Chapter 45

The TidusBlade slowly pulls into the Mantyan Falls Sea Port, located near the giant waterfalls that poured into the Mantyan Expanse. A large sandbar kept the ships at the port from floating away and falling into the Mantyan Expanse. The TidusBlade slowly moved into port and doors opened as crew members jumped out to secure the mooring lines to the dock. The MobilBlade had just entered town and was heading up the wooden ramp that led up to the docks. Sturmer was laying on top of the MobilBlade, enjoying the ride. “Greetings!” yelled Lieutenant Harke from the magical Port door that stood in the middle of the dock. “Where are the others?” Harke asked. “They will join us later at the fishing town of Koror.” “In that case I better tell the Captain to get ready to leave immediately,” said Harke as he helped guide the MobilBlade into the TidusBlade’s large cargo hold. Behind some boxes and through large fishing nets, a dark figure moves quickly through the dock. A single crew member is guarding one of the doors of the TidusBlade waiting for food service crewmembers to return with the few supplies they needed. “Fist,” whispered the dark figure to himself as he jumped off the side of the dock and held onto the edge to keep himself from falling into the water. The dark figure used his large hands to make his way along the edge of the dock until he arrived at the door behind the guard. “Fist,” said the figure as he quickly pulled himself up and into the door without the guard suspecting a thing. The figure quickly finds an air duct to crawl into and began to quietly explore the inside of the TidusBlade.

The YeagerBlade began to head downward as they were getting close to Mount Obelisk. Kasey activates the YeagerBlade’s vertical thrusters. There was not much space to land on the mountain. Kasey had to make sure that the landing gear wheels were on solid, flat ground as they landed. Selene and the other Blade Masters jump out of the YeagerBlade the moment it had stopped. Selene had her WitchBlade in full armor mode with Zealot holding his SabreBlade up high, ready to use it. The mountain was nothing more than an ash heap. It was a floating alien wasteland totally cutoff by the Mantyan Expanse all around and under it. Last time the Raptors were here, it was part of the yet to be explored north country. It was the final fight between DarkRaptor and the late De La Groot that disconnected the mountain from land and sent it to drift aimlessly in this part of the bottomless region. Vivien exits the top of the YeagerBlade with Rook and the GullBlade. Vivien was in charge of keeping an eye out for any approaching enemies while the others exited the large battle wing. Selene started to secure the landing spot by constructing an infection wall around the YeagerBlade. Christina closes her eyes in order to concentrate on what the GullBlade was seeing as it flew around the collapsed mountain. ColdRaptor transformed into her Velocir mode and began to scout the area to find the places the GullBlade cannot see and to find deadly natural gas fountains, if any. Salem steps out of the Blade and yelled, “See anything Vivien?” The young vampire shook her head no as she continued to fly around in circles above the YeagerBlade. Mage Khet looks out the door but stays inside where he considered it safe.

DarkRaptor exits the YeagerBlade just as Selene completes the infection wall. “Everything looks clear from the sky,” said Christina. “Report Cold,” said Dark into her watch. “There are a lot of gas filled caves,” ColdRaptor’s monotone voice sounding even more inhuman through the watch communicator, “I do not think there is anything living here.” “That doesn’t mean that there’s nothing here,” said Jarody as he walked down the YeagerBlade’s steps. “I’m feeling very uncomfortable here,” said Zealot as he continues to hold up his Blade. Suddenly, DarkRaptor’s watch gave an odd electric whistle and then a strange sound that Selene can only compare it to a waterfall. “Cold?” called Dark into her watch, “COLD! She’s been cutoff.” Thud! The loud sound came without warning above them causing them to look up at the large battle wing. “Vivien?” called Salem. Vivien had fallen onto the YeagerBlade. Dark was the only one who could jump high enough to get to Vivien. Her right arm was the only part of her hanging off the side of the wing. The HealthBlade on Haiku’s back used it’s free legs to launch it’s master onto the wing as well. Dark pulls Vivien’s dangling arm up onto the wing and feels her wrist for a pulse. Haiku arrived and began to check Vivien. “Her pulse seems to be steady,” said Dark. “What happened?” called up Selene. “She just passed out,” yelled Haiku. “Can you see why?” asked Dark. “I see no reason for her to be out,” said Haiku, “There’s no physical clue.” “Aagh!” yelled Christina before falling to her knees. “Christina!” yelled David as he ran to her. “What happened?” asked Salem. “My head!” yelled a crying Christina, “Something attacked my head!” Pawn gave a frightened squeak and quickly jumped off of Salem’s shoulders and ran faster than Salem had ever seen him run into the YeagerBlade. “What!” Selene was about to say something more when their attention turned to Rook returning to the YeagerBlade and flying back inside. “But Rook does not like being inside,” said Salem. “There is something very wrong here,” continued Zealot, “I can feel darkness all around. Haiku and Dark bring the unconscious Vivien down and Emhril takes his young daughter by the arm, “You go inside and close the door.” “But!” began Haiku. “I don’t want to hear it young lady! Go inside now!” demanded Emhril. Haiku reluctantly went inside the YeagerBlade and closed the door behind her. “That is good thinking,” said Dark. “Clearly there is something here that we have not experienced before,” said Selene.

PurpleRaptor opened the map that RedRaptor had made for them and pointed out where they were. “You should go inside too,” David instructed PurpleRaptor. Purple just gave him a look that made David feel as if he was about to become dinner. “She only looks like a little girl,” reminded Dark. Pawn’s little head pops up next to Kasey’s in the cockpit of the YeagerBlade almost scaring Kasey. “You chicken!” yelled Salem up to her pet. Zealot climbed up on top of the YeagerBlade to take Vivien’s place. As soon as Zealot stood up, he could see a shadow of a cloud approaching them. The only thing wrong with this; the sky was clear. “There’s something coming!” yelled Zealot. “The Ut army?!” asked Selene. “I don’t know what it is but it’s big and it’s almost here!” yelled Zealot. “Dark,” called ColdRaptor through Dark’s watch, “Something tried to shut down my systems” “Return, Cold,” ordered Dark, “We are under attack.” The infection wall began to rattle and shake from some unseen force. “Have Kasey take off until we can secure the area,” said Dark. “Good idea,” said Selene as she watches her infection wall shake. “Salem yelled up to Kasey, “Toss Pawn down and get the YeagerBlade out of here!” Zealot jumped off the top of the YeagerBlade. Kasey did not have to be told twice. She opened a window and began to push Pawn out with great difficulty. Pawn kept stopping her by holding on to the edges of the window with his paws. Kasey unhooked each paw and tried again only to have Pawn grab the sides again. Kasey quickly put Pawn in an old mail bag and tossed the bag out the window. Salem caught the bag and waited until the YeagerBlade began to leave the ground before she pulled Pawn out. The YeagerBlade’s landing wheels folded into the body and Kasey pulled the engine throttles to full power and quickly took to the sky leaving the Blade Masters and the Raptors on the mountain surrounded by a large shapeless shadow.

Selene takes hold of the infection wall to reinforce it when it stops shaking. The wall was too high for any of them to see over it. Christina could not connect with her GullBlade again. Vivien was still out and was not responding to any attempt to bring her around. SLAP! “Wake up already!” yelled Jarody into Vivien’s ear. “Quit slapping her,” said Salem as she tries to calm down a struggling Pawn in her hands, “She is not waking up.” Only the sound of the engines on the YeagerBlade circling high above them could be heard. Selene transforms the infection wall to form small windows on the sides. The Blade Masters all move to a window each to look outside. There was an army of dark faceless figures in black armor standing all around them. A few of the figures were on top of headless horses. “Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” said Jarody. “Cold, report” ordered Dark. “I’m just behind an army of floating armor,” said Cold through Dark’s watch, “I found Christina’s weapon lying on the ground nearby.” “Hold your position and wait for further instruction,” ordered Dark. “What do we do now? Fight?” asked Zealot. “Not sure that fighting will do us much good,” said David, “Have you seen those things?” “Salem, get Pawn ready to use his ThievesBlade’s void. Let us see if we cannot get rid of them all with one attack,” said Selene. Pawn just wanted to run and hide somewhere. He knew what was outside and did not want any part of it. Salem finally gets to Pawn’s underbelly and begins to rub him down. Pawn could never resist when his master did this and began to feel better. Pawn stopped trying to get out of Salem’s grip and became very relaxed. Salem placed Pawn on the back of her neck again and then got her GunBlade ready with a fresh load of firefly. “I think I know this army,” said Dark, “This is De La Groot’s army.” “I do not remember De La Groot having an army of dark figures,” said Selene. “They were not dead back then,” said Dark. “I hope they are dead enough,” said Salem, “Pawn’s ThievesBlade’s void cannot take in things with a soul.” “We will try and do away with these things while the rest of you join ColdRaptor,” said Selene. “Where is Cold?” asked Emhril.” “I will have Cold light a ground flare. Just run to the bright orange fire,” said Dark.

Selene drops a section of infection wall and the Blade Masters run out with Dark carrying Vivien on her back. Salem stops at the opening and commands, “Pawn, ThievesBlade’s void!” Pawn opens a large void and begins to pull in large pieces of ash and rock but the army of phantoms was unaffected. Archers took aim and fired a cloud of very lethal arrows into the air. Fortunately, the void was able to pull the arrows in just before closing. ColdRaptor tosses out a lit flare so the others could find her. The Blade Masters begin to run to Cold’s position with a platoon of phantom lance men blocking the way. PurpleRaptor yells at the lance men blowing them away with a very destructive sound wave. The attack blew the phantoms away but it had not stopped them. The lance men regrouped and started to return. PurpleRaptor takes her Soundwave guitar and attaches it to her backpack activating it’s soundboard mode. The neck of the guitar folded in and the main body of the guitar opened up to reveal a small piano keyboard and a soundboard that would rival the most high tech recording studio on the modern world named Earth. A large array of round panels fold out of the backpack and clicks into place. Purple pulls out a CD and places it into a slot on the soundboard. Purple selects a song from a list on a small screen and turns up the volume. Each flat panel speaker locks on a target and begins to blast a concentrated sound wave. PurpleRaptor pulls out the guitar neck that had folded into the guitar body and detaches it to play it as a mini guitar. Doing this allows PurpleRaptor to control the pitch and power of the sound waves being created by the specialized speakers. At the same time, the computer inside the backpack is analyzing the sound frequency that was being bounced back to her.

“We need a new attack plan!” yelled Selene as she started to fight a few phantom ax men. “These are dark spirits,” said Salem, “Pawn, LightBlade.” The small animal opened his void and the LightBlade flew out. Selene caught it and activated it’s power. The dark figures began to vanish but the armor remained and continued to fight without their ghostly owners. “Destroy the armor,” suggested Dark. Emhril Jumped back into the thick of the fight and started to swing his EarthBlade around on it’s eternity chain. The large heavy ball went crashing into the army of floating empty armor. It scattered the armor in every direction but they regrouped and started to march back to the fight again. “The MirrorBlade would stop this very easily,” said Salem. “Any luck waking Vivien?” asked Selene. Dark shook the unconscious vampire with no reaction, “Can you use her Blade?” “Not after it has taken a master,” answered Salem blocking three sword men attacking. Selene took hold of an ax man armor and began to infect it. The armor exploded in a blast of dark energy throwing Selene about twenty feet into the air. ColdRaptor jumped and caught Selene to bring her down safely. “That’s Rob Zombie’s ‘Dragula’ isn’t it,” Jarody asked PurpleRaptor, “Good selection.” Zealot throws his eternity chain from his SabreBlade out to cover every inch of ground around and under the phantom army and begins to chant a spell to banish the spirits inside the floating armor. Christina detaches the wings of the inactive GullBlade and formed her battle wing. Christina used the large battle wing as a shield to block attacks directed to her as she made her way to Selene with the rest of the GullBlade. David launched a few TsunamiBlade waves into the army with no result at all. The wave just washed over them. Zealot completed his chant and released his spell. The eternity chain gave off a bright greenish glow and a large snap could be heard. The light died out with no result. Suddenly Zealot is tossed up into the air with a great force. ColdRaptor got ready to catch the lizard man but was left waiting as Zealot continued to climb higher and higher in the air. Eventually, Zealot found himself lying on top of the YeagerBlade still circling the mountain. Salem gave Jarody an angry look. “What?” asked Jarody. “These are disembodied souls! Are they not your responsibility?” yelled Salem. “I can’t take them if they’re not willing to go,” answered Jarody, “If they were still alive, I could do something.” DarkRaptor grabbed Jarody by the collar of his t-shirt and lifted him a foot off the ground, “You could use your Blade to hold back the front line until one of us can find a successful attack.” “OK! OK! You’re stretching out the fabric!” answered Jarody who did not waste any time pulling out his knife and transforming it into the ScytheBlade. Jarody turned to the shield men protecting the archers who send up another cloud of arrows. Pawn uses his void to intercept the arrows again as Jarody started a direct attack to disable the bows.

The computer displayed the results of it’s analysis onto one of several screens around PurpleRaptor. The two larger screens behind Purple showed the singer in a head shot only singing the song that was now coming to an end. PurpleRaptor gave a simple hand signal to Dark. “Do it,” yelled Dark as she took an ax from one of the phantoms to see if using it would result in anything significant. “Sorry Christina, I cannot tell what is wrong with your Blade right now. We will have to wait until after the battle, if we survive,” said Selene. “Use your light Wings,” yelled Dark. “OH! I forgot all about that!” said Christina as she reattached the wings to the inactive GullBlade. Christina takes off her jacket to reveal the two large holes in her shirt on her back. Christina stood up, “Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!” Two large curved rods of light form behind her as two appendages extend out of Christina’s back, “Wings!” The two appendages make a clanking sound as a fore image attaches to the tops of the rods, and a second clank as a second fore image attaches and finally the last clank as the appendages make a final connection. Two large white wings made of pure light extend out showing a large span that extend from one side of the clearing to the other. Light covers everything around Christina. The Blade Masters and the Raptors move close to Christina. The phantom army starts to move back but they give no sign of retreating. “We have a stand off,” said Selene. The top doors on the YeagerBlade opened to let Zealot inside. Zealot was busy trying to keep track of what was going on below. From where he was, all Zealot could see was a dome of pure light and the phantom army standing around it. “Get in here Zealot!” yelled Haiku from the opening, “You’ll fall!” Zealot just realized where he was and knew that the child was right. He slowly made his way to the open door and into the YeagerBlade.

“What now?” asked Jarody. “What is that?” asked Salem, pointing at the display on PurpleRaptor’s screen as the childlike Raptor worked on the controls of her soundboard. “What you are seeing is a display of all the sound frequencies that have returned to PurpleRaptor while she transmitted the entire spectrum of sound waves,” said Dark. “AND?!” jabbed Jarody. “You see that there is a frequency that didn’t return,” said Dark, “Are you ready yet Purple?” PurpleRaptor hit a few more buttons on her soundboard and then turned up a volume control before giving a ‘thumbs up’. “Ever seen a singer shatter a glass? The frequency that did not return is the resonant frequency of the armor,” explained Dark, “We blast the armor with this frequency long enough; they should shatter into millions of pieces. Now take a speaker and point it at the army around us. “Hurry,” said Christina, “My wings are getting tired.” PurpleRaptor played a note in the small piano keyboard and the loud sound frequency shot out of the flat speakers. The phantom armor began to shake and clang while others just fell to the ground. “Keep the speakers on them!” yelled Dark. “Until when?” asked Selene. The armor began to burst into a reddish dust. Christina’s wings dropped and folded out of pain from holding them open for a long time. The last phantom armor burst into dust and fall to the ground. “Quick! We need to melt the dust,” said Dark. The GullBlade became active again. “GullBlade!” called Christina, “Phoenix Mode!” The GullBlade bursts into a flaming bird and starts to fly over the dust circle. Some of the dust was beginning to form into a reddish figure. The Phoenix melts the figure into the rest of the dust. Soon, the metal dust had become a large metal ring. “Now we need to toss this into the Mantyan Expanse,” said Dark. “Rook!” called Selene. Rook heard her master’s call and exits the YeagerBlade. “TalonBlade lift!” ordered Selene. Rook took hold of the large metal ring with her glowing golden TalonBlades and lifted it off the ground. Rook quickly flew it over the heads of the Blade Masters and threw it off the edge into the oblivion of the Mantyan Expanse.

Vivien began to wake up and the YeagerBlade returned to land in the same spot. “Well now that the easy part is over,” said Selene. “The easy part? What is the hard part?” asked Emhril. “We have to find a single Blade in this mess,” said Salem. The Blade Masters took a look at the mountain. “How about Terra’s Blade?” asked Haiku. “Pawn, the TerraBlade, Please,” ordered Salem. Pawn opened the ThievesBlade’s void and out came the enormous TerraBlade. “The TerraBlade is a giant cave spider,” said Dark, “It figures.” Selene jumped up onto the TerraBlade, “I combine the WitchBlade to the TerraBlade to form the WitchTerraBlade!” yelled Selene. The large spider separated into two large gauntlets floating in the air. Selene lands on the ground again with her own WitchBlade as two gauntlets. The large TerraBlade gauntlets copied every movement Selene made with her gauntlets. Dark pulled out the map again to find the spot the SaintBlade could be. Vivien writes in her RPG, “What happened?” “A ghostly force here caused you to pass out,” said Haiku. “They must have known that she posed the greatest threat to them,” said Dark. The large TerraBlade gauntlets moved the large rock with great ease. It looked as if the rock and molten ash moved out of the way for the TerraBlade. There were a few bursts of flames as gasses mixed and exploded. It took no time at all for the TerraBlade to find the true SaintBlade. The TerraBlade transformed back into a giant spider and delivered the SaintBlade to the Blade Masters. Christina could not keep herself from dropping to her knees and bowing her head before the SaintBlade. Her wings made her look like a praying angel. “Look at that,” said Zealot, “It looks nothing like the SaintBlades you see in the cathedrals and temples.” “It looks like a normal spear,” said Emhril, “Where are the ornate markings and symbolic images on the handle?” “Religion is always like that,” said Jarody, “Any normal looking object with a religious significance gets exaggerated and becomes something different over the years.” “We need to get to the Blade Temple as soon as possible now,” said Selene. “Then hop on and I’ll get you there at full speed!” yelled Kasey from her YeagerBlade. “Give us time to get seated first!” yelled Jarody as they began to board.

Chapter 44

Kasey hopped around her small kitchen getting drinks ready for her new houseguests. “Kasey, we do not have much time for refreshments. We need you to take us to Mount Obelisk,” said Selene. “Mount Obelisk? Why must you go to such a forsaken place so quickly?” asked Kasey. “Excuse me,” interrupted Dark, “Why are you dressed like that?” “Oh, my neighbors have made me a teacher of our first school,” “A school?” asked Salem. “Yes. The new Hoofar in a neighboring country has found it necessary to be a big meany and is trying to call all of Cragorus part of his country,” said Kasey. “Actually, the new Hoofar is a woman,” said Mage Khet, “This land is without a government and the people are lawless.” “Who is this?” asked Kasey. “I am the Royal Mage of the Palace of the Hoofar!” said Mage Khet standing up looking proud of himself. “Well you can go back to your Hoofar and tell him or her that we like things the way they are,” said Kasey. “Why a school?” asked Salem. “We see that the only reason why this idiot’s Hoofar wants to have our land is because we have no government or laws,” said Kasey. “The Hoofar wants to help this land by establishing laws to stop the thieves and killers of this land,” said Mage Khet. “There are no thieves here. Nothing of mine has ever been taking from me. We all share what we have and as for killings? I don’t know what makes her think people are being killed here,” said Kasey. “Oh come on! The Hoofar has sent surveyors and solders here to map and establish the Hoofar’s rule but none of them have ever returned,” said Mage Khet. “That’s because they have to travel around Cragorus Mountain, where a nest of velociraptors live and they keep getting eaten,” said Dark leaning back on a wall. “I heard people talking about seeing wingless dragons walking around the mountain where Terra lives. Is that what they are called?” asked Kasey. “She should know!” began Mage Khet, but stops talking when he sees Dark look at him with a murderous expression. “He is right, I, like you Kasey, am a citizen of this land. My family and I live in the isolated valley just outside Terra’s cave. We have seen these velociraptors around but they seem to leave us alone,” said Dark. “So they are the reason why we’ve only heard of the Hoofar’s intention to take over our land but have yet to see any representatives of the Hoofar,” said Kasey before she turned to look at Mage Khet, “Until today. How did you get past those dragons? Why are you here now?” Mage Khet was about to answer but is stopped by Dark’s look again. “We brought him with us. He was assigned to us as an escort while we were in the Hoofar’s country,” said Selene. “OH! The Hoofar is already calling Cragorus part of her country?! Even though he or she hasn’t met with anyone who actually lives here?!” said Kasey. “There’s no one TO talk to! You have no government!” yelled Mage Khet. “We don’t need a government. We’re doing fine without one,” said Kasey. “YOU HAVE NO LAWS!” yelled Mage Khet. “Make no laws and no laws will get broken!” Kasey yelled back, “We have to have a school to teach our children about government. We are forming our own government so we can get this Hoofar to stop claming our land.” “So you are establishing a government after all?” asked Selene. “Yes, so we can continue to live with out one,” said Kasey. “Wait! Now I am confused. The people of Cragorus are establishing a government so they can continue to live without one?” asked Salem. “That’s right. So I have to teach the children about government and how it works so we can have a government without a government,” said Kasey. Salem, Mage Khet and Dark look at Selene for an explanation. “I am still lost,” answered Selene. “Look, if we just tell them that we do have a government and what our government does, maybe they’ll believe us and leave us alone seeing that we do have a government when in fact we don’t,” said Kasey. The room continued to be quiet. “I think I see what you are saying, however, you being a school teacher is still no explanation for your outfit,” said Dark. “Oh, I’m dressed as President Fluffy Bunny. He’s a character of a storybook we’re basing our fake government on,” said Kasey. “You just finished teaching the children of this town about government?” asked Salem. “Oh, no. It’s Summer break right now. There’s no class for two more months. That’s why I was trying to figure out what to do today. Been a while since I had a day to myself,” said Kasey. “And yet you still have the costume on?” asked Selene. “Well if any kids come over to my home with a government question, I want to be ready,” said Kasey.

The twins, Kasey, Mage Khet and DarkRaptor exit the small home. Jarody, Zealot and David were standing together when they saw them come out. “Great, she’s still wearing the bunny costume,” said Jarody. Emhril and Mal were next to the MobilBlade watching Haiku play with her HealthBlade and trying to get PurpleRaptor to play with her. Christina, Vivien and Lagan were standing at the edge of the cliff on the edge of the Mantyan Expanse, looking down at the thick fog about eighty feet below them. The view of the Mantyan Expanse was a real one of a kind sight as the fog before them reached out beyond the horizon. “They say that the fog of the Mantyan Expanse covers a bottomless valley,” said Christina. “There has to be a bottom. There’s no such thing as bottomless. Otherwise, there’d be a hole in the world,” said Lagan. “How about if we toss this piece of metal I found over the edge and we will have Vivien listen for it to hit the ground, since she has great hearing,” said Christina. “That sounds like an Idea,” said Lagan, “Do you want to do that Vivien?” Vivien nods her head yes. Christina tosses the metal into the Mantyan Expanse and watches it as it falls. Vivien tilts her head to the side so she can hear it better. The metal hits the side of the cliff and continues to hit the side giving off a ring loud enough for all three to hear. The metal piece penetrates the fog and slowly disappears into the white haze. The ringing slowly fades away for Christina and Lagan but Vivien can still hear it as if it were next to her. Vivien concentrates on the sound and stands very still at the edge. “Has it hit bottom yet?” asked Christina. Vivien does not answer. She can still hear the metal ringing as it continues to hit the side on it’s way down. Eventually, the sound fades away for Vivien causing her to stand up and looks down at the fog. “Well?” asked Christina. “Did it hit the bottom?” asked Lagan. Vivien turns to the other two with her eyes as wide as saucers and shakes her head no. “Well I be damned,” said Lagan, “The Mantyan Expanse is bottomless.

“What about your carriage?” asked Kasey. Mal and Lagan are going to travel to the Mantyan Falls where the TidusBlade will take them to Koror. That is where we are going to go after we retrieve what we need form Mount Obelisk,” said Selene. “I think I’ll go with them,” said Mage Khet. “No, we want you to stick with us. We don’t want you trying to run back to your Hoofar to tell her what you’ve heard and seen,” said Dark. “That’s a great idea,” said Kasey, “We don’t need him telling that Hoofar that we don’t really have a government.” “A prisoner! You’re making me a prisoner!” yelled Mage Khet. “Why don’t you just feed him to one of the velociraptors?” asked Kasey. “There is plenty of time to do that,” said Dark, from behind Mage Khet. “Lagan, Mal,” called Selene, “Make your way to the Mantyan Falls now. “Knight!” called Salem. The owl appeared out of nowhere and landed on Salem’s right shoulder. Pawn starts to squirm because Knight landed on one of his legs. Salem ignores Pawn’s struggling and attaches a letter to Knight. “Take this to Captain James T. Koror,” instructed Salem. Knight gave a heavy shove as he jumped back into the air causing Pawn to squeal, than flew off becoming invisible again. “The TidusBlade will be there to meet you,” said Selene. “You’re going to need my help,” said Lagan. “All we are doing is going to Mount Obelisk to pick up the SaintBlade and we will be on our way to meet you in the Temple of the Blades at the Fishing Village of Koror,” said Selene, “That is the best place to wait until the SunBlade begins to fall.” “I understand” said Lagan.

“Now it is time to get my YeagerBlade ready for the Flight,” said Kasey. “YeagerBlade?” asked Dark, “Thought we were going to travel to Mount Obelisk on an airship. What kind of Blade can take us all to a collapsed mountain eighteen miles away at the other side of a bottomless fog covered hole?” asked Dark. Zealot, David,” called Selene, “Can you open the hanger doors for us?” Zealot and David pull open the locks and begins to slide open the massive doors with surprising ease. Behind the doors, the YeagerBlade is slowly revealed. “The YeagerBlade is a Tech Blade class Accessory Blade in the form of the large battle wing,” explained Selene, “The YeagerBlade’s Length is 69 feet or 20.9 meters. Height is 17 feet or 5.1 meters. The YeagerBlade has a wingspan of 172 feet or 52.12 meters long and it’s ceiling is 50,000 feet or 15,240 meters. Typical takeoff weight: 336,500 pounds or 152,634 kilograms. The YeagerBlade is the largest of all Accessory Blades. It can travel at high subsonic speed in the air, meaning its top speed is just under the speed of sound, around 1,000 feet per second or 305 meters a second, and it has been in space once.” “Must you include both standard and metric in your explanations?” asked Dark. Christina took a look at the large Blade, “That is the biggest wing I have ever seen.” “This use to be Yeager’s Blade, the Caretaker of the sky and clouds,” said Kasey as she entered the hanger and climbed up to the YeagerBlade’s cockpit. Dark leans close to Selene’s ear. “This is what I was telling you. Why invent an airplane when there is a Blade that saves us the trouble.” This comment did not sit well in Selene’s chest. The engines started up and the YeagerBlade slowly rolls out of the hanger. “All aboard!” yelled Kasey out of one of the cockpit windows. “Go with Mal!” called Zealot to Sturmer who was hiding in some bushes. The MobilBlade with Mal and Detective Lagan leaves down a beaten path with Sturmer taking up the rear to rendezvous with the TidusBlade. Inside the YeagerBlade, it was very much like the BoltBlade, only there was a lot more room and many more seats inside. There was barely any time to find a seat as Kasey hits the afterburner to launch the YeagerBlade off the side of the cliff and high over the Mantyan Expanse. “WAIT FOR US TO GET SEATED, Kasey The Weird!” yelled Jarody who had fallen on the floor. “Just like that, we are off to Mount Obelisk,” said Selene. Salem looked out of the window she was seated next to. It was very important that they complete what Terra sent them out do to, but she still wanted to be back in Terra’s cave to be with her in her last moments on this world.

Chapter 43

From the sound coming from the third tent, Emhril could tell that that one was Selene and Zealot’s. Emhril went over to one of the storage doors on the outside of the MobilBlade and pulled out the pots and material needed to cook breakfast. All he needed now was the food. Pawn is the one who has it stored in the ThievesBlade’s void. The trouble now was to find him. Emhril knew he was not in the first tent, because that was the one Vivien slipped into. No question about the third one. If only he was awake when everyone else was setting up their tents, then he would know. Emhril snuck over to the second tent and took a quick peek inside. David and Christina were wrapped together in a blanket inside. ‘Pawn’s not going to be in here,’ thought Emhril, ‘Three out of five tents down, two to go’ “What are you doing?” said ColdRaptor who was suddenly standing in his way and not even trying to keep her voice low. “I’m looking for Pawn so I can get breakfast started,” whispered Emhril. ColdRaptor just stood there. Emhril could not tell if Cold was looking at him or not. The metallic visor on her face completely hid her eyes. ‘If she had eyes,’ thought Emhril. “Carry on,” said Cold, still not lowering her voice, “The rodent is inside that tent.” Cold pointed to the fourth tent before returning to the top of the MobilBlade. Rook returned to the roof of the MobilBlade as well with a dead rat in one of her golden claws. Rook began to tear away at the flesh of the rat.

Emhril turned his attention from the feeding hawk to the fourth tent. Emhril slowly opened the tent flap to see Salem and Detective Lagan inside. They were naked with their arms around each other and the blanket only covering them from the waist down. Emhril’s pants were feeling uncomfortable again. “Pawn?” called Emhril as quietly as he could without waking ether woman. Emhril looked around the tent for the animal but his eyes kept stopping on Detective Lagan’s right hand covering Salem’s left breast. In the very back of Emhril’s mind was a small voice that said, ‘Salem’s tits look a lot bigger when she is naked.” Emhril wanted to slap himself for thinking such a thing. “Pawn?” Emhril quietly called again. Pawn’s masked little head popped up from above Salem’s head and he made smacking sounds with his little mouth. “Come here, Pawn. I need you,” whispered Emhril. Pawn ran along the naked back of Salem to get to Emhril. Salem began to shift causing Emhril to quickly let go of the tent flap. Pawn slips from under the flap and stands on his hind legs. Pawn starts to look around; tilting his head from side to side as if this was the first time he was seeing everything. “I need the breakfast food supply box,” said Emhril, still keeping his voice low, “It’s in the large yellow box. You remember the box?” Pawn did not appear to be paying Emhril any attention. The small animal continued to look around and now he sees Rook eating a rat. “Pawn?” called Emhril, who was now at a total loss at what to do. Pawn gave a squeaky sneeze and opened his mouth in a yawn. The ThievesBlade’s void opened and a yellow box landed next to the cooking equipment. “Thanks,” said Emhril when he saw the box. Emhril began to unpack what he needed to make the morning breakfast when Pawn began to chirp at him. “Ah, you want a treat,” said Emhril. Emhril was not sure what Pawn liked. He pulled out a bag of peanuts and took a peanut out. Emhril handed the peanut to Pawn who took it in his jaws and ran back to Salem and Lagan’s tent where he stopped next to it and began to crack open the shell. It was not long when Pawn returned for another peanut.

The second sun was just coming from behind the horizon when everyone else began to climb out of their tents dressed. Emhril had finished making the breakfast and was letting it cool while trying to keep the peanuts away from Pawn who was now climbing all over him to get at the bag. David looks at Emhril and asks, “Is that a ferret in your shirt or are you just happy to be here?” “Here, take this!” yelled Emhril before he threw the bag to David. David caught the bag and took a look at it. Pawn saw that David had the bag now so he jumped off of Emhril and landed on David’s face. “Agh! Get him off!” yelled David, as he ran around the camp site. Dark exited her tent to see what the commotion was about. David was passing her when Dark put out her right foot and tripped David. The peanut bag went airborne and Dark caught it. Pawn had avoided being squashed by climbing on David’s back and was now looking up at Dark ready to jump up on her. “You want this?” asked Dark. Pawn began to chirp. “Go wake your master and you can have this bag,” said Dark. Pawn jumped off of David and ran into Salem and Detective Lagan’s tent. “You have to know how to talk to animals. They are all goal orientated,” said Dark as David slowly got up from the ground. Selene exits her tent dressed and ready to go. Zealot exits the tent behind her and starts to break the tent down. “We look to be only an hour away from Corsair,” said Dark. “We will have breakfast and we will go into town to find Kasey. “Don’t you mean ‘Kasey The Weird’?” said Jarody as he exited his tent. “She is not that much of an odd person,” said Salem as she exited her tent with Pawn excitedly chirping in her ear. “What is wrong with you today?” asked Salem. “He wants this,” said Dark as she tossed the peanut bag to Salem. “Peanuts?” asked Salem. “Oh, Gin,” said Selene, “He is going to be hyper for a while.”

“Back to me,” said Jarody. A fully dressed Vivien exits the tent and begins to break it down. “Kasey is not weird,” said Salem. “Last time we saw her, she was walking around in a chicken costume,” said Jarody. “That is because she was reading ‘The Big White Hen’ to the village children at the time,” said Selene. “She never took the costume off, not even when we were far from the village,” said Jarody, “I don’t know about you guys but she just creeps me out.” “Now I know I want to meet this woman who puts the creeps into Death,” said Dark.

The tents were all put away and the Blade Masters enjoyed the breakfast Emhril had cooked. Dark, Purple and ColdRaptor were in the woods hunting for fresh meat. The women had gathered around the back of the MobilBlade to eat their breakfast while the men talked around the dying fire. “So you got to get into Christina last night,” said Jarody. “I woke up three times during the night making sure it wasn’t just a dream,” said David. “Are they really huge?” asked Zealot. “Emhril’s EarthBlade is smaller than just one of them.,” said David, “As long as we’re on the subject, wouldn’t you rather be mating with a female Reptilian, Zealot?” “Selene is the only female of any species who likes to take them both at the same time,” said Zealot. “She takes them BOTH?!” yelled Jarody. “You’ve known the twins for thousands of years and yet you did not know Selene was that way?” asked Zealot. “Pal, you can know a woman for a million years, you will never have a full understanding of women,” said Jarody. “Here, here,” said David. “No truer words have been said,” said Zealot.

“So what makes Corsair different than any other town on the ledge of the Mantyan Expanse?” asked Christina. “Well,” began Selene, “Corsair is the largest town on this side of the Mantyan Expanse. It is also the city where airships are built. There really is no government in Cragorus, at least there was none before Isis took her claim over it. The people here are usually easy going and free spirited. What you will see is a town built by the people for the people.” “The whole place just makes me sick,” said Jarody walking over to the women’s group. They all saw the Raptors returning from their hunt. After breakfast, the group completely packed up to head for Corsair. “We head into Corsair now, Mount Obelisk isn’t far after,” said Dark. “You have a feeling?” asked Selene. “We may be facing some opposition from Rex Tyrann’s followers or some other enemy we have yet to meet when we arrive at Mount Obelisk. I suggest we search for supplies for a long battle as soon as we get to Corsair,” said Dark. “I can understand that,” said Selene.

Dark, Selene, Salem and Cold were on horseback again while the others ride in the MobilBlade. The town was more open spaces than an actual city. Every building appeared to be made of wood and built by hand. Every single level building looked to have been built by the same person. They were copies of the next one. The only buildings that where different were the large almost cylindrical like buildings where the airships were constructed and stored. This was there the most activity could be found. Men and women were swinging on ropes, hammering on wood and welding thin pieces of metal together with white hot rods from three furnaces, constructing a new airship. The same thing was happening in two other hangers the group passed. “This is very strange, it is like no one has noticed us,” said Christina. “They love their work,” said Salem. They were arriving at Kasey’s small home, sitting in the shadow of a large hanger. The hanger next to Kasey’s home was not like the others. It was more barn like than cylinder in shape. A person exited the home. “Crap!” yelled Jarody when he saw the person. “At least she is not in a chicken costume,” said Salem. “She is dressed as a white rabbit!” yelled Jarody.

Chapter 42

“Does this carriage need all the horses to move?” asked Dark. “It can move with just Need A Smoke and Brother In-law. They are just required for steering,” said Salem. “Good, it’s been a long time since I have ridden a horse, I’m going to need a refresher ride,” said Dark. Darkwind, Skyclap, Syntax and Raptor were disconnected from the MobilBlade leaving Need A Smoke and Brother In-law. Salem mounted Syntax, Selene mounted Darkwind and Dark mounts Skyclap. “David, take Raptor,” said Jarody, climbing back into the MobilBlade. “You just want to be alone with Vivien,” said David. “Well, YEAH!” replied Jarody. “I’m riding in here,” said David, “I’m just not fit for horses.” “Jarody,” called Dark,” Let Cold ride your horse.” “Fine, Cold isn’t really alive anyway,” said Jarody. Cold mounts Raptor very arbitrarily. “Now we have two pair of twins,” said Zealot. “Selene and Salem and now Dark and Cold,” said Christina.

Detective Lagan exits the house and climbs inside the MobilBlade as well. Lagan did not feel like talking much. Losing Pacer was very hard on her, but she felt very determined to get him back on her own. “Cold, ride behind the! The! What do you call this carriage?” asked Dark. “The MobilBlade,” answered Salem. “Ride behind the MobilBlade and help guard the rear,” ordered Dark. “Let’s go!” yelled Selene. Mal pulled on the reins to get the MobilBlade moving and on it’s way. Dark, Salem and Selene on horseback took the lead. ColdRaptor took the rear position with both the GullBlade and Rook flying high above now being joined by PurpleRaptor’s Soundwave. Sturmer moved along the bushes trying to stay out of sight. Inside the MobilBlade, Vivien wrote something on her new RPG. But before she could show Jarody or anyone else what she wrote, a voice from the RPG read what she wrote, “Like how I look?” “Yes, yes I do,” said Jarody, “Now take it off.” “Can’t you wait until we stop for the night?” asked David. “No. You didn’t want to leave, so you’ll just have to watch me have my way with my vampire chick,” said Jarody. “Please, put your sinful libido to rest!” yelled Lagan, before turning to a nearby window. Emhril almost fell out of his seat when Lagan yelled. “Is everything alright in there?” asked Mal. “We’re alright! Jarody was just about to undress Vivien when Lagan objected,” yelled David. “You have a big fat mouth, David. DO you know that?” said Jarody. What is your first name Detective Lagan?” asked David, ignoring Jarody. Lagan was still too upset to answer. “Great. I am stuck in a carriage with a hot body, a hot head, and a hot!” David looks at Jarody, “Never mind.”

Riding a horse was coming back to Dark. Salem and Selene stayed on ether side to help. “Your secret is safe with me,” said Dark, “I just don’t agree with the faith you have with these Blades.” “The Blades are the greatest weapon we have against evil,” said Salem. “The BLADES HAVE DAMAGED THIS WORLD MORE THAN They HAVE HELPED IT!” yelled Dark, “I see it now. I learned the history of Earth and in comparison; the Blades have truly damaged this world.” “How are the Blades causing damage?” asked an upset Selene. “This world had a head start on all other worlds,” said Dark, “The people of this world expect technology to come out of nowhere. This world has been stuck in the Dark Ages with no sign of improvement.” “You are not being very fair about this,” said Selene, “A lot of technological advancement has happened since your disappearance. Philosophers at Lysts have learned how to use stored energy to light the Palace City at night.” “Your scientists may have figured out how to use electricity, but do they know how it is made? If it weren’t for whatever Blade creating the electricity, would they have bothered trying to find a way to light the city? You are amazed to see things like cars and planes like the RaptorWing because the main form of transportation on this world is still by horse,” said Dark, “You use birds to send letters long distances! Look at the police! They’re using single shot muskets! GothRaptor, your GunBlade may be a real one of a kind weapon here in this world but on Earth, it is obsolete compared to the level of weapon technology found there. Ninety percent of all sea going vessels are wooden ships powered by wind sails. We are going to Corsair, a city on the edge of a cliff of the west side of the Mantyan Expanse where they use cloth bags filled with hydrogen to make boat hulls fly and a horse to walk on a treadmill to power a fan to push it forward.”

“You are blaming the Blades for the lack of technology that has been developed in this world?” asked Salem. “How about what has been accomplished?” asked Selene, “From what Jarody has told us, there are far more primitive worlds than this one.” “But those world’s inhabitants are just barely coming out of the caves and just starting to develop a language,” said Dark, “According to your religion, a wish created you and everyone at the time of this creation could already communicate, understood the concept of building shelter and had the knowledge to cultivate and tend to crops for food other than hunting.” Selene yelps out, “But the worlds!” “There really is no excuse why this world with it’s jump start to be so far back and a world like Earth to be so far advanced with in the same time frame without the jumpstart. This world has been disadvantaged because a deified alien forgot to clean up after himself. If “Gin” really did have the best interests in heart for the life that was here before he brought his family to hide from the evils of their home universe, he should have included a section in his colloquy to keep the Blades and the raw Blade metal hidden.” “THE BLADES HAVE MADE THIS WORLD BETTER!” yelled Salem, “Without the Blades, Evil would have overpowered what good is in this world long before you were even born.” “You would have simply been overpowered by the mass of evil that would have occupied this world without the Blades,” said Selene. “You don’t understand what you are saying,” said Dark, “What I am hearing is that people would have simply let evil overrun the land because they did not have alien technology. I say the people would have fought and good would have persevered against any and all odds without advanced weapons. Other worlds had to make due without Blades.” Salem yelped, “Other worlds!” “You’re just feeling this way because you’ve never experienced or seen a world develop and grow with no Blades or any other alien technology,” said Dark.

“How did the Blades get created to begin with? They came from an alien world that had to develop the technology. I guaranty you that they didn’t have Blades from the very beginning like this world had,” said Dark before taking a drink of water from her canteen, “You have been alive for over four thousand years, and yet I, who have only been alive for forty two years, a flash in the pan compared to your existence, find myself in the role of being your teacher. You don’t even know if being made into two people by a Blade has created a long-term effect that is working against you.” “We have been like this since Jarody made us immortal and we both feel that our lives have been long enough to qualify each of us as separate people,” said Selene. “But you probably still forget whose body is whose. I remember the story GrayRaptor told me,” said Dark, “She was mating with who she thought was BladeRaptor until the morning came and it turned out that she was actually with GothRaptor. Are you still having sex with other females, Goth?” “Some times,” said Salem. “All the Raptors knew that only BladeRaptor would allow a male Raptor to mate with her and GothRaptor was into touching other female and nurse Raptors,” said Dark, “It was that discrepancy that led me to find out the truth. Goth and BladeRaptor were one in the same. Remember?” The twins could remember the long day where Dark had them both locked in a small room. They were interrogated by Dark until they gave up and admitted the truth about them. “As I said before, I am very sorry it had to be handled like that but I have never left much to chance,” said Dark. “It still hurts,” said Salem. “We could no longer be apart of the Raptor Pack after that,” said Selene. “That is why we returned back to the Temple of the Blades,” said Salem. “And a year later, Blue delivered the baby who would become the new PhoenixRaptor to you,” said Dark.

Darkness of the night was beginning to fall over the traveling group. It felt as if they had just left the Raptors’ home that morning. “Stop!” ordered Selene, “Let us set up camp here. Begin to set up the tents. Haiku and Purple will sleep inside the MobilBlade.” “Have ColdRaptor take the night watch, she doesn’t need to sleep. Just a suggestion,” whispered Dark into Selene’s ear. “ColdRaptor, take the night watch,” said Selene. “Understood,” said Cold in her usual monotone voice. “Purple doesn’t need to be put in the extra protected MobilBlade,” said Dark. “She is going into the MobilBlade more for Haiku’s benefit, Dark. Haiku is not going to want to stay inside unless Purple is in there with her, and as long as Haiku is inside the MobilBlade, she will not hear what is going to be happening outside,” said Selene. “Ah, I see what you mean,” said Dark. Mage Khet jumps off the driver’s seat when Mal stops the MobilBlade, “A metal seat is not meant for long travel! Ouch! My poor tail.” PurpleRaptor reaches up as Soundwave comes down from the sky and transforms into it’s electric guitar mode. PurpleRaptor attaches the Soundwave guitar to a large metal backpack on her back. “My backpack changes into a spider,” said Haiku. Jarody stands back as Vivien pitches a tent for them. “Nice, have her do the work,” said David. Christina comes up to David, “Want to share a tent?” “Sure!” said David, clearly exited about the idea. “I’m going to share a tent with Zealot,” said Selene. “I guess that leaves me and the good Detective Lagan,” said Salem. Lagan just started to set up the tent without a word. “I think it would be best if you had a talk with her tonight and let her get out what feelings she has bottled inside,” whispered Dark. “Lend an ear,” said Salem, “I understand.” Mage Khet climbs into the MobilBlade for the night.

“Then I guess It will be Mal and myself,” said Dark. “Fine by me, as long as you don’t mind my snoring,” said Mal. “That’s Ok, as long as you don’t mind my growling,” said Dark. Christina walks up to Salem, “I have a question that’s been bugging me.” “Go ahead, Christina,” answered Salem. “Dark is a male Raptor,” said Christina. “Yes, that is right,” said Salem. “Well! Where is it?” asked Christina. “She is like Zealot, it is retractable. If she was naked now she would still look like a human female. The only person who has seen it is Blue,” said Salem, “This answers your question?” “Wow,” was all Christina could say as Salem started to help Detective Lagan with the tent. Christina started a fire before joining David in their tent. Christina could already hear Jarody and Vivien playing around as well as Selene and Zealot. ColdRaptor watched Christina entered her and David’s tent. “Where are your clothes David?” Cold heard Christina say, “Did not know you had a tattoo.” “We stopped?” said Emhril from inside the MobilBlade. “Time to sleep now daddy,” said Haiku. Rook perched on top of the MobilBlade next to ColdRaptor and began to clean herself before going to sleep. The GullBlade mimicked Rook and did the same thing. Sturmer found a tree near Zealot and Selene’s tent and started to rest still half awake just incase an attack happened. Sturmer was not sure what Zealot and Selene were doing inside, but a lot of it was happening.

Darkwind, Skyclap, Need A Smoke and Brother In-law found a quiet spot at the other side of the MobilBlade. It was a long trip. Only Darkwind and Skyclap knew what Corsair was like and knew to rest as much as they could. Need A Smoke and Brother In-law had learned to follow the two older horses’ lead since they had the most experience. All Syntax had in mind was Raptor. Syntax felt that this was the moment he had been waiting for. Raptor was near the back of the MobilBlade where ColdRaptor had left her. Syntax moved to Raptor. Her scent was the first thing that hit him. She had the most perfect aroma in the world he thought. Her black fur had a bluish glow in the moonlight and her rear end was very inviting. “Get back to the other male horses,” said ColdRaptor as she jumped down from the top of the MobilBlade. Cold takes Syntax by the reins and guides him back to the other four male horses. “Foiled again,” thought Syntax.

Chapter 41

The officer returned to the carriages and gave a hand signal. Other officers did the same thing when they returned. A man dressed like a detective, ducks his head in the fifth carriage where Captain Waller was sitting inside. “The block’s been secured and all the men are ready,” said the detective. “Give the signal to start infiltrating the Tyrann residence,” ordered the Captain. The detective pulled his head out of the carriage and waved his fist in the air for the other carriages to see. The right side carriage doors open and ten uniformed male and female officers from each carriage pour out and quietly move to the gate of the Tyrann Mansion. One officer used a passkey to unlock the gate while other officers reached in with oil cans to the hinges. The gates slowly open without a sound until the officers start to move into the courtyard with a few carrying heavy metal beams and others with ladders. The lead officer gave a hand signal and had one group head around the left side and a second group to head around the right and rear of the mansion while his group headed straight for the front door. As they got closer to the large residence, the officers pulled out their muskets to have them ready. Other officers lifted their musket rifles to a ready position.

The detective climbs into the carriage with the police captain, “They’re inside.” “Remember, I want Detective Pacer captured as well as Mr. Tyrann. The others in the report are to be considered dangerous,” said the Captain. “But wasn’t Detective Pacer all the way in Cragorus?” asked the detective. “Pacer stole a Blade from some people who live in the Cragorus valley. The Blade allows the user to instantly appear anywhere they’ve been before. There’s a good chance he may be here,” said the captain. An officer comes up to the door and says, “We’re ready.” The captain gives a large exhale and looks down at the printed report. “Do you want me to give the signal?” asked the officer. The captain runs through the plan in his head again. “Captain?” asked the officer. “Sir?” called the detective. The captain snaps back into consciousness as if he was waking from a dream and quickly says, “Give the signal.” The officer jumps off the step of the carriage and fired his musket in the air so that the officers at the back could hear it. At once, officers start to crash into windows and bust through doors with the beams and climb up the sides of the large home with ladders. The police move from room to room kicking open doors. “Police! Hands up!” yelled the officers as they moved from room to room and up the white marble staircase with gold trim in between the twelve foot tall solid gold statues of a young Terra, Caretaker of land and rocks, and her sister Yeager, the Caretaker of sky and clouds.

The lead officer still standing outside, shoots his musket into the air to send in the second group. Officers on the roof and on the balcony crash through the second floor windows and two of the three skylights. “Room clear!” called an officer at the back. “Clear!” called two more officer in the main access hall. “First floor clear!” yelled another officer. The lead officer taps a female officer on the shoulder. She runs out of the gates and pasted the police carriages to the streetlamp with the circuit breaker and turned the street lights back on. Other officers drive torches into the ground around the Tyrann Mansion and lit them. The captain and the detective exit their carriage and head for the large home. Officers could still be heard yelling “Clear” as each room is checked. A tenth carriage marked “PCPD Philosophers’ Lab” arrives and goes through the gates to park near the mansion’s door. Men in white lab coats and carrying cases follow the captain into the home. “Servants’ quarters is clear!” yelled a female officer. An officer runs up from the basement level and yells, “Body! We have a body!” The captain, detective, and philosopher investigators run to the officer and followed him down to the basement. The police had turned on the electric lights. A male officer with two females were standing around looking very stunned. In the corner was an open crate with a very old body inside. The philosophers quickly went to work trying to extract what evidence was still around. “Who is it?” asked the captain. “It looks to be Mr. Rex Tyrann,” replied one of the police philosophers. Another philosopher looked up and said, “It is too early to know for sure but given the decomposition, this man has been dead for at least two years.” The captain turns to the detective, “Send a message to Detective Lagan. Have her return to the Department. Tell her we found Rex Tyrann. He could not be questioned and was found innocent by reason of being dead for at least two years.”

The Blade Masters were busy washing their clothes in the washer and dryer in the Raptor home and taking turns bathing in the shower before it was time to leave for Corsair. Salem was busy making firefly rounds for her gun. “So that is why the C’Tan couldn’t use that black GunBlade,” said Dark. “Yes. In order for the GunBlade to fire ammunition, you’ll have to put ammunition into the GunBlade to begin with,” said Salem. “That gauge looks to be for a shot gun,” said Dark, “I have a ton of shotgun ammunition in storage. Come with me to make sure you can use it.” “Pawn, stay here with the equipment,” ordered Salem before leaving with Dark to the storage hill. “Great team you gathered,” said Dark, “But I would like to know more. Where did you meet them, what is their background, why you chose them?” Salem went through her head, “Well, first Selene and I decided that it was about time some of the Blades in the Temple needed to find masters. We chose five to represent earth, water, wind, famine and war. The five of the eight elements that make this planet.” “I see,” replied Dark, “So it was the Blades that chose the members.” “That is correct. It was the best way we could think of for getting a group together to help us find the KingBlade,” said Salem, “Selene’s Blade represents the element of Pestilence and my GunBlade is representative of fire. When we were leaving the Temple, the GullBlade that we choose to represent wind exited Pawn’s ThievesBlade’s void and made it’s choice. You know all there is to know about Christina’s background. We raised her at the temple and she trained for years to become a Blade Master. She takes to heart the religion of the Blades and tries to attend mass every Sunday.”

The two arrive at the storage hill and Dark opens the door for Salem to walk into. “Who was chosen next?” asked Dark. “Well, of course we had to go get Death and his ScytheBlade to represent himself,” said Salem. “Yes, I know all about Jarody,” said Dark. Salem stood back while Dark looked for the ammunition and said, “We then left the Dead Swamp!” “Is my rock still there?” interrupted Dark. “Yes, it is. The writing on it is still as clear as the day it was written,” said Salem, “We were heading to the Capital city of Boneham but we had to make a stop at a trade town named Barter. Emhril was the owner of the inn we stayed at and we had a strange time when the EarthBlade decided to choose him. It was soon after the HealthBlade chose his eight year old little girl, Haiku.” “So you have other Blades with you other then the five you took?” asked Dark. “Just the usual support Blades such as the LightBlade, SwitchBlade and KeyBlade. We were not planning for the HealthBlade to choose a master,” said Salem. “What is Emhril’s background?” asked Dark. He inherited the Bill’s Miller Tavern and Inn from the last owner,” said Salem, “He was married to a women who had escaped from the forbidden country but the shogun who had enslaved her sent men to eventually hunt her down and kill her. They succeeded and so Emhril is left to raise his daughter Haiku, who believes that her mother has only been taken away and hopes for her return.”

“Here they are,” said Dark pulling out a large chest. Dark opens the chest and Salem is amazed at all the boxes of ammunition. Dark opens a box and shows Salem the shiniest shotgun bullet and casing Salem had ever seen. “How did you make this?” asked Salem “I didn’t. All of these are from earth,” said Dark, “Machines make the ammunition there. This is what’s called an armor piercing bullet. These should help.” Salem takes the bullet in her hand and feels the smoothness of it. “Who joined next?” asked Dark. “It turned out that there was a warriors competition being held in Barter. We decided to join the other spectators and watch the competition named the Tagi Challenge,” said Salem, “That was where we met Vivien Leblanc. She was in a full body suit that looked as if she jumped into a tar pit and climbed out. Vivien was fighting General Carcass in the competition and lost. We later caught up with her at the Bill’s Miller where the MirrorBlade chose her. She is the only survivor of a vampire clan I am sorry to say was wiped out by you.” “I know. Blue told me. I was very angry then and that happened at the wrong time. Had I been given some time to calm down from what was happening to our own, things would have happened very differently,” said Dark. Salem puts the box of twelve gauge armor piercing bullets back and closes the trunk.

Dark and Salem take hold of the handles on each side of the trunk and they start to carry it out of the storage hill. “Eventually, General Carcass won the Tagi Challenge against Zealot and David,” said Salem, “Zealot is actually an old friend of ours from the Temple. He trained at the Temple of the Blades and graduated with the highest honors breaking records that Selene and I had set. It was a very large disappointment that a Blade did not choose him at the time. Zealot took it as a sign that he needed to learn more. So he traveled from temple to temple learning every form of fighting there is and even some magic. It was after they met with Rex Tyrann as he awarded the first place prize to General Carcass when the SabreBlade finally chose him.” Both Dark and Salem were quiet as they carried the heavy trunk back to the home. Pawn was still outside laying next to the bullet making equipment. “Pawn, put this in your void!” called Salem as soon as she saw him. Salem and Dark put the trunk down and move out of the way as Pawn scampered to them and began to examine the trunk.

“The last member of the group was chosen by the TsunamiBlade at the same time the SabreBlade chose Zealot,” said Salem, “David was competing under the name Wayne Marcus. Of course Selene and I knew he was David Koror. We had known him as a baby. It was not until we boarded the TidusBlade where he admitted that he was David. He has yet to give an explanation but what we have heard, David had ran away from the TidusBlade to travel from port to port as a Sea Hopper, calling himself Wayne Marcus and traveled with pirates. He was a member of a pirate crew when he took part in the event.” “I see,” said Dark. Pawn opened his ThievesBlade’s void and took the trunk in. “Malodor Regis was also an unplanned member but the newly built MobilBlade had chose him to be it’s master. I would have to wonder if it was fate that caused this to occur. He was invaluable during the Lysts Downs Equestrian Grand Prix when we were about to leave for Hellion,” continues Salem, “It was on the TidusBlade where Detective Lagan and Detective Pacer joined us to investigate the attempted murder of David and the Lysts Palace Captain of the Guard, Raphael. Finally, Mage Khet joined us as an escort while we are in this country.”

“I see,” said Dark again, “How about the large wolf like animal?” “That is Sturmer. Zealot will not call Sturmer a pet. He feels that Sturmer is more like a companion,” answered Salem. “And your pets?” asked Dark. “Pawn is my ferret. He’s been with me for three years now and is the perfect master for the ThievesBlade. As you have seen, the ThievesBlade allows Pawn to take and store any soulless object regardless of size into an alternate dimension we have named the ThievesBlade’s void,” said Salem, “Selene has had Rook the falcon for just as long. Rook’s TalonBlade gives him the ability to life heavy objects with great ease. He can grab onto the MobilBlade and fly away with it. Finally we have Knight the owl. Knight is the master of the ShroudBlade. This Blade allows Knight and anything he is carrying to become invisible. Combined with his natural ability of silent flight, Knight is perfect for sending messages from behind enemy lines.” “This Knight, can anyone use him to send a message?” asked Dark. “Yes, as long as he recognizes that you are a member of our group, he will take your letter where you want him to go. But of course you know of the air message network.” said Salem. “Yes, No one knows who created it but a person could send a letter by bird to like the Palace of Lysts. That bird will not actually go all the way to the palace, it will stop at an aviary first. From there another bird will take the letter to one of the capitals aviary and then a third bird will take the letter to the Palace City aviary where a royal approved bird will take the letter to the palace. It’s a one of a kind system but it has it’s flaws,” said Dark. “How is that?” asked Salem. “There is no security with that system,” said Dark. “Knight is invisible. Who is going to intercept an invisible bird?” asked Salem. “That isn’t what I mean. Anyone could use Knight to send a letter. Is there a way to tell where Knight has been or to who and or what he delivered a letter?” asked Dark. “What are you getting at?” asked Salem. “I believe that one or more members of your team may be moles for this Powerful Master,” said Dark. “That cannot be. In fact that would be impossible. There is no way to predict who will be a Blade Master, leave alone a master to one of the Blades we have chosen,” said Salem. “I am not real sure of this Salem, that’s why I will not name anyone yet,” said Dark, “But from what I’ve seen, there is a very strong possibility. Let’s keep my feelings secret for now.” “I understand Dark,” said Salem as she began to put her bullet making equipment away.

Mage Khet exits the home and walks up to Dark and Salem, “Well since you’re going to Corsair, I’m not needed anymore. So I’ll take the Hoofar’s note and start heading back to the Hoofar’s Palace.” Dark looks at Mage Khet while RedRaptor comes up behind the palace mage. “I’m sorry Khet,” said Dark, “But I’m afraid we can’t allow you to return to your Hoofar.” Red grabs Mage Khet and hold him by the arms. “But! WHY!?” yelped Mage Khet. “You’ll return to your Hoofar and tell her about us. We can’t have that,” said Dark, “So you’ll have to die.” “DIE?! But I have things I have to do back at the palace! My ROY!! ROY!!!” yelled Mage Khet. “Do you have to kill him?” asked Salem. “There’s no way he’ll agree to stay with us while we travel to Mount Obelisk and to wherever we need to go,” said Dark. “It’s your decision,” said Red, “Agree to travel with the Blade Masters and live or refuse and die here.”

Chapter 40

Just behind the TidusBlade is a trading ship named the Georges. Unknown to the TidusBlade crew, the Georges is in fact a disguised pirate ship. The uniformed crew of the Georges runs all around the dock making preparations to castoff. On the deck of the Georges stands the Mysterious Master accompanied by Arian. “Shadow Arian made it to the mouth of the cave,” said Arian with her eyes closed. “Can you see where she is now?” asked the Master. “The mountains are not allowing all of her experiences to make it back completely. I think she reached the cave half an hour ago. I’m only seeing darkness now,” replied Arian. “Captain Panthamer, be ready to leave port as soon as possible!” ordered the Master. “Understood my Master!” answered the Captain. A slit opened and General Carcass appears, trying to undo the large latches to his PanzerBlade and breathing hard. A second slit opens and Lady Slambrawn appears stomping around in anger, “I could have beaten them! I could have beaten them!” Report my General,” ordered the Master. General Carcass undoes the last latch on his armor and his thick breast plate falls to the deck. A red spot was very evident on his chest where the large dent was pushing in on him. Dropping to one knee, Carcass says, “My Master, we were successful in diverting their attention while Shadow Arian completed her task.” “Where is the C’Tan?” asked the Master.

A slit opened on the Gaza dock near the TidusBlade and Detective Pacer appeared. Pacer ran to the Georges, past the crew members who were undoing the ship’s moorings and up the loading ramp. Lady Slambrawn’s ThunderBlade activated as she pointed the cannon to Detective Pacer. Pacer immediately fell to one knee and said, “I bring the JumpBlade for you Master.” “This is one of the cops who were with the Gemini Twin HexBlade Masters,” said Lady Slambrawn. “Put your cannon away, Lady Slambrawn. It’s the C’Tan in a new body,’ said the Master, “C’Tans are creatures of energy, the officer obviously must have been weakened enough to allow the C’Tan to take over his body.” The Master takes the JumpBlade from the C’Tan. “Report my friend,” ordered the Master. Arian begins to yell and she falls to the deck. Inside the ships cabin, the other Arians also begin to scream. Arian is panting hard as she slowly gets back on her feet. “What happened?!” demanded the Master. “I think Shadow Arian has just been killed,” answered Arian. “What about the information from the spy?” asked General Carcass. “When an Arian dies, what information and knowledge she had dies with her,” said the Master. “One of the Raptors had captured her. Arian threw me the ReverseJumpBlade. I used it as soon as I could,” said the C’Tan. “The Blade Masters are truly foolish. They had one of us and they killed her instead of interrogating her for what information she had,” said General Carcass. Sky Arian flies in with Nuclear-Chipmunk in her arms and lands on the deck. “We are all here. Cast off now Captain Panthamer!” ordered the Master. “All hands, cast off!” yelled the Captain. The ship begins to leave the port.

Sky Arian releases Nuclear-Chipmunk allowing him to return to Lady Slambrawn. “Report Sky Arian,” ordered the Master. “The Blade Masters and Raptors had Shadow Arian surrounded when the chipmunk used his Blade to kill her and retrieve her Blade,” reported Arian. “Excellent. Most excellent,” said the Master. “That explains why Shadow Arian was killed,” said Arian with a very sad expression on her face. “You trained your pet well Lady Slambrawn,” said the Master. “Would you expect anything less from a Slambrawn?” asked Lady Slambrawn. General Carcass appeared to want to answer the question. “We must continue to discuss our plans inside,” said the Master. Sky Arian returns to the air as the others enter the ship’s main cabin. Inside the cabin, there were eleven more Arians inside, all of whom had sad expressions on their faces. Nuclear-Chipmunk handed the DarknessBlade to Lady Slambrawn. “We have her locket,” said Lady Slambrawn. The Master walks around a desk and sits on the chair at the other side, “Open it.” Lady Slambrawn slowly opens the small Blade to reveal a paper inside. Stanza enters the cabin. “How is our guest doing?” asked the Master. “Doing well and finally eating,” answered Stanza. “This is a note from our spy!” interrupted Lady Slambrawn. “Shadow Arian must have been able to meet the spy after all,” said General Carcass. “Read the note Lady Slambrawn,” said the Master. JumpBlade inside hill close by cave of Caretaker. Temple SaintBlade is fake. Real one inside Mount Obelisk.

“There is no more,” said Lady Slambrawn. “That can’t be true!” shouted Stanza, “My SoothsayersBlade clearly predicts that we obtain possession of the SaintBlade from the Temple of the Blades!” “Your Blade may still be correct my dear Stanza,” said the Master, “I see no reason why we should have to travel to Mount Obelisk to dig in the dirt. Let the Blade Masters do the work for us. We will wait for them to bring the SaintBlade to us at their Temple.” “Great idea as always my Master,” said General Carcass. “I must send a massage to Captain Crellis informing him of this new development,” said the Master. The others stand and begins to leave the cabin. “Lady Slambrawn,” called the Master, “Wait here. I have an extra special task for you.”

DarkRaptor sits back in the living room while the HealthBlade slowly removes the musket ball from her leg. RedRaptor enters the room with a piece of paper. “I just don’t understand why Pacer hit me,” said Lagan. “The C’Tan,” said DarkRaptor, “It is a being of energy. It was able to take over the weakened Detective. There is nothing that can hurt a C’Tan.” “How about the MirrorBlade? It can cut what cannot normally be cut,” said Selene, “It could kill the C’Tan.” “Then from now on, I suggest that Vivien is the only one to face the C’Tan,” said Dark, “I’m sorry Red, what do you have?” RedRaptor steps forward with the paper, “This is the complete scan of Mount Obelisk. The SaintBlade is still there, but there are pockets of toxic natural gas inside.” “So even if we still had the JumpBlade, I wouldn’t have been able to use it to retrieve the SaintBlade,” said Dark. “Where were you David?” asked Salem. “I tried to mount Skyclap when I couldn’t quite get my foot in the right place and I was left behind on the grass,” said David, “Everyone else passed me by and so I was about to run for it until I saw Arian running to Terra’s cave. I decided to run after her to find out what she was doing here and where she was going.”

“Arian?” asked Dark. “The blonde haired blue eyed woman we cornered,” said Salem. “Do you know her?” Blue asked David. “Arian was the official representative of a business man named Rex Tyrann. We first saw her officiating the Tagi Challenge and then the Lysts Downs Equestrian Grand Prix,” said Selene. “What do we know of this Rex Tyrann?” asked Red. “Not much I am sorry to say,” said Salem. “Rex Tyrann is the President of the Equestrian Society of Lysts and he owns many multi-million collon businesses that specializes in things from shipping to technological development,” said Detective Lagan, “He’s mostly known these days for the sporting and barbarian events he organizes near and far but recently, he has been hard to see in person. Arian would be the one you see if you try and organize a meeting with Rex.” DarkRaptor looked at the Detective and said, “From what you know about this man, do you think he is capable of plotting against the twins and their Blade Masters?” “to tell the truth, I just don’t know him well enough to positively answer that question,” said Detective Lagan, “What I just told you is common knowledge to those who live in the Lysts Palace City.” “I say this information we have,” said Blue, “makes it very likely that this Rex Tyrann is the so called Powerful Master that General Carcass, Lady Slambrawn and the C’Tan are taking their orders from.” “How could you make a connection like that?” asked Zealot. “We’ve been doing this for years,” said DarkRaptor, “It actually gets easier with time and experience.” “I need to get word back to Captain Waller,” said Detective Lagan, “He could arrest Rex Tyrann and question him.” “Do you still have the ComBlade?” asked Salem. “Yes I do,” answered Lagan. “Call the TidusBlade and they can relay the message back to your department,” said Selene. Detective Lagan gets up from her seat to go outside to try her ComBlade.

“When did she get into the storage hill?” Dark asked David. “I don’t know,” replied David, “I just saw her enter Terra’s cave and I followed her in. I ran all the way down into the cave until I found Terra at the other end.” “Did you ask Terra if she saw Arian?” asked Blue. “Actually, I did not want to disturb the woman at all,” said David, “Given the family history I had. I figured that it would be a very bad idea to face her alone.” “That cave is a very long walk,” said Dark with half a tone in her voice. “I ran back to the exit and I found the door to the hill open,” said David, “I looked to see if Arian was inside and when I couldn’t find her, I closed the door and ran back here where you all were already returning from that fight.” “Why were you outside the house instead of with the others at the battle?” Dark asked Emhril. “I ordered him to guard the house,” said Selene, “I wanted to make sure Haiku, Mal and Mage Khet were safe.” “I could have fought!” said Haiku. “I’m sure you could,” said Dark, “I beat an army of people when I was younger than you.” “I cannot understand it. They were Blade Masters. There have never been Blade Masters on opposite sides before,” said Salem. “Why is this so hard for you to believe?” asked Blue. “We would like to believe that the Blades only choose individuals with righteous attributes,” said Selene. “I do not think Lady Slambrawn and the C’Tan are chosen masters of their Blades. Their use of them were somewhat limited,” said Salem. “Very uncharacteristically observant of you sis,” said Selene giving Salem a hard stare, “They were not masters. But General Carcass is definitely the chosen master of his Blade.” “What is your explanation on that one?” asked RedRaptor.

“What are you and your Blade Masters going to do now?” asked Blue. “We have no choice but to head for Mount Obelisk at the other side of the Mantyan Expanse and retrieve the SaintBlade,” said Salem. “Could you use your vehicle to take us there?” asked Selene. “I’m afraid not,” said Dark, “I don’t want to contaminate this world with that much alien technology. A small amount like Vivien’s PDA is OK, but a large jet is just going too far. Secondly, the RaptorWing has no way to leave the underground hanger except to go through the launch bay and out the AliceBlade.” “It is OK. Just thought to ask,” said Selene, “We do have a way to get to Mount Obelisk anyway.”

“Kasey?” asked Salem. “Right,” said Selene. “You mean we have to cross that mile long bridge?!” asked David with fright in his eyes. “The bridge will not take us where we need to go,” said Selene. “And I’m coming with you,” said DarkRaptor. “Sweetheart!” said Blue, getting up from her seat. “They took something from me. I’m not going to sit here and let them get away with that,” said Dark. “Then we will get ready to go,” said Blue. “No, You, Red and Pink stay here. They still need us on Earth. I’ll take Cold and Purple with me. They could use the vacation. Plus it appears that ColdRaptor, thanks to her blatant disregard of my advice, appears to be the only one who can fight General Carcass, thanks to her cyberized body.” “General Carcass is mine to defeat!” yelled Zealot, the golden medal still in his mind. “Then you two can both fight him. I was going to suggest that there be two people to fight the General anyway,” said Dark. “Suggest? Why say it is a suggestion?” asked Salem. “That’s because I’m not leading this group. Just because I’m joining you, doesn’t mean I’m taking over as leader. I’ll be following your orders for once,” said Dark, “You started this quest, journey, task or whatever you have chosen to call this. You should stay the leaders.” The twins look at each other not knowing what to say about this.

“Why is Purple coming along?” asked Zealot, “I’m troubled enough thinking about Haiku’s safety.” “Well if you hadn’t noticed. Purple isn’t a normal nine-year-old,” said Dark, “Seeing that Lady Slambrawn uses sound waves as a weapon, it’s best to fight fire with fire and use PurpleRaptor’s natural talent to fight the woman.” “She may have different plans than to fight a small child,” said David, “It’s me she wants. It’s me who she wants to kill.” “Then Purple will stick with you like you’re her father,” said Dark, “and don’t worry. Purple only looks like a child but she is actually twenty five years old.” “So having sex with her isn’t out of the question?” asked Jarody. The others looked at Jarody with a shocked look on their face. “You better be kidding about that,” said Dark. Even with all of his power, Jarody knew better than to get DarkRaptor angry at him. “Detective Pacer is a fellow officer,” said Lagan, finally getting the courage to speak up, “I should be the one to fight him.” “Then pair up with Vivien,” said Dark, “But then again, all of these are just suggestions.”

Christina and PinkRaptor return to the living room just when the HealthBlade finishes patching up Dark’s wound and returns to Haiku’s back. Christina is dressed in a completely white version of the twins’ gothic uniform. “This is made of a material that acts like a bullet proof vest and a fire suit in one,” said Pink. “I just have to remember to take off my jacket before calling on the light wings,” said Christina. She removes her white jacket to show that her top has no back. “The light wings, they look like some root form,” said Selene. “That’s right,” said Dark, “The more she uses the light wings, the more she can do with them.” “You mean we could wear anything we want? I do not have to dress like this?” signs Vivien to Selene.

“Vivien,” called RedRaptor, “here is a replacement for your PDA, since yours got fried by General Carcass’ energy ball.” Red hands Vivien a very strange looking PDA. “This is our version of a PDA. It’s called an RPG or Raptor Power Gadget. It does everything your PDA did and more. Its best feature: it’s made to take serious punishment and will work in any condition. I installed those crazy batteries you had in your old PDA as well as the files and programming that was in it.” Vivien signs, “Thank you,” to Red and puts the new RPG in her pocket. “Vivien, you know we never told you that you had to wear the uniform. You are welcome to wear anything you want,” said Selene. Jarody starts to smile from ear the ear. “But you better not order Vivien to walk around naked!” yelled Salem. “It’s not my fault she obeys me,” said Jarody. “Why would anybody willingly obey you?” asked Dark. “That is because vampires worship Death. Vivien will do whatever Jarody tells her to do,” said Salem. “Plus, she has been reliant on Jarody for blood to drink,” said Selene. “Well, I can’t do anything about her misplaced trust, but as for blood,” said Dark as she stood up and tried her patched up leg, “Most of you know that we are fresh meat eaters. We made a spice that should work for Vivien. Just add water. I’ll have Blue give the recipe to Haiku and her HealthBlade since it is more of a medical prescription than a food additive.” “That sounds great,” said Selene, “That will help us out a lot.” “And with that I think we all should make sure we all have what we need and be off to Corsair. That is where we are going?” asked DarkRaptor. “Yes it is,” said Salem. “Well, let’s get ready and get going,” said Dark, “We have a world to save.”

Chapter 39

Salem whistled loudly in the air. Darkwind, Skyclap, Raptor and Syntax heard the whistle and knew what it meant. The four horses rendezvous with the Blade Masters. Salem and Selene both climb up on Darkwind, Jarody and Vivien jump on Raptor, Zealot jumps onto the back of Syntax and David grabs Skyclap’s reins and is dragged a few feet before letting go. Skyclap just continued galloping to keep up with the others leaving David lying down on the grass. “I’m just no good at this land stuff,” David says to himself. David sits up in time for Detectives Lagan and Pacer to avoid hitting him as they race by on Need A Smoke and Brother In-law. The thought of calling out to them for a ride hits David too late. David gets up onto his feet and is clipped by Sturmer running at full speed to where the others went. “Hey! You wolf-like! thing,” called out David who realized that Sturmer probably would not stop even if it did hear him. David gets ready to start running when he notices someone with long blond hair running to the exit of Terra’s cave. “Blue and Pink are the only ones with blonde hair around here,” says David to himself. Then David remembered who it was. David ran to the blonde woman instead.

The Blade Masters on horseback found Blue, Red and Christina hiding behind a large log while a familiar figure shot at them with his light staff. Salem unsheathed her GunBlade and yelled, “Death Disk!” as she pulled the trigger to launch her attack on the C’Tan. General Carcass appeared out of nowhere and reflected the attack away from the C’Tan with his heavy armor. The large cannon barrel on General Carcass’ left shoulder folded down. “Hyper Velocity Cannon!” yelled General Carcass as a large orb of electromagnetic energy shoots out and heads for the three behind the large log. Vivien jumps off Raptor and uses her MirrorBlade to slice the ball of energy in half causing it to lose energy before it reaches the log. Vivien falls to the ground and starts to convulse uncontrollably. “Get close enough to it!” said General Carcass before turning to take aim for another shot. Zealot jumps off of Syntax, “Chain Saw!” he yells as his eternity chain from his SabreBlade wraps around General Carcass’ cannon and pulls to cause the large man to fall. “SLAM!!!” yells Lady Slambrawn as a highly compressed sound wave hits Zealot sending him a good thirty feet into the air. Jarody calmly dismounted Raptor and quickly transforms into his true Death form and holds his arms out to catch Zealot. Death stands still as Zealot lands on the ground behind him. Death turns, “Oops, I missed.” Selene jumped off the back of Darkwind allowing Salem to take over the reins. Selene landed next to Blue behind the log and starts to infect the log with her WitchBlade. Salem gets Darkwind to run at a full gallop to the left and catches her GunBlade.

“We ran into your friends,” said Blue as Selene continued to infect the log. Salem joined them behind the log and begins to fire a few firefly rounds. General Carcass gets back on his feet again and is hit by a few of the rounds, however he did not appear to have felt them hit him. “That armor makes him nearly invincible,” said Selene. “Nearly invincible?” asked Christina. “Where is David?” asked Salem. The detectives ride up with their muskets drawn. Detective Lagan’s height made Need A Smoke appear to be smaller than he really was when she dismounted and pointed her musket at Lady Slambrawn who is wearing some sort of armor that made her look bigger then she really was, “Freeze, Lady Slambrawn! You are under arrest for the assault of a Lysts Palace Guard Captain and several counts of murder!” The C’Tan pulls out a black metal quarterstaff and yells, “MimicBlade!” The black Blade becomes gel like and changes into a black version of the GunBlade. The C’Tan takes the reformed Blade, and takes aim for the tall female detective. Detective Pacer jumps off Brother In-law and yells, “Freeze!” pointing his musket at the C’Tan. The C’Tan pulls the trigger of the black GunBlade only to have nothing happen. Salem reloads her GunBlade with buckshot and R slugs then fires a couple of rounds at the C’Tan. General Carcass once again uses his large armored body to block the attack. “What is wrong with this thing?!” yelled the C’Tan still pulling the trigger of the black GunBlade.

“General Carcass!” called Selene, “We do not have to do this. There has never been a Blade Master fighting a Blade master before. We are all on the same side. Whatever these two have paid!” “They paid me nothing! These two like me, are serving a Powerful Master,” said General Carcass, “The Master demands your deaths! Now surrender and die!! Hyper Velocity!” “Chain Saw!” yells Zealot as he once again uses his Blade to pull the large General off his feet and on his back. The PanzerBlade fires into the air and the ball of energy safely leaves the atmosphere. Death reaches Vivien who is still convulsing on the ground and he uses his ScytheBlade on her. Christina sees what Death is doing and yells, “He is killing Vivien!” “No,” said Selene, “He is helping her. The ScytheBlade does not just kill.” Death pulls the electromagnetic energy from Vivien’s body. Vivien stops convulsing and begins to get onto her feet. The Blade becomes charged with the energy and gives off a frightening glow. “No one hurts my little sex slave but me,” said Death as he walks to General Carcass and Zealot. “This Blade is useless!” yelled the C’Tan, “MimicBlade!” The black GunBlade melts in the C’Tan’s hands and changes shape again. Death leaps toward General Carcass who was just beginning to get back on his feet, and yells, “Soul Reap!” as he swings his powerful ScytheBlade. A loud clash could be heard when Death’s ScytheBlade and the C’Tan’s white silver staff and black metal blade ScytheBlade crash into each other to become locked in a test of strength. “Not you again,” said Death. “I’m here to take your place! I am the new Death!” yelled the C’Tan. The two ScytheBlade warriors separate and clash a few more times. Death makes an upper cut slash and the C’Tan blocks the low slash and hits Death in the head with the other end of the staff.

General Carcass laughed as he stood up again, “I remember you, Lizard Man.” General Carcass pulls out a long piece of fabric from around his neck. Attached to the long fabric was the Tagi Challenge Champion Medal. “If you beat me, you can have this,” said General Carcass. The medal glinted in Zealot’s eyes and he smiled, “You got a deal.” Zealot jumped up in the air and swung his SabreBlade. General Carcass pulls his broad sword out and blocks Zealot’s attack. The two were locked with their swords in front of them until Carcass gives Zealot a low blow. Zealot jumps back and shadow steps into the shadow being created by the thick grass bed and jumps out behind General Carcass. “Chain Saw!” yells Zealot as his SabreBlade’s eternity chain swings around the General’s neck. The cannon on Carcass’ left shoulder swings back down over his back and knocks Zealot off who does a shadow step.

Selene completes her infection of the log and turns to Christina, “I need the GullBlade’s phoenix mode to combine with my WitchBlade.” “I left it in the MobilBlade,” said Christina, “I did not think I was going to need it. Can you use Salem’s firefly?” “I am out of firefly,” said Salem. “Knight!” called Selene. A large barn owl with shiny gold trim around every single one of his feathers appeared on the metallic log. “When did that thing get here?!” asked Blue. “Knight is usually around during battles,” answered Salem. “Get Rook to open the door to the MobilBlade and escort the GullBlade back here,” ordered Selene. The barn owl gave a single hoot and jumped into the air and became invisible again. “What a great idea! Unlike other birds, an owl’s wings are naturally designed to make no noise during flight,” said Blue.

Detective Lagan and Detective Pacer kept their muskets fixed on Lady Slambrawn. “You are nothing to me. I’m Lady Slambrawn of the House of Slambrawn, Future Queen of Lysts!” yelled the woman. “She’s gone mad,” said Detective Pacer. Lagan feels a tap on her left shoulder and then a small gust of wind. Detective Pacer saw something shiny rush upward from Lagan. It was the LightningBlade, the thing that killed a countless number of people on the Slambrawn property. A lightning bolt rushed down to Detective Lagan. Vivien quickly flies by and cuts off the bolt’s path with her MirrorBlade. A cannon folds down over Lady Slambrawn’s right shoulder and a small cone swung around in front of her mouth. “SLAM!” yelled Lady Slambrawn and a highly compressed sound wave fires out of the cannon and hits Detective Pacer. Detective Lagan fires her musket at Lady Slambrawn and the small LightningBlade grabs the musket ball in the air and slows it down enough to drop it into Lady Slambrawn’s hand. “Don’t you get it? With my ThunderBlade, I’m too powerful for the likes of you.” Suddenly, a loud squeaking sound was coming from behind Lady Slambrawn. Slambrawn turned to see that Nuclear-Chipmunk was being chased by a large armored wolf like creature. Nuclear-Chipmunk weaved left and right, trying to keep ahead of the large animal. The LightningBlade attaches a wire on Sturmer’s back and takes off to the sky to send a lightning bolt down. Sturmer quickly stopped and four metal spikes folded out of small compartments in the SwitchBlade armor and dug deep into the ground. A lightning bolt struck Sturmer and the electricity passed thru the spikes and into the ground. The SwitchBlade’s spikes retract back into their individual compartments and Sturmer continues to chase Nuclear-Chipmunk.

“Christina,” called Blue, “There is no way your Blade will be back in time. You have to dig deep into yourself. You have the power in you. I know you do.” “Christina closes her eyes hard, trying to concentrate. “Where is Red?” asked Salem, noticing that RedRaptor was no longer behind the log with them. “You know what she is doing. Raptor Tactics,” said Blue. “Oh yes. I am very familiar with that form of tactics,” said Selene. Death and the C’Tan were still locked in battle answering blows with counterstrikes and following up with attempts of their own. Death slashes his ScytheBlade from the left with the C’Tan blocking it with his own ScytheBlade and trying to make Death lose his Blade with a spin move. The two get their Blades locked once again bringing them face to face. “With my Blade, we are evenly matched. I can keep this up for years. You however may feel the passing of time and will make a mistake, I think,” said the C’Tan. “You’re right. I would be very bored if I had to do this any longer. However, you’re wrong about being evenly matched. Just because you have a Blade, doesn’t mean you know how to use it,” said Death. Death releases the electromagnetic energy he took from Vivien into the C’Tan’s Blade. An explosion throws the C’Tan off his feet. “Death Blur!” yelled Death, who runs at a high rate of speed and slashes the C’Tan’s robotic body in half before the C’Tan hits the ground. The C’Tan’s legs land first and tumble in the grass but the upper body stays in the air. “A jet pack. Now that is cheating,” said Death. The C’Tan rises higher into the air, out of the reach of any enemy Blade Masters.

Zealot shows up under the General with his sword held up to Carcass’ crotch. General Carcass quickly jumps back to avoid the attack. Zealot grabs the General’s right arm and pulls down to send Carcass over his shoulder. General Carcass takes hold of Zealot’s tail and uses his own momentum to toss the lizard man up into the air. The PanzerBlade’s cannon folds over Carcass’ left shoulder again before the General lands flat on his back, and Carcass yells, “Hyper Velocity Cannon!” “Pawn!” called Salem, “ThievesBlade’s void!” Pawn’s black void opens up between the General and Zealot. The ball of electromagnetic energy safely enters the void before it closes, allowing Zealot to fall past it. “Harpoon!” yells Zealot. The tip of the SabreBlade shoots out as if it was fired by a gun. After a specific amount of chain leaves the SabreBlade, another section detaches so more chain can be let out. The very sharp tip of the SabreBlade hits General Carcass but does not penetrate. Carcass reaches up and grabs the chain. This is what Zealot wanted. Zealot retracts the eternity chain and pulls the General off the ground and himself down faster. The two meet in the air and Zealot was able to time a heavy kick right onto the General’s chest. The two hit the ground hard again leaving Carcass in a small crater.

Zealot jumps forward and turns to start a new attack when, “SLAM!” Lady Slambrawn hits him with a compressed sound wave. The C’Tan swoops down and lifts General Carcass back onto his feet. The GullBlade swoops down and attaches to Selene’s WitchBlade. “GullWitchBlade, Phoenix Witch Mode!” yells Selene, as she reattaches herself to the infected log. The wood inside the metallic skin is flashed burn and heavy smoke shoots out of holes directed to the three evil Blade Masters. General Carcass and Lady Slambrawn start to cough uncontrollably and fall to their knees. “Carcass may be protected from attacks with that armor, but he still has to breathe,” said Salem. “Give up, General! You are outnumbered,” said Selene. “We don’t think so!” yelled what was left of the C’Tan. The C’Tan flies down to where his lower body came to a rest and pulls out his staff of light to hold it out over the ground before him. The air becomes static as an all consuming green light flashes. When the light dims, a small army of 24 Necron wraiths were floating before them with large serrated swords. “Pawn, ThievesBlade’s void,” ordered Salem. The small ferret opened his void, but the only thing that ended up happening was that thick smoke being sucked inside. “Those wraiths have souls,” said Selene. “Your simple trick just doesn’t work anymore. We will have what we came for!” yelled the top half of the C’Tan. “Your deaths!” yelled Carcass. “Attack them!” yelled Lady Slambrawn. The small army of Necron wraiths lunge forward with their swords held up high.

“ROAR!!!” echoed a Raptor scream over the large flat grass valley. “Good, Dark is back,” said Blue. Three velociraptors and a small size velociraptor come running over a small hill. The velociraptors quickly turned into Dark, Cold, Pink, and PurpleRaptor. DarkRaptor jumps into the middle of the Necron wraiths and grabs one by the arm. The other Necron wraiths slash their swords in Dark’s direction. Dark lets her feet slide under the Necron wraith she has a hold of getting herself out of the swords’ path and them uses the same wraith as a weapon against the others. Lady Slambrawn’s ThunderBlade cannon swings down over her right shoulder again and she yells, “SLAM!” PurpleRaptor counters the sound wave with a very powerful, “ROAR!!!” sending Lady Slambrawn flying back about fifty feet. General Carcass activates his PanzerBlade’s cannon and yells, “Hyper Velocity Cannon!” ColdRaptor jumps into the path of the ball of energy. “Cold! It kills whoever gets near it!” yelled Salem. But the energy ball hits ColdRaptor directly kicking up a cloud of dust. “Got you!” yelled Carcass, pleased that he claimed another victim. The dusts clears and ColdRaptor stands with the energy ball in her hands. “She went against Dark’s orders and replaces her organic body parts in favor for mechanical parts. The only thing of her organic body that is left is her skin and hair. ColdRaptor’s hand and arm mechanically transforms into a large cannon and she launches the ball back to General Carcass. The General turns and begins to run for his life from the energy ball.

Christina stands up and two long, curved rays of light, very much like two bows without string, form behind her. The energy from the two curved light rays peel and tear away at the fabric on Christina’s back until her bare white skin can be seen. Her shoulder blades look to be reaching out for the tops of the light rays, almost like arms. Christina’s eyes turn completely white and she yells, “LIGHT WINGS!” A shadow image of the extra appendages on her back connect with the tops of the light rods making a clank sound each followed by another shadow connecting creating a second clank sound each and finally the actual appendages themselves connecting making a final clank sound for each. The rods and appendages turn into large wings made of pure light. “She’s got stage one. Let’s see if she remembers to do stage two,” said Blue. “MimicBlade!” yells the C’Tan. His ScytheBlade melts and covers the C’Tan to become white PanzerBlade armor. The cannon comes up and over the C’Tan’s right shoulder, “Hyper Velocity Cannon!” yells the C’Tan and an orb of electromagnetic energy fires towards Christina. ColdRaptor tries to get to the energy ball, “Hyper Velocity Cannon!” yells General Carcass, firing his own energy ball. “ThievesBlade’s void!” orders Salem. “SLAM!!!” yells Lady Slambrawn, hitting Pawn. Vivien rushes to slice up the energy but Death grabs her ankle and holds her down. “You can’t take another shot to your system so soon,” he says. Both shots hit Christina but her light wings absorbed the energy from both of them. “Light Wings Transformation,” said Christina and her large wings fold down with a sound of something very powerful slowing down. “PhoenixRaptor Wings!” yells Christina, closing her eyes. The Light Wings open up again with a wave of a pure white light flooding the valley. The light dies down and large wings of white feathers could be seen on Christina’s back. “White?” said Dark, looking at Christina. “I just got so use to the wings being black,” said Blue. “Albino Raptor, albino wings,” said Selene.

The GullBlade separated from Selene’s WitchBlade and flies to Christina. “GullBlade, combine with Skyclap. Pegasus Mode!” ordered Christina. The GullBlade opened up just as it always did when switching into Angel Mode but this time the five point harness was now a six point harness. The GullBlade landed on the back of Skyclap and began to strap itself to him. The head of the GullBlade also opened up and covered Skyclap’s head as a golden breast plate formed on him. Skyclap bucked a few times then ran down the field. The large wings on SkyClap’s back began to flap and the horse took to the air, still moving his legs as if he were still on solid ground. Christina flew up and landed on Skyclap’s back. “His name makes so much more sense now,” said Zealot. The sword hilts come out and Christina removes them from the wings and combines them to become one large broad sword. Christina jumps off of Skyclap and dives down to the evil Blade Masters. “MimicBlade!” yells the C’Tan. The C’Tan’s PanzerBlade melts and become a blue and black GullBlade already in Angel Mode on his back. The C’Tan pulls out twin black blade swords from the wings and tries to combine them with no success. The C’Tan decides that two swords are better then one large sword and continues to fly up to the diving Christina to attack. DarkRaptor continues to fight with the small army of Necron wraiths.

Selene stands, “WitchBlade, Armor Mode!” she commands. Infection veins cover Selene and becomes a tubular like armor on her. “Take cover,” orders Selene. Salem loads buckshot into the GunBlade and the trigger timer. Salem jumps out into the middle of the battlefield and yells, “DEATH BLOSSOM!!” Salem activates the timer and pulls the trigger as she spins the GunBlade over her head. The GunBlade fired and the spinning keeps it in the air just over Salem’s head. The buckshot peppers the field with a few of the Blade Masters and the Raptors hiding behind trees and rocks. DarkRaptor continues to fight with the Necron wraiths using a few attacking wraiths as shields from the destruction of the GunBlade. General Carcass just stood where he was at first when the attack started but after a few buckshot came too close to hitting him in the face, he began to move back with his arms over his face. Lady Slambrawn too is forced to run away from the battlefield along with Nuclear-Chipmunk who was still being chased by Sturmer. The other horses had already fell back out of range with Darkwind having to nudge Syntax back because he was too busy watching Skyclap fly around in the air. Christina and the C’Tan clash with the C’Tan immediately trying to cut one of her wings. “You will leave without taking a life,” said Christina. “So many to defend down there. What a shame that they all will be dead,” said the C’Tan. Christina rushed in to give a powerful attack but hits nothing but air. The C’Tan had did a flip under her and was in the position to clip her wings. Vivien came up and sliced her sword through the GullBlade copy. The GullBlade lets go of the C’Tan and becomes a black staff again. The C’Tan activates his own jet pack to stop his fall but is attacked by Skyclap who runs right into him and uses his back legs to kick him down to the ground. The C’Tan hits the ground hard and explodes into hundreds of pieces with a scream, “NO!!!”

Detective Lagan had pulled Pacer behind a rock to protect him from Salem’s attack. His heart was weak and he was not waking up. Salem reached up to grab her GunBlade and brought it down in front of her. She opened the ammunition chamber and allowed the empty shells to fall on the grass. Salem reloaded the GunBlade with R slugs and closed the chamber. Salem took aim and started firing on General Carcass. He took his arms away from his face and started to laugh at her, “Your attacks have no effect on me!” Salem continued to fire. Lady Slambrawn was nowhere near Salem and Carcass. Slambrawn takes aim at Sturmer and yells, “SLAM!!” The compressed sound wave hits Sturmer and knocks him off his feet. The SwitchBlade launches hooked chains into the ground and pulls Sturmer back where he was. Sturmer turns and analyzes the ThunderBlade. A cannon forms onto the back of Sturmer and he “ROARS!!!” shooting a compressed sound wave to Lady Slambrawn who falls flat on her back. General Carcass’ PanzerBlade cannon folds over his left shoulder again and aims for Salem who is still shooting at him. Carcass begins to notice something wrong. The shots are hitting only one point of his armor and it is starting to cave in. Every shot pushes the armor in more and more, pushing a steel dent onto his chest. General Carcass puts his hand over the dent but it is in a spot that will not allow his hands to reach. “Hyper Velocity Cannon!” yells Carcass, trying to stop Salem’s attack. “ThievesBlade’s void!” commands Salem. Pawn catches the energy ball in the void and Salem reloads her GunBlade to continue her attack.

A slit opens up from nowhere and a blonde woman steps out holding the JumpBlade. Salem stops her attack in shock to not only see the JumpBlade but also to see Arian here and holding it. “Retreat!” ordered Arian. DarkRaptor could also see the JumpBlade in the woman’s hand and is enraged by the idea that someone was taking something from her. DarkRaptor lets out a horrific roar that busts the heads of the remaining three Necron wraiths and begins to run to the blonde woman. Detective Pacer wakes up to the relief of Lagan. “Are you alright now?” asked Lagan. Pacer makes a fist and punches Detective Lagan in the face before jumping up and running to the other side of the field. Detective Pacer reaches what remains of the C’Tan and picks up both the C’Tan’s light staff and MimicBlade. He then begins to run to Arian. Both Pacer and DarkRaptor meet on their way to the woman with the JumpBlade when Pacer pulls out his musket and shoots Dark in the leg. DarkRaptor tumbles in the grass. “BlueRaptor runs to Dark and RedRaptor starts to chase Pacer.

“Stop them!” ordered Blue, “They are going to use the JumpBlade to get away!” “They cannot!” yelled Selene, “The JumpBlade can only allow the person holding it to instantly jump to a place they have been to before!” Arian pulls out the ReverseBlade. “With this, “explained Arian, “I can use the ReverseJumpBlade to send someone to someplace they have not been before.” Arian gives the ReverseJumpBlade a swing and sends General Carcass away. A second swing of the Blade sends Lady Slambrawn away. ColdRaptor tackles Arian from behind, knocking her to the ground. Arian throws the ReverseJumpBlade and Detective Pacer catches it. “Lucky for me, Detective Pacer has been there before,” said Pacer as he removes the ReverseBlade from the JumpBlade. “I will be Death!!” Pacer yells to Jarody before using the JumpBlade to escape RedRaptor’s attack. ColdRaptor pins Arian to the ground, holding her for questioning. “ShadowBlade!” yells Arian before she vanishes from under ColdRaptor. “She has a Blade that allows her to shadow step!!” yells Zealot. DarkRaptor orders, “Purple, EQUAS!” PurpleRaptor immediately yells into the ground and forces Arian to come out. “Catch her!” ordered BlueRaptor, “She has questions to answer!” Arian finds herself circled by both the Blade Masters and the Raptors. Christina and Skyclap lands to join the circle. A glint of gold is seen leaving Arian and a lightning bolt hits the women instantly killing her. Nuclear-Chipmunk begins to run for the shoreline and his LightningBlade grabs him by the scruff of his neck and carries him away into the air. “I’ll get him!” said Christina. “Let it go,” said Selene. “But he is one of them!” said Christina. “If we catch him, what can we ask that will not be answered in squeak squeak,” said DarkRaptor. “Where is the Blade she was using?” asked Salem. “I think that flying thing took it before it turned her into a crispy critter,” said Death. “I think this confirms a feeling I had,” said Selene. “Yes,” said Salem, “We have someone working against us.”

Chapter 38

Suddenly, the lights around them turn red and an alarm begins to sound. “Speaking of the Devil!” said Dark before running over to RedRaptor and Selene at the control panel.

“Red, Load the Cold Mobil, and the Purple Skipper,” ordered Dark, “I want you to stay here to launch the satellite and scan that mountain.” The lift door opened and BlueRaptor entered. “You’re staying here Blue and seeing to our friends as well as retrieving the JumpBlade from storage. I’m taking ColdRaptor, PinkRaptor and PurpleRaptor with me,” said Dark. “Understood Sweetheart,” said Blue, and then started to talk to into something strapped on her wrist, “Cold, Pink, Purple! Report to the RaptorWing NOW! You’re driving Pink!” “Finally!” yelled PinkRaptor’s voice through the small device. “You help the twins tell Christina what she really is,” said Dark. “You mean Christina doesn’t know she’s a Humo Raptor?” asked Blue while Dark changed into her uniform. “They tell me that Christina has been living like a human. You’re better at dealing with female and nurse emotions. I’ll try and return as soon as possible,” said Dark. “Understood Dark,” replied Blue. Dark jumped onto a platform resting on tracks and it whisked her away to the other end of the long runway where the twins assume the so called RaptorWing is waiting. “Cold Mobil is loaded and locked,” said RedRaptor. “PinkRaptor in RaptorWing and ready,” said Pink’s voice coming through the control panel Red was working on. “Purple Skipper is loaded and locked down,” said Red. A monotone voice was heard saying, “ColdRaptor and PurpleRaptor in passenger compartment and ready.” “DarkRaptor in vehicle bay and ready,” said Dark’s voice.

“Activating AliceBlade,” said Red as a large glass plate starts to move in front of the AliceBlade. “Why do you not already have that attached to the AliceBlade?” asked Selene. “You know that unlike the small handheld mirror type Accessory Blades, the large mirror type Accessory Blades require glass to work,” said Red, “As long as the glass is not attached to the AliceBlade, nothing can exit or enter the launch bay.” The sides of the large plate of glass attach to the AliceBlade and an image of clear blue sky appears. “AliceBlade is activated,” said Red. Suddenly, the twins could feel the ground under them begin to shake a little. “Thrusters are wide open,” said Pink’s voice. “Three, two, one, Launching!” said Red as she flipped some switches and hits a large red flashing button. The ground under the twins’ feet began to shake more and more. A light was coming from the far end of the runway. A very large and loud object passed them and through the AliceBlade. The twins were protected at the other side of a window, but they could still feel the heat that was being blasted out of the end of the large RaptorWing as it passed. “We are clear,” said Pink. “Deactivating the AliceBlade. See you when you get back. RedRaptor, out,” said Red. “Now let’s have that talk with Christina,” said Blue. “Mother,” called Red, “There is a disturbance in the house.”

Blue, Red and the twins return to the home above the secret base to find Vivien madly throwing things. “Grab her, but don’t hurt her,” ordered Blue. Salem jumps behind a wall where Jarody and David were hiding, away from the wave of destruction Vivien was making. “What happened? What did you do Jarody?” asked Salem looking angry. “Me? Vivien starts to PMS and you assume I have something to do with it?” said Jarody. “We were just sitting in the main room when she just went off and started to wreck the place. RedRaptor weaved and rolled to get to the angry vampire. Vivien grabs a lamp and throws it before jumping out of the way of BlueRaptor’s sneak attack from behind. Vivien pulls out her MirrorBlade and holds it in a very threatening manor. “Her sword cannot cut you! It will just pass through you and cause a numbness in wherever it hit. Vivien does a number of back flips down the central hallway slashing her Blade as she twists in the air. Red and BlueRaptor run after her into the hallway and fall into complete darkness. “What happened to the sunlight?” said Red. Selene stayed back to watch Red and Blue feel around the hallway, “Vivien used her MirrorBlade to cut the sunlight from the hallway! I can still see you and what is going on because I am not in the area she cut off.” “That is very fascinating BladeRaptor, but where is she?!” yelled BlueRaptor. “I cannot see her where I am!” called back Selene. “She is at the top of the stairs!” yelled Salem. Vivien was crouched down and looking extremely angry. Vivien’s face had contorted in a way where her usual innocent looking beauty was gone. Vivien had turned into the monster she was born to be. Her two fangs were extended beyond a point of belief and her fingers were also extended in an inhuman way looking ready to kill.

Selene knew there was a way to safely catch Vivien but what was that command called? Selene searched her memory to find it. It had been a real long time since she had to call it. Salem ran from the wall and into the hallway with her GunBlade out in a defensive position. When Salem passes the threshold of the door, she was not prepared for the absolute darkness she ran into. “GothRaptor, un!” yelled Blue. That command hit Salem like second nature and she quickly ducked as Vivien passed over her. RedRaptor jumped over BlueRaptor and transformed into her Velocir form to collide with Vivien in midair. Vivien grabbed the transformed RedRaptor’s left arm and threw her to the steps behind her but is hit on the head by Red’s thick tail. “How do we get light back into the hallway?” called Blue to Selene. Salem blindly jumped up and over RedRaptor who was still flying to the stairs. “You have to make her drop her Blade!” replied Selene. Salem landed awkwardly on the floor still not being able to see. She felt something next to her foot and quickly kicked what ever it was. Vivien rolled with the kick to her side and was about to stand up again when BlueRaptor tackled her from behind and hit her sword hand against the wall three times before Vivien let go. The MirrorBlade hit the floor and the light filled the room as if it were a fluid. RedRaptor changed back into her normal form and pounced from the stairs to Vivien who was fighting with BlueRaptor. Blue moved out of the way to allow Red to pin Vivien down and hold her. Vivien was kicking and writhing on the floor trying to get loose, clearly still angry. BlueRaptor left the room to retrieve something from an overturned shelf and then returned to place it up to Vivien’s neck and used it. Vivien continued to kick until whatever it was Blue gave her started to work. “She’ll be out for an hour,” said Blue, “Take her to the med ward and strap her down until we can get some answers.” “Wait. She does not need to be tied down. I am sure there is a good explanation for what happened,” said Selene. “Where is everyone else?” asked Salem. “They all ran outside,” said David. “Take her to a couch, I’ll get the booster to wake her,” ordered Blue.

Vivien was placed on one of two couches that escaped the destruction. RedRaptor held onto the vampire’s shoulders to hold her down from behind as BlueRaptor got the antidote ready. “What happened?” Selene asked Christina and the others when they came back inside. “I knew she was looking a little angry, but she exploded without any explanation,” said Christina. “There is no way Mage Khet will come back inside with Vivien here,” said Zealot. “Good, I was getting sick of his coin trick,” said Blue, “What mage hides a coin behind his paw?” Blue used the device filled with antidote on Vivien. The vampire slowly woke up to see everyone standing around her with their eyes fixed on her and RedRaptor’s large hands pressing down hard. “Are you going to keep yourself under control Vivien?” asked Selene. Vivien shook her head, “Yes.” “I want an explanation for the destruction of our home,” said Blue. Vivien looked around. It felt more like a dream to her but she knew what she did. Looking around at the trashed home just made the act more real to her.

Vivien started to sign with some difficulty because of Red’s continuous hold on her. “I was angry at you,” translated Selene. Vivien began to cry as she continued, “Thinking that you were all dead was a comfort for me until now. It is not fair that you live in safety now and in this comfortable place when my clan is dead.” “Her clan?” asked Blue. “Vivien is the only survivor of her Clan. They were killed by mercenaries hired by a nearby village,” explained Salem. “So she’s a natural born vampire and not a person who was turned by them?” growled Red who was now pushing down on Vivien’s shoulders more, hurting her. “Red, at ease!” ordered Blue. “Yes, mother,” replied Red as she lightened up on her hold. “Will you stay sitting down if Red lets go of you?” asked Selene. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Blue, “You see, we are the ones who wiped out that nest of vampires. They were praying on villages in the area. We were told that they would sneak into a village at night and kill the weak like women and children. This was about two months after PhoenixRaptor was killed and De La Groot was still at large, killing pure blood Raptors off one by one. Needless to say that Dark’s frame of mind at the time was not at it’s best. I tried to talk her out of an all out extermination and wanted her to consider negotiating with the clan leaders. She would not hear me out and the mission was carried out. It wasn’t until later that we had found out that the villages women and children were only in hiding and none had ever been killed. It was only the foolish who ventured too close to the nest that were killed. The clan mostly prayed on their livestock’s blood and never took enough to kill the animals. What made the villagers angry was a disease that was killing the livestock they believed was being spread by the vampires. The illness continued to spread after the clan was killed off. It wasn’t them that were passing the sickness to the livestock. It was coming from another bloodsucker, mosquitoes. In fact, it was the vampires that were keeping the illness from taking more livestock. With the vampires gone, all the area villages lost their livestock in less then a week to the mosquitoes. We had learned a valuable lesson then.”

“I say Vivien deserves a long hard punishment,” said Jarody. “Sex is not the answer to everything,” said Salem. “I wasn’t talking about sex. I just wanted to slap the fuck out of her,” said Jarody. Blue looks at Vivien and says, “I would be lying if I said I’m not angry at what you did. Punishment does sound like a good idea, but considering what we put you through in the past, I think we can call this even with us still owing you a favor. You are very fortunate that Dark wasn’t here to see this. She wouldn’t have killed you, but you would’ve wanted to be killed after she was done with you. That is why we’re not going to tell her what happened here. Do you understand?” Vivien shook her head, “Yes.” “Good. Now will you help to clean this up?” asked Blue. “Vivien answered, “Yes,” again and Red let go of the vampire. “Let’s pitch in and get this place cleaned up before Dark gets back,” ordered Selene. “Christina, I need to have a talk with you and the twins outside,” said Blue. The four women exit the house leaving the other Blade Masters and RedRaptor to do the clean-up. Outside, Mage Khet was practicing a trick RedRaptor had shown him. He had a ten collon bill on his fist and was poking holes in it with a plastic modern world pen. “Haven’t figured how to do it yet?” asked Blue. “How does the paper stay whole?!” asked Mage Khet. “What is this all about?” asked Selene. “After Khet showed us his coin trick, Dark had shown him another trick,” said Blue, “I’ll demonstrate. Do you have a collon bill?” Salem hands Blue a new ten collon bill and Blue takes the pen from Mage Khet. “I make a fist and make sure the pen can fit into it, and then place this collon bill on top of my fist,” says Blue as she describes what she is doing. Mage Khet takes a close look at what Blue was doing, determined to figure out the secret. “Now I take the pen again and I punch it through the collon bill,” says Blue as she punches the pen through the paper and shows them that the bill was now stuck in the middle of the pen. “As you can see, the pen went clean through the collon bill,” said Blue, “Now I pull the pen sideways freeing the collon bill.” The others could hear the collon bill tear as Blue yanks the pen sideways out of it. “And behold, the collon bill is not torn and there are no holes,” said Blue as she shows off the undamaged collon bill. Mage Khet grabs the bill from Blue and examines it to see if it was indeed undamaged. “Go inside and help with the clean-up and I will tell you how the trick works,” said Blue, “I have to talk to Christina and the twins.

Mage Khet goes inside the home and the four women start to walk out onto the wide open grass field. “I can’t think of a way to make this any less a shock to you, Christina. I respect you so I will be blunt about what I have to tell you,” said Blue, “You know your mother was a Raptor.” “Yes, she was PhoenixRaptor,” replied Christina. “Raptors only give birth to Raptors no matter who or what the father was,” said Blue. Christina was shaking her head yes, absentmindedly agreeing with Blue. “You know what that means?” asked Blue, feeling that Christina is not getting what she was saying. “This is blunt?” whispered Salem to Selene. “Christina, what I am saying is, you are not a human. You are a Raptor,” said Blue. Christina stopped dead almost causing Selene to bump into her. Blue turned to look at her and said, “Any questions?” “But I don’t have markings on my back,” said Christina. “Humans have only two sexes in their species. Raptors have three. Male, female, and the third are called nurse,” explained Blue, “The roles and purpose of the separate sexes are not observed by us. You see, the male Raptors impregnate the females and guard the family territory, the females do the hunting and the birthing, and the third sex, the Nurse Raptors care for the younglings. Nurse Raptors, unlike the female raptors, cannot be impregnated nor can they impregnate a female Raptor.” “But there are no more male raptors to guard the land,” guessed Christina. “Umm,” said Blue, looking at the twins and back at Christina, “Dark is a male Raptor. Humo Raptors all look female to humans but it is the marking on our back that give away our sex,” said Blue. “Are you sure Dark is male?” asked Christina. “More than sure, Red and Pink are our children,” said Blue, “Dark and Cold have stripes on their backs showing that they are male, Red and I have spots on our back showing that we are female, Pink and Purple have no markings on their backs making them nurse.” “So what you are saying is I cannot have any children,” said Christina. “Not from a male Raptor,” said Blue, “You mother’s sex was nurse,” said Blue, “She had no markings on her back. Do you think she could have spied for us as an exotic dancer if she had markings on her back giving away that she was a Raptor?” “What does this mean for me?” asked Christina. “Dark suspects that not only have you inherited your mother’s looks and, ahem, ample endowment, you could also have your mother’s abilities,” said Blue. “Abilities? What abilities?” asked Christina. “That is why we are out here. First to see if you do have her powers and how you can bring those powers out,” said Blue.

The group walked over to the person standing just in front of a knee high rock wall. “Wait, it cannot be,” said Salem. “It is not possible,” said Selene. The closer they got the more the twins hearts moved into their throats. “Hey!” yelled Jarody, “Isn’t that?…” “Yes. It’s Lord DarkRaptor,” said Selene. “Lord DarkRaptor?!” said Christina. Vivien was shocked stupid again with her jaw finding it hard to stay closed. In her head, she was amazed at all the people she has been meeting since she joined the group. But her amazement passed and was replaced with an anger that was starting to grow. David heard stories about Lord DarkRaptor and the Raptor Pack. Emhril knows about the Raptor Packs’ adventures very well. He even listened to his wife reading stories about them to Haiku at bedtime. Zealot too could not believe he was about to meet the great Raptor Pack Lord. Countless battles she had been in and only three defeats from them. Lord DarkRaptor is considered the greatest military strategist in the history of Colloquy. They arrive on the patch of grass where the extremely muscular, dark haired, six foot four tall woman with a silver and purple visor over her eyes was waiting. “GothRaptor, BladeRaptor. It is very surreal to be seeing you again,” said the woman, “I still can’t get used to your agelessness.” “Lord DarkRaptor?” asked Salem. “Please, just call me Dark, I left that Lord title behind long ago,” said Dark. “Where have you been?” asked Selene “Why did you go?” asked Salem. “How did you escape the cave-in?” asked Selene. “Why did you not tell us you were alive?” asked Salem. “Hold it. I’ll answer your questions, but first we have a few things to do and more people to see,” said Dark. Salem and Selene had tears in their eyes. Everything they had been through after the day Dark killed De La Groot had hit them again.

Dark gave the twins a hug to calm them down, and then looks up to see someone she had never expected to see. “Phoenix?” asked Dark, “How? Why are you all white?” Christina began to cringe not knowing what to say. “How did you get younger?” asked Dark. “Lord,” called Selene, “She is not Phoenix, this is her daughter,” said Selene, “We named her Christina. We named her after her mother.” “The baby?” asked Dark with a growing smile, “She lived.” Dark gave Christina a hug. “You look exactly like your mother,” said Dark, “Except of course, she had dark skin and brunette hair. Had I known you were still alive, you would have been here with us.” “What are you saying?” asked Selene. “We need to get going. We have others to see and I want to know about your group here,” said Dark. They start walking down a beaten path and pass a door in a hill. “That is the storeroom. It used to be our home until we built a larger one,” said Dark. The other Blade Masters could see tiger stripes going down Dark’s back. After they passed the hill, a large house could be seen surrounded by large trees. “How long have you lived here?” asked Salem. “It’s been almost twenty years,” answered Dark. “So is anyone going to tell me why a vampire is able to walk in the sunlight?” asked Dark. “It takes some explaining,” said Selene.

The group was getting closer and closer to the home. “So, how is Blackfrost doing these days? I bet Darkwind misses him.” said Dark. “I had to leave him at the Temple to live out the rest of his days in peace,” answered Salem. “Wait, how do you know we have Darkwind with us?” asked Selene. As soon as Selene asked, her question was answered when she saw the MobilBlade next to the home with the horses. “We thought they were just trespassers and were going to kill them until I recognized Darkwind and Skyclap,” said Dark. “Where are the passengers?” asked Salem. “They are inside. When I left, they were helping Blue with the chores,” answered Dark. “Wait! Queen BlueRaptor is alive too?!” asked Selene. “The time for explanations will come soon. Right now, I need to use the restroom,” said Dark. They were close to the home now and someone could be seen sitting on a bench on the porch of the home. It was a little girl with a strange guitar playing a very haunting melody. The girl looked to be Haiku’s age. “That sounds like an electric guitar,” said Jarody. “That is PurpleRaptor. You never got to meet her before,” said Dark. “I do not think she was born yet,” observed Selene. “Actually, she is about twenty five years old. She has a condition that prevents any further aging,” said Dark. The little girl got up when the group reached the porch and her guitar transformed into a metallic bird. “She has a Blade?” asked Salem. “Thought you did not believe in Blades,” said Selene. “That is not one of your Blades. That is made from technology RedRaptor had adapted from the other world,” said Dark. “Yes, Terra told us that you all had the ability to travel to another world. How are you able to do that?” asked Selene as they began to enter the home. “I will explain later. Purple, show our old friends and their group to the living room. I will be back,” said Dark as she began to climb stairs inside the home. The group followed the little girl into a room with many seats inside. There were paintings and other furnishings similar to what was in Jarody’s home. “Hey!” yelled Jarody, “Where are you guys getting electricity?” There were indeed electric lights on lighting the room.

Haiku went up to PurpleRaptor, “Hi! My name is Haiku and this is my Blade Carber. He is the HealthBlade.” The little girl just looked at Haiku with a blank expression. The little girl had not shown any emotion at all since they first met her. “Are you OK?” asked Haiku, “Why don’t you say something?” “That’s because she doesn’t talk,” said a blonde haired woman who was walking into the living room. “Queen BlueRaptor!” said Salem. “Hey, GothRaptor. Long time no see BladeRaptor. The woman was just as tall as DarkRaptor but she appeared to be a lot more feminine with less muscle on her arms but leopard spots covered her back. “Please, just call me Blue. We are just simple people,” said Blue. Purple began to use sign language but Selene and Vivien could not make out what she was signing. “Use the sign language indigenous to this world,” said Blue. The little girl began to sign again, “Sorry, It has been so long since I used this world’s version.” “PurpleRaptor is mute?” asked Selene. “No. PurpleRaptor can talk. But her ability prevents her,” said Blue. “Prevents her? In what way?” asked Salem. “A whisper will cause you to lose consciousness, to talk at a normal level will tear you apart, and a yell can destroy rock,” said Blue. Another blonde haired woman enters the room. This one had no markings on her back. Jarody thought to himself how unbelievably hot she was. “Goth, Blade!!” yelled the women as she ran from the entrance to the twins to give them a crushing hug. “Great to see you PinkRaptor,” said Selene as the air was squeezed out of her lungs. DarkRaptor enters the living room with Mal and the two detectives behind her. “Are you alright Mal?” asked Selene. “I be fine. I still be a little sore in the shoulder where they tackled me,” said Mal. “Where is Mage Khet?” asked Salem. “He’s with RedRaptor below in the lab,” said DarkRaptor, “Lab?” asked David. “We will get into that later,” said Dark. “Mal, what about Sturmer? He was with you,” said Zealot. “Is Sturmer a wolf like animal with some sort of armor on?” asked Dark. “Yes he is. The Armor is the SwitchBlade,” said Selene. “He’s been hiding in the trees on the edge of the valley. I believe he is waiting to see if any of you show that you’re in danger. As long as he knew you are safe, he will continue to stay hidden until you leave,” said Dark, “If I were in his position, I would be doing the same thing.”

“Red is to busy too join us,” said Dark. Another woman enters the room; the twins were shocked at the woman’s entrance. She looked just like DarkRaptor only her visor was an icy blue and it appeared to be a permanent part of her face. “Before you begin to stutter your words, this is ColdRaptor. She was created by an enemy on Earth. Earth is the other world we have been visiting and protecting. It is really an interesting story,” said Dark. “The story I want to hear is how you survived the cave-in and why have you been hiding out here in Terra’s valley,” said Selene. “It started with me,” said BlueRaptor, “After De La Groot’s men killed BlackRaptor and RazorRaptor, I felt it was in our best interest that we disappeared.” “But you, as well as Red, and Pink died in the fire that destroyed Raptor Hall,” said Salem. “No better way to disappear then to make everyone think we were dead. Even if I had to make Dark believe we were,” said Blue. “You did not know?” Selene asked Dark. “I thought the same as you. To me, they were dead,” answered Dark. “Then we found out where De La Groot had been hiding and journeyed to Mount Obelisk to finally kill him,” said Salem, filling in the others who did not know what happened. “Yes, It all started when De La Groot found PhoenixRaptor after Phoenix retired from spying for me to marry and give birth to her baby,” said Dark. “Yes, Salem and Selene told me what happened. He killed my father and was trying to kidnap my mother. She would not go with him, so he killed her,” said Christina. “We had just arrived when Phoenix was killed. We were there to help your mother during your birth. De La Groot ran while the men he had hired to help him kill your parents fought with us,” said Dark. “I was able to cut you out of your mother’s dead body, saving you. That is when I quickly rode to the closest town. That town was Koror where Goth and BladeRaptor were founders of the Temple of the Blades,” said Blue, “I only had time to tell them what happened before I had to rejoin Dark so we could find De La Groot.” “Little did we know just how far De La Groot would go to exact his revenge on us,” said Dark, “He and his men successfully killed nearly all pureblooded Raptors. Only the small number of honorary Raptors like Goth and BladeRaptor escaped the killing spree.” “After we thought Blue, Red, and Pink were killed, we had found out from SkyRaptor where De La Groot had been hiding,” said Selene, “What happened after we gave you the SaintBlade and you told us to stay on the hill?” “I knew what I had to do. I did not want anyone else to die,” said Dark. “That is when I used the JumpBlade,” said Blue. “You are the one who took the JumpBlade!” yelled Salem. “Yes I did. You told me that the JumpBlade can instantly transport you from where you are to anyplace you have been before regardless of distance,” said Blue. “But you have never been in Mount Obelisk before,” said Selene. “This is true, that is why I had the JumpBlade transport me where I have been many times before,” said Blue, “By Dark’s side.”

“I was shocked to learn that Blue was still alive. More so when she told me she had saved Red, Pink, and Purple. But the need to kill De La Groot was still there. I remembered what you told me about Blades. I combined the JumpBlade and the SaintBlade making it the SaintJumpBlade,” said Dark. “With the power in the SaintBlade, that would allow you to send whatever to wherever you wanted,” said Salem. “That’s correct. I sent BlueRaptor back to the Valley, and then I hunted down De La Groot. I decided it was best to fight with him to tire him out before attempting to use the SaintJumpBlade on him,” said Dark, “He fought as if he knew what was in store for him. He wasn’t stupid, As soon as he figured that I was trying to make him tired, he began to run. I began to use the Blade, only hitting support pillars here and there, missing De La Groot. He was weaving between them like the devil he was. It actually worked out in my favor. The mountain began to collapse around us. We both ended up trapped in his throne room. He fought with me again, knowing that the JumpBlade I had was the only way to escape now. At one point of the fight, he did take the Blade from me. The stupid fool did the one thing I figured he would do. He began to laugh his head off thinking he had me and his victory was a sure thing. I faked a trip and told him to kill me, because I didn’t want to be crushed to death. I guess he felt that he would be more satisfied if it was him who killed me and not the cave-in. So he swung the SaintJumpBlade to my neck. I jumped over him and grabbed his head. I tossed him head first to his throne and took the Blade from him. He landed on his throne in a sitting position. I used the SaintJumpBlade to send him to the bottom of the Devil’s Abyss for a nice swim. I removed the SaintBlade from the JumpBlade and used the JumpBlade to take me to BlueRaptor leaving the SaintBlade to be buried in Mount Obelisk and leaving you and the other honorary Raptors to believe I had died.” “But why?” asked Salem. “De La Groot was the start of a trend. I knew it. I felt to prevent more killings, we needed to be dead,” said Blue. So we decided to spend the rest of our days here, dead to this world.”

“So the SaintBlade is still inside Mount Obelisk. It is going to be hard to retrieve it.” “We still have the JumpBlade inside the storage hill,” said Dark, “Just a simple trip there and back.” “Great!” said Jarody, “Just pop on over there and get it.” “First of all, we don’t know if there is room enough for me to pop over there in and even if there is, will the SaintBlade be at the spot I arrive. I’m sorry, but I’m not doing anything until a little research is done and we’re sure it is retrievable using the JumpBlade.” “We understand, Dark,” said Selene. “Right now, I have other business I must attend to. Feel free to do what you want, but don’t leave the valley. GothRaptor and BladeRaptor, come with me,” ordered Dark.

The twins follow Dark out of the room and into the hallway. Dark leads them to a door and opens it revealing a lift much like that found on the TidusBlade. The three women stepped into the lift and the doors closed before heading down. “What is this place?” asked Salem. “This is the Raptor’s new base of operations,” said Dark. The lift doors opened up and a large very modern room was before them. It looked nothing like the simple home they were just in. “Here, we’ve taken Earth technology and gave it our own twist to produce RaptorTech devices and weapons. This is where PurpleRaptor’s Soundboard and Soundwave guitar was made,” said Dark, “And over there is the AliceBlade.” “AliceBlade?” asked the twins at the same time. “Terra found it for us. It allows us to travel between Colloquy and Earth,” said Dark. The AliceBlade was enormous. Even the TidusBlade can pass through it, thought Selene. “But how does the paper stay whole?!” yelled Mage Khet. The twins looked where the voice came from to see Khet and RedRaptor. RedRaptor was even more muscular and taller than Dark. “Goth, Blade!” yelled Red, clearly happy to see them. RedRaptor was standing next to some strange object with wheels. “Go up and rejoin your friends Khet,” ordered Dark. “It is!” said Mage Khet until he saw the expression on Dark’s face and just left. “Red, send a satellite up and have it scan Mount Obelisk for air pockets and Blade metal,” ordered Dark. “You mean to send one up here? On this world?” asked Red. “Yes, Red. Do it,” said Dark. Red left the alien object and walked over to a control panel. “What is this?” asked Selene. “Oh, this is one of our Raptor Mobiles. On Earth, the people who live there travel throughout their civilizations with vehicles like this. Now, tell me, now that we are safe from any member of your group hearing us. Do they know you’re a single person who has been split into two people?” asked Dark. “We see no need for them to know that,” said Selene. “Jarody still does not know that,” said Salem. “I can understand why you would want to keep that to yourself, but what other secrets are you keeping from them?” asked Dark. “Actually, there is one secret we were hoping you could help us with,” said Selene. “Sister!” yelled Salem, “Do we have to?” “Yes sister. It is the right thing to do,” said Selene, “Christina does not know that she is a full blood Raptor.” “You have not told her? So she thinks she’s human?” asked Dark. “Yes Ma’am,” said Selene, “She did not exhibit any Raptor traits until she lost her virginity.” “That is the great thing about the Raptor reproductive system. It takes what genetic information needed for reproduction but throws out the genetic information that doesn’t fit in a Raptor’s genetic make-up. The result will be a full blood Raptor no matter who the father is. Do not worry. I will talk with Christina and discuss with her about the abilities she has yet to discover,” said Dark.