Episode 6

The clash of two warriors! Durahan and Celious!

Mocks, a ducken and a stone dragon. Tiger, Basilisk, Moochi, Tyrant and Hopper came very far but it is still the beginning. What was next for the rebels? Who else must the rebels face?

"Tiger chi, I need to rest." Moochi said.

"Destiny is a long path isn't it Moochi?" Tiger asked, as he continued walking up the spiral road of Yugiyama. 'But we can't rest now, Durahan awaits us. And if we rest, he might go after us."

"We understand Tiger!" Basilisk nods.

"Now listen guys! Fighting Durahan is going to be very tough so hang tough. We need to be very strong and beat this guy, so we can go on into fighting the other monster lord."

"In other words...just SUCK IT UP!" Basilisk laughs.

Hopper grumbles under his breath. "Damn lizard!"

"Enough! Let's just beat this guy and crash for tonight alright?"

"RIGHT!" The team agrees. Moochi stops walking and looks up into the sky. Gray clouds we coming. Is it about to rain?, Moochi wondered. Hopper turns his head to Moochi. "Hey, don't stop, come on!"

Moochi quits watching the sky and follows the gang towards the top of Yugiyama. "Oh yeah!"

******

Up the spiral path they went. Durahan was still shocked. "Captain Mock...Ducken...Armor Dragon...they all failed. How can tis be?"

"M'Lord, I'm sorry." Knight Hound shakes his head.

"Don't be my brother. Soon, the rebel scum will pay for what they did. They all will Knight Hound, they all will FACE THE WRATH OF ME AND DEATHBRINGER!"

Knight Hound nodded, "Precisely m'lord!"

"We will face what?" A voice asked outside. Suddenly the bridge opens. Nothing was there! Holding the hilt of his sword with both hands, Knight Hound walks in front of Durahan, guarding his master. "Who goes there?" Suddenly, leaping into the castle is Tiger. His horns glow in blue energy and he fires two blue lightning bolts at Durahan.

"HA!" Knight Hound swings his long sword with great speed, knocking the lightning bolts away.

"Tis them!" Durahan tightens his grip on Deathbringer's hilt. Basilisk, Tyrant, Hopper and Moochi run into the castle as well, siding with Tiger. There he was; sitting on his throne, the one and only Durahan that everyone has been talking about. With his friends on his side, Tiger was confident.

"Huh?" Basilisk raises a brow up in confusion. "Only two of you ugly folks? No challenge."

"CHI!"

Tiger narrows her eyes at the one knight monster that is sitting in the throne. "Are you Durahan?"

"Durahan I be!" The monster lord laughs. "And ye boy, must be Tiger, nay?"

Tiger bares his white teeth. "I've heard that you are one of the monster lords of Galonis, and yet you are responsible for the moving mountains, am I correct?"

"Indeed boy!" Durahan shrugs his shoulders, covered with spiked, gray armor. "And Knight Hound hath been tellin' me that ye rebels have defeated my warriors, is it true?"

"Yeah man! And now it's your turn!" Basilisk leaps into the air. "FLAME BREATH!" Knight Hound watches Basilisk in mid-air and lowers the single edge of his fascinating steel down to his heel. FlareWrath glows green in energy, preparing to attack. Knight Hound watches the cone of fire coming closer to him. His head, which was made of iron, started to heat up. "Gkk!" This was it! The time was now. Durahan's swordbrother could no longer take the heat and swings his sword upward, quickly. "AIR SHOT!" He cried out. From FlareWrath's blade are two waves of green energy. The entire castle's main hall was filled with green energy. The rebel team screamed at the blinding light. "YAAAAHHHH!"

"NO! LIGHTNING ATTACK!"

******

"Well, it seems we have made it. Are you up for a fight Honugral?" Watching beside the lost disk of the late Armor Dragon is a half-man, half horse monster with blue fur and a dog, or perhaps, a wolf like head. In his hand, it carries a long wooden "spear" with a black, one edged blade like an axe's. The centaur like monster taps the ground with the end of his "axe-spear" and takes a deep breath. "Alright Honugral, give me the strength to fight with." He said, as he walks slowly towards the castle. The green glow finally fades. What was happening?

******

Basilisk, Hopper and Tyrant were down from FlareWrath's powerful air shot blast. Only Tiger and Moochi remained to attack outside.

"BLIZZARD ATTACK!"

"MOOCHI CANNON!"

"AIR SHOT!" Four, green energy waves versus a blast of ice and a pink beam. Which power will triumph? Suddenly, there is a huge explosion of green, white and pink energy. Tiger and Moochi lands, glaring at their enemies. Green, white and pink warm sprinkles fall from the sky and lands on the heads of the combatants. Knight Hound chuckles. Durahan waves his sword around, lazily. "HO! Ye rebels make me laugh. Thou art no challenge."

"No challenge you say? Mayhap I can lighten you up, can I master?" A voice asked. The remaining rebels turned around and saw the centuar-dog monster with the black single-edged spear-axe. Tiger's eyes widen. "Who are you?"

Durahan's red eyes widen. "It...can't BE!"

"Who's that chi?" Moochi tilts his head, raising a brow.

"By the gods, tis ye Celious!" Durahan said. Indeed it was Celious (Centuar/Tiger) and his weapon, Honugral the single-edged "spear-axe". Celious glares at the seal on Durahan's armored chest. Instead of a symbol of himself, it was a symbol of a joker's mask. After looking at the seal from a few seconds, Celious narrows his eyes at the evil knight. "Sensei....Galonis took your soul as well?" Tiger and Moochi gasps. "SENSEI!?"

"That dude is your sensei?" Moochi asked, turning to Celious.

"He was my sensei, until the evil took him." Celious points Honugral at Durahan. "Master, inside the castle now." He commanded. "Today, you will die again."

Tiger and Moochi's mouths drop in shock. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Durahan chuckles and points Deathbringer to the castle. "Alright, I accept ye challenge Celious, come!" Celious nods his head and walks, following Durahan. Knight Hound watches his master leave for one-on-one battle. "I will deal with these fools here."

"I don't think so!" Suddenly, Moochi lunges towards Knight Hound and rolls into a ball. "ROLL ASSUALT!"

"FOOL! SWING ATTACK!" Knight Hound raises his sword up and brings it down towards Moochi.

"OH GOD! MOOCHI!" Tiger runs and leaps in front of Moochi. The edge of Knight Hound's blade just slashes across Tiger's paw. Tiger flinches, as he feels something sting like a paper cut around his forepaw. Moochi lands from his unsuccessful roll attack and walks over to Tiger.

"Are you okay?" Moochi asked, checking his paw. "It doesn't hurt much do it chi?" Tiger growls, limping a bit. "It just stings a bit! It's just a little cut!"

"Chii!" Moochi was angry, just by looking at that cut. He turns is head to Knight Hound, who was chuckling at the injured Tiger. "You jerk! I will make you pay!"

"We'll see! CUT IN TWO!" Laughing, Knight Hound raises his sword above Moochi's head, preparing to bring it down. "This will make your body fall in two pieces!"

"MOOCHI RUN!" Tiger cried out. Knight Hound continues to laughs at the so-called "strong" rebels. "ENOUGH!" Someone yelled out. Knight Hound suddenly stops laughing and suddenly, feels something huge go through his blue, shiny armor. Moochi and Tiger cracks a huge smile seeing Tyrant back. "You are alright chi!" Tyrant nods and glares angrily at Knight Hound...who had a huge dent in his armor. "You hurt Tiger!?" Knight Hound, angry about his "inside-out" armor, storms towards Tyrant and points his sword at his chest. "Silence rebel scum! How dare you ruin my armour like this?" Tyrant just stared.

"Alright then!" Knight Hound grumbled and backed about four feet away from Tyrant, raising his arms up. "I guess I'll get rid of you first!" Suddenly, Knight Hound's body was surging with electrical energy. Tyrant raises an eyebrow, wondering what was going on. Knight Hound's sword began to glow red, a blood red is, and raises it high above his head. "DEATHRBINGER!" Moochi and Tiger gasped.

Tiger yelled out to Tyrant. "TYRANT, look OUT! I think that's his strongest attack!"

That doesn't sound good; Tyrant thought, gulping.

"Fare thee well rebel!" Laughing, Knight Hound begins to bring down his sword on Tyrant but suddenly, his armor begins to turn red. Knight Hound's "body" stops surging with electrical energy and the blue armor begins to heat up. Tiger gasps, seeing Basilisk using his fire attack on Knight Hound. Knight Hound couldn't stand the heat and dropped his sword, collapsing to the ground. Basilisk turns his head to Tyrant, grinning. "Hey, couldn't let him hurt my friend." Tyrant nods his head, agreeing. Tiger turns his horns on Knight Hound and Moochi begins to glow pink. "Let's finish him off chi!"

"RIGHT!"

******

Celious was breathing heavily after some minutes of melee combat, but he was not giving up. "Forgive me master!" Celious said, swinging Honugral at Durahan. Durahan swings his blade Deathbringer upward, blocking the attack. "Curse ye boy!"

Celious narrows his eyes. "I am not a boy!"

Durahan laughs, and swings his body around, attacking with his sword. "And I am not done yet boy, TWISTERSLASH!" Celious leaps to the side. Durahan stops spinning and leaps into the air. Celious watches, tightening the grip on his weapon. Holding his weapon in both hands, Durahan spins his body around and attacks Celious. To Celious, Durahan seemed like a giant, circular saw but he dodged the attack easily with another leap to the side. Celious raises his spear into the air and begins to spin in. While landing, Durahan chuckles. "Yer tricks are too old!"

"FLARE ATTACK!" Bringing down his spear, Celious' weapon shoots out a blast of white energy. Durahan rushes towards the energy and slashes right through with his sword. Celious gasps in shock and guards himself with his weapon. The blade of Deathbringer is blocked on the pole of Honugral. Grinning, Celious raises his front hooves up and pounds them both into Durahan's armor. That attack didn't do much and Durahan counter attacks right back with his charge attack. Celious rears back a bit as Durahan's shield pounds his chest, hard. He growls and points a palm at Durahan. "You want to play rough? TRIPLE ENERGY SHOT!" From Celious' palm, he shoots out three multiple bullets of energies. Again, Durahan slashes them with his sword, dissipating them. "Is that the best ye can do?" Suddenly, Celious runs on all four hooves and raises his weapon. Durahan's eyes widen and raise his sword in front of his face for a block.

"HA!" Celious swings his weapon at Durahan's sword; the force causing the evil knight to fall down on his back. Celious backs up a bit, just in case the knight monster does something. Feeling a big stiff, Durahan gets up and crotches, holding his sword in both hands. "Indeed! Well, I just might kill ye right 'ere! May I present...the slash combo." In a scream of rage, Durahan charges towards his student and attacks with a flurry of slashes. Celious manages to block the sword attacks but suddenly feels a huge pain in his stomach. The "blue thunder" warrior looks down at his stomach, seeing Durahan's boot pressing on it. Durahan laughs. "Thou always forget about the kick boy! AIR SHOT!" The knight's sword glows in green energy and is swung up on Celious. Celious backs off a bit, dodging it. Durahan laughs, feeling victorious in his mind. "Har har!" Suddenly, outside there is yelling.

"LIGHTNING ATTACK!"

"MOOCHI CANNON!"

"LORD DURAHAN!"

"Huh?" Durahan turns to his window and gasps, seeing Basilisk who's smiling. "Hey bad guy, your friend is dead! Can we come in and kill you now?" Laughing, Basilisk backs away, showing a blue lost disk, wrapped in a blue stem. Heartbroken, although his heart is filled with darkness, the evil lord Durahan drops his blade as he glares at the blue lost disk. "Kn...kn...Knight Hound...no!"

Seeing that he is distracted, Celious raises his weapon up above Durahan's head. "IT'S OVER!!" He yells.

"WHAT?!" Hearing Celious yell, Durahan turns his head around and gasps. "No wait!"

With all the strength his has left for today, Celious brings down Honugral and slashes through Durahan's armored body, cleanly yet quickly. After slashing his master, Celious uses his blade to knock Deathbringer into the air.

"What happened?" Running inside is Tiger, Basilisk and Moochi. Basilisk gasps. "Aww, are we too late?" Tiger and Moochi's eyes widen is shock, seeing what's happening. The sword Deathbringer twirls into the air and as for his owner, he slowly falls apart.

"Kkkk.." Durahan's sight on Celious started to fade. It's been years since he has been dead, and now his greatest, and only pupil has defeated him. Celious watches his master's red eyes disappear. The rebels gasp, watching Durahan. Celious narrows his eyes, still watching. "Rest peacefully my sensei!" Basilisk grins at a thought in his mind; or in pieces, hee hee.

Durahan's last words were: "Good...job!" Celious continues to stare at his master, not saying anything at all. Finally, after a long silence, the halves of Durahan disintegrate into gray dust, leaving a dull, gray disk stone lying in the dust hill. As for Deathbringer, gravity takes apart and the sword with no owner dies as well as it hits the rocky ground. Celious sighs and turns to the rebels. "Are you alright?"

"Yes we are." Tiger said. "But who are you?"

"I am Celious." The centaur said, turning his head to the disk stone which lies in the gray dust. "And Durahan, was my master...my teacher. This might seem strange but he died once before."

Basilisk raises a brow. "He did? Then why..."

"Galonis revived him, like he did with three others." Celious began to explain. "You know the prophecy right? It said that Galonis revived four monsters that sacrificed themselves to save their loved ones. Durahan adored me so much and treated me like I was his son. He trained me in the arts of the warrior and then, one day, we were attacked by a group of black rexes and Durahan was killed, protecting me."

Tiger's eyes widen. "I think I'm starting to get it. The prophecy is starting to come true."

"Indeed chi!" Moochi nods. Basilisk shrugs, smiling. "So what? We can destroy anything Galonis throws at us."

"YEAH CHI!"

Celious narrows his eyes at the arrogant zuum. "Humph, you better hope so."

"Hey, whoever you are, come with us to fight Galonis and free the world of his control." Tiger suggested, smiling.

"Indeed I will, um Tiger isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"I will join you to beat Galonis. I will NOT let Galonis get away with all of this." Celious yells, swinging Honugral around with great proficiency. "Oh, and the name that I am given is Celious."

"Welcome to the team Celious, CHI!" Moochi grins. Celious nods. Suddenly, there is shaking. Basilisk looks left and right, seeing the castle fall apart. "Let's get out of here!"

"RIGHT!" Basilisk, Moochi, Tiger and their new friend Celious runs out of the castle. Basilisk yells out. "YO TYRANT, HOPPER, NAP'S OVER, LET'S GO!"

******

The mountains were starting to move to their old spots and the evil castle of Galonis' gallant knight monsters was collapsing. It was over for Durahan but it was only the beginning for the rebels. Hard raindrops pour down from the gray skies and lands on the green, pointy leaves. Selon drips of raindrops, soaked and flooded with the swamps of death. Her soil was a lot more flooded, possibly no worm or ant could escape. The rainforest critters and insect scatter around, searching for shelter until Selon's deadly swamps calm their fury...but it was Galonis's fault. He's the one who made the swamps so wild and inescapable.

"CRAP!!" Someone yells out. Dashing quickly through the mosses and swamps of Selon is a zuum with blue fur and a white horn on it's head. The zuum was running so fast, hoping he wouldn't get caught in the flood. Finally the zuum reached the end of Selon and looks up on a mountain that has a cave mouth of a roaring beast. This mountain, even when Durahan was alive, never took apart of the cursed and moving mountains. This mountain was called Mezar, the beast mountain and mountain of a clan of dangerous zuums. The blue-furred zuum yells out. "M'LORD!!!! BAD NEWS!!" Suddenly, walking at the opening of the cave's mouth is a golden-white scaled zuum. He looks down at the other zuum. "HoundSaurian (Zuum/Tiger), I got reports that the mountains hast stopped moving. What the bloody hell happened?"

HoundSaurian takes a deep breath and yells out some more. "MASTER NOBLESAURIAN (Zuum/Gali) IT'S LORD DURAHAN! THE REBELS HAVE DEFEATED LORD DURAHAN! THAT'S WHY THE MOUNTAINS STOPPED!"

"WHAT?!"

"YES SIR! IT'S TRUE!"

Growling, NobleSaurian points down to HoundSaurian. "You fool! This is TRULY unforgivable, damn rebels! Report to the troops at once!"

"RIGHT!" HoundSaurian dashes off. NobleSaurian turns his head into the cave darkness, watching a pair of glowing, red eyes. There was no figure but NobleSaurian knew it was there. His lord was hard to see because of his dark scales. "Did you hear that M'lord? Lord Durahan has been defeated...it seems like it's your turn now." He chuckles. The red eyes narrow and there is small, echoing chuckle. "Indeed my brother, indeed!"

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**Tiger and his group have just passed two rough tripped mountains and defeated Durahan and his lackeys. But it seems that there is a new death monster lord that the rebels must face. Who could it be? Find out next time.....in the series "TIGER OF FREEDOM!"**

Nightmare of the "Zuum of Darkness"

Rain! Is yet so filled pain and sorrow most people would say,

but Basilisk felt great.

The rain didn't bother him at all, not even the sprinkling sound the drops do when they first hit the ground; the end of their journey from the heavens. The rain was like a memory to the "Zuum of Darkness"; a memory of his family that is, and their end on an actual rainy night. His brothers and his father; it was wonderful. Indeed they were a clan of neutral, ragged ruffians but they were a loving family. They've been like that for years until Syler the death dragon (Dragon/Joker) came along. Syler's jaggernauts (Beaclon/Joker) troops killed every single brother of Basilisk and he couldn't save his father from the death dragon himself. For two days after the death of his father and brothers, Basilisk lived alone. He lived alone until he met Tyrant, and stayed with him. Basilisk's memories were unforgettable. The laughs, the cries, none of them were.

******

Father, you are greatest!

Indeed!

Papa!

My son!

ATTACK!

AHHHH!

DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!

RUN BASILISK!

NO FATHER, I'M GOING TO STAY HERE AND FIGHT!

PERHAPS I SHOULD DESTROY THE BOY FIRST!

LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU MONSTER!

NO FATHER!

FIRE BREATH!

FATHER!!!

Basilisk...I told...you...to run

I won't leave you. NO!

Son....

Father...

Brothers...father...HOW DARE YOU MONSTER! RAHHH!

FOOLISH BOY!

ACK! Ugh! Oof!

They are all gone. Let's go my warriors.

YEAH!

F...Father...papa.....d-d-daddy?

........

NOOOOOOO!!

******

The dreams were endless and they would never go away. Even with Moo dead, it still seems like a loss; but the zuum stayed strong and enjoyed the fresh, cool raindrops fall on his body. "Father..."

"What are you thinking about Basilisk?" A high voice behind Basilisk asked.

"Hm?" Hearing the voice, Basilisk turns his head around and sees the pink "sweetcake" monster, namely Moochi who has a grin across his orange lips.

"Oh Moochi, I'm just thinking about...Tyrant." He lied.

"Okay!" Moochi, shrugging his pink shoulders, walks off. "Tiger, let's go! The storm is getting worse."

"Okay Moochi!"

"Yeah!" Basilisk sighs and continues with his daydreaming; ~I miss you guys~.

******

To all, the rain seemed endless but finally, after hours of rain, the sun returns after hiding within the darkness. Inside the rain forest of Selon, the swamp is calm and the wetness on the green plants are drying up, turning into dew like in the mourning time. A baby squirrel climbs out of her homely hole within the tree and looks about. It was sunny indeed, perfect, but the smell of soggy swamps and trees wasn't too pleasant. Suddenly there is shaking. The tree home of the she-squirrel begins to shake in a vigor like way. ~There are no earthquakes in the rainforest area~, the squirrel thought, climbing back into her hole. What was going on?

"HURRY UP! THE LORD AWAITS US!" A deep voice commanded. "MOVE YOUR FEET DINOS!"

"RIGHT!" Roughly, running through the Selon Rainforest is a group of dino monsters with violet scales and golden eyes. The squirrel watches, shaking in her tree hole. The battle, indeed, was not over yet.

******

Torrent Mountain; the mountain of the beast many calls it. Just like Tenguyama, Torrent had legends and these legends said that the most furious of monsters lived in the mountain. The leader of the "furious beasts" was Torrent the mighty stone dragon. No one could beat him; not humans, not animals, not even his own subordinates, nothing! Torrent's clan was ruthless and they destroyed everything within eye range with their amazing power. Everyone was afraid and no one could challenge the stone dragon and his members. In honor of their leader, the clan named their mountain lair after him. Torrent the god, Torrent the beast of death; his name traveled worldwide, until one day. On one cold night, a monster called a vesuvius challenged Torrent. This vesuvius had armor shining in crimson metal, amber eyes and held a golden hilted, single-edged long sword (About 5'4 in length) which held the power of fire within it's scarlet blade. Torrent knew that this monster was one of his mix breeded cousins, part durahan, part dragon, judging by the looks of his helmet (which is shaped as a red dragon's head); a rare creature it was.

"Torrent-stone dragon of destruction, I, Lord Teuluar, Vesuvius of the Inferno, have come far from the lands of the west to challenge and destroy thee. Come forth and die demon!" Indeed, both Lord Teuluar and Torrent battled and the thing is, no one knows how it ended. All that was left from long ago was Teuluar's helmet, his sword (Pyrarth, the blade of inferno) and a large stone scale which was probably shed off of Torrent's body. For centuries now, the rare artifacts (including Torrent's horde) rotted inside Torrent Mountain; and as for the mountain itself, an avalanche sealed out the mountain's mouth with pure ice. Every man and monster was thirsty for treasure but none of them was able to pass through the icy seal...not until today.

******

Today, Torrent Mountain is now ruled by one of Lord Galonis' death warriors; in full truth, this warrior is ranked 3rd in Galonis’ pure evil eyes. The ice seal was destroyed and there lived a clan of lizards. Perhaps the dinos inherited Torrent Mountain, since there was a group of violet scaled dinos heading towards there; but it wasn’t the dinos who lived there, it was their zuum commanders. Inside of the beast mountain's mouth, the group of dinos lined up and gave their reports. The captain of the troops walks forward, facing three zuums of the different type: A dark purple one (Naga Saurian, Zuum/Naga), a white-gold (the Noble Saurian, Zuum/Gali) one and a larger sized dark green one who was in the middle. The purple and gold-white zuums wore seals just like Lord Durahan's troops, but they were much different. Instead of a symbol of a knight, there was a symbol of a dark green dinosaur…a zuum perhaps? The dino monsters had the "zuum" seals on their chests as well. The captain puts his vision on the gold-silver zuum, then to the violet, then to the dark green one, leaving it there. Instead of a zuum seal, the middle one was wearing a seal of a white joker mask, just like Lord Durahan once did.

The dark green zuum narrows his black eyes at the captain and he asks. "What news do you have for me Captain Grape (Dino/Naga)?” Captain Grape, admiring the zuum’s English accent, would smile in greeting for his lord but could not because of the bad news he had in mind. Instead of deciding to stay quiet, Grape, boldly let’s out the news, ready for possibly any type of punishment the zuum lord would give him.

"M'Lord, about Lord Durahan...he's."

"Rebels of five yes?"

"Uh?" The captain nods his head. "Indeed! Yes Sir! His castle on Yugiyama is now gone and the mountains are returning to their original places, never to move again. The five rebels are a tiger, a moochi, a tyrant, a hopper and a basilisk. A new player joined the group and it's a Celious, so that would make six."

Suddenly, the dark green zuum's eyes widen in shock. "A basilisk..?"

"Yes sir!” Grape said, nodding his head. “Is there something wrong?" He asks.

"Uh no..." The zuum shakes his head. "Pay attention captain, Lord Galonis' enemies...must be destroyed."

"Yes sir!" Hearing the command, the grape dinos depart out of the mountain cave and after the rebels.

“WAIT!” The monster lord called out. “I’d like to tell you something captain!”

“Hai master?” Grumbling, Captain Grape turns his head to his lord.

“Grape, do you remember that story I told you about…the one about the 'couple'"? The monster lord asked.

Captain Grape nods his head, “Aye yes, why sir?”

Chuckling, the lord nods his head. “It could be possible……”

“Ah I see my lord. Okay, no problem…” Grape said, turning his head to his troops. “LET’S MOVE OUT!”

“RIGHT!” Earth shaking and bellowing roars hollering out the cave and the three zuums watched the dino troops depart with straight eyes.

The naga saurian, Master Amethyst, turns his head to his leader. “M’lord, what was wrong if you don’t mind me asking?” He asked. The other “master zuum”, NobleSaurian nods his head. “I’d like to know too!”

"....I'll show those fools...who's boss!"

******

The rain finally stopped, and the rebels are ready to take off again…but not without lunch. “FINALLY CHI!” Moochi yelled out. “We can FINALLY find something to eat without dripping.”

Basilisk chuckled, “Actually Moochi, I sort of enjoyed the rain.”

Moochi was confused, blinking his black eyes. “Chi?”

“Well you see Moochi, the rain reminded me of my family a long time ago.” Basilisk sighed, shrugging his shoulders while walking away. It was no big deal to him. “It’s a long story half-pint, forget what I said.”

Moochi’s cheeks puff out with the word “half-pint”, ~Damn, father never called me that so why should he?”~

“Alright, that’s enough! I want all of you to stay here and rest for a while.” Tiger shook off all the rain from his blue fur from far away so he wouldn’t wet anybody. He was finally dry and Tiger heads into Selon, the cursed rainforest. One thing: No one ever knew it was cursed…except for it’s inhabitants. “Basilisk can I talk to you?” Basilisk stretched his body, following Tiger into the rainforest. “Yeah sure!” Two shadows, nothing left. All who was left was Tyrant, Moochi, Celious and Hopper. Moochi hisses. “Half-pint!" ****** The Selon rainforest was dark, not like earlier today. There was no light, no heat, and no animals. It was dark and damp. There was no escape from Galonis; matter of fact, Galonis was everywhere...his curse was all over the world but soon, Tiger and his friends will stop Galonis and free the planet from his curse. But first thing’s first, the death warrior 5 must be defeated; that including, the slaves who Galonis revived to do his bidding. To the rebels, it was unbelievable to hear from Celious that Durahan was his teacher and yet he got killed before. The prophecy was true but who was next that Tiger and his friends had to face? Eye to eye, snout to snout, it was Tiger with Basilisk, alone and together in the cursed Selon forest. Tiger started out. “Okay Basilisk listen. I know how much you zuums love the rainforest so possible you can help us out.”

The “zuum of darkness” nods his head. “Indeed! I will!”

“Alright, thanks. By the way Basilisk, you said this rain said gave you a memory about your family right? I wonder why? After many times the rain has fallen upon us, what’s going on now? Should you be depressed instead of happy Basilisk? I mean, the rainforest, the happy attitude with your deathly memory. There must be a connection Basilisk.”

“You brought me over here to play twenty questions with me kid?”

Tiger’s wolf face twists, “No, I was just thinking....and I’m not a kid.”

“Indeed! You know what Tiger, I have been getting strange vibes ever since we traveled here to tell you the truth. Like something is going to happen to me.”

“Like what?”

“Like something terrible.” Huffing, Basilisk closes his eyes and thinks. “May I tell you about this dream I had?”

Tiger nods. “Yes, tell me anything Basilisk.”

“Right! The last dream I had was about my father. My father was alive and so were my brothers. No trouble was around; we were in my homeland, around this rainforest plus it was dark, and raining like now. My father, while my brothers were cleaning themselves, explained to me about this story. A tale about two zuums: a zuum with a rapture of tyranny and evil, plus a zuum who wanted to free everyone. They were called the “couple”; my father told me this tale a long time ago.

******

Once upon a time

There were two zuums

Their names were unknown to all who met them

but one thing's for sure

both were enemies

from the beggining to the end

One zuum loved to torture others, comand them like slaves, and harm them

This zuum was evil

The other zuum was his son, the protector of all good

After their first battle, the two zuums vowed eternal bond

They would be connected, even beyond the grave

They didn't have to fight all the time

They were family after all

They sort of hated and loved each other at the same time

but mostly, it was love

They loved their bond, they loved their battles

As days gone by

They say, together, they would have their last battle

During night time

in this one rainforest

There

one would die

and one will live to find a new destiny

But no matter what happens to the bonded father and son

No matter if their paths were different

They would still be bonded

Forever ******

“’The couple’ huh? What does this have to do with your suddenly good mood?” Tiger asked, blinking his eyes.

Basilisk looked up into the sky and shrugged his bulky shoulders. “I think that my father was explaining to me about some weird ‘bondage’, some strange battle that is coming soon. I’m not sure; all I know that it has something to do with me. Father has guided me for so long and I know he is trying to tell me something. The story sounded just like my father and myself but we weren't all that evil.” Suddenly, Basilisk bares his teeth and pounds his foot into the wet, olive colored grass, crushing it. “I just know it!”

Tiger looks down, feeling a bit glum. “I am very, very sorry Basilisk. I shouldn’t of dragged you into this wet, damnable forest and ask you so many questions. Humph, you must think I’m nosy now."

He snorts.

“Nah! Tiger you are my friend and don’t ever forget that.” Basilisk said, laughing and walking out of the forest. Tiger follows, ~Maybe he is right…~

******

"Black, my favorite color but still the sun shines! Blast you Gali!" Meanwhile, in his flying crystal dome castle, Galonis watches everything he plagued from his balcony. He admired it but only the shining golden sun made him miserable. It caused the joker monster's eyes to burn and to give out a snake like hiss; here's a "good" thing, Galonis' mighty axe gives off a nice glint when the sun is out.

"Bah!" Galonis' spits out as narrow eyes glow bright white. No matter what, some how, the sun had to go. He could, with a wave of his axe; he could cover the sun for all eternity. He shall but as of now, the only thing that worried Galonis was the rebels Tiger, Basilisk, Tyrant, Hopper, Moochi and Celious. ~Six rebels?~ Galonis thought.

~Do those fools really think that they can defeat me? Although, I am quite embarrassed that they defeated Durahan. Aye, to my eyes, Durahan was the weakest of the group but still, he was strong in most parts. How could them defeat him? Bah, no matter, all I wonder now is where are they headed? If those fools defeated Durahan then it's quite possible that they are heading towards Selon Rainforest. Aye good, let's see how they'll fair when they go up against my 3rd in command.~

"Lord Galonis?" A voice called out. Even if he didn't have any ears, this voice was very familiar to Galonis. The joker monster turns around, seeing his glowing crystal ball floating in front of his face.

"I have news for you m'lord, greetings!" Appearing inside the crystal is a picture of a zuum's head. This zuum was the dark greenish one from Torrent Mountain with black eyes and a joker seal on his chest. The seal is very well seen when the creature stood bipedal; he was the one who ordered the grape dinos to attack Tiger and the rest of the group. On his face/mask, Galonis always showed a smile; even if angry, sad or happy. The dark lord was happy to looks into the eyes of his 3rd command monster lord. "Ah, greetings Lord Wildsaurian. What news do you have for me besides Durahan being killed?" The zuum, surprised, raises a brow at his lord. "Hm? You mean you knew?"

"Of course Wildsaurian. It would seem that those rebels are a lot tougher than they look."

"It's hard to believe that they defeated Durahan, even though he is in the lowest rank of the Death Warrior 5. Regardless! Durahan was a powerful monster and even one of the rarest. His Deathbringer blade is bane to all whom opposes him; but still, he got beaten. The same thing with Knight Hound."

Galonis' lets out an amusing laugh, "I agree but they wouldn't have beaten you Wildsaurian. Don't you agree, since you are my 3rd in command, even to Cinder Bird you are truly amazing. Your fire is just has hot as his, you are just as fast as him and you have great strength and skill when it comes to combat and tactics."

Wildsaurian grins, showing all of his jagged edge teeth. "M'lord, are you saying that I'm stronger than even the ancient steel soldier Durahan and the immortal black fire Cinder Bird? What about the other two warriors?"

"Calm down, it doesn't matter! All I know is that your one of the best of the Death Warrior 5 and since those rebels have entered your territory, it is best for you to get rid of them."

"Indeed! I shall obey! They shall be crushed!" With a nod of his head, which shows a great amount of true loyalty, the image of Wildsaurian disappeared.

******

"I'm starving chi!"

"...but you just ate Moochi."

"Let's go! We can't waste anymore time!"

"Let's...stop...Galonis."

"Right Tyrant! Let's go!"

"...yeah!"

Behind a bush, Tiger bounded. His prey was right in front of his eyes; small, furry, ~Is this enough to eat?~ Tiger thought with greed on his mind. ~I need something a little more...bigger. ~I wonder what Celious taste like?~ Tiger's thought of Celious: four legs, 2 legs, too much fur, nah! ~Or how about Basilisk?~ Nah! Basilisk is a lizard and Tiger is a mammal; it wouldn't fit. ~Or how about Tyrant? Heeellll No!~ Tiger imagines himself having giant scarlet rocks in his mouth; that wouldn't work either, for they are salty, huge and solid. Bleech! That would not taste good at all. Never eat friends and so, he shall not. The bunny just raises his nose and sniffs the air. This was Tiger's chance; that bunny seemed so dense, not sensing the danger that's around it. All of a sudden, with a flick of both of his long pointy ears, the bunny dashes off. Tiger curses under his breath. He was SO close, what just happened?

The wolf monster snorts and decides to return to the group, "Humph! I'll eat later."

At a fair sized waterhole, Moochi kneels and glares down at his reflection. He looked a bit grown up, he thought. A year ago, he had a squeaky voice plus he was just as small as Tiger; or perhaps he hasn't grown at all and Tiger did. Tiger extremely grew in size that's for sure. Maybe it was just the voice that has changed; a little teenager sounding (like Tiger's) I guess that's the right way to describe it, but Moochi kept saying "Chi". Perhaps one of these days, he'll sound just like his father; strong, proud, deep...old? Celious was at the watrehole as well (washing Honugral's blade) and so was Tyrant and Hopper (who was taking a sip)...but where was Basilisk?

******

"Well, look at you and look at me. Your pink and I'm black. You have six 'arms' and I only have a pair. You are a herbivore and I am a carnivore. You are about six inches in length and nearly about five feet up to my shoulders. I have teeth and you have petals. You are just a mere flower plagued by Galonis' curse and I'm just a zuum with a soul of darkness. I mean, what I'm saying is my little daisy, is that you are pretty and gentle and I'm just a malevolent monster. Yes, I'll admit it; I'm vain on the outside but in the inside, I'm the opposite." Standing outside of the entrance of Selon Rainforest, alone, is the Zuum of Darkness, namely Basilisk, who's peering at a flower with hot pink oval shaped pedals. To him, the flower was pretty in all directions and it smelled good all the time. Basilisk shoves his snout into the flower, sniffing it with all he got. Nothing! Only wind rushed up through his nostrils; no smell, just nothing. The zuum stopped sniffing and peered down at the flower, sadly. "What happened to your smell eh?" The flower didn't answer back; it's not like it would, Basilisk knew.

Basilisk's shoulders sag and his long tail is tucked under his gray belly. "I can't believe this! Why the hell am I even talking to you?" All of a sudden, the ground begins to shake rapidly and Basilisk falls on his back. "Houff!" Repeating the thoughts (in verbal words) of that baby squirrel, " There are no earthquakes in the rainforest area!" What's going on?

*******

"THRUST ATTACK!"

"GOOOO!"

"JAB ATTACK!"

"ALRIGHT HONUGRAL! SLASH ATTACK!"

"LIGHTNING!!!"

Explosive incandescent light, roars of pain; they were all within Selon. Basilisk saw and heard and quickly got up on his feet. It sounded like Tiger and the gang was in some kind of battle. That's what Basilisk thought and quickly, he dashes into the forest. For once the place wasn't flooded; not yet at least, and the sun was still shining. The zuum thought that Galonis would cover up the sun, why won't he do it? It's not like Basilisk wants Galonis to cover up the sun but it's just a thought.

After dashing swiftly through moss, vines, across puddles and damp grass, Basilisk finally reaches the battle and just stops in front of it.

"What?!" In front of his eyes were Tiger, Hopper, Celious, Tyrant and Moochi fighting off dinosaur monsters; they looked like tyrannosaurs with violet scales and amber eyes. Basilisk's eyes widen, "Those are grape dinos!" he said. The zuum peers at the dinos closely. The closest one to Basilisk was the captain that "kid" Tiger was battling with. He would help him but needed to check something first; what was Basilisk looking for and why was the dinos attacking the group?

"Puh! You're not so tough!" Tiger yells out. "Who do you work for buddy?"

"It doesn't matter because you won't live long enough to find out." Captain Grape said, chuckling. The blue "wolf" monster growls in fury. His white, curved horns on top of his head began to charge up in power until both of his horns shined impressive, incandescent blue energy, which partially blinded Captain Grape. Captain Grape turns his head away from the glowing horns.

"Alright here comes my lightning attack, right at you!" Tiger, growling, lowers his head, targeting his horns at the captain. "LIGHTNING ATTA-"

"I don't think so!" Suddenly, before he could fire, Tiger's cornered right eye catches a gigantic tail coming towards him. Quickly he cancels his attack and leaps about a foot into the air. The tail, for it being quite wide, manages to hit one of Tiger's rear claws causing him to flip. Tiger was upside down in mid-air, and to make things for interesting for the grape dino troop, he raises his tail above the "flying" Tiger and brings it down on him, knocking him deep into the earth. Dead dust arises as Tiger "landed" but the worse part is that the troop wasn't done yet. Grape dino troops laughs maniacally and swings his mighty tail again at Tiger, who was laying on his side whimpering in pain.

"ACK!" BOOM! The dino's tail, this time, hits Tiger HARD, square in his belly. Tiger rolls, hacks, coughs, growls and tumbles; his body was bruised and he was starting to become heavily dirty. The dino troop charges over towards the down Tiger, who finally stopped. He had a little bit of strength left; Tiger slows gets up on two feet but not fast enough. The dino's head was starting to burn in "harmless" flames and bends into ramming position as he charges towards Tiger. Tiger blinks his eyes and shakes his head, trying to shake off the confusion...but it was too late. Tiger lets out another scream as the dino troop rams his burning head into his face.

Basilisk gasps in shock as Tiger gets whipped all over the place. "TIGER!" He cried out. Captain Grape heard Basilisk's cry and turns his head around, seeing the zuum. For some reason, Grape's eyes widen; not to mention he also smiles. "So, you are one of them eh?" "What?!" To make Basilisk even angrier, Tiger bashes the side of his face into a tree trunk and his knocked out unconscious.

"NO!" Growling loudly, Basilisk lunges towards Captain Grape's neck for a bite attack. Captain Grape turns his whole body around and at last, Basilisk was able to see the crest (which distracted him a bit) on his mantle. This time, Basilisk noticed, the crest was different. Instead of the head of Durahan, it had "his" head...except only greener in color. "What's that?" Knowing that he's distracted, Captain Dino swings his body around for tail attack. Basilisk tries to spin to evade the tail attack but is quickly hit in the cheek, causing him to fly. The captain chuckles, "Too bad!"

Tiger was down, Tyrant was down, Celious was down, Moochi was down and Hopper was down. As for Basilisk, he was unconscious else well. Captain Grape and his troops chuckles at the fallen "monster warriors".

"They're finished! Thee should be lost disk stones soon. Let's find Basilisk and see if he's finished too." The captain commanded.

"Right!"

******

"Owwww grrr!"

"Oi Basilisk, wake yer arse up!"

"Huh, what?!" Basilisk wakes up, blinking his eyes. Still a bit woozy, the zuum slowly got up and scanned around. There were no trees or rivers, but darkness; everything is dark, there wasn't even any life or the sign of those grape dinos. "Where am I?"

"Inside of thyself, the darkness. Thine 'life", the matter that causes ye to exist." A voice said. Basilisk got up on both feet. He felt a bit better now and searched for where that voice was coming from as it continued to speak. "Thine eyes see own future, own body, own soul. T'was not my Basilisk that ye and I became this way." The voice was familiar to Basilisk; the Old English language...was no mistake it was him. The zuum pivoted quickly and just after a second, he stops seeing a figure of Durahan, whose's somehow leaning on Deathbringer's forte. "You're alive?!"

"Nay! I be dead always. Thou art not dead but just dreaming about it." Durahan said. Basilisk arches a brow, "What are you talking about?"

"Celious knew that I be chosen as one of Galonis' greatest of warriors and sent me back to rest..." He began. "but what ye doth not know yet is that ye is going to participate in the toughest of battles...all by thy self until the end."

"What?! Durahan what are you talking about?"

"Celious fought his fight, indeed he did..and not 'tis Basilisk's turn to fight."

"Durahan! Stop fooling around and tell me what you mean!"

"Son! Wake up and feast thine eyes on the truth." With a glint of his sword, Durahan disappears in front of the zuum's eyes.

"HEY WAIT?!" Nothing, but echo of Basilisk and "his own" darkness.

~What do you mean?~

******

"Still alive Basilisk?" Captain Grape asked as he looks down at the unconscious Basilisk. Poof! Basilisk's eyes open! There was no darkness but luscious life. The smell of swamps traveled through the zuum's nostrils; indeed, he was back in reality. "Hmm?" he blinks. Captain Grape laughs, "Well, good afternoon! Need a story? I can tell you the 'couple' story."

"Huh?!" Seeing the dinos, Basilisk growls and swiftly hops up and on his feet. He looks up into Grape's amber eyes angrily. "Hey, your crest is different, who do you work for? Where are the others? How do you know about the 'couple' story?"

"Your friends are dead Basilisk and so are you. By the way, I happen to work for one of the best monster lords." Grape said. Basilisk toothily grins, "I agree, your tail slap packed quite a punch. Enough to knock me out, yes?"

Grape chuckles, "Indeed! And you must be proud as well Basilisk." "What are you talking about and how do you know my name?" The zuum snarls. All of the dinos laugh; Basilisk starts to get even angrier. "QUIET! I asked you a damn question! Two for that matter now start answering."

The troops stopped laughing and Grape begins to talk. "You still haven't figured it out yet haven't you Basilisk?" Basilisk arches a brow. "I thought now. The reason I know you because my leader knows you plus my leader told me about the story."

Basilisk nods his head. "Mmm hm, and you say you work for one of the monster lords. Well, since you are so smart tell me WHICH monster lord and stop pushing me!"

"Well, like I said, I work for one of the greatest of the monster lords. My leader is the magnificent Lord WildSaurian of 3rd command. Up through his spine is a chill and a gasp is heard from his throat; hearing what Grape said, Basilisk was stiff and scared beyond believe. He was frozen stiff, his eyes widen to the widest, in front of Grape's eyes.

The captain laughs, "Yep, that's right. Daddy's alive!"

"...and he's number three on the food chain compared to Galonis and he's going to rule the planet with Galonis. As for you, you are finished." A troop said. Basilisk was stiffer than an evergreen if that's how is can be explained. The zuum said nothing and did nothing but shiver. Suddenly, as the dinos laugh-

"LIGHTNING ATTACK!" Twin bolts of lightning streaks pass Basilisk's side who flinches out of his stiffness. The bolts hit Captain Grape's chest seal, causing in to shatter in pieces. In awe, the troops watch their captain fall towards the ground, lifeless. They ran and the rest of the rebels, who were conscious, joined along side of Basilisk. Moochi laughs, "Don't come back!" Smiling, Tiger turns his head at Basilisk, who was glaring at Grape (who was becoming a lost disk).

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tiger asked.

"Uhh..uhh!" Watching captain turning into a lost disk stone, Basilisk did nothing but shiver. Tiger peered at him carefully. "......"

~It...can't...be...!~

(Previously on "Tiger of Freedom")

"Hi, this is Basilisk speaking and do you remember what happened in the last episode of "Tiger of Freedom"? If not, then I'll tell you. My friends and I has just defeated Durahan; since we did, his castle fell apart and the once active mountains were now moving back to their original places, never to move again. I would like to add in that there was tons of rain. We were heading towards Selon Rainforest, a fairly large rainforest with swamps and the good smell of flowers; it's a lovely place. While we were relaxing, Tiger started asking me questions. He's such a great kid and I answered all of his questions wholeheartedly...well sort of.

One thing's for sure, we didn't know that the second monster lord was being reported about Durahan's death and us being in Selon Rainforest. While I was talking to a pretty flower outside of the rainforest, my friends were getting battered up by a group of grape dinos. I came to the rescue, only to get knocked out by Captain Grape plus get a strange and short dream about Durahan. In my dream, Durahan was explaining to me about this battle of mine that I must face but I didn't fathom. When I woke up, I was in front of Captain Grape and his troops. Grape told me that his leader knew everything about me; he knew about the "Couple" story, he knew my name, all those kind of personal things.

I asked Grape who their leader was and he what he told me nearly gave me a heart attack. That's right...A HEART ATTACK. Suddenly, Tiger came in and destroyed Captain Grape's seal with his lightning attack, turning him into a lost disk stone; all the other dinos retreated. The good news is that the grape dinos were defeated and we are capable of continuing our journey. The BAD news is that my father Wildsaurian is ALIVE and one of the five death warriors! SOMEONE LEND ME A MINT LEAF! ANYONE?! TIGER?! TYRANT?! MOOCHI?! ANYONE?!

**********************

~Father! It can't be! How am I supposed to fight you? I can't fight you! You and I are the same blood, I can't kill you because you are on Galonis' side. DOH! DAMN YOU GALONIS!~

Basilisk has been shivering and growling for approximately two minutes now. Such pain! He felt like his heart is going to burst. Hearing that his father was alive, Basilisk was paralyzed and wasn't able to move; well, he WAS able to move his head in order to tell the gang about what happened while they were all unconscious. Tiger, Moochi, Tyrant, Hopper and Celious crowded around the zuum.

Hearing the news, the whole gang freaked out. "WHAT?!"

"Your father Wildsaurian is one of the monster lords!?" Tiger asked, his jaw drops. Finally, Basilisk stopped shaking like a chihuahua and lowered his head, looking at the grass plus his big feet and gray curvy claws; still he was a bit tense. "No, I'm wrong. It's another Wildsaurian!" He lied.

"Basilisk chi chi, tell us what Captain Grape said about the next monster lord!" Moochi begged.

Silence!

"I believe Basilisk on what he said about his father." Tyrant believed his zuum friend; he always did and he was certain that Basilisk would never lie...especially if it has to do something with his father. "He would never lie!" He nodded his head, agreeing to his own comment.

Gasping, Basilisk looks up at Tyrant, "Huh?!"

"If it's Wildsaurian, then we shall fight him together. You and I."

Basilisk shook his head, "I-I can't....."

"Basilisk!" Interfering, Tiger leaps in front of Basilisk's face and gives him a serious, sharp look into his eyes. "Listen! This is Galonis we are fighting. He wants us to give up. He's a coward, using our loved ones against us. You have to be strong and go against your dad, it's the only way. After him, we got against whomever else we know. Understood?" Furious, Basilisk turns his head towards Tiger and yells out, "QUIET!" Tiger blinks his eyes. "What do you know about 'strength'? For Gali's sake, we're talking about my ONLY father who is alive and OUR enemy. You don't know how I feel because you haven't experienced the pain of fighting against your own blood...plus, you only lived for about a year. Well Tiger, AM I WRONG?" Tiger didn't say a word. Basilisk continued, "Tell me Tiger, when you were a cub, how did you feel around Gray Wolf? How would you feel if you had to fight against him?" Hearing his brother's name, Tiger's eyes widen. He was speechless. Suddenly, Moochi runs in front of both Tiger and Basilisk and spreads his arms. "Stop it! Don't you realize this is what Galonis wants too chi? He wants us to go berserk and kill each other. Now use your heads!" Basilisk and Tiger sighs.

"Now let's continue going through this forest and find the lord's lair before more troops arrive."

"Mmm-hmm!"

******

"They defeat my grape dinos eh?"

"Yes my lord!"

"Where is Noblesaurian?"

"Reporting to other troops!"

Lying beside an inhabitant hoard of treasure (which was once Torrent's) was Lord Wildsaurian, who was now informed by Master Amethyst about his grape dinos getting defeated by Tiger and his friends. Torrent's mountain has at least five rooms; the hoard room, the main room and three empty rooms for resting perhaps. It's easily guessed that Wildsaurian and Amethyst were in the hoard room. There is only one entrance into Torrent Mountain and that's inside the mouth. When one enters through the mouth, he or she reaches the main room. Simple? It is! There is a triangular shaped "table" with four cave openings behind it. It's already been told where the cave openings lead to; the five rooms. Anyway, back to Wildsaurian and Amethyst. They began to walk out of the treasure room and over to the main room's stone table to stand on. Wildsaurian walks up on the table and stares down on Amethyst the nagasaurian. "So tell me again! They won did they? "

"Aye, they did sir." Amethyst nods his head. "But Basilisk is under a depression knowing that you are his enemy. He don't want to fight you."

Wildsaurian grins. "I thought not. I'm Basilisk's only love in the world and he do not dare wishest to put harm on me. Lord Galonis is quite clever. I understand why he picked me and the other members of the Death Warrior Five. Which troops is Noblesaurian reporting too Amethyst?"

"The scaled worms sir."

"Ah, good! But I daresay, it's kind of bright outside."

"Pardon sir."

"I say it's bright outside." Wildsaurian snorts, walking off the "stonetable" and towards the cave's mouth. "The sun, the sun is too bright. I must make it a little bit darker for my taste."

"You can...do that?"

"Yes, watch me Amethyst."

******

"So that's it then. Wildsaurian's the next enemy we must face. If anyone wants to back down then I can understand. I'm sorry you'll feel this way but I'm not giving up. There is a world that needs to be saved and Galonis needs to be stopped. For Gali's sake, we have to do this. We're the only ones who can. All is under darkness and scared to fight Galonis. Don't give up, we got to do it! It's all or nothing so who's ready? We're ready! Let's fight to the best of our abilities!" A prayer from Tiger.

"YEAH!" All voices raised for Tiger....all except for one.

"Count me out guys, I don't want to fight."

"Huh?!" Tiger, Tyrant, Moochi, Celious and Hopper turn their heads where they hear the one’s voice who disagrees; that one being Basilisk who is laying near a tree. Tiger blinks his eyes twice then suddenly, they narrow. The blue wolf monster was getting kind of angry. Why would Basilisk behave this way? Basilisk loves to fight and Tiger pretty much understands his feelings. He doesn’t wish to get in an argument and just simply asked, “Why?” The black, “zebra zuum” gets up then turns to Tiger. He had those eyes...those said eyes. He never had them before. Usually, Basilisk is gung-ho but pretty much, Galonis tipped the scale by reviving Wildsaurian and turning him into a slave under his power. Tiger understands, he truly does. He understands that Basilisk doesn’t want to fight his own father so he decides to make a deal with him. As Basilisk gets up, Tiger gives the lizard a serious glare. “Basilisk listen. I’m sorry about what happened a few minutes ago. I understand that you don’t want to fight and destroy the one you truly love. So you don’t have to fight your dad, I’ll do it instead. I’ll give it my all against Wildsaurian and after him, we’re getting rid of the next three.”

“What?!” That’s all Basilisk could say. “Are you absurd? He’s extremely strong. You don’t know his skills, his techniques.”

“Unless you want to fight him.”

“Tiger is right. You should fight him. You understand your father much more than anyone else around here. You are strong.” Tyrant said.

Tiger blinks his eyes once and raises his right paw, “Tyrant’s right, you are strong. You are strong enough to fight your dad plus strong enough to experience the pain of loss. You can do it, I know you understand. I sure do understand. I had to move on when suddenly Gray Wolf passed away in front of my face a year ago. There is something called “no choices”. Those are when you only have one thing to do and you must do it regardless of what you don’t like to do; it’s for your own sake. Like when Gray Wolf taught me how to hunt. I didn’t want to kill anything, not in combat and not in hunting. I was benevolent but I did everything for Gray Wolf and for the sake of me. Basilisk what I’m saying is you must face your dad and fulfill it. You have to defeat him and walk up to the next step. Yes, it’s going to be very hard, you know it is Basilisk but you have to. Running away is going to make it worse. So, it’s either you or me. What’s it gonna be Basilisk? Come on, let’s shake on it.”

“Huh?” Basilisk looks at Tiger’s paw tiredly. What was he thinking? He had two choices. Who was going to fight and defeat Wildsaurian, Tiger or Basilisk? Either way, Wildsaurian must be stopped at any cost. Tiger had courage but Basilisk understood his father and that’s an advantage. Basilisk walked on over and extended his arm, his claw close to Tiger’s paw.

Tiger’s eyes lit up in happiness, a wide smile is spread across his face. “Yeah! I knew you could understand. That’s it, just a little further.”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on Basilisk. I can’t do this forever. My paw’s getting tired. You can do it.” Tiger said. Basilisk sadly looks at his palm plus gray claws. ~What do I do? Fight my father and see him die again possibly? Or let Tiger fight and defeat him? Ugh, NO! What a choice! What to do?!~ Suddenly, Basilisk swiftly turns his head away from Tiger and growls, his eyes closed. Tiger lowers his paw and sighs in hopelessness. His happy face disappears. “I know, it’s hard. Your thoughts are all discombobulated and you don’t know what to do. Think it over for a moment Basilisk. I understand how you feel. Supress your past and everything so you can fight. Yes that is hard but I know you can do it.

Basilisk opens his eyes then slowly turns his head to Tiger, blinking his eyes in confusion. “I--I don’t….”

Tiger looks at Basilisk and raises his paw again. “Basilisk!”

“Um…uh.” This was very hard for Basilisk. It was hard for him to think, to breathe, to do anything. This was disturbing him a lot, he felt confused and something was holding him back. It must be depression, the poor zuum monster. He thought for a little bit: Tiger, Basilisk, Tiger, Basilisk, Tiger, Basilisk, on and on like a broken record or CD player. Perhaps a message machine for a telephone. Wildsaurian couldn’t just live. He’ll kill the rainforest with darkness and troops. His reign will never end. This weakness can’t go on. He had to choose. How about saying he will then break his promise later? Ugh, that sounds just dishonourable, horrible, not like Basilisk. He might be an “evil” beast but he would do that…would he? His muscles were tense and his heart beated like who the hell knows. What if the grape dinos didn’t tell Basilisk about his father being alive? What if he met his father up close, as an enemy, didn’t know it and have to fight him then? How would that be like? This was way too scary for him. Just as scary when Syler the death dragon came around their home and killed everyone. The bodies of his brothers were all over the place, motionless. He saw them all get shredded, crushed and burnt up by Syler’s jaggernaut troops. Him and Wildsaurian were the only ones standing. Syler decided to kill them both all by himself. Basilisk began to reminisce again. Wildsaurian lunged towards the death dragon, his jaws wide and claws open possibly to cling onto his bone body Quickly, he was knocked unconscious and Basilisk tried to attack…the same thing happened to him. When Basilisk woke up, Syler and his juggernauts were gone. He looked around and all he saw was his brothers’ lost disk stones. As for his father, he was near death. Wildsaurian saw that one of his sons were alive and that was good enough for him. He didn’t lose everything, there was one left, that was good enough. Basilisk’s father couldn’t be saved and he turned into a lost disk stone. Does Basilisk wish to see his father as a lost disk stone again? He truly doesn’t but this time, it would be a good thing if he does. He would be freed of Galonis power but Basilisk’s main problem is inflicting pain on his father plus seeing him die the second time. He thought about all of this…the choice must be settled NOW. Tiger was waiting for Basilisk to shake his paw.

“Um…” Basilisk has been thinking a lot and decides to probably do it. Perhaps it is best for him to fight. Moochi, Tyrant, Hopper and Celious watched Basilisk’s claw close to Tiger’s paw, hopefully to shake and agreed. They all felt it. Basilisk was going to shake and except what was going to happen eventually. Finally! Moochi wipes a tear from his eye in Basilisk’s courage. “Chi…” His suffering finally ended Moochi thought. Both Celious and Hopper smiles. As for Tyrant, he standed up strong and tall.

Just right before Basilisk reaches Tiger’s paw, Tiger suddenly lowers his paw quickly and turns his head to the woods. Basilisk lowers his claw and blinks his eyes. “What’s wrong Tiger?”

Moochi blinks his eyes. “What’s wrong chi?” Celious, Tyrant and Hopper looks around suspiciously. They heard the sound of something walking in the grass. Someone or something was coming. Basilisk kept on staring at Tiger. “What?”

“Quiet! Someone’s coming.” Tiger said, growling. “It must be the enemy.”

“You darn right it’s the enemy.”

“You’re pretty good at this Tiger my boy.”

“Funny isn’t it. You were in a dramatic scene and then suddenly, someone interrupts. Rude isn’t it? Well we’re sorry, let us make it up to you.” From the bushes, there is a popping sound. Something small, white and swift dashes on out of the bushes and heads straight towards Basilisk. Basilisk gasps seeing the “bullet” come at him.

“LOOKOUT!” Tiger cried out and pushes Basilisk out of the way by hitting him with his head. Basilisk falls to the ground and Tiger lets out a scream like something hit him. Basilisk was now scared and he lifts his head from the ground, checking on Tiger. He gasps at Tiger. Tiger seemed to be sweating and blushing but he moaned like he was in pain.

“Tiger!”

“Hey, you okay Basilisk? That’s good because we didn’t get a chance to shake yet. Ugh…huh.” Suddenly, Tiger falls onto his side weakly.

“NO!” Basilisk gets up quickly and checks on Tiger.

“TIGER!” Moochi cried out. Everyone else gasped. Basilisk looked at him head to toe. What was wrong with him? In no time at all, the problem was solved. On Tiger’s shoulder was a white dart with green liquid on it. Basilisk growled, turning his head to the bushes where the voices came from. “A poison dart?”

“Hee hee, that’s right Master Basilisk. That is a poison dart. You are quite intelligent I grant you.” Walking from the bushes are eight large insects with green scales and large jaws. They had about six tiny legs and four green eyes. One of the insects wore a helmet with a seal on it. Celious looked at the seal carefully and noticed it was the seal of Wildsaurian (dark green zuum). He wasted no time and raised his weapon Honugral up and spins it around. “Guys! Those are some of Wildsaurian troops!”

Basilisk raised a brow and growls in fear. ~Scaled….worms!~ He thought.

“Attack!” Celious cried out, bringing down his glaive, shooting out a orb of energy at the worms. The orbs impacted and with a kaboom, the worms went flying.

“Let’s get them chi!” Moochi charged towards the worms after the smoke quickly clears from Celious attack. “CHIII!” Tyrant, Hopper and Celious all charged to fight them worms. Basilisk was paralyzed again. He watched his friends fight the worms and began to ~No it won’t be. I can’t do it!~

“Ba…salisk.”

“Huh?” Hearing his name, Basilisk snaps out of it and looks down at Tiger. Tiger opens one eye. “Help them Basilisk…go…fight.”

“I can’t! I won’t!”

“Basilisk, don’t…do…this…to me.”

Basilisk didn’t know what to do now. First his head was clean but now he’s back to is old self: Mixed up with thoughts.

“Tiger?!”

“Hmmm…”

“Im..I…I will never return!” After saying that, Basilisk pivots his body and dashes away through the forest. Tiger watches his best friend leave… “No..no..Basilisk..come back…please. Don’t…do this to me…please.” Suddenly, a large shadow covered Tiger’s weak body. Tiger moved his opened eye to where he could see the sky. The sky was becoming black. The sun was swallowed up by dark clouds. It must be Galonis or Wildsaurian. Tiger felt his strength leaving him quickly and he closes both eyes. “Why….? What must it end like this?”

*******

Basilisk ran like he never ran before. He ran like a gigantic rampaging dragon was chasing after him like a predator to a prey. Tears flowed from his eyes. He didn’t exactly know what he was doing. Perhaps we would feel better if he didn’t fight at all. Be free, be away from it all. No worries, he didn’t have to fight his father but he did something totally bad: He left Tiger who is in bad shape. Just let him die, and the rest as well. It doesn’t matter, he thought. He would live as a free zuum, caring for himself like he did before with his father. But if Tiger and the others’ died, who would then defeat Wildsaurian and Galonis? What about the rest of the Death Warrior Five? Selon Rainforest wouldn’t be a safe place to live in if they were all alive. Now he was out of breath. Basilisk stopped to catch his breath. Where was he now? He was near a large cave, that’s where he was. There was a voice from within the cave, “Hey sonny, need a rest?”

“Huh?” Basilisk raised his head so see who spoke. Walking out of the cave was a pink and peach zuum (Zuum/Pixie) with white hair. “Come inside and rest.”

Basilisk’s jaw drops and his eyes bulge. ~It’s a “GUIL”!~ A girl he meant, a quite old one too. Too bad for him. Basilisk hasn’t seen a female zuum in ages :p.

“My name’s Halsha. Is there something wrong son?” The female zuum asked. Basilisk shakes his head quickly to stimulate his concentration. “No ma’am…I mean Halsha..i mean actually…there is a problem.”

“Well now, come on in and tell ol’ Halsha about it.”

“Uh...uh...okay.” Basilisk follows her into the cave, blinking his eyes in awe.

******

“So that’s the story. I panicked. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Poor son. I know this is hard on you. You father is the evil monster lord of this forest? I would of never known that you were Wildsaurian’s son. How amazing! You seem so kind Basilisk and your father is so cruel.”

“My father wasn’t cruel before.”

“I’m sure of it. I know everything about Galonis. You also said because your father was a monster lord, you left your friends and ran away?”

“Yes, that’s right. Tiger got poisoned by a scaled worms poison dart. He’s almost dead but so what? I should just let him die.”

Halsha shakes her head in pity. “No no no, my son. Don’t talk like that. I can see it in your eyes, you are not a quitter. I like you too much. To live here, I didn’t give up. I had to keep fighting. You know, Wildsaurian’s troops actually attacked me many times so I could switch sides. You know what? I said “nay” to them. The ‘ell with Wildsaurian, down with him no offense to you Basilisk. I fought a lot. Heck, I would fight your father myself if I didn’t have a choice.

Basilisk’s face lit up, filled with hope. “You would? Then you can….”

“Nay!” Halsha interrupted. “You are going to fight him, not me. You are his only hope.”

“I know but I can fight him. I don’t want to see him die again. The first death was just too horrible.” Basilisk felt tears filling up his eyes, turning his head away from Halsha. He sniffed, whines and let the tears run down his cheek. “A death dragon killed him…and my brothers…and..”

Halsha interrupted again by nuzzling Basilisk’s cheek. He whispered. “Shhhh, I know you can do it because I believe in you son. Hey, if I was younger, would you fight for me?”

“Uh?” Basilisk was speechless, blushing. Halsha laughs. “Don’t worry about asking that and dry your eyes. I’ll tell you what, if I gave you something to heal your friend Tiger, would you fight your father?”

“Uh?”

“’Uh’? That’s all you can say sweetie?”

“Uh?”

“Hmm, you are quite cute. When you beat Galonis, please visit me and bring your friends with you. Can you?”

“Um, okay..sure..but Halsa? How do you know that my friends and I are going to defeat Galonis?”

“I know it. You got everything. You got love, you got friends, you got strength. I see it in your own heart, trust me.”

“You do?” Basilisk lowers his head a little bit and takes a little a little time to look at his chest. “Hmm?”

Halsha giggles at Basilisk. “Not literally but spiritually you silly animal.”

“Oh?” Basilisk chuckles and blushes, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.

“Oh here you go! This fruit heals poison quickly.” In Halsha’s claw is a green, plump fruit, shaped as a squeezed sponge. Basilisk was happy now and reaches for it. Suddenly, Halsha moves it away. “No no, you must promise me Basilisk.”

Basilisk looks at Halsha, blinking his eyes in confusion. “Promise you what?”

“Promise you WHAT?! Sorry for echoing. Promise me to fight Wildsaurian.”

“But I can’t…”

“And you want to give this fruit to Tiger? I don’t think so. I sware Basilisk, if you BREAK this promise, I will tie you to a tree using your tail and leave you there to rot! Is that understood?”

“Uh…..” Basilisk was speechless again and sweats. He couldn’t believe the backbone of this girl. Halsha smiles. “Good! Now take this fruit and give it to Tiger. He will be better within the next day. Although it might seem hard to see the day since Wildsaurian or his lord darkened the sky. Anyways, listen to me Basilisk. You are the only chance to beat Wildsaurian. He is your father and you are his bold and noble son. You only have one chance to be him. Know this Basilisk! Wildsaurian is not your father. Wildsaurian’s heart and sprit is engulfed with evil. He will try to weaken and kill you in any way. He is not pure-hearted and noble like you Basilisk…not anymore. He’s partially not your father. In order to see your true father again, you have to beat the dark side of him. It’s the only way son. I know you can do it. Like I said, you have strength and a good heart which I can see. Those are the weapons you need to defeat him and that’s all. Sure, you have your super attacks and all but never throw your heart away or you will be like your father as of now. You know what I lived so long within this forest Basilisk? I lived so long because I believed in myself. Sure it might kill you but you’re the only one who can decide your own fate. I’ll tell you what, since I said this, you may break your promise and do whatever you want. You can do anything but it won’t be because you are running away and all….it’s because of you. I have nothing else to tell you son. Go out you sweet child you and don’t throw your heart away.”

Basilisk couldn’t help but cry again. He has never been this emotional before. Stupid woman…but she was right. Basilisk only had one thing to say as he took the green fruit gently from Halsha and that was: “Thanks!”

*******

Back at the battlefield, Celious, Moochi and Hopper continued fighting. Tyrant nursed the poisoned Tiger. ~Basilisk…~

“We can’t keep this up forever! Tiger is dying! JAB ATTACK!” A force rushes through Hopper’s body and up to his fist. He lunges towards the captain of the scaled worms and brings his fist up on his jaw. Captain Scaled Worm only let out a little “Oof!” then laughs. “Is that all you can do kid?”

“I’m not done!” Hopper gets into a fighting stance and keeps his fist up. The captain raises his tail up, ready to bring down his stinger upon his head. “Let’s see you can dodge this!” Laughing, the worm brings down his string and Hopper quickly jumps to the side. Right after he lands, Hopper wastes no time and dashes towards the captain, bring his fist forward. “Here’s another jab attack!”

“Wrong!” The captain suddenly swings his tail around and whacks Hopper right in his face. Hopper rolls in the dust, coughing. Lots up dead dust kicks up as Hopper rolls by. Then he stops as he crashes into Tiger’s stomach, unconscious. Tyrant looks down at Hopper and gasps. It was up to Moochi and Celious now.

“Haa YAH!” Celious leaps into the air and raises his glaive up. He peers down at a worm who was preparing to shoot a dart at him. “I don’t think so!” Quickly, Celious brings down his weapon and saps the worm on his head, knocking him unconscious. He lands and breathes heavily, looking down at the unconscious scaled worm.

As for Moochi, he was flying in the air, his arms raised and a smile on his face as he looks down at three weapons. “PETAL SWIRL!” As Moochi yells out his attack, he claps his round palms together and spins around like a tornado. He was now a pink tornado which let out a vicious wind mixed with pink cherry blossoms. The three targeted worms were blown away deep into the forest. Now there was only three more worms left. Moochi lands beside Celious.

“Two more to go, yes?” The captain laughs. “Well, let’s see what will happen when you are poisoned.” All three worms laughed and raise their tails, ready to fire. Both Celious and Moochi growls.

“READY!”

“Where’s Basilisk? We got to find him!”

“Basilisk left because he couldn’t handle the truth!”

“Chi…”

“AIM!”

“Moochi, Celious!”

“FIREBALL!”

“Huh?”

“Fireball?” Suddenly, shooting out of the forest like a speeding bullet is a small ball of flame. Seeing the fireball coming towards them, the worms except the captain rolls to the side. As for the captain, the fireball hits square him in the face, burning two of his four eyes. “AGH!” Celious, Tyrant and Moochi turns to where the fireball came from.

“OUT OF THE WAY!” Jumping into the fight was, you guessed it, Basilisk with the green sponge like fruit.

“BASILISK!” Everyone except Tiger happily cried out. Basilisk stopped for a quick second and lays the fruit beside Tiger. “Tyrant, feed this to Tiger quickly.” The zuum dashes off, passes Celious, Moochi and Hopper and heads on over to the scaled worms.

“You’re back! You shot that fireball didn’t you Basilisk? You’re dead since you did. Fire!” The captain commanded. Three poison darts are shot at Basilisk but the great zuum quickly evades them but jumping into the air. The worms watched in awe.

“WAY TO GO CHI!” Moochi cheers. Within the air, Basilisk curls and somersaults. Suddenly, his body is engulfed in blazing flames. Like a meteor, Basilisk brings down his body on the worms and explodes on impact. Black dust rises and there was only one worm running out of the smoke.

“HOLD IT!” Quickly, Basilisk runs out of the smoke and jumps over the retreating worm and lands in front of him. The worm troops screams and turns.

“You’re NOT ESCAPING!” Just right before the worm ran off the other direction, Basilisk spins his body around and smacks the worm with his tail. The worm goes flying and hits his head in a tree. He slowly slides off the tree bark and turns into a lost disk. As for the smoke that Basilisk’s attack created, it dies, revealing two lost disk. The worms were defeated. Basilisk looks at the disk, panting.

******

“And that’s how it went.” Basilisk ending his story with a smile. “Halsha was very helpful and she liked me too.”

“Well a praise be to Halsha.” Celious said.

“Praise chi!” Moochi cheers.

“HORRAY!” Hopper cheers as well. Both Tyrant and Celious laughs. Yawning, Tiger awakes near Basilisk and Tyrant. He looks up at Basilisk and smiles. “Hey Basilisk, I’m glad your back friend. The fruit was good. So you’ve decided to fight your dad?” Snorting, Basilisk gets up and walks about six feet away from the party, looking at the black sky. “He did this. My father did this. I’m not going to break your promise Tiger and I’m most defiantly not going to break Halsha’s promise either. Like I said, she helped me. She helped me a lot. She told me I had a great heart.”

“I believe her.” Tiger said.

“Thanks Tiger. As soon as your strength returns, we will leave immediately. It might take awhile so we can rest. We have a continuing journey ahead of us you guys and Wildsaurian is our enemy. Once I see my father, I shall battle him and I will DEFEAT him. That’s a promise.”

Tiger gives off a wink and a laugh, “Now I know why I love you so much Basilisk. Yeah, down with Wildsaurian. I like the sound of that.” That was a nice sound indeed. “Down with Wildsaurian” they all cheered.

“YES, DOWN WITH WILDSAURIAN!”

“DOWN WITH HIM CHI!”

“DOWN WITH WILDSAURIAN!”

“That’s great!” Basilisk said, laughing. ~Down with Wildsaurian? Sounds a bit cruel but I like the ring to it. You are going down father…and that’s a promise.”

(Last time on T.O.F)

"Hi, this is Moochi and let me say what previously happened on "Tiger of Freedom". Um, let's see. We already beat Durahan, one of the Death Warrior Five and now we're in Selon Rainforest. Um, oh yeah! Now I remember. My buddy Basilisk was literally stunned to know that his father Wildsaurian is alive and one of the "Death Warrior Five", five of Galonis's greatest monsters who rule regions across the planet. Durahan ruled the mountains and now Wildsaurian rules the rainforest/swamps regions. The rest of us were shocked as well and Basilisk was stuck with a difficult choice: Run away or fight his daddy and watch him die again. I knew, being the mighty warrior that he was, he would fight his daddy. Boy I was wrong! That lizard ran chi and the rest of us had to fight the scaled worms Wildsaurian has sent us. Tiger got poisoned and had little time left. Elsewhere, Basilisk met a female zuum (zuum/pixie) name Halsha who gave him fruit to heal Tiger AND directive motivation; personally chi, I think Halsha and Basilisk should be together. Back at the battle, the worms were about to finish us off until Basilisk came along and beat them all. He also said that he was going to fight his daddy. CHIII, I'd knew you pull through.

Chapter 9

Return of the Inferno

It was night again.

"Whoever is there, you may come in!" Wildsaurian targeted his keen vision on the shadowy pair. Two silhouettes levitated through the cave entrance like wizards; these shadows radiated magic and Wildsaurian knew it. Immense magic, dark magic. The master zuum raises a brow as her heard the rattling of violet and white-gold scales behind him. He still had his back turned to his two cohorts behind him, ignoring their fear. Their feet were just a few inches from the ground and the two shadows descended, landing without error in front of the leader and his fear-stricken kin.

Thunder roared loudly and bright light lit up the entire cave, revealing the gruesome identities of the two silhouettes. A large avian body, clothed in dim gray feathers, which burned in inextinguishable dark flame, stood up straight and boldly in front of the zuum monsters. Wings beat slowly. Cool wind gusted within the mountain lair. The bird looked down at the zuums; yellow eyes burnt deeply into them. The one beside the bird was shorter in stature and looked more emotionless. A magical man cloaked in black, his face veiled by a white joker mask. The blade of the axe weapon, which rested in the mysterious man's hand, twinkled dangerously. Wildsaurian's face reflected on the axe's blade. You'll never know, never know when that axe will strike but the zuum lord didn't care.

"You're quiet bold saying that we are able to come in when YOU say so." The mysterious man's voice whispered. Wildsaurian watched his left brow raise in the reflection. He studied both of the subjects and caught a glimpse of their golden joker mask symbols that were pinned onto their torsos. Whew! That was a relief.

"Oh it's you! Forgive me my lord Galonis." Wildsaurian said. "I thought you were someone else, like one of the rebels no offense. They are still on the loose."

The echoing voice of the dark phoenix god boomed loudly through the cave. Seemed like the whole place was shaking. "THAT is what we are here to talk about plus other things." Both Amethyst the nagasaurian and Noblesaurian let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Those rebels are a lot stronger than I thought Wildsaurian. They even destroyed Moo." Galonis lifted his empty hand upward and chanted a few complicated words. Appearing and floating over his hand was a crystal ball, showing images of his enemies. First up was Tiger. The blue canine bounded, leaped and grabbed his prey. The avian and the zuums studied carefully.

"This is Tiger." Galonis began to explain. "The rebels' leader or so that's what I think." The crystal ball even showed him doing his attacks; the blazing azure lightning bolts that shot out from the hook like horns on his head, the rush of the icy breath from his maw, the way he somersaults in the air attacking with his body and so much more. Gray Wolf has taught his baby brother well. A lot of character development; he wasn't as naive as he used to be and was now stronger than before...in strength and in pride. Tiger could fight his own battles and take care of himself. A boy to a man--well, sort of.

The crystal ball switched images from Tiger to the pink monster Moochi. Galonis began to explain. "This is Moochi, a pure breed Moochi. A childhood friend of Tiger I believe." In the crystal ball's picture, Moochi leaped into the air, clapped his palms together and twirl into the air like a tornado, releasing a flurry of raging pink pedals. Black beady eyes blinked cutely as Moochi watched his own reflection stare back at him in a river. Entering forest scenery. The pink monster bounced side to side of the trees like a softball. This was another attack was it not? Not forget the fearful moochi cannon, the pink blazing beam of energy Moochi shot from his mouth. Next up was Hopper. The little two-foot tyke packed with great power. He jabbed his furry fists left and right, attacked his opponents without fear. Flipped, leaped, dodged, "fly" even. There was even a scene where he punches a mock and breaks a piece of it's bark skin off. A speedy fellow; the "baddies" watch the rodent monster dash across a clear field, leaving only rising dust to blind possible pursuers. The avian hummed.

Noblesaurian titled his head at the large bird monster. Still shaking, he spoke. "Lord Ci-ci-ci-Cinder Bi-Bird. That Hopper b-b-be lo-lookin' a-quite ta-tasty yeah?" The black feathered avian moved his head slowly downward, looking down at the shaking zuum marked in gold-white scales. "It does! I might not have him though. He...he and his friends MIGHT BE destroyed by your leader's armies that dwell in Selon, yes?

Nervously, Noblesaurian nodded his head. "Indeed!"

The image of Hopper disappeared and appearing in the crystal ball was an image of Celious.

"Celious! He was Durahan's student. He recently joined Tiger's group." Galonis said. "A true warrior with true pride. His weapon is called Honugral and it could cut through nearly anything." The name origin of the "centaur wolf's" weapon is unknown but Celious used that thing with great finesse. He swung the polearm weapon left in right, his hooves stomped the grass madly. There is even one attack that he can execute while spinning his weapon around and shooting out powerful missiles of energy.

Next up is the gigantic Tyrant who is a half golem and half dragon. He seemed to be about twelve feet tall humanoid, armored in thick crimson rocks and has the head of a horned reptile with a raptor beak. Small bat-like wings sprout from Tyrant's back. The wings were useless and only showed evidence of his half dragon side.

"This is Tyrant, a typical monster who has high power, high defense and lack of speed. He cannot speak well and is a bit slow. His tornado attack is deadly so watch out." The crystal ball showed Tyrant's body exploding into pieces, slowly scattering into different directions. The pieces suddenly began to float and spin around in circles by a magical force. The force shapes itself into a swirling tornado, mixed with wind and bone breaking rocks. The examiners nodded their heads as Tyrant's picture faded, being replaced by an image of the zuum/joker.

Wildsaurian suddenly gasped at the image. Cinder Bird moved his head towards the forest/swamp lord, gazing at him. "Is there something the matter?"

"My lord Cinder Bird, it's Basilisk." The dark green zuum said, lifting up one claw and pointing it at the ball image. "My son. He's after me!"

Humph! Rubbish! Some kind of an emotion? Galonis waved his hand above the crystal ball, causing the image and the ball itself after that to disappear. The joker monster snorts. "Wildsaurian! Show no mercy! To Basilisk and his friends as well. He's no longer your son."

Wildsaurian almost lets out another gasp but lowers his head. "Oh!"

Galonis tilts his head, his eyes glow deviously. "BUT, he can be your son AGAIN if you persuade him to join you. Your son, I admit, is a great fighter and would make a great addition to our army. Heck, we might even make it the "Death Warrior Five" again, replacing Durahan. You and your son can rule the forests and swamps together."

A large toothily grin curled across his reptilian face. "That be an excellent idea my lord," Suddenly, the grin disappears. "but my son is very willful into defeating you and would doubt my offer. He'd never join my side unless something magical happens."

Cinder bird's yellow eyes glow as he speaks, voice echoing. "That's why we chose you as a Death Warrior. He will join you because he's too emotional around his lovable daddy. We immediately plotted against the world RIGHT AFTER we escaped from the "Underworld Prison". We knew of Moo's fate and figured out what happened. We knew that a bunch of classless monsters defeated him and we knew that they might cause a problem. So, we chose five of you, five who would make the rebels weak. Celious, I believe, had no acceptation to all of this, giving him the strength to fight his teacher...but Basilisk shall become mind-clouded and lose his will to fight you. Don't you get it?"

".....No."

"Ugh! "The Death Warrior Five" is based on LATE monsters who are actually loved ones to the rebels or has a relationship with them. Except me that is. Durahan belonged to Celious, Basilisk belongs to you, etc. Just about all of them died tragically. You died tragically; Syler, Moo's death dragon killed you right? The same goes for your other sons and that tragic event harmed Basilisk a lot. Now do you understand?

Wildsaurian nodded his head. "Yes I understand. It's manipulation!"

"Yes, that's about right." Galonis said, scratching the back of his head.

Cinder Bird cleared his throat. "Oh yes, one more thing Wildsaurian?"

"Yes?"

"We got a new weapon for you!"

****** (Think of the "Slinky" song when reading this ^_~ All the syllables are correct)

"The rain is pouring. Balsy is snoring. He's always falling asleep."

"Asleep asleep! He's always asleep!"

"Everyone knows it's Balsy!"

"Everyone knows it's Balsy!"

"Shut-the-heck-up!" Curled up while on his side, the grumbling "Zuum of Darkness" slept under a dripping palm tree. His black scales were moist as mud; Celious and Tyrant, who was right beside him lying down, was "suffering" the same way. The aggravating song of Tiger, Moochi and Hopper continued.

"When the sun is shining. Balsy is cryin'. He wants to go back to sleep."

"Asleep! Asleep! I wanna go sleep!"

"Time to wake up the Balsy!"

"Time to wake up the Balsy!"

Celious opens one eye and looks at the tired Basilisk. "Why do you let them talk about you like that?"

Basilisk snorts. "Humph! Those kids can tease me all they want. "BASLY" ain't waking up!"

"WAKE UP BALSY!!!!" Tiger, Moochi and Hopper cried out in girlish voices.

"NO!" Basilisk yelled out. The "Balsy Song" continued.

"It won't get up! Not even sit up!"

"He's still a sleepy ol' guy!"

"Sleepy! Sleepy! He's always sleepy!"

"Everyone knows it's Balsy!"

"Everyone knows it's Balsy!"

******

"Don' believe dis thunderin' and lightning will be a-stoppin' soon now."

Teuluar stood up straight and tall fearless amongst the small crowd of furry zuums. A shiny steel blade waited, set inside the moist soil, shined on through the natural darkness--just as shiny as the booming thunder. He rubbed both of his palms onto the ruby pommel of his sword; he was burning for a battle, seeking for justice. What was on this unknown warrior's mind?

The zuums growl as their brownish fur was getting disturbingly wet from the water droplets that fell from the clouds. Most of them shook it off but the rain continued on falling. Teuluar's red eyes glowed deviously from within his draconian helmet while he watched his reptilian troops and their failed gestures to keep their fur warm. "Can nae fight zee rain boys!"

One brown zuum turned his head and stared at the scarlet-armored soldier that was staring back at him. "Sir! What are we supposed to do again? Why are we here again?"

Were these the "monster warriors" that the soldier was supposed to take? Look at them! Non-intelligent, cowardly he can just tell, disturbed by just rain and those black eyes. Those black eyes made them look like plush creatures that mortal children take to bed. They were too...cute. Bah, it'll have to do.

Teuluar gladly answered, using modern speech for the zuums to understand. "We are suppose to destroy the fools who wishes to attack our sacred, resting place. We are here because we were called upon to serve on this Earth once more."

******

"You tick me off you know that?!"

"Hey buddy! It was the truth!"

"SOOOOO what?! I was trying to get some sleep but you naive brats decided to sing off key, attempting to bust my eardrums. Doesn't the rain make you tired?"

"Funny! I thought you liked the rain Basilisk."

"I do but I'm TIRED! I never mess with any of you when you sleep so what's the big idea?"

"We were just trying to get you in a good mood before the big fight with daddy. That's all! You shouldn't be depressed all the time. "

An energetic blue wolf monster and a grumpy reptilian. It was just the two of them, strolling through the deadly forest, together again. The rain has finally ended. The others were taking a break, waiting for the two to return. As they walked through treacherous terrain, Tiger and Basilisk began contemplating their next act. That is their merciless assault on Wildsaurian. It shouldn't be long now but still Basilisk was a bit nervous. As much as he missed his father, he'd hate to see him die again...especially by his hands (or claws). So if a dark, ancient force revived him, he's still Basilisk's dad right? Let's not go through that garbage again. Everything was already decided but how to beat Wildsaurian? Tiger was the first to think of that.

"Hey Wildsaurian. You think you can tell me more about you dad?" Tiger asked.

"Huh?" The dark zuum raises a brow.

Tiger rolled his orange eyes around. "You know? Like his skills and stuff?"

"Why kid? I'm challenging him remember?"

"Yes I know but I'm just curious. If you're cool then you must be too, am I right?"

Basilisk's smile filled up with white, jagged-edged teeth. "SINCE you put it that way...." ******

"I see! Very interesting! Very cool!" Tiger said, nodding his blue lupine head. "But do you know the way back?"

"Don't let this place trip you out. I know where to go." Basilisk said, smiling. "Clear your mind! Relax!"

This was far enough; now the two rebel monsters were at this one "checkpoint", or so that's what Basilisk called it. The blasted roads were diverged, shot out in all directions. Tiger, his eyes narrowed, sat on this one boulder with strange encrypted words on it. Basilisk glared carefully at this sign that was in front of him: a drawing of arrows shooting out of a black circle. Each arrow was labeled in the same complicated language like the one on the rock.

Basilisk sighed, lowering his head and closing his eyes in failure. "Damn this!"

Tiger motioned the same way. "You said it! Now what? You think Wildsaurian is behind this?"

"He doesn't write." Basilisk said, lifting up his head and staring at the blue wolf monster. All of a sudden, a mass cloud of thick fog appeared and surrounded the two monsters.

"THAT, boys, is an ancient, extinct, language. " A deep, masculine, echoing voice said. "Written by the first humans, along with their reptilian partners. The language disappeared, forever lost. Now, no inhabitant here knows how to read and write any longer. The monsters of the Selon Rainforest be quite stupid."

"HOW DARE YOU?!" Basilisk hissed venomously. After taking a few sniffs of the air, Tiger growled and leaps off the rock, scanning around the fog. "Basilisk! I think it's one of your dad's monster warriors."

"Fools! We're hear to punish you!" White glowing eyes glared dangerously at Tiger and Basilisk. One pair was fiery red and looked more intimidating than the others. The eyes of the devil perhaps? Maybe it isn't. "I admit! We do work for Wildsaurian and Galonis. They restored our lives, they returned it to us. Our masters told us that you were going to attack our place of rest but guess what, it's not going to happen! You must be ashamed of yourselves, attacking a sacred land."

Tiger's orange eyes widen. "Place of rest?" He whispered.

Basilisk spat out at all this nonsense. "Galonis and Wildsaurian doesn't want to defend ANYTHING! Just who the hell do you think you are?"

"Yeah! Show yourself!" Tiger added.

"Sure!"

The eyes faded away. The fog began to roll away. Tiger and Basilisk narrowed their eyes, staring at their enemy, who's four-toed feet began to slowly appear. First to appear was the zuum troops; tan fur still moist from the rain, black cute/evil eyes, and white ripping claws and carnivorous teeth. Basilisk and Tiger looked around at the zuum troops, the Wildsaurian symbols shining on their necks.

"So, what kind are they? They're your brothers or cousins or whatever. You should know. What kind?" Tiger asked.

Basilisk snarls. "I forgot their names, I just know that one of their breeds is apart of the Hare types. You can tell by the looks of their fur."

"Stop your mumbling!" After the zuums showed their entire shape, their captain was next...this time his full self. Basilisk and Tiger started with the toes that were already seen. The fog rises to the unknown monster's knees, padded in scarlet guards. No skin was shown; Tiger and Basilisk gasped. The arms appear, same characteristics. The torso shined, painted in blood, the "bad guys" symbol glittered. Last but not least was the head, shaped like a dragon, a creature of ancient times.

Tiger and Basilisk trembled with fear at the sight of the crimson knight monster. "Who...are...you?" They both said simultaneously.

The red knight crossed his arms and tilts his head to the side. "Now don't tell me you never heard of Teuluar before?"

Tiger said. "Teuluar?!"

"It can't be!" Basilisk said. "You've been dead for a LONG time! What are you doing on Wildsaurian's side? You replacing Durahan?"

The blue lupine turns his head to the black zuum. "You know about Teuluar?"

"Yeh!" The zuum growls. "He's a vesuvius (Durahan/Dragon) of justice! Defeated Torrent, the evil stone dragon a long time ago. After that battle, he died. I guess...I guess Galonis can revive monsters as much as he wants and brainwash them. The same goes for his friends. He got Teuluar thinking that we wanna invade his and his friends' resting place as an evil act. Now, 'in the name of justice', he's going to punish us!"

Tiger blinks then turns to Teuluar. "NOW WAIT A MINUTE! That doesn't sound right! We don't battle on sacred ground unless we were extremely forced to. We don't want to hurt you. We're the good guys! It's Galonis and Wildsaurian who are the bad guys. You've got to believe us!"

"Silence! Not only invaders but LIARS as well." The dragon durahan wasted no time and reached back where his sword is, grabs the iron yellow hilt and slides his sword out of the sheath. Tiger and Basilisk gulped.

"This here be Pyrarth, my trusty sword." He said, waving his steel blade around. "Has slain many enemies and you shall be the next."

"Teuluar please!" Basilisk desperately begged. A frown curled along his maw "We don't want to fight you. Tiger is right! Galonis is an evil monster who wants to rule the world. My father Wildsaurian is one of his death warrior five. He turned my dad into one of his slaves. Just like you and your friends! If we don't stop them, they'll rule every type of land chaotically without consequence. Then everybody will be his slave. You don't want that to happen do you? You and your friends are against that right? Do you remember Torrent? He tried to do the same thing and you fought against him, dying after that. You and your friends are true soldiers. Don't let Galonis' dark power consume you. That bastard, that scum!"

Teuluar and his friends stood still, listening.

"Yes, don't let Galonis control you!" Tiger added. "Mr. Towlar, you're way stronger than that. Your heart is stronger than some evil force right? The same with your friends right?"

"Teh-looh-ahr!" Basilisk said, correcting him.

"RIGHT! But anyways...you get what I mean right Mr. Teuluar? You're bewitched! You're not yourself. The same with Wildsaurian he's not himself either." Basilisk gasped at Tiger. He was getting kind of nervous now. Was that lupine brat going a little too far? What does he know? If he keeps this up, he might extremely anger the dragon durahan. The zuum wanted to say something but Tiger kept on with his speech.

Tiger contiuned. "You are the 'Vesuvius of the Inferno'! That's what many people called you. You're invisible! You're prominent! You're dominant! You're infallible! You're....well let me tell you something, your fire doesn't go out buddy!"

"I...I....."

"ENOUGH!" A voice yelled out from out of no where. Everyone looked around.

"Who said that?" Basilisk asked out loud. Suddenly, appearing above the red dragon durahan's head were two silhouettes. One of them was the same Galonis shadow back at Wildsaurian's cave and the other one was the shape of a zuum. Tiger, Basilisk and the zuum groups gasped at the two floating shadows.

"Hey son! What are you trying to do with my mighty soldier? 'Brainwash' him? By the way Tiger, a lovely speech." The zuum shadow chuckles.

Basilisk bares his teeth in anger as he glares at the zuum shadow. "Father!"

Galonis twirls his axe around. A purple aura surrounds it magically. "Teuluar! Zuum troops! Don't pay attention to these liars! They are the evil ones. You know I speak the truth. THESE are the invaders!"

"Lord Galonis? Lord Wildsaurian? T'would seem that these men speak words of truth and justice." Teuluar said as he watches both Tiger and Basilisk, who were smiling. "And they are saying that ye are the bad guys!"

"THEY'RE WRONG!" Galonis stated, raising up his axe. Growling, Tiger and Basilisk bounded then leaped quickly the second after.

"Attack me?! How dare you?!" The shadow Galonis points his axe at the two rebels and shoots a screeching streak of purple lightning.

"AGH!!!" The lightning zaps both Tiger and Basilisk. The two defeated monsters landed on their sides instantly unconscious.

"FIREBALL!" Wildsaurian's silhouette unleashes a fire rocket from his maw, hitting the two unconscious rebel monsters, engulfing them in smoke. No screams or anything.

"What are you doing?" Teuluar asked.

"Killing them! They are the invaders after all." Galonis replied. "ZUUM TROOPS! Eat them!" Nodding their heads, the hairy zoom, chuckling, advance on the unconscious couple while the smoke clears up. Teuluar points his sword Pyrarth at the two fallen rebels. The blade glows blazing red. One of the zuums creep up on Tiger, sniffing on his leg. Tiger moans a bit and the zuum gasps. "Hey one of them still alive!"

"Wrong! We're both alive!" Suddenly, both Tiger and Basilisk's eyes shot right open, quickly getting onto their feet and leaping into the air. The zuums and Teuluar watch, gasping with awe.

"LIGHTNING!"

"FIREBALL!"

The horns on Tiger's head glowed, firing bolts of sapphire energy. After that came the fireball attack from Basilisk, like a small blazing rocket from his mouth. The two monster shadows are hit by the attacks, fading out of the existence. Tiger and Basilisk lands in front of Teuluar, using their attacks again. This time on the dragon durahan himself.

"I won't ALLOW you to attack my lords! AIR SHOT!" Teuluar cried out. His waves his sword back and forth, unleashing a volley of fireballs at the rebels. The fireballs rip through the lightning and Basilisk's fireball, disintegrating them into flying energy particles. Basilisk and Tiger leaps backward, avoiding the blast as the fireballs impact the ground.

"Teuluar listen to us!" Basilisk demanded.

"RAGH!" The blue wolf monster Tiger charges at the durahan.

Basilisk cried. "TIGER NO!"

The blue canine glided through the air, towards Teuluar. "YOU GOTTA LISTEN!"

"Silence!" The dragon durahan steps to one side. His iron fingers drill through Tiger's blue mane and grasps his neck after his muzzle passes by his waist.

"AGH!"

"Pathetic invader!" Teuluar retorted.

"You know! It really pains me to see a great warrior being manipulated. OW OW!" Tiger coughed.

"Humph! I'm not manipulated. I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. Defending what I must defend. It's all in the act of justice." Teuluar's grip tightens on Tiger's neck, choking him. He bends his arm back. Tiger's head raised above the height of the dragon durahan's own helmet.

"TIGER!" Basilisk bounded, ready to attack and save his canine friend.

"Hold it buster!" One hairy zuum called out from behind. "You guys deserve this suffering. Move and you're finished!"

Snarling, Basilisk closes his eyes and lowers his head in vain. ~NO!~ He continues to listen to Tiger's agonizing screams. He muttered. "I can't let Galonis nor my father win. Tiger!"

"AAAGGHHHHHH!"

"You going to change your mind about attacking my place of rest?"

"LEMME GO!!!!!!!!"

"I'm sorry!"

--------------------- ((Basilisk is stuck with another bad choice. Will Basilisk save Tiger or will Teuluar of the Inferno continue to be enslaved under Galonis's spell and kill Tiger? Find out next time on "Tiger of Freedom".))