Useful stuff: (50yl) = 50 years later>.
CRYSTAL
FIGHTERS
#13
"DANGLING FUTURE"
CRYSTALIA: EME’S CASTLE
Nity lay in bed thinking of the days earlier events. One
particular thing puzzled him tremendously. What happened to
Striker? Why was she working for the Vile now? They had left
her unconscious and tied up but when they got back from
rescuing UA and Eme she was gone. He wanted answers. He
would contact Sentinei tomorrow he would have the answers he
thought as he slipped away into sleep.
CASTLE BASEMENT
Striker finished aiding her wounds. It had taken her
awhile, after escaping to the castle basement, to find the
medical supplies needed to tend to her wounds.
Her mission was set clear in her mind destroy the Crystal
Fighters. That was the only thought she had had for the last
18 hours. It was the only thought the evil would let her
think.
The blood of the Crystal Fighters would be on her hands soon
enough but first she would get her rest.
Dawn broke and the roosters crowed. The Crystal Fighters rose
for another day. Even the newest known as Tala who is trying
to get used to her new surroundings.
FAR AWAY FROM CRYSTALIA
In a small villiage, lived a race of some rather evil
people. They worshipped an evil god, and had an evil king
and queen. At least, that's what they thought. The king
however, was a kind man at heart. Only the queen knew this,
and she made sure it remained that way.
Two daughters were born to the king and queen. The
oldest, named Merrow, took after her mother in every way.
From her black hair and brown eyes, right down to her
personality. The youngest, Maia took after her father. She
had his light brown hair and green eyes, and of course, his
personality.
The queen treated Maia as if she were her worst enemy.
When Maia could no longer stand it, and her father was away
doing things that kings do, she would run away from the
castle and into the forest. Her only friend in the world
lived in a cabin deep inside a forest. He was the wizard Mimir. He
was kind and considered weak, so he had been banished from
the kingdom. Maia would stay watching him cast spells and
such, until her father returned.
* * *
The day after Maia's tenth birthday, her mother finally
snapped. Maia watched in horror as her mother drew a dagger
and murdered her father. Maia ran out as fast as she could,
knowing she'd be next. She ran to Mimir's hut and told him
everything.
* * *
Seven years later, Maia woke up and stretched. Mimir
walked into her bedroom and smiled.
"Hello Maia."
"Hey Mimee." She smiled back. He was very old and gentle.
She had never thought of him as a dad, but more of a
grandfather.
"How'd you like to go for a walk today?" He asked.
"Are you sure Mimee? Your health hasn't been what it used
to be lately."
"You silly child. I'm not going with you. I'm working on
a new spell, and it's a surprise for you." Maia grinned.
"In that case, I'd love to go for a walk."
"Want anything to eat?"
"That's okay Mimee." She dressed quickly and went
outside. She walked along a stream until she reached her
'thinking spot' and sat down. She leaned against a tree and
got comfortable when something in the water caught her eye.
She looked closely and reached in. As she examined the
object she thought she had never seen anything quite like
it. Suddenly, a bright green light came from the object.
Maia turned away and sheilded her eyes. As it died down she
looked again. It was now faintly glowing dark green. A wave
of knowledge suddenly swept over her. She knew all about the
Crystal Fighters, and that she was destined to become one.
She decided to run home and show Mimir. As she raced back
through the forest, a girl popped out from behind a tree.
"Merrow!" Maia gasped.
"The one and only." She grinned.
"Where's mother?" She asked. Merrow rolled her eyes.
"On her death bed. She's taking forever!"
"That means you'll be queen soon." Maia said sadly.
"Not soon enough. Oh well. Enough chit chat, I want that
thing you have there." Merrow said motioning towards Maia's
Crystal.
"Merrow, please let me pass."
"I'd do everyone a favor if I killed you."
"Please Merrow, I don't want to sit here all day."
"That won't be a problem." Merrow said as she drew the
very dagger that had killed their father. As she did Maia
raised the Crystal above her head.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Merrow asked her scornfully.
"Not really." Maia paused. "This might." She closed her
eyes and shouted. "Makara Transformation!" A green flash of
light surrounded her and once it died down she was no longer
Maia. She had dark green hair, eyes and her white dress was
now also dark green.
"How'd you do that?" Merrow asked staring at her.
"Never mind. Will you please let me pass?"
"Not until I have that thing!" Merrow screamed as she
lunged forward.
"Makara Surround!" She screamed. Thick weeds grew up from
the ground surrounding Merrows feet. The sudden stop caused
her to lose her balance and fall. As she did, the weeds
continued to grow until they completely covered her except
for a small hole near the nose. Makara stepped over her and
continued running home. She reached the cabin and raced
through the door.
"Mimir!" She cried out.He layed on the floor in a puddle
of blood. Instantly, two memories flashed through her mind.
The first, of her father. After he had been attacked by her
mother. The second of Merrows knife. It had been covered in
blood and she hadn't even noticed.
"It's okay. You have found the crystal. That's all that
matters."
"You knew?"
"Of course!" He was talking just barely above a whisper.
"Oh Mimee! You need help!"
"It's to late Maia. You need to join them."
"Them?" For a moment she didn't understand. "Oh. The
Crystal Fighters."
"Yes, I will use the last of my strength to help you."
"You need the help!"
"It's okay. I'll die happy." A single tear trickled down
her cheek. She had lost everyone who ever loved her. He
held out his hands to the side and pulled them apart. As he
did, it appeared as if a giant hole opened in mid-air. He
motioned his head towards the hole. She nodded. She bent
down and kissed him on the cheek before jumping through.
EME’S CASTLE
Another day lies ahead for the CFs. And they find themselves
wishing that for once they can have a normal laid back easy
going day but today their wishes definitely won’t be fulfilled.
OUTSIDE
Krakken spread birdseed upon the ground. "Ah, my little
friends, you could never betray me, could you. And I could
never really betray you." He smiled, letting nostalgia
invade his being, "Maybe that's why I like you so much."
EME’S CASTLE: KITCHEN
Nity walked downstairs towards the kitchen where the others
were probably gathering for breakfast.
It was gonna be interesting breakfast to.
As Nity entered the kitchen, he found Kisutsu lying on the
floor, crying. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"WE'RE OUT OF FRUITY CIRCLES!!!" Kisutsu sobbed.
Ganthet, already in the room, mutters something about carbon
based life forms, and watching out the window. This served
another purpose, he "ate" by absorbing solar energy, not
that he seemed to need to do this anymore, his Crystal
seemed to handle this need. But, it was simply a part of his
routine.
SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE THE CASTLE
After falling for quite some time now, Maia landed hard
in the middle of some type of meadow.
She blinked several times. "Hmm, I guess I'm here. Although,
I don't really see anyone." She noticed that there was a
pouch next to her. "Ah, a final gift from Mimee." She smiled
and tried hard not to cry. Examining the contents she found
her Crystal, her flute, and a few other items. She sighed
and stood up. The top of a castle was in the distance. "I
suppose that's where they would be." She said before
grabbing the pouch and walking quickly into the forest.
EME’S CASTLE
Working diligently in his lab, trying to finish his
latest weaponry, Pyro started to relax for the first time
in months. "I can at least finish the work on Anti-Ionic
pulses that I started before I got here." He adjusted a
weapon nozzle towards a target on the far side of the room.
"Let's see if this works right." He activated the firing
sequence, releasing a momentary pulse of energy, striking
the target with such force it shattered like glass.
"Alright. The frequency modulation was the problem." He
works on a smaller rifle version for a moment and fires it
at a new target with the same results. "Well, project:
ShatterStorm wasn't a worthless waste of resources after
all." He placed it in a blast proof vault and pulled out
some chemicals.
"Now, if this Vile matter I found reacts
like I hope it does to compound 56326-FG, we've got the
battle won." He adds a drop and the lab is suddenly
engulfed in an explosion. sending Pyro through the door and
into the hall. "Yep." He moaned "That worked right."
Zelda was munching on some kind of green vegetable when she
heard an explosion. She jogged down the hall and found
Pyro, "What happened?? Are you okay? Is it the Vile?" she
finished, starting to get out her Crystal. Pyro pulled him self off the
ground slowly, muttering,
"Shoulda diluted that."
He wandered into his lab again still dazed and unable to
notice who was nearby or even existing. " ‘Least the guns
made it." He said as he surveyed the scrap metal that WAS his
lab. Zelda shrugs, guessing that Pyro's all right, then she
started walking down the hall towards the dining room
on her way, she passed Rupay's room.
This morning all that is seen of UA and T.I.M. are some
sounds of banging metal and a few bursts of light from
under the door of UA's lab.
OUTSIDE THE CASTLE
Engrossed in the morning's sunlight, Krakken walked
softly through the garden, smiling to himself. They would
all enjoy some fresh vegetables for dinner. His unusually
vibrant mood flickered away from the crisp sound and the
tangled mess beneath his feet. Lightly clenching his teeth
together and knitting his brow in pain-ridden guilt, he
looked down at the remains of the stalk and did the only
thing he could. He rubbed his forehead, shook his head, and
continued on.
EME’S CASTLE
Rupay stayed in her room, and ate breakfast. She needed to
talk to Zelda and hoped to find her.
Eme was in the dining room having her usual breakfast. She
wondered where everyone was. The castle became occupied
since the CFs arrived and she was partially glad for not
being alone in the castle anymore.
Tala headed for the kitchen as well, wanting to find out
more about the other's that had already been doing this for
a while. Find out what was expected, and if any of the others
had possibly known about her parents. Of if there was a way
that she could get some help for her sister.
She quietly stepped into the room, then glanced around.
after tucking back a few strands of hair, she spoke up
softly. "Uhm, good mornin'?"
SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE CRYSTALIA
Nokomis leaned back, watching her twin. She often amused
herself by spying on her. Do-gooding was such a bore.
However, nothing interesting was happening...yet.
EME’S CASTLE
"Hi, Tala is it?" Nity asked the new comer.
"That’s ri...." Tala didn’t finish as three sharp bangs came
out of the air. And it became immensely windy around them.
Sparks spurted out of the air and stream of light spread
horizontally in front of the breakfast table.
The Crystal Fighters stood at ready.
Then a figure fell out of the light.
The figure sprang to his feet. And stood face to face with
Nity. "What the hell?!" Nity asked as he recognized the other man's
face as his own, only aged about fifty years.
"No time to explain," this older looking Nity said "I must
get to Zelda! Where is she?"
Zelda knocked on Rupay’s door, "Hey, Rupay,
would you like to come with me?" she asked.
"You'll make time to explain, carbon." says Ganthet, a hand
on his sword. "We don't take kindly to people just popping
up and making demands, particularly when they look like
other people around here. We've already got an evil UA,
who're you, Evil Nity?"
The guy that had appeared looked back at Ganthet with total
confidence "I am in fact the real Nity that’s all you need to
know for right now, because if I don’t get to her right away
then Zealen, Kisutsu, yourself and all the other Crystal Fighters, minus
Zelda(since she already was killed in my time) and me, will get killed in
next
weeks attack!"
"Don’t you make threats at us old man!" said Krakken with a
lethal lilt to his voice.
The older looking Nity turned and started to run up the
stairs to the second floor.
"Hey get back here!" yelled Krakken, who, not too long ago, had
returned from the outdoors.
The old man whipped around with blaster in hand and fired
into Krakken's leg.
Krakken would be all right, but he screamed with pain.
The old guy turned and ran the rest of the way up the
stairs.
Zealen, Kisutsu, Ganthet, Entropy, and Tala raced after him as Eme
went over to help Krakken.
Nity, the present-tense one, stood frozen in place, not sure what to do.
BASEMENT
Striker woke to the sound of yelling. It was morning she
realized.
It was time to answer her thoughts with the blood of a Crystal Fighters.
She was quickly out of the basement and sneaking around the
giant castle.
No one was around where she came out and she easily made it
upstairs to the second floor unnoticed.
OUTSIDE THE CASTLE
Reaching the edge of the forest Maia smiled. " 'Bout time.
Hopefully the occupants of the castle will know of the
Crystal Fighters." Clutching her pouch tightly she raced
towards the castle.
After a bit of running she reached the front of the
castle. "Now what?" She sighed. Then she looked around the area for
someone to talk to.
EME’S CASTLE
Pyro entered the hall looking quite distressed, (more then
just the fact he got blown up.) "I'd hoped this wouldn't
work... But nooooo it had to." He started wandering away
from the quickly repaired lab(he had a sperate lab ready to
instantly replace the old one. Always a spare...) He ran
towards the eating hall. Deciding that'd be a good bet as
too where everyone was. Seeing Zelda and Rupay inside he
gets their attention simply with "We have a problem."
"Really? What is it Pyro?" Zelda asked, turning towards him.
"Those Red Vile we faced was no where near the end. I just
confirmed my fears, the Vile's molecular structure is that so a
simple element added in can create a entirely different type
of Vile. The Red ones had sulfur encoded in, who knows what
could happen if they put a radioactive element in. I'm
guessing If I found this out, they now how to do it.” “They must have if
they were able to create the Crimson Vile. This means ~big~ trouble.”
Zelda replied.
CASTLE GATES
BOTC saw a visitor at the gate and swooped down to pick
her up. In one swoop she's up and flying over the castle
walls. "caw Caw?" BOTC said and they fly towards the castle.
EME’S CASTLE
UA and T.I.M. are still in the lab and might be for awhile, doing
who knows what. More banging, possibly of metal, comes from the
laboratory.
Striker turned a corner. Three figures were walking with
their backs turned to her. She recognized Zelda, but the
other two don’t look familiar. Striker looked down at the item in her
hand, a laser gun,
she made sure it was set at a fatal level.
Then she moved down the hall to get a good shot.
The CF's chased the old guy up to the second floor. When the
man spotted Zelda he moved even faster.
"This guy is fast for an old geezer!" said Kisutsu.
The man came to a sudden halt and grabbed into his pocket.
he pulled out a small laser gun raised it and fired.
The laser beam nearly missing Zelda, passed right over her
shoulder. A scream came from behind as Striker took it in the chest
knocking her of balance and causing her to fire way off target and
into the ceiling. Tala opens her mouth to yell “duck” as the man draws
his gun, but
no words come out. As it hits the person behind Zelda, she
sighs in relief. That was a close call. She glanced around
at the other, waiting for one of them to take the cue
from..on what to do next.
Nity finally finds his limbs able to move again and so
runs up the stairs, he reaches the top just after the two shots.
''Zelda?'' Rupay exclaimed, ''What’s going on?'' Her head
darted to each noise. "Ohmygosh!" Zelda exclaims, then staggers
backwards and
into Striker. "Ack, sor--Striker?!?" Then she turns back
around, now facing ~two~ Nitys and a few other CFs.
"Umm..someone PLEASE tell me what's going on!!" she asked
with confusion. Before anyone could answer she noticed that one Nity
was older, "Nity what ~happened~ to you?!" she asked. Zelda shook
her head, looking at the younger Nity, "But how--?"
"I think that’s what we would all like to know." said the younger Nity.
Entropy rushes into the hallway, sneering and running
towards the old Nity. Picking up speed, he shifts to his beast
form, leaps, dodging his laser blasts, and does a wide kick,
knocking the aged man to the ground and pinning him down
with a foot on his arm and a sword to his throat.
"The first blade lifts the skin. The second cuts. Now,
are we going to talk, or do we have to keep this up?" He
smiles at the old man, keeping him well-pinned to the floor.
Zelda transformed into Rydia in an instant. Sensing Zelda transform,
Rupay did as well. She sort of leaned
to Rydia's arm, or at least held her elbow for some
direction. After Rupay turned into Deena, Zelda shot a stream
of water knocking Entropy off the old man.
"Wait! You guys, don’t hurt him I think he saved my life!" exclaimed
Zelda, pointing to the laser gun in the hands of the
unconscious Striker.
"Yeah, lets at least give him a chance to talk." said the young Nity
walking up to them "And it better be good. I don’t take kindly to
people impersonating me." "Well, let's not just stand around here, at
least we can get
comfortable, and maybe Eme can get us some refreshments..?"
Zelda said, then walked with Rupay towards the dining hall
with the others following.
Eme stood when the others entered. She gestured to the food
laid upon the table, ''Help yourselves.'' She sat down again
and finished her tea.
Rupay detransformed and sat in the indicated seat Zelda gave
her. ''Thank you.''
Ganthet simply keeps his attention fixed on the older Nity.
Time travel, as with most carbon technology, was far above
this simple warrior. Give him an enemy to fight, and he
will. Give him a demon to slay, or someone to defend, he
will. Those were his talents, his skill, his life. But
technology, that was above him, or maybe even below. "You have
much to explain,"
he rumbles to the old man, "I suggest you do so in
believable fashion."
" 'Welcome Rupay." Zelda said happily after Rupay thanked her.
Then she turned
serious as she looked at the two Nitys.
Krakken rubbed his leg, laser-wounds
were self-cauterizing, he'd be fine by tomorrow. Still, it
itched... and hurt. "Damn, old man. I say we dump him in
the river," Krakken said, not quite sure if he was joking or
serious. "Krakken!" Zelda exclaimed looking at the older Nity, "Be
nice! Besides..what if he really IS the real Nity? You want
to dump HIM, the present Nity, in the river? I doubt he'd
be too thrilled with that idea..."
JUST INSIDE THE CASTLE WALLS
The moment Makara, previously Maia, lands, she quickly backs
away from the
bird. She stares at him for a few minutes before clearing
her throat and looking around. "I suppose I'm finished with step one."
She says slowly
before trying to find someone who could answer a few
questions for her.
GREAT HALL
Tala stands behind the others, half-listening to everything
they say. After all, this was still more their fight then
hers, and it seemed to involve the leader most of all. Or
well, that's what she was assuming.
''So, Tala is it? How do you like Crystalia so far?'' Eme
asked while the others talked about the two Nity’s, sensing her
detachment.
Rupay let her fingers glide over the table. When she grasped
a glass Eme told her in her mind it was water. So, Rupay
gulped it down, being dreadfully thirsty.
Nity simply stood by the old man, "So go ahead and tell us
the story, why are you here?"
The man nodded his head "Well to save Zelda as I just did."
"Why did you have to save her? What do you get out of it? And...how
did you know she was in danger? I’ve uhh..we?...never had any of the Sight or
psychic powers!" asked
Nity.
"Because she is the one, the only one that can stop Deatcon
McTorn."
"Who?"
"Deatcon McTorn is the leader of the Dark Empire, an evil
society that is determined to take over the universes, and
he has been very successful so far, and also, each of his successes, you
should know. increase the Vile’s power since they live on those
emotions that the Dark Empire inspires."
"Hmm...guess it’s not a very happy empire...but why me?" asked Zelda.
"Because you are the only one with a chance to stop Deatcon.
You are the only one with the correct psychic powers to stop
him"
"But what if I can’t? I don’t even know how to use my powers! And
not only that, they probably aren’t even very strong at all, most really
powerful elven psychics are the ones that awaken to their powers very
early. And I’m only just beginning to sense them, I had thought for a
time that I might be one of the few elves without any extrasensory
perception."
"Then the world goes into hell, like I have already seen it
do before, there wasn’t even a chance in my time after Striker
took your life."
"How do you know all this?" asked Nity suspiciously.
"I am from the future, I am you fifty years later, the sole
survivor of the Crystal Fighters, I come from a world ruled
by the darkest evilest man alive, where everyone is forced
to be his slave, where the Crystal Fighters are dead and
everyone you ever loved is gone. McTorn’s Empire bolstered the
Vile so much that they’ve taken over almost everything, like some
kind of virus. And he even defeated UA’s evil other." His last
sentence elicited gasps from all around the table.
Nity shook his head, this was hard to believe but he heard
the truth in the man's words. His words fifty years later.
"How do we stop this guy? Where can we find him and destroy
him?" asked Nity.
"You don’t have to go anywhere, they will come to Crystalia."
answered Nity(50yl)
"But..ack.." Zelda said trying to sort through what she knew
of time-travel paradoxes, "If you're here, then we must've
failed because otherwise you wouldn't need to travel back
through time, so..it's hopeless? I don't like the sound of
that idea..."
Nity (50yl) shook his head, "No we have a chance because your
alive this chance around. True, we failed the first time
without your psychic abilities Zelda, but this time around
your alive and we can win, we must win."
Ganthet wants to scream. Time travel made his head hurt.
This new enemy, having now shown up, was something he
understood. He utters his familiar battle cry, "Today IS a
good day to die!" He draws his sword and changes into his
armored form. His facets merge and his crystal matter
changes from light blue/white to black.
Eme, half listening to the future Nity, immediately began
thinking about the future. By Crystal Fighters, did he
included her even though she wasn’t a holder of a Crystal?
And since Rupay is, does she die forever here in the real
world?
Rupay also began thinking the same things with a rush of
pure fear, an emotion she never had to face before.
Looking at Nity(50yl) Pyro calmly remarks. "2 things: 1 If
we
succeed, you will cease to exist." Nity(50yl) nods his head
knowingly, though that wasn’t ~exactly~ true, he thought it might be too
confusing to explain what Sentinei had done by taking him out of his own
timestream. " And 2. I think I know how there gonna do it."
Pyro walks over and pulls up a screen on a near by computer
terminal. "The Vile are basically unstable. The Red Vile we
encountered are only the beginning, I've found that there
can be any number of types of Vile. From hot, to cold,
acidic to poison. There are any number of combinations. I
can safely say the $%@$'s hit the fan."
"So, what am I supposed to do with my psycho--umm..psychic
powers? I know very little about using them, remember?" Zelda asked
Nity(50yl)
Krakken interrupted, "Hold on a sec, you mean you guys
believe him? First of all, this could be a trick. Maybe
he's a disguised Vile with some time travel device, or some
component in his genetic makeup, like that thing Pyro was
talking about? Maybe this "Deatcon McTorn" guy is really
just some peaceful explorer, or something.
Now, even if we assume that this guy is telling the
truth, from what I heard, he beat us bad, last time. The
loss of my use of my leg, and the addition of an old man and
some minor psychics aren't going to help us."
Tala nodded to Eme, then cleared her throat, looking at Zelda.
"Ma'am..I can do slight mind-scanning. I can scan both of
them, to find out if he is real or just a fake."
As she says that, she tilts her head to the older man.
"But it's up to you, of course."
Nity (50yl) turned to Krakken "You always were the ignorant
one on the team. Maybe that’s why you were the first to die."
The Crystal Fighters wonder if this is a threat or a true
fact.
"Zelda, I am not sure how you are to defeat him only that it was
written in the prophecies and in the gods words themselves."
says Nity (50yl) telling of the prophecies that Sentinei had shown him.
"We know that McTorn is extremely vulnerable to metaphysical energy.
It showed when Eme went head to head with him and
almost defeated him before.... well maybe it is with your
aid to Eme, we over come him."
"Almost defeated him before what??" Eme asked hiding her
nervousness.
Nity (50yl) shook his head and looked away from her, "If
memory serves me right, some of
Deatcon McTorn's men, he calls Darkens, will be here in a
little while. We must leave to those ships and find McTorn
and destroy him. We will also need two people to stay here
and defend the castle against the Darkens. Nity and Ganthet
you should be able to take care of them with no trouble".
"Hey I'm the leader around here!" said UA.
"I know, it might seem weird to you, but I have a lot more
experience then you now, plus, I know what’s going to happen. I
know where to go and what to do so I lead this one".
You would think this would be strange for Nity but somehow it
isn’t and he knows the man's words are true, they are his
words.
Pyro, looking at Nity<50>, remembering the research done on
Quantum Mechanics, calmly notes "We've still failed.
The nanosecond that he changes history, he'd disappear into
nothingness."
"Right, and if he doesn't exist he can't tell us, so then he
does exist and tells us and then he can't exist....we might
be setting ourselves up for an eternal Time Loop!" Zelda
said, remembering Zaria's lengthly description of time loops
and paradoxes, from..somewhere. "Plus, prophecies tend to mean
something
~completely~ different from what you'd think." She finished.
Then she thought a moment, "On the other hand, if somehow
Nity(50yl) is immune to the time loop theory due to the way he
traveled through time, he might still be able to exist to
tell us in the past if we succeed in the future. Or if he's
from another timeline that's doomed to always fail, but
traveled to this timeline where since he made it it's
possible to have a different future than the timeline he
came from." she took a breath about to say something, then
sighed, "Too many "ifs", well, let's just say this isn't
going to create a time loop or whatever, Tala can mindscan
him, and if you guys still aren't sure.." she shrugged, "we
can always at least ~try~ talking to this McTorn guy,
right?"
“But I am confused, I would think Rupay has stronger mind
powers then Zelda. No offence Zelda, but that is her
section. If mine weren’t powerful enough, why didn’t she try
in...the...future.'' A realization came to her. In her mind
she finished her statement. Unless she was killed before
hand and it is possible for her never to exist.
Rupay remained quiet, listening to the others around her.
Zelda grabbed Rupay's hand, making sure she was still there
and guessing what Eme had been about to say.
''She was about to say that if I didn’t try with my powers
then maybe I died before this took place. Meaning that I can
die in the real world.'' Rupay said to Zelda with a calm
voice tinted with fright.
Krakken snorted, still muttering over what Nity(50yl) had said
before, most likely to make him be quiet. "'...the first to die.' Maybe
that's
because some b*stard shot me in the leg. If what Pyro says
is true, then you traveled back in time, anyway. You
haven't changed anything."
"I think I would remember if my future self traveled
back in time to meet me. Not only that, but Sentinei pulled me out
of my timestream for a while and then sent me here, it wasn’t
supposed to happen, the prophecies declared that McTorn would
fail, something went terribly wrong, the murder of Zelda. That
screwed up everything and he sent me to fix it. I’m not completely
sure what will happen to me, I might just fade away, but to stop
McTorn I ~will~ take that risk, not like I have any real life to go
back to anyway. Now, believe it or not, it’s true." the grizzled
old man coldly
retorted. +Everything around the time that these events are
going on... it's a gray area. I just... can't remember.
Still, it couldn't be something like that. I can't let them
figure out my lack of memory, it would cause me to lose my
already difficulty-gained influence. It doesn't matter,
anyway, it couldn't.+
Unable to come up with a response to the hard wall of
Nity <50yo>'s logic, Krakken remained silent.
"Okay, Tala, go ahead. Scan his mind. It's the only
way we'll know." Krakken nodded, agreeing.
It was time.
After examining her choices, Makara started down a long
hall. Hearing voices she stopped and listened closely. It
was a female's voice, but she couldn't tell what was being
said. Makara ran quickly before coming to a door. Reaching the
end of the hallway she pressed her
ear against the door. Accidentally, she leaned against it a
bit to much and the door flew open, with her falling to the
floor. Looking up slowly, and quite embarrassed, she blushed
and smiled to the group of people. From her position on the
floor she spoke quietly.
"Oh, hello." She paused and waited for their reaction.
Arching a white eyebrow, Krakken glanced over his
shoulder, "Thanks for knocking."
"Look can we wrap this up, I'm retooling the castles
defenses to be more effective against the Vile." Pyro said
impatiently. "Just fry his mind and get it over with."
Zelda looked up in surprise at Makara, "Umm..Hello...I'm Zelda..."
she shrugged then introduced the rest of the Crystal
Fighters while the rest of the group discussed Nity<50>.
Makara stands slowly, gripping the pouch still quite
embarrassed. She nods towards Zelda as she introduces the
rest of the CFs.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Maia- er, Makara. Or both." She
shrugs still a little confused about her new powers.
Tala nodded in greeting to the other Fighter, thinking her crystal
to be a beautiful green. Idly reached up to touch one of
the three she wears, while studying both Nity's intently.
She isn't scanning them, just watching. She wouldn't want to
scan them without their permission.
As Makara listens, she looks from one CF to the other,
trying to remember their names. Zelda smiles warmly, "Here, take a
seat." she said and
pointed to an empty one. Either her memory, unlikely, or
psychic powers, almost as unlikely, kicked in at that moment,
"You're a Crystal Fighter, right?"
Looking shocked, Makara nodded. She drew the dark green
crystal out from her pouch.
"I am. How did you know?" She said forgetting that she
had been offered a seat.
"Umm..I don't really know...you didn't say anything about
that did you?" Zelda shook her head and shrugged.
Entropy sucks in a breath through his teeth as he looks up
at the odd portal that had appeared outside. "Well, if you were the
only survivor of
the Crystal fighters of your time, what happened to the rest
of us? What I'm getting at is, just how did we all die? I
mean, It's not like we just gave up, right? Not only that,
but why would you help us? The second we win, IF we win,
you and this entire future will be destroyed as well as this
emperor. Now, please do tell."
"No you didn't give up you all fought to the end and died as
heroes, and I came back to help, to save life, we are
the last defense in this battle, and I will be glad if and
when we defeat McTorn, to be no more. No more of the life I
had to live. A life of hell." the sound of Nity (50yl)'s
voice brought a sharp pang of pain to the hearts of the CFs. "Now
come on Tala scan my brain so you can tell them I speak the
truth.".
Pyro looked a little annoyed. "#%$^ this, I got work to do."
as he stormed off to his lab, praying he can get the new
defenses up before the next attack, or the "future" might
just come to pass.
Tala arched one brow, feeling the truth that he speaks about the
life of hell, but if he was telling the whole truth... that
was another story. She closes her eyes, opening her mind to his and the
original Nity's. It only takes her a few moments, and they
both feel nothing as she scans them. She had been practicing.
She turns to look at Zelda, after opening her eyes once
more.
"He speaks the truth."
Zelda nodded at Tala, "Alright." then she
winced as full meaning started to sink in, "Ack..that means
we're in ~big~ trouble...any ideas guys? and Nity can you
tell us more about these Darkens and McTorn, any weaknesses
you know of?" Ganthet only nods solemnly. He was sorry to hear
that'd he'd
die, but proud that he'd die in battle. That was his truest
wish, to go out honorably. "A warrior should know his
enemies. With fore knowledge of these creatures, we have a
better chance of victory."
PYRO’S LAB
In his lab Pyro works diligently, building new
anti-electron guns to be mounted around the castle, using
computers to guide them, they should stop the vile from
using or gaining any new power.
GREAT HALL
"Thank you Tala." Nity (50yl) said. "Well the Darkens are
McTorn's warriors. They’re foolish and lousy fighters. Their
only chance is their guns which pack a mean punch."
They heard the shatter of glass as the windows exploded
inward around them.
Men in black armor swarmed in with jet packs strapped on and
big laser riffles in hand. There where at least forty of them.
"The Darkens!!" yelled Nity (50yl)
"Nity...or Nity, whichever, might want to try one of those
protection sphere thingies..." Zelda said nervously, looking
at the Darkens. "Mystical Rydia Lunaris Power!" she called
and in a whirling of blue and purple colors she was Rydia.
"Rydia Aqua Vortex!" she said, using one of her favorite
attacks to knock a bunch of the guns out the window.
Caught by surprise, Krakken dove beneath the table,
hoping the others would cover him while he gathered enough
wind around him.
Pyro nearly falls out of his chair when he hears the
commotion upstairs. "Computer, on screen." The computer
blinked on showing a picture of the mess. "HOLY @^%!" He
grabbed one of the newly built guns and rushed upstairs.
Kicking the door down, he held the gun at the "Darkens".
"Howdy boys, I see you got big guns, BUT MINES BIGGER!!!"
He happily fires a blast above them, shattering a piece of the wall
like glass. Thinning out the beam to a pinpoint, he
carefully shattered a few of their guns. "Done yet?" One of
them fired and caught him in the shoulder, he nearly
dropped the gun as he slammed against the wall, the new hole
is his arm neatly cauterized. "!#%!@$#, too careless."
He begins to recharge the gun for a full power blast. "10
seconds to go."
Hearing Zelda, Rupay transformed. ''Dreamscape Deena
Power!'' Then one of the bad guys came up to her and punched
her. Ducking she said. ''I wouldn’t have done that,'' Then in
touching his forehead she said. ''Psychicatic Mind
Elimination!'' And with that the bad dude grabbed his
head screaming in agony as his mind started to deteriorate.
Eme jumped up and started beating bad dudes to a pulp. Once
she said, ''By the Gods, Lightening Thrust down upon thee!''
And the man fell to the ground, twitching as if electrocuted.
Staring in surprise, Makara snapped back to reality. "Makara
Surround!" She yelled quickly holding her Crystal in front
of her. Instantly, long, thick vines burst through the floor
wrapping themselves around a group of Darkens tying them up.
"Oops." She said quietly, realizing she had destroyed
quite a bit of the floor.
"Rydia Aqua Electricity!" Rydia said, remembering that power
after seeing Rupay attack.
Tala backed away towards the table that Krakken was under.
She placed
her hands out in front of her, and murmurs something. Some
of the men find themselves unable to keep a grip on their
guns, as she uses her power to mentally lift them.
Seeing as that will only do a few at a time, she changes
tactics, and three men that began to move closer to her.
Suddenly they start to stumble about..looking lost, as she wiped
out their memories completely.
Rydia grinned at Tala, "Neat trick, when we have time, can
you teach me that?"
"Sure, I can teach you it."
Tala said.
Suddenly, teleportals appear under the Darkens, and they all
disappear. The CFs converge at the conference table and
look around at the now quiet room.
"Where'd they go?" Tala asked.
"I don't recall them ever doing that." Old Nity said.
"No...but I recognize that power." Nity said. They all turn
to the sound of clapping.
"Oh, very nice. You really did me proud with those sloppy
tactics. Hope everyone enjoyed their tea party while
letting those Darkens sneak in."
"But how did you--?" Zelda began to ask.
"Temporal rift and a flux capacitor were detected in UA's
secondary lab." T.I.M. says. "Medieval time castle is also
rigged with a network of intercoms linked to go on and alert
the Crystal Fighters of said anomalies and strange bio
signatures."
"Hey, I'm supposed to talk like that." UA exclaimed.
"Sorry."
"Anyway, what he said with a cherry on top--and that's it."
He pointed out the window to the portal. They see it
pulsating like one of his, but seeping darkness. "That was
the scout squadron. McTorn’s ship will be coming through,
shortly. And so, we have to prepare. Nity, good job
leading the team, but it's time I stepped back in. You and
Zelda take our new allies to the garden and give them a crash
course in Crystal Fighters 101. Eme, tell your people in a
ten mile radius to get the hell outta here so we have some
elbow room. The rest of you aid in the evacuation. Old
dude, you come with me and tell me all you know and we'll
work out a plan of action. T.I.M., you finish our project."
"Right." They all said. They move off in their directions.
"Query: what are we preparing for?" T.I.M. asked.
"The fight for the future, I suppose."
LAB
T.I.M. flew back to the lab to do what ever he and UA
were up to. After he uses his laser to take care of some of the
mess.
CRYSTALIA: COURTYARD
+CF 101?+ Zelda wondered, then shrugged guessing at the
meaning. +What odd sayings they have where he comes
from...+ she thought to herself as she guided the newest CFs
toward a courtyard. When they get there she starts to
wonder how she's supposed to teach them anything since their
Crystals probably work different than hers. Zelda shrugged
and then started to explain about the team. Things like,
people's positions, basic stuff about the other CFs, and
some of the ways the Crystals have been used. Then she
explained a bit about the Vile.
EME’S CASTLE: LAB
Pyro headed back to his lab hoping to get the defenses up
before something like that happened again. Hours later,
after completing several guns he goes to the intercom and
yells "WOULD SOMEONE LIKE TO HELP ME PUT THESE
THINGS UP?"
CRYSTALIA: COURTYARD
Ganthet, simply waited, preparing himself for the eventual
battle. Out it the court yard, he prepared. "We fight for
to protect the defenseless. We fight, to defeat those who
would harm the innocent. We fight, for honor. Honor is my
blade, justice my shield. I follow the Crystal Fighters, my
family and leaders. If I die, it will be with honor, and my
place in the Hall of Warriors is assured." There, the
ritual had been complete. He was ready.
"I know how you feel, my stonefaced..maybe I should say
my crystal-faced, friend." Entropy said
as he gazed up at the portal. "I certainly hope we don't
have to make good on those promises to die in battle too
soon, that's all."
"Death is the ultimate reward for the honorable, but I have
much to do in this life, Entropy," said Ganthet. "I am
not comfortable with the situation...I do not like having
so little knowledge of my enemies."
EME’S CASTLE: GREAT HALL
In the now empty conference room, UA and the old Nity sit.
"Now, tell me what you can. Everything. I don't want to
put Zelda in danger without an organized plan."
PYRO’S LAB
Groaning about the fact that he's gotta set the guns up him
self, Pyro finished the last connection. Heading down to the
control center he checked the new targeting systems. "Yeah."
The screen flashes momentarily. "Movement?" the screen
flashes to a small rabbit, standing still except for
shallow breathing. "Woah. If it picks that up..."
the screen prints out "Animal: Rabbit" then returns to
normal. "Well, it won't be picking off rabbits." He laughed
quietly then returned to his lab, hoping to make more mobile
versions of the guns.
EME’S CASTLE
Eme did as told, plus some. She had the whole world
leave again, just in case.
LAB
Back in the lab, T.I.M. worked as hard as a Jetboard can work
with his one robotic arm on UA's and his project.
BOTC sat on a shelf and cawed words of advice, and while
T.I.M. got frustrated by the Eagle’s Supervision
CRYSTALIA: COURTYARD
Zelda belatedly notices that Pyro said something over an
intercom and played it
back, then she called the trainees over, "Pyro seems to need
a bit of help, let's see what we can do. Any of you have
much mechanical experience?
Makara shook her head quickly. "Living in the forest
your entire life doesn't give you much experience with
mechanics."
EME’S CASTLE: PYRO’S LAB
"No, no, no, NO!!!" Pyro slammed his fist against the table.
"It's not supposed to do that!!!" He reset the gun and
fired again. It splashes against the wall harmlessly.
"%^#@&@&@^&$%!!! LET'S SEE IF A FULL POWER BLAST
DOES
THAT!!!" He pushed the gun to full power and fired, despite
the warning flashing across the sensor's screen. The blast
hit the wall and with a wave of energy bounces back to hit
Pyro. He flies through the door and hits his head against
the wall, completely unconscious.
By the time they get to Pyro's lab, he's been unconscious for
a bit. "OY! What happened?!" Zelda exclaimed as she takes a
look around, not noticing at first that Pyro's unconscious.
GREAT HALL
Nity (50yl) replied to UA. "Well, what the Seers told
us was that McTorn could have been destroyed by psychic
power. It showed when Eme went head to head with him in a
battle of psychic powers which she has a lot of. The psychics
were always the first killed, McTorn knew this was his one
weakness. We really have to protect Zelda, Eme, Rupay, and
Tala. Something we didn’t do especially well the first time."
"But why did you wait fifty years?" UA asks.
"We couldn’t design the time traveling machines right, they
failed time and time again. We got a big break when we
stumbled upon the Vile's time machine. It was an easy fight
against the last remaining Vile guarding it, to get it." answered Nity
(50yl)
So you think if we can keep those five alive we have a
chance" asked UA.
"Yeah and Zelda needs to be protected the most, she is the
key to it somehow, the Seers weren’t exactly sure how but
Zelda is definitely the key. If she dies we lose it all".
"Well then I guess it’s time to go fight McTorn."
"Again."
"So can you help me with the plan, this being your second
time and all?"
"All I can say is we go in fighting and give Zelda a chance
to do what ever she has to do." replied Nity <50>.
CRYSTALIA: COURTYARD
“Hmph. Well then, perhaps UA and that old Nity have some
information for us by now. I'll go check, call if anything
happens.”
"Do so please," Ganthet rumbles, "I will be here. Call me
when it is time for battle. I will be probing the harmonic
field of the planet, searching for any thing on our enemy."
EME’S CASTLE: PYRO’S LAB
Slowly waking up, Pyro’s eyes open with a start "YEAH!!! I
JUST REMEMBERED. He ran back into his lab and locks the
door, completely ignoring the people around him and muttering
only "Krimson" On his way in.
Tala glanced around as well, then clears her throat.
"Uhm, he looks like he could use some help. Unless that's
how he normally is?" she pointed at Pyro as she speaks.
Zelda tilts her head at Tala, “Actually, I think you may just be right
that that’s normal for him...”
EME’S CASTLE: GREAT HALL
"As much as some of your old teammates would love to just go
in fighting, we can't. We need to plan--get everything down
to a strategy. We can't risk getting anyone killed over
lack of preparation." UA stated.
"I understand, but time is little." Nity said.
"You're right--McTorn can come through any time..."
"We need to get those psychics to him and strike."
"Not just yet. First, we get them underground and have the
other CFs at the ready." UA hit an intercom button.
"T.I.M., find a way to close that portal yet?"
"You kidding me?" The intercom clicked off.
"Guess not."
Entropy walks in. "Glad you're here. I need
you to get all the resident telepaths and or telekinetics
down into sub-basement 2 of the castle. Have one of the
others continue the rookies' training. Then you and the
others go on guard alert." UA said. Entropy nods and runs out.
Then to Nity(50yl) UA said, "Nity,
come on." They begin to run to the tower.
"By the way--in
the future, when and how do I die?"
"Please don’t bring back those memories." said Nity (50yl) with a
slight catch in his voice,
"The truth would only disturb you. At least you should know
you were remembered as one of the greatest heroes of the
universes. You even had a giant ten story statue made of
you with the other six story Crystal Fighter statues
surrounding yours as you led them into glory" a tear dropped
from Nity's eye as the memories flooded into him. "So you
are the leader what exactly is the overall plan?"
BASEMENT
Zelda and the other 'psychics' are led by Entropy far down
below the castle to a type of storm shelter. "Umm..what're we
supposed to DO done here
anyway?" she asked.
A little later T.I.M. came out of the lab. He decides to pay the
safeguarded and much coveted psychics a visit.
"Zel, what do you think?" T.I.M. asked
Looking, Zelda saw that T.I.M. had a new paint job. Instead
of the faded battle scared red paint, he is now a shiny
metallic blue.
"Real nice T.I.M.... why the sudden change?"
"Well after the run-in with the copycat CFs I started to
fill a little insufficient, so while talking this over with UA
we decided to improve a bit...!" he says as almost shy.
"T.I.M. why or you so shy...?" Zelda inquired.
“Well because of this....”
and in a flash of red Light T.I.M. turns into a three foot
runt of a robot man.
Landing on feet T.I.M. bows to the ladies,
"What do you think?" T.I.M. asks.
TOWER
"The plan is I try diplomacy first. Maybe I can convince
McTorn he's got the wrong castle...the wrong dimension.
Maybe I can buy us some time and get us a battle plan by
scouting out his ship. I'll 'port up and get the Darkens to
take me to him. Then, we'll talk it out and hopefully he's
as dumb as I hope."
"But, what if he knows what you look like?" Nity asks when
the reach the tower. UA morphs into a king.
"I knew that deck of cards would come in handy some--"
Suddenly, the intruder alert comes on. UA clicks on the
patched-together temp computer to see the sky grow a dark
purple. The portal pulsates as an object begins to come
through. UA gets on the comm.
"T.I.M., drop everything and stand guard on the psi’s.
Non-lethal force if possible."
"Right." T.I.M. said, it was easy since he was already in the
“McTornStorm shelter” with the psychics.
"You psi talents, just hang tight and cover your thoughts.” he said
to the hidden psychics, who were having a little conversation with T.I.M.
The rest of you, on your guard, but stay hidden. Keep your
Crystals out of sight as well. The guest of honor--has
arrived."
CRYSTALIA: COURTYARD
Out in the courtyard, Ganthet saw the coming horror. He
steeled himself. UA undoubtedly had a plan. He would not
jeopardize it by striking now. He rushed back into the
castle, to join the others.
EME’S CASTLE: BASEMENT
"Wow!" Zelda exclaimed in surprise, looking at T.I.M., "That's
truly amazing!" she decides against asking how it was
possible since she'd probably get a technical answer that
would only confuse her more so instead she asks, "Why did
you choose to be able to change into a..humaniod form?" But before
T.I.M. could give any kind of answer, there was a large explosion.
TOWER
Finding UA by the computer room, "I think we're gonna need
some help, I got a couple of friends who might be able to
help." Pyro calmly said as he pulls out a dimensional
emitter.
"We need all the help we can get." UA said never taking his
eyes off the screen. Pyro flips on the emitter and a portal
opens wise. "HOLY %#&%#&" Two people come through. "Lucas?
I thought you were dead." One says.
"Later Spike, we got a problem, ready for a fight? And call me Pyro."
Pyro
says as he closes the portal behind them.
"What do you mean later, Lucas, we saw you and the
DragonStar disappear." The other one says.
"ShatterStorm, relax, we got a major problem, and call me
Pyro will ya?"
"So what's up?" Spike asks, finally realizing he hasn't
gone nuts.
"I'm not the brains here, ask him." Pyro says as he points
to UA.
Makara sighed. She knew she was waiting for a battle,
but she knew nothing of the enemy. +I wish Zelda was here.+
She thought. So far, she had been the only one to even notice her,
let alone
be kind to her. Watching all the commotion she felt
quite useless. Out of her pouch she took a small coin from
her land. On it, was a picture of her father.
"What would you have done?" She asked it quietly. Looking
up, Makara blushed and put the coin away, not wanting anyone
to see her talking to herself.
Krakken looked inward, to himself.
What could he do,
how could he stop this? How could any of them... There was
a deafening explosion, followed by cracks coursing up the
castle wall. Everyone above ground, wherever they were,
jumped at the sound, ran to see what was happening. The
second everyone was there, however, the cracks stopped
forming and the booming stopped.
Morphing his arms into cement mixers, the disguised UA
began to repair the cracks. Elsewhere, a laser blast fired
into the air. It wasn't as significant as the explosion,
but it needed investigation. Krakken and Kisutsu went to
check it out, Nity(50yl) following.
OUTSIDE THE BASEMENT
Finally arriving, they saw that it had come from where
they had hidden the psychics. T.I.M. was lying outside,
barely functioning, but "alive". The entrance had
completely caved in and rubble blocked their path. Summoning
whirling wind, Krakken cleared away the bulk of it, then
followed Kisutsu in. "*Phew!* The room is intact. Hey,
Zelda, Tal..." Krakken's voice trailed off. "The psychics!
They're gone!"
Nity(50yl) groaned, "The explosion! It was just a
diversion!"
Taking out his anger on the old man, Krakken snarled,
"Why didn't you foresee this? Why didn't you prevent it?"
Nity(50yl) just shook his head, mutely staring at the cracked
wall.
TOWER
"Pyro, put your friends on alert and get into position." UA said.
“What happened?” Someone asked.
"Plasma beam. Quickly, hide yourselves." UA explains. "Nity and
the rest of you, back into hiding." UA
'ports.
THE SHIP
"UA appears in the form of the king on the main deck, and is
surrounded quickly by Darkens.
+Organized little buggers, ain't they?+ he thought. "Wait! I
come in peace! Take me to your leader." +I've always wanted
to say that.+ They led him through the technologically
advanced warship. Then down a metallic hallway
until they reached the command center. There, UA was
confronted by McTorn.
"Speak while you live."
"Um, I art just a humble king. I demand--er, REQUEST to
know why thou attacks my castle." +Hope that accent works.+
he thinks, though knowing that Eme doesn’t speak like that.
"You harbor the ones known as the Crystal Fighters, that's
why!"
"CRYSTAL FIGHTERS? What art Crystal Fighters? Knights of
Crystal?" +That's it. Lay it on REEEEEEEEEEEAL thick.+
"Well, there's only one thing to do...run an X-ray scan on
him!" +Uh-oh!+
SOMEWHERE
One minute she had been asking T.I.M. a question and then
she was waking up, she had no idea what happened. She felt
like her mind had been covered with a wet towel. Zelda knew
the feeling, Zaria had used the technique on her a few
times..when?...when had she ever trained with Zaria...
she could remember almost every day of her life..it was as
if she had two separate lives..and could remember time in
each....she shook her head unwilling to take the time to
sort it out. She remembered though, the heavy feeling, it
was blocking her psychic powers. +As if I even knew enough
about using them to actually DO something.+ she thought
bitterly to herself, and getting a sense of deja vu as she
did so. She then took the time to survey her surroundings,
she was alone in a dark musty room, "Hmm..can't say much for
their guest quarters..but then..I guess I'm not a
guest..hmmm..." Zelda started to look around for an escape.
TOWER
"Are you alright?"
Suddenly Zelda was back (as a result of a helpful teleport by UA,
done for all the psychics), near Tala, who as asking her a
question. She looked around in confusion, from the look of
it, she was never gone...+What happened!?+ she thought to
herself, but the memory started to fade like a dream,
+But--it seemed so real just a moment ago...+ The effect of the
‘port was having an odd effect on her. She heard Tala
repeat her question, "Yeah...I'm fine..I...think...."
TOWER
"THAT DANG FOOL!" yelled Nity (50yl) implying to UA.
"McTorn
takes anyone and everyone as his slave and kills you if your
lucky".
Zelda looked to him, "I'm sure he will be okay, UA seems to
always turn up with less then a bruise. Impossible as it should be."
"Yeah but this is ~McTorn~, UA can’t, well, shouldn’t be able to
escape him as easily as he
has done with others." he replied.
Zelda went to grab Nity (50yl)'s hand to hold it in a
reassuring grasp but there was nothing there his hand was
gone. "Ah my Goddess! What happened?!?!"
Nity(50yl) looked down to where his hand had once been. "The
world is already being altered that means I am disappearing
from existence, I will be gone soon. That’s why we need to
get help to UA ~now~."
"But its to dangerous you just said."
"We fight now or never" he said rubbing the long scar on his
forehead reminding him of his duty.
"What’s that?" Zel asked about the scar, she hadn’ noticed it before,
things had been too hectic.
"That's where McTorn ripped out my crystal." he turned and
walked away to gather Ganthet, Krakken, Kisutsu, Pyro,
Entropy, Makara, and the other Fighters to lead them into
battle.
He made Nity of the present stay to protect the psychics.
"I will get you if we need you." Nity (50yl) said to his
younger self.
Kisutsu ran around in circles like a lost ant. "What should
I do???? AAAAH!!!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!"
With that, he ran blindly into a young woman. "Ow!" She
yelled. "So, this's where you've been all this time!"
Kisutsu looked up. "Kamoko?"
OUTSIDE
Pyro quietly cursed under his breath then
woke up. "Spike, Shatter, plan PC-2!!" The 3 split up,
running outside the castle and taking a position around it.
"SHATTER NOW!!!!" Pyro yelled.
ShatterStorm’s eyes began to glow eerily,
"SHATTERBOLT!!!!" He fired
a bolt of multi-colored energy at the ship, punching a hole
in the hull.
"Spike, get us up there." Spike flattened his arms into
sheets, lifting them up to the hole with his legs.
"Let's party." Spike said as he reforms himself. Suddenly,
a group of Darkens rush towards them. "Oh. bad Idea?"
ShatterStorm laughed.
"Yeah, right." Pyro fired his new Krimson Cannon at them,
charring a hole through the Darken, "Main objective: find UA
and get him outta here."
OUTSIDE THE BASEMENT
Sitting up from where he was T.I.M. looked happy
"WOW! I just sat up like one of those Carbon bases!
Ok lets Kick some evil dipawds, right back to where they
came from.”
Doing so he changes into his board shape and offers Ganthet, who
recently arrived to investigate the explosion, a
ride to war.
" What do you say friend shall we join the dance?” T.I.M. asked.
Ganthet grumbled, “We are not going to dance T.I.M. we are
going to fight for all we know...and ...." he goes off into
a vary flowery speech about honor and such.
"GANTHET!" T.I.M. yelled
"What is it T.I.M.?" Ask Ganthet confusedly
"Just hop on and fight.” T.I.M. said with as much exasperation
as a mechanical board can muster.
" OH-o O.K." Ganthet said as he stepped on to T.I.M.
They fly off to the hole that ShatterStorm made in the
ship.
TOWER
Tala glanced at Nity as she spoke.
"That means we have to hang around here? Just wait?"
She knew that it was for their own safety, but still, she wanted
to help the others. That was the only fair thing to do. Then
she glanced over at Zelda, pondering..it seemed that
something was bothering her.
THE SHIP
UA began to dodge some fire. +Okay, so my plan didn't work,+
UA thought. +They can't all be golden.+ A blast is shot at
him, and he morphs around it. He grabs his mini Comm mike.
"Uh, Crystal Fighters, you can move in now." He gets shot
in the arm, but continued running, morphing his wounds away.
"Today would be nice if you guys are NOT BUSY! CRYSTAL
FIGHTERS, MOVE!"
Ganthet steadied himself as he rides the Jet Board through
the ship. He is quickly surrounded by the Darkens. He
steps off T.I.M.........., who changes into humanoid form. "Today IS
a good day to DIE!" roars the crystal man. He draws his
saber, his Crystal enchanting his physical powers to an
extreme degree. He slashes through the Darkens, T.I.M. using his
laser to cut down others. Ganthet grabs one by the neck,
snapping it back with great force. They slowly begin the
wear the primitive warrior and the funky robot down, tearing
facets from his body. His sword cut the flesh from another.
He steadies himself, and raises he arms. "HARMONIC
DISRUPTION!" he yells, the sonic wave disintegrating the
vile creatures. Battered and bashed, the two stand there,
if either were carbon based, they'd be breathing hard.
"That, was taxing." He doubted their assault would go
unnoticed. He figured the only way to help the others was to
draw attention from them to himself. "McTorn! Face me!
Or have you know honor, kidnapping psychics....who were
unprepared. FACE A WARRIOR BORN!"
An explosion erupted from the side of the ship. Spike,
ShatterStorm and Pyro flew out the side. Landing with a thud
through a wooden part of the castle roof Shatter said, "That did not
work
did it?" as he pulled him self off the ground.
Pyro grinned, "Oh, but of course. I released a drone into
the air ducts. It'll find UA in no time, then we know which
side of the ship we can safely hit."
"Always a plan, huh Lucas?" Spike laughed as he pulled Pyro
up.
"CALL ME PYRO %#&@&$!!!"
"Ganthet my friend you’ve been hit one to many time in the
head." T.I.M. said, laughing.
"What?" Ganthet asked.
"Nothing you wouldn't understand, lets find UA." they stormed
off down the hall.
CORRIDOR
"It's about time!" UA said to old Nity in a corridor.
"You don't listen very well, do you?" he asked.
"Sue me. But don't you know by now I always make double
plans?" UA held up a camera from his belt buckle. Nity
blasted a Darken. "I got what I need. Think you can use
that old brain of yours to help the CFs keep them at
bay long enough for me to get the psis? That is if you
don't fade into the timestream before then." Nity gave him
a look, then nodded. UA 'ports.
TOWER
Tala steps toward Zelda, concerned.
"Are you sure? You're alright...?"
She lowered her voice, so only Zelda can hear what she said next.
"You look as if you lost something. Are your powers...."
She trailed off, wondering why it seems that hers are still
active, just not as powerful as normal. But if it was Zelda
that would stop him, then of course he would do his best to
block her totally. She mulled that over, watching Zelda
carefully. Perhaps she could help her out.
Zelda smiled at Tala, "Really, I'm fine." Suddenly the 'wet
towel' feeling came back at full force, pushing Zelda to her
knees. She grabbed onto Tala's hand, "Then
again..maybe..not.." she said weakly. The feeling was more
this time..almost as if it was sapping all her strength.
OUTSIDE THE CASTLE
Nity (50yl) blasted more Darkens. They were holding them
at bay well.
"You guys keep on holding back the Darkens so the telepaths
can get through without harm!" yelled Nity (50yl). Then he spoke
into his small wrist communicator to Nity. "Get the psychics
here we need them.”
McTorn emerged.
Entropy, grinning almost insanely, charged through the
Darkens drawing his sword. "Blasdean Necronomicus Es
Mortuum!" He cried, activating his Crystal and turning the
sword's blade jet black. The Darkens crumble about him
as they are struck by his sword. Entropy shifted to his beast
form and charged toward McTorn. "Mortuum!" He yelled,
pointing the sword at McTorn and firing off a beam of black
energy toward the head man.
McTorn shook his head and disappeared only to reappear
behind
Entropy. McTorn raised his fists and brought them down like a
sledgehammer into Entropy's back.
He uses some psychic power to cause Entropy to go into
spasms on the floor.
"Anyone else want to play?" McTorn asked with a blood-stained
voice.
"Spike, Try to beat their ranks around. Keep anymore from
the castle." Pyro suddenly took his old command position.
"Shatter, cripple that ship!!!! I'm gonna head in and see
what’s goin in inside."
Spike fired his arms into then grounds and mini spikes
emerge under the feet of several Darkens. ShatterStorm fired
energy bolts at the ship, taking out chunk by chunk.
Pyro
fought his way up to where Nity(50yl) was. Stopping in his
tracks at the sight of McTorn. "You must be McTorn." Not
waiting for an answer he fires a full power Krimson blast
at him. It would have turned anyone else to ashes. But McTorn
merely laughed it off. "Oh.... Not good."
TOWER
UA appeared where the psis are.
"Okay, we're ready for Operation: Save the Future...not to
mention ourselves--Zellie? You alright?"
Zelda closed her eyes for a few seconds, still holding on to Tala,
and in another place pushing through the small net that kept her
from reaching out with her psi talent.
Then Nity lead the psychics along with UA. Suddenly an ax
welding Vile jumped from out of the sky landing by them.
The Vile arcs the ax high into the air swings it back to
earth where the group is standing.
UA uncharacteristically loses concentration and doesn’t
have time to make a portal for the group to escape through.
Nity doesn’t have time to transform.
The ax shines as it falls towards Zelda's head.
Nity leaps grabbing Zel around the waist as they fly back
just out of the way as the ax makes a big divot in the
ground, “That was close, thanks Nity.” Zelda said, giving him a quick
hug.
UA moved toward the Vile as it tries to get the ax out of
the ground. He goes into a flying kick. The Vile's hand swings out with
a great deal of force swatting UA out of the sky.
UA slammed into the nearby space ship making a dent then
slumped to the ground with a groan.
The ax pulled free of the earth.
"Celestial Razis Crystal POW....." to late the ax connects
and Nity is gone, dead.
“NITY!!” Zelda exclaimed in anguish, a sick pain welling up in her as
she saw her friend killed. Tears began to form in her eyes as the last
few seconds repeated themselves over and over again in her mind.
IN THE SHIP
PyroMaster turned to Nity (50yl) as he exploded into
dust and
floats off in the air.
"What the *(% $%*( %*(*^*( $*(&# &%*($ &^#$*(?!" asked
PyroMaster.
McTorn laughed and hit Pyro hard with a psychic blast
leaving him paralyzed.
OUTSIDE THE CASTLE
"GROAN! You miserable sonuva--" UA sent out his hand as
an elongated spike, stabbing through the Vile, disorienting
it enough to let one of the others attack him. He dusted himself off
and headed for Zellie.
"Your psi-talents ready to face McTorn? Zelda, are you up to
it?" UA asked, looking at the psi talents from his team.
THE SHIP
"What did you do to them?!" yelled Ganthet.
The other Crystal Fighters on the ship joined behind him
ready for a brutal battle.
McTorn laughed and Ganthet exploded into tons of tiny little
fragments. McTorn had used his incredibly powerful psychic
powers to rip the crystal Goliath to pieces.
Before the others could move McTorn disappeared.
OUTSIDE THE CASTLE
The recovered UA and the psychics were throwing
everything
they had at the Vile but they just kept coming at them.
Tala did a summersault into the air avoiding an attack and
dropped back to the ground sliding under the Vile's legs.
As she came out on the other side of the Vile she jumped to
her feet and grabbed the back of the Vile's head and released
her mind melting power. It failed. Instead, Tala was shot
back by a psychic blast as McTorn appeared.
Tala got back to her feet, she was ok, and she rejoined the
other three psychics and UA.
"I see you five have enjoyed my physical psychic
projection."
said McTorn motioning to the Vile. McTorn raised his head
looking over the five people in front of him. He was looking
at Nity with his skull splitting "Oh sorry I mean that the
six of you enjoyed my projection" his mouth opened wide in a
grin as he laughed. The five looked back at McTorn with scornful
glares.
McTorn shook his head "Won’t you five come in and play?" he
asked. He liked playing these cat and mouse games with his prey.
McTorn disappeared.
Rydia turned back to Zelda and fell to her knees next to
Nity and sobbed, not even bothering to cast a venomous look at
McTorn.
"Come on Zel, we gotta go stop this guy!" said Eme.
"No! I....can’t just ~leave~ N-nity here like--like.. this!" she sobbed.
"Zelda! According to that old Nity you’re the only one
that can stop this guy, without you more are going to die!"
said UA.
Zelda shook her head and sobbed some more.
"We need you to stop this guy! Avenge Nity's
death!"
Zelda raised her head then got to her feet and slowly nodded, tears
still streaming freely from her eyes.
THE SHIP
UA and the team of psychics moved to the ship and entered,
where they saw Entropy. He groaned. His bones were brittle enough
due to them
being hollow as Ankhell. Now his back was broken, and he
was most likely bleeding internally. Gripping his sword
tightly, he whispered, "....Fly true...." and threw it into the air
before the remaining CFs. "Asanticas Mondifyus Necronomicus
Mortuum....." The sword began to glow, emanating a purple light.
"Focus the power through the sword...It will amplify
it...I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help...Give...Give him
one for us....Good...bye..." With that, Entropy collapsed,
the void finally claiming his soul.
Tala followed along behind Zelda, worried. Something was
up
here..something odd. Tala assumed McTorn was doing it,
playing with her mind, and her powers. He was powerful, but
she was sure Zelda was in her own right...that could be the
only reason why he was so worried.
As they moved along, she racked her brain for what she
remembered of psi-dampening. High telepaths could do it. She
couldn't..yet. Sighing, she glanced around as they walked,
bringing herself back to the here and now, to be ready for
whatever was coming...
While Pyro was struggling for movement ShatterStorm
and
Spike were busy crippling the ship. "I give it another 5
minuets before it crashes." Shatter laughed as he fires.
"Naw, I give it 4." Spike shoots a spike through the hull.
"I'll bet 20 bucks!"
"You're on!!!"
With a great flash of black and white light, a portal opened
in front up the ship. From within the light of the portal a mans voice
calls
"MCTORN COME FACE ME NOW!"
From somewhere in the ship, McTorn stopped to look out a window to
see what breed of being called for a challenge of such open
disrespect. McTorn disappears.
Out side McTorn appears floating at the same height as the
Black and white portal.
"Show yourself foolish one" McTorn said with a sneer.
With a even greater flash of light a man appears from
within the portal.
"YOU?!" McTorn said, "You’re dead, your not supposed to be here!!!"
"Well I am, and it's time to pay."
As the CF’s looked up and their eyes focus. They all
stare in disbelief while Zelda, ecstatically happy that at least one
of her friends had come back to live, and not caring how, jumped
up and waved. There stands a man they all know, a man they
thought had died
in a another dimension, A man named
"CODA"
With a smile Coda lunged forward with a sword of black
lighting. stabbing McTorn through the ribs, piercing his
lungs. It wasn't long before McTorn was back on track.
Spitting blood McTorn grabbed Coda by the forearm and flips him
into the ship.
Using a bulkhead as a lanch pad, Coda jumped again
towards McTorn this time slicing his leg deeply.
Before Coda turned around McTorn tried to use his psi
powers on Coda like he did Pyro.
Somehow unaffected, Coda does a back flip over McTorn and cuts
him across the shoulder from breast to back.
McTorn, in a small state of disbelief, resorts back to other
means of fighting.
Pulling a pistol from behind his back he shoots Coda straight
in the chest.
And with a great blinding explosion Coda, once again, is no
more.
"Well that was an unexpected pleasure, who’s next?" McTorn said,
grinnning evilly.
The CF's are stunned to say the least, but before they can
react a voice from beyond speaks...
"Dear friends, Family.... I have once again did what I could
to help, he is weakened right now. His powers are less now, so
strike. The time is now, strike at him with all you’ve got
and strike for freedom, and hope! Peace be with you.
and good luck."
"NO-O-O-O-O... T.I.M. screamed yet again.
Kisutsu, Krakken, Makara, and Zealen rushed at McTorn as
the
other five enter the hole in the ship.
McTorn spat some blood then shot his hand to the sky.
Entropy and Pyro take their last breaths.
Then Krakken, Kisutsu, Makara, and Zealen are suddenly
pulled to the ceiling of the ship by some force controlled by
McTorn.
They start spinning like rag dolls.
McTorn laughs uncontrollably.
Then a deafening crack splits through the air. Zelda looked
away from her spinning friends towards the sound. When she looks
back their
necks are twisted into impossible angles.
McTorn laughs harder and the four brave souls drop back to
the ground lifeless.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" yells UA running for Entropy's
sword that
is suspended in the air as Zelda gasped and her tears started falling
anew. Purple light crackles around the
blade as UA took it.
UA gave a warrior’s scream and pointed the sword at McTorn.
“YOU WILL DIE! ”A
blast of purple light burst from the sword and shoots at
McTorn.
The purple light surrounded McTorn. A lesser of a man would
have been killed, but McTorn simply absorbed the light.
His murderous laugh returned again and the purple light
shoots out from him in the shape of a giant spike driving
right through UA.
UA's scream of death sent Zelda into a
rage. She pushed her pain aside, something had to be done. She
had no conscious idea of what it was, but she knew that she had
to do it and stop any other lives from being destroyed. Zelda put
all her will into a type of battering ram that pushed away the
mental block McTorn had put up around her mind, then she
built up a wall around her mind so that she could get out, but
no one could get in, or affect her power.
Blinding white light bursts forth from her as she stood calmly
gazing at McTorn. She knew she must be calm if she was to
have any control over it. The white light shot toward
McTorn, but before it does anything it is halted by black
light generated by McTorn.
The white light can’t hold and the black light begins to push
it back. Zelda can’t do it herself and McTorn knows it.
"Come on little girl give me a ~real~ fight I haven’t had one
in years." McTorn taunted
Tala, Rupay, and Eme stiffen like mannequins. Then a green
light shoots out of Eme, a red light shoots from Tala, and a
purple light from Rupay. The light flows into Zelda. They
turn there power over to her. Zelda is now the medium through which
their power is focused and doubled, along with her own..
The black light progressing toward Zelda halted. She couldn’t get
the upper hand though. McTorn was still stronger somehow, and
would
overcome her if she didn’t get more help.
Suddenly the spirits of the eighteen mages of the surfaced
Crystals appear. They floated towards Zelda and
flow into her, in the SpiritWorld, a plane just under the
PhysicalWorld, they twined around her throbbing spirit and lent
her their strength.
Zelda and McTorn were almost evenly matched.
Then the Crystals of the dead CFs appear in a spinning circle around
Zelda and the other psychics. The Crystals began to spin as
the spirits of the ceased CFs rose from their lifeless bodies
and flow with those of the mages.
A tear of immense loss dropped from Zelda's eye as she
felt the presence of
her friends again, her grief wouldn’t control her, but it was there,
strong and aching.
Now with the strength of Coda, Entropy, Ganthet,
Krakken,
Kisutsu, Pyro, UA, Makara, Nity, and Zealen to help her
Zelda overtook McTorn. The white light pushed back the
black light, with a soft, but present force.
Part IICF# 13: Dangling Future
NextCF# 14: Replaced?
BackCF# 12: UA's Island
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