Kaijudo Assault of the Mana Users

by BardofWorlds

One month has passed from the invasion. With their city recovering our heroes prepare for the Chotten's next attack and along the way they lean just what secrets that have been hidden from the Order and the truth of their world, the affect Mana and Creatures have had on their world's history. Part of a three connected stories set in the same connected 'world'

Hello all, welcome to my new project! As I said in the description this is part of a three part story that takes place around the same time in the same world so enjoy! And those who are wondering my Pokémon Story should have the next chapter out by Wedsnday and the next part of the three parter will be out tomorrow and the last on Tuesday. So enjoy one and all! And the final thing, I have permission from EchowolfS to use his Titans idea and weapon gauntlets so just saying, he has a great Kaijudo story read it.

Fingers ran through a forest at night as he cursed his life and his choices. The plan had to fall apart when those brats attacked, and I had to escape into the Darkness Ream near that exit to Nature! How the hell was I supposed to know that a pack of fucking Creatures who thought they had to release the spirits of the others to be reborn as their own by eating them! And what the hell are they and what the heck are they wielding? I thought theses Nature punks didn't have things like that and I know I haven't ever seen things like them ever. Fingers thought as he ran, dodging bolts of mana as he tried to get away from them as his tech-gauntlet sparked.

"To think a few hours ago the plan was looking so good! If I ever get my hands around any of those brat's throats, I'll throttle them!" Fingers promised as he ran and looked over his shoulder at the creatures hunting him. The things were around five feet tall stocky humanoids with light gray skin dressed in loincloths wielding bows with mana strings and fired blots of mana, spears with glowing blades and three black lizard dog like creatures ran beside them. Okay gotta keep moving, I've got a busted gauntlet and only a small lead on those things but I ain't going down like this! Finger thought before a bolo caught him around his legs and he was sent to the floor. The creatures stopped and surrounded him until one wearing a headdress came forward with a regal air about it

"You have given us a good run brother. Know that when you return to us a new born we will raise you as a warrior, a leader. May you sleep well and come back as proudly as you fought." The headdress wearing one said as Fingers struggled to undo the bolo as the as the creatures moved closer to him.

"Come on guys I'm not that brave really, you'd like a kid I know a lot better, if you let me go I'll bring him back and you can welcome him to your people, I'm sure he'd be leading you all in a few years." Fingers said as he struggled and tried to move backwards.

"Stonasaur blast 'em!" A voice called out before stone shards flew and hit the headdress wearing one and took out its right eye and some of the others were hit as well. Fingers looked from where the stones had come from and saw Stonasaur, two Snaptongue Lizards and an Aqua Trickster before Heller and three Minions.

"TAKE 'EM DOWN HARD, THEIR MAN EATERS!" Fingers bellowed as the creatures stared at Heller and the others before Heller reacted by glaring at the creatures.

"You heard 'em boys, take em down hard!" He bellowed as he sent Stonasaur at the creatures with the others following behind it. Stonasaur bit deep on one of the lizard-dogs and threw it at one of the humanoids as the two Snarptogue's charged and the Trickster started to fire at those with ranged weapons. Heller drew a high tech looking pistol and fired at one the creatures coming at Fingers on the ground and hit it right between the eyes with a bolt of mana before it crumpled to the ground. As the creatures they were fighting reacted and started to fall back, Heller hitting one of the lizard dogs as one of things grab the one in the headdress and another raised a glowing staff and the area was suddenly plunged in a darkness that hid everyone from sight. When it faded the only thing left was the two downed creatures, Fingers the Tech minions and their creatures. Moving towards the creature Heller drew a knife and put it through the Creatures head and did the same to the lizard dog before walking over to Fingers and looking down at him.

"Heller, where'd the hell you been?!" Fingers demanded as he looked at Heller who smirked and reached down a hand. As he pulled Fingers to his feet he gestured over his shoulder at a five hex pods, four of them had at least five minions on them in various states of injury.

"Got pulled to the border of Fire and Nature by Stonasaur and made it to the fallback, but not before running into something along the border. Made it to the site and the boss was there putting together the escape group and sent me to try and find any of our boys who might be injured in Nature. Saw the positional data your gauntlet sent off and a damage report and we were nearby so here I am. Where in Darkness did you end up?" Heller said as he looked about at the

"Near a cavern that looked like a lot of creatures moved through it and found a way out that led into Nature. Long story short those things were trying to eat me so my soul would become one with them or something like that." Fingers said as he walked towards the Hex Pads. Heller looked down at one of the creature corpses on the ground and looked at the pads before nodding his head. I ain't never seen anything like this in any of the data we've got so we'd better bring back a sample. I don't want to think what the Doc would do if we left something interesting behind; probably make me her next experiment. Heller thought with a shudder as he barked his orders.

"You three; grab both of the bodies and that things weapon, the Doc will like some new specimens to play with and I'm sure the boss won't be too made if she decides to use us instead." Heller said as he walked after Fingers. The Minions looked at after Heller and moved towards the bodies with their creatures following them, the Aqua Trickster bending down to put the bodies onto the Snaptongue Lizards and moved towards the Hex Pads, all three of the Minions exchanging looks as they moved.

"So lay it on me Heller, what kinda place is the backup site, I was on Nigel duty so I never went there." Fingers asked only to be met with a smirk from Heller.

Ray sighed as he stared over the ocean from the bluff, looking at the setting sun in the distance. It had been a month since the Choten's invasion of San Campion and beside the work the city was doing to recover from the freak earthquake it had been completely quiet since then. The damage to the city had been surprisingly intact to the shock of the civil authorities and the school had only opened a week ago and the city had announced that they would stop handing out meals tomorrow so everything would be back to normal soon. Well, quiet if you count running all over the place getting small creatures back to their realm after the Choten brought them through the Veil and the Spell of Radiant Purification turned them back to normal but dropped them If we have to get one more Megabug out of the forest or keep a Burn Belly from starting a fire, I don't know if Allie will let it leave this side alive. Ray thought with a chuckle as he remembered the fit she had thrown when the two of them and Gabe had found those Burn Belly's in the local salvage yard burning trash to eat. Thankfully Gargle had been able to use a junked Firetruck, a normal truck and a little Water-tech to put out the fire, the truck being banished with Gargle as they escaped on Bob when the watchman had come over to investigate.

"And I'm betting that we might be done with all the time we have to recover, what with what Bob and Gargle said are happening in the Creature Realm." Ray said to himself as he crossed his arms. The Monarchs still being in the Null Zone, the various Civilizations were fortifying their borders and Bob had said other groups all over the Fire and Nature Civilizations were wary as new clans seemed to come out of nowhere, holding territory that was once empty and now showed long term habitation. And then there was the fact that Lord Skycrusher was trying to rebuild Blastforge City, and then the other city lords were trying to tempt some of his citizens and artisans to move to their city, Bob had even said his cook had gone back to his clan's land, something about reforging his armor. Bob had even looked smug when he had said that they had found Skycrusher's prized Stomper warbot destroyed and Skycrusher had ordered it scrapped.

Bob had mentioned that with the devastation that the Choten's assault had caused that his family was moving farther inland from the border with water, a valley Headstrong Wanderer knew was or had been empty given. Gargle had a lot to tell about the Water Civilization. When King Tritonus hadn't returned from the summit, Captain Orwellia had tried to take control but Councilor Hokira had rallied his supporters and freed Milporo and the others Orwellia had imprisoned and even now the Water Capital was under siege as Milporo tried to hold them all in the city, a plan he said to hold 'all traitors to our king in one place until our king returned', not that he had a plan for that effect. Finbarr had returned and taken control of his dreadnaught and forces and the last information was that he was trying to gather support from the rest of the Water Civilization to break the siege. Gargle has said that he had returned to his own territory, a small reef far to the south, really just a small 'site' as he described it. And that was surprising; Gargle had a mansion of his own to control. Still I hope the Choten didn't take any vengeance on Gargle's stuff or people. Still we might take up that offer Gargle made to use it as a place to crash while we're searching for the Choten in the Water Civilization. Ray thought as he stared into the sunset, deep in thought.

"You seem to be elsewhere nephew, what is on your mind?" The hard voice behind him caused him to turn to see his great uncle Isao walk towards him, Ray could see barbecue his mother was tending as his father and Grandfather set up the table, his father laughing at something his grandfather said. It's been a month but I'll never get how good it is that dad's home. Still shocked that we were able to make up a cover story that worked so well to explain what happened to him. Ray thought as he turned to Isao.

"Just thinking about how the last few weeks have been, the cleanup and then there's what we've heard about the Kaiju Realm lately Uncle Isao." Ray said as his uncle joined him and sighed deeply.

"Yes, the Choten hasn't made a move since his invasion failed, hasn't he? The fact the Monarchs are still in the Null zone and with the Artifacts lost, one reason the war has gone cold I would say. Still we should not let our guard down, we must find both where that one is and find out what happened to Tiera and Brightmore after their battle in the transfer gate." Isao said as he stood next to Ray who nodded at the reply and shuddered a little. Never thought Nigel would have it in him, but the way of Light is order, that's why he turned traitor on the Order because it was changing. And he partially personified order in his loyalty to what he thought the Order should be, its traditions unchanging and a counter to the chaos he saw the Kaiju Realm. But in the end he had a few lines he wouldn't cross, but still I think that I can respect that at least and given the horror show Master Jaha said could happen to them I don't know if I should hope their dead or alive. Ray thought as he looked over the ocean.

"You're wondering if it might be better if the Masters Tiera and Brightmore are dead, aren't you?" Isao said as he watched his great nephew shudder. Ray jolted and looked at him, a sheepish look on his face and moved to speak before Isao brought up a hand to stop him.

"Don't be surprised, given what Jaha described could happen to someone if they were transit when the Dojo's lay line transit gate was destroyed; I think that death might have been a mercy to them. And personally, I have seen what happens when someone's body is being transported and the method falls part way through, a horror I would never see again if I'm lucky." Isao said as he looked at Ray.

"You've seen one of the cases Master Jaha said could have happened to those two?" Ray asked as he went green. Isao nodded at Ray before continuing.

"It was years ago, before you were born and August was still a member of the Order, an acolyte was said to have been planning to use Creatures to commit crimes and fought his way to the transfer gate and tried use it to escape the chamber was damaged. All that arrived was his left arm." Isao said as he closed his eyes in pain. Ray had a sinking feeling and decided to voice what he felt

"Who reported him, wait don't tell me." Ray said as he saw the look Isao face took. Isao only nodded at him and looked at the setting sun.

"Indeed, it was the Choten. And a few weeks later was when he attacked your family and drove you all into the Kaiju Realms." Isao said as Ray clenched his fists as he thought about all that the Choten had done to his family, from driving them to the Kaiju Realm, stealing his father's memories and caused him and Humonculon to fuse together. The more I learn about him, the more disgust I have. I wonder, when did he start to make that serum of his, and the spell how did it come to be? Wait, Nigel tried to evolve Tiera's creature while the Choten was in the Order, but then how did he create a chemical to do the same thing? And Nigel said he 'found' the spell, how could the Order forget about something like that? Ray thought as he looked up at his uncle.

"Say Uncle Isao, I just realized something, I've never learned just where spells come from, I mean, who and how are they made." Ray asked causing Isao to chuckle as he shook his head.

"Has the Temple's teachings fallen that far or did all the hazards cause the Masters to focus on practical lessons then the theoretical and historical? Let me tell you what my own teacher taught me. Most spells are ancient, old beyond reckoning from the time when the world was one. I believe that my own master said some spells were created to either copy the abilities that the ancient shaman's saw the creatures do or were made for by the shamans for a purpose like the spell of Healing, other more modern spells were based off spells themselves and were modified to suit the caster's need. I myself modified a few spells over the years, I think you might….What's wrong?" Isao asked as he saw Ray start to look worried and concerned.

"The Spell of Evolution, Nigel found it and it had to have inspired the Choten to create his serum, if someone saw a creature evolve naturally then when was it and where? And if Nigel found it, did the fact it was possible inspire the Choten to make his evolution serum since it does the same thing? " Ray asked as he looked at Isao whose mouth dropped open as he tried to come up with an answer before his eyes hardened.

"Why do I have a feeling that the other masters should be brought into this discussion. Now come, let us table this for now and go back to our family, this is a celebration for your father's new job. The food should be ready and it's always better to eat with kin then it is to eat alone as my father used to say." Isao said as he put his hand on his nephews shoulder and started to lead him towards the table.

Allie waited outside the doors to the school as Ray's bus drove up and shivered before looking around. Not again, what in the world is that?! It's been over a month since this started; you have to get a handle on this Allison! Allie thought as she looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary as usual. Ever since the invasion a few weeks back she had been feeling something watching her ever since she had come back to her house after the invasion. She scowled as she looked about and noticed a limo stopping and a pale boy in a grey shirt and white pants with black hair got out, a backpack over his shoulder as students started to gather around him. And there he is, guess I wasn't lucky enough for him to not be here today. I don't know why but something about him makes my skin crawl whenever he talks to me. Still I can't hate the guy; Carny does go after him as much as the three of us and he seems to give as good as he gets. Allie thought as she looked at the buses and never noticed when Ray and Gabe reached her.

"Morning Allie; anything new on your end?" Ray asked as they reached her. She looked back towards them, the shock on her face causing Ray to chuckle a little as Allie got control of herself and tried to hide her reaction.

"Just seeing that my prayers haven't been answered, Giovanni still hasn't got sick yet." Allie said darkly as the person in question led a group of girls he was talking to into the school and past them, Allie shuddering as he went past them. Gabe just sighed as he watched Allie shudder and looked after Giovanni as he walked with the girls, some of them laughing at something he said.

"Really Allie what's your problem with him? He's not a bully, he seems to be okay and he's pretty popular, so really what's wrong?" Gabe asked as the three walked into the building.

"I don't know something about him feels so slimy. It's almost as bad as the way I've been feeling someone watching me for the last month with the most recent just before we came in." Allie said as she held herself as they walked towards their class. Ray felt a spark of anger in him that surprised him for a few seconds before he forced himself to relax.

"Still nothing about that?" Ray asked when they reached their lockers and started to get their books for class. Gabe meanwhile just sighed and looked at Allie.

"I've looked over the Stalker Sphere's watching our homes and the school and there's nothing when you've felt it Allie. If something is watching you then it's either invisible or out of range." Gabe said with a note of finality in his voice as he looked up from his phone. Or it's in her head, but given what's happened to us since we became Duelists that's kind of understandable. Gabe thought as he looked at Allie who just looked at him with a frown on her face and opened her mouth before the loudspeakers blared to life.

"Welcome back to the second week since we've been able to start up again students. I know we were only opened last since Thursday and some of you have friends that stayed absent to help their families but keep your focus on your studies please. This is a reminder for one and all that the bake sale to help fund the cleanup is this Friday after school; all students volunteering are excused from their last class to help set up and there will be volunteer positions open until Thursday or their all filled up, talk to your homeroom teacher if you desire to volunteer. Remember students all the known damage has been repaired but if anyone sees anything that looks broken, wrong or dangerous notify a teacher." Allie looked at Ray and smirked at him.

"So all the masters could think of was blaming the damage on was an earthquake, you gotta admit it makes sense in a strange way. Makes you wonder how many 'natural disasters' we hear about are really creature based." Allie said with a huff as they finished getting their books.

"Did either of you two decided to volunteer?" Gabe asked as they walked towards their classes, never noticing Carny watching them from his locker with his friends, a scowl on his face as he eyes never left Ray. Can't believe that mutt beat the Choten and caused the invasion to fail. But you just wait mutt, sooner or later I'll put you in your place and then I'll make sure you stay there! And with the money from Friday, I think I'll be able to get some more muscles to help me out around here. Carny thought with a smirk as he closed his locker.

"Ray and his pals sure have acted like they'll looking down at us lately haven't they Carny?" Nickels asked as they watched the three walk away. Carny grunted as he looked about and let his thoughts run wild.

"Still if you can pull it off that'll be something, to bad nobody will ever know right boss?" Driggs said as he started to snicker, only to stop when Carny turned to glare at him

"Stuff it, keep your mouth shut and be ready to do your part once I give the signal. On Friday after the sale is done we move. Do a good enough job and maybe you'll get a taste of the power I've gotten lately." Carny said with a growl as he walked off, Nickles and Driggs following in his wake, they never noticing a girl with dusky skin and midnight black hair in a black dress and black tights had been hiding out of sight and had heard everything Carny had said.

She moved towards her class and moved on autopilot as she tried to understand just what she had heard and what to do. I thought he was a natural user, but what he said about gotten lately, someone taught him. Then the other three he normally bothers, could they have been taught, by a rival teacher? If he's using the creatures to do a crime, then he's like mother…. I need to talk to my brother; Aruna will know what to do. But what if anyone else is a seer as well, do they know about me? She thought as she moved into her class and took her seat. Someone hugged her from behind and she jerked, startled before turning and seeing the face of her friend.

"Hey Nirṛti, how ya doing?" The speaker was a girl with a sunny smile on her face that reached her black eyes. She had dark skin and black hair in a ponytail and was wearing a red shirt and grey pants. Nirṛti looked at her friend with a smile. Of course I can turn to my friend for help. I can't tell her everything that's but I can frame it so she knows the problem. Nirṛti thought as she looked at the girl.

"Hello Isabella, how's your brother, did anything new happen? Did he finally start to act like the weight of the world isn't on his shoulders?" Nirṛti asked only for Isabella only sighed dramatically.

"No Hector is still acting like he's waiting for something to come and kill us, really what is he involved with that he has to be so serious all the time, I thought finally dating that Nadia would let him relax but really. And he left for a few days, if I didn't know my brother so well I'd think he's eloped with his girlfriend, but of course he knows I'd need to go with him to be the maid of honor." Isabella finished with a huff that caused Nirri to release a laugh for a few seconds before a commotion at the front of the class caused them to look up and see the teacher coming in.

Isao walked through the temple moving towards the War Room , the conversation he had with Ray the night before still running through his mind. When did August start to even think it could be possible to turn a spell into a liquid? What did he do to the creatures to gather the knowledge to make it…? I don't want to know but we need to look into anything he might have hidden behind when he was chased from the Temple, the laylines could not have been the only thing behind his attack. Isao thought as he walked, so focused on his thoughts he never notice someone else was in the War Room .

"Master Isao what's wrong? You look worried my friend." Isao looked up to see Master Kimora before Panopter as various screens from Stalker Spheres.

"Master Kimora, good day. It might be something or it could be nothing, but Ray had a thought yesterday during a decision we were having. It revealed a few…. Gaps in the Order's teaching towards him and his friend." Isao asked as he walked to stand next to Kimora, looking at the feed from a Stalker Sphere near the San Champion Middle School, seeing Ray Allie and Gabe enter the building and nodded. Kimora looked rueful with a sheepish smile before he replied.

"Ray has shown good instants in the past but with everything that's happened over the last year I suppose their instructions were a bit…. slanted towards what would keep them alive instead of the general lesson plan most get. What was his thought about?" Kimora asked as he moved to look at another feed.

"He asked me how spells are created and brought up the fact that the Choten had seen the spell of Evolution that Nigel found before he left the order." Isao said as Kimora turned to him in shock.

"The Choten saw a Creature evolve by a spell? When did he…. Tiera disappearance, if I recall your nephew and Nigel were there with the Choten weren't they? All they told us was her creature turned on them, they never said why now that I think about it" Kimora asked as he tried to remember what he had been told about the incident.

"Brightmore cast the spell of Evolution on Master Tiera's dragon at her demand, Ken said Brightmore had found it and they had gone to the Fire Civilization to test it. I asked Ken if he remembered anything more about the incident, he said the Choten started acting… wrong after Tiera's disappearance and well it caused him to look into what the Choten was doing and that led to…. Well what caused the Choten to attack his family." Isao said as Kimora listened to what was he was being told with a surprised look on his face.

"Nigel found the spell, he actually found it here? How many secrets does this old place have do you think?" Kimora asked as he looked over the temple and started to think. If Nigel found the spell somewhere here then perhaps we should consult a map of this place and go over every section, just what we've lost over the years would be quite an undertaking, hmmm. Perhaps this could be a good lesson for our Adapts, and I think I'll have Lucy help them. In a way it could be a reward for all the hard work they've been doing recently with all the cleanup work they've done lately. Yes that is a perfect idea, with Chaves and Nadia both away mapping a route to one of our Water outposts near Japan and are due back sometime tomorrow if nothing happens, Jaha and Isao are due to patrol the town with our Acolytes and I have to remain on watch. The four of them could check the map and start to explore the old sections, I should make sure that Gabe summons his partner beforehand, I'm sure he could make something to help it. Have them keep a radio with them and it should be safe enough. Kimora smiled at his decision and turned to Isao who spoke up.

"More then there were before he left, of that I have no doubt. Still someone should look into it, since we never knew about the spell before Raiden and his friend found it, then on that note then it stands to reason that the temple might holds other secrets?" Isao asked only to be met with a nod of Kimora's head.

"No, and Master Jaha didn't either. And given that she is among the oldest of all members of the Order in how long she's spent as one of us, if anyone would have heard about the spell through gossip before then it would have been her. As for the spell being found again, I agree with you that other things could be hidden here. Given all that's happened recently I believe our Adepts can solve that issue and rest from all their work cleaning up after the invasion. There are a few places here that I don't think anyone has walked through for years now. They can explore and do something more than practice on their own while I watch the feeds." Kimora said causing Isao to chuckle at what he heard.

"Indeed, given how Allison reacted yesterday I think that might be a good idea. I will head to the library and look over the old records, and on a personal mater I was never told why, only that Nigel would become the next Master of Light." Isao asked Kimora who shrugged his shoulders at him.

"When that happened I was stationed at one of the outposts in the rainforest. During the time that Nigel would have become the Light Master I was tracking down a Tree-kin that was trying to set up roots so to speak. I only returned to takeover for your nephew and then the next year was the Choten's betray. That first year was a struggle to find a way to deal with him and close the breaches when they happened, and a few stray creatures that were most likely escapes from his experiments so I never really thought about how the others got onto the council." Kimora said before a motion on one of the screens caught his eyes and he turned abruptly, Isao turning as well and looking at the screen in question.

"What is it Master Kimora?" Isao asked as he tried to see what had caused Kimora to turn suddenly.

"I saw a streak of red that I….oh there it is. Just a dog in a sweeter. " Kimora said with a sheepish tone to his voice as a dog in a vibrant red sweater was shone on the screen causing Isao to chuckle a little at what had happened as he walked off, Kimora looking at Panopter and walked after Isao.

"I think I'll join you at the library and find that map of the temple. Best to find it now since nothing seems to be happening." Kimora said as they left. They never noticed on another screen farther down a small black quadruped form with four tails run dash across a rooftop, the screen showed the form jump and kill a pigeon with its mouth before dashing off screen.

Ray just stirred his soup as he looked around the outdoor cafeteria, noting those who were there and those who were gone; he noticed a few more than here then last Friday and that most were eating school lunches. I know that most of the supermarkets were destroyed, and the fact that most people had to get rations from the city while they were repaired but a lot of people probably found a love for school food. Ray thought as he smiled.

"One thing about all the recovery work to clean up from the quake, a lot of kids are eating the food here or getting some to take home." Allie said as she looked around, Ray looked up and noticed some kids were going back to get seconds to put away.

"Yeah, the creatures destroyed half the grocery stores in the city, I do know that the fishermen were out longer and sold what they got at half price. And that's not counting all the home grown food that was harvested." Ray said as he drank some of his soup.

"You know I checked what was recorded by the Stalker Spheres of the invasion, hoping to find a method to the damage and I think most of it was from when Heller was controlling them, not the Choten. According to the Stalker Sphere before the Choten confronted us the creature's attention was on the Masters and causing fear. It was only when someone else took control that they started to cause damage to the surrounding areas." Gabe said as he looked up from his phone as he ate his sandwich.

"Yeah and did you notice that Carnahan Chemicals is still closed until next week, 'to make sure no structural damage has been caused by the disaster? I'd bet you anything he's trying to retool for his boss." Allie said with a scowl on her face as Ray nodded and Gabe sighed.

"Its times like this that really makes you think of what we stopped, doesn't it?" Gabe asked softly as he looked about, noticing the groups here or there talking quietly were a lot smaller then they had been two months ago, most of those not there were either still out helping their families, injured or had been sent to relatives to stay safe.

"It would be nice if one of those people had gone away for a while though." Allie said as she looked at Carny's table as he laughed at something one of the others said as Lucy sat down next to Gabe. If Giovanni, Nickles, Driggs or Portia had been gone as well then this will be a great week. Of course Portia had to be an even bigger bitch then normal since Maribel left and take out her anger out on everyone else. Allie thought as she looked around the cafeteria

"We talking about Carny's pals right, isn't it possible that he might have brought them to safety for the incident? And who are the others?" Lucy asked as she started to eat her food.

"Portia and Giovanni, if they weren't here then this place would be a lot better in my opinion." Allie said as Lucy looked at her.

"Seriously, I can get Portia but Giovanni? What's you beef with him?" Lucy asked as she thought of the rich new student who had transferred in last week, already a lot of girls were in to him but why she didn't know. The guy seems okay but that doesn't account for his popularity but hey what do I know, I try to stay out of that kind of popularity garbage. Lucy said as Allie just scowled.

"I don't know, something about him just makes my skin crawl, I just don't like him okay!" Allie said as Lucy held up her hands and chuckled.

"Okay, okay. Let's not talk about Giovanni but back to Carney?" Lucy said as she tried to calm Allie down.

"After Carny came back the masters kept a Stalker Sphere in range of his house so we could keep an eye on him and his dad, but there was nothing leading up to the….incident. I guess maybe the Choten moved before Carny could get them away to safety, if he even planned that." Ray said only for Gabe to scoff at the idea

"The chance of him having doing that are statically lower than the chances he might take a vow of non-violence. Carnahan Chemicals was active during the earthquake and quite a few employees were injured going by the number of emergency vehicles sent there after the cleanup began…. Oh, Gargle helped me write a program to catch emergency dispatched as a text archive and I'm putting together a few apps for the Temple incase anything like this ever happens again by taping law enforcement communication." Gabe said at the looks they were giving him.

"Gabe!" Ray exclaimed in shock as he processed what he just had heard. Okay I can see how data mining emergency response will let us find anything reported that might be a Veil beach, but man Gabe and Gargle really knows how to make a lot of interesting tech. Ray thought as he stared at his friend.

"Dude, seriously?" Lucy asked with a whisper. I knew Gabe was bright and I've seen some of what Gargle makes but this, man I so do not want to be on his bad side, like ever. Lucy thought as Gabe rubbed the back of his head.

"Our friend the mad scientist strikes again." Allie said as she just looked at him with a flat stare. And most people think Gabe's so well behaved, boy what would people think if they if knew the two of us killed a lot of his counter prank tech based ideas. Allie thought as she sighed in exasperation.

"What, after the new communicator watches the two of us made we had a talk about how to upgrade our capabilities and then it came to finding strange incidents reported to find Creatures or breach. It was quite easy for him to produce the hardware and myself to make the software to tie it together. I've been working on a radio app for my phone for a few months now, but with a little Water code breaking/receiver it was quite easy to add an intercept function. We're still debating how to house and hide it from the network but we have a few ideas to create something that will get by undetected by the general population. And it's read only, no way to transmit at all." Gabe said as he looked at his friends. Ray looked at Gabe and went still as a few thoughts made connections in his head that caused him to go pale.

"Gabe, how difficult was it for Gargle to make that thing?" Ray asked as the others looked at him, something in Ray's voice told them this was important.

"No more difficult than normal really, the hardest part was me designing software that would let Water and human technologies communicate without anyone noticing it really." Gabe said as he looked at Ray as the others looked on and wondered what he was getting at.

"Then what's stopping the Choten or even Carny from calling a Cyber-Lord to make something like that, or even something that could disrupt communications? Or if something like that is already up?" Ray asked as the others paled as they comprehended what he was saying.

"Oh man." Gabe whispered as he realized the sheer scope of what Ray had realized Allie's face went red as Lucy paled.

"Hey Gabe, do you think you and Gargle could make something that could detect something like that?" Ray cut in before Allie could exploded as his friends started to think about how many tech related problems some of their missions could have had.

"I'll talk to Gargle and Master Nadia once she gets back, maybe there's protocol or something the Temple has in case of something like this?" Gab said as the others recovered.

"Just when you think you can rest, you find you can't. You had to say it Ray. Say, how'd you figure that out anyway?" Lucy asked as she looked at him.

"My dad's been training me lately in what he learned by surviving on the island as all those years. He learned to think outside the box to survive and he's been tutoring me and mom in how he did that. I've been a somewhat better student in the school of survival then this place." Ray said as he looked around.

"Yeah about him, how's he been doing transitioning to life back on our side?" Gabe asked as they turned their attention back to their food. Changing your life style from a vagabond mercenary in the Kaiju Realm to back to a 'normal' life back here gotta be hard on him. Really hope he's doing okay. Allie thought as she looked at Ray who looked happy.

"The lighthouse along the other side of the bays operator is going to move away in a month, he's someone who knew dad before he was shipwrecked and he thought with a few lessons dad might be a perfect fit to take over so when he moves out, we move in and dad has a job that gives us a new house and some room to grow." Ray said with a smirk.

"The Lighthouse near where the boats 'disappeared'? Isn't that place around where the Realm's growth caused that lake near the Bronze Arm Tribe to end up at?" Lucy asked as Ray nodded with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah and dad said he did a few jobs for them in the past so he feels better about that, never ran into Shouter for some reason but he's on good terms with them so if the Choten tries to pay us a visit by the Veil we're safe from that direction at least." Ray said with a smirk.

"I've been doing some tinkering about an alternative energy system for my house, if you guys wouldn't mind helping me set it up I think I could take you off the grid, Gargle's been helping me with my tech skills." Gabe said as he looked at Ray. He frowned when he noticed Ray's eyes hardening and turned around and saw what Ray had.

A few feet away from them Nirṛti tried to keep her face blank as she discreetly channeled a little mana and focused on the table ten feet away and let the wind carry what they were saying to her ears. Bronze Arm? That's a tribe of Beast-Kin, then I was right, they did know how to conjure the portal to summon creatures. So maybe I could ask them for help, and given what I've seen they do fight with Carny and it doesn't seem to be a mask like…mother's was. But what is the Veil, are they connected to the betrayers? I have a few days so I guess I can talk to my brother for his opinion and does he needs to know others are here. Nirri thought as she sat and ate and listened with her other ear to Isabella.

"… So I guess that Portia's just fishing for targets since her friend is gone, a way to make herself feel better that shows just how low a life form she really is. So you've got a problem girl?" Isabella asked as Nirrti looked back at her friend.

"Yeah, it's a word problem my brother gave me. There are two different groups with the same secrets who fight with each other and one person who has been watching them that neither group knows about and had a view of them in their mind. After a while the viewer found evidence of a crime that one of the groups will soon do and wonders if the other group should be warned to help stop them. Sadly if the second group is warned then they will know that the watcher knows their secret but if group two isn't warned then innocent people will be hurt." Nirrti said as she quietly ate her food as Isabella sat and thought.

"That sounds like a tough one, that brother of yours, he's really trying to have you grow your morals isn't he. There's a right or wrong answer here?" Isabella asked only to be met with a head shake. And there it is, this isn't hypothetical. 'Word problem my brother gave me', sure and my brother really is a 'martial arts' teacher! I don't know what you're involved in Nirrti but I'll help you figure it out. Isabella said as she kept her feelings off her face.

"I have to ask first if the watcher will be affected badly if party two knows she/he knows their secrets." Isabella asked as Nirrti looked at her.

"It's possible that yes, the watcher might be affected as the secrets are something that they guard. But if they know why the watcher knows they might not act against h…them." Nirrti said as she stumbled over what to tell her friend.

"Can the watcher stop party one on her own?" Isabella asked as she drank the tea she had brought with her lunch, watching as Nirrti winched as she seemed to think. If I summon anything it would have to be small enough to not be noticed when I battle them, a Chimera or Skull Mask? If he summons something that would cause a lot of damage then a fast strike against the summonor with help to overwhelm him might be best, so I couldn't do it alone. Nirrti thought as she thought about it, never noticing that Isabella had said her and put her head down and ate a bit of her food before looking up.

"I would have to say that it's a maybe at best. The person could try and stop the first party but it's still a maybe." Nirrti would have said more but a commotion caused the two teens to turn and watch what was happening.

Carny smirked as he looked about the courtyard as he noticed the on duty teacher was being lead inside by Nickles and nodded at Driggs who got up and walked away. A few minutes later Carny slammed his fist down on his spoon; the potato salad on it flew through the air and hit Kevin on the side of his face.

"Hey!" Kevin cried when it hit him and he jerked back, bumping into Driggs who spilled the tray he was holding onto Kevin. As Kevin dripped with dropped food he looked up with an open mouth and saw Driggs standing there.

"Hey you made me loss my food dweeb, you'd better get me a new lunch!" Driggs said as he grinned down at Kevin, a smirk on his face. Ray and Allie had seen the potato salad hit Kevin and Ray jumped to his feet and moved towards the altercation.

"The heck I do!" Kevin said as he turned around, his hair dripping with soup. Carny got up and walked to Kevin, grabbing his shoulder and turning him towards him and leaned towards Kevin before whispering sharply.

"What you brave because you went to a teacher wuss? I'm gonna make that decision the worst you've even done, I'll have you running for your mother whenever you see me coming." Carny said as Kevin's eye's widened before a voice caused them to look towards it, Kevin with a look of hope and Carny turned with a scowl on his face.

"You mind backing off Carny, or have you decided to act more apish and communicate with grunts now?" Allie asked as she stood in the middle of Ray and Lucy, Gabe had gone to the side and was recording them on his phone.

"Smellerison, why can't you and the mutt mind your own business? And what, thrift girl's one of you losers now?" Carny asked, Lucy only smirked in response and looked at Carny with a confident stare that shocked him for a few seconds.

"Yeah, I started at the dojo and I so good I was chosen for some private lessons. And then I ran into a guy who hurt his fingers during the quake and was able to use what I learned to help him. Want to see what I learned there?" Lucy asked Carny who only stared at her before his glare increased. Fuck so it was this brat who dueled Fingers with that bug! One against three would always be hard, but one on four!? I gotta get those idiots in on this, but how can I convince dad about it? And if that place really does teach self-defense to use around people then I might have to rethink who I bring in after Friday! Carny thought as he snarled at them. A motion from Kevin caused Ray's eyes to widen and Carny turned to glare at Driggs who clamped a hand onto Kevin's shoulder and caused him to gulp and Ray's eyes to narrow as Allie moved a foot back as Lucy dropped her arms to her side.

"Let him go Carnahan, now." Ray said with a hard edge to his voice but Carny merely looked back at Ray with a glare. Driggs only smirked until he felt a hand grab his wrist. He looked down and followed the arm grabbing him and saw Giovanni looking at him with a hard look to his eyes.

"I would do what Mr. Okamoto said my friend, unless you want to have a broken arm." Giovanni said gravely. Driggs glared before wincing as he felt the pressure on his hand and let go of Kevin who moved behind Giovanni.

"Why the hell do you but in brat, this ain't your concern!" Carny snapped as Giovanni looked at him and spoke slowly.

"It became my concern when I saw it; it became my concern when you bothered one of my classmates, sir Carnahan. And would you please 'back off' as they say around here? Or do we continue and I show you why I was considered a rather good boxer at my previous school?" Giovanni asked as he locked eyes with Carny. Carny's eyes widened as he looked at Giovanni's eyes before he scoffed and turned away.

"Whatever. This isn't over wuss, you can bet on it." Carny said before he walked off, Driggs following a moment later. Carny led him into the school, the teacher passing him as they moved into the school to meet up with Nickels.

"Why'd we back down Carny, it was just that mutt and the transfer-brat. As long as I coulda grabbed that runt again then…." Driggs began until Carny turned and glared at him. Driggs held his hands up and smiled at Carny before continuing.

"Of course you've probably got a plan to deal with them right boss? What do I know about anything really…." Driggs said shakily before Carny interrupted him.

"Drop it! We'll talk about that when I say we do, got it?" Carny said with a growl as he turned and stalked off. What the hell was that look in that brat's eyes, he looked normal but for a few seconds he looked like he would kill me like I would kill a bug. Whatever he acts like, he's dangerous, might be something to keep an eye on him for the future, see if I can use him. Carny thought as he walked, an eager grin forming on his face as he tried to figure how to use him.

"So I would say there is a story about why they bothered you my friend?" Giovanni asked as he handed Kevin a napkin to wipe his face. Kevin went quite as he cleaned up his face and looked up as Gabe joined the others.

"I went to a teacher about how they were treating me." Kevin said after a while. Giovanni merely sighed as he shook his head at this.

"Truly this place is different from my old town, if one had gone to a teacher about it, then at the very least the person who was behind the actions would try to find a new target or transfer lunches." Giovanni said as he looked upwards before he turned and looked at Ray, Gabe, Lucy and Allie.

"Sir Raiden, Lady Lucy and Lady Allison; my compliments on your actions. That was quite a brave and honorable dead to do to help a friend." Giovanni said as he looked at the three of them ending on Allie who looked at her with a strange look in his eyes.

"You were pretty brave yourself to step in, a lot of people wouldn't." Ray said as Giovanni only chuckled.

"My father told me once do not be an observer, instead be one who makes history. I've always took that to mean always be someone who stands up for people instead of just being a watcher. Of course I've made quite a few enemies following my father's words." Giovanni said as he kept his eyes on Allie.

"Well thanks for helping me Giovanni, I really appreciate it." Kevin said before he turned to look at his food.

"Hey Kevin, why don't you eat near us for a while at lunch, Carny won't bother you if we're around. And if he does he'll have to deal with us." Allie said as she put her hand on Kevin's shoulder and lead him back towards their table.

Giovanni watched them walk away and kept his gaze locked on Allie, his eyes followed her as she walked off. She is everything I thought she would be. I knew that sooner or later I would find her and even more delicious she's an Underhill, the irony is wonderful! But Kevin might be someone to look into, he might be someone I can recruit. Giovanni thought as he walked back towards his group and smiled at the girls waiting for him.

"You know I think it's pretty good that someone else is standing against Carny, that for all his shit someone else besides Ray and his friends call him on his bull." Isabella said as they watched, after a few second Isabella turned and noticed that Nirrti's eyes were locked on Giovanni as he moved.

"Hey, San Campion to Nirrti, you okay girl?" Isabella asked as she put her hand on Nirrti's shoulder, causing her to jolt and look at her friend.

"Yeah, I fine Isabella, so that the new student Giovanni?" Nirrti asked as Isabella smirked at her.

"Yeah that's him, and I think that's what, the second time he's butted heads with Carny or helps anyone else around here deal with bullies around town." Isabella said as she looked at Nirrti who had a thoughtful look on her face. With a smirk she nudge her friend again, Nirrti looked at Isabella who grinned at her.

"Well, does my friend have any feelings for Giovanni?" Isabella asked with a smirk but Nirrti only scowled at her before speaking.

"Sorry Isabella, I just, there's something different about him, not different interesting but different." Nirrti said as she looked at her friend.

"Oh yeah, I guess I can see that. I have him for Advance Spanish, he seems to be an okay guy, don't get me wrong but where ever he came from it was probably a lot more free on us handling our own affairs. He seems a bit more mature then a lot of the boys around here, might be why girls seem to flock to him, but he had the bad luck to came to school a day before the quake hit, so there's that. And he signed up for the back sale right away so….." As Isabella continued Nirrti looked at back, her thoughts racing. I know I saw a string of mana hit Kevin that came from Giovanni, but was it deliberate or not I can't say. But that doesn't mean he has anything to do with mom right? Nirrti though as she listened with one ear to her friend and kept her eyes on Giovanni as he sat back down.

Hector pulled back on Draglide's reins and smiled a little when he felt Nadia's arms tighten around him as she buried her head into her back.

"Its fine Nadia, we're just landing." Hector said with a laugh as Draglide landed on the small island in the Water Cavitation. Hector turned and smiled at Nadia as she raised her head and meet her scowl.

"You enjoyed this flight more then you should have." She said as she slipped off the back of the Attack Raptor as Hector laughed. After a month of silence from him we have no idea where he might be and with what paths the order charted over the years worthless because of the way the Kaiju Realm has expanded well, a trip to chart a path to an isolated outpost like the one at the Dragon's Triangle is needed and Nadia had to go since it's the path would be over the Water Realm and I wouldn't let her go alone when the Choten could be lying in wait. Still this trip was fun. Hector said as he hopped off Draglide and rubbed its chin, pulling a piece of bacon out of his pack and throwing it in front of Draglide who snapped it up and gave off a happy growl.

"Thank you for the ride my friend, I'll be calling on either later today or tomorrow unless you want to go Earth side with us, I have more bacon." Hector said as Draglide growled and Nadia looked on with her usual stare.

"Taking after Raiden Hector?" Nadia asked as she brought a clear blue gem out of her pocket and looked about before she dropped it in shock as she stared blankly into space.

"Nadia, what's wrong?" Hector asked causing Nadia to blush before she reached down and picked up her dropped gemstone, Nadia didn't say anything but looked back through the gemstone for a few seconds more before she spoke.

"Well we're at the outpost but you're going to want to see this." Nadia said robotically as she passed the gemstone to Hector who looked through it and widened his eyes at what he was seeing before he showed it Draglide who butted its head against Hector's shoulder before showing it to the Attack Raptor whose legs failed it.

"Was that a giant lizard standing guard at the harbor of the island?" Hector asked as he looked at Nadia who nodded robotically.

"Yes, yes it was. Did you notice it wasn't moving at all?" Nadia said as she activated her gauntlet and started the Veil Breach Kata as Hector looked at Draglide who only whimpered slightly causing Hector to smile at it.

"So you want to go back home amigo? I'll let you know what happens, thank you for carrying us." Hector said before he dismissed the Attack Raptor.

"I believe that Kenji has some explaining to do." Nadia said as the she formed the Veil Breach formed and they then walked through it, coming out in a shadow that caused the two to look up at a giant green reptilian biped with claws and with a line of horns going down its back from its head to its tail that stands beside the water near a dock as gulls rest on it.

"I don't know if I'm shocked or not. How'd you think he got something like that, water tech or did he construct it here?" Hector asked as he looked up, shielding his eyes with his gauntlet hand.

"If he didn't then what I want to know is how he got it here, I think we would have heard about any news like it." Nadia said as she watched birds land on it, noticing a nest on one of the claws. A sound behind them caused the two of them to turn to see a Japanese man in an orange t-shirt and white shorts carrying a fishing rod and a bucket, a small sheepish smile on his face.

"Actually Kenji made that in his civilian job years ago and called it here with my new remote controlled shades and it was on the news, for a given value of news. It has been some time Master Nadia, Master Hector." Kenji said as he bowed to them, his gear still in his hand.

"Kenji-san, how are you? And you said you made this as a civilian?" Nadia asked as she and Hector looked at him as he chuckled.

"Oh yes, it was for Return of the Atomic Monsters back when Kenji made props for movies. The movie this was meant for was scrapped and it was put into storage. Come back to my house, I have a few spare chairs set up and I caught a few fish that I'm sure you'll enjoy for a meal and you can tell me how to use the Kaiju Realm to get back to the main Temple." Kenji said as he turned and walked up a hill towards a forest path, Hector and Nadia following behind.

"Why was the movie scraped if I may ask, budge issues, writer or actor drama?" Nadia asked as they followed Kenji who looked back with a frown on his face.

"It was the ending; my monster was supposed to attack a cave of Fish-Bats for an action packed climax." Kenji said as he hung his head low as he walked off. Kenji's monster would have been a star! If only they had had a better ending before I built it! Kenji thought as he led the way towards his house.

"Fish-Bats? What were those supposed to be?" Hector asked as he shot a hopeless look at Nadia who only looked as confused as he was.

"No one knew, and that's why it was scrapped!" Kenji exclaimed before he started to mutter under his breath about lazy writers, spineless directors and stupid people in general as Hector shot a sheepish smile at Nadia who only smiled back at him before she spoke up.

"So how has it been around here, have you been able to deal with any breeches or creatures swiftly, any real problems?" Nadia asked as they walked. Kenji just chuckled and looked a little sheepish.

"As you know I have mana sensors to track breeches and creatures locally, it's what we used before the switch over to Battle Spheres. And well when they didn't register anything so I posted a video, surprised you never heard about it." Kenji said as he looked at them.

"About what?" Hector asked as he looked sternly at Kenji who looked chastised.

"How aliens stole my water tank, but it was really giant prehistoric hermit crabs." Kenji said, stopping and turning when he heard the two had stopped and saw them both looking at him with opened mouths and shocked faces.

"Giant. Prehistoric. Hermit. Crabs." Nadia said as Kenji started to laugh a little.

A few minutes later Kenji put a pot of tea as Nadia and sat down on stools Kenji had brought out of a closet.

"My apologies Masters, but as I'm alone most of the time I only needed the one chair for a while, it's a bit different now that I have friends who stop by where ever they're in the area." Kenji said as he looked about as before he sat down.

"Do these friends live on a nearby island?" Nadia asked only for Kenji to smile.

"No a family of two scientist who study and travel the ocean and their two children, we met after I post the video. Anyhow what happened to the lay lines, they just went down all over and the messages that I received said for the Order to be on the lookout for Nigel Brightmore and former Master Tiera, Nigel I can understood but isn't Tiera dead?" Kenji asked as Hector sighed and looked at him.

"Our apologies but given how popular she was we decided that we should keep her status quite. She survived what happened in the Fire Realm all those years ago, sadly it seems she was in a relationship with the Choten and joined up with him. As for Nigel, he turned on them when they invade San Campion with an evolved army of Creatures and tried to take out the Ley-Line to keep them from using them to attack well, everywhere." Hector said, causing Kenji to bow his head and mutter softly to himself. Nadia winced when she remembered Kenji had trained alongside Nigel and they had been friends in their younger days.

"Oh Nigel you order obsessive fool, I knew sooner or later you would turn against August once you saw what he was truly up to. So what happed then, why the lookout, are the two of them still on this side?" Kenji asked but stopped at the look Nadia had on her face.

"As for the message, after Nigel turned again he and Tiera had a duel IN the departure room and both fell into the ley-lines as the chamber collapsed." Nadia said dryly as Kenji stated at her, going pale as he did so. Nadia felt bad about what they had told Kenji, the horror stories about Ley-Line travel being interrupted mid-way was the stuff of nightmares for the Order, one of the things newcomers were told as hazing and to bring them farther into the order. And given what stories they tell, from the many things that might have happened to him I don't know what I would hope for. Nadia thought as she watched Kenji.

"I'll keep my eye out but what about you, will you be going back by Creature displacement or will you stay here for the night, the weather is supposed to be fine, I make a mean stew and last I heard from my friends they were heading towards the north pole so we don't need to worry about them stopping by." Kenji asked as color returned to his face. Hector looked at Nadia who smiled back before he turned back to Kenji.

"I think we'll take you up on a meal and you can tell us all about those crabs if you don't mind Kenji." Hector said as he relaxed and Kenji smiled.

"Well it all started at night while I was reading one of my favorite books when I hear this unearthly moan, why I haven't heard such since I fought against those Zombies months earlier when they tried to use the Water Realm to breach the Veil." Kenji began as he got up and walked towards his stove.

"Really Allie, what do you have against Giovanni, he seems like an okay guy." Gabe said as he, Allie, Lucy and Ray walked along the sidewalk towards the dojo. School had let out and they were all heading towards the temple, ready to do their part as members of the Order.

"I can't describe it Gabe, he just feels slimy okay? I don't know why but that's what he makes me feel every time I see him." Allie said as Ray looked over his shoulder as they moved. Lucy just looked at Allie and shook her head as they moved towards the Dojo. Ray reached the doors first and turned and looked at Allie and the others before

"I can't help you with what your instincts are telling you Allie. Some people you just can't stand I guess. But if he doesn't do anything, then let's leave him alone. Come on, another day of cleanup awaits us, so what do you want today; the wilderness, the junk yards or the industrial parks?" Ray asked as he opened the door for the others.

A few minutes later they walked down the temple's grand staircase and looked about, noting some of the other students moving about here and there, Master Isao was standing with Master Jaha conversing softly. As they walked towards them they were able to overhear the end.

"….so then you have no idea at all?" Isao asked with a disappointed air about him.

"No and the few inquiries that we made after it ended amounted to nothing." Jaha looked like she would continue but her eyes noticed them and she gestured with her head. Isao turned and saw them walking towards them and smiled.

"Ahh there you are. Now recent intelligence has point out a hole in our defense that you four are going to close." Isao said as he looked at them. Ray looked at his uncle and wondered if his talk with Isao had sparked the

"So where are we going, the forest or the industrial park?" Allie asked as Jaha looked at her and chuckled as she looked over Allie. Isao was right, they could use a break. Perhaps I should chaperon this and have a few talks with them about releasing stress through breathing exercises. Jaha thought before shaking her head and deciding not to.

"When you found the spell of Evolution it raised a few concerns, concerns that events made us table until now. The mission for all four of you is to investigate every part of the temple, practically any places that look like no one has been through there in a sometime. You may summon the Reef Prince to help you make anything you think you might need to stay safe, Toji came back with a load of metal from the salvage yard recently and set up the tech room as it is. Once all of you are ready; you can start with that hallway." Jaha said as she pointed towards a statue. Ray looked at it in wonder for a few seconds before turning back towards Jaha who looked away with a blush.

"Master Jaha, what hallway?" Lucy asked as she tried to remember if the others had ever moved around any of the statues.

"According to an old map that was falling apart there is a door behind the statue of the Founding Master of Nature, its old maybe that door was sealed since the Veil was formed. Master Kimora summoned Shouter and he helped us break open the wall and revealed the passage." Master Jaha said before Isao stepped forward.

"Keep in mind that the nature of this task is that you are to come back and tell us what you find. Raiden, I need to talk with you for a few minutes while your friends get ready." Isao said as he started to walk towards the stairs to the War Room , ignoring the look Jaha shot him before walking after him. Ray turned to his friends and looked at them before shrugging and walking towards his uncle.

"So Ray's gone; any ideas Gabe?" Allie asked as she started to lead the way towards a place the masters had set aside for 'homemade' Water tech. Gabe looked up from putting and activating his Gauntlet and smirked.

"Reef Prince Glu-urrgle!" Gabe proclaimed as a symbol of the Water Civilization appeared and Gargle landed on the ground before them.

"G-Gabriel, what's up my dude, dueling practice?" Gargle asked as it eye smiled at them as it looked around.

"Not today Gargle. We're going to investigate the forgotten sections of the temple, and to do it safely we need you to make something to check if the floors safe to walk on." Gabe said as Gargle looked at her before turning and looking at the door Gabe opened to reveal the salvage Master Toji had brought back. Gargle hopped into the room and looked over the things, he grabbed a remote controller and looked over the rest of the items and looked back at them

"EZ 2 do!" Gargle said with an eye smile as he took out a Water-Tech sphere to create the tech it need.

Ray looked at his friends watch Gargle move into the room and turned back to his uncle and Master Jaha.

"Uncle Isao, what's up?" Ray asked as he noticed the looks the two of them were giving each other. Isao shot look at who Jaha sighed and looked away before Isao looked towards his nephew before speaking.

"The others weren't aware that Nigel cast the spell to evolve Tiera's dragon. And I asked a few questions that led to answers…that raised more questions then they answered." Isao said as Ray looked at Jaha and tried to think about what Isao meant

"What are you…." Ray began before Jaha interrupted him.

"It's an issue that we're looking into and the other Masters decided to keep close while we investigate." Jaha said as she looked at Ray. Ray looked back at her and she was felt a sense of pride that he stayed quite. Maybe he's finally learned to look at the distance before he leaps, it would keep him alive a lot longer, of course I hope he doesn't lose his sense of …. His drive really, that is often the difference between a Master or a normal member of the order. Jaha thought

"I called you here to ask you to make sure you and your friend's keep an eye out for anything that seems…wrong during your exploration.We don't know if the Choten left any surprises when he left or if anyone else did when the passage was closed up. What I'm saying is….be careful." Isao said to Ray before his nephew nodded and he turned and ran towards his friends. Isao watched him go and heard a light chuckle from Jaha behind him.

"That was unexpected of you Master Isao." Jaha said as he turned back to her, a frown on his face.

"After all I've heard those three have done, going with Masters Kimora and Master Chavez on the last Siphon, jumping head first against a Thunder Guardian and he lost his sight, going to the Water Civilization to get his memories back, I thought I would advise him to have some caution." Isao said as Jaha chuckled at him. She watched the door as two remote controlled helicopters with blue Water tech lines on them came out ahead of the teens, Allie and Ray holding a controller with a screen on it as the four friends walked after the helicopters and past the statue.

"Go on Isao, Kimora switched with me and Toji is watching the War Room so I'll wait here if they need help, I have a receiver unit Gabriel and the Reef Prince made to keep an ear open and I have a nice book I've been saving to kill time in case nothing happens, so go and make the last patrol until we return to normal operations orderly." Jaha said as Isao sighed and walked off towards the Dojo entrance where the acolytes he would be taking were waiting for him.

Ray looked back and frowned as he tried to make sense of what the Master were looking into. The way Master Jaha had reacted to what Isao said told him that what the Masters were looking into was important. As he walked absentmindedly controlling the helicopter which Gargle had added ground penetrating radar to let them see how sturdy the floor, he looked up when he finally realized that he had driving his helicopter into a wall when Allie put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up to the others looking at him with concern as Gabe held the other copter.

"Hey what did your uncle want Ray, besides being careful?" Allie asked as Gargle fused over Ray's copter as Ray sighed and looked around. He had flown the helicopter into a wall that formed a T split with the way they had come the tail. Ray looked left and then right before turning back to the others.

"Sorry guys, Uncle Isao just said a question I had last night gave him a few questions to ask the Masters and well." Ray said with a shrug as Gargle put the helicopter down and huffed at Ray.

"NXT tym fly, kEp eyes on sky." Gargle said as Ray scratched his head and looked bashful.

"You said he said to be careful Ray, maybe you should pay more attention to this." Gabe chided before Allie shot him a glare. Lucy looked between the three and gained a thoughtful look as she turned to Ray.

"What'd you ask him about anyway?" Lucy asked what was on her mind as Gabe and Allie looked up, even Gargle interested as they waited for Ray's answer.

"How the Choten turned the Spell of Evolution into a serum." Ray said as the others looked at him and Gargle eyes slowly moved forward and backwards as they absorbed what he said.

"That's something to think about. So, give me a number guys, one to ten!" Allie said suddenly, the others.

"One." "Two." "Six." Ray, Gabe and Lucy said at the same time only for Allie to smirk and pass the controller she was using to Gabe.

"Mine's Nine. Ray and I'll go one way you guys go the other, we'll use the watches if we run into anything." Allie said as she moved down the hallway to the right, Ray jolted and sent the helicopter over her head before following after her, moving just as fast.

"Allie wait up, Gargle made these things so we don't cause the hallway to cave in!" Ray called out as he moved after her. Lucy watched as he and Allie walked off and turned to Gabe as he put the copter in his hands down with a deadpan look on her face

"Soooo, what do you think the odds are one of us is going to run into something the others will need to save the others from like in horror movies?" Lucy asked before she directed the copter down the left hallway as Gabe sighed.

"ChaNc 100%, bt tek suport redE 2 roL!" Gargle said causing Gabe to sigh again before Lucy started off, Gabe and Gargle following behind her.

"Seriously Ray, are you okay? You're usually more on the ball." Allie asked as she followed after Ray, her eyes wandering around as she looked about the hallway, trying to find anything that might

"Yeah, just Uncle Isao let slip the Masters are investigating something connected to the Choten and they're keeping it close to their chests, trying to figure out what it was." Ray said as Allie nodded before she sighed. Oh Ray. I know that scum has to be stopped but you can't go Captain Ahab on us again, you just can't. Allie thought as she put a hand on Ray's shoulder, causing him to look at her.

"Ray, I doubt that he'll 'go away and live quietly', but you can't go tunnel vision on that bastard, you gotta live in the moment and pay attention to what's happening now." Allie said softly as Ray turned to look at the screen on the controller, listening to what she was saying. She's right, I can't let that happen to me again, I have to pay attention to what happening around me, I can't let myself be tricked again by focusing on one thing over all others and…. Ray thought as he moved forward with Allie following, he suddenly stopped and threw his arm across Allie's path, causing her to stop in her tracks. She looked down at the monitor on the controller and saw a void right in front of her under the floor. She looked at the ground in front of them and saw nothing that would indicate something was wrong with it. She looked down the hallway and noticed a side passage that she nudged Ray and gestured towards it when Ray turned to her.

"Think that a staircase to a lower level?" Allie asked as she put her foot softly on the patch with something under it. Ray looked at the floor and pressed a few buttons on the controller and saw what was under the helicopter in full color and piloted through the passage and saw stairs. Bringing the helicopter back towards the hallway they were in Ray turned to Allie.

"Yeah, it definitely goes down. So stay or go down?" Ray asked as he looked at Allie who looked down the hallway and noticed it end a few meters down in a sharp turn.

"Let's make it to the turn and decide there, better call Gabe and the others if we go down thou." Allie said as she walked towards the turn, Ray following and moving the copter towards the turn. Ray looked around as they moved and noticed a part of the wall was pushed out compared to the rest.

"Hey Allie, hold this." Ray said as he lands the copter before he handed the controller to her. She looked at him as he started to rub the dust off the wall and revealed a block sticking out of the wall with two groups of symbols on it, group one a sword, shield and a hammer with an arrow under it pointing down the hall towards the turn and the other a stranger circle with… something in it with an arrow pointing down under it.

Ray moved his other hand towards the watch and pressed a button on it as he brought it close to his mouth.

"Ray here, I found a block that's set partly into the wall of the passage at eye level, it's got two sets of symbols on it, each has an arrow pointing in different directions for each group, copy?" Ray said as Allie moved to look at the block.

"This Gabe, we're at some kind of two way intersection. We just found a block a few seconds ago but ours has three groupings, two of them seem to point in the same general direction. Is one of yours a circle with something in it above an arrow pointing down?" Gabe's voice asked through the watch as Ray shot a look at Allie who looked back towards the stairs as she landed the copter.

"Yeah same here, think it might be the same room? It'll be big if it is." Ray said as Allie removed her gauntlet from her pocket and put it on her free hand and looked around the corner and turned back to him.

"There's just one door ahead about ten-fifteen feet or so Ray." Allie said as she rejoined him.

"Ray, the symbol with the arrow pointing the same way the circle seems to be is a book, we're going to check it out and then try the area downstairs, what about you two?" Gabe voice asked as Ray turned to Allie who gestured towards the turn. Ray nodded at her and spoke into his watch.

"Gabe, we're going to check out the end of the passageway and the door at its end and we'll check out the circle after, with luck we're just going to find a dueling field." Ray said as he followed Allie who had gone around the corner as soon as he started to speak. Shaking his head he moved after her, as he turned the corner he saw her pulling on a ring on the door and soon reached her.

"Can't open it Allie?" Ray asked before Allie jumped back a bit and looked away from him, a blush on her face.

"It's locked. Got any idea how to open it?" Allie asked Ray as he moved closer to the door and looked over, noticing two more blocks on both side of the door. He cleaned off the right side and saw the same symbols on the block behind them and then cleaned off the other side and saw the symbol of the Order raised off the block. As he looked at it he felt drawn to it, something about it called to him and without thinking he put on his gauntlet and activated it before he put it on the symbol and felt a drain form his mana. He pulled on the ring on the door and it opened with a creak causing Allie to let out a gasp as she realized what he had done.

"The door was unlocked with mana, what the heck is behind it?" Allie asked as Ray smirked at her

"Let's find out." Ray said as he moved towards the doorway, Allie following behind him with her own gauntlet activating as she moved after him into the room.

Gabe moved forward as Lucy and Gargle followed him, Gargle muttering to himself in that Cyberlord code of his, a habit Gabe had learned Gargle had to store his thoughts for later review. The two of them had been using the down time lately to prepare, Gabe had been learning from Gargle about Water tech codes and tech and the others were trying to better themselves. Lucy was spending a lot of time in the Dojo helping out the civilian lessons and Dueling other students and had a good win/loss record going for her and Allie had been training her body by studying parkour and Ray had mention he had been reading books on military tactics besides the training his father was given him. Still, after the evo bomb I can't blame anyone for using the down time to try and get stronger, I really can't. When I thought Gargle was dead because of something I had him do, I just can't….we have to be stronger for the next time so that won't ever happen for real. Gabe thought as they reached a door with two raised block sticking out of the wall next to it level with a ring on the door, the passage itself continuing on but the light crystals in the ceiling started to die after about ten feet and at thirty feet there was only darkness.

"Gonna need some light if we go into that." Lucy said as she looked down at the controller and Gargle tapped his fingers together as he listened to her remarks, jolting down thoughts as he watched Gabe look over the door and cleared the dust from the right block and saw the symbol they had been followed, a book. Gabe moved his gauntlet covered hand over the other block and felt something from it a, a spark of mana jumped from his hand to the door and he looked at it in shock.

"Locks that only unlock when someone uses mana, that's possible? I've never even read about something like this in any of the books on the Order's history." Gabe said as Lucy looked at the stone and then the other one and looked at Gabe.

"If they had something like that, what happened to stop using it?" Lucy asked as Gabe looked worried at what they had found.

"Let's see what's in here….OH WOW!" Gabe exclaimed as they walked into the room and saw rows and rows of books, two balconies with a spiral staircase leading from the floor. A large circular table was at the center below the light crystal and a bench sat against the far wall. Lucy moved towards a bookcase and pulled one book at random and looked at the letters on it and wasn't able to understand them, she couldn't even identify what culture there were from. She noticed a rock the same color as the blocks outside.

"What are these?" Lucy asked as she looked at it over until she saw the stone on the front cover. Could it be mana locked like the door, how would that even be possible? Lucy thought as she put on her gauntlet and activated it without Gabe noticing, all his attention was on a book he had taken down.

"Hey what are these? A code, a lost language from the War?" Gabe said as Lucy looked at him, and shook her head and decided to check out if she was right.

"There's a stone on the front cover like from the door, I'm putting my gauntlet on it." Lucy said as Gabe and Gargle turned to her.

"Lucy, Wait!" Gabe cried as Lucy put her hand on the stone. Gabe and Gargle ran at her as her eyes gained a white glow and staggered back as she dropped the book as Gabe reached her.

"Lucy, are you okay?!" Gabe demanded as she shook her head. That was so weird; I felt like something drained me and gave me the worst head cold, it was like when I the Mystic helped me cast that spell. Lucy thought as Gabe and Gargle looked at her.

"What were you thinking, that thing is totally unknown, were you even….!" Gabe said as he looked at her. Lucy winced as she put a hand on her head and looked at the book and reached down and grabbed it and brought towards her face. She opened the book and stared at the words, they were still in that unknown code but she could read it now. Gabe looked at her and was going to say something before Lucy spoke up.

"That stone, it took some of my mana from me, but I can read the code now." Lucy said as she flipped some pages. Spell of Evolution, wait this says that….then that means! Lucy thought as she put the book into her backpack.

"Lucy, why are you brining that back with you?" Gabe asked as Lucy looked at him as Gargle moved off to investigate the rest of the room.

"Gabe this explain everything about the Spell of Evolution and how it works! And if I understanding it right, it tells just what the Choten's serum does to any creature he uses it on, not how it works but why and why those evolution mistakes he showed Ray!" Lucy said as Gabe stared at her in shock. If she's right then this might be a game changer, and it could help us find a counter to it. Gabe thought before he heard a commotion from Gargle.

"Hey, found the webmaster's hompage & manual!" Gargle cried out as he returned to the two of them carrying a book in his hands. Lucy looked at the book and wasn't able to read anything from on the cover. Looking at the other books she frowned before turning back to Gabe.

"I can't read that, I can only read that book. Maybe the stone anchors a spell to the each individual book, making it unreadable?" Lucy said as Gabe looked at the book and turned to Gargle.

"Where'd you find this Gargle?" Gabe asked as Gargle eye grinned at them.

"Found Ovr ther!" Gargle said as he pointed towards the large table. Gabe walked over with Lucy behind him and saw a desk beside a doorway with a stone block in the wall at head height. Gabe put the book into his bag and walked towards the door with Lucy and Gargle followed him. Gabe reached the door and saw a staircase leading downward. He cleared dust from the block and saw the circle symbol and the arrow pointing downward.

"That's the same symbol Ray and Allie said they found right, how big is this thing?" Lucy asked as the three of them looked downwards.

"Major bandwidth, major homepage?" Gargle asked as he stared into the shadows of the stairs as Gabe brought his watch to his mouth.

"Gabe to Ray, we've found a library with some strange books, feed them some mana and you can read them despite what it looks like. We also found a…. mana lock for lack of a better term on the door to this place and we're heading down a staircase to find out what the circle symbol is, what about you guys?" Gabe asked into his watch.

"Ray here, we've found some kind of forge and a lot of weapons and another mana lock." Ray said as he picked up a short sword. Allie looked down a row with the Darkness Civilization symbol on it. She saw knives, whips and swords. Ray had gone to an aisle with the Fire Civilization symbol and found swords, axes and armored gauntlets. Ray moved towards an anvil and saw two swords in sheaths lying against the wall next to a furnace. He walked towards them and picked them up and looked them over, feeling some kind of connection to them. I don't know what that was but this feels right, maybe I should look into seeing if the Order has any swordsmanship classes. Ray thought as he held the swords in his hands, not noticing the white glow that flared softly from hexagon gems in the hilts.

Allie looked over the weapons and felt something from them as she moved along the aisle until she reached a black whip with a shiny black handle with a black gem on the end of the handle and a cracker that seemed to be made of a blackish purple leather of some kind above a plaque that read 'Night Flayer'. She picked it up never noticed a black glow from the hexagon gem.

"How old do you think this place is, I mean the dust is only on the outside but inside it's clean." Allie remarked as she walked over with the whip still in hand. Ray looked up from the swords and noticed a stone desk with a large book near the remains of a bed frame.

"Long enough for that to fall apart at least." Ray said as he put the swords down and moved towards the desk, Allie following with her eyes as he reached the desk and picked up the book and walked back to her. Looking down they saw a strange alphabet and a small black rock set into the cover.

"Didn't Gabe say that they found books like this, that all you had to do was feed it some mana and you could understand it?" Allie asked as Ray looked at the book before he put his hand on the stone before Allie could react. Allie grabbed him when he started to stumble and scowled at him.

"Ray I thought I said not to run ahead without looking!" Allie scolded as Ray looked at her bashfully before turning to the book and opening it up to the first page and started to read what was written in it.

"Hey listen to this! 'I am the last master of the Spell Forge, I write this so that the arts we have will not be lost not matter the outcome of our Rebellion. To all that find this book, if you are a friend of the Creatures, then I must warn you. But if you are their conqueror then I hope some of your party went to the Portal Room and awoke…. Gabe, Lucy!" Ray cried as he dropped the book and reached for his watch.

"GABE, LUCY! ABORT, THAT ROOM IS BOOBY TRAPPED, GET OUT OF THERE!" Ray bellowed into his watch as Allie gasped. Of course a room would be booby trapped; we can't go on a simple search without some danger because of course we can't! Allie thought as she waited with Ray for a reply.

"Trapped? What do you mean…GABE BEHIND YOU MOVE!" Lucy voice said before a crash and a cry from Gabe came over the watch before it went silent a second before a crash echoed off the halls. Allie ran out of the room with the whip trailing behind her and Ray dropped the book and picked up the swords, something telling him they would help.

Master Jaha had looked up when she heard them mention locks that opened with mana, an old memory of when M had trained her trickling back to her, something that she mentioned in passing when they had put a new piece into the collection, Jaha had asked about a stone block all alone. They split up; well that's not too bad but maybe I should have a talk with them about habits not to get into, but locks that open with mana, I know Megaria told me about something like that once. What was it she said, that it was spoils of war, something that her brother helped him win years before I met her, it was something to do with security, what did she say….oh yes now I remember; 'A Mana lock is perfect because when it's activated it takes a just bit of mana opens the lock and then the rest is sent to'…. Jaha shot to her feet and activated her gauntlet and hurriedly did a summoning kata.

"Black Feather of Shadow Abyss! TOJI GET OVER HERE AND GUARD THE PASSAGE NOW!" She called out before she ran behind the statue, not even waiting for a reply from him as she ran; running down the hallway with her creature following behind her as she moved faster than her age would let people think she could move. As she ran she cursed herself for not telling them to call back to her when they split up, never did she think that the hallway would have been built like that.

"Of course something from when I was with Megaria would be a part of a sealed portion of the temple that those three were sent into, why didn't I think to go with them. 'A safe chore to dust out a few old cobwebs, a way to kill time and make sure this place is safe.' Oh I am never going to tempt fate ever again with these three." Jaha said as she dashed down the hallway, stopping at the same intersection the teens had split up at. Wait Jaha the kids are strong and they have survived worse then something like this be calm and think. Gabriel would have done this logically….But Raiden and Allison would have used their instincts to decide what way to go. Left or right, I have to make a choice and pray I get there in time to help them. Jaha thought as she looked about and tried to find some sign that showed which way they went.

"GABE, LUCY! ABORT, THAT ROOM IS BOOBY TRAPPED, GET OUT OF THERE!" Ray's voice came over her monitor and she made a decision and ran down the left passage way, hoping she would find the signs that they had found and make it there swiftly.

"Trapped? What do you mean…GABE BEHIND YOU MOVE!" Lucy voice said over the receiver as Jaha ran to the right. After this a Master is going with anyone who explores any part of this place if I have to handcuff them together myself. Jaha thought as she ran on, Black Feather following behind her.

Gabe stumbled backwards as the shield his gauntlet generated held against the fists of the ten foot tall stone statue as it stared down at him with blue gem eyes. Of course there's a security system, I thought this place was important. Gabe thought as the last few minutes played over in his head. They had come into a room that was as large as the Temple's entrance chamber with four Egyptian like statues with headdress and gems set in the arms and chest sitting along the wall before a twenty foot tall freestanding stone circle with an 'altar' with a large book on it. He had been moving towards the book when Ray's voice had come over their watches and instants had Gabe started to scream at him, prompting him to activate his Gauntlet and a second later the 'statue' closest to him had tried to smash him into the floor! As he looked around the room he saw the other three statues standing upright and two of them moved to stand before the altar as the other moved towards him.

Lucy had been standing behind him while she looked about the room, hoping to find something to tell the purpose of this place when Ray's message came over, turning she had seen the statue start to move and had called out to Gabe, activating her own gauntlet as she did so and now only looked as the two statues converged on him. I can't let Gabe handle this alone, but I can't summon Broadsword Butterfly, those things look to sturdy then that leaves Skull Cutter, but how….the spell, that could change this! Lucy thought before she acted.

"Skull Cutter!" Lucy said as she summoned the Darkness creature as the other statue looked towards her and changed course. Gabe moved backwards trying to get some range so he could summon something else while he still had enough mana when he heard Lucy's summoning.

"Lucy what were you thinking, how is Skull Cutter going to stop these things?!" Gabe asked as Gargle cowered in Gabe's bag.

"Like this! Skull Cutter; Evolve!" Lucy said as she finished the spell and shot it at the Darkness Creature. Bigger and another blade! Lucy thought as the spell connected with Skull Cutter and its body started to glow and grow until it was as tall as the statues, its cape covering its entire body. It threw open its cloak and showed that it had gained another pair of arms below its starting ones and the blade had increased to reach its waist and its other top arm had turned into a mirror of the blade arm while it's head had gained saber fangs in its mouth.

"CRRAAA!" Skull Cutter screeched as it charged at the statue and sliced at it with its right blade, giving the thing a slash across its chest that didn't even face the statue. It raised an arm and Skull Cutter slammed its right hand into the inner part, send cracks through the arm until a glow from its chest 'healed' them.

"Oh man, these things can heal themselves, how the heck do we get out of here!?" Gabe asked as he finally made it far enough away to do a summoning. How did she do that, and what should I summon, I don't think I have enough mana for something to out muscle them, they probably don't have wills so that limits me, wait, limits, that could work! Gabe thought before he did the kata and called out.

"Three-Eyed Dragonfly!" Gabe bellowed as it flew out the symbol of Nature. As it hovered Gabe willed it to action. It flew at the statue coming at him and spat webbing at its legs darted away when it tried to hit Three-Eyed. Gab spared a glance at the evolved Skull Cutter as Lucy directed her creature at the statue coming at the two of them.

"Lucy, how the heck did you evolve Skull Cuter into that?" Gabe asked as he sent his Three-Eyed upwards and tried to think about what to do next as the statue tried to untangle itself. He observed the statue and notice that it moved robotically and didn't react to any damage it took. So no sense of self but it knows when something is wrong, and the other one is prioritizing Skull Cutter above Lucy, that's interesting. It's not like Eartheaters or Stompers, the first have a sense of self and the second have someone directing them but these, what could be driving these things? Gabe wondered as he looked at the statues attacking Lucy and him

"You have to think about how you want the creature hit to evolve, focus it, that's the secret the book told me, our mana supercharges the creatures and can add to its natural evolution!" Lucy called as Skull Cutter punched the statue it was battling, sending it backwards as Lucy kept an eye on the other two statues.

Gabe looked at Three-Eyed Dragonfly and then at the statue they were fighting and winced when he saw it start to tear away the webbing. Focus the evolution, supercharge the mana? Then that means…. Later for now we've got to handle this. Gabe thought as he looked Three-Eyed Dragonfly and made a choice.

"Three-Eyed Dragonfly, Evolve!" Gabe said as he cast the spell at his creature. Punching claws, punching claws! Gabe thought as he prayed the spell would work as Lucy said it did. As Three-Eyed Dragonfly started to glow, below its wings it gained a limb on both sides of its body that ended in a chitin covered fist that and it increased in size and gained another pair of wings behind the first while its tail gained a spike between the claws. As Three-Eyed Dragonfly circled back around Gabe noticed that it had gained a black spike behind its third eye out of its line of sight and it hovered before it looked at the walls. Gabe followed its gaze and paled when he saw all around the room about fifteen feet up were five foot tall statues holding spears and shield with crystals on their chests the same as the mobile ones attacking them.

"Lucy, look up!" Gabe called out as he started to back away as Three-Eyed Dragonfly circled around aimed its tail at the statue and shot a blast of energy at the statue, only for it to raise its right arm and form an energy circle that blocked the blot. That spike must be what Lucy meant about natural Evolution, but what could that spike on its head be for, something about it….Later. The smaller ones there has to be at least fifty of them up there, maybe more. But why aren't they moving, are they waiting for us to trigger them somehow? But what, if those things are like the big one then they are waiting for a signal then what could it be, whats different about them compared to the big…. oh no, Lucy! Gabe thought as he looked at Skull Cutter and paled when he saw it slam a fist into the statue's chest and it exploded, sending Skull Cutter flying backwards and fragments of its body falling around them as Gabe looked up and paled when he saw ten of the smaller statues stand up from the chairs they were sitting in and drop to the floor. As eight of them moved towards Gabe and Lucy the other two moved toward the pedestal, Gabe watched this as the giant statue finally broke free of the webbing and start moving towards Gabe.

Three-Eyed flew over the smaller statues and pierced the head of one of them, only for it to grab Three-Eyed and try to bring it down before its arms were torn off its body by Three-Eye's new hands before it pierced the central crystal with its tail spike. Gabe moved backwards and looked about, seeing Skull Cutter move towards them at a dash and jump at the larger statue.

"NO, target the smaller ones, if the big ones are destroyed then the smaller ones wake up!" Gabe cried out, but Lucy was unable to stop Skull Cutter's momentum before it hit the crystal on the larger statue's chest and shattered it before it rode the statue to the ground and jumped away before the smaller ones could swarm it. Gabe looked up and paled when twenty of the smaller statues dropped to the floor, four of them going towards the grouping by the pedestal while four moved to join the ones attacking them while the others split into two groups of six, each moving towards a side and Gabe paled further as he saw them move towards what had to be stairs leading upwards.

"Squeaky get them!" A voice cried as a black wolf with horns jumped at the group of statues moving towards the right side, bringing one down and jumping away before another could gorge its side. Gabe turned and grinned when he saw Allie run into the room them with a whip in her hands that she used to strike against some of the statues. Ray came out right behind her and finished his own kata with two blades in his hands and cried out….

"Testurian the Unchained!" Ray called as Testurian appeared and roared before he looked at what was before him.

"Where are we and what are they? And where did you get those?" He asked as Ray stood next to him, two swords drawn and ready to fight. Ray gripped the blades as the first of the smaller ones moved towards him and slashed down with the blades a second before the swords he was holding caught fire and blazed a slash through one of the statues, cutting it in two. Ray stared at the blades before a smirk grew on his face.

"Talk later, their some kind of security system and I found these in this forge." Ray said as Testurian slammed one of the statues to the floor and looked at the bigger ones. Ray stared at the other group making its way towards the other staircase and was about to call out to Testurian when black energy beams pierced the leading statue through its chest as Black Feather took up a guard position before the door and grabbed two more and threw them at the larger statues. Gabe paled when he saw Testurian aim his cannon at the larger one and was barely able to stop him with a scream.

"NO, IF YOU TAKE OUT THE BIGGER ONE THEN MORE OF THE SMALL ONES WAKE UP, AND THE LAST TIME IT WAS DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF THE FIRST!" Gabe cried as Three-Eye curved around and hit another of the smaller statues in the chest as it passed by and dodged a blow from a spear.

"Error message, run rownd gAm boss needed!" Gargle said as he scanned the chamber and looked upwards before going still before he started to shake in Gab's backpack.

"posebL mob count; 120." Gargle whispered as Gabe stared into space as Three-Eye hovered as Lucy joined him and Skull Cutter slashed at the smaller statues keeping them back. How do we get out of this, the way they acted the smaller ones are 'programed' to leave the chamber and we don't know how their powered or if more of them will activate on their own, well the crystals are the answer to the first but the second, I don't know. That book, maybe it would have the answer to this place. Gabe thought as he looked at the grouping at the pedestal.

Jaha directed Black Feather to slice down at another of the statues trying to get at her and frowned as she looked about the chamber and tried to think about how she would get the rest of them out alive. Who set this up and if Meg was right then this was used by humans before the Veil was formed and if the Order is involved then I think someone was playing with Cyber Virues on our own for years! Jaha thought as she watched Testurian grab on and use it as a club, destroying both of them and before slashing at another.

"The book on the pedestal, it could have the answer to how to shut these things down!" At Gabe's cry Jaha moved into the chamber was going began to move towards the pedestal when Ray screamed as he moved forward, not noticing one of the larger statues had seen him.

"Wait, someone set this up to kill Masters!" Ray's cry had barely penetrated Jaha's mind when she heard the sounds of stone falling to the floor and turned around and saw thirty more of the smaller statues drop to the floor, ten of them moving at her, ten towards Ray and Allie will five went to reinforce the larger ones and the last five went towards Skull Cutter.

"If this is set up to get Masters why are some of them after us Ray?!" Allie demanded as she hit a statue with her whip and watched as the place her whip hit it started to bubble away.Allie looked down at her whip and smirked as she hit it again, this time destroying the central gem, Allie grinned as she fought; some part of her knowing how to use the whip to defender herself, some part of her taking pleasure in the battle. As Scaradorable bit one of the statues they were fighting's head off before jumping off it before Allie struck the statues crystal. We're holding our own and this whip is really good, next time we fight Carny I should take it with me. Allie said as she subconsciously grinned darkly before it left her face as she looked at the foes before them.

"Bob, think maybe we could get rid of some more of them before they wake up?" Ray asked as he looked up and Testurian grinned.

"Let's find out." Testurian said as his shoulder cannon extended and fired at the top of the chamber at the immobile statues, destroying three with each blast he fired. Allie looked and saw one of the two larger ones turn and move towards them with three of the smaller ones following in its wake.

"Incoming!" Allie warned as she struck out her whip as Ray sliced down with his flaming swords, together the two of them destroyed another three as Scaradorable screamed and blasted three of them backwards, cracking their gemstones. Before Testurian had to turn his attention to the larger statue he had been able to fire another five blasts with his cannon before he started to grapple with the larger statue.

Gabe and Lucy had huddled behind Skull Cutter as it defended them with Three-Eyed blasting away with its tail as Gabe tried to think of anything that could help them survive. Lucy willed her Skull Cutter to take the head off another one before Gabe formed a shield to block the blows of two more before Skull Cutter attacked them.

"Set up to kill Masters, Ray is a target based on what is….the Siphon, Ray took in mana from Infernus, Master Jaha must have done the Siphon on Queen Kalima! Then that means…. And with one gone maybe I can." Gabe muttered to himself as he directed Three-Eye to spit more webbing at the statues, slowing down four of them and Skull Cutter slashed through two of them, destroying the crystals sending them to the ground. Suddenly Gabe looked at the pedestal and made a quick decision. Directing Three-Eye, it flew at the pedestal group and shot by them and climbed upwards, the book in one of its hands. As the statues looked at it and started to throw their spears at Three-Eyed Gabe saw some of the smaller statues waking up and willed his creature to throw the book at Master Jaha, which it did seconds before three of the smaller statues fell onto Three-Eyed and were banished with it!

Jaha caught the book and frowned when she saw the gibberish on the paper. All that effort on Gabriel's part and we can't use it at all! We have to hold them but if the rest of these things wake up, maybe we should fall back and defend the stairs, if Allison goes for help… Jaha thought before she heard Lucy cry out.

"You need to put your gauntlet on the stone inserted into the book and let it take some of your man, that's how you can read it! But brace yourself; it's like having the worst head cold for a few seconds!" Lucy called out as Gabe watched for anyone that might get by Skull Cutter as Testurian grappled with the larger statue as Ray, Allie and Scaradorable fought off the smaller ones attacking them. Jaha looked and willed Black Feather to fall back to guard her and put her hand on the stone. She stumbled backwards and held her head and dropped the book, after a few seconds she got ahold of herself and picked the book up as Black Feather shot a blast from its eyes that destroyed the gem on the chest of one of the statues trying to get by them.

Opening the book she quickly flipped pages, trying to find any mention of the statues. Finally she found the page and reading quickly she found what she needed to know. So all we have to do to power down is to deactivate the control station by….wait where is the station? Jaha thought as she looked around and finally noticed where it was. Jaha made a motion to move before she dodged backwards and cursed as the last of the statues at the pedestal were focusing on her and she heard the sounds of other statues moving above her.

"Gabriel, Lucy, that room behind you next to the stairs you came down from! There's a station inside with a small pyramid made of crystal in there, remove it and these things will stop moving!" Jaha barked as Black Feather lashed out with its eye blasts, taking out at least three of the smaller statues and taking the arm off another.

"Go Gabe, me and Skull Cutter have your back!" Lucy called as Skull Cutter delivered another slash and took out another statue. Gabe hesitated for a few seconds before he ran towards the room and entered it and saw a chest along one side and towards the back a pedestal with a glowing crystal pyramid on it.

Ray parried a blow from one of the statue's spears and moved backwards to avoid another one. He turned when he heard Testurian roar and saw him banished as the smaller statues swarmed him and winced as he, Allie and Scaradorable backed up as Scaradorable returned to it koala form to defend its self-better. Allie raised her whip to strike against one of the statues when they suddenly all dropped to the floor.

Ray looked around and spotted Gabe leaving the doorway, a cystal pyramid in his hands that

"Everyone back the way you came, now! I'll meet all of you at the intersection you split up at and we'll head back and cover the doorway until a large party can investigate this place and you two will be leaving those weapons with Toji." Jaha said as Black Feather hovered behind her. Ray looked at her, a comment on his lips when he saw the way she looked and wisely decided to follow her command without question.

"That's it then, we're fully up and running." A charismatic sounding voice said as lights started to come on in the room they were in, revealing the Choten, Heller and ten Minions moving about a room with a large window that showed a large wall with a harbor below around it.

"Man boss if you didn't have this backup site set up I don't want to think about how many of us would have survived on our own in this mess of a world. And with all the changes lately I don't wanna think what our chances actually were." Heller said as he read the monitor before him showing the readiness of the base. Lost about a third of our stock of Terreasaur horns and we lost twenty percent of our hex platforms with the horns on 'em when we lost the ship greet, just great. I really should bring it to the boss's attention soon but we've got otherwise we've got enough food to last and with the harvest once the farms are set up we'd be fine. Heller thought as he turned to his boss.

"Yes, the result of the Monarchs being at the center of the Null Zone is quite interesting, and perhaps something to be noted for the future. And the new weapons that have shown up are something to be investigated further. And the report on what you brought back when you rescued Fingers is quite interesting." The Choten said as Heller laughed darkly.

"You aren't wrong about that boss, where'd you think they've been hiding, cause I know our 'Spheres went over the place one of those things new villages are, and all that was anywhere near it were nothing but trees and plants! And those things weren't anything to worry about, jump 'em and keep at 'em and they go down like all the others." Heller exclaimed gruffly as he fingered a wound that one of the new comers had given him after the invasion.

"Calm yourself Mr. Heller. I admit that how they appeared from nowhere is a concern but I have a few ideas about just what created their refuges, and if I'm right then there are so much open for us to take advantage of." The Choten said as he smirked.

"So what now, rearm and try the plan again or what, try a different approach? And there's no way for any of 'em all to find us right boss?" Heller asked with a hint of worry in his voice causing the Choten to chuckle as he looked at him and around the room, noticing the Minoins had all stopped their work to listen in.

"Rest assured all of you! This place is safe from all possible discoveries! We took the memories of the workers with but the first fruits of our new labors with a project only I and those who I sent here knew about! Nigel didn't have a single clue to this place and there was not a single speck of evidence on the Skidbladnir to point the Duel Masters to us!" The Choten declared causing the people in the room to start to grin as they looked at their leader.

"There are various reasons that you all have chosen to follow me in our endeavors my loyal ones and I will not waste our time going over them all. The Veil will fall one day; there is no doubt in my mind that chaos will happen when that day comes. We will take over both sides of the Veil and bring order where there is chaos, structure where there is anarchy, safety where there is danger!" The Choten exclaimed the sense of purpose the people in the room were experiencing was rising as he talked. Heller smirked as he saw the Minions expressions, glad the Choten had listened to him about making a speech for moral. Glad that Light freak is gone, makes my rise to third in command after his girl all the easier. Course with the boss's orders for secrecy I doubt we're in too much trouble for a while but I'd better start making an escape plan in case I need it, probably should start learning how to fix this. He thought as he looked at his Tech-Gauntlet as he listened to the Choten.

"Our plans did hit a slight snag, but really my friends, what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger. My friends we will succeed eventually, defeat is but an opportunity to try again." The Choten said as he looked out of the window at the complex as creatures and humans moved about. At the far back of the room a steel gateway sparked to life as a breech in the veil formed and Alexander Carnahan came through looking about with a nonchalant air as he did so.

"And with every opportunity to try again, you learn how to be better the next time." He said with a grin.

"So this is your new headquarters August, it seems to be a step up from what you had before." Alexander asked as he looked about dismissively. The Choten chuckled as he looked at Alexander and spoke aloud to the room at large.

"Indeed and I must thank young Raiden for the defeating me as he did. That boy show me quite a lot and given what happened to my army and from what you've told me he was able to change his father back to normal. But that taught me that while the side with the most powerful creatures will win the war to come, they don't have to be the most evolved to do so. Mr. Heller, has Fingers reported from the crèche?" He asked as Heller smirked at him and spoke confidently.

"All's up and running and the first batch should be ready to be released very soon bossman, the Doc's there as looking over the last few steps and making records." Heller said as Alexander looked up at this.

"Very good. Mr. Heller, please take over here and tell them I will be the laboratory shortly with a guest for the new treatment. Mr. Carnahan if you would please follow me." The Choten said as Heller nodded as Alexander looked at him.

"Crèche, what's that? And what treatment" Alexander asked as the Choten chuckled and walked towards an open door to an elevator, Alexander following behind him. Pushing a button the elevator started to go downward as the Choten turned his attention to Alexander.

"The treatment is a…security measure that I was able to acquire while I had the Helm of Ultimate Technology. Let me begin with a question, have you ever noticed how the Cyber-Lords and many Aquans have bodies that don't look anything alike? The answerer to why is hard to find, why the sheer number of differences can't be explained scientifically if one had any understanding of basic genetic theory and natural evolution. As for the treatment, well, I'll let her explain it to you." The Choten said as Alexander looked interested as they descended lower

"Then what is the answer to it, what's the secret?" Alexander asked as the Choten chuckled. Oh Mr. Carnahan when you understand just what I've uncovered and have had done I doubt you would mind getting more involved with my New Order. The Choten thought as he looked at Alexander.

"That is a question I've wondered about since the first time I saw my first tournament at the Order so many years ago. My early studies into Creatures was about how their bodies worked and how they interacted with Mana, it was when I went after their genetic information that I saw how similar the genes of some Aquans were to Cyber-Lords did I start to make a few theories to explain it. But alas while I was able to isolate many secrets to their biology of Creatures in general the answers to my oldest questions remained out of my reach, even Aqua Seneschal didn't know the exact answer, what with his ranking in their hierarchy being so low. And my investigations into that, well current technology just wasn't up the challenge." The Choten said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened to a brightly lit hallway that he entered, Alexander following after him.

"I would expect that when you controlled the Water Civilization ruler you went after the answers to those questions. Was the answer worth the time it took to find them?" Alexander asked as he walked, his mind racing to make sense of what he was hearing. He's right; you can't explain the differences with current knowledge of genetics, if you can count any of those things basic. Wait, that my son controls a robot that's so far beyond current technology…. An answer beyond current technology, my god, could that be the answer? Alexander thought as his eyes widened as the Choten continued, not realizing the revelation Alexander had.

"Oh yes. When Tritonus was under my control I decided to take everything I could that his rank gave me, and I was able to dissect the entirety of the Water Civilization's knowledge and history and with that I finally came across the answers to all my questions. And once I comprehended exactly what I had been after I found had such wonderful ideas that this base was created to explore them originally. I had no choice but to keep Nigel in the dark, for one who valued order I thought the chaos of this place would be too much for him, and I always felt I would have to deal with him in a permanent manor sooner or later. Unfortunately I was right given his actions in the temple, but I trust with your help I will be able to find both him and return Tiera to my side." The Choten said with a look at Alexander from the corner of his eye.

"All my people have been told to keep an eye out for anyone answer to her name and her description; sooner or later if she's out there I'll find her. Still we need to discuss the aftermath of that, the damages to my buildings were paid for fully by my insurance and my own repairs for the regular part of my business is almost finished but if you want anything special like the serum I expect some tech support to get the production process started." Alexander said as they moved down the corridor towards a doorway at the far end.

"But of course my friend, I have the perfect candidate in mind for that. But as to the evolution serum I will need a different type of chemical for the eminent future." The Choten said as they reached the doorway. Fingers walked out and looked at them with a lazy smile on his face.

"Hey boss perfect timing!" Fingers said with a smirk as he opened the door and led the way into a room with computers and monitors all around. A woman with tan skin, her chestnut brown hair was long, flowing to her waist and she was wearing white knee high boots, black slacks and a white long sleeve shirt with a lab coat over it. She turned and revealed a heart shaped face with olive green eyes, white lipstick and a beauty mark under her right eye. She bowed to them and walked towards them and offered her hand to him. The Choten spoke up and introduced her before anyone could speak.

"Alexander this is Viviana Rossi, one of my oldest followers and current the head of research here." The Choten said as Alexander looked over Viviana, noticing a belt with small glass spheres on a belt around her slim waist

"Capo Choten, welcome, the process is almost done. And this must be Signore Carnahan, a pleasure." She said with an Italian accent. Alexander reached over and took the offered hand; bring it to his lips to kiss it.

"Signora Rossi it is a pleasure to meet you. August where have you been hiding this lady, I thought I would have met her by now or heard about her from any of the others." Alexander said as Viviana giggled softly.

"Dear Viviana wasn't ever a member of the Order; we met when I discovered her fighting a creature with glass vials and spells. Did you really think that they and they alone knew how to use mana earth-side my friend?" The Choten asked as Alexander turned to look at him in shock before turning to look at Viviana who perked up with a proud looking smile on her face.

"Oh yes, I originally found out about mana when I discovered an old manuscript in my college days. After a while I tracked down a few artifacts and was able to make a focus to help me manipulate it and unfortunately that drew a few creatures to me. A giant bug almost ate me, thankfully I fought it off and then I met my patron here, showing me the way to control these monsters." Viviana said as she caressed the spheres on her belt as Alexander gained an impressed look.

"And with knowledge we both had, the creation of that wonderful Evolution serum that you made for us my friend became so easy. My dear Viviana, how would you feel about going to help Mr Carnahan with a small remolding at his factory, all to help us get the chemical we will need in the future." The Choten said causing Viviana to smirk at this. A chance to go back to Earth for a while and to get back in contact with my dear niece and see how my perfume is working on her classmates, perfect and how my dear brother is reacting to the candles I sent. Viviana thought with a smirk as she looked at Alexander.

"I would be honored to help out Signore Carnahan, but I would prefer if he had the treatment first, for my own peace of mind of course." She said as Alexander looked at her.

"Once again, what treatment are you talking about?" Alexander asked as he looked around the room. Viviana pressed a button on a wall and a metal arm ending in three prongs with sparks jumping among them lowered from the ceiling. Alexander looked at it and frowned as he wondered just what it was.

"This is a way to protect your mind from those pesky Cyber Viruses. One jolt and the fear of those hidebound Duel Masters taking your memories is a thing of the past!" Viviana said as Alexander looked up at the arm and smirked. This could put to bed a fwq of my fears for this partnership. And if I'm right then perhaps staying on his side a little longer will be more profitable than I thought. Alexander thought as he looked up.

"They do say be prepared, and vaccinations are smart." Alexander said with a chuckle to his voice.

Ray sighed as walked home as he looked up at the stars, wondering about the future and the past. The book he and Allie had mentioned that the truth behind the Veil's creation was hidden in the grand Library but Master Jaha had ushered them back to the main temple and ordered the door way to be covered until Master Chavez and Master Nadia returned. The room that the statues had been protecting seemed to be something important and the way the mana felt in that room was different than elsewhere, anywhere really. Jaha had been looking over the books they had found and promised that they would be told what the masters decided to do. When he left Master Kimora had taken the diary he and Allie had found and was going over it, saying he would have a summery to show to the others tomorrow.

Ray chuckled a little at the expression Isao had when he returned with Kimora and they were told what had happened. He had just walked away muttering about a curse on Ray, something about interesting times and he had gone off looking for an icepack to help with a headache. Toji had looked over the weapons he and Allie had handed over to him and he had frowned, something about the gemstone inserted into them striking a memory he had, something his predecessor had told him once. He had gone off with the weapons in a bag looking at the hilt of one of the swords and soon after that Ray and his friends had been released and they had all left to return to their homes. Allie had walked off with a strange look on her face as she moved, saying something about that feeling being back and Gabe had banished Gargle and saying something about grabbing dinner out and had walked off on his own and Lucy had said something about meeting her mom and dad at a restaurant. Before he had left the Temple he had stopped at the dueling fields to resummons Bob to tell him they were okay and had survived, Bob had asked not to be summoned if it wasn't important for the rest of the night, something about going to spend some time with his mother, something about an old story he had heard once. Ray stopped walking and looked at the full moon and sighed before he spoke to himself.

"A month and we're still no closer to finding anyone. And if he's been hiding this well then he has to have made a place to hide out in the Creature Realm. And if no one's found him despite all of Water and Fire looking for him despite all the Civilizations having caught a few of his minions." Ray muttered as he continued into the trailer park and let his thoughts wonder. Well, at least Nature and Fire caught a few minions; no telling how many died and Slyth had a few rumors of some of the Dark Lords having new corpses and genes to play with. Ray thought with a shudder as he finally reached his street. As he walked he smiled when he saw his father and grandfather outside playing shogi as his mother sat with her back against his father reading a book. She looked up and nudge her husband, pointing towards their son with he turned and they all smiled as they turned and saw him.

"Ah Ray, how was school and the dojo today?" His grandfather asked when he reached them. Ray just grinned and looked at his family.

"No big, just Carny as usual and a bit of a problem at the dojo, I'll tell you all about it over supper, I kinda need your opinion on something." Ray said as he watched his family stand up and his mother stretch.

"Well come on, and we've got pizza for tonight Ray." His mother said as she opened the door. Ray watched his father grin as they moved in and sighed happily. Whatever my future holds, this is what I'm fighting for, so people like my family can live free! Ray thought as he followed his father and grandfather.

As Ray and his family walked into their house they never noticed a glint of light from a tree a few meters away. The camera relayed the image it stole of the Okamoto family to a dark room, a person in shadows looking at the picture on his monitor and a dark chuckle started to echo in the chamber.

"I didn't think it was possible that I would see you again on this side of life but there you are, after all these years, without his memory but there he is. Raiden Okamoto, after over twenty years of hiding we've finally found you. This time I will have what I want from you even if I must bring you back into the light. Lisa please have a tactical team move out, I want him before me within the next few days." The figure said into an intercom. After the invasion in San Campion I know that those scum suckers are finally making their move and showing their true colors. With those abominations finally broken and free from their prisons we have to be ready, and to do that I need to get my hands on Raiden. He turned and looked out a window into a factory, robotic arms moving about and constructing metallic things, he smirked as he watched, soon everything would be right and humanity would triumph.

"You always were a fool Raiden, a soft hearted idiot but you were my friend before you met that girl. Maybe once I have your family in custody your grandson can be trained up, it would be good to an Okamoto back in the force. And he might be a good match for my granddaughter." He muttered as he looked around and looked at a picture on his desk.