Chapter 1:
Tno: Welcome my little Wombats (no I don't live in Australia) to this the first chapter of the first story of the As One trilogy. Yes yes my friends. I can tell you now that there will be more. And this, my friends is the first. Now, for Drago-Kai, I apologize for having abandoned my previous story, 'Warriors of the North' but I now give you this, which is the modified version of that story, which Clarence and I have been promising you for months. Well guess what my little Emu, IT'S HERE. And don't worry, yes Clarence is here to and she should be joining me at the end of this chapter. I hope you like it.
Chapter 1:
The blue hared boy leaned back lazily on the grassy slope. It had been ages since he'd just relaxed like this, no worries. He sighed blissfully, a blade of grass in his teeth. The remainder of his team by his side. Tyson was certainly content.
"Hey Ray?" A blond boy to Tyson's right sat up suddenly. His eyes were as blue as the river below them and though he, like the others, was 17, he had always had a more boyish appearance. He looked inquiringly over Tyson to the boy on his other side, whose eyes were an abnormal shade of amber. He had beautiful soft black hair that was longer than most girls did and was tied into a lion's tail by a long white ribbon of material. "Ray?" The blond pressed, watching Ray's daydream state with a knowing smirk.
"What?" Ray turned to him, waking from his spaceyness.
"So who is she this time?" Max (the blond) grinned.
"None of your business, so what is it?"
"Have you heard from Kai recently?" Max shrugged.
"He's coming by tomorrow." Ray answered settling back into his thoughts of his new infatuation. Ray had come into his 'teen hood' with grace and an uncanny ability to seduce most of the girls he met. (No he's not a player, he has better manners than that, but he could be if he wanted to).
"Where does he go off to anyway?" Tyson wondered aloud.
"Maybe he's got some secret love." Max laughed.
"Right, the day Kai gets laid is the day I cut my hair." Ray grinned.
"He's way too much of a jackass." Tyson agreed decidedly.
"TYSON!" A voice cried from the street above their heads, the person sounded distressed and out of breath.
"That's Kenny." Ray cocked his head to the side (one of his sexy traits).
"Yeah!" Max sat up again, swiveling around to look up the riverbank.
"YO KENNY! DOWN HERE!" Tyson cried.
"TYSON. THEY'RE GONNA TRY TO KILL YOU!"
"He can look after himself." Tyson turned around really quickly and proceeded to crawl down the ever so grassy slope. Max grabbed the back of his shirt, and with unexpected strength heaved Tyson back up the hill.
"Oh no you don't. Kenny needs help." He glared at him; his usually happy eyes now seemed clouded over and stormy. "Right Ray?" But Ray was already gone. He jumped into the air launching a blade at the ground in front of him. (Notice that he still doesn't have a clue who's chasing Kenny, and that I am terrible with blading scenarios so there won't be many I promise you, and that by now Kenny has probably run by the river at least five times in hopes of rescue unless he were caught, so on with the story).
"All right, but Kenny owes me big time for this." Tyson groaned, fitting his blade to his launcher. "I am supposed to be retired you know." He added.
"That's what Kai said last time, but he came back." Max grinned. They ran up the slope as the sound of metal on metal was heard. They looked over to see a small steel object trying desperately to slice through Ray's head as he, in turn defended himself with Driger (for those who don't know, that's his blade). The enemy blade was backed by a couple of men dressed in the hilarious uniform of an organization that the boys knew all too well. (I'll give you a hint, they all wear long black robes, you can't seem to ever see their eyes and they have the most entertaining hats ever. I want one really).
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE BALKOV SOLDIERS DOING HERE?" Tyson shouted to Ray. He was thus ignored seeing as how Ray was trying to concentrate on not being decapitated. Tyson and Max both launched their blades, before they finally looked around seeing that a certain someone happened to be missing.
"Hey, where's Kenny?" Max frowned before ducking to avoid a literal 'head' on collision with a Balkov blade.
Just off the side of the road, concealed behind the foliage of many luckily very lush bushes, Kenny shook with fear whimpering while a hand covered his mouth. He had yet to see his new captors but was listening intently to their conversation.
"Fat load of good those toys will do." One voice (female) was saying.
"They're gonna get killed if their not careful, those guys aren't here to play games." another said in a more worried tone. "We have to go NOW!"
"Enni said to wait for the fourth one so I ain't budging." A third voice replied. (All three are female by the way).
"Well we don't have to wait long." The first voice said again.
Meanwhile, Tyson was getting pummeled, Max was trying hard to get rid of the onslaught of blades, and Ray was trying hard to go on the offensive. Of coarse he was failing miserably or this story would go nowhere.
"Now?" The second girl whispered.
"Not yet." The third replied cautiously.
No one outside had noticed the figure show up behind the soldiers aside from Ray who grinned.
"Oh you picked the wrong day to get on our bad side." He laughed as something hit one of the soldiers on the back of the head, they turned around to see a crimson eyed boy of the same age (if not older) as the others, his two toned blue hair was messily arranged on his head. He had recently forsaken his trademark blue triangles on his cheeks for the smooth blue stone on his ear.
In the next instant half of the soldiers (there were around six) had turned around to confront the new individual. Ray left Max and Tyson and leapt over to Kai's side.
"I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow." He said quietly his mind on how to get out of this
"I'm here now so don't complain." He grunted in reply. "What started this anyway?" Kai slid backwards as one of the enemies whacked him in the chest with their blade.
"We heard Kenny screaming." Tyson answered from the other side. "Hey, where the HELL is he?" Tyson cried realization striking him VERY slowly. Then the soldier's blades stopped spinning and just lay there in the dirt. The boys looked up confused as they took out long knives and swords that happened to look very sharp and threatening.
"Now?" The second girl in the bushes almost screamed.
"NOW!" The first ordered, and Kenny felt the earth leave him as he was flung into the air along with his captors. The three girls, and Kenny, landed right in the middle of everything no less and everyone stopped for a moment in stunned surprise.
The girl silencing Kenny's screams was slightly taller than the other two; her authoritative air was completely unmistakable in her green eyes. She pushed her brown hair over her shoulder; it's blond streaks catching the sun. Next to her stood an innocent looking (LOOKING) blond, her hair cut just above her shoulders, her eyes, a slightly paler blue than Max's darted around, trying to register every detail of her surroundings. The other girl, to the blonde's right, stood tensely watching the soldiers, acting as though the Blade Breakers didn't even exist really. One of her dark green eyes was hidden behind her reddish bangs. The rest of her hair fell down between her shoulder blades, the underneath being died black.
"HEY! Let Kenny go!" Max cried.
"Sure, if you want him dead." The redhead smiled, shrugging.
"Say what?" Tyson wished he could jump over and tear Kenny away from these chicks from hell. (Tyson thinks that he can call them chicks I think he's got another thing coming).
"Well, we were going to come looking for you after we'd killed off the Blade Breakers. But you just made our job that much easier." One of the soldiers said softly. "Boris has been very disappointed with his specimens, you shouldn't have run away."
The boy's weren't sure they understood what they were hearing, but they could easily figure out that the girls were not allies of the Balkov soldiers.
The blond cringed at the word specimen clenching her fists in either rage or pain. She didn't want to take this anymore, she couldn't. She let out a scream that seemed to shake the planet. A white light surrounding her was soon replaced by a colorful light that made it look like they were seeing her through water. Her image shuddered momentarily and then the waves of water-like light shot upwards coming back down on top of itself, creating a small tidal wave around her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear her two friends calling to her through her watery fortress walls.
Meanwhile the brown-hared girl had been trying to get to her friend, it was to early for her to let herself go like that. She had to try and restrain herself.
"GWEN!" She called urgently.
"Uh, Sid, this is really not the time." Her red-haired counterpart said nervously, watching all six of the soldiers leave the Blade Breakers and charge at the girls. Sid turned around in time to leap out of the way of a sword aimed for her head. She was luckier than her friend though, the redhead crouched in defense as four of the soldiers came at her, and she dodged them as best she could. A knife occasionally grazing her arms and legs, cutting through her clothes and skin.
"Hey Ari. You O.K.?" Sid asked jumping beside her.
"I'm fine, but if this doesn't work, Enni won't be." She suddenly glanced at the ground near the wall of water around Gwen. Kenny lay in the fetal position, his arms covering his head.
"TYSON! GET HIM TO THE SIDE!" Sid ordered.
"Hey how the heck do you know who I am?" Tyson retorted to the girl who was watching the circle of men around them as it slowly began to close in.
"You're only a world famous blader whose egotistical mug has been on every TV on the planet. I honestly don't have a clue." Ari retorted sarcastically.
"She has point." Max sighed as Tyson grabbed his arm dragging him into the battle. They ran to Kenny's trembling form, and looked up to see that a couple of soldiers had left the waiting circle around the girls and were coming at them with weapons raised.
"Oh no, we're gonna die." Tyson winced, bracing himself for the blow that never came. He allowed himself to glance up to where Ray had one attacker in a full nelson and Kai stood over the unconscious body of the other. Ray grabbed the back of his captive's neck a pressed on a certain area and his body went limp. Ray let go of the soldier who slumped to the floor.
"Thanks guys." Max smiled. The smile vanished when he saw a third soldier coming up behind his friends, He leapt up and tackled the guy before he could come near enough to get a good hit.
During the entire battle Gwen had completely lost her grip on the world and was safely hidden inside herself behind the barriers of water.
'Let me out.' She heard a familiar voice inside her head say. She knew this voice all too well and loved it very much but…
'I can't Ceridwen. Not yet.' Gwen answered sadly.
'Then release yourself, your friends need all the help they can get.' The voice answered understandingly. At that moment, Gwen snapped into reality, feeling it hit her like a slap in the face. She felt something wrench itself from somewhere deep down inside and she screamed again in agony. The water around her began to build up strength, pushing against the mental dam restraining it. Finally Gwen let it go and it was like an eruption in the earth's core as the water and light exploded around her carrying rocks and debris with it.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Ari cried, grabbing Ray's arm, he turned away from his current battle to get the shock of his life as a crushing wave began to descend on him. He felt a harsh tug as Ari wrenched him to the side, Sid kicked Max and Kai to the ground diving next to them, Tyson and Kenny, having long ago escaped from the brawl were already covering their heads and praying for their lives. A moment later everything stopped, and a deadly silence feel on them. They all turned back to see a wide circle of destruction, the corpses of the soldiers, their robes clinging to their dead bodies, lay sprawled on the ground. Most of them had been crushed and their limbs and necks lay at sickening angles. A couple had a pinkish substance around their mouths signifying they had drowned. Gwen had collapsed in the middle of it all, her wet and stringy hair was splayed out around her head and she looked sick.
Ari and Sid ran to their friend's side helping her up. As soon as she came too she immediately threw up huge quantities of blood, her face going paler than normal (which is next to impossible, believe me).
"Hey our blades." Tyson cried looking around. Kai looked at his feet fear filling him suddenly. All he could see were small pieces of metal. To anyone else they would be unrecognizable but Kai had grown up with his blade and he could make it out in any form. He looked around frantically but couldn't even see a fragment of the bit at the center, the bit that held his beloved Drawnzer. Ray had long figured out the Driger was no longer on his smashed blade and he searched the rubble frantically for any sign of the bit.
"Did I kill anyone?" Gwen slurred semi conscious.
"No." Sid whispered the white lie as Gwen smiled in appreciation. She knew Sid was lying but as long as it was to help her she didn't care. "Ari what are you doing?" Sid looked up to see Ari bent on one knee her fingers gliding over something embedded in the dirt.
"Well look at what I found." She grinned, using a piece of splintered wood nearby to pry away the four small circular images of four mythic beasts. She smiled and showed them to Sid.
"HEY BOYS!" She called and pointed to Ari's hand, "Lose something?" A grin spread over her face as they ran over, hope plastered to their faces. Tyson was the first to reach her eagerly snatching up his Dragoon. Max picked up the others, staring at his Draceil in amazement as he handed the last two over the Kai and Ray.
"How did they all survive the attack?" Max asked more to himself then anything.
"I'm more interested in how she was able to do what she just did." Kai turned to look at Gwen. She didn't even notice, she couldn't move or see anything clearly.
"We'll explain all that later, right now we have to get out of here." Sid retorted, trying to pick up Gwen. There was a shuffling behind them and they looked over to see a crippled Balkov soldier moving slowly, his arms and legs were broken but he was otherwise fine.
Ari picked up a fallen knife, aiming it for the man on the ground but Ray stayed her hand. She growled and looked at him angrily.
"What do you think you're doing?" She snapped, wrenching her hand away.
"There's been enough killing today." He shook his head.
"He won't give up if we leave him. He'll bring more." Sid retorted, and as though to punctuate her point the soldier took a walky-talky from his comrade's hand and began to shout into it in Russian. Ari didn't wait for Sid's nod but slung the knife stabbing him in the chest, just under the sternum. He choked for a minute and then collapsed, as dead as the others. Ari turned away; her actions lately had been making her sick to her stomach. But the killing was getting easier; she wasn't throwing up anymore now anyway. Sid knew how Ari was feeling so she tried again to lift her friend. "Kai, could you give me a hand?" She asked the closest person to her. Kai reluctantly leaned over and easily picked the girl up princess style. "Come on Ari. Let's get out of here." She smiled slightly putting her arm around her friend's shoulders. It was then that she noticed the blood slowly oozing from Ari's cuts but she didn't say anything. They would have to bandage her up when they were somewhere relatively safe.
Sid had convinced Tyson to take them to his place and as they approached the front door, Tyson saw someone whom he hadn't seen in long while. This boy's hair was so light blond it was almost white. His tired eyes were the same shade as Max's, as he turned to look at them as they came up the road and Tyson almost jumped for joy.
"ENRIQUE!" He cried running over but as they came closer Enrique's look of calmness completely transformed into concern. He began to run down to them.
"Oh my god what happened?" He cried and Tyson grinned.
"It's O.K. We're all good, just a little fight…"He laughed as Enrique rushed past him to where Kai was still holding Gwen.
"Sid what happened?" He asked.
"She kinda lost it." Sid mumbled.
"You girls really need to learn some control over your selves." He shook his head, feeling Gwen's pulse and glancing at Ari. "And look at you, you're covered in blood. It's a wonder you can still walk." He chastised. Tyson watched this in utter confusion like his teammates.
"I'm fine." She lied, her vision had been getting blurrier by the minute and if hadn't been for Sid who still had her arm around her shoulders she probably would have fainted.
"Tyson we need your first aid kit and a hell of a lot of pain killers." Enrique cried.
"Don't need to tell us twice." Max saluted dragging Tyson and Kenny inside while Kai and Ray helped the others up the street.
Ari winced in pain, gripping her head, true to her predictions, as soon as Sid had tried to let her walk on her own, Ari had fainted cold. She felt a searing fire burning through her shoulder and reached up, tracing a thick scar that ran from the nape of her neck to her collarbone. She gasped and sat up, realizing all to late this was a bad idea. She looked around; her vision was still pretty hazy as she stared at the wooden dogo walls.
"How are you feeling?" A voice said from the corner. The question sounded more like it was said for conversation than interest and she looked in the direction it came from. Kai sat in the corner his eyes hidden under his bangs.
"Where's Gwen?" She retorted.
"Do you always answer a questions with another question?" He shot back.
"Do you always ask questions which such a lack of enthusiasm?" She glared.
"Gwen's in the next room, and she's still unconscious to my knowledge." He sighed. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not a very enthusiastic person."
"Yeah, well in case you haven't noticed I have felt better." Ari answered shifting to lean her back against the wall. "And…" She continued using her hands to try and stand up. "No I don't always answer questions with more questions." She said wincing some more as she tried to push herself up.
"You shouldn't be getting up yet." Was all he said.
"I'll be the judge of that." She retorted. She shook furiously feeling everyone of her cuts scream at her in protest. She closed her eyes and ignored them until she felt two hands on her shoulders gently pushing her back down. She glared at Kai angrily as her muscles gave way and she surrendered. She had lost too much blood and the pounding in her head was almost deafening. She turned away, angry at her own weakness. "Don't touch me." She muttered and he let go of her.
"Then don't try anything stupid." he retorted and left.
Later that day, Ari was finally able to walk shakily over to Gwen's room where Sid and Enrique were assembled. Sid looked up when she entered the room and frowned.
"You shouldn't be walking." She said sternly.
"And you're starting to sound like Kai." She retorted, clearly feeling much better now. She knelt down on the floor looking at her friend. Gwen was so pale and still, she looked as though she were dead. But she was listening intently to everything, although she couldn't move or speak, she could still hear. And she sat in the darkness of her mind, listening to her friends.
"How is she?" Ari asked. "Did she move or anything yet?"
"Not even a twitch." Enrique answered.
"Well it's not like it's the first time. I'm surprised all three of us didn't burst." Sid said.
'Enni's really worried about you.' Ceridwen whispered.
'I know and I wish I could do something about it but I can't right now. I can't even open my eyes.' Gwen retorted.
'That's not true. You only think you can't.' Ceridwen said. 'How do you think Ari got up this fast?'
'She's a fast healer.' Gwen mumbled.
'No, she actually listens to Taranis and she lets him help her.' Ceridwen answered. 'So listen to me and get up.'
Gwen's eyes opened slowly and she glanced over at her bedside where her friends sat in a circle talking. With a huge dose of determination she forced herself to sit up rubbing her aching forehead.
"Good morning." She whispered when they turned around.
"Ha!" Enni laughed patting her hair "You've been out since yesterday, its night time now, you loon." He grinned.
"Wow. That's messed up." She smiled and looked at Ari.
"I'm fine." Ari shook her head before Gwen could ask. "I woke up this morning."
The door slid open and Tyson walked in with a couple of plates of food for Sid and Enni. He was surprised to see Ari there, and even more surprised to see that Gwen was up.
"I better get some more food." he smiled as his teammates followed him into the room.
"I thought I told you not to get up." Kai said.
"And I told you I'd be the judge of that." Ari retorted, refusing to look at him or otherwise acknowledge his existence.
"How you feeling?" Max smiled at the girl on the floor, and then cocked his head to he side, studying her face "I've seen you somewhere before." He decided.
"There's no way. I've never met you in my life." Gwen shook her head. "You must be thinking of someone else."
"Well Max has met a lot of people, it wouldn't be unlikely." Ray added. He didn't seem quite as cheerful as the other day.
"Penny for you thoughts?" Sid raised an eyebrow.
"It's nothing. I better get you girls something to eat." He added, leaving.
The other three sat down on the floor with them and waited for Ray to come back. When her did he handed Ari and Gwen two plates HEAPED with food. Ari looked surprised.
"It looks great." She smiled "But I'm not really hungry." She said handing the plate to Tyson.
"Oh don't start that bullshit again." Enni retorted.
"You're gonna screw up your metabolism." Sid added.
"I'm just not hungry." She said quietly.
"Me neither actually." Gwen added in a whisper.
"Not you too." Enni growled.
"Uh what's going on?" Max asked looking from one to the other.
"We just don't feel like eating, is there something wrong with that?"
"YES!" Sid cried. "You have both just been incredibly sick so you need to build up your strength."
"Well we can't eat when the visions of the people we killed keep running through our heads." Gwen cried and then shut-up bluntly and lay down, tears in her eyes.
Ari looked sick. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She wasn't throwing up, but that was the easy bit. She had yet to get over the nightmares, the guilt and the memories. Enni sighed and draped his arms over their shoulders.
"Look. Nothing you can do can bring them back and it was a question of your life or theirs." He didn't look at either of them. "So it's no use starving over this." He said and Sid reached for their plates.
"At least have some bread." She coaxed. And the girls accepted.
"If I get sick it's your fault." Gwen said as Sid smiled, knowing she wouldn't. They sat back in silence for a moment. The Blade Breakers had been mostly indifferent up till now but at this point they figured it was the best time to start asking questions.
"Sooo…" Ray began, wondering how to put this nicely.
"Mind telling us what's going on?" Kai almost sneered.
Tno: Hey Hey Hey. So how did you like his first modified chappie of the AS ONE trilogy. (And if you're nice, I'll even throw in the epilogue). But believe me that won't be for a long time my little Wombats. Now as promised, my partner in crime and the inspiration for Gwen, as well as for at least half the story: (drum roll please) I Give You…CLARENCE
Clarence: hey people it's been a while. So I hope you enjoy the new and improved version of As One: Gwen's Story, formally known as Warriors of the North. So read and review (flames are welcome and will be laughed at ) see you in the next chappie!