AOE Saga
The Dragon Within
Chapter 2: Under Lock and Key
The Shadow hawk took our heroes to an isolated part of New York City. They landed on top of an unused building top. As they got out, Lilo asked, "Aren't people going to be curious about a spaceship parked on top of a building?" "No problem," said Matt and he clicked a button on the key. The Shadow hawk shimmered and its cloaking device made it invisible. Meanwhile, Rick was looking over at the other buildings. "Ah, New York City," he said, "The Big Apple, The Gateway to America," "The City of a Thousand Settings," finished Akira. "Huh?" "You know," said Akira, "there are hundreds of movies, books, and games that take place in New York. Bet Nullspace is riddled with dimensions that overlap this place." Suddenly a small tear opened up in the air. "Looks like a Nullspace portal," said Stitch as he stuck his head in. "Where's it go?" asked Lilo. Then they heard a dinosaur-like screech and Stitch withdrew his head, slightly charred from a fire attack. "I think that's the Godzilla remake," he said as the portal resealed itself.
"Ah, you have arrived," said a voice. Everyone looked to see an old Chinese man in a blue robe. "I am Lao Shi; I have come to show you to where you will guard the artifact you found. You did bring it, right?" "It's right here," said Draco, holding a heavily chained stasis crate. "Nothing can get outta that," said Matt smugly. "Draco, it is good to see you again." "Likewise," said Draco, bowing his head respectively. "You two know each other?" asked Matt. "I was sorta like his unofficial apprentice," said Draco. "But now is not the time for casual conversations," said Lao Shi. He pulled out several blindfolds from his pocket and said, "I must ask that you where these; the place I'm about to take you to must remain a secret." After they put on the blindfolds, Lao Shi led them through on a twisting path that didn't seem to lead anywhere. Matt could have sworn he felt a tingling sensation, like he had stepped through a portal. Not long after that, Lao Shi told them, "You may remove your blinds now."
When they took them off, they saw they were in a large room with several tapestries hanging on the walls. The tapestries depicted several stories about the dragons. "What is this place?" asked Chris. "It's one of several vaults the dragons use to guard important treasures," said Lao Shi. Matt was looking at one of the tapestries. It showed several dragons being attacked by a larger black dragon. "Who's this supposed to be?" asked Matt. "That's the Dark Dragon," said Draco, "the biggest threat to the magical world. He's not one you want to get on his bad side."
Suddenly a pair of doors opened and the Dragon Council walked in. As they approached, Lao Shi, Draco, and Chip respectfully bowed their heads. Taking a cue, the others did the same. The Dragon of Asia looked at the crate and asked, "Have you brought the artifact?" Chip cautiously removed the chains and opened the crate. The diamond sat on a stand, seemingly nonmagical. The Dragon of Africa looked doubtful and asked, "Are you sure it's magic?" "Well it, er, redecorated Matt's room," said Draco, "and it even zapped Morph." The Dragon Council looked dubiously at Morph, who was looking at the different tapestries. "He doesn't seem affected." "I don't think he is," said Chip, "but it went off when Matt got mad." The Dragon Council seemed more interested and made a hurried whispered discussion. Finally they faced our heroes and said, "Very well, we will examine this stone, but since it seems to be of powerful magic, we wish to enforce the security a bit." "Okay," said Rick, "who'd you hire?" In answer to that question, another pair of doors opened and two people walked in. These two were wearing high-tech battle armor but had left their helmets off; which made it easier for our heroes to recognize them.
"You!" yelled Matt. "You!" yelled Captain Dante. Silvia groaned and said, "Don't tell me we have to work with this riffraff." "Who are you calling riffraff, mongrel?" said Chris. Silvia glared and said, "You're just as a mongrel as I am, even more since you got your powers through antiquated DNA splicing." "Is there a problem?" asked Lao Shi. "Yeah!" yelled Matt, "these two are the most twisted, back-stabbing mercs in the galaxy!" "Don't you think you're being a bit hasty with that?" asked Draco. "I might not know them as well as you and Chris," said Chip, "but they seem at least halfway decent and somewhat trustworthy." "Will you two move it? You're blocking the way." Dante and Silvia moved aside to let Virustoxico hover in. "Ah, come on!" yelled Draco, "they're not even anti-heroes, they're villains!"
"How can trust these guys guard that stone?" cried Chip, "they'll probably steal it the first chance they get!" Virustoxico glared at Draco and Chip and said, "We were hoping we wouldn't have to see you here. The Traveller and that hybrid are just about enough, but you two?" "Wow," said Morph, "all that's missing is," "Oh, don't tell me you guys are the other team," complained NegaMorph as he came through the doorway. Matt walked over to a wall and began to gently beat his head on it muttering, "I can't take this." "Well the gang's all here," said Morph as he waddled as far as he could get from his Shadow Clone. The other Council members looked at the Dragon of Asia as they said, "It appears that you have mismatched our security teams." The Dragon of Asia looked nervous as she said, "I was only looking at their resumes, I had no idea these two teams were rivals." "We're more like archenemies," said Virustoxico. "Nevertheless," said the Dragon of Europe, "you are all supposed to guard this item until we can verify its nature. Now, you've each received a number. We shall randomly select four of them to be the first shift to guard the stone." Suddenly four flames appeared in the shape of the numbers, 1, 2, 7, and 9. "Hey, that's my number," said Matt looking at the piece of paper with the 1 on it. Silvia looked at her 2 and groaned, "That's mine too." Morph looked at his 7 and asked, "Who got 9?" "That would be me," said NegaMorph in a reluctant tone. The Dragon of Asia pointed towards a hallway and said, "The stone shall be stored in the vault you'll find at the end. It's marked #81." Matt picked up the crate and went down the hallway, followed by Silvia, Morph, and NegaMorph. But for a brief moment, Lao Shi talks with Morph and sends him on his way.
As quickly as she could, the Dragon of Asia broke off from the other Council members and went to the private crystal ball chamber. This time she used a spell to teleport to the Dark Dragon's lair itself. "How goes it, Chang?" asked the Dark Dragon as Chang removed her guise. "It went better than I had hoped, master. The two groups loathe each other. They will be too busy bickering while you seize the Fang Stone." The Dark Dragon smiled and said, "And with its power, I will control all of New York. However, I think I would like a little word with that amalgam you hired." Chang looked doubtful as she said, "I'm not sure NegaMorph will be of much help." "No, Virustoxico. I believe I have an offer for them they cannot refuse."
Matt leaned against a statue looking at Silvia who was checking the vault, "So…what's the plot, Silvia? You wait till everyone is asleep…shoot us and leg it off with the stone back to Hamsterjerk?" Silvia shrugged, "Not really…Dante had to go on this contract and there were offers…" Matt began laughing. "You're in it for the money…so cliché," he said. Silvia glared then smirked coldly. "At least I don't have a gun obsession or a faulty A.I in my…" she had to duck as Matt/V-627 lunged at her. "I'LL GET YOU AND IT'LL LOOK LIKE AN ACCIDENT, YOU HALF-TROG!" both personalities screamed.
The two Morphs watched the fight with interest. Morph said, "Ten credits on the crazy one," as Silvia got Matt in a headlock and was bashing his head on the vault door. "Which one's the crazy one?" said NegaMorph. The two of them laughed for a bit until NegaMorph said, "Seriously, which one's the crazy one?" "That's Matt," said Morph as Matt gave Silvia a Wet Willy. NegaMorph wasn't listening as in his head some inner dialogue had begun, 'Get him while Matt and Silvia are busy…who are you kidding…the 'Great Emperor', that smegging hamster wants him in one piece…all you'll get is one minute of happiness and no pay check.' "I'm off to explore," he said in a bored voice. "Bring me back a milkshake," said Morph as he went back to watching the fight. NegaMorph considered putting arsenic in it, but then he realized that would have no affect on Morph. As he walked through the door, he heard Silvia cry, "Ow! That's my hair, you jerk!"
NegaMorph looked at the other vault doors before he settled on #16. The vault contained one item; a keychain with a small lock-shaped pendent attached to it. NegaMorph noticed a small note near the keychain's stand. "Lockblade keychain: origin- Kingdom Hearts, purpose- Keyblade equipment, description- the Lockblade keychain has an unusual affect on Keyblades that are quipped with one. It permanently changes the Keyblade into the Lockblade, a sword that is powered by negative energy and is very useful for sealing doors and portals. But because of the specific nature of its power source, Lockblades are rarely mastered." NegaMorph studied the small keychain. He didn't know much about this 'Kingdom Hearts' place, but he had found a Keyblade on an ancient ship found drifting in the cosmos. He pulled the weapon from out of his N-shaped mouth and picked up the keychain. Since no alarm went off, it appeared that the dragons didn't really care about the keychain. He looked at the hilt of the Keyblade and found a small notch where he could attach the keychain. With careful precision, he equipped the keychain.
The affect was instantaneous. Purple energy raced up from the keychain up the blade. NegaMorph's arm vibrated from the rush. He watched as the blade slowly changed to resemble a black bat's wing with three red spikes at the end. Then the energy rush stopped and NegaMorph was left standing with his new Lockblade. There was no keychain attached, so the upgrade seemed to be indeed permanent. He swung around a few times to test it and found it moved very well. Apparently, it customizes to whoever wields it.
Then he felt something on his face. He pulled it off and saw that it was a red mask that fitted exactly right. There were plenty of eyeholes for the five eyes in the middle of his face and there was a keyhole-shaped eyehole for his larger eye. Three spikes curved gracefully to fit between his twin ears. Apparently this mask was to help focus his power through the Lockblade. Satisfied with his new weapon, NegaMorph returned to the vault where the others were.
Matt and Silvia's fight had begun to wind down a bit when NegaMorph got back. Matt had got the upper hand and Morph, in true experiment style was egging both of them on indiscriminately. NegaMorph sighed and opened his hand-mouth. One of his fangs shot between the two, making them freeze. Silvia glared. "Watch where you're shooting those," she said. Matt was more interested in NegaMorph's find. "Where did you get…please tell me you were NOT stealing from our employers…that's like…Rule one in the C.P.S handbook," he said in a tired voice. "C'mon…put it back," he said walking up to take it. NegaMorph shook his head. "No way…those lizards couldn't work it so they locked it up. I'm just spring cleaning for them," he said putting the Lockblade and Lockmask away. Morph said, "It's not spring."
Then a small beeping caught Matt's attention. He looked at his temporal drive and noticed a red light flashing. "Smeg, my power's running low. Anyone have a time crystal?" "What do I look like, an alchemist?" said Silvia. NegaMorph shrugged and said, "Not on me." "I produce lots of weird energies," said Morph, "I'd probably be able to recharge it." He took the temporal drive from Matt and plugged into his Tech-Pack. To Matt's surprise, the red light changed to orange, signalling that it was recharging. "Is there anything that thing can't do?" he asked. Morph scratched his head and said, "Well, I can't get it to program a VCR."
Suddenly, a Polaroid photo popped out of Morph's mouth. "Oops," said Morph as he took the photo out, "guess something in your time-travel thingy must have activated my Pix power." "Let me see," said NegaMorph grabbing the photo. "Be careful with that," said Matt, snatching the photo away, "You don't touch this. Don't ever touch this!" NegaMorph looked at Matt resentfully and said, "Sheesh, I was just trying to see what it is." "What is it?" asked Silvia taking the photo away from Matt. She looked at it and asked, "Is this you?" "Yes," said Matt as he went back to looking at the stone. "Who's this girl with you? She looks kinda like you." Matt inhaled through his gritted teeth and said, "If you must know, that's my sister Chloe." "You have a sister?" asked Silvia. "Had," corrected Matt. Silvia looked at the old photo, of Matt and Chloe together with those other people from the Temporal Marines. "It seems so familiar," she whispered.
Suddenly, she smelled fetid breath and looked at her left shoulder. NegaMorph has stuck the end of his tail over her shoulder and using the single eye on it to look at Matt's picture. Silvia batted the tail away from her and said, "What did I tell you about personal space?" NegaMorph shrugged and said, "I think I might have heard of your sister. You and she used to have a private detective agency after doing mercenary work for some private security company." "Something like that," said Matt as he continued to stare at the different runes on the diamond. "I heard you got into a bit of a scrap with the Splitters." Matt's temples started to throb, "Yes." "Then they blew her up to get even, not much of a fighter was she?" Matt swung around, his face beet red, unaware that the diamond's runes started to light up. "Is there any reason you're so interested?" he said, barely controlling his rage. "Just curious," said NegaMorph as he examined the sharpness of his claws, "guess that's what happens when you mess with a superior species." The runes on the gem suddenly lit up both blue and purple. "WHY YOU LITTLE- !" yelled Matt as he dived for NegaMorph, knocking the stone over and out of the stasis field keeping it in check. NegaMorph yelped as he jumped to the farthest wall from Matt.
The gem suddenly let off two beams of energy. The purple one hit Silvia who was not expecting it. The deep blue one hit Matt who was too busy thinking about throttling NegaMorph to see it coming. The two of them seemed to turn into light of their respective colors. Then their forms grew larger and changed shapes. Then the light went out and they crumpled to the floor. Morph looked at a female purple dragon with long horns extending from the back of her head. NegaMorph looked down at a deep blue male dragon of the same species with curiously shorter horns. His talons were inches away from NegaMorph's neck before he had lost consciousness. NegaMorph looked at Morph who was equally exasperated. "We better call somebody," said NegaMorph.
When Matt woke up, he had a tremendous headache. His vision was like looking through poorly-made, fogged-up goggles. He looked around until he heard what sounded like Draco's voice saying, "Matt, Matt, how many horns do you see?" Matt looked in the direction the voice came from and stared blurrily. "Six?" he said after a moment. "Eh, close enough," said Draco at the same time as his triplets. He looked another direction and gave a startled cry. "What?" asked what could have been Chris. "What is that thing with those two enormous eyes?" asked Matt. "That's Chip, you dumbbell." Matt tried another direction and said, "Stitch, get off the ceiling." "Stitch isn't on the- oh, for crying out loud." Suddenly Matt felt a shock of coldness and sat straight up. Now his vision was much clearer and he could see he was in some kind of healing chamber. Then he saw that his friends were around him, Kala holding a dripping bucket. Matt sputtered and spat some of the water from off his lips and said, "What happened? What are we doing here? Who took my shirt?" "Well when some dragons first transform, their clothing pays the price," said Lilo. Matt stared for a few seconds and started laughing. "That's crazy Lilo, you're crazy." "Okay, then, do this," said Chip, wriggling the fingers on his right hand. "Why?" asked Matt, "is this some alien game you play to pass the time?" he glance at his hand and screamed. Instead of five human fingers, his hand had four claws and was covered with dark blue scales. He waved the hand for a bit and it returned to normal.
"It seems that when that stone zapped you and Silvia, it turned you two into dragons," said Chris. Matt had barely came to terms with the first part when he said, "What? Silvia too?" "She handled it better, I think, Dante carried her out of the vault." "He's got very strong muscles," said Morph. "Well, we decided that your shift can stop, for now, me, Kala, and Akira and take over for a while. In the mean time, why don't you take a tour of New York?" asked Rick. "I don't know," said Matt. "Did I mention that the stone seemed to negate the EXP Virus's mental effects." "There's a chance that thing could off a-, say that again." "When the stone zapped you," said Rick, "it shut down your inhibitor armband and V-627 hasn't surfaced yet." Matt didn't move for a second and then suddenly grabbed Rick and kissed him. As Rick gagged, Matt let out a whoop and said, "No more annoying voices, no more urges for destruction, no more risks with friends!" "Don't start a fiesta yet, party boy," said Draco, "it's probably only temporary." He turned to Chip and said, "By the way, what kind of dragon did he turn into?" "A British Dragon," answered Chip. Draco blinked and said, "He's British? I didn't know that. I thought Brits have accents like this." He picked up a chimneysweep, put on a beaten-up old top hat and said with a Cockney accent, "'Ello guv'nor, mind if I take a sweep of the ol' chiminey?" "No, no," said Chip, "the English talk like this." He put one a monocle and bowler hat and said in a posh London accent, "Have you seen the cricket game last Tuesday? Smashing game that was." "Will you two knock it off!" yelled an abruptly angry Matt. He walked out of the room grumbling, "Where can a guy find a new shirt around here?"
"What's his problem?" asked Draco. "Either today is the anniversary of some horrible event that has left him emotionally scarred," said Chip, "or he has no sense of history. Americans and Britains have been making jokes about each other for centuries. They portray us as barbaric pigs with bad hygiene." "I find that offensive," said Morph, and then he burped scratched his armpit and said, "By the way, why did Silvia turn into a British Dragon too?" "I have no idea," said Lilo, "well, me and Chip are going to do a bit of clothes-shopping up Main Street." "I have a bad feeling for my wallet," said Chris. "I have a bad feeling for my spine," said Stitch.
Silvia was walking down another hallway. She heard of how the EXP Virus is overruled by the stone's spell, but she didn't revert to human form. She never did. Suddenly a hand came out of the shadows and grabbed her shoulders. Her eyes suddenly turned purple. "You will obey any command of mine or the Dark Dragon's," said the voice of Chang. "I will," said Silvia in a mindless tone. "Act like you are still yourself, but have Virustoxico go to the crystal ball chamber." "I will."
There's another chapter. We're going to do a few random bits for a while. You don't want to miss them. Please review.
