The Saurian Crisis

Encounters

The wind and rain lashed at her fur and whipped around her as she flew threw the oncoming storm, lightning stabbing through the darkness like knives of light to strike the ground below, a chorus of thunder that nearly drowned out the noise of everything else following just a few moments behind. Her ride, a large bird-like creature that calls itself "Kite", flew threw the storm clouds with grace and confidence, almost unafraid of the storm that raged around them. She'd only been on this planet for a handful of days, a week at most, learned what was plighting the people, and before her mind answered, her heart said yes right away. She thought she knew what she was in for, she thought she could handle it. Now would be the time to find out. Kite looked over his shoulder at his passenger, and spoke in his native language. "We're nearing the Krazoa Palace now. It's the source of the distress signal."

"Then we had best get there quickly, it sounded like they were in grave danger." Krystal replied in the native language. Kite screeched in response as a red ball of light, like a fireball, flew past them. Another flew past them, Kite having to pull some last minute maneuvers to avoid getting hit. Then something else, something big, flew up next to them; It was a giant head, in the shape of a lizard or reptile with horns on the head. It moved and roared like it had a life of its own, even though she knew it was impossible, since the head was attached to a large flying galleon. The mechanical head was made to frighten the local people, and it did its job well. However, even without the head, the natives knew better than to tangle with the Sharp Claw tribe. Local pirates and scavengers, having technology as advanced as this, when the people are just barely coming out of the stone age, was more than a little puzzling. Someone was supplying them with technology, but why was unknown. But that didn't matter to her. What mattered to her is that they were at the root of the problem. From what she was told, the leader of the Sharp Claws, a power-mad tyrant, had done something terrible to this planet. Something horrible enough that when she arrived, she could see chunks of the world actually floating around the broken sphere like moons. The sight tore at her, and she wanted nothing more than to help these poor people. When she sees the ship of the perpetrator, a rage builds inside her, along with a sense of anxiety. Her enemy was so close, she could practically feel her hands wrapping around his throat. She guided Kite to fly just above the galleon, and then lower. Kite urged her to reconsider, but she remained stoic. She dropped down onto the deck of the ship. "Thank you, I'll let you know when I need to be picked up." Kite screeched in response and flew away. She looked around, seeing the crude décor and garish style of the deck, the small torches that burned feebly against the storm, giving just enough light to allow one to navigate around the ship. She saw the captain's cabin, and a birdcage holding a squeaking chick, a newly hatched member of Kite's tribe. Its cries and the pathetic sight it made in the rained-on cage tugged at her heart. She walked to the cage, her hands inches from it, when the captain's cabin door erupted outward and a large shape knocked her away onto the deck. She looked up, and she could see her assailant and felt what must have been a lump of intimidation grow in her throat. It was huge, at least eight feet tall and covered in a muscled, scaly hide. It wore a dark brown tunic with metal shoulder guards with wicked spikes, large belt around its abdomen, shin guards of the same color as the tunic, a head-dress with horns atop its lizard head and a long, thick tail whipped around behind it. Its left hand was gone, replaced by two, large metal hooks with the remaining one had large, three digits with long black claws. It glowered down at her with either a sneer or a smirk, she couldn't tell with this species. Its eyes were blood red and seemed to burn like fire on the inside, a fire that could not be extinguished no matter how cold-blooded its body was. It spoke in a gravelly voice that reeked of arrogance, and even pride.

"I seem to have an uninvited guest. Allow me to introduce myself; I am General Scales, ruler, tyrant and dictator of Dinosaur Planet." He made a dramatic bow as he spoke.

"I know who you are! The Earth Walker Queen told me all about you; the Evil General!" she pointed at Scales with an accusing finger. The Sharp Claw laughed in response.

"You seem to know about me, but I don't know you. Care to tell me about yourself?"

"My name is Krystal, of the planet Cerinia. I received a distress signal from this planet." Scales laughed in response and turned to the squawking chick in the cage.

"My dear, the whole planet is in distress! I'm not evil, I just keep the planet in constant fear to keep them in control, otherwise I'd have endless rebelling to contend with." He shook the cage, making the hatchling cry out even more. Drawing and extending her staff, Krystal ran forward with a shout, staff above her head. With lightning-fast reflexes, Scales caught her arm and hoisted her up, bringing her face-to-face with him. His breath reeked of cooked flesh and wine as he spoke. "You dare to challenge me?" He dragged her to the edge of the ship as Krystal tried to pound the large hand with her fist, her hand holding the staff being held crushingly in his. Her fist seemed pitifully, almost laughably, small against his own, but she still struggled. "I like your spirit, but I can't have you running around and causing me any problems." He lifted her over the over the edge of the ship, a never ending blackness of the storm clouds beneath her feet as the only thing keeping her from plunging to an endless fall to her death was a tyrant who debated on how long she should live. "You think you can stand against the ruler of Dinosaur Planet? No one can defeat General Scales!" He let go of her hand and Krystal screamed as she fell. She felt a thrill go up her spine and a pit formed in her stomach that rapidly turned to nausea as she fell. Her mind raced; She failed, she's going to die, her parents will learn that she tried to help someone on another planet and it was in vain, all these thoughts racing and she couldn't do a thing. She felt herself hit the ground and was rising to join her ancestors in heaven, then found that she felt something was between her legs. She looked down, and felt relief course through her veins and filled her with a euphoria that would rival a narcotic. Kite flew up next to the galleon, and Scales had a look of shock and outrage on his scaly face, at least that's what Krystal hoped when she smiled tauntingly.

"Bad luck, General Tyrant. Perhaps next time!" Kite flew away, but not before Krystal could get out of ear-shot of the tyrant's warning.

"You have not seen the last of General Scales!"

The planet looked broken. Pieces of it floated around it like natural satellites, somehow able to sustain life on them for their inhabitants. This must be the place. He felt her presence on that planet, and she must have only been there for a little while. He homed in on her as he broke the atmosphere, noting the floating landmasses on his way in.

The temple looked both imposing and impressive at the same time. Situated on the top of a mountain, the spires of the temple reached into the sky, but not as much as the central tower, which was where Kite was headed. He landed on a perch, just in front of the entrance. The large doorway looked to be ten times her own height and triangular in shape, while a plaza that seemed as large as a grassy field loomed ahead of her, several floating things that looked like glowing brains with tentacles roamed the area. "Be careful of the palace's sentries. They will attack you since you are not one of the Earth Walker tribe." Kite warned, gesturing to the floating creatures. "This is as far as I go. I will come back when you call." She got down off of Kite and walked towards the entrance, then heard the flap of wings over the rain and thunder and turned to see Kite taking off into the stormy sky. With Kite gone, she felt more alone than ever before. Lightning still raged, throwing flashes of light upon the face of the temple as the sentries patrolled the temple ground. As she walked towards the entrance, one of them took notice to the Cerinian and floated towards her. She turned and fired a fireball from her staff at the creature, reducing it to cinders. However, more of them took notice and surrounded her. She swung her staff at one of them, and was thrown to the floor with an electric jolt for her troubles with a yelp. She looked up and saw the sentries starting to close in on her. A light, like a star, just appeared in the storm clouds. At first she didn't notice it, but it begin to swell, and Krystal looked up to see the star turn into a sun and fall to the temple plaza. A shockwave shook the temple and the sentries were knocked out of the air and to the plaza floor. A bright light was in the center of the impact center, and started to take shape. A figure in the shape of man walked out of the light towards her. She got to her feet and as the light died down, she was met with a face she had not seen in what felt like a lifetime ago. A white face with blonde hair and ice-blue eyes smiled at her. "Zenith?" she asked. Before he could reply, the smile was gone and he shoved her away and flung his arm forward, a bright red and yellow blade of light erupted from his forearm and thrust itself into the center of the brain of a sentry. It fell off of the blade and onto the stone floor in a heap of tendrils and ichor as the blade retracted back into the brace on the newcomer's forearm. At that moment, Zenith was embraced tightly by an enthusiastic Krystal before he could get a word out.

"Uhh, good to see you as well, Krystal," Zenith replied. Krystal pulled away and looked up at the Ultra, a smile on her face at seeing a familiar one. Suddenly, things didn't seem quite as dim as they did.

"But…what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was sent here. I didn't really know why, but when I saw the state of the planet, well…" he shrugged.

"I know. Awful isn't it? This world is literally tearing itself apart at the seams."

"How so?" Both of them walked into the temple as Krystal relayed to Zenith what she had been told by the Earth Walker Queen; the leader of the Sharp Claw tribe, General Scales, had stolen the Spell Stones that held the planet together to gain the upper hand in the war he waged against the other tribes. Incidentally, he also did something to the Krazoan shrines, driving way the Spirits that help maintain balance to the planet, as well as the universe itself. To know that the Spirits were known on this planet was a shock, but to know that someone caused them harm nearly enraged her. Such blasphemy would not go unpunished. Zenith knew well the role the Krazoa Spirits played in Krystal's culture, and shared her disgust, but what intrigued him the most was that Scales is being supplied weapons and technology much beyond what the people on this planet have. When he pressed for more information, she couldn't say who it was, only that they would not be spared from her wrath for hurting such a beautiful world.

When they entered the temple, it seemed larger on the inside than it did outside; Grand halls easily five times their height and twice their width combined led them ever onward towards the heart of the temple. They came upon a chamber with a large form lying in the middle, in front of a large statue of a face with a long chin and complacent eyes. The form, a large body almost as big as a dwelling, large four legs and a tail with a giant frill around the head and two large horns sticking above the brows and a horn just above the nose of the reptile face, the horns had braces at the base, as did the legs to show that it was an officer of the Earth Walker Tribe. Its sides heaved heavily as his labored breathing was heard by both figures. Its eyes opened at them in surprise and tied to stand, but fell once more as the wounds on its body took its toll. Krystal ran to its side, placing a gentle hand on it as Zenith walked calmly towards them. "Try not to move. We're here to help." the Cerinian said softly. The Earth Walker looked at her with a weary look.

"There is little you can do for me, I'm afraid," it rasped. "We tried to defend the temple, but we were slaughtered by the Sharp Claws and their new weapons. The Spirits are in grave danger. Only one who is pure of heart can help bring them to the heart of the temple and restore the balance to this world. Go now, and bring it here. I won't be going anywhere." Zenith looked at the Earth Walker, then at Krystal as she stood up and turned to a room that just opened up behind her.

"Zenith, look after the Earth Walker. I'll be back soon." She didn't face him as she said this, nor did she need to, and walked into the other room, the door behind her closing. The room had a similar statue on the wall facing her as did the cavernous chamber that she entered, only it was smaller, and seemed to glow. She heard a familiar sound; a chitterling and whispering around her, followed by a ghostly shape that wafted like a vapor. She saw a face, one that looked like the statues in the main chamber and this room. She opened her arms wide, and it flew into her body.

As her eyes were shut, it felt like her body was moving at an incredible speed, a sense of vertigo and nausea formed in her stomach, and vanished as quickly as it started when she felt herself stop. She opened her eyes, and she saw what looked like the cosmos slowly swirling around her. As she turned, she saw countless stars and innumerable galaxies all around, like she were the center of the universe. A figure materialized in front of her, taking the form of a robed body with a head similar to that of the statues that she's seen all her life, and once before when she took the Trial of Spirit. The Krazoa Spirit spoke to her in a soft, echoing, almost monotone voice. "It has been a while, daughter of the Sun Tribe, but you are needed now more than ever. What is happening here is merely the prelude to something more sinister, more evil than what you can imagine. This world is held together by our power and the Spell Stones. We must all get to the heart of the temple when the Spell Stones are collected to mend the damage done to this planet. If this continues, the energy released by the destruction will be enough to cause irreparable damage to this system, and will herald the beginning of the end of the universe. You must not let that happen."

"I won't." Krystal replied with confidence.

"Remember, the fate of the universe depends on either your success, or failure." Krystal felt her body rushing once more, and her eyes were shut again, the same feeling of vertigo and nausea forming in her stomach forming and dissipating all at once, and when she opened her eyes she found herself back at the temple, but feeling slightly…different. She found what looked like a mirror on the wall, her reflection being cast back at her, and saw that her eyes now glowed a soft violet.

The door opened once more, and Zenith looked up from the Earth Walker and saw Krystal walking towards them. As he got up and walked to her, he saw her eyes, and stopped. "Krystal…what happened to you in there?" he asked. The Cerinian looked at him with a soft smile.

"It's alright, Zenith. This is how it's supposed to happen. I'm supposed to take the spirits to the heart of the temple, and bring the Spell Stones back to their resting place. That's how it's supposed to be." Not fully understanding, Zenith nodded and stepped out of her way.

"The Krazoa Spirits are beings of peace. The temple acts as a place to both protect them from harm, and to focus their power. All six Spirits must be brought here along with the Spell Stones in order to repair the damage done to Sauria." the Earth Walker rasped. Krystal knelt next to him as he spoke. "General Scales has been trying to harness both their power and the Spell Stones, but for what we don't know, only that he couldn't do it on his own. He needs something else to act as a focal point for the Spirits when they combine their power with the Spell Stones. You must stop him at any cost."

"Do you know who's been helping him?" Krystal asked.

"All we know, is that they are outworlders, working with Scales for their own gain." Krystal looked up at Zenith and stood up. "Head for the heart of the temple, and release the Krazoa Spirit. After that, you must find the rest of the Spirits and the Spell Stones, wherever they might be. Everything now depends on you." Another doorway opened leading to another corridor, and both Zenith and Krystal walked down it into parts unknown.

Just outside the temple, a large ship docked just outside the entrance, and several scaly bodies, followed by a much larger one, disembarked and entered the building. They made their way down the corridors, killing the sentries as they went, and entered the chamber where the Earth Walker lied, dying. He looked up, and seemed to smile slightly as the lead figure got closer to him. "You're too late," was all he said before a blade was shoved into his throat, his life disappearing in a gasp as his eyes rolled up and he gurgled his last breath. The figure withdrew the blade, wiped the blood off on the dead body of the Earth Walker and walked down the corridor, followed by the entourage.

The corridor led them to another chamber, this one had another statue of a Krazoa head on a wall, and a beam of light coming from it, leading to a platform that held a crystal in a large shaft. Krystal knelt on the platform in front of the head, a feeling coursing through her body that was a mix of nausea and muscle cramping. She groaned and Zenith walked towards her with his hand outstretched. "Leave me!" she stated, and Zenith backed away in surprise. "It will be over…in a moment," she replied. She threw her head up and opened her arms, and the Krazoa Spirit floated out of her body and into the head. All the while, something lurked in the shadows just behind them. Krystal stood up, Zenith offering his arm to her, and the Cerinian took it this time. In that moment, Zenith shoved Krystal away from himself and whirled, his blade extending to its full height and slashed downward at something in the shadows. A form stumbled towards them, and a tan-skinned Sharp Claw grunt, wearing a cap, loin guard and shin guards with braces on its forearms, fell to the floor as the large rent in its bloody bled out and it died from blood-loss and shock. Krystal walked towards it, her eyes going wide with surprise, and both heard laughter and looked up to see more shadows moving towards them, one larger than the rest. It stepped into the light and General Scales, with his entourage of grunts, walked towards them with an air of satisfaction. "It's you!" Krystal shouted. Scales laughed maliciously and spoke.

"All the pieces are now falling into place. All that remains is the Spirits to come here, and the Spell Stones to be returned, and everything will be set into motion."

"What?" Krystal asked. "You removed the Spell Stones so someone could find them again? Why?" Scales chuckled and raised his sword, a single edged and curved nightmare, above his head and sung down on her, only to have a glowing red and gold blade block his own. He looked, and saw Zenith with his own blade extended from his forearm, from his brace, holding his sword at bay. Scales was shocked by this, not expecting an alien being to interfere. "An offworlder?!" he exclaimed. Zenith shoved him away and Scales' grunts surrounded them both, wielding axes and maces with deadly intent. Krystal pulled out her own staff, ready to take as many of them with her as possible before she would fall. However, Zenith had other plans. He took up a stance with his left hand on his brace, his right arm pointed up at the elbow. His face was one of rage and determination as he spoke in fluent Saurian.

"I don't care who you are, or what you have planned. All I care about is you're ripping the planet apart. For that, I have to stop you, even if it means killing you." He threw his arms out from his body like a crucifix, then raised his right hand into the air. "ZENITH!" His body was engulfed in red and golden energy, like flames dancing around his body and flowing into him. All the while, he went through a massive transformation; His physique buffed itself up to almost twice its size, his head and eyes changed, his face becoming more mask-like, his eyes glowing and growing more oval-shaped as a fin appeared in the center of his face. His body was now silver with red streaks and patterns and his musculature almost bulged, all the while his body radiated a bright red aura. The light and aura died, and the newly transformed Zenith brought his right arm and brace up into the air once more, and slowly brought it down, a blade extending as his arm gradually fell. When it was fully extended, he raised it above his head and swung it down on the temple floor, throwing sparks and chunks of masonry into the air. Scales and his grunts were shocked by what they saw, while Krystal smiled confidently. That was when she decided to attack; She swung at the nearest grunt, the round end bashing the skull of one grunt, and in the same fluid movement, stabbed another with the sharpened end in the chest, ending its life as it groaned. Zenith swung with his own blade, and Scales barely warded it off with his own blade, only to have half of it turned to molten slag when they clashed. Scales looked at his ruined blade and threw it away, his clawed hook-hand and natural hand flexing as he intended on beating the alien being with his bare hands. Zenith retracted his blade and gestured for the general to come at him. Krystal was holding her own against the Sharp Claw horde. She fired a couple of fireballs in quick recession at one before swinging her staff at another and impaling his fellow with its sharpened end. She kicked the teeth down the throat of another as she pulled out her staff out of the body of the previous, twirled it over her head and bashed the face in of another, and sending a freezing mist from the round end at another turning it into a frozen statue before shattering him with a swing from her staff. Zenith blocked a swipe from the metal clawed hand and sent a knee into Scales's face, making the tyrant back-step before sending a blow to his abdomen. He doubled over and Zenith once more sent his knee to his face, several times, and a spin-kick made the tyrant stumble back before the large reptile regained his balance and lunged at the Ultra with a roar. In a split-second, Zenith grabbed his arms and rolled onto his back, his foot planted on Scales's body and the tyrant went flying, his own momentum used against him and he crashed onto the floor. With a snarl he got up, his teeth and fangs bared and his tail thrashed violently. Zenith took up his combat stance and rushed at Scales, and was caught off guard when he bounced off of Scales, as though he hit an invisible wall. He fell to the floor and got up to a knee, confused. Scales laughed at that.

"A gift from a friend afar." Zenith got up to his feet. "A barrier of energy that can repel anything. Handy against someone like you." Zenith threw his hand out at him, and a dart-shaped energy was flung at Scales, only to have it shatter like glass against it. Scales laughed again. "You may be unstoppable, but what happens when an unstoppable force meets the immovable object?" Zenith's fists clenched and Krystal watched. She then brought up her staff and fired several fireballs at Scales, only to have them be deflected off of the barrier as well. Scales turned around and laughed at her. "What makes you think you can do anything? You're as helpless as he is!" He pulled something from behind, and Krystal saw it was a gun pointed at her. "Now everything is coming together." Krystal twirled her staff and was about to plant it into the floor and erect her barrier, but felt something strike her from behind and knock her off balance. Her staff fell to the floor and she fell to knee. She felt a pair of scaly hands grab her arms and pull her up. Scales's grunts held her as the tyrant pointed his weapon at her. Suddenly, two energy darts flew at the grunts, striking them in the chest and neck, killing them almost instantly. They slumped onto the floor and Zenith leapt over Scales in an aerial axle and landed in between him and Krystal, taking up his combat stance again. Scales growled in irritation and pointed his gun at the Ultra.

"Your fight is still with me," he stated.

"Not for much longer," Scales replied. He squeezed the trigger, but instead of firing, energy built up in front of the gun, and Zenith stepped back from him, puzzled at this. Scales smirked, and pointed it at Krystal instead. "She has interfered long enough!" He let go of the trigger and Zenith shoved Krystal out of the way, and the force of the built up shot knocked him into the beam of light coming from the Krazoa head. Krystal yelled "NO!" and ran after the Ultra as Scales smiled and ran out of the chamber, satisfied that everything was going according to plan. He had wanted for the girl to be trapped, but this way she will gather the spirits and the Spell Stones, and serve her purpose soon enough. It was a win/win situation for him.

As Zenith flew in the beam of light, he threw his arm outward and his brace became a bright light and flew off of his arm and up the shaft, through the opening and into the storm clouds above. At that instant, he reverted back to his mortal form and was phased into the crystal in the middle of the shaft. Krystal could only watch as the crystal levitated into the air. Krystal stopped, and turned back into the chamber and walked onto the platform in front of the Krazoa head, and felt the same sensation that she felt in the Krazoa shrine when it spoke to her, and found herself outside on the temple's spire. In front of her were steps leading up to an altar where the crystal hung suspended in the air and a Krazoa Spirit floated around it, with Zenith trapped inside. She ran up to the altar, and stopped when she almost felt herself fall down the shaft just beneath the crystal. She looked up and called Zenith's name, and the alien being looked down, and smiled at her. 'Krystal, you must find the Spell Stones and the Krazoa Spirits. You must find them and bring them here before the planet is destroyed. My brace is lost, fell to the ground below somewhere. You must find it, and save this world. Don't worry about me, I'll be alright.' Krystal reached up to the crystal, and touched it, tears forming in her eyes.

'Please, just stay alive.' she communicated telepathically. Zenith smiled encouragingly as Krystal turned around and ran back towards the platform and teleported back to the chamber. Zenith looked around and saw the Spirit floating around.

'Looks like I have some time to kill. Why don't you tell me what's going on?' The Spirit stopped and looked at Zenith, floated next to the crystal, and showed Zenith what it showed and told Krystal.