PHANTOM BRAVE: THE LOST CHAPTERS

This is a fan-fiction continuation of a not-so-popular Nippon Ichi game "Phantom brave." This game has made it's way into the hearts of many gamers, however, mine included. This is for fans of the game and those who enjoy obscure Fan Fictions. This is not a continuation of the storyline of "We meet again" or "The Hermuda triangle", but of the original "Phantom Brave" story. This contains many spoilers, and should not be read by people who have not completed the game.

Thanks to Martin III for major editing assistance.

This chapter gets back into the real element of Phantom Brave.

Episode 23 – Back to the grind

Marona woke up this morning without nightmares; she looked out and saw through her window the island under the clear sky, the sun rising above the peaceful waves as they rocked the shore. She got dressed, donned the necklace that Castile gave her, and walked downstairs to greet Ash. He was awake, organizing his room when she walked in.

Marona: 'Yawn, Mornin' Ash!'

Ash: 'Good morning, Marona.'

Marona: 'Well, I never really got around to making Castile that necklace, but I will today!'

She did a happy twirl into his room.

Ash: 'Well, I'm really proud of you for taking so much care to make Castile happy. She must really appreciate it. You know, Bamboo company is still looking for a cure to her disease... I hope they do soon...'

Marona: 'Yeah... She writes to me a lot, they take care of her at least. She no longer has to pay for her medicine, so her parents don't have to work so hard. Her mom, Joan, actually quit her job, and they've been spending more time together!'

Ash: 'I'm really glad to hear that... how's Mocha? I kinda... miss him!' He said embarrassingly. Despite his devoid emotions, he could not hide his affection for the mischievous putty.

Marona: 'I'm sure he's doing great. But come on, let's check the mail! I'm sure someone wants to enlist the help of "Mister Tenth Sword!" Hehe!' She said, and not waiting for an answer burst out his door.

Ash: 'Not before they ask Captain Marona and the Phantom Syndicate for assistance!' Ash yelled out, laughing. Marona was already at the mailbox by the time he made it out the door.

Marona: 'We got a bottlemail... from Sienna!'

Ash: 'What does it say, Marona?'

Marona: 'She wants us to meet her at Clutter Haven. She has a job for us, and she... insists on paying us!'

Ash: 'Well, we haven't been short on Bordeaux lately, but we might as well take it when we can get it, you know? Besides, Sienna... Scarlet... isn't exactly the prudish type. She will pay us no matter what we say about it...'

Marona: 'Okay, I'll get the ship prepped to go. Bring that new sword of yours, Zephyranth, I wanna see if it can beat Raphael's blade!'

Ash: 'Alrigghhht...'

Ash had gotten used to the light elegance of Heliotrope, the sword that Raphael gave him. He liked the blade, and he did not know how to part with it. So.. he brought both.

Zephyranth, the forged sword of Shiva, on the other hand, was a different style. It was no longer the wide blade that Sprout wielded, but a slimmer, longer blade. It was still heavy, however, and he would have to get used to wielding it.

Ash also felt uncomfortable around the once dark blade that stabbed Sprout. He could imagine the scene over again, so vivid it was like he was actually there again... He gave in to Marona's request, though, and decided to bring it.

Marona: 'ASH! What are you waiting for! Sienna is waiting for us, come on!'

Ash snapped out of his trance, and climbed into the bottleship with Marona.

The bar

Persimmon ordered another bottle of Ochre, which, for anyone who knew the man, knew that to be strange. Persimmon favored the... better man's drink, Vintage Sachsen. Today, however... on the day commemorating Walnut's "Great sacrifice to the world," he thought it more fitting to drink Ochre, the drink that Walnut favored. This was the second time in his life that he had ever had the drink, and he found it wasn't bad. Reminiscing on the past, he almost missed the taunts Walnut would throw at him as he attempted to only help him. Almost. So deep was his daydream that he did not notice the Scarlet-Clad woman come in. She saw the man, and instantly knew him as the manager for... more despicable lines of work. You really could make a living being a Chroma-Oxide, if you were good, and... if you don't secretly blow all your hard-earned money on a sickly wheelchair girls.

The Scarlet-Clad woman sat down next to Persimmon, and by her body language, made it clear she was business only.

Scarlet-Clad woman: 'What is that... crud you're drinking? BARKEEP! Get this man some Vintage Brandy, on me!'

Persimmon: 'Insulting a man's drink isn't a way to make friends. Learned that the hard way. Name's Persimmon.'

Scarlet-Clad woman: 'I'm a Chroma-Oxide, and I'm looking for two people: Marona and Ash. You have a lead, we talk business. You don't, we have nothing more to say to each other.

Persimmon was intimidated by how easily this rolled off her. Not even Walnut was this blunt.

Persimmon: 'I do have a lead. We intercepted two bottlemails directed to them: one from Count Malt and one from Scarlet the Brave. One is a job, and one is a public meeting. I don't need to tell you that you're over your head, that is irrelevant; you have a new manager.

Persimmon wrote down the two locations on a notebook that he kept in his trench coat pocket, ripped out the page, and handed it to the woman.

Scarlet-Clad woman: 'Alright, I think we're finished here. I'll look into that job offer, and i'll be back.'

As the woman got up from her chair, Persimmon asked her for her name. She did not reply.

Just as quickly as she had come in, she was gone. Persimmon was back in business, he thought. He just hoped she knew what she was dealing with...

Clutter Haven

Ash and Marona were once again in the office of Sienna, also known as Scarlet the Brave, one of the swords of Ivoire. They greeted the scrabbit that ran the office, and he yelled out for Sienna.

After a few seconds, and the sound of a loud crash followed by cursing, Sienna walked in and greeted the Ravens.

Sienna: 'I'm sorry that I don't have more time to spend with you two, but I'm rather busy today. I gave Murasaki here the details of the mission. Good luck, you two. We're all counting on you!'

Sienna disappeared through the doors, and Murasaki took the cue to brief them:

Murasaki: 'Yeeah, well you see, that fella Raphael the Invincible was on the Island of Evil that day you whooped Sulphur's ass, right? And... he never came back. Everyone says that he's dead, and I believe it. But Sienna thinks that the old twink is still alive. Beats me. Alive or dead, Sienna wants you to find'm.

Ash and Marona discussed the mission further with the scrabbit, then left.

Marona: 'We... have to go back to the Island of Evil... Ash... '

Ash: 'We've gotten this far, I'm not going to let anything hurt you. Besides, we have two of the most powerful weapons in Ivoire... We'll be fine.'

Marona: 'Okay, Ash...'

The Island of Evil

Ash and Marona docked the Bottleship, and landed on the accursed beach where it all began.

Marona: 'The last time we saw Raphael, he was near the portal to Sulphur's world... We should start looking there!'

Ash: 'Okay, Marona.'

The two continued further through the Island of Evil. No monsters were in their way, so they advanced through the island. Ash stopped when he saw the all too familiar stack of swords sticking out of the ground, remembering that this was the place he and Marona's parents died.

Marona: 'Ash, what's wrong?'

Ash: 'There's someone behind us.'

Ash and Marona spun around, and for the first time came face-to-face with the Scarlet Clad Woman.

Marona: 'Who's that?' Marona asked in her kind, questioning voice.

Ash: 'I don't know... I saw her at the ceremony we went to a couple of days ago... other than that, I don't know...'

The strange woman unsheathed a talon-shaped weapon, attached to a chain, of which she held in her left hand.

Ash: 'Get ready, Marona, I don't think she means to play nice..'

The woman then punctured a scar running down her right arm with the talon, and ripped it down the scar, reopening it. She got into a battle stance as the blood coursed down her arm.

Sacred blood of damned souls;

Fire my lust for death,

Crimson Diaphony!

As she chanted her dark encantation, a red aura encircled her, and she rose into the air. She cast bolts of red lightning at various locations on the ground. These points then began to glow, and skeleton warriors rose from them. Ash could see about 6 of them.

Ash: 'Great, I wonder where we've seen this before... a total psychopath who raises the undead to fight. How charming. '

Scarlet-Clad woman: 'Mmm, hahahah, well I should, that man is my own brother! Hahaha!

Ash: 'You're Fox's brother!? But he fought on our side during the battle against Sulphur! Why are you against us?'

Scarlet-Clad woman: 'Well... we have our little disagreements... you see, a few years ago, I tried to kill the poor fool. The man proved stronger that I thought, as we were raised with the same power, and I was locked away in the damned Frigidia prison! Now that I've finally escaped the cage, I can continue my work as a Chroma Oxide. You are the only people that ever managed to defeat Fox, so, methinks that if she kills you, she's able to kill fox too! Haha!'

Ash grimaced at her piercing laugh, then got into his own battle stance:

You'll go no further;

For her sake,

I will not fail!

Scarlet-Clad woman: 'Ohh, wait a second! Is that... Shiva? And there... Heliotrope! Now, you don't need those things to fight me!'

In the blink of an eye, both Zephyranth and Heliotrope disappeared.

Scarlet-Clad woman: 'Like that? Learned that from the putties when I lived on Verdant Guardiana during that great purge... Those toys are for big boys, Ash!'

Ash twitched at that. He was in his phantom form, how could she see him? And... two of the great swords of Ivoire... Gone!

Marona: 'What do we do Ash?!'

Ash: 'I'll just use my Rising Dragon power to defeat them... I'm still pretty good at hand to hand, but it's been awhile... you ready Marona?'

Marona: 'Y...yeahhh!'

Scarlet-Clad woman: ' Wait, you can confine your phantom friends to objects too, right? Zap zap!'

The twisted woman made all of the objects in the direct vicinity dissapear. Ash and Marona would have to fight her alone...

Ash: 'This is it!'

One of the undead skeletons slashed at Marona, causing Ash to go into a rage. He fired his Rising Dragon at the perpetrator, and with the blast took out 2 other skeletons. Marona, who had almost single handedly defeated Sulphur, became adept at the magic arts, casting fire spells at the other two skeletons while simultaneously strafing around them. Marona then used a ice spell on the last zombie, while Ash destroyed it with his dragon punch, shattering the skeleton into a bunch of tiny pieces.

Scarlet-Clad woman: 'Idiots! If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself!'

The woman ceased her airborne trick and landed with ease, cocking back the talon in one hand while the other bled on the ground. With her first move, she extended the chain claw, catching on one of the buckles on Ash's vest. With one swift thrust backward, Ash was thrown to the ground. With another graceful move, she whipped the claw back and struck Marona, catching her in the side. She screamed "Ash!"

Ash : (Wake up Ash! Wake up! She needs me! I... must wake up!)

Ash, who had been winded by a blow to the head when he was thrown down, now leaped on his feet and ran towards the Scarlet-Clad Woman. She did not notice Ash, as she was rearing for another attack on Marona, and this left her open to attack. He punched her in a 3x combo, punching first her face, her stomach, then her face again. This caused her to miss her attack on Marona, which sent the talon careening into a rock, where it stuck. The woman abandoned the talon, and went hand-to-hand instead, her bleeding arm charged with dark energy. Marona acted quickly, casting a fire spell at the woman, but this was not enough to stop her last attack, causing Ash to fall back and hit his head yet again, this time knocking him out cold. She turned her focus to Marona, who could do nothing but shiver in fear. She had become very strong, yes, but she had always relied on Ash to back her up. Now she was all alone, and the woman had full control. The woman retrieved her talon, and with another spinning attack, launched at Marona. Marona dodged the attack, then smiled that she may actually have a chance. This moment of reassurance was ended when the woman countered the miss by spinning the chain talon over her head back at Marona, this time making contact with her arm. Marona tried her best to shake it free, but this made it worse, tearing the wound. With a final lash back, the woman tore out a chunk of Marona's arm, and she fell to the ground in shock. The woman retracted the talon back into its sheath, and with prideful strides walked over to Marona, who could do nothing.

The Scarlet-Clad woman: 'Such a beautiful creature', she said, as she carved her talon down Marona's right eye, making a scar but not actually puncturing the eye. She pulled her talon back, and with one last strike, she would end Marona's life.

"Leave her alone, you jackal!"

Marona, in a daze, could still recognize the very voice... The thing that Ash had said to Walnut in their first meeting... but it was not Ash, it was...

Scarlet-Clad Woman: 'Walnut!'

Walnut: 'CYNTHIA! I thought I had killed you years ago! I overestimated my power..'

Cynthia: 'So, Walnut, we meet again...' Cynthia said, coldly. She stood up from Marona, and turned to face Walnut. 'You've changed, Walnut. You're... dead... I love the look. Suits you!

Walnut: 'Shut up you psychopathic freak! I made the mistake of not killing you then, I won't make that mistake again!'

Cynthia: 'Oh, Walnut... You still a Chroma-Oxide? Oh, I hear you're quite the hero now. Saved the world from a terrible evil? Haha...

Walnut: 'I did what had to be done. Now, what needs to be done is to finish what I had started 4 years ago! '

(Walnut and Cynthia had both been Chroma-Oxides, which made them fierce rivals.)

Cynthia: 'Oh, I wish dearie, I really do. But... I have some other business to attend to, Walnut. We'll dance later, sweetie. Ta ta!'

The Scarlet-Clad woman disappeared into a velvet cloud, and without a trace, vanished.

Walnut, able to see only Marona and not Ash, picked her up.

Walnut: 'Sorry to quote your little phantom friend back there. I thought it fit the circumstance. Come on, lets get you to a healer...'

Marona: 'M...Mr. W...aln...ut?'

Walnut: 'Yeah...' Walnut said, coldly, 'It's me..'

Walnut, who had been spared on many occasions by Marona, finally found the nerve to respect her way of thinking. No other person in the world, other than Castile herself, would see such kindness from Walnut...

He carried her back, following the footsteps Marona had made to get there. He eventually found their ship, and with a great amount of emotional pain, piloted it towards the Island of Healing waters... Where Marona could be healed... and where Castile lived.