Chapter 3

Back in Action

"And that is where we are now…" Arthur said, taking a slow drink from his water jug, that he had had lying next to him. Corey just stared off in disbelief.

Yusuke? Hiei? Mukuro? You're…you're all gone? But…but you were the best! If you guys couldn't defeat this guy…His mind trailed off as Arthur cleared his throat. Corey looked up at him,

"What?" He asked sharply, the story having greatly annoyed him, not to mention worry him, as well.

"You mustn't give up hope, Corey. There is still the Rebel Army. Derek Maison, their general and your best friend, leads them. His power has also grown exponentially over these years. His demonic power now reads close to that of Yusuke's." Arthur explained with a smile.

Corey laughed nervously. "That's great and all, but Yusuke got his ass kicked by Darkine, too."

"Ah, but don't you remember what Darkine told you when he first transported you into the future?" Arthur asked. Corey paused and ran through the whole scenario in his head, then looked back up at Arthur again.

"That prophecy deal?" he asked, and the older man nodded.

"Yes. That was the reason that Darkine teleported you through time…" he was cut off by Corey.

"Yea, that just seems messed up to me. I mean, why would he send me into the future? And why didn't he just kill me right then and there?"

Arthur smiled. "Good questions, Corey Kartana. You see, to answer the first question, I don't believe he meant to send you into our time. Remember that day? You shot your Spirit Gun directly at his Time and Space energy. I believe that that had something to do with why you got sent here, instead of into the past, which is where I think you were supposed to go. As for why he didn't kill you…it was to time wasting."

"Well…don't you make a guy feel special…" Corey commented sarcastically, glaring over at Arthur. He held up his hands in defense,

"No, no. What I meant was, is that if he fought you, that would have given Derek Maison and the others a chance to get there in time to save you, and probably defeat him. If you'll note, Darkine only ever fought someone one-on-one. That was so they'd be easier to defeat." Corey slowly rose from his spot, and Arthur watched him, "What do you plan to do now?"

Corey grinned. "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to the rebel base, find Derek, train my ass off, and then fight and beat Darkine." He sounded so optimistic about it. Arthur was impressed.

"Well said. Head directly north from here. You will find a canyon where the Mobile Fortresses are stationed. Be careful, Corey Kartana. With the worlds combined like this, it has all fallen into madness. Good luck, young man. The fate of the world is in the hands of both you and General Maison."

Corey chuckled, "General Maison…it sounds so formal. Okay, gramps. I'll take care of this. See ya when I see ya!" And he quickly exited the tent, leaving Arthur smiling lightly.

"I wish you the best of luck, my young friend…"

******

Corey set off shortly after departing Arthur and his tent. Receiving a compass and a supply of dried foods and a canteen of water, he would be set for at least a few days. He was also given a cloak, which he threw around his shoulders. He didn't have his leather jacket anymore, so the cloak would have to do. Logan warned him that the North had fierce snowstorms, so he really hoped to find the Rebel's Base as quickly as possible.

Before I burn alive… He added while walking through the desert. Man, there's no way it's snowy where I'm going. I'm freakin' hot!

******

"I stand corrected…" Corey grumbled aloud, clutching his arms together and rubbing them. The temperature over the last ten miles had dropped dramatically. What used to be around 90 degrees had quickly dropped to 10.

"Damn you, Derek! Why the hell did you choose a place like this to set up camp!"

He continued his walking through large patches of snow, happy to have the oddly warm cloak over his body and over his head. Soon, the wind started to pick up, which didn't help matters at all. He grabbed onto the end of the hood and held it over his eyes to keep snow out of them, looking down and every so often up so that he could see where he was going. His teeth were chattering and it felt like his entire body had gone numb.

Crap…I better make it out of here soon… He thought to himself, and to his great surprise he felt a demonic energy nearby. A very familiar energy, too, but a lot stronger.

Derek? He thought to himself and quickened his pace. He soon found himself on top of a ledge, and he could only assume this was the canyon that Arthur had spoke of. He looked around and through the patches of snow he saw a small group of people, fighting off a whole squadron of demons. The one at the front of the people was where most of the energy was coming from.

The man had long, dark brown hair that went down a little passed his neck. His eyes were two different colors, one green and the other blue. He had a rough beard going, which looked like it was 5 o'clock shadow. He wore a black cloak, and underneath it was a black shirt and pants. On his arm were white bandages, wrapped around it. A pair of black boots were also worn, as well as a pair of gloves. The gloved hands held a katana that was soaked in demonic blood.

Corey didn't even need to see all these things to know who this man was, and it made him grin.

"Derek." He said quietly.

******

Thirty minutes earlier, Derek Maison would have never expected an attack on the rebel's base. The past two weeks had been calm, and it seemed like they had finally found a place to rest his troops for a while…but fate seemed to play another card.

It was his scout that had seen the army approach, and Derek knew quickly what to do. He ordered for his own strongest troops to get ready, he included.

"Prepare yourselves! The twelve that will be with me will man the front sector! The rest of the troops will surround themselves around the mobile bases!" From the energy readings he had sensed, he knew that most of the fighters were merely C and B-Class demons, but there were six A-Class and S-Class, which he knew had to be Co-Captains.

In Darkine's army, there were one hundred Co-Captains, and twelve Captains. The captains were the most powerful demons in all of Darkine's armies. Derek had some how managed to defeat two of them. Two more were posted outside of the Spirit Kingdom, and four patrolled Darkine's tower. The other four went around the two worlds, reeking havoc as they went, merely for there own pleasure. It sickened Derek.

"Derek?" asked a voice from behind him. Derek turned to see Jade, still as beautiful as the day they had met, but eight months pregnant with their baby boy. It made Derek smile to see her, he needed something to cheer him up. He walked over to her and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Hello, my love." He said, smiling lightly.

"You will be careful, right?" Jade asked, smiling lightly and taking his hands into hers.

Derek winked. "Of course. I'm still alive, aren't I?" he continued to smile and kissed her once more. "You take care of yourself, and don't stress. It's bad for the baby." He gently touched her stomach with his left hand. The child kicked gently from inside of Jade's stomach, and the two looked at each other.

"It looks like Cory is going to miss you, too." Jade said, giggling lightly. Derek also laughed. The two had decided when they first found out about Jade's pregnancy that they were going to name the baby boy after their lost friend. It filled Derek with pride knowing that Corey would be happy for them.

"I have to go now. I love you." He said, kissing her once more and then exiting the room, smiling lightly.

Corey…I'm sure you'd be proud…I just wish you could be here to help me out.

That was thirty minutes ago. Now, Derek was wishing he was back in his room with his wife. Blood splattered on his cloak as he cut down another of the Co-Captains.

That leaves four more! He thought to himself as he engaged another. They knew that Derek was stronger then them, so they began to engage him on 4 on 1. One lashed at him, cutting him with his own sword as he parried another. They all looked human, but the demon energy in them was terrifying to most.

"Shit!" Derek swore as the blade made contact with his right arm, but part of him grinned. "Now you're done for." The bandages that were around his arm fell off in a clean slice, revealing a black dragon tattoo that wrapped around the arm. He jumped away from the demons and grinned even more.

"Now you will face…The Dragon of the Darkness Flame!!" He shouted, and extended his arm and unleashed the black dragon onto them. It roared loudly and blasted three of them down with its flames, sending them into the fires of Hell…but one was missing. Derek looked around quickly to find the last remaining beast, but it seemed futile.

"Where…are you?" He asked allowed, the dragon still soaring around above him, taking down a few of the weaker demons as it did.

Suddenly, he felt a powerful Spiritual Energy coming right at him. He jumped out of the way, but heard a scream from behind him. He turned and saw the Co-Captain, down and with a large gape out of his stomach.

"Wh-what?" Derek asked aloud. "Who the hell could have done this?" At that moment, he heard the thud of snow near the walls of the cliff. He turned to see a cloaked being. His first inclination was that it was Darkine, but then he realized it was Spiritual Energy that was emitting from him.

"Who are you?" Derek demanded, walking towards the person. The figure didn't say anything, just watched as Derek came closer to him. This annoyed Derek.

"I'm asking you a question!" Derek roared. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the save, but strong humans were nearly impossible to find nowadays, and the ones that were around had joined Darkine as cultists. Derek raised his hand into the air as the Black Dragon submerged back into his arm, the tattoo fading onto his arm once again. He pointed his right hand right at the figure.

"Tell me who you are or I will use this attack on you." Derek threatened, but to his surprise the person laughed.

"Jeez…you sure have gotten bitchy. I figure you'd be happy to see me!"

"How can I know who you are if I can't see your face?!" Derek said, feeling an odd excitement building in his stomach.

That voice…it can't be. And that attack. The effects of it seemed so…familiar. Derek watched as the person put his gloved hands on the top of his hood.

"I figure you'd have gotten it by now. Still dumb, I see." He laughed once more, and then threw off the hood. Derek could have fallen over in shock.

There, standing in front of him, was an eighteen-year-old human boy. He had spiky brown hair, and hazel colored eyes. He had a brown goatee, with a few shades of red on its sides. He wore a brown t-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans underneath his cloak. He had a pair of tennis shoes on, and a pair of black leather gloves with no fingers on them.

It was him.

"What's up, Derek?" Corey asked, grinning wide, "Miss me?"