A/N: Sorry for the delay. insert excuse here


Cortes stared around the isolating room. He has been scanning the walls umpteen times over and over.

"How's Lena?" Dahlia asked Wayan. Cortes drew his attention to the conversation, but kept staring at the walls.

"She cried herself to sleep," Wayan answered. Lena hadn't let go of him since the Montogue demon took her big brother away.

"Poor kid," Dahlia said. She stroked Lena's head. "Did you hear how Mahad screamed?"

"That was horrible," Wayan said. "It was unexpected. There must be something about us that the Montogues want. They'd kill us if they didn't…"

"Best not to think about it," Cortes spoke out. "That's probably what they want you to think."

With that said, they fell silent all at once. Then it was broken. Lena was whimpering in her sleep. Cortes looked back at the walls and seen the light seeping through was steadily dying.

Then he felt a strange presence. He looked at the two guardians across the room. Diwan looked as though she was asleep and Oslo was staring at the ground. Cortes looked at the rebels, but it couldn't have been them. Then he looked at Alse. It wasn't him either, for the clone was huddled in a fetal position in the corner.

What is this feeling? He asked himself. Where is it coming from?

Cortes looked up and seen his answer. Over his head was a stiffened limb sticking out of the wall with a strange similitude with the antenna claw of the Montogue demon. Cortes jumped and backed away from the wall.

"Cortes?" Cheng questioned. "What's the matter?"

"Get away from the wall," He demanded.

Quickly, the rebels stood up and darted away. They were in the center of the room with their eyes on the limb.

"Sir, I think it's just a root," Dahlia said.

"Maybe it is," He replied. "But I don't remember it being there."

"Paranoid, much?" A voice ringed out from the behind them. Cortes turned around and scowled at Oslo. Diwan opened her eyes and gave a weird look at the rebels.

"It's gone," Wayan said.

"No way," Cortes replied, turning to face the root. "That's impossible."

Just as he said that, a claw came penetrating through the wall followed by the Montogue's head then its body. Slowly, the rebels backed up to the opposite wall and the two Sphere guardians stood up.

The Montogue demon walked across the room, but stopped half way. It leaned forward and sniffed the air before sitting perched on its powerful legs. Its tail lifted off the ground and wrapped around its ankles. The antenna claws rested by the wrists and on the shoulders while the normal claws were hung down to the ground. The Montogue just sat there, staring, pondering, waiting…

They were careful not to make a sound. It seemed that each time they inhaled, the demon would growl at the back of its throat. They stood there stiff, breathing slowly, and held back the uncontrollable urge to retreat.

Lena let out a small scream.

In a split second, a claw reached out of the wall behind them and ripped Cheng from Cortes' grip. The pirates took no time to throw themselves at the demon's claw and pull the screaming Cheng from its talons.

Oslo and Diwan quickly dodged the crowd of rebels and watched in safety close by. Oslo was holding back the need to laugh, but cured himself when he drew his attention to the Montogue demon that was already in the room. It was still there, sitting, and waiting.

Cortes, Wayan, and Alse wrapped their arms around the demon's wrist and pulled the arm out as far as they could. Just as the nose of the demon came through the wall, Dahlia and Lena opened the talons wide enough to pull the traumatized Cheng free from its grasp.

Dahlia dragged Cheng away from the claw and rested him on the ground. She looked up at the demon in time to see it throw its arm and toss the three rebels into the wall. Dahlia reached behind her back and grabbed her energy bow, but it was too late.

The Montogue demon grabbed her via head which caused her to drop her bow. It then darted across the room and escaped through the wall.

Cortes stared wide-eyed. It happened all too fast. He couldn't believe what just ensued. Then he realized his show of fear.

The Montogue sprung after the Rebels. Leaned forward in its charge, the demon's jaws opened and its teeth were just inches from Wayan's face. Then the Montogue suddenly changed its circuit. While at the same velocity, the demon stomped on the unwary Diwan and dragged her through the wall by the neck with its tail.

Cortes stared at the wall in shock. It happened all so fast. Just like that, three people were gone: Mahad, Dahlia, and Diwan. Cortes looks down at Cheng. He was huddled in his arms and muffling his crying against his chest. There was a light pink colour appearing on the back of his shirt where the Montogue's talon slit his skin.

Lena sat against the wall next to Alse. The clone was still curled in a fetal position against the wall.

"Alse?" Lena asked shakily. Slowly, he lifted his head and made eye contact with her. "Have… you… Have you seen those m-monsters before?"

Alse stared at her blankly. He finally leaned forward and stood up off the ground. He then made his way across the room and in a corner away from everyone else.

Wayan moved to Alse's former location to comfort the saddened Lena while Cortes took a note on the clone's action.

The Montogue demon has something to do with Alse, Oslo's words repeated in Cortes' memory. He's been living here for the past month. No scar where he was shot. No damage on his clothes. Don't you think it's weird?

"Shut up!" Cortes shouted out of the silence. Before he knew it, everyone was staring at him. Cortes gazed down at the ground in embarrassment. The room felt as though it had become colder and quieter.


The silence didn't last long. It was broken when an attacked Alse crashed into the wall above the Rebels. They stood up and seen a Montogue demon standing in the corner that the clone had claimed.

Cortes tensed at the sight. He watched as the Montogue demon started to draw near the cagey Rebels. But from the corner of his eye there was a bright, blazing wave of energy raging at the demon.

Its head detached from the neck and plummeted to the ground. Black fluid poured out of the stub left on its shoulders. The head and body of the Montogue began to ooze and decay rapidly. Its skeleton became visible then collapsed from the lack of support of muscle. All that was left was a wide puddle of the black and gooey remains of the demon.

Cortes turned his attention to the source of the attack. Oslo was standing in the corner at his far left with two glowing fists. He started to approach the gunk that stained the floor. Oslo seemed astonished with how easy it was to kill the demon.

But just as he thought that, the remains of the demon began to bubble. He flinched and took a step back.

Unexpectedly, the muck lifted off the ground and lunged after the startled Oslo and engulfed him. To gunk started to form together and into the Montogue it once was.

"It ate him," Wayan said with a gasp. "I can't believe it…"

The Montogue demon opened its mouth wide and turned to the wall Oslo had once stood at. A large swirl of white energy spun around in its open jaws. A mist drained from the back of its throat and flowed out to the ground.

It let charge go. The globe made impact on the wall and shattered into many pieces, revealing that Oslo had been trapped inside. His flesh and clothes were burned and scratched. He fell to the ground and tumbled over on his side.

The demon charged after the minor inured Oslo and grabbed him by the right leg. It threw the man up toward the glass ceiling and waited for gravity to do the rest. Before Oslo hit the ground, the demon thrashed its claw downward on his back causing him to crash with harsh impact.

Oslo tried to crawl away, but the monster clutched him by the neck and thrashed him vigorously into the opposing wall. The demon let go of Oslo and allowed him to fall to the ground like a rag doll.

The Montogue demon stood up straight and began to power up another white energy attack. The orb was let lose and struck a direct impact on the already injured Oslo.

Its work was done. The demon turned to the wall next to it and walked through.

The smoke of caused by the attack cleared leaving Oslo laying wounded. His white clothes were tinted red with his own blood and he was breathing heavy.

He got what he deserved, Cortes thought to himself. But looking at Oslo one more time caused him to shake off the thought completely. Oslo fought back at the demons, and for that he paid the price.

Cortes seen the damage the Montogue demon can do. He knew that was an example for the Rebels. He knew the same thing might have happened to Mahad, Dahlia, and Diwan.

Plans for retaliation came to a screeching hault.