Holy crap in a hand basket! It's 2010 already, man I seriously lost track of time (first understatement of the new year, yay!). But with all of the crap that's been happening, it's no wonder I've been able to even get online! Now that I'm finally back home, in another college (with a better schedule) and will probably be getting a new computer soon...well I'd probably be lying if I'd say things will get easier, but after this week is out I won't be as stressed! So if anyone was wondering, yes I am still continuing this story (and my others of course). Just be patient for chapter updates. Sorry for the hella long wait, and enjoy the new chapter!
The Jagin Warriors
Ch. 3: Long Waited Discoveries (The Jagin of Light)
"You will not beat me! I will not be defeated by a fat impudent little whelp! "she shouted furiously. As a last ditch effort, she fired a large energy ball, but it proved useless as Reuben deflected it up in the air with his dagger. He lifted his dagger towards the sorceress and smirked.
"Ya might wanna check again psycho chick!" he shouted at her. When he said that, he jumped up and slammed into the ground, causing jagged rocks to spring from the ground, slamming Vera and sending her flying into a building. Slowly she climbed out of the hole in the clay wall.
"Know this creatures, I will be back. And you will suffer for this!" She said and vanished in a flash of black light.
In another part of Matenua, the land lay barren and dark; the landscape covered with bones of those who have fallen and black, dead trees standing solemnly. Armor and weapons now rusted and rotted by the deadly sands of time littered the dark, dry ground. The bones of large animals stood like monuments in the earth, with their masters' close by. The sky darkened by a perpetual thunder storm. And in the distance, almost as if it stands at the end of the world, stood a large castle. This castle, made of black stone, stood on a separate piece of land that hovered over a deep canyon that one would believe to be oblivion. The steeples of the castle seemed to meld into the dark night as an ominous wind blew through the jagged and spiked towers and stone gargoyles guarding their perches. On many of the spikes of the walls hung the skeletons of past failed invaders, and emanating from the walls, sounds of suffering and monstrous cries flooded the air.
Over the walls, an army of creatures dwelled. The area was hot with the large bond fires and torches, and smelled of death and rotted flesh. The foul creatures carried about many devilish activities; some fought each other without reason, others ate the raw flesh of anything they've recently killed. Some demons with whips would repeatedly strike at captives in cages and massive war beasts shackled in chains. In some areas, large demons beat and pounded away at tempered metal with hammers, creating armor and weapons that would be carried off by skeletal winged creatures to a large pile of armaments. In front of large gates, a large number of these demonic soldiers were ready to march. On top of the walls, two demons cracked whips at slaves below, slowly churning a large wheel. As the wheel turned, the chains on the door began to gain slack, lowering the drawbridge for the troops to leave to their next battle.
Above them on a balcony, a large crow watched silently, and then left through the doorway behind him. He quickly walked through the spiraling halls and dark lit corridors to the large door he has visited on many occasion. Just as he reached the door, a black light flashed next to him and a large and rather winded panther stood.
The crow, not looking to her chuckled before he spoke, "I assume the mission was a failure."
"Shut up Kazetengu…" said the panther as she straightened herself as the doors slowly opened.
The two walked into the dismal room and approached the throne and bowed.
"Speak." said Drakai.
Vera, still bent over bowing as to not look into his eyes, hesitated before she spoke. "…Mi'lord… I am afraid the mission was unsuccessful. I did not calculate that the round, chubby one would prove to be a formidable foe…"
Only looking up for a second, she saw the dragon's red eyes sharpen as he glared at her, with smoke pouring from behind his teeth. As the dragon growled, obnoxious laughter came from the right of him.
"Hahaha, unbelievable!" spouted Kazetengu. "Vera, the almighty sorceress of the Sunyata Empire, bested by little tubby ball of fur!"
Vera narrowed her eyes at the avian. "You're one to speak, if memory serves, you faired no different. At least I didn't come back smelling of singed feathers."
"Enough!" shouted Drakai, making the room rumble and quake. The two subordinates went silent as their fearful gaze fell back onto their leader.
"Both of you have failed me, and due to your insolence, neither of you will be trusted with the task of retrieving the daggers until you have proven yourself again." said Drakai.
"…but sire, who will be entrusted with this task?" asked Kazetengu. As Drakai's gaze fell on the bird, he backed away in fright.
"He has left this up to me." said a voice from the right of the room. They looked to the right to see what looked like a man sized goblin. It wore brown robes and walked hunched over; its eyes had no pupils and were solid purple. Its long black nails grew from its lanky fingers. Its body was thin and bony to the point of anorexia and it carried a belt with small vials of colorful liquids. The goblin made its way towards the throne slowly.
"High Alchemist Hondo Tahet." seethed Vera.
"The grekkin scientist, and here I thought we were too inferior for your company." said Kazetengu with a hint of sarcasm.
The proclaimed alchemist walked slowly to the front of the throne room, still hunched over and not turning to anyone.
"You still are. Lord Drakai has requested that I complete the task that you both have failed." answered Hondo.
Feathers standing on end, Kazetengu growled lightly and began to approach the grekkin.
"I am pleased you accepted the task, I hope you will have more success than these half wits." said Drakai as he eyed the other two, making Kazetengu stop in his tracks and back away to a spot next to Vera.
Hondo smiled and bowed lightly as he spoke, "It is a pleasure your excellence. I can assure you that I will have a much higher chance of success than these two."
He then looked up from the bow with a sinister smile and gleam in his eye, "and I can promise you that my newest experiment will leave nothing left of these Jagin Warriors."
The desert mountain range stood in a serene like state; quiet, peaceful, calming. Then came a thunderous tremor that shook the valley floor; rocks sled off nearby mountains, fissures opened up on the ground. In the bromiri village, straw shacks were torn to the ground, and already half destroyed clay buildings were turned to complete rubble. Bromiri began to run about in a state of panic as the tremor grew violent.
"AAAHHH, EARTHQUAKE! WHY HAVE THE ELDER GODS FORSAKEN US!" screamed a bromiri as he shouted to the sky.
"Oops, sorry! That's just me! My stomach's just growling!" shouted Reuben from the once again destroyed kitchen carrying a sandwich. He ate the sandwich in one bite, causing the tremors to cease.
As the tremor stopped, everyone stopped and looked to the experiment.
"Oh, okay then." said the melodramatic bromiri from before.
As the bromiris began to go back to their previous tasks, the experiments came out of the kitchen, half covered in food that was tossed during the earthquake. They walked with Mutai to Reuben who now wore a brown cloth tunic and the gauntlets from the transformation, in place of his full armor.
"Augh, as if your appetite wasn't bad enough." said Kixx as he wiped food off of his arms.
"That was a pretty good earthquake, about a 5.9 on my scale, not bad Reuben." said Richter as he shook off the squashed fruit on him.
Stitch then helped Angel get the food out of her fur, and then shook himself to remove the powder that covered him. Then he was overcome with the urge to sneeze. Has he tried to hold it in, he turned to his right and sneezed, causing a fireball to ignite the snot ball and send him to the ground. The fireball flew into a nearby wall, blasting a large hole in it and scaring the bromiri behind it. "Hey, watch where you point that!" shouted the fuming bromiri.
"Oops, sorry…" said Stitch as he said as he lifted himself up.
Matui chuckled a little, "Don't worry, we bromiri are quick to repair any damage to our village. And we understand that you haven't completely mastered your power, it will come in time."
"Well mahalo, for your generous hospitality, but we really have to get going." said Stitch.
As the group turned to leave, Matui called to them. "Wait, there is a place you must go, it can be your safe haven for your stay in Matenua , and you may find answers to you problem there. Come, I know a way to get you closer to your destination."
The experiments looked to each other and then nodded and followed him. They walked back to the large hut and went to a specific wall with the earth symbol etched onto the surface. The chieftain tapped the wall three times with his cane and the wall began to rumble. It slowly slid away to reveal a corridor leading under the building. The corridor was well shaped and had glowing orbs hanging from the ceiling that lit the dark hallway. They walked until they came to a large room. The room was completely empty except for two pillars with bowls on them, a large slab of rock with purple stones on it and an altar with an arc on it.
"Jagin of Fire, could you ignite the bowls on the pillars?" asked Matui.
"Two bowls of fire hold the onions, coming right up." said Stitch laughingly. He then produced two fires in his hands and tossed them into the bowls, making them burst into bigger flames and illuminating the room.
"Whoa, where are we?" asked Angel as everyone looked around.
"Better question, what is that?" asked Sparky, pointing to the altar.
Matui said nothing as he walked to the rectangle shaped rock with six crystals on top of it. When he moved them to different circles etched onto the slab and placed both hands in two circles on the altar, the crystals began to glow. As the crystals on the rock glowed, the six orbs on the arc began to glow one by one. When it finally reached the last orb, the air inside of the arc crackled as purple energy began to collect and expand into a large portal.
"Hey that kinda looks like that portal thing that swallowed us up before!" said Sparky.
"You been holding out on us you little sneak!" said Kixx as he stormed towards Matui, but Stitch held out an arm to stop him. Stitch looked back to Matui with a questioning look.
"I thought you said there were no portals?" asked Stitch.
"This is not what you think; this is what's called a Jump Gate. Jump Gates are portals that span over Matenua for quick travel. Only powerful wizards are capable of creating a Jump Gate, and they are sometimes connected to one other gate in the world." explained Mutai.
"So where does this one lead?" asked Reuben.
"I am afraid I don't have an answer for that. The wizard who entrusted the daggers to me those many years ago made this gate and did not tell me it's destination, but did tell me to instruct the chosen ones use it, and that this gate can only be used once." said Matui.
The experiments looked to each other for a few minutes.
"So what do you think bushi-bu?" asked Angel.
"It's worth a shot, we may get more answers on how to get home." said Stitch.
As he said that, everyone nodded in approval. Stitch looked back to the chieftain. "Okay, we'll go."
Mutai stepped aside as the six experiments walked up to the portal and jumped through. Once through, the portal deactivated and the crystal's light died out and the crystals on the arc and rock shattered. Mutai stood in front of the arc with a warm smile. "Good luck Chosen Ones, the fate of all rests with you."
In what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, a purple portal opened up a few feet off the red ground. And after a few seconds, the screaming experiments came falling through it and landed hard on the ground in a pile. Slightly disoriented, they began to pick themselves up.
"Ugh, déjà-vu anyone?" said Stitch.
"Ya know, that wasn't so bad this time around." said Richter.
"Yeah, it would actually be sorta fun if I didn't keep face-planting into the ground and feeling like I wanna chuck cookies afterwards." said Sparky.
"So, where are we again?" asked Reuben, making everyone look around. As they turn and looked, they could clearly see that not only were they not in the village, but the village was nowhere in sight. Only flat earth, mountain ranges and the occasional blue cacti were present and seemed to go on forever into the horizon.
"We might as well keep moving. I see no point in wasting time here." said Kixx.
"Aw man! Don't tell me we're gonna have to walk now!" said Reuben in dismay.
As the other five ignored him, they began to walk towards the mountain range in the distance.
"Okay, I spy something red, flat and…" began Sparky.
"A rock. And this next one is just a guess: a rock." said Kixx in a deadpan tone.
"Yes to the first one, and no to the second. The next one was gonna be that blue cactus." said Sparky pointing to a random cactus.
Furious, Kixx stopped and grabbed the electrical experiment. "Enough with this stupid 'I Spy' game!"
"Cool it Kixx! He's just bored, give him a break!" said Angel.
Kixx put Sparky down and began to mutter to himself in frustration. "Oh I'll give the little trog a 'break' all right. How about I break his neck…"
"Hey, did anyone else feel that?" asked Reuben looking to the ground.
Everyone looked around, unsure of what the fat experiment meant.
"Yeah, I feel it too." said Richter.
The others began to concentrate, and finally felt a slight rumble on the ground. It then got stronger with every passing second.
"It's coming from under us!" said Richter as he realized the danger.
"Incoming!" shouted Reuben as everyone began to run from that spot. And without a moment's notice the ground beneath them exploded as a large and long creature emerged from the ground, sending them flying in different directions. Easily towering out of the hole at 50 stories high and as wide as a bus, It had large blunt spikes sticking out from its sides and its skin was hard and resembled the rocky terrain. At its head there was nothing but a large maw with rows and sections of teeth. It leaned over and hissed at the experiments as it seemingly sensed their presence on the desert floor.
"It's a worm! It's a giant freaking worm!" shouted Kixx in shock.
Everyone grabbed their daggers and prepared to fight. Stitch and Reuben grabbed their daggers and they were both engulfed in fire and earth separately and came out in their armor. Sparky, Angel and Richter then charged the worm, but after it hissed in their faces, ran back to keep their distance. After retreating, Sparky shot a jolt of electricity at the worm, only to have it shrugged off by the behemoth creature. Kixx then ran up its back to its head and began punching it. The creature shook and flung the fighting experiment back to the ground.
"Blitznak!" said Kixx while he punched the ground. He then noticed the area getting darker around him. He looked up to see the worm coming down on him with an open mouth of teeth.
"…uh-oh…" he said as he cowered in his arms, waiting to be eaten. Just as the worm was over Kixx, a turrent of flames hit the side of the worm, making it recoil in pain. It turned to the direction of Stitch and Reuben. It then launched it's self at them with its mouth opened wide.
"Ah ah ah, no lunch for you!" said Reuben as he launched a large boulder at the worm, cramming it into its mouth. It thrashed around violently, trying to remove the boulder. Once it got the boulder out, Stitch hit it again with fire and made it plunge its self into the soil to retreat. Sensing the danger has passed, Sparky walked up to the hole and looked in.
"Ha! Yeah, you better run…or crawl…or slink…or whatever it is you do!" shouted Sparky, making him loose his footing and struggling to not fall in the hole.
While Kixx was still covered up on the ground, Stitch and Reuben walked over to him with smirks on their faces and their clothing back on.
"Well isn't this a sight. The mighty experiment 601, cowering on the ground from a worm." said Stitch.
"And here I thought he wasn't afraid of anything." continued Reuben.
Looking up at them with a sour face, Kixx got up and dusted himself off. "Shut up, I was only temporarily injured and needed a moment to tend to it. I wasn't scared; I could've taken that worm on my own.
"Yeah, tell that to you wet fur." said Stitch as he snickered.
Everyone laughed as Kixx looked down in absolute embarrassment, only to find his fur dry. Angry, he pushed the laughing Stitch and Reuben out of the way and continued walking.
"Alright, enough with the hysterics, let's keep going so we can end this stupid journey."
Everyone slowly stopped laughing and continued on towards the mountains.
"Ugh seriously, anybody else gettin' tired of walkin'? My dogs are really talkin' to me!" complained Reuben as he stopped briefly to rub his one of his tired feet.
"I'm with Reuben, we've been walking for a while, and we don't even know where we're going." said Angel as she stopped.
"Well I'm not tired, and I know exactly where I'm going." said Kixx as he tried to rub his foot without catching anyone's attention. He then looked around for a second in confusion. "We're uhh… going this way, to the cliffs." he said with misplaced confidence.
"Knock off the tough guy act, we could do for a rest." said Stitch as he stopped. Kixx gave him an irritable look.
"But you are right though, that's where we need to go." Stitch continued.
"No I…huh, really? I'm right? Wait, why are you so certain all of a sudden?" asked Kixx who was caught off guard.
"Why were you? I'm not completely sure, but I do have a slight hunch that's where we're supposed to go." said Stitch.
"Yeah, I'm getting that vibe too." interjected Reuben.
"Besides, unless Matui meant for us to travel over miles of desert to see a cactus, that mountain side looks like our best bet." said Stitch.
Scanning their destination, the mountain side rested not too far in the distance. The redness of the rock seemed to glow under the night lights of the three full moons above. Though the formation of mountain side the cliff varied in places, the landscape stayed static and barren, except for one thing that caught the attention of one of the experiments.
"Hey…what's that right there?" asked Sparky pointing in the direction of the cliff.
All of the experiments turned their attention to the spot their electric cousin pointed to and saw what looked like a circle shape rock formation at the base of the cliff wall. And without saying a word the experiments began to sprint to the object.
After a minute of running the experiments reached their destination. They stopped to look in awe at their discovery as the last of the group staggered along.
"Ugh…c'mon already! ... Can't we just walk?" panted Reuben. "I mean it's not going anywhere and I'm allergic to continuous running! I got a doctor's note and everyth…whoa…"
He stopped in mid sentence to gawk at the large stone ring that sat before him. The ring was carved into the side of the cliff.
"Does that look familiar to anyone?" asked Richter.
"It looks like the portal from the village. A Jump Gate. It even has the place for the crystals." said Sparky, taking note of the stone altar with the holes etched in.
"But there's one thing. We're missing the crystals." said Angel noticing the lack of crystals.
"Um…I think I know where to find them." said Richter looking up the cliff side. The other experiments looked up to see six sparkling crystals embedded high into the mountain.
"Great, anybody know how to rock climb?" asked Sparky.
Kixx looked at the out-of-reach crystals and rubbed his chin with one of his arms. He then looked at Reuben. "Hey Salami Head, can't you knock them down or something? This is your element."
"Huh…oh, yeah, right! I can pull them down!" said Reuben.
As Reuben stepped up he began to stretch and flex; making sure to flex in the view of Angel. While the only response he received was rolling eyes, laughter and glares, he cleared his throat and faced his task. As he started to raise his hands, the ground began to rumble.
"Hey! What are you aiming for, the cliff or the ground!" asked Kixx
"That ain't me! I hadn't even started yet!" said Reuben.
Then, they all looked back to the desert to see something moving quickly underground and producing a large dust cloud in the process. As it moved, a large, hideous screech could be heard.
"Uh-oh, guess who's back for seconds!" said Richter.
Everyone looked with terrified faces as the worm sped towards them with deadly speed. Backing up in terror, Kixx looked back at the frightened Reuben and yelled at him.
"What are you sitting there for! Hurry up and get the crystals!"
"…Right, I'm on it!" he said looking back to the mountain.
"I'll keep Slinky busy, you get the Jump Gate working!" shouted Stitch as he ran towards the approaching dust cloud while he transformed.
"I'll help too, wait for me!" shouted Richter as he ran after Stitch.
As 626 and 221 ran towards the worm, Reuben focused on the spot where the crystals sat; he held out his hands and slowly pulled back, causing the cliff above to rumble and quake until the chunk of rock with the crystals broke out and fell to the desert floor. With the worm quickly approaching, Richter slammed the ground with his tail, sending a rumbling shockwave through the soil. The worm shrieked and surfaced, thrashing around from the attack, giving Stitch the opportunity to hurl a fireball at its head. The worm fell to the ground with a thunderous crash. As the worm lay motionless, Stitch walked up to its head and poked it with his dagger, showing the worm to be unresponsive. While Stitch blew a raspberry, in one quick motion the worm attacked, lunging at Stitch with its open mouth. Stitch only had enough time to react by catching the worm's teeth. While Stitch struggled to not be eaten, Angel, Kixx, Sparky and Reuben, hurried to open the jump gate.
"Maybe they're color coded…" sai0d Sparky.
"They're all the same color!" said Kixx.
"Alright, shape then!" said Sparky.
Just as Kixx raised his fist to strike the electric experiment, Angel held out a paw to stop him.
"Wait, I think he might be onto something!" said Angel.
"I think you've been hanging around him too long." said Kixx.
"No stupidhead! Look at the crystals; they're all not the same! The holes are different too!" she said.
The other three looked closely at the crystals to see the slight difference the siren experiment pointed out. Each prism crystal, though resembling each other in size and color differed from one protruding piece or absence of section in its form. Each crystal came with its own puzzle-like hole in the altar. The experiments looked at each other with a look of "a duh!" plastered on their faces. In a great hurry they placed the crystal in the corresponding hole and then waited.
"What went wrong? Why isn't it glowing!" asked Kixx.
"I remember Matui putting his hands in the circles. Try doin' that." said Reuben.
Kixx hurriedly put two of his large hands over the circles, but nothing happened. He pulled his hands up and tried again and again until he began pounding the stone.
"Stop, you'll break it!" said Angel as she grabbed his shoulder. In a huff he stopped and folded his four arms.
"Uh, guys…" said Stitch from behind them. This caught the attention to the three experiments as they turned around to the struggling Stitch in the maw of the worm.
"Not to rush you or anything but you think you can speed it up before I get digested? Seriously, this thing's got teeth!" Stitch said between the worm's thrashes; he continued to hold the creature's mouth with only the gauntlets on his paws keeping him from being shredded by jagged teeth.
Anxiety setting in, the group began to feel that they have lost. Richter was still beating on the side of the worm as Stitch held its mouth open, and Kixx, Sparky, Reuben and Angel stood before the mountain side in a stupor. In a last effort, Angel put her paws in the circles and held them there, but the arch stood quietly. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she exhausted every idea that crossed her mind.
'What else can we do? We've tried everything! And now my bushi-bu is gonna get eaten.' she began to think.
'I don't think my song will work on that thing and I know I'm not strong enough to fight it…' she looked over to her dagger sitting on the edge of the stone and then back at her love fighting off the massive creature. She looked back to the stone with more tears in her eyes. She closed them as she made the biggest wish she's ever made.
'Please open; I don't know what else to do to help. Please open!' at that moment, a tear fell to the stone, and the crystals began to glow. The glow brought the attention of the three experiments back to the altar as the arc began to glow in response to the crystals. Once all of the symbols on the arc glowed brightly, a bright swirling light opened. In great joy, Angel turned to the other two experiments behind them and called out.
"Stitch! Richter! The jump gate is open!"
They turned back to the other group and saw the swirling light of the gate.
"Go Richter, I'll be with you in a sec!" said Stitch.
Richter wasted no time in running to the others. Once he was clear, Stitch popped backwards out of the worm's mouth, making it snap shut. Stitch inhaled deeply and blew a large stream of flames into the worm's head, stunning it momentarily as he ran for the gate. The all began to run into the light as the worm shook off the attack and barreled towards them in break-neck speeds. As Stitch jumped for the gate, he turned around quickly to blow a farewell raspberry as the gate disappeared, letting the worm slam into the mountain, crushing the altar and arch.
Inside a dark tunnel, light suddenly poured from a dead end wall. The light widened until it covered the wall and six bodies flew out of the light and landed on the ground in front of them, and as quickly as the light appeared it vanished, leaving the little travelers groaning on the ground.
"Ya know, that's getting old real fast…" said the disgruntled Reuben.
Everyone began pulling themselves out of the pile. "Hey, I didn't end up on the bottom this time!" said Sparky just before he was pushed off by Kixx below him as he said "Lucky you."
"Um…where are we exactly?" said Angel as she dusted herself off.
"If I had to guess, under the mountain, but all I see is a long tunnel." said Stitch, his eyes glowing green with his night vision.
"Yeah uh cuz? Not all of us got the night vision upgrade expansion pack, so you think you can give those less fortunate some light, huh?" asked Reuben.
With that the fire warrior snapped his fingers and created a flame in his palm, illuminating the rocky, almost featureless tunnel. They began walking down the narrow cave, talking amongst themselves about their adventure so far.
"All I'm saying is we gotta be careful in here, we don't know what's down here." said Kixx.
"Yeah, I like looking at a menu, not being on one." said Reuben.
"Well, Chief Mutai said that we had to come here, so I doubt there's anything very threatening down here. Besides, we should be able handle anything coming at us." said Angel.
"Tsk, speak for yourself," scoffed Kixx, "you weren't much help."
She stopped and tuned quickly to the kickboxing experiment in anger, making the group stop as well. "And what the heck is that supposed to mean!"
Sensing the tension building, Richter tried to intervene. "Hold on, don't say anything stupid…"
"Back off! What I'm gonna say is the truth and you know it!" said Kixx, pushing Richter away. "Ever since we've arrived in this wretched world, you've only been dead weight; when ever there was a battle you're never able to hold your own."
Stitch then got between the two arguing experiments; the flame in his hand growing larger, giving his angered expression more emphasis. She looked from behind her mate and continued to argue. "I help out just as much as anyone else, I opened the jump gate didn't I!"
"You got lucky, there's no way you would've known how to open it." he retorted.
She began to open her mouth, but said nothing, and then Stitch jumped in. "Alright enough, she does as much work as anyone of us. And besides, I didn't see you making much of an effort to open the gate."
Kixx huffed and continued to walk. Stitch brought Angel up to the front to talk as they walked.
"Don't listen to that stupid-head, you did what you could in the fights and you were the only one who figured out how to open the gate." he said.
"But he's right though, my power won't work on them and I'm not built for combat. And I'm not totally sure on how I activated the gate. That was a total fluke." she countered.
"No, it wasn't a fluke. I'm sure of it. Trust me when I say you're not dead weight. And I bet when your dagger activates you'll be a real fighting machine! Don't worry, and don't doubt your abilities." he finished. As the group continued to walk, Angel took another look at the dagger with the white stone in her hand and sighed.
After five more minutes of walking, the experiments happened along a round room. The room was large enough to fit about twenty of Gantu's species. On the wall going around the room was a panel, each with an elemental symbol etched into it and between each panel a torch hung. Other than the experiments the room stood empty.
As Sparky was the last one to walk in, a sudden movement and loud rumble startled him as he sped towards the front and latched onto Kixx's head as he screamed.
"Aaaahhh! What the heck was that!" he said, still trembling on Kixx's head. As the rumbling grew larger, Kixx threw the startled experiment to the ground as everyone watched the cave behind them suddenly close up with stone. The experiments looked puzzled, and then looked towards the earth warrior.
"…what? Don't look at me, I didn't do it!" he said holding up his hands in defense.
Then a gust of wind blew from nowhere and took the flame from Stitch's hand. The flame flew through the air and circled the group, lighting each torch as it passed. As the room brightened up, the wind swirled above and intensified.
"What's happening!" shouted Richter over the raging sound of the winds. Everyone braced themselves as best they could; Angel clung closely to Stitch, eyes closed and wishing the violent wind would stop. As the wind raged on, through the howling winds a voice could be heard.
"Welcome."
They all looked up towards the ceiling to see a figure glide down from the wind. He was a tall humanoid creature, his skin pale with long flowing white hair. His face, though without a nose and ears, showed age with his wrinkled face, pale lips and luminescent blue eyes. Blue markings were painted on his face in foreign symbols the experiments couldn't recognize. He wore long, luxurious white and grey robes that flowed through the wind, and blue gems on his white leather boots and gloves.
As he floated down, the experiments watched with awe and horrid looks as they notice the noticeable transparency of the figure approaching them.
"Welcome my jagin warriors. I have laid in wait for ages in hopes that you find you way here." He said as he approached the group.
The experiments stood silently; their fur raised and voices lost by the sight before them. Finally, the electrical experiment broke the silence.
"GHOST!" he said as he jumped for the closest thing to latch on to, which was Kixx's head. Angel jumped behind Stitch as he pulled out his dagger. After throwing off his frightful cousin, Kixx along with the others prepared to act: to either run or fight.
"Fear me not young Lux, I mean you no harm." said the the silver spirit, noticing the quivering form of Angel behind her mate.
Looks were exchanged all around the room as they lowered their guards slightly.
"Wha…what did you call her? Lux?" asked Stitch, letting his dagger fall to his side.
Angel then came from behind Stitch, confused yet calm from hearing the spirit's soothing voice.
Yes, she is Lux, as she is the jagin warrior of light, just as you are the warrior of fire, Pyro." He said as he gestured to Angel when he spoke.
"You must be that wizard the chief was talkin' about, ain't ya?" asked Reuben.
"Yes Gaia, I am known as Keren, the Jagin Maestro. I am the one who created the jagin daggers you all now wield. I am the one who entrusted the daggers to the safe keeping of Chief Matui of the Western Bromiri Tribe.
"So this must be the guy that got us in this mess in the first place." said Kixx with slight spite in his voice.
"I am not the one who delivered you here Aqua warrior, the ever flowing stream of destiny is what brought you here." answered Keren.
Immediately, everyone was floored. Astonished that the mysterious wizard heard what was spoken in Turian, the room went silent again, with Stitch now breaking the silence.
"Wait, you understood him!"
"I do not speak your language, but I see you thoughts clear in my mind." answered Keren.
Before anymore questions could be asked, Keren spoke again. "Please follow me, we have much to discuss." And he began to walk down a corridor that suddenly opened in the wall. As the experiments walked through the passageway, the torches began to go out one by one and as the last experiment passed through, the passage was beginning to seal its self. And as if on cue, torches lining the walls of the corridor lit as they walked. While the spirit walked down the quiet hall, the experiments were in silent tow as they listened intently to his words.
"We all are bound by destiny, tethered by the chains of fate, destined to flow along the river of life to our ultimate destination that is our reason for being. It is in our greatest time of need did destiny call upon you; it has called upon you from the great distances of our two universes to fulfill a millennia old prophecy."
"But why us? We're just a bunch of genetically created experiments made in test tubes. We weren't even meant to save people." said Stitch following close behind Keren.
"It matters not weather you were born or created, nor weather you were meant to protect or destroy, something great is calling for you all, and destiny has delivered you to the setting of your greatest trials. You have felt this in your heart, have you not young Pyro?"
Stitch fell silent at the observation of the spirit, feeling it to be true as his thoughts linger back to his previous feelings from before their fateful trip.
"Okay…but what is this prophecy exactly?" asked Richter.
Not missing a beat, Keren flowed down the lighted tunnel and stopped in a medium sized room. The room had a slightly large ceiling, and lining the wall was the long told story of Matenua and the prophecy; a mural of large figures, planets, armies and the nine elements revolved around the room depicting that which has passed and what will become. As the experiments gawked at the mural, Keren continued speaking.
"There once was a time where there was no time. The nine great beings of all existence known as the elder gods, who presided over the respective elements of fire, water, earth, wind, thunder, forest, ice, light and darkness, used their divine power to create this universe, and this world known as Matenua."
"Yeah uh bud? We already got that much from the chief." interjected Reuben.
"Then you must already know about the rise of the Sunyata Empire." continued Keren. "Born from nothingness its self, their insane god wishes to return all existence back to the nothingness it was born from. Its power was immense; any who opposed it who were of weak will and small heart were driven to madness by its very presence. With its power, the empire ravaged the land, destroyed kingdoms, and eradicated nations. The elder gods were torn; knowing what must be done, but unable to break their vow of omniscient rule. Though they could not directly destroy the empire with their wrath, they were able to cripple the empire by binding their god to Limbo. "
The experiments listened closely to the words the spirit spoke, shivering slightly at the thought of the terrifying deity. But one experiment, the siren experiment, caught the sound of something within the mountain, something large, something suffering.
"With their god in Limbo, the empire did not stop their rampage." continued Keren, "Many inhabitants of Matenua were erased from existence. It is in this time of peril, when heroes were scarce and saviors were needed, the gods searched the cosmos and found nine souls who could carry the emblems of the gods, nine beings who can wield the elements and defeat the evil empire, six of those nine is you."
While Keren spoke, the distracted Angel caught sight a new corridor opening, and the cry from before intensifying. Silently she slipped from the group down the dim lit corridor. But unbeknownst to the siren experiment, her exit caught the attention of her blue, furry mate.
"Bushi-bu?"
Before he knew what was happening, she was far ahead down the hall, with the blue wreaking ball following behind. When he lost track of Angel, Stitch began to pick up the pace; running on all fours, he ran quickly until he found Angel in the middle of a dark area. Though the only thing that could be seen in the room was intense shadows, one could feel the presence of something taking space within the room.
"Man what is this place, even my night vision can see through this dark…" thought Stitch as he scanned the room with his green night vision eyes. He then looked to Angel who stood silently in front of him staring into the dark abyss.
"Bushi-bu, what's wrong? Why'd you run?" he asked.
Without turning around she answered, "Something's out there, something called to me."
"Something's out there? I don't see anything, how can you be sure?"
"I just know okay…something called to me from this room, and it's hurt." she said and began to run into the dark.
"Ah…Angel wait!"" shouted the fire jagin as he chased after his mate.
When she finally came back into view, she was kneeled over a large furry animal. The creature was of canine species and was covered in snow white fur, all except a patch of dark red fur; the matted fur was caked with dried blood around a still bloody wound, and a small pool of blood stood under the animal's motionless body.
Angel looked onto the animal with worry as it started up to her with its beautiful silver eyes.
"Ar…are…y…you okay?" asked Angel with as much English as she knew. The animal only growled in response.
"Kl..claw wound? Terrible!" struggled Angel.
"Angel, what are you doing?" asked Stitch, slightly wary of the creature the siren experiment was kneeled next to.
"Her name is Silver Fang, she was wounded by something down here!" explained Angel.
Before anything else could be asked, Silver Fang let out a small bark and struggled to stand. Then she motioned for Angel to climb up on her back. Once on top, the wolf started on a shaky run, and began to pick up speed until they were lost in the dark again.
"Aw man not again!" said Stitch hurrying after them as he tried to navigate the rest of the dark halls.
Through the dark halls, the small experiment clung to the back of the lunar wolf as it ran.
"Why…you..need help?" Angel struggled to ask.
"An important matter is at hand, only you can correct this troubling matter." said the voice within Angel's head.
"Don't know…can fix…"
"You must believe in yourself Lux warrior, you hold great power within you" said the voice once again as the wolf looked back to her for a split second.
Then the wolf stopped in a large dark room. The room stood dark but devoid of matter; as if the darkness in the room was a large pit to perilously fall into. But as Angel jumped off her ride, she sensed something ominous within the dark. Penetrating the darkness, she could hear the hideous moans and growls of several creatures. She looked forward to see several lanky figures lumbering towards them. The humanoid creatures were covered with black skin; with very little muscle mass the bones showed clearly on their dark skin. Their nails long and black as their skin and their head hairless and without eyes and nose, only their sharp teeth ladled mouths with drool black and thick as tar on their face.
Frightened, Angel backed away slightly, only to be stopped by a furry wall.
"They are nulls, mindless husks of long forgotten beings, brought to life by the darkest of arcane arts, left by the Sunyata Empire to roam the lands causing chaos and plight."
While Silver Fang telepathically explained their origin, the nulls slowly walked towards them, arms reaching and claws snatching at the air separating them.
"This mountain is a sacred sanctuary, blessed by the gods many years ago. Now these invaders roam these halls, defiling it with their presence. Warrior of Light, I have brought you here to purge this sacred place of this evil." Silver Fang concluded.
Angel looked at the white gem studded dagger, shivering slightly at the current situation. She then looked behind them to the doorway, expecting her valiant knight to swoop in to save her.
"You mustn't rely on the others to fight; you must have faith in you own power. Believe that you have power to fight and win." said Silver Fang.
"But..was…n..not meant to fight. I'm useless." said Angel.
"You are not useless Lux, you have proven yourself worthy of this gift by arriving here. And you can prove you are destined to protect this world, but only if you believe!" said Silver Fang.
With that, Silver Fang backed away, leaving Angel in the shadows to deal with the approaching nulls. She looked frantically behind, looking for the wolf, and missing the approaching null. The null swiped at Angel, just missing her ear as she dodged. Angel backed into open space as the nulls turned to face her again; the faces of the nulls twisted with savage rage and hunger as they attempted to catch their potential meal. With a desperate thought, Angel tried using her song again, only for it to fall on deaf ears as the nulls continued their deathly march. Angel kept up the song until her throat became sore; then before she realized, the nulls surrounded her. As what seemed to be her approaching fate closed in, Angel began to break down where she stood and cry; her thoughts echoing loud in her head.
'Why! Why does it have to end like this! Why was I given this? I can't fight, I wasn't programmed to fight. If only Stitch…'
Then in that moment, she began to recall some key memories; scenes flashed through her mind quickly and with much force. She remembered the first time she met Stitch, how she fell in love with him, how she was saved and helped him protect the Earth, how she became part of an ohana. She then began to remember the bromiri from the village, how she connected with them and grew to like them, and words of her beloved flowed through her mind.
"No, it wasn't a fluke. I'm sure of it. Trust me when I say you're not dead weight. And I bet when your dagger activates you'll be a real fighting machine! Don't worry, and don't doubt your abilities."
Then an image of Stitch flashed through her mind; his toothy smile cheerful and warming, giving her strength. She then clutched the dagger and looked up at the null in front of her, who now towers over her.
"You listen to me you ugly abomination, I won't allow you to take me, and I won't allow you to keep this place. Throughout my life I've had nothing worth fighting for, not until I met my bushi-bu . Now I have an ohana, something worth protecting! I may not be made for combat, but I will fight you with everything I've got, and I will fight your master with everything I am! I can, and I will defeat you!" she shouted at them.
And as the null in front of her raised its claw to strike, a glow emanating from the experiment stopped the assault. The light grew more intense and finally engulfed Angel entirely, causing the startled nulls to back away. Finally as the light slowly dimmed, Angel appeared in her new armor. Her pure white armor consisted of a thin breastplate, shin and armguards, skin tight one piece leather suit and a thin white headband. The symbol that represented light in this world was shown on the back of the breastplate. She stood calmly; her armor glistening with light and beauty as she held her dagger up and confidently looked at the null before her.
"Okay big boy…let's dance."
The nulls showed no emotion; devoid of much thought, the nulls continued their assault. The first null reached her first as it raised its arm to attack again. Angel looked up to see the claw begin to fall to her, and with a quick movement, the claw detached from the wrist and fell to the ground. The null showing no signs of pain, its eyeless head looked at its wrist for the dismembered hand, only to have dust fall from the wound. As it hissed at her, Angel smirked and held her dagger out and struck; in rapid succession that couldn't be seen by normal eyes, she cut the null repeatedly, leaving nothing but dust. She turned to see two more approach. The closest null jabbed at her quickly, but Angel grabbed its hand and yanked towards the target to receive a foot to the face and knocking it back. The other attempted to grab her, only to have its arms cut off and a roundhouse kick to the head. While she watched the null fly, Angel failed to keep track of the other remaining nulls as one came up from behind and attempted to attack. She noticed the movement behind her and quickly jumped away, having the null miss and hit the ground. She then pointed at the null with two of her pointer and index fingers and a thin beam of light shot at the null, hitting it in the head, cutting clean through with amazing accuracy and power.
The worried Stitch frantically raced through the dark hall, looking for his bushi-bu and calling to her as he ran. He then noticed a flash of light ahead of him and what seemed to be growling. He hurried to the commotion until he got to the entrance, only to be greeted by a large lanky black creature. Shocked, Stitch didn't have time to react as the creature lunged at him, and in an instant, the creature was vaporized to dust, and in the distance Stitch could see an unbelievable sight.
"Ah…Angel!" he said as he gawked with his jaw on the floor.
As he examined his armored lover, the feelings he felt for her when he met her, the air-light, bubble-gut feeling returned. 'Wow…she looks… beautiful!'
Noticing her mate, she smiled wide as the darkness of the room lifted and revealed a large room that seemed to be the center of it all. Quickly, Stitch ran to Angel and hugged her tightly.
"Angel, you did it! I knew you would!"
Then walking up from behind her, Silver Fang growled.
"Silver Fang said the same thing, I just had to believe I could fight, and remember what I'm fighting for" she said as she smiled warmly. Stitch returned the smile and leaned in, but before they could continue, a voice from behind interrupted them.
"Aw man! Did we miss the fight? I wanted to see more action!"
They turned around to see Keren and the experiments approaching from the entrance.
"Whoa ho yowza! Angel, you look amazing! That look defiantly works for ya sweetcakes!" said Reuben.
While Stitch was giving Reuben the evil stare, Angel nudged him to turn his attention to the approaching Jagin Maestro.
"Congratulations Lux, you have not only proven your metal as the Jagin of Light, but also eradicated the evil that dwelled in these halls. Now the Jagins have reclaimed their sanctuary."
"Wait…is that supposed to mean we're gonna live here?" asked Stitch.
"Why yes Pyro," said Keren as he opened his arms in display to the sanctum, "Welcome to Tetera: home of the Jagin Warriors and the Elements of Matenua."
Okay...didn't want the violence to be that graphic, but considering how graphic my Keroro Gunso story The Brothers of Anarchy (GO READ IT DAMMIT!) is, this is like watching Tom & Jerry. First: if you remember Angel being called "Yang" in this story, look again because I found a better name for her, it now "Lux" (sounds a hellova lot better!). And if you haven't guessed, figured it out, or forgot, here's an not so/but still is SPOILER ALERT: My OC in the story will be the jagin of darness, if you want to know what he will be called, find a latin dictionary, or wait 'till he's introduced!. Second: If you haven't already figured it out, all the sacred animals speech text will be italic, showing that they're using telepathy and can only speak to the assigned experiment (and if you're still singing the short-bus blues, it means that the animals can only speak through their minds to the experiment with their element!). I think that's everything, if anyone's got any questions, ask in a review (or pm I guess...) and thanks for sticking around to continue reading the story! Remember: REVIEW!