Chapter X: Budehuc Castle and a Fight Upon the Plains
The party awoke two hours after the sun had arisen. Nanami ran into the room where the boys had slept to awaken them only to find that Jowy and Riou were already awake and that the last member of the party was nowhere to be found. The trio went down the stairs and out the front door of the inn and decided to look around a bit.
They were standing in a courtyard with a fountain in the centre, some uncompleted buildings off to the right, stairs directly to the right leading up to a mansion, and another set of stairs leading downwards to an unseen area. The trio noticed a rune shop next to the uncompleted buildings and decided to look inside of it. When they walked into the rune shop they found the missing member of their party speaking with a woman with a very pale complexion in a black dress.
Riou and Nanami recognized the woman instantly. The woman called out to the two of them: "Hehehe... Hello! How have you been, Riou and Nanami?"
Jowy had a concerned look on his because he knew that this odd woman had recognized them while the group was trying to keep a low profile. He didn't know who, exactly, this woman was, but he didn't know if he could trust her to not tell people that they were who they were.
Teddy noticed the look on Jowy's face and said, "Jowy, don't worry. Jeane knows how to be discreet about things and she won't tell anyone that we are here or who we are. Isn't that right Jeane?"
"Hehehe... Yes, I know how to be... discreet." Jeane said with a sensual voice as Teddy gave her an odd look.
"Yes, well I think you remember Riou and Nanami from a few years back, right?" Teddy asked and then Jeane nodded. Teddy then continued, "Well, this is their friend Jowy. I'm sure you've seen him on the battlefield before. Well, these three are on a world tour and I'm leading them through the Grasslands. It's most inopportune for there seems to be a war about to start. So, have you seen any of the Fire Bringer here?"
Before Jeane could answer, Nanami jumped in with a question: "Wait, I thought we were looking for some Flame Champion, so what is this Fire Bringer?"
"The Fire Bringer were the people who followed the Flame Champion. They started out as bandits raiding Harmonian caravans before they fought against them in battle." Explained Teddy. Nanami just said, "Oh."
Then Jeane finally responded to the question with, "Hehehe... There aren't any of them here. Sorry I can't be of more help."
"No problem. They may as of yet gather here. I didn't think that they would be here yet anyways. So, guys, what do you want to do now? We could keep looking around here for some clues, or just relax, or we could go back and report to Lucia what we've learned so far. I don't think we should go back yet; we might be able to find more information if we dig a little bit. But you guys should just relax; this isn't your war to fret about." Teddy said.
"How about we stay here just a little while longer to see if we can find anything and we can relax as well. Then we can go report back to Miss Lucia. As long as we don't have to fight too much more, I'll be happy. I don't want to get dragged into a long war. I want to help, but I'm tired of fighting." Riou said.
"Sounds good to me Riou. Let's go check out this castle now. I want to see everything that I can. Then we can head out. What do you think, Jowy?" Nanami asked.
"It sounds good to me too. Let's go explore this castle: it seems a little run down though." Jowy said.
The group then exited the rune shop while waving bye to Jeane. They headed towards the stairs heading up to the mansion when Nanami turned towards Teddy and asked, "So, how do you know Jeane? You seemed to have known her for a while."
Riou and Jowy looked at Teddy because they were curious as well. Looking straight forward he answered, "I've know her for a few hundred years. We met a long time ago south of here. Very south of here. We became friends because she's so amiable." Riou's, Jowy's and Nanami's jaws all dropped in astonishment.
"She's how old?" Nanami asked incredulously. Riou had composed himself a little bit by now, but now his curiosity had increased upon the matter. Jowy still had his jaw dropped until Riou turned towards him and closed it for him.
Teddy just rolled his eyes and said, "It's not polite to discuss a lady's age. I've already said more than I should of. But haven't you noticed that she hasn't aged since the last time you saw her fifteen years ago?"
"That's right; she hasn't aged at all, has she? It's hard to notice things like that when you yourselves haven't aged." Riou said.
The group then went into the mansion and began to look around at all of the rooms and the structure of the building. They look around on the main floor first and then went up to the second floor and looked in each room. They went into the library and looked at some of the books that they had there. Nanami got bored first and made the party continue their exploration of the mansion. They headed down the stairs and went to the first basement level. There was a slight breeze on this level and the group soon found out as to why there was; the castle wall open to a passageway to a large ship that had been washed up on the rocks next to the castle. They went into the ship and up onto the deck. There Teddy went straight to the bow of the ship and just gazed out over the ocean. The other three members of the group walked around the deck together until they met up with Teddy and told him that they were going to continue with their tour of the mansion now. He followed them out of the ship and down another level to where there were a series of jail cells. They walked passed these without much interest in them and came to a door which led to the outside. They went out it and saw the water right in front of them. There were a couple of buildings that were under going construction next to the water front, but this didn't interest the group too much. They set off to their left and up a slight hill. They came to the stairs that led to the courtyard where they had started; but instead of going up those, they continued along the path and out through some trees to a barn and a field. It looked like this would be suitable for horses, but there were none to be seen. The group was satisfied with what they had seen and decided to head back to the courtyard. They went back along the path which they had traversed and climbed the stairs to the courtyard.
"Well, this is a nice place, but I think we should get back to Miss Lucia now and tell her what we have found out. We can take it easy going back because we have only been gone one day and we told her we would get back within a week, so we have time." Jowy said.
Riou and Nanami said "Okay." And Teddy just nodded his head. The group then left the castle the same way they had entered it the previous day.
And the young girl who was the guard waved bye with a big smile and said, "Come back soon, okay? And don't forget to tell all of your friends about us!"
Nanami waved back saying, "We'll tell everyone we see, so don't worry!" The males of the group just shook their heads while continuing to walk.
The group had walked about thirty minutes along the path when Teddy stopped in his tracks with a panicked look upon his face. He looked around and saw that there were some trees not too far away. He turned towards the other three members of the group who were confused as to what was going on and said to them, "I want you to run to those trees and stay out of sight, not matter what. Okay? I cannot explain what's going on right now, but I need you to trust me. Here, Nanami, hold this for me, okay?" He handed Nanami his sword from his belt.
She then said, "Teddy, wait, won't you need this? We can't just leave you here. Especially when we have no clue what's going on and..." She was cut off when a dozen skeleton soldiers armed with swords and axes appeared out of nowhere and began to attack the group. Riou and Jowy quickly cleared the way to the trees that Teddy had pointed out earlier and dragged Nanami behind leaving Teddy behind to deal with the other eight skeleton warriors that were left.
One of the monsters that was armed with a sword came up to Teddy and swung at him, but he side stepped the blow and grabbed the sword from the skeletons grip while punching its head off, literally. Two ax wielding skeletons came up to Teddy from both sides and swung at the same time. Teddy leapt six feet into the air, allowing the monsters to destroy each other. With the "borrowed" sword in his right hand, Teddy jumped on the shoulders of another ax wielding skeleton and drove the sword into its skull. As the beast dissolved into nothingness, Teddy grabbed its ax with his left hand and hurled it at another monster. The ax went straight through its body and into another monsters', destroying them both. By this time Riou, Jowy and Nanami had managed to safely make it to the tree line and wait there. Nanami just looked confused while holding onto Teddy's sword as Riou and Jowy had stern, concerned looks upon their faces.
As Teddy was finishing the last two monsters, the ground rippled a golden light and three figures appeared from the glowing light. One in a mask and a green coat, another in a blue dress, and the last in black clothes and a black bowler hat. The woman in the blue dress immediately raised her wand and a portal open behind Teddy where a giant monster was opening its mouth. Teddy turned around in time to see the large purple blast of energy come at him. It hit him fully before he could dodge even a little. The blast also hit the mysterious trio that just showed up and hurt them a little as well. The masked man countered that easily though by raising his right hand and using powerful wind magic to heal him and his comrades while hurting Teddy even further. Teddy had been knocked to the ground by the double assault and his cape had been torn a lot by the blasts. His clothes had holes and cuts in them. He was bleeding and bruised, but managed to summon the same monster that the woman had. This time it was behind her and her friends. The monster hit them, but not Teddy because he jumped twenty feet into the air right after summoning the beast and dived down towards the masked man before he could heal his friends again. Teddy swung the sword he still had at the masked man, but the man was protected by the man in black who had stepped in front of the blow, using his two swords to hold off Teddy's sword from continuing the swing.
Teddy jabbed the man in black with the tip of his shoe and then vaulted over the man in black to elbow drop the masked man. The man in black swung around and stabbed Teddy in the back with one of his swords. Teddy growled in pain and said, "Damn you, Yuber!" Yuber just chuckled and drove the sword all of the way through Teddy's side, making it protrude out from his stomach. Nanami gasped from the trees where she was hiding and turned very, very pale. Riou's and Jowy's jaws just tightened in tension. Teddy reversed the blade of the sword he had in his hand and drove it into Yuber's left side. Yuber coughed some blood up and released his grip on the sword in Teddy's back while backing up. Teddy let go of the sword he had stabbed into Yuber, and instead grabbed the handle of the sword in his back and yanked it out. He swore and summoned a wind spell to heal him and attack his foes. After the wind attack, Yuber fell to the ground laying on his back and coughing up blood. The masked man had regained his feet and was about to heal his friends again when Teddy ran up to him and kicked him in the face. Teddy was still bleeding and in a lot of pain, but continued the fight with a grunt and a contorted face. The woman in the blue dress healed her friends before Teddy could do anything to stop her. Yuber now had enough strength to try to stand up and did so. He was about to pull the sword from his abdomen when Teddy summoned a rock spike to smack Yuber in the face, knocking him back to the ground. This gave Teddy enough time to run up, jump in the air, and drive the sword in Yuber's belly all of the way through and into the ground with his foot. Teddy back flipped off the handle of the sword in Yuber's gut right before a shower of ice sickles would have hit him. The woman in the blue dress then created a wall of ice to protect her, the masked man, and Yuber from magic. Then the masked man summoned the giant monster from the portal behind Teddy. The monster hit Teddy again with the blast while he was in midair. The blast tore Teddy's cape to shreds and took most of his shirt too. The anti-magic ice wall protected the woman in the blue dress, the masked man, and Yuber from their own attack against Teddy. The masked man then used his wind magic to heal his comrades and attack Teddy at the same time. Teddy then was struck by a giant ball of lightening that came from the sky. Teddy's upper body now didn't have any clothes left upon it and his pants were full of holes. He was bleeding profusely now from where Yuber had stabbed him and he was covered in bleeding cuts and scrapes.
The woman in the blues dress then healed her party with water magic as Teddy was standing up from the last assault. Teddy then summoned a giant flaming meteorite from the sky that landed on the woman in the blue dress, hurting everyone there. Yuber pushed the sword out of his gut and then threw it straight at Teddy's back where it hit him in the left side. Teddy yelled in pain and fell to the ground. Yuber ran up to him and was going to use the sword he had in his hand to separate Teddy's head from his body, but Teddy rolled out of the way just as the blade fell. Still, Yuber got a piece of Teddy; he had chopped off Teddy's long hair. Teddy jumped to his feet and backhanded Yuber with a closed fist in one fluid movement. Yuber stumbled a bit and then Teddy took the sword that was Yuber's, and had been stabbed into him, and stabbed Yuber in his side with it. As Yuber fell to the ground, Teddy took out the sword that was now in his left side with his left hand. He was covered in his own blood, but was about to finish off Yuber when he was hit by a blue ball of electrical light. This knocked him back about twenty feet and onto the ground.
At this point, Riou and Jowy had to hold Nanami back from joining in on the fray. She was almost too much for them to hold back, but then Riou let go and hit her in the back of the head, knocking her out. "Sorry Nanami, but you wouldn't be of any help to him right now. Jowy, we have to go now. We'll head to that village we were at before. I have a feeling if we stick around that we could end up being killed and that's not what Teddy wanted." Jowy just nodded and helped Riou put the unconscious Nanami on his back. She was still clutching Teddy's sword as Riou and Jowy ran off with her on Riou's back.
Teddy was lying on his back and bleeding when the masked man walked up to him. Teddy then asked in heavy gasps of air and very strained, "Why are you attacking me? I don't understand how this will help you to attain you goal."
"We are doing this because I know that you will try to stop me from destroying this land. But you must understand that this land is just the sacrifice to let this world not have to suffer the fate of all the others." Explained the masked man.
"Oh, is that all?" Teddy asked in a sarcastic voice. He then hopped onto his feet and punched the masked man hard enough to send him flying thirty feet and knock his mask off. The woman in the blue dress ran up to the now unmasked man who was clutching the mask in his right hand while glaring at Teddy. The unmasked man had features similar to Teddy: his eyes were the same, and so was the facial structure, and now their hair was about the same length, thanks to Yuber's cut. But Teddy's hair was very slightly a lighter shade of blonde.
"Well, you're right about me not going to let you destroy this land over a problem that isn't a real one. Fate is what people make of it. This world will not turn out like you think. But I am not needed to stop you. I think someone else will do it for me." Teddy said. He was dripping blood on the ground and breathing heavily. Yuber had gotten up and was now holding both of his swords and was limping towards the others of his group.
"I'm alright Sarah." The man in the green coat said as he put his mask back on and stood up. "But let's finish this before he can recuperate any more." She nodded and they prepared to continue the fight when they noticed that Teddy was chanting something in another language and was glowing a bright red colour. "Damn! We have to go right now!" Shouted the masked man. He summoned the golden portal under their feet just as an all consuming fire exploded from Teddy's body and headed straight towards them. The group slipped into the portal just as the fire reached them. The fire consumed all and became a large dome of crimson. It went a hundred feet into the air and a hundred feet outwards, destroying the grass and turning everything into ashes. Riou and Jowy were arriving at Iksay Village when they saw the fire in the night sky.
The party awoke two hours after the sun had arisen. Nanami ran into the room where the boys had slept to awaken them only to find that Jowy and Riou were already awake and that the last member of the party was nowhere to be found. The trio went down the stairs and out the front door of the inn and decided to look around a bit.
They were standing in a courtyard with a fountain in the centre, some uncompleted buildings off to the right, stairs directly to the right leading up to a mansion, and another set of stairs leading downwards to an unseen area. The trio noticed a rune shop next to the uncompleted buildings and decided to look inside of it. When they walked into the rune shop they found the missing member of their party speaking with a woman with a very pale complexion in a black dress.
Riou and Nanami recognized the woman instantly. The woman called out to the two of them: "Hehehe... Hello! How have you been, Riou and Nanami?"
Jowy had a concerned look on his because he knew that this odd woman had recognized them while the group was trying to keep a low profile. He didn't know who, exactly, this woman was, but he didn't know if he could trust her to not tell people that they were who they were.
Teddy noticed the look on Jowy's face and said, "Jowy, don't worry. Jeane knows how to be discreet about things and she won't tell anyone that we are here or who we are. Isn't that right Jeane?"
"Hehehe... Yes, I know how to be... discreet." Jeane said with a sensual voice as Teddy gave her an odd look.
"Yes, well I think you remember Riou and Nanami from a few years back, right?" Teddy asked and then Jeane nodded. Teddy then continued, "Well, this is their friend Jowy. I'm sure you've seen him on the battlefield before. Well, these three are on a world tour and I'm leading them through the Grasslands. It's most inopportune for there seems to be a war about to start. So, have you seen any of the Fire Bringer here?"
Before Jeane could answer, Nanami jumped in with a question: "Wait, I thought we were looking for some Flame Champion, so what is this Fire Bringer?"
"The Fire Bringer were the people who followed the Flame Champion. They started out as bandits raiding Harmonian caravans before they fought against them in battle." Explained Teddy. Nanami just said, "Oh."
Then Jeane finally responded to the question with, "Hehehe... There aren't any of them here. Sorry I can't be of more help."
"No problem. They may as of yet gather here. I didn't think that they would be here yet anyways. So, guys, what do you want to do now? We could keep looking around here for some clues, or just relax, or we could go back and report to Lucia what we've learned so far. I don't think we should go back yet; we might be able to find more information if we dig a little bit. But you guys should just relax; this isn't your war to fret about." Teddy said.
"How about we stay here just a little while longer to see if we can find anything and we can relax as well. Then we can go report back to Miss Lucia. As long as we don't have to fight too much more, I'll be happy. I don't want to get dragged into a long war. I want to help, but I'm tired of fighting." Riou said.
"Sounds good to me Riou. Let's go check out this castle now. I want to see everything that I can. Then we can head out. What do you think, Jowy?" Nanami asked.
"It sounds good to me too. Let's go explore this castle: it seems a little run down though." Jowy said.
The group then exited the rune shop while waving bye to Jeane. They headed towards the stairs heading up to the mansion when Nanami turned towards Teddy and asked, "So, how do you know Jeane? You seemed to have known her for a while."
Riou and Jowy looked at Teddy because they were curious as well. Looking straight forward he answered, "I've know her for a few hundred years. We met a long time ago south of here. Very south of here. We became friends because she's so amiable." Riou's, Jowy's and Nanami's jaws all dropped in astonishment.
"She's how old?" Nanami asked incredulously. Riou had composed himself a little bit by now, but now his curiosity had increased upon the matter. Jowy still had his jaw dropped until Riou turned towards him and closed it for him.
Teddy just rolled his eyes and said, "It's not polite to discuss a lady's age. I've already said more than I should of. But haven't you noticed that she hasn't aged since the last time you saw her fifteen years ago?"
"That's right; she hasn't aged at all, has she? It's hard to notice things like that when you yourselves haven't aged." Riou said.
The group then went into the mansion and began to look around at all of the rooms and the structure of the building. They look around on the main floor first and then went up to the second floor and looked in each room. They went into the library and looked at some of the books that they had there. Nanami got bored first and made the party continue their exploration of the mansion. They headed down the stairs and went to the first basement level. There was a slight breeze on this level and the group soon found out as to why there was; the castle wall open to a passageway to a large ship that had been washed up on the rocks next to the castle. They went into the ship and up onto the deck. There Teddy went straight to the bow of the ship and just gazed out over the ocean. The other three members of the group walked around the deck together until they met up with Teddy and told him that they were going to continue with their tour of the mansion now. He followed them out of the ship and down another level to where there were a series of jail cells. They walked passed these without much interest in them and came to a door which led to the outside. They went out it and saw the water right in front of them. There were a couple of buildings that were under going construction next to the water front, but this didn't interest the group too much. They set off to their left and up a slight hill. They came to the stairs that led to the courtyard where they had started; but instead of going up those, they continued along the path and out through some trees to a barn and a field. It looked like this would be suitable for horses, but there were none to be seen. The group was satisfied with what they had seen and decided to head back to the courtyard. They went back along the path which they had traversed and climbed the stairs to the courtyard.
"Well, this is a nice place, but I think we should get back to Miss Lucia now and tell her what we have found out. We can take it easy going back because we have only been gone one day and we told her we would get back within a week, so we have time." Jowy said.
Riou and Nanami said "Okay." And Teddy just nodded his head. The group then left the castle the same way they had entered it the previous day.
And the young girl who was the guard waved bye with a big smile and said, "Come back soon, okay? And don't forget to tell all of your friends about us!"
Nanami waved back saying, "We'll tell everyone we see, so don't worry!" The males of the group just shook their heads while continuing to walk.
The group had walked about thirty minutes along the path when Teddy stopped in his tracks with a panicked look upon his face. He looked around and saw that there were some trees not too far away. He turned towards the other three members of the group who were confused as to what was going on and said to them, "I want you to run to those trees and stay out of sight, not matter what. Okay? I cannot explain what's going on right now, but I need you to trust me. Here, Nanami, hold this for me, okay?" He handed Nanami his sword from his belt.
She then said, "Teddy, wait, won't you need this? We can't just leave you here. Especially when we have no clue what's going on and..." She was cut off when a dozen skeleton soldiers armed with swords and axes appeared out of nowhere and began to attack the group. Riou and Jowy quickly cleared the way to the trees that Teddy had pointed out earlier and dragged Nanami behind leaving Teddy behind to deal with the other eight skeleton warriors that were left.
One of the monsters that was armed with a sword came up to Teddy and swung at him, but he side stepped the blow and grabbed the sword from the skeletons grip while punching its head off, literally. Two ax wielding skeletons came up to Teddy from both sides and swung at the same time. Teddy leapt six feet into the air, allowing the monsters to destroy each other. With the "borrowed" sword in his right hand, Teddy jumped on the shoulders of another ax wielding skeleton and drove the sword into its skull. As the beast dissolved into nothingness, Teddy grabbed its ax with his left hand and hurled it at another monster. The ax went straight through its body and into another monsters', destroying them both. By this time Riou, Jowy and Nanami had managed to safely make it to the tree line and wait there. Nanami just looked confused while holding onto Teddy's sword as Riou and Jowy had stern, concerned looks upon their faces.
As Teddy was finishing the last two monsters, the ground rippled a golden light and three figures appeared from the glowing light. One in a mask and a green coat, another in a blue dress, and the last in black clothes and a black bowler hat. The woman in the blue dress immediately raised her wand and a portal open behind Teddy where a giant monster was opening its mouth. Teddy turned around in time to see the large purple blast of energy come at him. It hit him fully before he could dodge even a little. The blast also hit the mysterious trio that just showed up and hurt them a little as well. The masked man countered that easily though by raising his right hand and using powerful wind magic to heal him and his comrades while hurting Teddy even further. Teddy had been knocked to the ground by the double assault and his cape had been torn a lot by the blasts. His clothes had holes and cuts in them. He was bleeding and bruised, but managed to summon the same monster that the woman had. This time it was behind her and her friends. The monster hit them, but not Teddy because he jumped twenty feet into the air right after summoning the beast and dived down towards the masked man before he could heal his friends again. Teddy swung the sword he still had at the masked man, but the man was protected by the man in black who had stepped in front of the blow, using his two swords to hold off Teddy's sword from continuing the swing.
Teddy jabbed the man in black with the tip of his shoe and then vaulted over the man in black to elbow drop the masked man. The man in black swung around and stabbed Teddy in the back with one of his swords. Teddy growled in pain and said, "Damn you, Yuber!" Yuber just chuckled and drove the sword all of the way through Teddy's side, making it protrude out from his stomach. Nanami gasped from the trees where she was hiding and turned very, very pale. Riou's and Jowy's jaws just tightened in tension. Teddy reversed the blade of the sword he had in his hand and drove it into Yuber's left side. Yuber coughed some blood up and released his grip on the sword in Teddy's back while backing up. Teddy let go of the sword he had stabbed into Yuber, and instead grabbed the handle of the sword in his back and yanked it out. He swore and summoned a wind spell to heal him and attack his foes. After the wind attack, Yuber fell to the ground laying on his back and coughing up blood. The masked man had regained his feet and was about to heal his friends again when Teddy ran up to him and kicked him in the face. Teddy was still bleeding and in a lot of pain, but continued the fight with a grunt and a contorted face. The woman in the blue dress healed her friends before Teddy could do anything to stop her. Yuber now had enough strength to try to stand up and did so. He was about to pull the sword from his abdomen when Teddy summoned a rock spike to smack Yuber in the face, knocking him back to the ground. This gave Teddy enough time to run up, jump in the air, and drive the sword in Yuber's belly all of the way through and into the ground with his foot. Teddy back flipped off the handle of the sword in Yuber's gut right before a shower of ice sickles would have hit him. The woman in the blue dress then created a wall of ice to protect her, the masked man, and Yuber from magic. Then the masked man summoned the giant monster from the portal behind Teddy. The monster hit Teddy again with the blast while he was in midair. The blast tore Teddy's cape to shreds and took most of his shirt too. The anti-magic ice wall protected the woman in the blue dress, the masked man, and Yuber from their own attack against Teddy. The masked man then used his wind magic to heal his comrades and attack Teddy at the same time. Teddy then was struck by a giant ball of lightening that came from the sky. Teddy's upper body now didn't have any clothes left upon it and his pants were full of holes. He was bleeding profusely now from where Yuber had stabbed him and he was covered in bleeding cuts and scrapes.
The woman in the blues dress then healed her party with water magic as Teddy was standing up from the last assault. Teddy then summoned a giant flaming meteorite from the sky that landed on the woman in the blue dress, hurting everyone there. Yuber pushed the sword out of his gut and then threw it straight at Teddy's back where it hit him in the left side. Teddy yelled in pain and fell to the ground. Yuber ran up to him and was going to use the sword he had in his hand to separate Teddy's head from his body, but Teddy rolled out of the way just as the blade fell. Still, Yuber got a piece of Teddy; he had chopped off Teddy's long hair. Teddy jumped to his feet and backhanded Yuber with a closed fist in one fluid movement. Yuber stumbled a bit and then Teddy took the sword that was Yuber's, and had been stabbed into him, and stabbed Yuber in his side with it. As Yuber fell to the ground, Teddy took out the sword that was now in his left side with his left hand. He was covered in his own blood, but was about to finish off Yuber when he was hit by a blue ball of electrical light. This knocked him back about twenty feet and onto the ground.
At this point, Riou and Jowy had to hold Nanami back from joining in on the fray. She was almost too much for them to hold back, but then Riou let go and hit her in the back of the head, knocking her out. "Sorry Nanami, but you wouldn't be of any help to him right now. Jowy, we have to go now. We'll head to that village we were at before. I have a feeling if we stick around that we could end up being killed and that's not what Teddy wanted." Jowy just nodded and helped Riou put the unconscious Nanami on his back. She was still clutching Teddy's sword as Riou and Jowy ran off with her on Riou's back.
Teddy was lying on his back and bleeding when the masked man walked up to him. Teddy then asked in heavy gasps of air and very strained, "Why are you attacking me? I don't understand how this will help you to attain you goal."
"We are doing this because I know that you will try to stop me from destroying this land. But you must understand that this land is just the sacrifice to let this world not have to suffer the fate of all the others." Explained the masked man.
"Oh, is that all?" Teddy asked in a sarcastic voice. He then hopped onto his feet and punched the masked man hard enough to send him flying thirty feet and knock his mask off. The woman in the blue dress ran up to the now unmasked man who was clutching the mask in his right hand while glaring at Teddy. The unmasked man had features similar to Teddy: his eyes were the same, and so was the facial structure, and now their hair was about the same length, thanks to Yuber's cut. But Teddy's hair was very slightly a lighter shade of blonde.
"Well, you're right about me not going to let you destroy this land over a problem that isn't a real one. Fate is what people make of it. This world will not turn out like you think. But I am not needed to stop you. I think someone else will do it for me." Teddy said. He was dripping blood on the ground and breathing heavily. Yuber had gotten up and was now holding both of his swords and was limping towards the others of his group.
"I'm alright Sarah." The man in the green coat said as he put his mask back on and stood up. "But let's finish this before he can recuperate any more." She nodded and they prepared to continue the fight when they noticed that Teddy was chanting something in another language and was glowing a bright red colour. "Damn! We have to go right now!" Shouted the masked man. He summoned the golden portal under their feet just as an all consuming fire exploded from Teddy's body and headed straight towards them. The group slipped into the portal just as the fire reached them. The fire consumed all and became a large dome of crimson. It went a hundred feet into the air and a hundred feet outwards, destroying the grass and turning everything into ashes. Riou and Jowy were arriving at Iksay Village when they saw the fire in the night sky.