Disclaimer, I do not own the characters and places spoken of in this title and this story is just written for fun
Chapter 9
Infiltration
the group having followed Amu's directions soon found themselves on a hill overlooking a large camp filled with Hexes of all kinds, the group looked carefully as Lucas tried to plan something that would work successfully. Lucas then was handed a pair of binoculars by Amu who had packed them in her backpack. Lucas looked through the binoculars and soon found Maria tried to a pole. He then saw Kefka, Dysley and Eric who seemed to be talking about something important. Dysley then disappeared as Kefka and Eric tried to open a portal that would be used for transporting Maria. Strangely Maria wasn't moving at all or struggling then Lucas noticed some kind of crown on her head. If they were going to move then they had to do it now but because of Amu's great escape Hexes had been placed all around then entrances and their numbers were incredibly large.
"We need to get in there but I have no idea how to get past the guards" said Lucas.
"Use the summons" said Pan.
"What?" questioned Lucas.
"Several you have used or have now unlocked the potential to summon, have them attack the gates and provide a distraction while you go and save the girl" said Pan.
"You mean those monsters we cane control, what are they and how do they work?" asked Lucas.
"They are summons, they chose a person to use them in battle to aid them and only special people can call them, they come when you see their name and call them that's all" said Joy.
"Now that you mentioned it the moment I summoned Fenrir I saw his name and felt like everything would be aright" said Syaoran.
"I think that me and Cynder have just gained our summon" said Spyro.
"You two own a joint summon, you both must be present to call him" said Pan.
"Then we have a plan" said Snow.
"It's going to be dangerous especially for those who don't have summons" said Lucas.
"I thought we told you, we're with you" said Amu.
"We're your friends so we help each other" said Sakura.
"Like the runts said, go save the girl" said Mir.
Lucas then looked at his friends amazed and agreed, the group counted to three before summoning all their current attacking summons.
"Bahamut, come forth" said Lucas.
"Shiva, come forth" said Snow.
"Fenrir, come forth" said Syaoran.
"Titan come forth and shake the earth" said both Spyro and Cynder.
Bahamut then appeared and took flight with Lucas on his back, the Shiva sisters appeared and transformed into a motor bike which Snow rode as he charged into battle. Syaoran jumped onto the back of Fenrir with Sakura who held onto him tightly and rode into battle, a new summon known as Titan then appeared, it was a huge man with huge muscles that ran into the battle field with Spyro and Cynder flying into battle with him. The rest ran and fought their hardest, they immediately brought attention to themselves yet they pounded the Hexes into the ground as hard as they could. The group provided such a great distraction that Lucas was able to infiltrate the camp undetected. Bahamut landed and Lucas took out a few Hexes on his way to find Maria. Bahamut then returned to the sky to help out the others as Lucas soon came face to face with Kefka, Eric and Maria who showed little or no emotion, Eric smiled as Lucas checked Maria, she looked fine but something was wrong with her.
"Maria it's me" said Lucas.
She did not reply she just stared at him blankly; Lucas then diverted his attention to Kefka and Eric.
"Kefka, why don't you go help out those Hexes" said Eric.
"Yes sir" said Kefka as he disappeared.
"You son of a…..what did you do to her?" asked Lucas.
"She was becoming quite a pain with he frequent running away and moaning so Kefka put one of his mind control crowns on her, she'll now only follow orders from me and Michel" said Eric.
"Damn you" said Lucas.
"This is standard procedure, so have you remembered yet about your true past?" asked Eric.
"The past is the past and I don't care about it, I want answers but I mostly came here for her" said Lucas.
"You were always prepared to lose your friends but you could never bring yourself to lose her, do you remember those whose deaths you caused?" asked Eric.
"What are you on about?" asked Lucas.
"You're a murderer Lucas" said Eric.
What the hell do you mean asked Lucas.
You killed a lot of people without mercy said Eric as he drew his sword.
I don't believe you said Lucas as he got ready for a fight.
Lucas said this but then flashes flickered in his head of him surrounded by people's bodies. Lucas still didn't believe Eric and the two locked swords and fought each other. The two used all their skill, Eric shot a thunder spell at Lucas which he blacked with his sword and then shot a fire spell at him which he dodged. The two continued to fight attacking each other with their swords and dodging each others attacks. A large portal then opened up behind them and then Eric untied Maria and ordered her to go into the portal, Maria silently did as she asked and walked into the portal.
"Maria wait" said Lucas as he fought off Eric.
For a second Maria did as she was asked and looked back at Lucas as if to tell him that she was still in there but then Eric punched Lucas into a box of crates and then pushed Maria through the portal before walking through it herself. Lucas tried to follow them but it closed as soon as he reached the portal. He fell to the ground in despair as footsteps echoed around him.
"Don't worry kid" said a male voice.
Lucas then turned round to see a man in a red coat with white hair carrying a large sword with a skull on it.
"You'll get another chance but until then you might wanna rethink your whole plan and you lines to pick up girls" said the man.
"Who are you?" asked Lucas pointing his sword at the man.
Lucas then noticed a bright red gauntlet on the man's arm, the rest of the group joined him with their weapons aimed at him.
"Relax, my name is Dante and Ikuto sent me to check up on you" said the man known as Dante.
Dante the famous demon hunter questioned Lucas as he lowered his weapon.
"The one and only" said Dante.
"Ikuto is here?" asked Amu.
"Yes, he's busy tracking what he thinks is another ring and wants me to come and get you" said Dante.
"What for, what does he want?" asked Lucas.
"Who knows kid, anyway that man you were fighting, if you want some advice don't attack him head on" said Dante.
Dante then turned to leave but looked back at them as if expecting them to follow him.
"Are you coming or not?" asked Dante.
"We're coming; I'd like to see what he is up to" said Lucas.
"Could be a trap" said Mir.
"Then I feel sorry for him, we've dealt with worse then Ikuto and this demon hunter before" said Lucas.
"True" said Syaoran.
The group followed Dante to some old ruins, Dante and the group stood outside and watched as Mis, Yoru and Ikuto came out of the ruins and approached them carrying a crystal blue ring.
"The boy who is playing hero, how is that going?" asked Ikuto as he handed Lucas the ring.
Lucas wondered why Ikuto had freely given it to them before looking at it, it was strange as Lucas was sure he had seen this somewhere before. Lucas then got a flash back of him, Eric and Michel and Maria all gathered around a chalk board that had pictures of twelve different rings along with information, this ring was one of them and at the top of the chalk board was the word Pandora.
"That's the Time Ring" said Pan.
"Why are you giving it to us?" asked Mir.
"I do not desire this ring besides I found something interesting, our little friend is up to something odd, I only know one word of what it concerns" said Ikuto
"And what would that be?" asked Amu.
"Pandora" said both Ikuto and Lucas.
The whole of them then looked at Lucas wondering how he knew that.
"How did you know what I was going to say?" asked Ikuto.
"I think I've heard that name before, it strange but it seems familiar" said Lucas
"But isn't Pandora the woman who opened a cursed box and cried a river of black tears?" questioned Sakura.
"That is how the myth goes" said Joy.
"Pandora, it rings a bell something about the myth rings true" said Pan.
"So the rings and Pandora are connected but how?" questioned Snow.
"What ever his plan is he needs the Fire, Space, Dream and as it seems the Time Rings to complete it" said Lucas.
"Well we have the Time Ring" said Amu.
"We have the Dream ring" said Dante.
"However there is that secret ring he took form Snow's world, I wonder what ring that was" said Lucas.
"It was a bright gold colour" said Syaoran.
"The Light Ring perhaps" said Joy.
"Maybe but that ring is just basically a night light so why would he want that? questioned Pan.
It doesn't matter what his plan is, we're going to collect the last of the rings he needs and stop him said Lucas.
"Well then we'll go then and find the rings said Mis.
"See you later Amu" said Ikuto.
"Sure" said Amu.
"Amu, are you and Ikuto in any kind relationship?" asked Lucas.
Amu then went bright red and looked at Lucas with a weird look across her face.
"Of course not" said Amu.
"That face and answer tell me you are" said Lucas.
"There is stubborn Amu, she won't admit she likes Ikuto but she also likes Tadase and Kukai" said Miki who popped out of Amu's bag.
"She must have a lot of problems" said Syaoran.
"No I don't, I have no feelings for him what so ever" said Amu.
Ikuto then came really close to Amu almost as if he was about to kiss her.
"Oh really, that's sad, I thought that night was special" said Ikuto with a smile on his face.
Amu then became bright red in the face and moved back from Ikuto.
"That night?" questioned Mir.
Amu's face became even redder and she let out a sort of squeal before Ikuto moved back and burst out laughing.
"Amu is always good for a laugh" said Ikuto.
"Anyway you two aren't the only couple we have here" said Lucas.
"What's that mean?" asked Spyro.
"Well Sakura and Syaoran are a couple" said Lucas.
"Well isn't that interesting" said Mir as Sakura and Syaoran went red.
"That's not all, Snow is getting married soon and Cynder has a huge secret" said Joy.
"What?" questioned Cynder.
"What kind of secret?" asked Mir.
"Its nothing" said Cynder.
"Also Mir fancies someone but is also too stubborn to admit it said Joy.
Maybe we should tape the things mouth shut said Mir.
"Good idea" said Cynder.
The group had a good laugh except Mir who looked miserable and looked off into the distance. Ikuto's group then left looking for more rings; Lucas's group did the same and soon found themselves in a strange world that looked like some kind of underworld. The group decided to rest and so set up camp and went to sleep, however dead in the night Michel and Eric came to the camp to talk to someone.
"So he is starting to awaken to his old memories" said Michel.
A shadowy figure stood there silently wondering if this was right.
"Thinking about something?" asked Eric.
"You think they are your friends and so you don't want to betray them or their trust" said Michel.
"That's not it" said the shadow.
"Don't lie to me, anyway you think they will accept you after they learn who you really are, what about if they go to your world and find out what you tried to do" said Michel.
"Enough I get it" said the shadow.
"Good, now the reward stands, you shall be given a clean slate, when you return to your world no one will remember you as long as you stay my faithful spy" said Michel.
"But this gauntlet, why hasn't it killed me?" asked the shadow.
"I have provided you imunitie from the gauntlets effects for now but do not fail me" said Michel.
"We will expect you to carry out the dead when the time comes" said Eric.
"In this world someone will fall and a new ally for Lucas will appear but I'm wondering if he will like this ally" said Michel.
"We have other matters to attend to, Pandora will soon awake when The Parathys appears" said Eric.
The two then walked silently back into the night and disappeared as the shadow went back to sleep, so who on Lucas's team is the spy, who is willing to betray him.