"So, when do we leave?" asked the figure in the darkness. Lightning flashed in the background almost illuminating the diabolical creature as it plotted and planned in its impenetrable fortress.
"We attack at dawn, as long as Team Nestle can get the goods we were promised." informed the equally shadow shrouded figure.
"Yes.. tomorrow.. it begins.."
Lightning flashed once more this time illuminating the interior of the dwelling they were in, revealing a six inch tall elf and a six foot tall female counterpart.
-
Chapter 20: Journey into memory
---
A dark flare of power erupted out of the man as he unleashed another of his black metal assaults at the rapidly moving half dark elf. Arshes Nei was determined to see just how strong Scott had become after having witnessed him lifting boulders.
His speed and strength were surprising for a low end human sorcerer and it disturbed the girl no end that she might soon have to resort to actually counter attacking with her own magic. Over a century of combat experience clearly marked her as the superior warrior in terms of actual skill but his physical capacity was simply beyond the human norm.
Most of the girls in his entourage could easily out perform him but from what Arshes understood they had been designed and created to be living weapons. Such extreme power dynamics were to be expected.
'Time to see if he can take it as well as dish it out..' thought the thunder empress as she prepped herself for her most basic of spells. Once the minuscule power she needed to unleash her onslaught was achieved she called out strongly at point blank range.
~Bullets of lights.
strike my enemies!
IRON LIGHTNING ANTHEM!~
Scott had already began rolling away from her but it didn't matter. The magic missiles from this spell always hit their target. The only hope of defense was a strong shield spell or something similar to absorb the force.
The black armored man had neither and was lifted off the ground with brutal force as twenty electrical bullets slammed into him with a riot of thunder and fury.
"Master!" screamed Ryoko as she started to run out to her fallen sensei, master, and current love interest. Only Aaron's hand stopped her. She looked up at him in confusion but then turned back to watch the fight when the older man pointed toward the downed soldier.
He had hit the ground hard and didn't get up for a good ten seconds, but he was getting up. His armor had tiny bore holes in it where the small bullets of light and electricity had pierced it. Despite the smoke wafting out and around them he seemed unharmed.
"How..?" began Arshes with her eyes widening in shock. He hadn't used any kind of shield spell at all. The man should be hurt bad or at least incapacitated. The spell was deadly to anyone without magical protection usually. She hadn't used anywhere near her full power with it, but this fight should have been over.
Scott gasped for air as the world swam in his vision. Tears burned hot in his eyes but he was standing. That had sucked royally. However, as far as he knew anyway, his armor had somehow absorbed the impact well enough to allow him to survive.
He knew he was clearly outclassed but he couldn't allow himself to simply give in. He was the weak link in the chain of command. He was the supposed master of the only group on earth with any real chance of fighting the negaverse. No doubt there were others stronger than them that could be trained, but that was beside the point. Currently they were the primary hope of the world, even if the world did not know that.
As the weak link he would have to become stronger and more capable or they would all die.
The problem was that he simply could not fight her. She blocked or dodged his every strike and her magic was so much stronger that even her weakest spell had nearly knocked him the hell out in one shot.
If only he could access more of this supposed power he had. The two spells he could use were great, but he needed to understand himself better.
Scott growled as a trickle of blood slipped down his lips and spun to face Arshes with his sword raised out to the side. She'd probably drop him with her next attack, but he had to keep fighting. His friends deserved his best even if it wasn't good enough, even if his body felt like it was going to fall apart any minute.
His resolve set to battle the man cried out "Prepare for War!" and blinked as something unusual happened. Normally when he used that spell by way of simply vocalizing its name he would get a flaming blade effect and nothing more.
This time, however, he could feel and see the tell tale signs of the world beginning to slow around him as though he had utilized the full spell. He wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Immediately he lunged forward at Arshes in an attempt to penetrate her guard.
The elven sorceress gasped in surprise at the fierceness of the attack. She found herself barely able to counter it and move aside to make a hard overhand assault that carved a thick gouge in his cerametal armor.
Scott whipped his sword back around with enough force and speed that despite missing his opponent's torso by a hair's breadth the force of the wind alone scored a slight cut along the tough material of her top.
The man's vision swirled again and began to fog over as he could feel the exertion taking its toll. The damage done to him by those magic missiles must have been greater than he thought or perhaps the enhanced time around him was simply accelerating what would have happened anyway.
Eitherway Arshes was forced to actually focus her attention on defending herself now. Scott had nowhere near the attack speed of Ninja Master Gara, but he was definitely more than she'd thought he'd be in this state.
He was still her inferior combat-wise but now it was solely reflex and experience that was saving her from a rather painful end. His enhanced speed and the flames of his blade made up for a great deal of the gap in their battle skills.
Worse yet, he wasn't giving her time to cast a spell. The man was constantly in her face even though he did appear to be weakening.
Finally one of his attacks went completely wide and she used her momentum to slam the pommel of her sword against the side of his helmet rattling the man's brain even more.
He fell roughly to the ground and struggled to get up. A dainty boot slamming down onto his chest with the force of a horse kicking a barn door proved this to be a foolish endeavor.
"It's over.." said Arshes with a tired but smug look. It was inevitable that she'd win but it had taken a lot more out of her to do it than she'd suspected. If his swordsmanship had not been so strictly utilitarian in its basic style she might have been far harder pressed. Sadly for the prone man, he really was only a talented beginner.
'Without training in a true weapon or martial art the simplicity of his attacks would get him killed one day' thought the elf girl as she labored to catch her breath.
"No.." croaked out Scott as he tried to get up. It couldn't be over, he had to keep fighting.
Her foot pressed down ever so slightly increasing the pressure. She might not have his level of raw physical strength, but she had over a century of knowledge in combat and the magical arts. She constantly used her chi and elemental magic as a fuel to enhance her body's performance.
Arshes would never admit just how much of her reserve strength it took to hold him down so nonchalantly. "You lost.. it's over.."
"Can't.. give up.. too weak.. gotta.. strong..err.." gasped the man in a soft whisper before succumbing to exhaustion and his internal injuries. With his enhanced healing he'd probably be good to go this time tomorrow, but for now he was done fighting. This soldier had to quit the field in defeat.
Arshes Nei had the superb hearing of her race and easily understood what he meant. It confused her, but she understood. 'He really thinks he's weak?'
As the world fell dark to his eyes, a new one awakened to his inner vision. In the waking realm his friends and loved ones were moving his unconscious form into the house to get him cleaned up and allow him to rest. No healing magic would be used to speed his healing process. He seemed to become stronger at an accelerated pace if his body was forced to heal on its own and the injuries, though formidable, were not outside his ability to heal rapidly.
In this new world he found himself in, Scott wandered along a dusty barren wasteland, a suspiciously blue moon in the sky that looked like something you'd see in a NASA photo.
He didn't speak, there seemed to be no reason for words. all the man did was walk this cold barren landscape. He felt as though he were searching for something. What that something was he could not understand. Yet, he did search.
Time passed and he could see the ruins of houses the same color as the sand. They'd been so covered over by the dust of time that only walking up on one would reveal it to be anything but a natural construct.
There was no air, yet somehow that did not matter. There was no light as he crossed into the darkside of the lunar wasteland and yet he saw as clearly as if it were noon.
He continued on in this vein wandering the fallen relics of the past civilization always drawn to a feeling in front of him. There was a pull, something important beyond the need for words that he must find.
Finally after a time uncountable he felt the pull shift direction and he turned. Around the bend of a rocky canyon he spied the utterly ransacked remnants of a crystalline castle. It was nearly transparent in it's natural state but now it was pock marked and scarred by time, space debris, and the remnants of war.
Into the relic of bygone eras he strode as silent as a whisper. Dark hallways, like the cemetary catacombs of a forgotten fortress, did not echo with his footsteps. It was as though he was not really there.
As he walked along, the images of the ravaged structure occasional flashed into recognition. Despite the darkness he saw clearly and felt as though he knew some of what he saw.
Still, he did not speak. There was ruined art on the walls. Simple, beautiful, elegant, but lacking completion. Most of them were shattered or slashed apart.
Some part of him wondered why he saw no bodies. He felt as though there had been a tremendously destructive battle here, but there were no dead.
As he wandered the hallways he continued following the ever insistent tug and eventually found his way to a room with a set of twin double doors made of what appeared to be silver. Engraved on the front of each door was a crescent moon made of burnished gold set within a crystal backdrop that still shined brightly with some inner radiance.
Scott lifted his hand and pressed lightly on this door. A squeal similar to a badly maintained hydraulic lift that had not been used in years erupted from the doors and then they were open.
A sweet scent floated out as the man walked into the room and immediately noticed a strange white glow from two objects on a desk nearby. One was a locket that seemed all too familiar, and the other was a book.
Scott blinked as his fingers traced the locket and a thought filtered through his mind. 'This thing looks just like the one Serena wears.' Hers didn't play any music though, and to be honest it looked like a cheap plastic knock-off compared to this thing.
He lifted it up and opened it to see what was inside. To his surprise the same song played from the locket as it did in the anime. There was one key difference though. Instead of the whimsical tones of that show, this locket played the same song with the kickass sound of an electric guitar.
He listened to it for a short time as tears began to escape from his eyes. The man had no idea why this was effecting him so much. The song was much cooler in this version,but why did he have this heart wrenching sensation inside himself as he listened to it.
The tears would not stop raining down across his cheeks to plip onto the floor in hot rivulets of pent up pain and emotion.
Slowly as time passed the glow died around it to a much softer indiglo tone and he instinctively placed the locket around his neck. He wanted to return it, but he could not make himself part with the thing. It felt wrong not to keep it.
He turned to the book and traced the little symbols on the front. 'High selenite..' spoke a whispered thought inside his mind. It looked like some bazaar cross between japanese and english to his strangely clear sighted eyes.
He thumbed the book open, but found he could not choose a specific page as the book quickly began flipping them of its own accord and the glow around it died back, while several passages began to shine brightly amongst the text.
: He came again tonight, I can't believe it! He says he loves me, but I don't know. He's a prince and i'm a princess.. so it could work.. but.. he's just soo.. oh sweet grandmother selene he's soooo.. dreamy! Those muscles.. that HAIR.. oh.. those eyes when he looks at me.. and when he calls my name I melt!:
Scott blushed a little a that, though he knew not why, and read another glowing passage on the next page.
: says he's gonna visit at the next ball, there's been some unrest on earth and he had to put his tour on hold to settle the insurrection.. I miss him so much.. my handsome prince!:
'Put his tour on hold?' thought the man as the pages flipped another yet another passage began to glow.
:My Endymion's been hurt! He took a black mana infused arrow through the shoulder. That insurrection is getting bad he says. My mother won't listen to me when I plead with her to send aid to Earth for his people. She thinks they're uncultured barbarians.. oh please be ok my prince..!:
Scott frowned in confusion as he felt a piece of himself flip flop within him. That passage stirred something strange inside, but he read on.
:His father and mother have been killed! He's all alone now.. that shamaness Beryl is running around proclaiming herself the Queen of Earth! My endymion is all alone down there.. fighting all alone...:
He noted that this page seemed stiffer as though the material it was constructed of had gotten wet somehow and tightened. Had she been crying?
:I haven't heard from my prince in two weeks.. all I have left is my locket and the poster on the wall.. oh my endymion please be alright..:
Scott blinked as silent tears once again tracked down his cheek unbidden. He didn't know why this bugged him so much, but he was about to find out.
The man felt, as much as saw, the glowing light shining behind him.
He turned toward it and blinked stupidly for a second as several things became appallingly clear. There was a man on that poster that looked strangely similar to him. If you changed the hair into a raven black heavy metal mop style hair due from the 80's, covered him in leather pseudo-armor, and gave him a badass guitar shaped like an axe you'd have a spitting image of the man on the poster.
The resemblence was uncanny, but there were minor differences beyond the cosmetic. The main seemed like he would be a little taller, and was definitely less bulky than Scott.
He took in the sight of what looked like him if he ever decided to become a supremely kickass rockstar for a good long while before he noticed what was at the bottom. There was a signature that looked a great deal like his chicken scratch hand writing..
~ To the freakiest little sex puppet I know.. love ya moon bunny.. N..~
"What the hell?" said Scott aloud finally, breaking the millenia old silence in this place. His voice echoed accusingly off the walls of the invaded was all too freaking weird.
"N.." he whispered softly as his fingers traced the writing. "Short for Endymion maybe? Why not use an E though..." he asked gently aloud.
Scott felt like he had found some fundamental piece of a large unknowable puzzle, yet he knew not where to even begin placing it. All he could think at that moment was.. 'Why not E..?'
---
"He's awake!" exclaimed Ryoko from the room. The girls upon hearing that raced inside to see if it was true. He'd been unconscious for two days and they had feared the worst.
Even Rei came in to see what was going on. Her life had not been easy these last two days. she could feel herself slipping away a little more by the minute. Already she was forgetting simple things and she'd act strangely in the presence of others. Just this morning she'd hissed and slapped at Minako's hand when she tried to get another piece of bacon that was sitting too close to Rei's plate.
Scott blinked tiredly at the girls, but a smile crossed his features at their concern. 'These crazy chicks always worry about me so much..'
He looked at them each in turn and smiled in a way that made them feel especially loved, he even included Rei in that despite her misgivings. She returned his smile with one of her own, but he could sense a strangeness behind her eyes. There was an gleam a darker edge there than normal. It was both intense and exciting at the same time.
"I'm so glad you're ok master!" exclaimed Ryoko excitedly as she leaned forward and hugged him deeply. she blinked in confusion and pulled her head up as she felt a strange metallic lump against his supposedly naked chest.
"What's this?" she asked curiously as she pulled on a silver chain she saw around his neck and revealed a star shaped locket.
The man's eyes widened comically as the same locket he'd listened too in his dream state appeared in front of his real life vision.
Serena gasped loudly and pulled her own out to show it off. "It's just like mine! Where did you get it? i looked everyone to find one like that and could only find this cheap thing."
"Huh, I thought it had been in your family longer than anyone could remember?" he asked her curiously.
Serena blinked, "No.. no.. the stone inside has.. but the locket is something I bought at a flea market stall.. it reminded me of this locket i'd seen in a dream when I was a kid.."
Scott was about to question her some more when Aaron came rushing into the room. "We seem to have found ourselves a spot of trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" asked Makoto as she slapped her right fist into her left palm. She hoped it would be a fight. The girl needed to blow off some steam after being so worried the last two days.
Aaron shook his head, "There's a group of people outside the shrine demanding to have their family members returned to them. Something about a bus?"
"There is no bus!" snapped Rei in annoyance.
The rest of the group blinked and stared over at her before she clarified.
"They've been coming around for like two weeks claiming people are getting on the temple bus and never coming home. We don't have a bus!" exclaimed Rei as her tail lashed the air in agitation.
"Yet, people are missing?" asked Aaron curiously.
Rei frowned and then shrugged, "I guess so. The league hasn't sent any police up here, and we did send in reports along with everyone else. We're outside of everyone's jurisdiction so they aren't sure who to send to check into it."
"How can you be outside their jurisdiction?" asked Scott carefully. He knew some of the legalities, but wasn't this shrine in an actual league? They could send someone!
"I mean, we aren't part of any town. League central has to send someone, and I don't even know how to contact them." admitted Rei.
"Well.. looks like we'll have to solve this mystery gang.." replied with man with a half snort.
"Uh.. why is that funny master?" asked Serena, her eyes still occasionally glancing down at the locket around his neck.
"Ri ron't row raggy." he muttered sadly. Sometimes it sucked that no one here really understood him, even those closest to him.
"Uh... yes.. anyway.. We should look into this since no one else from the league seems concerned." stated Aaron with a glance at Scott.
The man nodded and started to roll out of bed, his locket swinging free in a manner similar to another hanging object belonging to him.. He sighed softly and looked up, "How come I always wake up naked?"
Several flushes and one naughty smirk came into his field of vision and he just shook his head. What did he do to deserve this kind of stuff in his life? He'd really like to know.. maybe he should do it more often.
Serena spoke up then as something occured to her, "Hey, wait what do you mean there's no shrine bus?"
Rei growled throatily at her and shook her head, "Geeze meatball head.. didn't I just get done explaining this!"
"Don't call me meatball head! And there is too a bus, I saw it yesterday!" snapped the angel pokegirl in a most non-angelic fashion.
Rei stared at her stupidly for a moment then said, "What kind of medication are you on anyway?"
"I saw it!" she exclaimed as her wings flapped into existence and outward in agitation.
"I believe you." said Scott softly.
Rei frowned at him as though it were some kind of betrayal. Scott shook his head at her, though, and said "Maybe the bus' driver just doesn't want you to see it. If they're kidnapping people nearby then they probably don't want anyone knowing for certain."
The catgirl was going to say something angry in reply but the cold hard truth of that settled into her somewhat fuzzy brain. It did make a lot of sense.
"So.. where did you see this bus?" asked Scott casually as he went about putting on his under armor padding. It was similar to the kind of material he'd have worn back on his own world when getting ready to wear his IBA. Moisture wicking, soft, and it did not scratch. It was a must with armor or you ended up chaffing with far more armor marks that you normally would.
"I was doing those aerial reconnaissance exercises you instructed me to do, and saw one about I dunno.. a quarter mile up the road? It was sitting off to the side, even had a sign out front with the shrine's name on it and a departure schedule." she informed them.
"You must have gotten pretty close to see all that.." said Ryoko curiously. who knows maybe the bus people were onto them already.
"Not really.. I mean I was just flying around above the shrine.. I have really good eyesight now.." she said with a blush.
"I'll say! If you can see that much from a quarter mile away!" exclaimed Makoto in surprise.
"Um.." began Serena shyly, she didn't want to admit that she could actually see farther than that. Her senses weren't that far off from being as good as any bird of prey from the pre-sukebe days.
"So, whadda we do?" asked Artemis after hopping up onto a nearby cabinet.
"We catch a ride." said Scott casually.
The others turned toward him curiously, when he spoke like that he usually had a plan.
Hopefully, this one had more to it than catching a ride.
"This is what we'll do.." he began as they all listened curiously.
-
AN:
ok.. yeah I know.. short chapter.. lol. but I figured i'd go ahead and end it here so you all can enjoy it. I promise you'll see some more plot advancement soon... i'm actually still very excited about this story, despite how long it takes me to update.