Author's Note: Well it's nearly Christmas. I'm sorry for having you all wait so long but I havent had much control over my computer lately but now I do. And to make up for it I made this chapter nearly twice as long as my other chapters. So here is the longest chapter in my story. Believe it or not, I'm still writing and I'll try to make sure that you all see the ending of the story on or by Christmas Day but from the looks of it, might be afterword. My Beta Reader got this but Christmas has been understandably causing his schedule to be hectic. He's had it for a whole day but still hasn't been able to look at it. After a day of being completed, I don't think I should hold this out any longer so hopefully the next one will be beta read. In fact, I'm already getting it ready.

To ninjafoxshadow: Yeah, I don't really know why most villains brag about their master plan but I made there was a reason behind Krieg's, which will not be revealed today. Hopefully it will be tomorrow...hopefully.

To Everyone Else: Enjoy this extra long chapter and R&R please.

Chapter 20

Labyrinth of Nightmares

Nat took Light and got him inside the boat while Chris and Alex pulled an exhausted, not to mention watered down, vulpine princess out of the water. Once inside the boat, Krystal sat down near Light's unconscious body and laid his head in her lap to give him some comfort and to warm him up after being in the cold water. A hatless Allistor walked over to Krystal and asked, "Is Light alright there?"

Krystal looked up to him with a warm smile. "Yeah, he's okay. He just needs some rest, that's all. What happened to your hat?"

"You heard Krieg; He's had a bug in my hat for years. So I threw it overboard. I can get a new one later."

Nat walked over and handed her a long staff. It was clearly the one Krystal had thought she lost when it went over board. "How did you get that?"

"How do you think? It fell from the ship…and almost onto my head. Now I'm not sure what it is but since it looks like a staff, and it probably is, then I thought it might belong to you." Krystal took it and nodded to him.

"You're only half right." As she held it, the combined staffs separated in the same light it had combined with. Everyone but her looked on at the now individual staffs with amazement.

Alex then turned to her for answers. "Krystal, what the heck happened up there?"

Krystal shook her head no. "We can discuss that another time." Alex just shrugged and sat down. "Now I would like to know how you guys got a hold of this boat. It looks much different compared to the other smaller boats."

"That's because this is my private escape boat, I keep it locked away in one the lower levels of the ship closest to the surface of the water. Your friends here just barely got my attention before I started to leave." It was a rugged voice she had never heard before. "So, this is the alien princess I've heard so much about. And a pretty one at that if I do say so myself." Krystal looked up frightened as she realized that she no longer had her hat and her overcoat. The man had a grand white beard and wore a funny looking blue hat and a big blue coat. The bearded man extended his hand for Krystal to shake it, which she did in gaping confusion. "The name's Leonidas my fair princess." Leonidas saw that she was scared that he could clearly see her features. "Now don't you worry your pretty little head young lady, Allistor already explained the whole situation. Admittedly I thought his nut was cracked but when he gets a certain expression on his face, then what he says has got to be the truth and nothing but." Krystal couldn't believe it; this total stranger has accepted her already.

"But why, how could you believe and accept me so easily?"

He knelt before her gripped her shoulder to reassure her. "Because I'm an old man, I've seen a lot in my day on this planet. But out of everything I've in life, to see and help a young alien woman, such as you, would be a dream come true. I've always believed in intelligent life other than our own race, but seeing you in person really cements that belief. For that I thank you." The old man's words actually did reassure her of this situation.

"Thank you." Leonidas gave a smile and a nod.

"Now if you all would excuse me, I need to get back to the helm and get us to shore before Allistor decides to destroy a third ship." The captain went up the ladder and grabbed the wheel before him. Besides Light, the whole group looked to Allistor for an explanation. The man gave a nervous grin and slowly began to answer the question that was on their minds.

"Uh…well…I accidentally set his first ship on fire right before it was scheduled to go on its maiden voyage." He gave a nervous laugh which quickly died down from all of the stares he got. "…I said I was sorry." Then they all heard the captain's voice come from above.

"Don't worry. Besides, I had the Artemis insured for twice of what it's worth. The next ship I build will assuredly be bigger and grander than before." The groups' eyes just bulged at the idea of a bigger ship than what they had just escaped from. Krystal then realized something.

"No! I accidently left the mini disc in the overcoat!" Tears had instantly started to build up in her eyes. She had completely forgotten about taking the mini disc out of the coat pocket.

Lindsey then tried to comfort her. "Don't worry Krystal."

Krystal got irritated at this statement. "Don't worry? My BROTHER was on that disc, and now it's gone." She started to let out soft sobs.

"No it's not." Krystal looked up and saw the disc in Lindsey's hand.

"When did you…" After a little thought it came to her. Lindsey must have swiped it when she hugged her back on the ship. Krystal let out a squeal of delight. "Lindsey you're a GENIUS!" The older woman merely took a bow.

"I had a feeling you would lose the disc in some way so I took care of it for you. Now we need to go down below deck and discuss some things. It's time you all knew what were getting into."

Chris stepped in here. "But I think we should wait for Light to wake up first before we talk about anything, so there won't be a need to explain it all twice." The all agreed and everyone, with Chris helping Krystal with Light, went down below deck to wait for Light to wake up.

Light began to flutter his eyes and he could feel something soft below him. It clearly was a bed but he knew that there wasn't a pillow his head. It was hard but warm and comfortable. Light tried to open his eyes fully but his eyes had yet to adjust and he could only see blurs. His hand feebly felt around until another wrapped itself around his. He instantly knew who it was even though he couldn't see. "Krystal…," he said weakly. "Is that really you?"

"Yes it's me, I'm here. Do you think you're alright?" His eyes were now adjusting to the light better. He could now make out Krystal and his friends.

"Yes, I'm fine, but what happened. It was like a dream, one moment I was talking to this man in black and the next minute I'm here." They all looked at each other in understanding of the situation. Light didn't remember a single thing about what happened, just like at Lunsford's mansion.

Alex was the one to take initiative. "Actually I think you should sit still and listen to us for a while." Light could see them all clearly now and listened intently to what they said to him. By the end of their long explanations, he was beyond speechless. He felt horribly ashamed of what the other him did but he felt extremely touched when Krystal said she put her life on the line for him.

"Thank you everyone. I'm so sorry for what happened." He felt Krystal wrap her arms around him.

"Don't worry about it. I know it wasn't your fault all of this happened so don't you dare blame yourself." Light looked at her and blushed a little.

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

Lindsey stood up from the bed she was sitting on and walked into the center so as to get their attention. "Alright everybody, look in my direction. We need to get down to business and talk about the scrolls." After she knew every eye and ear was on her, she continued. "Now listen up. After much work, I have deciphered nearly every part of the scrolls and you all need to know a few things before entering the ruins. First of all, when we enter the maze, I want you all to keep a close look out for a panel with an image of bull horns pointing East and West. If we find that, we find our way into the ruins." Lindsey then paused to make sure she still had everyone's attention. "Once were in the ruins, don't think the laws of our current reality still apply. After much deciphering, I found that this place is practically surrounded by magic. According to the text, it will be our imaginations that are in control of reality. So try not to be careless, and you must know that the magic only works when you're inside the palace grounds. Secondly, in the next room of the ruins are three things. An arena, the wish and, amazingly enough, a giant magical orb that will give you an answer to whatever questions you may ask it."

Nat couldn't believe his ears. "Really, are you serious? I mean that sounds like a load of crap to me."

"I'm dead serious. Of course, when they made it, they made it so that it would answer only one question per person; no seconds, no matter how long you live. I don't know why they made such rules but unfortunately, we'll have to follow them. I think the ancient Minoans used it to come up with battle strategies for war or just to ask it ordinary questions."

Alex raised his hand and Lindsey nodded, "So back to what you were talking about the imagination thing. When we get there, will we be able to use those fancy powers the other Light gave us during that one fight?"

"In a nut shell, yes you can." Nat, Alex and Chris shared in a high five and made a little celebration to that useful bit of information until Allistor ruined it for them with a statement they should already have figured out.

"That also means Krieg could do the same, doesn't it?" Lindsey gave a serious nod. "Then we'll have to make sure our imaginations are stronger."

Now Lindsey continued again. "Now to the arena I mentioned earlier. After we have dealt with Krieg and whatever he may have in store for us, there will be one test for us to pass before the door to the wishing room can be opened. One of us has to step into the arena and face, as the texts said, 'the greatest enemy you've never fought' by yelling out the word 'kratisto.' That is what Alexander The Great meant when they asked him who would inherit his vast empire. He was leaving everyone with the keys to the greatest treasure in the universe. He may have thought that his subordinates would seek out and uncover his secrets but no did. He certainly didn't make it easy on everyone when he scattered the pieces to the puzzle all over the place. He not only wanted the strongest physically to rule in his stead, but also the strongest mentally and spiritually as well."

"It seems he wanted all of this to happen," commented Light.

"Yes, it would appear so. Now the last thing we need to talk about is the wish room. Once the test is finished, it will open and allow only one person to step inside and to receive one wish. Just like with the giant orb it can only be one wish but, unlike it, there will be no more wishes for anyone until after millennia has passed. Not only that, but once someone steps in for the wish to be made, the room will close and remains so until twilight. So does everyone understand?"

Allistor still didn't understand one thing. "Yeah, but I need to ask why you said you deciphered NEARLY all of the texts. What's 'NEARLY' supposed to mean?"

"Well, you see, on one of the scrolls, there is a part torn out. There wasn't really anything I could do about that so I continued deciphering while trying to find clues as to what was torn out of it. I found nothing in the long run though." Allistor nodded but knew he had a bad feeling about this.

"We better get some rest before we get to shore," Chris suggested and they all decided that it would be for the best.

The morning came and the group arrived to the docks of Iraklio but there was a small problem. "Okay, now this is what we're going to do," said the bearded captain. "I radioed my boss to tell him that I would give him my full report of the ship situation in about a couple of hours. My truck is out there and it will only take me about forty minutes to get you all to Knossos Palace. I've taken the liberty of clearing out a fish barrel for you Miss Krystal. I'm sorry but we're going to have to roll you out to my truck in it since you no longer have a feasible way getting around the place without being noticed. You'll have to stay in it until we get to the palace."

Krystal didn't seem to hate this idea. "Okay, I actually like being around the smell of fish. You could call it candy to my nose. The only thing I don't think I'll care much for is the constant spinning, but I'll get used to it."

"Then there's no time to lose." Leonidas opened the barrel and everyone watched as Krystal disappeared into the barrel. And they began the short trip to the truck. Leonidas took the wheel, the other adults sat next to him, and the young adults sat in the truck bed like last time but Krystal was stuck in a barrel with Light and Chris making sure the thing didn't roll much.

During the drive over to the palace, the guys weren't wondering at the sights the city had to offer. They were just concentrating on their, for lack of better words, plan of attack. They all stayed quiet and lost in thought but two of them were thinking about more than the others. Light was thinking about the same thing he was thinking about on the Artemis but he was determined to stay focused on his goal, making sure Krystal got her wish. Krystal laid in the barrel thinking with a heavy heart on what she should do. She honestly didn't know what she would do if they got to the wishing room, she was just too torn between herself. She really wants to save her family and her long lost brother but back on the ship, it seemed that she had completely forgotten about those things and was ready to put everything on the line for him. "But I don't belong in this world." That's what she said to herself but another thing ran through his mind. Light is in love with her. She knew now wasn't the time to be thinking such things but her heart was in too much turmoil to allow her room for focus on the task that will soon be at hand.

It felt like hours for them but the forty minutes ended and the truck stopped in front of what was left of the entrance to the palace and Light helped Krystal out of the barrel as the rest of the boys jumped out on to the ground. Soon Light and Krystal joined them as well as the adults. They all stood in line and looked at what could be their final resting place. Allistor turned to Leonidas and pulled out a letter he had made last night before going to sleep, from his left breast pocket and handed it to him. "Here, take this letter and make sure Samuel get's this message as soon as possible." The old man nodded and gave Allistor a sailor's salute.

"Good luck my friend. I'm afraid you're going to need it" Allistor gave a grave nod and the sea captain got in his truck and left.

After spending a minute to reflect on what may happen to all of them, Allistor turned to the people beside him, "Alright everyone, it's come to this. Let's just hope we're not too late to stop Krieg from getting the wish first. Follow me." Everyone did as they were told and followed closely behind him. After some minutes of walking inside of the palace, Allistor stopped before an entrance to a hallway that seemed to split directions at the end. Allistor turned to them, "This is the entrance to the labyrinth, in old legends it was said that a Minotaur guarded this place. I don't know about whether or not such a thing existed but remember to be careful. It's easy to get lost in this place and I'm sure there are still some secret passages or traps even, so just stay behind me and we'll be alright, got it?" He saw their nods and he started walking. Allistor had told the kids that did excavations at the place earlier that morning so they all figured it to be wise do as he said.

They walked around the place for twenty minutes looking side-to-side and up and down for their target panel. There were symbols around the place but none of them resembled bull horns or even horns at all for that matter. Light and Krystal were moving together but while they were looking they were sort of stealing glances at the other, trying to see if the other would look back at them. Inevitably, their gazes did meet and they quickly looked away at each other. The silence was tangible until Krystal finally broke it with a whisper that only Light could hear. "Um…Light, we need to talk about something."

Light used a whisper like voice as well, but didn't turn towards her. "And what would that be?"

Krystal turned slightly to look back at Light and was glad to see that his head was still turned. She turned hers back in the direction she was facing and blushed at the words she was about to say, if she was able to. She wanted to hear those words come out on his side rather than his friends, if they were even really there. "Do you…l…l…," she stuttered on what she was saying. Honestly, the idea that someone like him would feel that way about her was a very strange thought. And besides they were different species she reasoned to herself. But he was kind, and probably one of the gentlest people she had ever met in her life.

"What is it?" Light broke her from her thoughts. She turned to him and was about to try again until Alex got everyone's attention. "Hey guys! Take a look at that over there." They all stopped and looked across a corridor they were passing by and they saw a door-shaped opening in the wall at the end of it. They ran to investigate it and they didn't have to look for too long to find what they were after. There was a panel pushed into the wall beside the hole with the symbol they were looking for. "Looks like Krieg beat us to the door."

Allistor started to run through the hole while saying, "Then there's no time to lose." They all ran close behind him and kept going down a long cavernous tunnel until they finally saw what looked like torch fire up ahead. "Just a little further gang, were almost there." When they reached the end of the tunnel, they found that the room they were entering was a cavern about the size of a gymnasium. On the other side of the room directly opposite of them was the ruinous entrance to their destination, and Krieg was standing in front of it with three robed figures behind him.

Instead of Allistor, Light was the one to utter their enemy's name, "Krieg."

Krieg gave a smirk before rising up his arms in the shape of a 'V'. "I welcome all of you to my domain. Seeing as how you all have some rather sour looks on your face, I'm guessing that trying to persuade you all over to my way of thinking would just be a waste of my time." They didn't have to say or do anything, it was written all over their faces. "Well in that case, allow me to introduce my friends here." Krieg took hold of the hoods and yanked them in one quick motion of each arm, revealing a black floating wall, a black floating sphere the size of a basket ball with purple plasma elongated to where it resembled a humanoid, and then a purple humanoid with crystal-like spikes on it's shoulders, hands and knees. "May introduce to you my masterpieces? You know their images from the book Allistor, but not their names. First, there is my first creation, Demon Wall. Next is River, as in river of power." He gestured to the purple plasma being with the sphere in its chest cavity. "He was the one who gave you boys the induction to this little game of mine back at the museum, if you care to recall."

All three boys instantly gained an enmity for that creature in particular, but none more so than Nat. Nat has wanted payback for that particular incident with the dinosaurs for so long. He pointed at the plasma creature and said, "You…I've got a score to settle with you."

Krieg gave a smirk and a chuckle at this. "Don't worry boy, you'll get your chance. And last, but not least, I give Spike. He's like a loyal dog with rocks for brains. I'd introduce gale to you all but it seems you've all done away with him so we'll skip that."

Allistor just couldn't stop himself from yelling. "Do you really think they can beat us Krieg?"

Krieg gave a knowing smile. "After seeing the extent of what you boys and girls can do, yes I do. But just to make sure, I've prepared something special for you all." Krieg pulled out a piece of paper and threw it in the air. And with the Dimension sword he stabbed the paper and a red blinding flash filled the room. Everyone put their arms in front of them to shield their eyes against the flash. When it had subsided, everyone removed their arms and their eyes widened in surprise. Now standing before them were a hundred cybernetic looking dark knights. "Here's my personal army." Krieg annoyingly pulled out his watch and looked at it for a second. "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid our time together is finished. Time for me to go, I have a universe to conquer." And they could only watch as Krieg disappeared into the next room.

Nat punched a fist into his other hand. "No he's getting away. How are we supposed to get through all of them?"

"We don't." They all looked toward Chris for an explanation. "The only ones that have to get in there are Light and Krystal. We have to break to break through their ranks and make the two of you get inside."

Light tried reasoning with him. "But we'll do better if we're together."

"No," Chris said while shaking his head. "You and Krystal need your strength for what ever is inside there." Neither Light nor Krystal liked this idea, but they realized he was right and nodded. "Good. Alright guys, we need to get these two inside."

Nat looked at him like he was crazy, "And how do you expect us to do that?"

Chris gave a calculating smile, "Have you forgotten already that our imaginations rule this place?" With that statement, realization dawned on him and he gave an exited smile.

Nat turned his attention to the enemy ranks in front of him. "Well now, what are we waiting for?"

Alex stepped up beside his friends and looked at the enemies also. "Let's make some miracles happen boys."

Light, Krystal, Lindsey and Allistor watched in amazement as each boy were consumed by a different color light. Yellow around Nat, Red around Chris, and grey around Alex. When these lights faded, the boys newly armored bodies emerged into sight. Each one of their armors was the same color as the light that had enveloped them and it nearly covered them completely from head to toe, leaving no visible openings except the one crack that allowed them to see. Nat's yellow armor made him look a lot thinner than the others and in his grip was steel colored lance. Alex's Grey armor seemed to be wavier to allow for more agile movement. They didn't see a weapon in his hands but they were sure the guy had something up his sleeve. Chris's red armor was bulkier and looked as if it would be able to withstand an atomic bomb with ease. It didn't look like speed was what Chris wanted, especially with a giant FLAMING axe in his hands.

Light and Krystal didn't realize how potent the magic in this place was. Nat turned to Light and said cheekily, "These suits you made us are awesome." Light just now noticed that his friends modeled their armor after the armor of his characters from the game he was making. He had shown all of them some of his concept art on their jet rides.

Then they heard Light's uncle and Alex's aunt chuckling strangely. They turned to the chuckling pair and Allistor jumped into the air for some unknown joy. "Alright! Another once in a lifetime chance, this is just too good to pass up." Light and Krystal had no idea what they could have been laughing about but they watched as the palaces magic did something to them as well. Another magical flash erupted and out stepped the new and improved adults of the group. Light's jaw dropped when he saw a much more muscular version of his uncle, and Lindsey with futuristic weaponry all over her body. The most notable one on her was the metal claw-like thing on her back. "You know what, Light?" Light reluctantly put his gaze on his uncle. "I've always wanted be like Super Man."

Chris' voice came through the bulky suit toward Light and Krystal and broke their gaze away from the two adults. "Now listen up you two, when I count to three we're all going to rush the enemy and knock as many of them out of the way as possible. While we're doing that, you stay close behind. Once we get you in, we'll guard the entrance and make sure no one else gets in, alright?" The untransformed part of the group nodded and got behind them. Light and Krystal got themselves ready for the oncoming run while the adults also got behind them to guard their back. "Okay then, on my mark. One…two…THREE!" And they made their run for it.

The enemy army, which had been standing still up to this point, was now making its own charge at the smaller group. Chris, Alex, and Nat basically started smashing through enemy troops with Light and Krystal close behind. Some enemy soldiers, which were a little off to side and away from the three smashers of Light's group, unleashed energy blades from their sword hilts and tried to go after Light and Krystal. Their attacks were quickly repelled by Allistor who got in front of the closest attacker and rammed an accurate fist through the knight's body. Lindsey got front of the retreating Krystal and fired sonic blasts from the giant claw on her back at the next two attackers.

After a little bit more smashing and punching through on the guys' part, they finally managed to break through and reached the entrance to the next room. That is when Chris made his move; he got in front of everybody and made a long gash on the ground with flaming battle axe and created a wall of fire to buy them some time. "Light! Krystal! Now's your chance, get in there and stop Krieg." Light and Krystal didn't say a word, they just made a run for it and left everything to the gang.

After Chris had made sure the two had got inside, he turned to the wall of fire he created. Not much longer after looking at it, the creature called Demon Wall opened and hundreds of gallons water spewed onto the flames and doused them. No sooner had that happened, Chris called out, "Leave the Demon Wall to me."

Nat stood next to Chris, "I've already called dibs on the jerk from the museum."

Alex turned to the only one left. "I guess that means the lap dog is mine."

After saying that, the three creatures' started to run for the tunnel that leads into the labyrinth. Nat couldn't figure this out. "They're getting away? Are they chicken?"

Chris took a moment to think before coming up with an answer, "No, they're trying to lure us away from each other. They want to go after us separately, I'm sure of it."

Even though it couldn't be seen, his confused face turned into a smile. "Good, a one on one fight is how I prefer it anyway."

Alex, unlike the others, was thinking of the here and now. "What about these guys." He was obviously referring to the enemy soldiers.

"Don't worry about them Alex." The boy turned to his aunt, who said that. "You can just leave these small fry to us. You need to go after those others, who knows what could happen if they escape from the palace. They may attack the city, so you boys go and stop them from getting out."

"Yeah," Allistor interjected. "It'll be better if you deal with them here, rather than outside where you'll have no powers."

Chris turned to the rest of the boys. "He's right; we have to get to them here." The others nodded in agreement and they started breaking through the enemy ranks again but also in a way so that Allistor and Lindsey don't get overwhelmed by the enemies numbers. Nat broke through first by zipping through the troops with his electric aura, burning them to a crisp as he ran. He took out fifteen of them that way. Chris took his axe and slammed it on the ground. From where it hit the ground, another wall of fire ripped through eight enemy knights that were in a straight line from him. Chris used this to run through that straight wall and was never attacked because the knights couldn't get in close enough with the raging heat near them. Alex floated up into the air and started to fly over the cyber knights and then he got up higher and turned toward them. He extended one arm and clenched that hand and an energy bow appeared. With the other arm, he readied it the way you would do to steady an arrow, and an energy arrow appeared. He released his steadying hand and the arrow shot towards the knights but not before splitting itself into twenty more arrows, which soon rained down upon the knights, destroying fifteen of them and seriously damaging three. With a smile on his face, he made his exit.

Now Allistor and Lindsey were all that was left of the now separated group. "Are you sure you can deal with this many," asked Allistor to Lindsey.

The woman gave a smile. "As long as we're together, I'm sure we can do it."

Allistor gave a smirk as he saw the rest of the enemy knights start to converge on them. "That's all I needed to hear." And they charged.

The three super powered boys were running and flying through the tunnel as fast as they could. They were very far behind and they knew it. Once they reached the opening in the labyrinth wall, they saw two sets of, what you could say were foot prints, going in two different directions in the four way hall. Chris immediately went to go through the hall with no foot prints, which confused Alex and Nat a little until he gave questioning glances an answer. "The Demon Wall went this way; you guys split up and go after the others." And they did. Nat went down the hall following the fresh trail of plasma prints and Alex went down the direction that looked as if the floor had been chiseled up with diamonds. Alex made sure to make note of that so he makes sure not to get himself kicked by that creature.

After some minutes following the plasma trail, Nat tried to run by a corridor but a plasma shot hit him and knocked him to the ground. Nat felt the plasma stun him but not enough to completely paralyze him. "River was it? You have no idea how long I've waited to get some retribution for last week." Nat then heard a familiar crackling sound and he jumped into the nearest hall and dodged an electric plasma blast that blew a hole in the wall that Nat used to be facing. The creature known as river turned to look into the hall Nat dodged into but it didn't find him there. Before it could react, Nat launched himself through the hole the creature had made a little before and plunged his electrified lance into the creature's body. It gave howl of what seemed to be great pain but it didn't go down. It grabbed onto Nat's shoulder while it suffered through the electric lynching and shot a point blank plasma blast that sent Nat flying into a wall in pain.

Nat turned to look at his shoulder and saw that his right arm was heavily burned and very useless now. "So that's how you want to play it, huh. Alright, have it your way." Nat then grabbed his lance with his usable left hand and jumped back up to his feet and ran to another corridor that was out of the creature's sight. The creature was more careful this time around, as soon as it stepped into Nat's view, it started firing purple plasma charges from its extended palm. Nat didn't have time to jump into the hall so he tried running right past the charges as they began exploding around him and a cloud of debris formed, obscuring both combatant's vision.

When the dust cleared, a severely burned Nat jumped out, practically out of no where and shot a sphere of concentrated electricity at River like a cannon ball. It barely had time to react, but it reacted quickly enough to be able block with its plasma arms. The electric blast's force pushed River meters away from Nat until it was forced into a wall. Nat thought this was his best chance, so he gathered up an electrical surge and directed it in River's direction. This time it had no time to react so it felt the full force of the blast sear through its body, which cracked the sphere in its chest a little. To add to terrible power of the surge, Nat took another chance to gore its body a second time. He noticed two things, first he saw the sphere was cracked, secondly goring it like this almost had the same exacts results as last time.

River saw this as another opportunity to get a shot at the boy but Nat saw it coming and pulled away from it. The plasma shot went past his head and Nat made sure to keep to close quarters combat. River then used one of its plasma arms to lash at Nat like a whip but it only hit the steel of the lance it lashed twice and Nat blocked one but the other latched onto his ankle. Nat could already feel the plasma burning in his ankle and it took all of the endurance he had to keep from falling to his knees. Nat took his lance, electrified it, and slash the plasma lash off of him. He was lashed at again but he jumped back and dodged it. Nat didn't think he could continue like this so he came up with one last thing to do. "You know what," Nat said before charge with an electrical aura around him. He jumped and started spinning in the air with his lance jutting outward ahead of him. "YOU'RE SCREWED!!!" and just like a flying screw, Nat shot himself at River. The creature shot out a powerful blast of plasma but it was drilled through and soon the electric tornado hit the sphere in its chest dead on. With only a little resistance, the sphere shattered and was melted away into nothingness by the heat of the electricity.

Nat flew through it, twisting and turning on the ground as he landed. While he struggled to get his head up, he saw to his satisfaction that the creature fell to ground and its plasma body disappeared into nothing. When he saw that, he smiled and fell unconscious.

Alex ran down his corridor watching for his target. He flew into one corridor after spending five minutes of searching, and he felt several wisps fly past him and he ducked behind a wall. He forced himself as close to the wall as possible and tried to make a side glance to see what was around the corner. He withdrew his head quickly and saw several stone shards embed themselves into the wall. It was clear that this was a shoot out. Alex looked across from him and readied his energy bow and arrow. Then he jumped across the open hall way and shot several energy arrows in the direction of the rock shards that nearly took off his head a second ago. He got to the other hall alright but, Spike shot several more stone shards and one of them hit Alex's leg and pierced through the armor.

Alex was scratched up a bit but at least he knew where his enemy was and he went to formulate a plan. Alex got himself ready for another strike and prepared two shots instead of one. He rolled into the open and saw the shards coming at him. He quickly shot an energy arrow that split into the same amount as the shards and collided with each of them. Alex saw he was clear so he shot another energy arrow and backed it up with some tornado force winds. The arrow hit Spike but it was also blocked at the same time. Alex had aimed at the creature's body but it moved to the left and only lost its right arm. It apparently didn't respond to pain because it was already getting back its focus and shooting more shards. Alex ducked but not before a shard got his shoulder. It's was an incredible amount of pain but he knew he would either have to fight through it or die, and he didn't like the second option. From the floor, he started crawling as fast as he could to the next hall for cover.

Now he had to think of a new plan. Alex looked around and saw some stones around him and that gave an idea. He only had one chance for this to work; he doubted it would work a second time. As quickly and discreetly as possible, Alex threw a rock to the other hall across from his and was glad that his plan worked. Spike shot shards at the rock thinking that it was Alex. With its attention diverted, Alex came from behind his cover and shot another arrow but this one was backed by category-4, hurricane force winds and it hit its target's head and easily took it off. Alex watch with nervous anticipation if it worked, and the creature fell down dead and it soon disappeared. "My God…I hope that's finally over." Alex put his back to the wall and slumped down it in exhaustion.

It wasn't long after Alex fight did Chris find his opponent. The Demon Wall had been close to escaping the labyrinth when Chris got right in front of it and completely blocked its way. "You're not getting out of here as I live." The Demon Wall didn't show any facial signs of agitation, of course it didn't have any facial features. All the wall did was open up and a dark shadow fist came out and launched itself at Chris. Chris caught the fist but it was still a bit too much for him and it knocked him to the ground with great force. The fist came up off of him and was about to come down on him again but Chris rolled out from under it before it could squash him and made a flaming gash at the fist.

The Demon Wall retracted it back inside and opened up to spew gallons upon gallons of water at Chris like it was an ultra high powered water gun. Chris ran to the side and avoided the first water blast but a second got him and forced him into the wall. The water kept coming and Chris quickly figured out that the Demon Wall was trying to drown him. Chris took his axe and put it in front of him and made a big volcanic blast that evaporated all of the water and Chris made a big leap at the Demon Wall. He tried to gash it but it blocked with the same hand he gashed earlier and cut off the thumb which soon disappeared after it landed on the floor.

The hand retracted back and it opened up again and started shooting out fireballs at the boy. Chris ran towards the Demon Walls dodging every fireball except the last one, which he batted with his axe back at the fireball's shooter. A black shield came out of the hole that was shooting fireballs and blocked the fireball. The shield looked as if it blocked the Demon Wall's vision so Chris used this opportunity to strike.

He took his flaming axe, put the fiery blade on the ground, and ran to the Demon Wall while dragging it across the ground leaving a flaming trail in his wake. Just as the shield retracted into hole, Chris brought his axe up and made a scorching gash that through the wall from the bottom up. While Chris was in midair, thinking he had total victory, a long blade shot out of it at break neck speeds and ran through Chris's side.

Chris stayed like that for a while until the effects of his attack finally took fruition and the Demon Wall disappeared. Chris fell to the ground holding his wound; he inspected it and figured out that it wouldn't kill him. It didn't go through any vital organs so he just held his hand to the wound. He stared up at the ceiling and smiled. "Light, Krystal, I guess the rest is all up to you now. I think I'm going to take a little rest." Before he could go unconscious, the Earth started shaking around him and he heard a large bellow cried out. He wasn't the only one to hear it, Alex heard it as well and Nat woke up from unconsciousness and they immediately made their way to wherever that horrible bellow was coming from. Although Nate was practically crawling while Chris shambled but they all had a bad feeling about this.

Author's Note: Well, there you have it. This chapter had a bit of everything. A little romance, a bit of mystery, and a LOT of action. And there is more to come. But please R&R, it inspires me to write faster when I see reviews. The next chapter will be called Blitzkrieg.