Chapter XX: New Quest, Identity Crisis, and Restoration

In which Rey begins a journey of his own, a fighter is not as appeared, and Ali comes upon new knowledge.

"Your highness! Ugh. Your-"

"No need to shout. I'm right here," Rey replied to the Rainbow Face who had suddenly burst into the palace. "Huh? What happened?" The king had suddenly recognized the guard as one of the ones he sent to stop Littlefoot and saw that his leg was badly injured. "I need a healer over here post haste!"

"Thank you, my liege. And it was awful. We were totally beaten by his dark power."

"Really? I thought the battle strategy combo I made was perfect."

A healer entered the scene and began healing the guard's wound.

Rey lowered his head then asked, "Are you- the only survivor?"

"Yes, your highness."

Slamming his fist onto a table in the hallway, causing the vase to fall off and shatter, Rey exclaimed, "It seems that brute force is going to get us nowhere. However, I was prepared just in case something went wrong. I believe that only one has the power to put an end to this." He quickly took off to the basement, but Reina stopped him.

"You're not going anywhere until you clean up that mess," she told him, pointing to the broken vase shards on the ground.

"Yes, dear," he replied quietly, stooping over to pick up the pieces. After disposing of them properly, he continued to the lower quarters of the castle.

"What are you up to?" his wife asked curiously.

"I'm going to put an end to Littlefoot's killing spree, that's what."

She gave him a perplexed look and decided to follow him to see what he was going to do. They reached the bottom of the stairs to find two Rainbow Faces working with some chemicals.

"Take us to Earth," Rey commanded one of them.

"Huh? Why are we going there?" Reina asked.

"Not you. I meant me and the psychic here."

"Your highness?" the psychic asked.

"I need you to help me find something in that world, and with your power type, you're the best suited candidate I know for the job."

"Begging your pardon, your highness, but I can only find minds, not objects. You said a while back that all the dinosaurs died off on that planet. Unless you want me to find some insect?"

"It's no insect, but you'll be able to locate it with your power nonetheless." After a look of utmost confusion, Rey sighed and said, "I'll explain when we get there. Before we go, however, bring a vial loaded with some of the extracted energy of the stone. We're going to need it." After he grabbed a tube, Rey and the psychic boarded the teleporter and the other Rainbow Face that was in the basement set the coordinates and off the two of them went.

"Rey must have some crazy plan," Reina remarked. Then she stared off into space and concluded, "I just hope it works."

xxxxx

Five more matches went by. Deathbringer and Tarren were still in the competition, and now it was Fiirawen's turn once again. She stepped back into the arena and was annoyed to find the Rainbow Face that had cheated in his first match and again when he was up next, due to being prepared to his opponent's ability. The young dragon was all fired to kick this cheater's butt.

"Next up, folks, we have the little power house dragon, Fiirawen!" The crowd went wild. "With her, onto the stage, is Reesius, the weather mage!"

"I know what you've been up to, cheater," she muttered to him.

"Quite a shame you can't prove it, huh?" he remarked.

Fiirawen gritted her teeth. "No amount of preparation is gonna let you beat me!"

"I don't need any help to beat the likes of you. In fact, I don't even mind of you use your giant form. Go right ahead with it, and I'll prove who's the dominant fighter here."

The young dragon paused. "You really don't mind me growing?"

"Not at all. Be my guest." With that said, the bell rang.

"I slightly shorter life span is worth it for a friend," she thought to herself. "Okay, you asked for it!" Fiirawen enlarged and filled up most of the arena. She swung her giant arm down but the announcer's voice made her freeze just inches away from crushing him.

"And the winner is: Reesius!"

The crowd started murmuring in dismay as the Rainbow Face bowed and began walking off the stage.

"Hold it!" Fiirawen shrieked. "Is this some kind of joke? How in the world did he win?"

"You have been disqualified for growing, dragon," the announcer explained. "It's against the rules."

"But- but my opponent said he didn't mind!"

"Well, your opponent is not on the judging committee, now is he?"

Fiirawen froze as a rage came over her.

"Then- he tricked me! I thought it would be okay if he didn't mind, and he knew that! He said that just to get me out of the fight so he'd win without dirtying his hands! Disqualify him, not me!"

"Fiirawen, please exit the stage. You broke the rules, and Reesius did not. There are many ways to win a fight, not just with brute force. Your opponent has clearly outsmarted you."

To that, the crowd burst into laughter, and Fiirawen turned very red. She shrunk back down to normal and tromped away furiously.

"Now we can't save Agu," she said aloud dejectedly.

Numerous matches took place, and it ended up being down to three combatants. Reesius, Deathbringer, and Tarren were all that remained. Deathbringer and Reesius would go next, then the winner goes against Tarren.

"Rainbow Faces and beasts alike! We're down to the semifinal match. Reesius, the weather mage against Deathbringer, the phaser."

The two of them entered the arena and the bell rang. Deathbringer faded into the ground, but Reesius was calm.

"He is coming up right below you," a psychic whispered to Reesius.

"Thanks," he thought back. The sun was shining brightly and beating down hot along with a strong breeze, and this made the weather perfect for Reesius' tactics. He focused and heated up the ground right below him. As Deathbringer suddenly rose from the ground, he was overcome by an enormous burning sensation, and he dove back into the ground.

"Did he know I was coming from below? Nah, lucky guess," Deathbringer thought to himself. He came up behind Reesius quickly, but before he could swing a punch, a strong wind blew him back. The weather mage didn't even look behind him. "How does he know where I'm going to be?"

But Deathbringer had little time to think as a fire ball came hurdling towards him. He quickly became ghostlike, and the attack went through him. He chuckled at the ease of dodging and charged at Reesius. Just as he solidified to attack, he was hit in the back with he fire attack.

"Wha-" he uttered as he fell to the ground.

"You didn't think I can only move my attacks in one direction after I shoot them, did you?" Reesius asked with a laugh.

The killer Rainbow Face was now fuming with anger, and he gritted his teeth hard. He just couldn't touch this guy. Reesius fired another ball of fire and it went through his opponent again. Deathbringer saw it loop around and made a dash for Reesius. He clenched a fist and was just about to connect when the fire ball went through him and hit Reesius, knocking him down. Now it was the weather mage who was angry.

"Just because I'm about to hit you doesn't mean I was solid again. You're fooled easily."

"Oh yeah? Take this!" Reesius concentrated very hard and shot off three fireballs that constantly zoomed through Deathbringer, back and forth, without stopping. "The moment you become solid again, they'll burn you. You can't attack now."

"Is that so?" Deathbringer sank into the ground, but the flaming orbs could not follow. However, they did move along the floor of the arena.

"Fool," Reesius said to himself. "They're fixated on him, so when he comes back up, they'll get him."

"He's coming up below you again!" his psychic friend whispered.

However, just as Reesius jumped back a small distance, Deathbringer shot up from below him. The fireballs converged on the spot, all hitting Reesius, as Deathbringer used his power, and the weather mage went down from the colossal burns.

"How? You were coming up below me and I moved-"

"I knew you would move back so I'd come out in front of you, so I changed my emerging point at the last moment so your psychic friend wouldn't have enough time to tell you my new course of action."

"Psychic friend? What do you mean?"

"Don't plead ignorance. There's no other way you'd know where I'd come up without one."

"Regardless, I will beat you!" Despite his injuries, he managed to stand up.

"I'm glad you made it clear you can still move so the match didn't end," Deathbringer said. "Your loss though." With that, he dashed forward, letting his hand pass into Ressius' skull, then he hardened it back up and ripped out his brain. "Heh. You couldn't react fast enough with so many burns. Thanks for letting me up my death count."

"And the winner is (no surprise) Deathbringer! After the arena has been cleaned, we move onto the final match!"

xxxxx

Fiirawen made her way back to Chomper and Coaley's room. They were both still sleeping soundly. The young dragon looked at his stomach wound. It looked awful, but fortunately, it was starting to scab over. She sat on the edge of the bed and was about to stroke Chomper's face when a hand shot up and grabbed hers.

"Don't you dare touch him," Coaley warned.

"Hey, I'm just concerned, that's all."

"Don't play innocent. I know Chomper has a thing for you. I saw him kiss you."

"What? Oh, that. You really shouldn't be so paranoid. Chomper likes me, but he like likes you. He didn't offer me a kiss. I asked him for one for good luck. That's all."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I'm sorry. I just can't stand the thought of losing him."

"I understand that. Oh, I have ill news. I lost too- didn't even make third place. We'll have to save Agu some other way, even if we have to break into the prison and bust him out."

"That wouldn't be too hard. Once we got in, I could just Warp us all out."

"Brilliant idea! We may have to do just that."

"Where's Niah, by the way?" Coaley wanted to know.

"I haven't seen her for a while. She said that she needed to take care of something and rushed off."

The girls' chat was interrupted by the announcer.

"The final match is here, and I don't want to miss it. You two keep getting some rest. Later."

"See you."

"Here we go, folks! The final match of this month's Stoneside City's tournament! On the west side, we have the silent but powerful Tarren, and on the east, we have the deadly Deathbringer. It's anyone's guess who'll come out on top!"

The bell rang through the air, signaling that the match has begun. Deathbringer, as expected, dived below the ground, using his sense of smell to guide him to his opponent. He came up in front of his foe, then behind, then on various sides. The young Rainbow Face kept turning to face him, but all the movement was disoriented the kid. Suddenly, he arose directly from directly below, but the child was ready. The instant his hand touched his foot, Deathbringer shot up out of the ground and into the air. He went higher and higher then dropped, but he became ghostlike and went through the ground, unharmed. The child then took to the sky, out of reach of any more attacks. Then, to the crowd's amazement, the airborne Rainbow Face tensed and the entire arena rose into the air as well! Deathbringer slid out from inside the arena tiles and landed on the soft soil below.

"No! How did he know I can't phase through nature?" he thought to himself in frustration.

The child moved the arena outside the stands and set it down. Then landed, prepared to battle. Deathbringer rushed his opponent, using his power on his whole body, walking directly into the child's body.

"When I become tangible again, my body will tear right through his," he thought to himself. To his surprise, however, he was shot into the air and landed on his back. "What! His power works on me even when I'm untouchable? Ugh. And now I can't hide anymore."

With no other option, he rushed the boy, faked a punch, then slid his legs down and forward, knocking the kid down. He body slammed his foe, knowing that it would daze the kid so fast that a counterattack wouldn't be possible. He quickly jumped off the dazed opponent and phased his arm through the child's chest, ready to yank out the heart. The little Rainbow Face's senses returned quickly however, and suddenly, Deathbringer's arm snapped.

"Ah!" he yelped in pain, jerking his arm out before he solidified it.

The child saw the distraction and used it, quickly grabbing his other arm, and it too snapped. Beaten, with both arms broken, he fell to his knees. When the child turned, however, he dashed and nearly succeeded in a tackle. Yet the young Rainbow Face was ready for such a sneak attack. Deathbringer was propelled back so hard that he flew backwards through the air and landed on his head. His neck broke, and he died right there.

"Looks like I brought death to Deathbringer," the child mused.

"And we have a winner, folks! The grand champion of our tournament is-"

"A fake!" a voice called from the stands.

"What have we here?" the announcer called back in confusion.

"Some girl tied me up and entered the competition in my place. And now I finally broke free," the boy explained.

The crowd turned to the cowled child on the arena floor. Standing up straight, she removed her face covering.

"Niah!" Fiirawen exclaimed in shock.

xxxxx

"Dusk, if you asked me to think about this, what I think about this is that I think we need a plan," Ruby said.

"Agreed. Even saving his life had no effect on his violent tendencies. However, I just don't know what to do," Dusk replied.

"Ooh, me want to help," Petrie thought to himself. "Me wish me knew what to do." Then his body flashed for only an instant, and his eyes widened. "Me think we need someone close to him to try reasoning with him. His mind has been taken over, but me think his heart s still reachable to the right dinosaur."

"That is an excellent idea, Petrie," Dusk complimented. "Which of you is closest to him?"

"Well, to be honest, I think Littlefoot is closest to Ali," Cera admitted.

"What!" she exclaimed. "I barely even know him. He's acted like he knows me before, but it was just weird."

"If Ali truly is his closest friend, she may be the solution to getting to Littlefoot's heart," Dusk replied. "I think it's best that she be restored to the way she once was."

"Um, my lord? What are you talking about?"

"Menta, contact Agu and tell him to remove her false memories and show her the true ones. She needs to remember everything if she's to awaken the good inside of him. However, make sure she still remembers what happened since I met her so she isn't totally lost."

"Right away, ma lord." Menta focused for a few seconds, then she opened her eyes. "Okay, he said he'll get right on it."

Everyone stared at Ali.

"What? What?" Then her eyes widened in realization. She started breathing heavily from the shock of her loss, but Ruby came over and wrapped her arms around her to comfort her.

"I know your knowledge must come as a shock to you," Dusk began.

"Don't say another word to me!" Ali screamed. "You stole me away from my family and became the cause of their death! I hate you! Leave me alone."

Dusk sighed as he looked for the right words to say.

"You have every right to hate me. But know this: This isn't about me at all. It's about saving Littlefoot, someone you really do care about. Just stay with me a little longer so we can help you get through to him."

Ali thought this over then replied, "Fine. But after Littlefoot is himself again, I never want to see you again."

"Understood," the Sharptooth replied. "Now, he can't have gone far. Let's all hop on Petrie here, and I'm sure we'll catch back up to him in no time."

"Grow," Cera said, then they were off.

Character Bio Number Twenty

Name: Freund

Species: Rainbow Face

Gender: Male

Personality: Smart, helpful, and caring

Power: Speed- Grants many times one's normal speed.