Chapter 21: Into the Pit

Thanks to those who reviewed since last Chapter, now here's Part two of the Abduction Arc.

Ash's body began to stir as he heard voices from all around him.

"Look, he's waking up!"

"Shh! Quiet Harry!"

"Both of you be quiet."

"You stay out of this."

"Can't we just wait till he wakes up."

"Look, his eyes are opening!"

Ash's eyes fluttered open as he sat up and gave a yawn and stretched. When he fully awoke he saw kids, both older and younger than him, were looking at him, having never seen him before.

However, it was the first four that stood out to him. One boy, and three girls, all of whom were older than he was.

The boy was of average height, although a bit shorter by an inch or two, and had messy black hair on his head. He had emerald green eyes that were currently behind wide framed glasses. He had a pale skin complexion, but the only thing off was the scar on the top of his forehead, in the shape of a lightning bolt.

The three girls that stood next to him looked different to one another, yet alike somehow. The first had long red hair that was up in a high ponytail that was being held up by a rather large red bow. Her eyes were a light pink color that shined brightly. Her attire also consisted of mostly pink, she wore a tank top with a matching skirt, both rimmed in black outline.

The next girl had blonde hair in short twin pigtails, a blue clip holding a bang up from her hair. She to had large blue eyes that also matched her clothing, which itself was a blue color variation of the girl before.

The last girl had short black hair, two emerald clips at the sides of her hair. She had vibrant green eyes, but not the same emerald as the boy, but still very green. Her outfit was another color variation of the two girls before her, her's being a green color.

Ash decided to speak, "uh…hi?"

"Hi," the blonde girl said cheerfully. "I'm Bubbles, the girl in pink is my sister Blossom, and my other sister in green is Buttercup, and the boy is our friend Harry." Ash nods.

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm Ash." he greeted them all, but then wondered something, "But…where are we?" all the kids looked down, all with glum looks on their features.

"We call this place the Pits," Harry said. Ash rose an eyebrow at the name as he tilted his head in confusion.

"Why 'The Pits'?"

"Well, this is a waiting place for us kids," Blossom answered, "before they-"

"Do experiments on us!" Buttercup shouted in rage. Ash looked visible shaken upon hearing this. They were experimented on!? Zen told him that they wouldn't be harmed, but now it was all just a lie!

"W-w-what kind of ex-experiments?"

"They try to increase the amount of magic our body can hold," Bubbles told him.

"Train us in it," Buttercup adds.

"And if we fail, they said…they said…" Blossom couldn't finish at the thought of it.

"What? What would they do?"

"They'll dispose of us." Harry said, his voice dark and full of dread. Ash's eyes widened in horror. They would just dispose of them like it was nothing!?

"We have to get out of here," he told them.

"But how," a random kid asked, "the whole place is heavily guarded." Ash gave a hopeful smile.

"Before I was taken, the town had hired some mages to help us." now hopeful looks spread across the children's faces.

"Yeah right," a voice called out. All heads turned to see an older kid, about ten if Ash could tell. And not only that, but he looked almost the same as Harry. "Some weak mage isn't going to be able to help us out."

"Yūichirō, have a little bit of faith." another boy, the same age as the first on, stepped out, his hair was a white-blonde and had warm blue eyes.

"Uh, who are they," Ash asked innocently.

"Them?" Harry began, "the first one is Yūichirō, or just Yu for short, and the boy next to him is Mikaela, or Mika for short too." Ash nods.

"Sorry Mika, but if this mage is anyone other than the Divine Sage and his friends, then any chances we have are zero." Hearing Zen's nickname, Ash decided to tell them what he saw.

"Does it count that he had black and white hair on his head?" Ash asked innocently. All heads whipped towards Ash.

"Did he have silver colored eyes," Yu asked slowly, making sure he heard right. Ash just nods.

"Yeah, and he also wore a set of robes on him, and a cat on his shoulder that was…uh, tricolored! Yeah, a tricolored cat!" Ash could feel the hope rise as almost instantly was the ten year old was in his face. Suddenly, Yu was in the red haired boy's face.

"You mean to tell me that the Divine Sage was in Orchid!?" Ash shakily nods from Yu's sudden gesture and mood change.

"Y-Y-yes." suddenly the boy's eyes gain stars in them.

"You're so lucky! I hope he comes to save us soon!" Ash gave a sad smile.

'I hope he comes soon too.'

Suddenly, there was a loud clang as everyone went silent. The door then swung opened as a large, burly man entered the room, a sneer on his face.

"Alright brats, line up!" the kids then stood side by side, almost all of them shaking in fear. The man then walked in front of the group, looking over them with wondering eyes.

"You," he pointed at Harry, "You," he pointed at Yu, "you," he pointed at Mika, "and you," he pointed at Ash. "Follow me, you are today's subjects." The four boys complied without question as they followed the man as he closed and locked the door behind him.

-Z-

The group walked down the darkened corridor, the four boys were huddled close together, Ash held onto Harry's arm in fright.

They then reached a large contraption of sorts. It was a circular devious with for things sticking out at four equal parts, looking long enough to hold a child's body.

"You!" he points at Ash, "come here, you shall go first." the boy shakily nods as he parts from the other boys, who looked at the younger child with both worry and fear in their eyes.

The man strapped Ash into the device as he then began charging it up. A light blue aura began to form around the device and Ash who was beginning to feel great discomfort in his body as the magic from the machine began to try and increase his magic power.

He didn't know that the man had it on low setting since he assumed the child didn't have that much magic power in his body, and would increase it gradually as the days progressed.

Ash gritted his teeth at the extreme discomfort as he felt the magic around him try to forcefully increase his power. A few minutes later, the man powered down the machine as he gave a slight pant from the discomfort.

The man unhooked him and but him down as Harry was picked next, and when Ash saw him he resisted the urged to stop the man, but that would instantly blow his cover.

This went on with the other two, and soon they were forced to once again head towards another room, and Ash didn't look forwards to what came next.

-Z-

Ash found himself being thrown back into the Pits, the door closed behind him, giving an audible clunk as it was locked from outside. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup ran up to him, all wearing expressions of worry.

"Ash, are you okay," the blue cladded girl asked. The small boy nods, but couldn't help but ask.

"Why didn't he take me with the other boys?" Blossom looks down.

"Since you're younger than us, they probably want to increase your magic before they train you more."

"But they had to take Harry," Buttercup exclaimed. "They almost always take Harry!" Ash was confused.

"Why do they take Harry so much?" the three girls look down, all wearing glum looks.

"For some reason he has high magic affinity and a much higher pain tolerance than someone our age should." Blossom explained. That rose a few flags in Ash's head. Of course he had a higher pain tolerance thanks to Zen training him - albit barely, but Harry was just a local town boy, so why does he have such high pain tolerance? High magic reserves were pretty rare, but it mostly occur when one had two mages for parents. It made Ash wonder about Harry's home life.

Soon hours went by before the three boys returned, each of them looking battered and/or bruised.

"Guys!" the four kids ran over to them, a few others also accompanying them to see if they were alright.

"Harry, Yu, Mika, are you guys okay?" Ash asked the three.

"Y-Yeah," Harry began shakily, "a little beating won't bring us down, right guys?" the other two boys nod.

"Hmph, so the freak lives." the others turned to see an overweight kid looking at them, a group of boys standing by his side. Ash couldn't help but compare the boy to a pig wearing a wig.

"Shut it Dudley," Buttercup said.

"And what are you going to do about it green? You're nothing but a girl." Buttercup was restrained by her sisters before she could pound the boy's face in.

"Why I oughta-!"

"Guys!" everyone turned to Ash, who wore an aggravated expression on his face. "Now's not the time to be fighting with one another."

"Ash's right," Harry said, "this isn't the time for arguing."

"Like anyone would listen to a freak like you." Dudley sneered as he and his gang walked away to a different part of the Pit.

"I can't believe that's your cousin Harry," Bubbles said.

Ash backtracked a few steps.

"Cousin?" the boy asked, incredulously. Harry sighed grudgingly.

"Yeah, I live him him, my aunt, and uncle. My Parents died when I was only a year old, but they never told me how they died though." Ash rose an eyebrow slightly.

Seeing as they had time, Ash got to know his new friends better, finding out their likes and dislikes.

Harry by far was the closest person he was too in this Hell Hole. He was 9 years old and a leader at heart, and had a fond love for magic, but for some reason didn't pursue that dream. His magic seems tied to his emotions by what Ash heard, stuff seems to either alter in form, he finds himself in a different place than where he was before, or things change color. If Ash had to guess, he had an affinity for a type of spatial magic, or Dark Magic, remembering Harry had a large temper.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were close to him too, all being only a year younger than Harry. Blossom was the oldest of the three sisters and the undisputed leader of them, she really liked shades of pink, red ribbons, and was really smart, by what Ash could guess she had an affinity for ice magic. Buttercup was the second oldest and the toughest of the three, liked shades of green, wasn't afraid of anything - except spiders - and had a quick temper, and if he honestly didn't know what kind of magic she could use. Bubbles was the youngest and the kindest, she had a liking for shades of blue - mostly light blues - loved stuffed animals, and was actually -shockingly - the most terrifying out of the three, and if Ash had to wager, she had an affinity for Water magic.

Next were Yu and Mika. To be honest those two were closer than brothers in Ash's opinion, both being 10 years old. And if Ash was a girl - and older, he would pair the two together…if they were older. Yu was a headstrong boy, easily mistakened as Harry's only one year older brother at first glance. He really didn't have any likes or dislikes, or just withheld them, same with Mika. for some strange reason both had a fear of Vampires. Both seem like they were quite the duo.

As Ash looked out at the rising moon, he couldn't help but wonder, what was taking Zen, Kai, and Percy so long to come to his and everyone's aid?

"WHAAAAT!?" Currently, said three mages were back at Cait Shelter.

They did find out where the kids were all being held, but Zen took one look inside of the entire place by using Gate and instantly knew that they were going to need more hands to help them.

So the trio teleported back to their guild to enlist the help of their friends/guild mates. The three girls were fine with coming along, but asked where Ash was…

So Zen told them, and they shouted…really loudly.

"You let Ash get taken!?" Ro shouted, nearly turning into one of her seven Seraph-Souls to pound them all into next week.

"What were you three thinking!?" Carla chastised them all, her face showing anger.

"How could you," Wendy said, a frown on her face.

The three males shuffled their feets as they looked down, all wearing ashamed expressions.

"Ash wanted to help and was captured willingly," Zen told them, much to the girls' surprise.

"When we heard that anyone under the age of ten was taken away, what else were we supposed to do? Ash was the only child that we could think of and we know parents wouldn't give up their kids just like that," Kai continued.

"Thankfully, Zen has special magic seals on all of Ash's clothing," Percy said, much to the females' ever growing surprise. "We know where all the kids are, but we're going to need a lot of help."

"Why though," you guys are as powerful as we are, if not stronger together," Ro asked.

Zen sighed as he requippes his trusty staff. The crystal glowed white as the entire room was inserted into Zen's memory.

The girls too one look of his memory of inside the compound and gave dumbfounded looks.

"…oh." was the only thing that came out of their mouths. Why you may ask? Well, over hundreds of men and women were walking up and down the entire place, some carrying magical weaponry - swords, guns, etc. - or just looking combat ready.

"...I see why you asked for help now, seeing those numbers," Carla said, Wendy nodding to what she said.

"We have to wait to strike though," the group looked like they were going to protest, but Zen rose his hand up, "I'm not saying we should wait to long, but we should wait another day or two before we act. Knowing Ash he probably told them that I was in town, and the guard possibly overheard him and told the one who's in charge of this scheme, so security will be tight for the next few days."

Ro looked down and conceded to Zen's insight.

"You have a point, but we can't let the kids wait Zen, they could die, maybe even A-" he put his index finger to her mouth and gave her a dark look.

"Don't. Even. Finish. That. Sentence." he said in a cold, dark tone. "Ash is a strong kid, and upon seeing his age, the men will underestimate him as a result for when we end up busting them all out." Ro once again conceded to his point.

"Fine, but what are you too going to do now?" Wendy asked.

"Sleep." the three males all said. The girls all fell onto the floor from their blunt words.

"Ash can survive the night, but we can't risk being in Orchid incase someone was spying on us," Zen told them.

"So for now we'll be sleeping here and devising a way to take them all by storm." With that, the three males retired to bed, the girls soon following after.

The Next morning Ash felt someone shaking him awake.

"Ash, wake up." the young redhead groaned and turned over.

"Five more minutes Zen," Ash muttered in his sleep. Harry gave the boy an odd look.

'Who's Zen?' he thought. He shook his head before shakin Ash once more. "Wake up Ash, we have breakfast to go to." Ash's eyes fluttered open.

"Breakfast?" Harry nods.

"Yeah, but don't be expecting anything good though." Already did the boy feel his stomach drop. He sat up and looked around to see the last of the kids were being awakened as well.

Once all the kids were awake, the same man from the day prior slammed the door open, the same look on his features as before.

"Line up maggots!" the kids did as told without question and followed him out of the Pits.

Zen and Kai jumped from tree to tree, Wendy, Charla, Ro, and Percy flying right behind them. The group was rushing towards the place where the base was hidden.

"Are you two sure this is the right way?" Ro asked.

"Absolutely Ro, we came this way, and look at the trees to prove out point." The three females looked at the trees to find well placed, yet easily hidden slash marks decorating trees around them.

Ro eyes widened at the sight of the well executed markers, and just when she thought Zen couldn't surprise her more. The boy always was thinking out of the box and making sure that each plan he makes follows through, but while he can be rash and jump into things, he tends to observe and think more than just fight.

The group continues onward through the forest, following the markers placed around them. Soon they came up upon a wide clearing, grass scattered all around them.

"Did you guy's lead us to a dead end?" Zen stepped forwards, his eyes closed.

"No, you guy's just aren't looking." Zen's eyes shot open to reveal his pupils have turned into reptilian slits. Zen saw - through infrared vision - the heat signatures of the people underground in the hidden base. "The entire base is expertly hidden underground from plain view with the field as a mere guise." Ro extended her senses to find he was indeed telling the truth.

"He's right, if what I had to guess there's a mass legion of people down there," Ro turned towards Zen, "I can see why you wanted back up, too many for two people." Kai and Zen nods.

"Alright," Zen began, gaining all attention, "at dusk, we strike."

Ash was sitting in the Pits, leaning on Harry absentmindedly. Today Dudley, Bubbles, and two other kids were taken today, and they were waiting for the them to return. Ash was scared. These people here were mean and the food sucked majorly.

He wished Zen, Kai, and Percy would hurry and save them already. He leaned in closer to Harry, who placed an arm around Ash.

"It's alright Ash," Harry said. Suddenly the door opened and out came the four kids. Almost instantly did the two, followed by Blossom and Buttercup, ran up to Bubbles.

"Bubbles, are you okay!?" the young boy asked. The girl weakly nods.

"Y-yeah, today they were…harder on us than before." this got a confused look from all the kids this time.

"What do you mean by that," a random boy asked.

"The way they trained us, they were much rougher than they usually are, I was…so scared." Bubbles looked down, a frown evident on her face.

"It's alright Bubbles." she looked at the young redhead. "You made it through the day right? Then that all that matters." The others smiled and nod.

But they all wondered, what was going on?

-Z-

Somewhere else, deep in the underground fortress, a man sat at his throne. He was a…rather small looking man, frail in opperence. Purple colored hair rested on his head with dark red eyes that framed his face. He wore refined business clothing that was fitted to his short form. Currently, said man was looking at one of his subordinates.

"Any news on the mages?" the man stood tall in an army like stance.

"No sir, we've looked all day, but not a single sight. It's as if they just left." THe man's eyes narrowed.

"Odd…" Perhaps they got scared and ran off, or didn't have the right means in stopping them. "Oh well. But increase the amount of men that are here in the next two days, we have to be cautious. Other than that, you are dismissed." The man saluted him before leaving the room.

Once his subordinate was gone, he gave a sigh. So far, they manage to have finally collected all the children from the town under the age of ten. And soon his plans for world domination will be realised.

You think he was just stopping here? No, he plans on collecting all the children in the world and turning them into ruthless killing machines, all bending to his every whim. Now he just had to break their wills, but that was easier said than done. These children were different than the ones he saw in other towns, they were smarter and had more emotions than any others, especially that red head that was brought only two nights prior.

The boy had incredibly high magic reserves in his body, and it both confused and intrigued him, but made him smile at the prospect of having such powerful children in his presence. After they had increase his magic capacity more, he'll tell his men to uppen his training.

And if the boy fails, he'll let him slide three times before disposing of him, for who needs weaklings, for only the strong shall live and thrive. That was his goal. A world full of those who can withstand anything that may come their way, with him at the throne - like he is now - leading them all to greatness.

Things were looking up for him.

-Z-

Ash looked out the window with longing eyes as he watched the sun beginning to descend upon the horizon. He hoped and prayed to the gods that his friends would show up soon.

-Z-

All was quiet in the base…

*BOOM!*

Until an explosion rocked the entire foundations of the hidden base.

-Z-

The kids were all thrown off their feets from the vibrations of the explosion that was scent their way.

"What was that!?" Yu yelled in total confusion. Ash's eyes widened. Only a few people he knew could cause such an explosion of such magnitude. It was then they heard noise from outside the metal door.

"Hey was are you-Gak!" there was a sudden thud and all of the kids grew fearful. The door began to unlock and creak open as everyone watched in total fear at what was beyond the door.

However, once the door fully opened, they all blinked simultaneously in surprise.

"So this is where they hid you guys." Zen said aloud to himself. It was then a red blur raced up to him and hugged him.

"Zenith!" Ash exclaimed in utter joy. Zen rubbed the boy's head as he gave him a full blown grin.

"Ash! Thank goodness you're okay." Ash's new friend's all walked forwards and looked at the older boy in front of them.

"Ash," Harry began. "Who's this?" The boy turned to his friends and grinned.

"Guys, meet Zenith, or Zen for short." The teen in question flashed them all a smirk.

"But you guy's known me as my moniker…The Divine Sage of Ishgar."

Part 2 down, only a few more to go!

Zen and the other's have made their move, and now comes the hard part, getting out of their alive with all the kids. Will they do it, or all die trying? Find out next time on The Son of Life and Death.

…

"So that's him?" a seductive voice began. In a mysterious, yet extremely dark dimension, four - or five - beings peered into a mirror pool at none other than Zen. "The one destined to defeat our master?"

"Seems like it," A young voice said, "but he doesn't look like all that."

"You we shouldn't underestimate him," another feminine voice said, "we've seen his feats and power, he isn't one to be underestimated."

"Be as it may, he's just like the rest of his kind," a masculine voice said, "and destiny is to repeat itself as it has done many times before."

"Don't underestimate the boy in the slightest." a dark voice rang out through the entire space that surrounded them. "I sense something inside him, a dormant power that rivals mine." this caught the four's attention.

"Master, are you sure?" the young voice asked in shock.

"Yes. All the more reason to destroy him." the holder of the first voice gave a seductive, yet sinister, smile.

"And destroyed he will be, after all, who can stand to the might of…The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?"

...What was that!? The Four Horsemen? And who is their dark master? What is their goal? All this and more to come, so stay tuned…

Remember to Review, Favorite, and Follow. For questions, place them in the reviews or PM me, and till next chapter.