Hey guys, I'm really sorry about the wait but I'm back and thrilled to be writing again. It might take me a while to get back into the groove of things but hopefully I should be able to finish this story before things get hectic again.

Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 36

Metallic Mayhem

"Whoa…would you slow down already" yelled Conner as he held on to Hea's reins for dear life as said stallion swiftly steered his way across an old beaten path as the two of them made their way towards the City of Metal.

"C'mon" he cried again barely holding on. He thought after dealing with Dr. Oliver's Raptor Riders riding a horse would be a piece of cake but much to his dismay he was stuck with the one horse that wouldn't listen to a word and instead of him riding the horse it was more like the horse was dragging him along.

Hea sped on without breaking pace paying no attention to his master's cries and if you looked closely, it almost looked like he was laughing at him. Nevertheless, jokes aside he understood and was certain that even Conner despite his current state was well aware that they had no time to loose.

As Conner struggled to maintain his grip his thoughts went back to what had happened a few days ago before he violently shook his head as if trying to get those thoughts out of his head it was all way too confusing and it only seemed to be getting worse. But there was one thing he was clear on, practice was over and the game was about to begin.

He had tried to figure out what his weapon might be but kept running into dead ends. The princess had told them that the weapons reflected the personality of the knights. This had him worried because whatever he had learnt about Caleb suggested that the guy was a loner and that was one word he would definitely not use to describe himself.

His musings were brought to an end when Hea suddenly put on the brakes and as a result, he was thrown off landing face-first at the foot of a tall iron gate.

"Thanks…a…lot…" he grumbled in between coughs as he tried to get dust out of his mouth and eyes. Getting back on his feet he looked up at the towering gate which in this case was a really, really high iron wall with absolutely no indication of which way was in, neither were there any gatehouses only glowing white orbs every few feet.

"So how do you suppose we get in?" he asked as he continued to dust himself off.

Hea's response was to harshly nudge his unsuspecting companion straight into the wall

"Whoa… what do you think you're doing?" exclaimed Conner as used his hands to prevent another face plant. Hea neighed and jerked his head forward; Conner turned and looked at his hand resting against the wall.

"Ok, so there is that but I'm not sure I can do that yet" for which he received another painful nudge

"Alright, alright enough with the pushing already"

He braced himself and placed his hand firmly against the wall. He was trying to change its form to give them an entryway but he had never tried it with something as huge as this before. Slowly, spikes began to rise from the top as a small section of the wall parted, just enough for the two of them to get through.

"Wow that worked out better that I thought"

"Halt! Who goes there?"

They were surrounded by soldiers dressed in armor that resembled that of medieval knights holding up different styles of lances.

"Uh…hey guys, how's it hanging?"

"….."

"Not much for conversation…huh?

"….."

"Maybe this will clear things up"

He reached into his pocket and slowly pulled out the gold coin the princess had given him and showed it to them. They shared glances but none of them said a word until one walked up to him and took the coin. He examined it carefully, he nodded his companions and they lowered their weapons and returned to their posts.

"Follow me"

Conner nodded and was about to follow suit when the soldier stopped and turned

"Could you fix that first" h gestured to the whole in the wall.

Fifteen minutes later, he found himself sitting in a dark room across a grumpy old man with grey hair and a wrinkled face. He had introduced himself as Warren and was currently piercing Conner with a gaze that would make even the bravest of men quiver in fear.

"Tell me young man, what is it that has made our beloved princess think of us and can you explain to me why you wear the mark of Isar?" He asked in a tone that was cold and distant.

"Uh…well…you see….it's like…well…I'm…uh…I don't really know how to say this…but…uh…"

"Hurry up boy"

"Groudon'"

The man raised an eyebrow and his already grim expression grew worse.

""Uh…well…"

Warren raised his hand to silence him and harshly tapped the floor with his walking stick and in response, a young woman with long dark hair that reached the floor entered. She had a pale face and was dressed simply in a flowing blue and gray dress.

"You called father"

"Take this young man to that room"

Her head shot up and she looked at her father perplexed waiting for an explanation but as was usual with him none came.

"Fa...father are you…are you certain"

"Yes. I have no reason to doubt him" then turning back to Conner "I may not have a reason to doubt your story but that does mean I have no doubt of your abilities outsider. Know this, we will show you the path to what you seek but the success of your quest relies up on you"

After that, he was quickly ushered out and was now following the girl down a long corridor while an awkward silence hung in the air.

"So did anyone else find that weird, I mean how the heck did that guy understand what I said I'm not sure even I understood what I said. And what's weirder is that grumpy old guy actually believed it, I thought convincing him was going to be a lot harder"

She gave him a wry look and continued on

"Does that mean you are not who you say you are"

"What? I didn't say that, it's just that the princess cautioned us about how it might be difficult to get people to believe us"

"She was right I don't believe you but for some reason my father does so for your own sake you better be who you say you are"

She stopped in front of door with the Isarian symbol on it. She placed her hand on the door and stood aside as it slid open.

"What you're looking for is through here"

With that, she turned on her heel and left.

"Well here goes nothing"

He stepped into the room and the door slammed shut, for a moment the room was shrouded in darkness, when the light came on he found himself in an empty room with nothing but a spiral staircase in the very center. He walked over and circled it for a moment then looked up at the ceiling where the staircase supposedly ended. With a shrug and another look around the room he began his assent.

He kept climbing for what seemed like hours but he never seemed to be near the top, he was certain that the ceiling wasn't very high. After a while he stumbled, exhausted into a room that oddly resembled a museum. There were several artifacts from diamond necklaces to stacks of gold coins all neatly encased in glass.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

He walked around the room pausing every now and then to examine a particular artifact. There were all sorts of things, from pieces of art to weapons and a whole of stuff that he wasn't quite sure what to make of. Then he saw it at the very back, lying on a pedestal with a banner bearing the Isarian symbol behind it, what he was sure was the very thing he was looking for.

He approached the case cautiously but as he neared it his expression changed from one of excitement to disappointment.

"This is it" he stated looking down through the glass case at two simple silver bands which had the Isarian symbol engraved on them. He touched the glass and reached for them as it melted away but before he could touch them a flash of light blinded him and he was sent hurling across the room.

When he came to the bands were gone and he was no longer alone

"Looks like o'll fearless was right after all. Dei's gonna throw a royal fit for sure"

Conner looked up at the speaker, he was a little older than him, tall and lanky with dark unkempt hair falling over his eyes dressed casually in jeans and an oversized gray T-shirt under a black duster.

"Wh…who are you?"

"I should be the one asking that question. After all you're the one intruding."

Conner stared at him, confused. It was then that he realized that the man wore the silver bands across his knuckles.

"Are you?...you can't be…can you?"

The man raised an eyebrow in an amused sort of way.

"I see you've figured it out"

"But dude aren't you supposed to be like…you know…"

"Dead"

"Uh…yeah"

"I suppose I am or rather my true self is. I am merely a memory preserved to act as a final test to my successor. And don't ask me how it works it was all fearless' idea"

"Huh?"

"Shall we begin then, it's been a while since I've wielded my little friends here. They are by far the jewels of my collection."

"Collection?"

"Yes, everything you see in this room belongs to a collection of items I have…acquired over the years."

"Acquired?"

"Yes, although Deidre had another word for it, stealing I believe she called it"

"Stealing? Do you mean you stole this stuff? You're a thief"

"Thieves are men who steal for themselves, I merely took away from those who had too much and gave to those who had done. What you see in this room is what I acquired just before Isar was attacked.

"So you're saying you're like Robin Hood or something?"

"Who?"

"Uh…never mind. So what's my test?"

"Simple. Defeat me in battle and my weapons shall be yours."

He jumped off the pedestal on which he was sitting and crossed his arms in front of him before bringing them to his sides. The bands vibrated before encasing his hands in metal gloves that went all the way up to his elbows as four claw-like blades extended from each of them.

"Great. I have to fight Wolverine"

"C'mon kid let's get this party started"

He launched himself at an unsuspecting Conner who managed to dodge by jumping behind one of the displays. He slashed through the display shredding it as Conner leaped behind another one.

"This is no time for hide and seek kid, you have a universe to save remember"

"Alright then, why don't you try this on for size. Iron Fist" Conner yelled as he ran towards his opponent with his fist now encased in iron. Caleb blocked it easily by absorbing the punch with his metal covered arm.

"Nice try kid. But you're gonna have to do a lot better if you want to defeat me."

Retracting the claws on his other hand he punched him in the stomach making him roll over in pain. He barely got to his feet when Caleb came at him again, this time with his claws ready. Unable to steady himself to dodge Conner raised his arm on which he now wore a metal band and transformed it in to a shield. That did it but it was far from over, Caleb flipped backwards and prepared for his next attack.

"Very good. But let's see what you can do against this"

He raised his arm and swung his claws through the air sending an energy way in Conner's direction. Conner raised his shield which absorbed the impact but the force threw him back into one of the displays.

"Don't tell me that's the best you can do. How are you going to fight Groudon if you don't even know the extent of you own powers."

Conner stood up wearily he was running out of ideas but there was still one thing he hadn't tried but it was still a shot in the dark. He dodged another energy attack and getting down on one knee to brace himself raised his shield and concentrated hard. He could feel his power flowing in to the shield and he prayed that this would work. Caleb on the other hand could feel his gloves begin to vibrate as they reacted to the magnetic pulse that Conner had created. He smiled and held his hands up allowing them to retract into bands and fly over to Conner.

Conner heard the clink of metal and lowered his shield to see the two bands hanging off of it but there was no sign of Caleb anywhere.

"Well done kid." His embodied voice rang through the room

"I hope you have as much fun with these babies as I did. Good Luck"

The bands begin to glow and floated off his shield which contracted back into a band and settled themselves around his knuckles. He then found himself back on the staircase with his head barely touching the ceiling.

Hope you liked it. The next one should be up soon.

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