Chapter Eleven: Confrontation

Palace

Shin was encountered by a couple of guymelefs but they were easily taken care of. They were so modern compared to his black guymelef. When Shin had first seen the black guymelef he knew that it was the one for him. All the rest of the guymelefs were blue, and their was one that caught his eye. It was a tall red guymelef that Reed had told him once belonged to a man of pure insanity. Shin hopped that one day he would meet that man since they seemed to have something's in common.

Shin continued his way to Palace, he had a date with a girl. Shin wanted to test out his new weapon but he didn't want to waste it on the citizen, he wanted someone worthy.

Finally Shin had made it to the palace but there appeared to be no one there. Had they already escaped? That made Shin grow even more angry. Shin always hated being stood up. Shin broke into the palace. "Hold it there" a voice from behind Shin shouted. Shin turned around to see another modern guymelef, but this one seemed different. He had a fire in his voice that made Shin think that he would be stronger than the rest.

"And who might you be?" Shin asked trying to make small talk.

"I am Allen Schezar a knight of Kayli, and who may I ask are you." Allen replied taking out his sword.

"Call me Shin. Allen, aren't you one of Hitomi's friends? She a hard girl to kill I must say. That's why I came here personally to do it myself" Shin said remembering what Reed had told him about the last war.

"You wont lay a hand on Hitomi if I have something to say about it" with that Allen charged Shin but Shin deflected his charge with his own liquid metal sword. They pushed away from each other and clashed swords together over and over again.

They seemed to be equally matched and Shin was growing tired of this farce. He quickly pushed a button that lifted a gun from his guymelefs forearm. Allen being unaware of the weapons on Earth was shocked at what it did. Shin suddenly started shooting at Allen, and Allen soon found out that those tiny metal balls could pierce through his armor. Allen quickly dodged behind one of the building to get out of the metal balls reach.

Behind Palace

The crew of the Crusade were prepping to leave Palace at Allen's signal. "What's taking the boss so long" Kio asked looking at Gaddes. Gaddes crossed his arms and sighed.

"You know the boss. He's probably having too much fun, he hasn't been in a battle for almost a year. He's been waiting to take out his anger on someone" Gaddes said as a tiny smirk appeared on his face.

"Yeah he always gets to have all the fun while we sit here and wait for him" Riden said sitting himself down beside Hitomi. "Don't be worried about Allen little miss. He hasn't fought in awhile but he knows how to handle his own."

Hitomi couldn't help but worry about Allen and Van. All those poor villager, they had no idea what was coming. Hitomi closed her eyes and held on to her pendant that Van had given back to her for luck.

Merle was worried about Van too, Hitomi could tell by the look on her face and the fact that she has been pacing back and forth for awhile now. Hitomi couldn't blame her, she was worried too but not so much about Van but about the fate of both Earth and Gaea.

The two planets were slowly be pulled closer together. Hitomi was wondering what was happening on Earth right now. Were all those natural disasters still happening, and what of her family and Yukari? All Hitomi's thoughts were making her feel ill and it also gave her a huge headache.

Not far from Palace

Van was flying on Escaflowne as he saw smoke rising from Palace. The air was growing warm then suddenly hot as he flew closer to Palace. As Van flew closer he could see the citizens fleeing from Palace below. They appeared to be hurt, there were mother and children injured. The man was insane he doesn't care who he kills.

Van was finally over Palace and the whole city appeared to be burning just like Fenalia a year ago. He looked for any sign of Hitomi or they others but all he could see was smoke and fire. He would have to get closer to the ground if he wanted to see anything. He flew lower as he came closer to the Palace. Van heard an odd sound as he came nearer to the palace. They were loud sharp noises that could practically make any person go deaf.

Van flew closer to the sound and the smoke began to get thinner. The smoke burned his eyes when he descended onto the palace. He saw two shadowy figures fighting each other. As he came closer he could see that one of the guymelefs was Scherazade, Allen's guymelefs. The other one looked like one of Dornkirk's Dragon Slayers guymelefs. It was black as midnight making it look like a shadow against the wall.

Van landed his dragon on the ground and he turned the dragon back into a guymelef. "Van! What took you so long?" Allen shouted as he stood beside him.

"So this is the Easpano Guymelef Escaflowne. Looks pretty ancient like it belongs in a museum or something. I'm disappointed" Shin said moving closer to the two. Van was infuriated by the man, how could he kill so easily?

Van drew his sword and charged at the black guymelef. Shin blocked his attack with his own sword. "Your very good Van, better than I thought." Shin said pushing away from Van.

Allen was watching the two fight as he took out a meqras (a type of bird that lives on Gaea) out of it cage and released it into the sky

Behind the palace

Gaddes was still looking out of the window for Allen's signal. It was hard to see anything because of the smoke and fire. All the other crew members were growing impatient and worried. "What kind of signal did the boss say he was going to give" Teo asked finally breaking the silence on the deck. Everyone looked at him for a moment and just ignored him. He let out a loud sigh and crossed his arms leaning against the wall.

Gaddes squinted his eyes as if he didn't know what he was looking at. "That's it!" Gaddes said signaling the others to prepare to move out. Hitomi looked out the window to see what the signal Allen gave them. She looked for about a minuet then she saw it flying towards them it was one of those birds she had seen before on Gaea.

"It's a meqras a very rare and mysterious bird" Merle explain as she saw Hitomi look at it. Hitomi was leaning against the wall because her shoulder was beginning to hurt again. Actually it started hurting when she had to leave her bed, she has been ignoring it until now.

Hitomi winced as she moved closer to the window to see if she could spot Allen or Van. "Hitomi you shouldn't move! You'll tear your wound and then where will you be? Come on Hitomi lets get you to a room so you can lye down. Van will be here with Allen soon" Merle said the last part to make Hitomi feel better, but she can see that it was no use. Merle threw a quick looked at Gaddes to get some help from him.

"Merle's right Hitomi. You should go get some rest. Well tell you when they get on board" Gaddes said trying to be sensitive. Hitomi looked at Merle then looked at Gaddes. She was out numbered and she was feeling a bit dizzy so she let Merle take her to one of the rooms.

Hitomi lied down slowly as she felt the ship leave port. Van where are you? Hitomi was wondering what city would be next to end up like Godeshen and now Palace. Hitomi leaned over at to night stand to get a glass of water as she did she noticed her deck of tarot cards on the table. How? Hitomi thought as she looked up a Merle. "Merle did you bring these with you?" Hitomi asked as Merle turned around to see the item in question.

"No I though you did" Merle said as she took them into her hands. Hitomi wondered how they could of got there.

When Hitomi was in the middle of thinking the ship moved violently with two thumps. "That must be Lord Van and Allen" Merle said with delight.

Palace

Shin was running after the two guymelefs as they jumped onto an odd looking ship. Shin stopped and watched as they left. "Shin Palace has bee over run. You may return and we shale plan out next attack on Gaea" Reed said through the intercom. Shin smiled as he watch the two leave. They would be a challenge and he knew it. Shin wanted a challenge, he would have some fun toying with them.

The floating fortress

Shin stepped out of his guymelef onto the ships platform to be greeted by Reed. "So how was it?" Reed asked Shin with a delightful smile on his face.

"They put up more of a fight than those Godeshen people. It was still to easy. We need something else to make war more fun" Shin said noting the smile on Reed's face. "What with the smile?" Shin finally asked.

"We have a new warrior. He is very skilled and very strong. Actually he's a lot like you. I think you might like him. We sent out a group of men to capture him and bring him here" Reed said. Shin looked at Reed with a questioning look. "He's with the sorcerer's right now being changed back. You can meet him later when the operation is done. He is a excellent soldier to add to our collection. I think I have told you of him before. He's the owner of the red guymelef."