Disclaimer: Hn.
Warnings: Nothing, really.
A/N: Sorry about the lack of update last week. I totally forgot. ^^; So I decided to put the chapter up now…before I forget again.
Chapter Fifteen:
The weary group had finally finished their hearty meal and now busied themselves in reclining to each's personal satisfaction. Denice's silent entrance did nothing to disturb their relaxed peace. The Ronins had apparently forgotten their former suspicion of the Warlords and Masho. Everyone seemed grateful for this chance to rest up and save their energy for the search for Tobraea's warrior-men. Only Anubis and Shuten Doji acted restless.
Not even noticing her absence, everyone was surprised when Amanda walked hurriedly into the room.
Denice glared at her. "You were supposed to be resting like everyone else!"
Amanda, her still present wings twitching in annoyance, retorted with an "I did!" before exclaiming: "Tobraea's alive!" to the rest of the room.
After a stunned pause, all the warriors began talking at once.
Amanda's frustration increased as the minutes passed until finally she grabbed her staff and threw it angrily at the tall windows at the room's end. The shattering of glass brought on another silence.
Quivering with impatience, she picked up her staff again and leaned heavily on it before speaking.
"He's coming this way. We need to prepare. Everyone should wait outside the castle, armed and ready to attack. We'll use this as a fallback in case things go bad."
"But…but how—"
She didn't let Dais finish. "I don't know how. All I know is that I felt an approaching danger. When I scouted out the area from the sky, I saw a great fire from the direction of Denice's clan's castle. It has to be him. His warriors wouldn't have returned without him."
"But—" Dais attempted again.
"He's coming here, I know it. Somehow he survived Kino's magic, and he's coming back to finish us off."
Kay nodded in sync with her Japanese twin.
"Let's go," Kayura broke in, "and defeat him one last time. This has gone on long enough. And now we have the Anubis' to help us."
As everyone rose and rushed off to gather their orbs and weapons, Denice caught up to Amanda.
"Wait." She said, placing a hand on her twin's shoulder. "I remember something that Tobraea said in the castle when I pretended to join him."
The white-winged girl frowned. "What?"
"Well, he said that the Ronins and Troopers are the only ones that can truly destroy him."
Amanda's eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you tell us this before now?"
The demoness winced. "I must have forgotten."
Amanda sighed. "We'll have to tell the Anubis' and Warlords to concentrate on Tobraea's warriors, so the others can go for him."
"It's a shame, isn't it."
"What?" Amanda looked at her.
That evil always has a weakness. Denice snatched back the thought before she spoke it out loud.
"Ahh…" she stuttered, "That I'm getting to be like Sekhmet, forgetting important details."
Amanda looked at her strangely before turning to walk to the front of the castle with the others.
Denice shook her head. What had gotten into her? She really didn't want Tobraea and his evil demons to win, did she?
Outside, the warriors stood anxiously awaiting their enemies' arrival. An hour passed slowly.
With every minute, Amanda began to feel more and more uncomfortable. For the fifth time, she took to the air in hopes of seeing Tobraea coming towards them. Nothing.
Everyone's nerves were on edge and, other than Cale's pacing, all was still. Some of them would start muttering only to be hushed by a glare from another one. Finally, Kayura stood up.
"I can't take any more of this. Maybe you were wrong," she said, looking at Amanda.
Amanda said nothing, staring out into the distance.
"Maybe it was another clan or an illusion or…anything. He's not coming. He's dead." Kayura spoke with finality.
"No, he's alive. I feel his presence too. Think about it. He has every advantage by waiting us out. He knows that the Anubis' will soon be unable to help us."
Slowly, Kayura nodded.
"I thought they would have…left by now."
Denice shrugged, looking at the resurrected warriors.
"Let's wait a little longer," Denice said decidedly. "And Cale, stop your pacing! It's driving me crazy."
By the time darkness had fallen, the group had decided to search for Tobraea, beginning with the castle he had previously inhabited.
Other than some scorched ground in the front of the castle, it appeared untouched. Denice verified its emptiness after a brief search.
"He's moved on. He wants us to play this cat and mouse game until he has us right where he wants us," she declared.
"So…let's give him what he wants."
Everyone turned to stare at Sekhmet in astonishment.
"Let's hide the Anubis' and pretend that they're gone. Then we'll have a 'cavalry' ready when we need it. We can catch ol' Tobraea and his gang by surprise."
Their gaping mouths made Sekhmet chuckle.
"Twice in less than three days. Sekhmet's turning into the boy-genius wonder. Be afraid. Be very afraid," Cale muttered, shaking his head.
Some minutes later, everyone was once again waiting. Amanda had lit up the sky with a brilliant blast of light that lasted over ten seconds. In that time, the Anubis' had hidden themselves nearby. Hoping that Tobraea was seeing their little "drama production," they had loudly exclaimed at the two warriors' disappearances—with one hand on their weapons, of course. Still, the dark lord had not come.
"I'm bored," Sekhmet announced in desperation, hoping that someone would do something interesting.
The rest only rolled their eyes.
"Anyone have a Frisbee?" the green-haired boy asked with a childish grin.
Dais laughed and Cale shook his head. Amanda frowned at them, causing Cale to hiss for Sekhmet to shut up on pain of death.
Another half hour passed by.
Man, I never thought I would be glad to see Tobraea's ugly face again, thought Sekhmet with a sigh. Naaza smiled at him, guessing his thoughts.
Suddenly, the sky lit up rd and a smoldering heat fell on the group.
"Oh! What?" Similar exclamations flew in their surprise.
"I hate the heat!" Amanda wailed in remorse.
"Well, I can fix that," Cale said with a smile, sweat dripping down his face.
Suddenly, it began to snow. The icy flakes barely touched the ground before melting. A puddle slowly grew around them.
"What the—"
"Relax, Strata. It's Cale's doing," Dais explained to the perturbed boy staring confusedly at the falling snow.
"Very cute, but obviously you can't take the heat!" With the voice that they all recognized too well by now, came a blast of fire heading straight for them.
"Look out!" Denice yelled, pushing away everyone around her. The fireball sizzled on the ground they had just been standing on, quenching the water and destroying the snow.
"Cool that!" Tobraea screamed. He stood before them, flames burning at his feet, his eyes red with hate. His once pale skin was no charred and horribly burnt; the smoke around him choked their throats and made them cough. "The cat-wizard's magic has made me even stronger! My powers are invisible! I have passed through the fire, and I have won!" Flames sprouted from his fingertips, pushing them back further.
With a battle cry, Denice leapt forward, flanked by Rowen and Ryo. The demon warriors met their weapons, and the final fight began. Fireballs shot between them, singeing them and blackening the ground.
At last when Dais thought they could hold out no longer, the Anubis' appeared and began slashing at the demons with strong, powerful thrusts.
As planned, the Ronins and Troopers rushed towards Tobraea at Ryo's yells, and attempted to end it. But no matter how hard they tried or how close they came, the demon lord would not be defeated.
Knocked to the ground, Rowen of Strata watched as each of his friends desperately tried to reach Tobraea before being pushed back by a stream of deadly-hot fire.
"Retreat! Fall back!" he heard Denice scream.
Throwing aside Touma's hand, he jumped to his feet.
"No! Don't retreat! Together, we must take him together!" Surprisingly he saw, or rather sensed, that the others had stopped and were following his lead. As one, they charged toward Tobraea, a dark silhouette wreathed in flame against the crimson sky. At the same time, all of their weapons pierced him, cutting bone and flesh. Dark smoke blew over them all. Was it all over? Had they finally destroyed Tobraea?
Rowen felt a great weight fall on him as he closed his eyes and knew no more.
A/N: Look! Rowen got hurt! Again! Haha, we seem to love torturing this guy for some reason. I can't help it, though…it's just so much fun! Um…Epilogue next week, and stay tuned for the sequel. You should get any and all unanswered questions popping up in there. Be warned…I'm only at the beginning of chapter nine right now and there's no telling how long it will be. So you might have to wait a fairly long time for the sequel.
Thanks to:
AnimegirlH- Of course Kino lives! I like him too. ^-^ And…um, well…I think Amanda rather rushed through this last chapter. Oh well.
WildfireDreams
Harry2- Half working. It's only half working. End of the chapter? Well…truth be told, the ends of my chapters usually come when I just don't feel like writing anymore. That happens more often than you'd think. Which is why a lot of my endings of chapters suck, really…. But oh well. Um…hope Godzilla's having fun! Good thing he left, really…I think all of the narrators heard what we did to the last one and are avoiding me. ;-;
Nell- …Are you ever going to stop listening to that song? And…um…wow. Poor Remie cub. Stalking the president? In hopes of killing him, I assume. But it's a good thing you saved him.