AUTHOR'S NOTE: OH!!! MY!!! GOD!! Can this be an UPDATE?!?! ::fangirl scream:: Ok, how many ppl have been waiting for this? Well, I'm not going to bore you with jargon about my life, enjoy!!


Chapter Three:

In Which the Tale of Souls and Swords Begins Anew

~~~

Sabrina moaned and moved her head slightly.

"Jezebel, she's coming around!" An unfamiliar voice said. Sabrina opened her eyes to find Xianghua and another brown-haired girl, Seung Mina, leaning over her. "Are you okay?"

"Jez…?" Sabrina sat up. "Where is she…?"

Jezebel was on the other end of the room, pacing and holding the cordless phone. "I'll call you back, Warren." Jezebel said impatiently. "Or, better yet, why don't you come over?…Sneak out, like you always do………………What? …………How are you still alive? I mean, he…………Through the wall? But wait, since they…"

Seung Mina rolled her eyes and walked over to Jezebel. "Give me the phone." She said.

"You can't hold it, can you?" Jezebel covered the mouthpiece.

"This is taking too long. Give me the phone." In a few quick movements, Seung Mina was holding the phone with a little difficulty, but holding it nonetheless. "Warren Kelley?"

"Yes?" The uneasy male voice answered.

"Forget whatever's bothering you and get over here. We need to talk." Seung Mina put the phone back on its charger and returned to her place beside Sabrina.

"Blunt, yet to the point and effective." A man with black hair and a samurai outfit sat on the couch and looked at Seung Mina. "He probably thinks we attacked them."

"Who was he talking about?" Sabrina sat all the way up and looked at Jezebel.

"He'll probably explain more when he comes over, but in short, Cervantes came into his room and tried to kill him."

"WHAT?!?!?!?!" The ghosts all shouted at once. "Cervantes?!" Nightmare asked. "You're serious?!"

"That's what he said." Jezebel nodded. "He was a bit vague on the details, though."

"Doesn't matter." The black-haired samurai leaned forward. "We're all here, so it figures he is, too."

The door downstairs opened with a bang. "Jezebel?" Warren called, "Sabrina?!"

"Warren!" Sabrina and Jezebel ran to the head of the stairs. "Are you okay?"

"Uh-huh. A little freaked and very tired, but I'm okay." Warren yawned and climbed up the stairs, where he stopped dead and gaped at the company in the den. "Woah. A big fat woah. With a capital 'W'."

"At least he didn't pass out or threaten us with some weapon," A man with brown hair said nonchalantly.

"A pleasant change, huh, Kilik?" Xianghua looked over at the man, who nodded.

"I threw a chair at Cervantes." Warren responded.

"Yes, so we heard," Nightmare nodded. "Sit down, all three of you."

The three complied, and Nightmare stood up and began pacing the study.

"As you might be aware, my name is Siegfred Schtauffen, also called Nightmare. The people here with me are Yungsung, Xianghua, Taki, Mitsurugi, Seung Mina, and Kilik. There are others, but they are lying in wait until we are certain we can trust you and until we know if you are to be three of the warriors' successors."

"You keep saying 'successors'," Sabrina leaned forward. "What does that mean and how do we know if we are one?"

"You don't know until you know." Yungsung shook his head. "I know it sounds confusing, but when it happens, you'll know."

"But that means it could be anyone!!" Jezebel cried. "How do you expect to find someone if you don't even know who you're looking for?!"

"We don't know for sure." Taki shook her head. "The only reason we came to you two… three, really… is because you're the only ones at the exhibit today who recognized the Soul Edge for what it really is."

"Out of the entire day?" Warren blinked. "Damn. Some people have no life."

"You said Jezebel and I might be Taki and Nightmare's successors, though." Sabrina intervened. "How did-"

"Might, Miss Mayfair," Nightmare bowed his head. "Simply because of appearance and personality."

"Oh. How do you plan to find out if-"

"They don't know."

Everyone turned towards the head of the stairs. Leaning (or as best as he could since he's a ghost) against the wall was a tall man with shoulder-length blonde hair and an angry expression on his face.

"They don't know how they plan to find out." He said as he stepped forward and spread his arms out. "We're grasping at straws here. They don't know who the hell they're looking for, but they thought they'd come to you three to prove me wrong."

Taki rolled her eyes. "Give me a-" Here she said a rather vulgar word that must be censored "-break, Raphael. Look at them."

Warren, Jezebel, and Sabrina all looked at Raphael. "Really?" Warren asked. "That's Raphael? The crazy guy?"

Raphael gave Warren the Look, but rolled his eyes and started swinging his sword around with a bored expression on his face.

"Watch it!" Jezebel shouted. "You're going to break something!" But she stopped as she realized that when his sword was about to hit the flowerpot on a small table next to him, it passed through it as if it wasn't even there.

"I don't think the flowerpot will be the least of your worries, Jezebel." Kilik had walked over to the window and was looking down at something in the backyard. "Were your mother and father, by any chance, really attached to that tulip bed in the corner of the yard?"

"Not until recently, but why?" Jezebel walked over to the windows and looked down. She had to pick her jaw off the floor and rub her eyes before she could look again. "Oh… my… God…"

"What's wrong?" Sabrina joined Kilik and Jezebel at the window, and almost shrieked in shock, drawing all the others to the window as well. Down in the backyard was a two-legged lizard, which seemed to have gotten in by way of storming through the fence and stomping the bed of tulips.

"Lizardman?!" Warren, Jezebel, and Sabrina cried. The Soul Calibur Warriors did a double take, and flew down the stairs into the backyard. Raphael stopped at the head of the stairs.

"Wait a minute, what the hell am I doing?" He turned around, and ran back to the three teenagers, and leapt through the window, landing on the roof and making his way down into the yard. Warren, Sabrina, and Jezebel just looked at each other.

"Warren, find a weapon," Jezebel ordered, and snatched the broken couch leg, and handed the cactus to Sabrina. Warren unplugged a lamp and picked it up.

"Godzilla's goin' down."

With a half-assed battle cry, the three brandished their weapons and thundered down the stairs into the backyard in enough time to see "Godzilla" fling Xianghua through the brick wall into the living room inside. They almost gave up right there and then.

"What are you waiting for?!" Kilik shouted as he rolled around the Lizardman and tried to stick him in the back with his pole. It went right through, as it probably would have if the attacker was solid, but it seemed to have no effect. It was only when Taki leapt up in his face and slashed his throat with her knives did it seem to get annoyed, punched Taki hard in the stomach, grabbed her as she fell, and spun her around to throw her into the incoming Mitsurugi, Yungsung, and Raphael, who fell back.

"They can't hurt him!" Sabrina turned and looked at Warren and Jezebel. "We've got to help!"

"You crazy? This is Lizardman! Even I have trouble fighting him, and I'm the best of the three of us!!"

"Do you have a better idea?" Jezebel shouted. "We can't just leave them!!"

Warren was hesitant. "…………You're right… But what CAN we do?"

"Our best!" Sabrina raised a fist. Then, at risk of sounding too cliché, she added: "Duh."

With a loud battle cry, the three people ran at Lizardman. Warren leapt on his back, and brought the lamp down as hard as he could. Sabrina broke the cactus pot over Lizardman's head, and proceeded to stab him with the prickers multiple times in the face. Jezebel was the deadliest. She opted for a lower route, ducking low and thrusting the table leg into Lizardman's foot, standing up when he reared back in confusion, and thrust it into his eye. The victim screamed in pain and anger, and threw the teenagers off with a mighty shove.

Sabrina screamed as she found herself flying towards the brick wall. Somebody shouted, and instead of hitting brick, she landed against something relatively softer. Which wasn't much, considering the thing that saved her was actually Nightmare. And instead of passing through him as she expected, they both flew backwards a couple inches before landing on the ground. When Sabrina opened her eyes, she noticed Taki intercepted Jezebel, and they both had landed on the ground safely. Seung Mina had grabbed Warren's hand as he flew towards the fence, and the momentum spun them around, which ended up with Warren sitting on the ground in front of the Korean fighter. The other warriors had again engaged the now lame and semi-blind Lizardman.

"Are you okay?" Nightmare asked as he helped Sabrina get off him.

"Yeah, but…" Sabrina blinked. "How did you stop me? Why didn't we fly right through you guys?"

"Hey, 'Brina…" Jezebel called. "What happened to your cactus?"

Sabrina looked down. And did a double take. In her right hand was an exact duplicate of Nightmare's weapon, the Soul Edge. And it still didn't feel any heavier than a cactus. "Forget that," she looked up again. "Where's your table leg and Warren's lamp?"

By now all three of the adolescents and their saviors were amazed. Warren's lamp had turned into Seung Mina's weapon, but she still had hers with her. Jezebel's table leg had copied itself, the clone winding up in her right hand, and both had changed into Taki's weapons.

"…We were right, then," Mitsurugi lowered his sword. "The three of you are their successors."

"Hah!" Yungsung raised a fist. "We were RIGHT, Raphael."

"…………………Allez à l'enfer..."

"And now we CAN beat Lizardman!" Warren thrust the halberd into a fighting stance mimicking Seung Mina's, Jezebel twirled the daggers around and crouched into a karate stance, and Sabrina stood up, holding the Soul Edge with both hands. It was hard work, even for such a little movement like that.

Warren moved first, but Jezebel was at Lizardman's side before him. She delivered an elbow-jab, then a low kick, and stood up, driving both daggers into his back. Warren turned the halberd around, and jabbed the butt of the weapon into Lizardman's gut. Sabrina stepped up, swung the sword over her head, and with an uncharacteristic roar, decapitated Lizardman. The head landed on Warren, who shrieked like a girl and jumped away.

All was silent for a moment or two. Then, Xianghua started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Kilik looked down at her in some annoyance.

"It's wonderful!" She chuckled. "Three successors at once! It's a new record!"

"Yes, but it's only a record because there have been no successors before this." Raphael sheathed his rapier.

Jezebel smiled and looked over at Sabrina. The smile instantly vanished. "'Brina? You OK?"

Sabrina stuck the Soul Edge in the ground and knelt, clutching at the hilt so hard her knuckles were turning white. She was sweating, and breathing heavily. "It's… kinda…hard…"

"It's OK, Miss Mayfair." Nightmare came to her side, but just stood there. "Using the Soul Edge is mentally exhausting at first. But you will get better."

"Yeah?" Sabrina looked up.

"Sure. You are my successor; You kind of have to."

Sabrina moaned and put her head down again. "I think I'm gonna pass out…"

Warren sat on a lawn chair, holding his weapon like a staff. "But thank God it's Saturday today-"

"You mean tomorrow," Seung Mina interjected. "It's only 11 p.m."

"You're serious?!" Jezebel blinked. "How do you know that? Come to think of it, how do you know our names?"

"Please, Jezebel," Taki rolled her eyes and sheathed her own weapons. "We're ghosts. We know everything."

"Tell us…" Sabrina said between breaths, "How… How did… this happen…?"

The ghosts exchanged a few glances. "Come inside," Mitsurugi said. "I think it's time we told you ourselves."

The ghosts vanished through the walls, and the other three followed soon after. Jezebel caught up with Sabrina, who was walking slow and still breathing hard, and asked:

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Sabrina nodded and managed a smile. "Sure. Just tired."

"Look, if it's the Soul Edge, I-"

"It isn't. This has just been a really big day. Everything's fine."

"………………Promise?"

"Would I not tell you if something was wrong?" Sabrina asked, almost snapped, and opened the door inside.

Jezebel stopped for a moment. Maybe she was tired herself, but she had detected the sort of bitterness in Sabrina that usually only came from Chelsea. This made her think something was wrong. It was possible, maybe, that Sabrina really was just tired. But the Soul Edge was evil, every gamer worth their salt knew that. And Jezebel was concerned with how much it had drained her friend's energy with just one or two swings. Sure, maybe Nightmare or one of the other Calibur fighters had managed to overpower it, but she highly doubted that Sabrina could, especially if they would be fighting another Lizardman or Cervantes soon. She knew the Calibur fighters needed a successor, but why did the most confusing and temperamental and dangerous and potentially evil character have to choose her best friend?


OOH!! PLOT DEVICE!! Excellent… Ok, ppl, Read and Review! You OBVIOUSLY like it so much… lol. Hope this satisfies!

EDIT 10/April/2004: Hmmm… OK, changed some stuff. Added the ACTUAL French thing to Raphael's lines. If I'm not mistaken, he's saying "Go to Hell…" If I'm wrong, tell me and tell me the actual way to say that. Thanks!

~ M