Dreamshade

Music and dancing were in store for the team when they arrived at Baskar. Shane, sensing that the enemy had been defeated, had planned a huge celebration for his brother and the other Drifters. Everyone let their hair down, so to speak, and began to let out a cheer for the victory they'd obtained. Throughout the whole night, Virginia held close to Jet's side, watching the stars in the sky. She eventually fell asleep in his arms. Jet then brought her to the house, tucked her into the bed, and gave her a small kiss on her cheek.

. . .

"Wake up everyone!" exclaimed Gallows, "It's an emergency! Shane has vanished from the village." Jet was more shocked at the fact that Gallows had woken up on time than Shane's disappearance. He saw Virginia jolt right up, and Clive nearly hit his head on a dresser. They all ran outside, where Gallows and his grandmother stood. Gallows looked more shell shocked, while Halle seemed to want to keep things calm.

"Don't worry too much, I know where he's gone. He took the sacred key with him, meaning Shane is on his way to the Sacrificial Altar. There, a pillar gives his life to bring the power of the Guardians into the world, saving it. Shane is willingly going to die, if only to bring back the Filgaia we never knew," Halle said.

Gallows yelled, "How can you be so calm old lady?! My kid brother's going to die out there, I won't stand for it. We've got to stop him, I'm not letting Shane go like that." He began to storm towards the edge of town, where Lombardia stood. Virginia looked back towards Halle, knowing she had more to say to them.

Halle looked at her. "You know he'll never listen, so I'll tell you. Shane will summon the Hydra, it will protect him while he partakes in the ritual. It is a dangerous monster, so I'll warn you to be careful. If you want to stop him, I can't make you change your mind. But just remember, whatever happens, keep my stupid grandson from over doing it. He doesn't know when to quit, that's one of his main problems in life."

She nodded her thanks, and headed for Lombardia with the others. Sensing a major energy that had appeared in the north, Virginia figured that's where Shane had gone. So she steered Lombardia to the area she'd felt, and found a strange ruin. It did appear to have some religious significance or something like that, so she was sure that it was the one. The team went inside, and began combing the alter for Shane.

. . .

"Please Brother," Shane pleaded when they finally found them, "Don't interfere. I'll save Filgaia, so you can have a nice place to travel in. And so no more Demons try to destroy it, a green Filgaia will mean the power of the Guardians will be able to protect our planet without having to involve innocent humans in the battle. Besides, the Dream Girl has never been wrong before, so why should she be lying about this now?"

He sent a the Hydra out to fight with them. It puzzled Jet as to why he was using the trump card right away. Oh well, better for the team. Shane knew they'd win, it would only buy him time. For the first thing Virginia did was to take out her wings and unite with Jet. Aiming one of their Airget-Cannons, they managed to knock the monster for a loop. But it could heal itself, and was in no mood to be attacked. The Salamander struck Virginia's wing with one of its eight heads, causing her and Jet to fall to the ground. They hit the floor, and were badly wounded. It would take awhile for their own bodies to heal, even combined together. Meaning, Clive and Gallows would have to take care of this beast.

Clive had luckily Invoked the Violator tool they'd found in the Dim Root Path, and it had given him an ability to strike with his fists for great damage. He used it, and the Finest Arts technique managed to kill the monster. Then he turned back, to where Jet was trying to care for Virginia's injured wing. It appeared to be sitting oddly against her side, and wouldn't retract when she concentrated. He knew it had to be broken.

"You should rest your wing for awhile, it will eventually heal on its own. We must save Shane first, then we can take care of your wounded wing. Now then, I would deduce that the alter can't be too much farther in. After all, we have come a long way. So then, shall we be off?" Clive asked. The team then went onwards, on the path they saw before them. Virginia was holding her mouth closed, so not to scream at the pain she felt in her wing. She'd never broken them before, but she did know that, as a part of her, if an injury of some sorts had come to one wing, Virginia would feel the pain. It was almost too much to bear right now.

. . .

Finally, they'd come across Shane once again. He was only a little shocked at the wings Virginia had on her back, but only because he hadn't seen them before. Unlike most of the people who had seen her wings and freaked out, Shane had sensed her powers were more than an average human's, or even an average Shaman's. He held out his hands, and now summoned Hydra's sister; Salamandra. This one was able to be killed by water magic, and didn't heal, so Virginia just cast Hi-Aqua over and over again at it as the others shot at it furiously.

But by the time they were done, they could see Shane trying to release the power. He gave them a look, and stated, "All I ever wanted, all of my life, was to be strong like you, Brother, to protect Filgaia from evil. This is the only way I can do this, by giving my life to call forth the Guardians. I wished I could see everything around our world. But that can't be possible for me. Goodbye, Gallows. I'll never forget you."

Gallows ran up to him in fear, to stop Shane from completing the ritual. "Stupid! You don't have to be strong to protect Filgaia. Just doing your part can help us a lot. Shane, don't die, you're my only brother and I wouldn't want to see you hurt." Then, as Shane took notice of Gallows, the power began to die down. But before the brothers could embrace, a tremor was felt throughout the whole place. It seemed the power was going haywire, now that the ritual was incomplete. Just then Shane and Gallows combined their own powers to silence it. Breathing a sigh of relief, the team began to head outside and return to Baskar Colony.

. . .

Just as they got outside, Werner ran up to them. Virginia began to tell them about what had gone on, with the Prophets, with Siegfried, and with Shane. But just then, the sky went dark, and a lone image took form over the alter. It was that of a young child, a girl with purple hair and devilish yellow eyes. She wore a black dress, and what appeared to be a red shirt underneath. Shane said she was the Dream Girl.

"Beatrice!" exclaimed Werner, "Haven't you made enough trouble? Now you seek to use a boy to carry out your wicked schemes. You know I'll never be able to forgive you for what you did to our plans in Yggdrasil." That statement made the team turn around, this was the cause of the Yggdrasil's explosion?

"I will never rest, not until I've made my own world. I will use anyone and anything I can to get my way. If you continue to oppose me, then all of you will die," the girl replied. Looking at Jet and Virginia in particular, she began to laugh. Then, she disappeared in a shower of energy, leaving them all in wonder.

Werner said, "She's a Dream Demon, living inside Hyadas. It was her who influenced Duran to turn on the full power of the generators, since he was always one for pretty girls. It seems she used your little brother, Gallows, in order to gain energy from the Guardians. Her goal is to make a Filgaia where she can live, but to do that she plans to cause much strife for us. I must go to Hyadas, seal it up and stop her from entering this world. All of you get the boy back to Baskar, he will need to rest up from the ordeal of today."

- - - -

Rutee's Otaku Board

I'm filling in because Teefa's on vacation. First of all…Trigun kicks ass. Dang, she's gonna get the mallet out when she reads this if I go on. Second, it was a lucky thing she played the game through again since she reversed Hydra and Salamandra on accident (thinking that since Hydra was the monster warned about by Halle it would be the final fight in the dungeon). Third of all, yeah I think Salamandra would be female since it has the a at the end. That's one of the few things I actually remember from Spanish Class; my teacher was a pervert who hit on the girls instead of teaching us. Fourth of all, the periods now seperating the sections of the story are here because FF.net suddenly will not upload asterisks or any other cool signs. That's why the last chapter was a bit of a mess, and Virginia's silent call to the Dist Dims was unformatted. Teefa's probably going to edit it later on, when she figures out a new thing for telepathy (she's already claimed bold for singing and italics for visions and screen images that are secondary parts of the scene)