"Everyone, defense pattern omega!" Meru yelled as she swung her hammer forward, signaling the Dragoons to go forward into battle. "Quick battle guys," she continued. "Take 'um out."
"Right," Jake said. "Okay everyone, change back!" The Dragoons followed orders and changed back into Dragoon form. They had previously changed back to human form to conserve energy.
"Divine Dragon Ball!" And once again, Jake took out almost half their ranks. Energy cannons from the turrets of Fort Magrad took out a good number of the rest of the soulless warriors. Greg, Meru, Ben, and Becca dispatched of the rest.
"Good job," Meru said. "That didn't take too long. Rest up, we'll need our strength if they come back."
******************************
Haschel awoke from his induced sleep. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. He was in a glass tube. There were three other broken ones around him. Releasing a punch at the glass, it shattered upon contact. He ran our of the room and towards the exit where he found his companions Miranda, Dart, and Albert and their three dragons.
"Just what is going on?" Haschel asked, confused.
"I'd like to know that myself," replied Dart.
Just then, Adrianne flew past them. "Oh," she said. "Hello." She was just about to fly away again when Miranda called back to her.
"Hey!" she called. Adrianne turned around. "The White Silver Dragoon."
"My name's Adrianne," Adrianne replied.
"Alright, Adrianne," Miranda said. "What the HELL are you doing with my Dragoon spirit!?"
"It's my Dragoon spirit, and who the hell are you?"
"Adrianne, Miranda," a voice said from behind them. "Miranda, Adrianne. You are both the White Silver Dragoon."
The five Dragoons turned around. The figure before them was Kryusa's underling, Emma. "But I'm afraid you've worn out your invitation. You need to leave. I'll show you the door." The Dragoons were lifted in the air and thrown out of a nearby window and straight into the battlefield below.
*****************************************
Jim, Alex, and the Milton sisters stood in front of what appeared to be the house of Krissi Manion. Jim, always the impulsive one, entered first.
"Should we follow him?" Kelly asked.
"Why?" replied her sister. "All that house can hold is death. Why should we put our own lives at risk?"
Alex shrugged. "I don't know, Jim's intuition has been pretty good of late. Why would he be wrong again?"
"Well," Amber said. "Let's get in there." She followed Alex in while Kelly stood outside shaking her head.
********************************************
Inside, Amber looked around and saw a grand chandelier hanging above their heads in the enormous foyer of the castle. Ornate designs were carved in the walls. Never before had she seen such unnecessary display of craftsmanship, but she had to admit it was gorgeous.
"Wow," Jim said breathlessly. "It's beautiful."
"I had it done myself," said a red-headed girl walking through the door. She extended her hand in Jim's direction. "Kate Mueller's the name, Slaying's the game. These days, however, I work for a slightly different boss." She snapped her fingers, raised her hand, and a low growl echoed in the back of the hallway. Kate's baby blue eyes glittered with sadness as she continued.
"I'm sorry I have to do this," she whispered softly. She brought her hand down, and a head of Gargantuan proportions appeared behind her. It had large, hair-like ridges on it's back. Crystalline, sapphire eyes glowed in the dim light coming from the candlelit chandelier. Two long fangs stuck out among a row of teeth as the beast advanced. One leg, at least the height of the ceiling (how it fit in there no one had any idea), nearly stepped on Jim. The other three legs came in succession.
'If they can kill this thing,' Kate thought. 'I'll know that they are the one's I should help, not Eevano.' She disappeared into the shadows.
The creature's back came out of the shadows. On top of it was a giant crystal, in which was suspended a young, blonde-haired girl.
"Krissi!" Jim said. In her hands, Krissi held a purple jewel, and as Jim scrambled over to the beast and up it's right front leg, it began to glow.
***************************************
Adrianne soon righted herself from the fall she had taken. Still in the air, she looked at the other three Dragoons. Albert and Miranda were looking around, and Dart flew downwards and made a spectacular catch of Haschel in his arms.
Touching down, the four Dragoons transformed back into human form. Unknowingly, they were right in Jake's view from Fort Magrad.
Jake grabbed his Dragoon Spirit and flew out into the field. "Adrianne!" He called her name. She looked up and smiled.
"I thought I'd never see you again! I was afraid Doppleganger had killed you," she said as she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She planted a soft kiss on his lips.
"Okay, now that we're all reunited again," Dart remarked. "Can we turn our attention to more pressing matters, like, oh, I don't know, the giant wave of monsters coming against us!"
"There's no-" Jake turned around to see a new onslaught of soulless creatures coming right for them.
****************************************
Jim climbed up on top of the creature, and looked at the crystal that Krissi was suspended in. Never before had he seen something so beautiful, and yet terrible at the same time. Krissi's sad, blue eyes were closed. She looked so helpless, floating there, frozen in a crystalline object on the back of a giant behemoth. Looking back down, he saw Amber and Alex dodging another stomp.
"Krissi," Jim said. "Krissi, are you there? Can you hear me? Are you in there?" Her eyes said everything her words could not. He could tell she desperately needed to escape. Jim started hitting the structure with his balled up fists until they started to hurt.
'I need to find a new tactic,' Jim thought. There was a purple gem sitting at Krissi's feet. He picked it up. He was drawn to it, it seemed to call out his name. He clenched the jewel in his fist and felt the power of a Dragoon flow through him.
'Nice,' Kate thought, watching from afar. 'He can harness the power of the Violet Dragoon. Let's watch what happens next.'
Jim felt the armor cover his body. His crystalline wings opened and he took flight into the air.
"Atomic Mind!"
Thunder crashed around the crystal holding Krissi's body, and it shattered. She fell unconscious onto the creature's back.
'Phew,' Jim thought, and flew down to take her in his arms and carry her to safety. Narrowly avoiding a swipe of the creature's claws and coming out with a slash on his arm, he set her down next to Alex.
"Keep her safe," he said to Alex. But when he turned around, Kate was standing in front of the beast.
"Kill it," she said. "Kill it now." Jim nodded and flew up higher into the air. Concentrating all of his electrical energy on one punch, he brought his hand back and used the force of his flight to pile drive his enemy. Electrical energy surged through the creatures body. The barbequed beast fell to the ground with one last cry.
"Nice," Kate said. "You're almost worthy of my help."
"So who are you exactly Kate?" Jim asked, descending for a clean landing.
"Some call me the Slayer. Basically what I do is kill evil, yucky slimy things. I came here when I was told by a very good friend told me that a great evil power was rising here. I thought that the Dragoons were the evil power, but that turned out to be not true."
"Well, that's the understatement of the year," Jim said. "Who deluded you into thinking that."
"Well," Kate said. "Her." Kate pointed to Krissi's unconscious form. "But I'm assuming that she's changed a little if a Dragoon would risk his life to free her at the expense of his own safety. Or the Dragoons have changed a little."
"The Dragoons have not changed one bit," a voice echoed from the doorway. "It's you who've changed Kate."
"Master," Kate said, turning. "I didn't know you'd be here so soon. I was just softening up these prisoners for you to finish them off."
"Is that so?" Eevano said. "I thought you said you would join them. If they beat the bad monster that is." He grabbed her by the hair.
"Hey!" Amber screamed, snapping out of her silence. "Let her go!"
"And what are you going to do about it? Hmmm?"
"This." Amber put her fingers to her head, and concentrated on Eevano moving through the air. It happened.
"Woah," Alex said. "Amber, you're a-"
"A telepath," Amber finished. "It's a trait that runs in the women of my family. Now let's get out of here." She lifted a metal bar with her mind and started to wind it around Eevano, when she fell to the ground from exhaustion. Alex picked her up and carried her out of the mansion with Kate and Jim trailing behind.
