Chapter 8
Written By Illuminet
Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter to view it.
"..."-Indicate Speech
'...'-Indicate Thought
:::xXx:::
-Preface-
I-No...
Like Raven, I-No is a close subordinate to That Man. A woman with unusual powers and a intense hatred of aging. She has decided to work loyally for That Man once he has given her eternal youth. Although she works closely with That Man along with Raven, That Man does not seem to command much cooperation overall with the woman as she tends to go overboard with her assignments when things don't go her way.
Although her entire past is a mystery to all, I-No has extensive powers of manipulation over the mind. If she desires to, she can make others forget their past, but the skill will only work when the victim is weaker then I-No herself. Besides that power, I-No also has the ability to travel through time, and was the one who taught Raven how to keep himself from time slipping against his will. This shows that her knowledge over time traveling is far greater than his own.
Other than her powers, little else is known about her, as was stated earlier. She hopes for a rematch against Sol Badguy, to give her a chance at testing her full strength against him. Yet everything is determined by him, and it's most likely he won't give her the time of day to fight her if he can avoid it and reach Justice, Dizzy, and above all else, That Man...
:::xXx:::
-Main Story-
Underground Lab, Sol's party
"I guess this is the way Dizzy took when she tried to escape with Justice."
Testament said, as he ran, or rather, hovered by Sol. Faust was behind them, crawling swiftly on his arms and legs, since the passage was too small to fit his nine foot three inch height.
"I wish this place was like that big room we fought the Assassins at. At least I could stand up."
Faust said.
"Well, that's what you get for being so damn tall, doc."
Sol said in a lazy drawl, a half done cigarette poking from between his lips. Despite his outward calmness, Sol was really in an anxious state. Although everything about him was at ease, it was the way he was running quickly with long strides that betrayed some of the inner chaos within him.
"There's the exit from this hall."
Testament stated as dim light came into their line of vision at the end of the maze like passage. The three stopped when they came to the next room. Sol looked around in slight awe.
"Holy shit..."
He said.
"I have a feeling Kiske would disagree with your use of words on that."
Testament said in the same awed tone of voice Sol used as he too looked around.
"What are all these tanks or whatever? Are those Gears inside them?"
Faust asked as he stood at full height. The three split up to look briefly at the tanks with Gears floating within them that lined the entire floor in a maze like fashion just like the halls.
"Hey, these Gears are numbered. Maybe Justice is amongst them."
Sol said, noticing the small plaques near the bottom of the tanks.
"Judging by the worn state of these inscriptions, these Gears must have been locked up for a long time..."
Faust said as he inspected some.
"Indeed. I guess these Gears were held on reserve for the Crusades, but were never awakened for use. How sad...hey Sol, come here and look at this!"
Testament said excitedly. Both Sol and Faust made their way through the winding passages amongst the circular tanks to find Testament at the end of a wall. There were no more tanks in the area filled with Gears, and held only some Gear limbs within. Sol came up besides Testament.
"This is...Justice's information."
Sol said as he looked at the engraved wall. Faust looked around.
"Where is she though?"
Faust asked. Sol looked at the wall before coming closer.
"Maybe there's a trick to this thing..."
Sol muttered as he placed his hand on the wall, only to find himself falling thorough it.
"Shit!"
Was all Sol got out as he fell on his face in surprise.
"It's an illusion..."
Testament said, as he walked through the wall. Sol got up, only to hear a deafening bang on the other side of the wall.
"Ouch! That hurt..."
Faust's voice came from the other side.
"Your going to have to crawl."
Testament said. Faust crawled into the room, rubbing his paper bag covered head with his hand.
"Damn confounded short passageways!"
Faust sputtered out. Sol and Testament looked about the small room, feeling against every nook and cranny to find some kind of access to lead further within. Faust went for the ceiling because of his reach. All results came up short.
"Damn this place. Besides the tank, there isn't much else here."
Testament stated. Sol groaned.
"Fuck this. We might as well just blow a hole somewhere."
Sol said, hefting Fire Seal up and preparing to impale it into one of the walls.
"Enough, Sol Badguy. If you want to go further come out the way you came in."
A voice said all around the room. Sol's muscles tensed.
"I know that voice...that asshole Raven."
Sol said with an angry drawl.
"Should we do as he said? It could be a trap of some sort."
Testament said, looking thoughtful.
"One way to find out."
Sol muttered. He nodded to Faust, who nodded back before making his way through the wall illusion, Testament following after him, and last was Sol.
:::xXx:::
Underground Lab, Room of Gears, Ky's party
"By the Heavenly Father...this place is creepy."
Ky said. It took him and Bridget a little time, but the two finally caught up with the others, who were currently looking around at the tanks.
"These are all Gears?"
Bridget asked. Ky nodded.
"It would appear so."
Ky said.
"Hm...I hate to say it, but this place really has some kind of sci-fi and horror type of look to it from right out of a movie. This is like the part where all these tanks open and the monsters try and kill the helpless heroes and heroines."
Anji said in a creepy voice as he appeared besides Bridget almost instantly. Bridget jumped ten feet in the air with fright.
"Damn! Don't sneak up on me like that saying those weird things. I'm too young to have a heart attack here."
Bridget said hotly, bonking Anji on the head with his yo-yo.
"Ow!"
Anji rubbed his head.
"That's what you get for spewing your movie knowledge crap."
Baiken said as she came into view from all the tanks, the rest of the party following behind her. As if on cue, the tanks liquid emptied and the tanks began opening with awakened Gears.
"Holy Zen! Anji, you dumb ass, why did you have to say that?"
Chipp said, miffed. He bonked Anji on the head with the flat of his ninja blade.
"Nice going, you just had to jynx us, didn't you?"
Johnny said, bonking Anji on the head with his cane / hidden sword.
"I second that."
Baiken said, bonking Anji on the head with her sheathed katana.
"I third."
Jam said, bonking Anji on the head with a high kick.
"Oh no..."
Anji muttered as a giant anchor was about to land on him, luckily though, he dodged by jumping back. Unluckily, the anchor fell forward, landing on his foot, which left Anji hopping about in pain as he cursed obscenities with great fervor.
"Oops...sorry about that. It's always fun until someone gets hurt."
May said nervously. Baiken looked at Anji in surprise.
"I didn't know he could swear like that. Guess he earns a notch on the manliness scale."
Baiken said.
"I don't like to spoil your fun but...WE"VE GOT A FIGHT HERE!!!"
Ky yelled. Everyone finally noticed the Gears where closing in dangerously.
"Oh yeah..."
Johnny said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
:::xXx:::
Abandoned Labs, Sky Terrace...?
"So the Gear King and his Gear Knight will try and win back the Gear Queen and her Gear Princess. How sickeningly sweet."
I-No said. She stood casually beside a serious looking Raven who had his arms crossed as he looked down at Sol and his party. Sol growled.
"Where's he hiding them?"
Sol asked, his tone threatening.
"Would you do anything to get to them? Can you even fight your own woman to get to your daughter if you had to?"
Raven asked calmly. Sol narrowed his eyes.
"I ain't letting that shit happen, asshole! I'll save both of them! Now where is he keeping them?"
Sol asked firmly. Raven shook his head.
"Do not worry. If you do somehow manage to win, the master will take you to your wife and daughter personally."
Raven said. Sol spat his nearly finished cigarette to the ground, stomping it out with his heel.
"Fine, I'm game. Let's get this over with."
Sol said.
'Let me and the doctor hold these two off. Please use that time to move on ahead and save Dizzy and Justice.'
Testament said.
'Alright, I'll leave it to you guys. Keep yourselves alive, got it?'
Sol said.
'Of course.'
Testament said. With that in mind, Sol sprinted towards Raven and I-No at surprising speed. The two servant were preparing to halt Sol from going any further, But Testament and Raven used their special teleporting techniques to catch their opponents off guard. Testament, as usual, rose from the ground to knock I-No off her feet, while Faust descended down upon Raven from the air, striking him with enough force to knock Raven on his back. Faust used his momentum to rebound off of Raven and spin backwards through the air.
"Damn."
Raven muttered. With a wave of his arm, the passage he was to guard began to close as the roof came down over it. Sol picked up speed, before sliding under the obstacle.
"Bastard got away...!"
I-No said through clenched teeth
"Looks like we weren't able to follow the master's orders. We could be punished for that, so I might as well vent my anger out on you two for your show of heroics."
Raven said darkly as he stood back up. Testament's body stiffened as his face contorted in rage.
"Bring it on."
:::xXx:::
Ky's Party...
"Ride The Lightning!"
Ky yelled, slashing out with his sword, sending a tremendous sphere of electricity in front of him as a few Gears came rushing towards him. They were sent back at their glass tanks, shattering the glass on impact. Since he was one out of two with an Outrage, he would most likely have to help kill the majority.
"Whoa, these guys are fast."
Ky heard Bridget say. He turned to see his son running away from a couple of Gears, Roger behind them and pounding the Gears in the back mercilessly but to no avail, as the Gears didn't even react to his attacks. The Gears were sent flying once Bridget went past Johnny. The man drew his long sword in a giant sweep motion which caught the Gears cleanly in the heads. Another Gear followed quickly after it's fallen comrades, but Johnny just side stepped, letting the Gear run past him. Johnny slashed out with his sword, cutting it down in the back.
"That's what you get if you mess with the best."
Johnny said with a smirk as the Gear fell. He saw Baiken rush at a swarm of Gears, slashing through them with her katana with such quick motions he could barely keep up. With a final sheathing of her blade the standing Gears toppled over each other. Johnny shrugged his shoulders.
"One of these days you got to show me how you pull that off while moving. I can only do it while I'm standing in place."
Johnny said as he took down another Gear. Baiken grunted.
"Heh, train harder and you'll get the hang of it someday. I'll still be able to beat you at it, of course."
Baiken said with a grin. Johnny sighed.
"There's a blow to my pride."
He said in a defeated tone.
"Less talking, more fighting!"
Jam said as she came soaring over Johnny's head, a Gear struck hard by her stiletto shoes. She landed between a bunch of stunned Gears and proceeded to beat them senseless with her four thousand year old Chinese history of martial arts with a blend of ki power amplifying her attacks. She moved about the Gears similarly to Baiken in speed, striking out with her fists or feet and making the sounds that would even make legendary martial artist Bruce Lee proud.
"Wow, Mrs. Kiske. So you use ki arts in your attacks, huh?"
Chipp said in impressed awe. She would be the second person he saw that used ki arts so well. He himself was taught ki as a means of amplifying his own ninja trained skills. In a trail of smoke, Chipp dashed through the enemy lines without being able to be detected.
'I have to admit...these Gears are very weak compared to the ones I've fought in the past...it could be that Gears who have just been awoken are still adjusting to their own bodies like new born children...'
Ky thought as he helped slay many of the Gears Johnny and Baiken took down. This was reminiscent of the past for Ky. Although many Knights defeated Gears, they could never really kill them until the use of the Outrage, Eddie shadow, or other magical weapons could be put to use on them. That was why Gears were so hard to defeat, despite mankind's superior numbers. Of course the Gears being fought now seemed very disoriented, and were fighting more like lifeless zombies compared to the proud battalion of Gears who fought in the Crusades.
"Hey Anji, you were given an Outrage too. Stop messing around and moving so slowly here. You're the one who jynxed us here. Take some responsibility for your actions."
Chipp said as he peered at Anji, who took down Gears with graceful but slow moving strikes of his Stopping Fans.
"Hey, I'm not the speed demon like you, my friend. Everything must be calm and precise, calculated and graceful..."
Anji began, but Chipp interrupted.
"Would you just hurry so these Gears stay down. Your slowness graceful...whatever is starting to piss me off. The fact that these Gears I've been repeatedly beating up over and over again isn't exactly helping to improve my mood here either."
Chipp said. Anji let out a sigh.
"Oh very well. I would look out if I were you."
Anji warned. Chipp complied by teleporting out if the way as Anji summoned a dragon with his magic and mounted the large beast as it tore through the Gears Chipp had been dealing with.
"There. Happy now?"
Anji said to the ninja. Chipp shook his head.
"Happy, no. Satisfied, yes."
Chipp said. Anji looked at him oddly.
"If your satisfied, aren't you happy?"
Anji asked him. Chipp shook his head again.
"Hey, I may feel satisfied with those Gears finally dead, but since my mood hasn't changed all that much, I don't think I'm happy."
Chipp said.
"If you two are done with your ever so sophisticated chat, we'd like to move ahead now."
Baiken said in an annoyed tone.
"Man, me and May didn't even get much of the action either."
Bridget said with a sigh.
"For once, I agree with you."
May said to him. Now it was Ky's turn to sigh.
"If you two had stopped your ranting and raving argument of who took down that one Gear down first and concentrated on beating the other Gears, you would have."
Ky informed them.
"But...!"
The two young ones protested. Johnny simply waved his finger and shook his head.
"Now, now you two. I have to agree with Ky on this one. Just get over it and lets be on our way."
He told them. Bridget and May sighed dejectedly before nodding. The party began moving again.
"I really got him first just so you know."
May said, cheerily. Bridget fumed.
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not"
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
The two began their childish argument all over again.
"This is going to be a long trip..."
Ky said, rubbing his fore head since he was starting to get a headache.
:::xXx:::
"Damn. I guess your no longer holding back like before."
Testament grunted, guarding I-No's guitar. The battle between Testament, Faust and That Man's personal servants had been progressing smoothly at first, but began to get rougher as I-No and Raven stopped holding back more and more of their power. Testament found himself fighting to stay conscious and regenerate his injuries as I-No battled against him. His raven had saved him plenty of times from some of the woman's more devastating attacks. As for Faust, he seemed to be holding extremely well against Raven with his much longer reach and height advantage. The teleportation trick of his allowed him to confuse Raven considerably, but Raven also began to use teleporting techniques to get the slip on Faust on numerous occasions as well.
"These two aren't pushovers, I see."
Faust commented.
"I'm surprised a doctor would partake in violence. Still, I must admit you're a tough adversary for a mere ordinary Human."
Raven said, lashing out with an elbow blow that successfully connected with Faust's chest. The doctor staggered back, and Raven went for another attack, but Faust recovered quickly, jumping over the dark warrior. To Raven's surprise, the doctor seemed to take off his own head before throwing it down at him. To further rattle him, the paper bag exploded on impact, sending him to the ground with severe burns. Faust's head popped back out under his shirt with a new paper bag over it. Raven grunted as he stood, his burns regenerating.
"Oh, that's a shame...I was hoping to treat your injuries myself."
Faust said in mock sadness. Raven smirked.
"Sorry, I don't trust that scalpel of yours."
He commented. He quickly brought his fore arm up to guard a quick side swipe Faust made with his scalpel. Raven used this time to counter by teleporting right in front of Faust to deliver a crushing blow to Faust's stomach, only to find himself being slashed repeatedly as Faust managed to get the scalpel in front of him and spin it around.
"Damn...how do you do that?"
Raven asked in genuine curiosity. The doctor seemed to be able to read his moves easier and easier as the fight progressed. He had no doubt he could take the doctor down easily at full power, had the fight not been progressing so climactically. He was very entertained by the doctor's amazing and bizarre abilities to manipulate his body so easily in ways normal Humans could not. As for Testament, things were not going so well for him and his fight with I-No. I-No had a personality far different from Raven. When really engaged in a powerful fight, I-No did not act like laid back easy going woman that she seemed. Her more darker side was very sadistic and cruel, and she wasted no time on crushing the wills and morales of her opponents. And she wielded the power to back up her words, as Testament found out the hard way.
"You must really not want to see your girlfriend if your fighting this poorly. You should just stay still and let me kill you."
I-No said, her voice sounding rather satisfied as Testament leaned heavily against his scythe. She dashed towards his, bringing up a blade of red energy with the rising of her arm. Testament jumped back out of harms way, before coming forward with an heavy swing of his scythe that caught her right across the face and sent her through the air.
"Exe Beast!"
Testament summoned an underground cyclops like monster with a row of dangerously sharp teeth. I-No recovered in the air and dashed straight back for Testament. When she was close enough, he waved his hand out, letting a familiar red line slash through the air. I-No had already had too much momentum in her air dash to stop in time and was caught in Testament's blood web.
"Not this again."
I-No said in a frustrated tone. Testament didn't say a word as he jumped up, slashing up with his scythe to deal a hard strike to I-No's back. Once at the peak of his jump, Testament slammed the blunt end of his scythe against I-No's stomach, making her hit the ground with enough force to crack it. To an ordinary Human, the attack would be devastating, almost fatal, but I-No got up easily, shrugging off the pain.
"My, your going to have a long way to go before I feel your attacks unless you put your back into it."
I-No said with a sneer. Testament growled in frustration.
'Damn this bitch...she's just toying with me now. I hope your doing better than I am Sol.'
:::xXx:::
As for Sol...
He didn't know how long he was running, but the passage seemed to have no end in sight and Sol was becoming more and more frustrated and beginning to lose hope.
'Damn it, how much farther...'
Just as he was thinking about just stopping, a light came at the end of the passage. Fueled by his new resolve at seeing the light, Sol ran faster and faster.
'Come on...Just a little more.'
He thought. Almost instantly upon coming into the room, a massive blast of heated energy came to Sol's right, who barely had enough time to pull up a barrier with his magic. The attack was too strong, and it knocked Sol on his back roughly, letting Fire Seal slide from his grasp. Sol propped himself up on his elbows. His eyes widened at who he saw.
"I'm too late..."
Sol said softly to himself. Justice stood in his line of vision, her white armor gleaming when the light hit it. He could tell by the look of her reptilian eyes that she was being controlled. Sol got up slowly, surveying her carefully.
"I'll find a way to save you...for both our sake, and our daughter's..."
Sol said quietly. He didn't bother grabbing the Fire Seal again. It was an Outrage, one of the weapons used to kill his kinsmen. He only needed it's strength to get here, despite the fact he was using the very weapon used against his race. The weapon was made by the creator as well, in a sick twisted sense, used to kill his own creations with them as well. It was with that mentality Sol took up what his fellow Gears in the past remarked as a cursed weapon. He wanted to shove That Man's created weapon right through the heart of his enemy. He needed to save Justice now though, not kill her, and there was only one way to have a chance for him to be able to fight her at an equal level. Sol crossed his arms over the other, his muscles tensing.
"Dragon Install!"
Sol roared as his arms came out to his sides as he stomped his foot against the ground, letting his body become enveloped in a black flame. His flame covered body began to alter and change shape as it became similar to the armored Justice. The flames dispersed, and Sol adjusted himself to his crimson armor for the first time since the end of the crusades.
"Let's go."
He said, his voice sounding mechanical in the red armor. His bi-colored reptilian eyes focusing in on Justice. She stood upright, her arms at her sides and her metallic clawed hands clenching and unclenching into fists. The breastplate of her armor opened and closed as she breathed, allowing her body to be well ventilated. Sol's stance was similar, abeit even more calmer seeming than her own. His own breastplate opened and closed more slowly, his right hand resting on his hip since he had no pockets in which to put his thumb in like he normally would in normal human form. His left arm was lazily just at his side, hand clenching and unclenching into a fist in a similar fashion like Justice's.
'When I get done with having to do this...you better say your prayers, bastard...because I'm going to give you a one way ticket to hell when I'm through with you.'
-...To Be Continued...-
Note: Sorry for the late update. I've been pretty busy with my life recently and wasn't able to get this up very quickly as I had hoped. The whole point of this chapter was to begin setting up for a big fight scene between Sol and Justice for the next chapter, so there wasn't much action going on in this chapter, so I'm sorry about that. Despite this chapter being used for the Sol and Justice fight set up, the overall chapter still managed to become longer than I originally intended, and there is some extra humor added into some areas of this otherwise serious chapter that weren't there before. Overall, sorry for the lack of any real action in this chapter. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the next chapter up a little faster. If I'm lucky...