Part two.


Hints Of An Old World


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The darkness was creepy. It was solid and thick and covered everything, even if she had been able to, she doubted she'd of been able to see her hand if she'd waved it right in front of her face. That wasn't the worst of it though, as well as it being pitch black it was completely silent. There was absolutely no sound what so ever. Not even her breath as she breathed, not her footsteps or rustling of clothes as she moved. Not even from the people around her! It was beyond creepy.

The only way she was sure she was even moving and that she wasn't alone was the continual tug on her hands by someone behind and someone in front of her. It was the only remotely reassuring thing in the whole experience, that and the hope that it'd be over soon.

Which of course it wasn't.

What felt like weeks, months, later, but was really less than hours of pure darkness, was finally over.

And now it was worse.

She didn't even have time to see where on earth they'd come out of or where they were now. The moment they had left the darkness she'd fallen maybe a foot or two and wasn't able to get up. Her body was in complete shock. It was frozen stiff, or at least, felt very much like being so. She was shivering so badly she couldn't believe her body could even do that. The sound of her teeth chattering would of made her worry about them breaking but for the fact she was preoccupied with trying to warm herself up any way possible.

Fifteen-twenty minutes later and the coldness had finally decided to sub-side. Leaving her still shivering but able to move and look around without having to completely focus on trying to get herself warm.

Around her everyone else didn't look to of fared that much better than herself. The only one who didn't seem so badly shaken was the giant, but she was starting to think not very much effected him so wasn't overly surprised. The black morph was sitting up and hugging himself, muttering under his breath words she probably didn't want to hear properly anyway. The lady was leaning against something and rubbing her arms. Last the army guy and nerd were together. The nerd didn't seem to of fared well at all. He looked like she'd felt ten minutes ago and the army guy looked worried. The giant was standing over the both of them looking lost as to what he could do.

She just sat and watched them, seeing what they'd do. She still didn't know who these people were, if she was a prisoner or not and or if they were even really friendly. Plus, she wasn't overly compassionate.

A few minutes later and the nerd was doing better. They hadn't even really done anything, it just seemed everyone took different amounts of time to get over what ever it was that had happened to them. It didn't really look like it did anything permanent though, just made you bloody cold for a certain amount of time.

"I vote we don't do that again." The black morph was the first to speak, or complain, which ever way you chose to look at it. Most everyone seemed to be in agreeance with the thought though from what she could tell.

"As much as I really would prefer we don't use that awful thing again, we most probably will have to. We don't know where we are and pretty much the entire Kanto region is infested with Demons. We need to find a safe place and warp rooms make the best form of long distance travel we have available." The nerd was obviously feeling much better.

"But I thought those things were supposed to be hard to find, or rare or something." The woman's first comment.

"Yes, well. We're fairly sure there's a very large number of them. And from what we've been able to figure they do have entrances at vaguely familiar sites to each other. They shouldn't be too hard to find if need be." She wasn't feeling overly confident at the thought.

Suddenly something clicked in her mind. But before she got the chance to speak someone else noticed by something else. "Where on earth are we? I've never seen anything like this place before."

Which even she had to agree with after having a real look. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same as she did.

It was a change to the all steel of the other place, this time it was all stone. Carved and sculptured stone though. Nothing like a cave, she did expect them to be underground again though due to the lack of windows or light. She couldn't see the roof above them but that was mostly due to the general darkness of the place. There were a couple of shafts of light reaching down from somewhere above to splash across the ground but it was moonlight, not sun and it didn't light anything up very well. From what she could see this place was old. Very very old. She probably would of guessed thousands of years but would of been wrong by millennia's. Plants and roots where overgrowing everything pretty much, pushing a lot of the stonework out of place and displacing completely even more. There were obviously markings on a lot of the surfaces as there were slight grooves here and there but most of them had been worn away by time. The room they were all in wasn't actually that big, little more than the size of the last room they were in just with a much much higher roof. There was one entrance way and that was in front of where they'd come out of. There was only an empty wall behind them with a faint rectangular mark where a door might of been planned at one time but was never seemed to of gone forth with.

"Don't think we'll be going back the way we came then, hey?" The morph nudged the nerd as he went over to the wall to feel it, muttering something about there supposed to be another black door like the one they'd come through.

"Well as much as I'm sure we'd enjoy staying here, it would probably be a better idea if we searched for an exit to this place. Or at the very least, a room with more than one way in or out." The army guy was standing at the entrance and looking back at everyone expectantly before he turned around, not waiting for an answer and disappeared into the darkness beyond.

"Hey wait up!" and the morph ran quickly after, not wishing to be left in the room. The giant glanced back at the three of them before lumbering after the other two. Next the woman marched after them, rubbing her arms self-consciously. That left her and the nerd who was still muttering under his breath as he glared at the wall. She looked at him for a moment before deciding she'd prefer to be with the others over this guy and disappeared after them.

She did start off at a faster pace, but having stumbled at least six times and grazed her knees twice out of those she decided a slower one was perfectly fine. Anyway, she could hear the sounds of shuffling feet just ahead. She really did wish that there was more light though and that maybe that they'd made the floor to the place a little more resistant to plant growth. At least this darkness was less dark than the last and this time she could hear things. Scuffing of feet and the occasional swear word as someone knocked something.

The next room they came into wasn't too long after and was a much better size. There were four main beams of light this time, or at least, there had been. The one in the left hand far corner had collapsed along with the rest of the ceiling at some point a long time ago. A very long time ago because there was a full grown tree of some sort growing out of the rubble that could just be seen between a couple of boulders. But aside from that the place looked fit enough and there were five other entrances into it. Two on the opposite wall, one other on the side they'd just come out of, one behind an alter thing of some kind and then one half covered by the rubble. Aside from the alter, which was raised higher than the rest of the room by a series of platforms there was a large square pit that made up about a third of the floor reached by steps that once went right around the entire rim. Pillars held up the roof, the floor appeared to of been tiled at some point and the walls had been decorated in so much detail that a lot of it still remained. The general appearance of the place gave the impression that it was very important to someone or ones at some point in time.

"Well, this would seem to be our stop for the night. I'd prefer somewhere less out in the open than this but it would seem 'Bur has no desire to move from where he's sat and as I don't wish to split up our group just yet this is where we'll be staying." She looked around at the group, and sure enough the giant had sat himself down against one of the larger pillars at the far end of the room. She had to somewhat doubt the fact that it was really the army guy's decision to stay together as he'd said that was making them stay here. She just believed very strongly that there was no possible way to move the giant once he'd sat.

"Do make yourself as comfortable as possible while you enjoy your stay. We have a complimentary rock for you to sleep on. Or if you're in the mood for extra comfort we have a PILE of rocks for your added enjoyment!" The black morph was ranting in a sarcastic manner to no one in particular as he looked around between the rocks and rubble for somewhere comfortable to sleep, obviously not in a good mood or the least bit impressed with where their accommodation was going to be that night.

She looked around again to see the army guy and woman talking to each other near the alter and only stopped watching them when she heard a huffing and puffing behind her and turned around to be nearly knocked off her feet by a running nerd.

"AGH!"

"Watch it!"

Catching herself just in time she looked down at the nerd now sprawled out on the ground. "You know you really could watch where you're going." He just glared up at her, scrambled around for where he'd dropped his glasses then stood up to glare at her from a more comfortable hight. "If you hadn't of been standing there I wouldn't of had any trouble," he sneered right on back at her. She just huffed, turned on her heels and walked away from him. The sound of footsteps on stone heading towards where the army guy and woman were told the obvious as she found herself moving in the general direction of the giant and morph. The morph was still rambling on to himself in a disgusted tone, (about his clothes getting ruined now and hygiene,) while the giant didn't seem to of moved from the first time she saw him.

She was just sitting herself down, a short distance from the other two when there was a loud shout and the three sitting figures looked at the commotion going on between the three standing ones. It was the first time she noticed that the older man wasn't with them anymore. And this was the obvious subject of the argument. The nerd was not happy. He was yelling at the top of his voice and waving his hands in the air like he were a mad loony. He also probably would of kept on doing that if it weren't for something the woman said in a hushed voice and he suddenly shut up very quickly. A foot was stamped and he said one last thing unheard by the three sitting figures before turning on his heels and stomping away from the other two. She would of missed it if she'd looked away a single second earlier but as it was she just caught the tail end, the nerd paused for the barest of moments to glare straight at her before he disappeared behind a pillar and didn't come out again, even after she'd looked back in his direction again.

"I wonder what all that was about.." she'd barely realised she'd spoken when an answer came her way.

"Oh they've just never got along too well them two. David and BJ that is. Clash of careers I'd say. You just don't mix army and science together, not a good mix. Anyways, add to that David obviously couldn't see what was going to happen while BJ did. Too up himself, David that is, doesn't notice anything outside of his radar and his radar's very small and only designed to notice specific things. Soo, we just had a big argument over what happened to Conner. Sooo obvious, like really. I can't believe he didn't realise." The morph crossed his arms as he looked at her and just before she could open her mouth to ask how he'd heard. "You see these things, they're not just for decoration, though they do look good," a grin.

"Oh."

The morph was still looking at her after she'd looked away to see what the woman and army guy were doing and looked back again. "What are you staring at?"

"You obviously. For like a saviour sort of thing, I thought you'd look something better. There's no sense of taste in anything you're wearing, your hair is a mess, you're not even wearing make-up or have any real natural grace or glow about you. There's not even a crappy little yellow aura around you or anything."

She just stared at him blankly.

"Oh right, you probably don't know do you? Seeing you ran into him," the morph indicated the giant, "when we first grabbed you. Then after we got back to the facility we just left now, there was an attack.. Sooo, no one probably went to see you before me and Sue did and then there's all this," he waved a black furred hand in general. "You haven't a clue do ya kid?" The morph was grinning at her in that pompous, 'I know something you don't know' sort of way.

"No I don't. I don't know why the hell I'm here or what you people want with me," she snapped at him impatiently. He was obviously going to tell her and she wanted to know now, she didn't want to play the guessing game.

"Oh I don't know. I don't think I really oughta be telling you this. It's not really my place or anything. It was supposed to be Conner.. Oh I don'-" "Just tell me would you? I've been waiting I don't know how long and I'm really not in the mood for your stupid games fur face." "Touchie. But fine. But only because it's supposed to be important and you should know and such, it's by no means because I like you. You're probably one of those spoilt brat kids who always got what they wanted or something anyways. And you obviously have something against my kind so I really don't know why I'm bothering." He flicked one of his long ears indignantly and sat back after a glance at the giant.

"You're the first part of a group of people, 'morphs, Pokemon-" She was just about to but in, but he raised his voice a little and continued faster so she wouldn't have the chance. "-that we need to find so we can stop this invasion thing that's happening. How exactly that's going to work I don't know. But I do know that we have to find you and five others and that you'll make a special group of some kind that can stop everything. Then everything will be happy go lucky all over again and we can go on with our merry lives without having to worry about being incinerated outside of voluntarily jumping into a volcano."

"That's it?"

He glared at her, "of course that's not 'it', there's a lot more to it than just that. But that's it basically. You're this special soul thingy that'll help in the end. But aside from that I don't know what you'll do. You're not even supposed to be a mage or anything."

"A mage? You mean.. like a wizard or a witch or something?"

"No a mage is supposed to be different. Different kind of magic or something. But yeah, a mage. There's going to be a lot of magic being thrown around by the end of all this."

"There's no such thing as magic, it's just magician's tricks. Or something you find in a stupid kids game." Like really, no one but little kids believed in magic.

"That's not true. There is such a thing as magic. And it's not just those stupid tricks magicians do. Magic's an art and it's been around a lot long than most everything else."

"Oh yeah right."

"I'm telling the truth. But fine, if you don't want to believe me you don't have to. But I'll be proved right soon enough, just you wait and see. There's magic everywhere. It's mostly really old now, there's not much new stuff anymore. But it's there and it's just waiting for something to do."

She snorted and turned away from the morph, not the least bit convinced. 'Great, I've been captured by a bunch of wackos who think I'm some one special and who's going to stop this stupid invasion of monster things,' was the main thought through her mind.

There was a movement behind her and she glanced back again.

"You ok 'Bur?" the black morph was looking worriedly at the giant where he lay against the pillar, he'd gone a funny shade of grey.

"Ye-es. Ju-ss-t Tie-rd." The giant opened one eye and looked straight at the morph before his gaze wondered to the other end of the room, right to the alter then to the morph again before closing. The morph shuffled in his position so he was closer to the giant and mumbled in a hushed voice, "Yeah, I don't like the feel of that thing either. Something bad's happened here and it's still heavy in the air, even after all this time... I don't like this place... " He paused and tried to lighten the mood, "I'm going to end up with premature wrinkles from all this worrying you know. It's rather annoying," the morph half heartedly laughed as he glanced to the alter himself before attempting to make himself comfortable enough to sleep.

It took him a couple of tries. He wasn't comfortable facing the alter, it seemed to creep him out. But then whenever he turned his back on the thing he got a prickling up his spine and he was continually looking over his shoulder. He put his back to the giant and then found himself continually glancing behind him to make sure he was ok. Finally he decided on his side facing the giant so he could see both him and the alter at the same time.

That short conversation and she was feeling uncomfortable as she turned and tried to settle herself down to sleep. She had all the mind to run away, but there was no where to go and she didn't trust this place. She didn't know how big it was and there was no guarantee those passageways even went anywhere but to dead ends or giant black pits. She'd have to wait for daylight at the very least so she could see where she was going. But as well as that, what the morph had said kept tumbling over in her mind. Was magic really real? Was she really special and that's why these people had grabbed her? What on earth was wrong with that alter thing at the other end of the room? The last one was the worst. She found herself continually opening her eyes to stare at it, not that she believed she'd see anything different, but.. She sighed and eventually found herself asleep. The other three members of their party temporarily forgotten along with most everything else.

The next few hours were uneventful. Mostly taken up by sleep as one figure or another kept watch over the rest.

She was one of the first to awaken. Stiff and sore as she stretched after getting up, she finally got to have a good look around at what'd been digging into her side and/or back all night as she'd tried to sleep.

"Now how the hell did I not notice that was there before." She glared at a large spiralling rock that seemed to have a general shape moulded into it. Arms, legs, a head. Nothing very distinct though. Finally deciding the thing wasn't really worth her time she turned her attention to looking around again. It was still dark, but getting lighter as the minutes passed, the sun was rising and through the various holes in the roof light was seeping in and giving a large portion of the place an eerie glow. Everything was coming out in shades of white-greys and various greens. Rather pretty actually as it gradually got brighter.

It took her a while to notice that anyone else was awake as she walked around. It was only when she'd been looking at the alter thing for ten minutes or so that a voice spoke up, startling her and making her stumble backwards a short distance.

"Watch it. We don't need you falling and breaking anything Miss."

She turned around to see the army guy looking at her. "Well you shouldn't of surprised me like that.." she mumbled as she went about dusting herself off. "I'm sorry if I startled you." He paused for a moment before walking up to her and offering a hand, "I'm Benjammin White. Or as you'll probably hear the rest of them call me, BJ." She raised a brow as she looked at him before taking the hand and giving it a slight shake reluctantly. He seemed ok, "Clarissa.." "Well it's good to meet you Clarissa."

He suddenly looked around her at the alter, "May I ask what it was you were looking at?" "Oh nothing. Just trying to see what the big deal was.." He looked at her questioningly but she didn't comment anymore, instead she turned around and looked over the rest of the room from the pedestal they were upon that the alter rested on.

"This place is kinda nice isn't it. The mottled stone and all the patches of bright greens.. Not as creepy looking like it was last night."

"It's still not ideal. We don't know what this place is, what it's for.. how big it is or even where it is."

She shrugged and continued to stand there, watching as more and more parts of the place were illuminated with the penetrating light of the dawn sun. It was pretty to look at. Like those old ruins you found on postcards for holiday places or in documentaries where they only filmed the best parts of the place.

Without noticing he'd walked up to her and just past, looking at the alter himself. "David would probably like to have a look at these.."

"Hmn?" She turned around to see what he was looking at and noticed for the first time the amount of detail in the designs on the alter, now that it was so bright. "Wow.. What are those? They look like pictures, or scenes for something.." She walked up closer, next to the guy, reaching over to trace over some of the patterns with her finger tips. There wasn't an answer, instead he was gone and she was left alone to look at the pretty pictures and patterns, wondering what they were all about and who'd put them there.

It was bright daylight before she was interrupted from what she was doing.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME EARLIER!"

"I be-"

"I COULD OF STARTED AT THE BREAK OF DAWN! DO YOU REALISE-"

"-I-"

"-NO! OF COURSE NOT! SOMEONE LIKE YOU COULDN'T POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND!"

"What do you me-"

And it went on like that for a while longer, gradually becoming louder as it came closer to her at the alter. Finally she turned around to face them. The army guy was being yelled at by the beyond angry nerd and his computer, then the black morph was following them both a couple of feet behind. Looking past them she spied the last two members. Over near the rubble the giant was getting up, his eyes on the procession. The lady was leaning on a pillar in the opposite corner, switching between watching the entrances, including the large holes in the roof and then the two arguing figures. She seemed more than a little amused, a smirk quite obvious on her face.

Eventually they stopped in front of her, quieter now as the nerd seemed to of lost a lot of his gas. He glared at her before turning the glare to the army guy, "You showed -her- before you showed me?"

"No. She was here first."

"Hmpf," and he shoved past her, resting his computer on a large flat stone right next to the alter and proceeding to ignore everything around himself aside from it and the alter itself.

She glared at him for a while before she realised he wasn't noticing in the least and gave up, turning around and just about crashing into the black morph who had moved closer.

"Hey!"

"Oh.. Sorry."

She blinked at him in surprise as she stood back and dusted herself off. She was going to yell at him, but the unexpected response threw her off. "That's ok."

He didn't hear her. He was mumbling something under his breath, eyes darting this way and that as he shifted his weight from leg to leg. It was more than a little obvious he was uncomfortable. The way his body moved each time his eyes came to the surrounding area of the alter showed why clearly enough.

She looked him up and down then waved a hand in front of his face to gain his attention, "I don't get what you're so uppity about. This place is nice enough and there's nothing here."

"I still don't like this place.. There's something wrong about it.." He looked straight at her and she kept his gaze until he turned away and looked up above them, to the holes in the ceiling that were letting the light in. "Haven't you noticed how quiet it is? We're obviously close to the world but there's no sounds of life from out there and then there's also nothing in here. When you usually find these sorts of places they're crawling with different wilds." She frowned, pausing as she tried to think. Yes it had been quiet, even as the dawn came and went she didn't hear a single bird call or sound of life. There'd been the wind blowing and the rocks bouncing off things as she moved around, but aside from that there'd been no other sounds. Nothing living at least. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before now. She stayed quiet, thinking silently to herself as the morph continued to look around warily, stopping every now and then on the nerd and the alter he was studying.

The army guy had already walked away and was with the other two who were standing together near the rubble, talking and pointing at different things for a while before they split up. Each went a different way, the army guy down one of the side passages, the woman down another and the giant staying near the rubble and beginning an attempt to create a way through it to the above world.

The silence, broken only by the occasional tumble of a rock as it fell from it's perch or the mutterings of the nerd or inconsistent mumbles of the morph, wasn't all that comfortable. She had nothing to do, she was stuck with two people who'd most likely prefer not to have her there and definitely weren't up for conversation, plus she was bored. That wasn't the worst of it though. She wasn't hot or cold, but the air was stuffy, despite all the obvious ways for currents to flow about it and through, it was dead still. Then was the fact she felt dirty all over from sleeping on the ground among rocks all night and she wouldn't say she'd got a good nights sleep. Last was the gaining desire for food. She couldn't remember when she'd last eaten something and her stomach was making all the effort it could to be noticed and fed. When she'd been at home she'd been living on small amounts of food over the days, snacks and the like. She hadn't had a proper meal for the last couple of weeks. But she'd gotten used to that and it wasn't such a big deal. She hadn't exactly been doing much anyway. But now there was nothing and had been nothing for a couple of days. She was hungry.

There was nothing she could do but deal with it though along with everything else. So she did.

Just when she thought the boredom had grown so bad that she'd actually resort to making conversation with one of the others there was a loud cry and other two who had gone disappearing down the tunnels suddenly appeared again.

"We found a way out! Come on, we should get going now, before the sun's up too high. We need as much of the light as possible."

"Thank you," the first audible words the morph had said other than his mumblings.

"NO! Not yet! I'm not done yet!"

She looked behind her at the nerd, he was on his feet after having been kneeling down near the base of the alter. "I'm not going yet! This place has never been seen before! It's not on my records! It' a new discovery! It needs to be recorded and analysed and and..! And I have a right to do my work! I MUST stay and study it more!"

Before she'd even realised it the morph was past her and had grabbed up the nerd's stuff and nerd himself by his collar and was dragging him away from the alter as he shouted, kicked and punched in protest. The morph seemed completely oblivious to it, either that or he was doing a very good job of ignoring it, using all his effort to drag the junior scientist away from his work as he in turn used all his effort to stay.

There was a faint hiss, barely audible, "Shut up. Just because -you- don't realise what this place is. What's here and what it means.. That you don't notice the vibe this entire place is giving, especially that alter thing.. It doesn't mean that no one else does.. We're leaving and if you continue as you're going you are going to lose all ability to study anything in the not too distant future.." and the nerd was shut up, stopping his struggle. Instead he pulled himself roughly away from the morph, who seeing he was no longer fighting let go, and straightened himself up with an air of haughtiness about him. That done he stalked over towards the rest of the gathered group, muttering unintelligebles under his breath as he kept his eyes very firmly focused forwards.

The morph shrugged his shoulders and glanced back at her, he looked different for a moment, but it passed quickly and once again he looked like the whiney annoying black morph she'd seen before. He turned away again and she just followed after him, thinking to herself again.

"It's not too far, it shouldn't take long for us to get out of here. It's also completely clear, there's no rubble or anything so the way should be easy enough."

"There's light as well.. So no reason to be scared of the dark.." the lady was sneering at the morph who just poked his tongue out at her in response. She grinned.

The army guy ignored the banter between the two and went on for a few more minutes about different precautions but she zoned out and was only brought back to attention when her name had been repeatedly said then fingers clicked in front of her face. "Wha- what?"

"About time..."

"I was just saying that it'd be best if you stayed near 'Bur and Sue once we leave as we don't know what's out there. Ok?"

She nodded and they were off.

They'd been right. It was easy going and it was very bright. Every so and so lengths there'd be one source or another of light, usually through small holes in the roof, but as they went along gradually more openings appeared in one of the walls, looking very much like windows and those let in more than enough light. As they went past she started to notice the amount of designs and carvings in the walls and structure of the corridor thing they were going down, it was mind blowing. She couldn't believe anyone'd actually bothered to spend the time and carve all these things out of the solid stone. It seemed to be catching the eye of the nerd as well as he kept stopping and starting. Starting due to the fact the black morph wasn't close behind him and all he had to do was step closer to the nerd and he started moving again. The army guy watched the two of them carefully.

The woman was just in front of her and she didn't seem to be watching anything but the growing light ahead of them. Behind her was the giant who worked very well as a living wall that kept her going forwards. Not that she really wished to stay anyway, but it did stop her from attempting to stop and look carefully and any of the pictures, designs or carvings in particular.

It wasn't long until the passage they were in broadened out into another large room. Not as big as the previous but big enough. The roof was held by pillars along two of the walls and just ahead of them was a huge entrance to the outside world, which was bathed in a curtain of gold as the sun seemed to be in just the right position to block out much anything else. On the walls either side of the entrance way were near full length windows, the only reason they weren't other doorways were for the fact they were a few feet from the ground and looking out of one of them there seemed to be a very steep drop on the other side.

"Ok, everyone be on the look out for anything strange now. We don't want anything jumping us. The slightest sign of trouble and you say."

Everyone nodded and they were going forwards again, out of the bright corridor and into the even brighter entrance hall and straight towards what they hoped was the exit. Everyone was also on high alert, pausing at the slightest sound.

Until the black morph took fright at something suddenly and bolted right on out the exit. The army guy shouted after him, but as that did nothing he looked back once and went after, everyone else running within moments to catch up to the frightened morph.

"Wait up Sur!"

"Sulpher SLOW DOWN!"

But he had stopped, and both the army guy, nerd and woman had to put on the brakes hard to keep from running right over the morph where he'd stopped dead in the middle of the path.

What had made him stop so suddenly wasn't obvious until he turned around, a single long black ear twitching, the gold ring around it shimmering as his eyes moved back and over where they'd all just come out of.. His mouth dropped open, making an O shape for a while before he was able to make the words he wanted..

"Oh my.."

"Well that wasn't exactly what I was expecting.."

"Where on earth did all that come from?"

"I thought you said this place hadn't been discovered. How on earth do you not discover something that bloody big David?"

Half the group were looking at the nerd while the other half were still staring dumbfounded at the structure behind them. It was HUGE. And by huge, it wasn't just big huge it was monstrous. It could more than easily enough of fit a castle and it's courts and the towns and all the townspeople very comfortably inside it. An entire city sprawl built into the side of a mountain, of which they were standing on one of many bridges that led to other entrances into the structure. All stone and greenery mixed together with obvious signs of a past civilisation of some kind made it all look somewhat creepy.

"I still don't like this place..." The black morph was mumbling again, looking about before stopping as he spotted something just ahead of where they wished to go. Having had her fill of what was behind them she'd turned to see ahead and was now staring at the same thing the morph was. Two large columns jutting out of the earth to a couple dozen feet into the air either side of the end of the bridge. A white-grey marbled stone with a small forms carved into the top of each of them that weren't completely distinguishable yet as the bridge was a good two hundred meters or more long.

Slowly they had all stopped staring at the place they'd just come out of then gone through a heated argument over how on earth something that big had never been seen before. Now they were slowly moving down the length of the bridge to it's end where it met the ground again, each of them glancing back every now and then the way they'd come from.

"Why are we on a bridge? Why didn't they just make steps in the mountain up to the entrances.. or why didn't they just make the entrances closer to the ground?"

A snort. "How should we know, you're supposed to be the scientist."

The nerd was continuing to ramble on about different things but she didn't pay attention. Archaeology wasn't really her thing, instead she was watching the morph and the giant, the last of which had somehow managed to get himself a good distance ahead of the others and had his eyes on the two columns.

She stopped suddenly, and had the woman walk right into her as she'd only been a few steps behind. "Hey, watch your step!"

"Sorry.."

"What'd you stop for anyway?" The woman stood up beside her and tried to see what she was looking at. "What are you staring at girl?"

She pointed to the tops of the columns, "Did those things on top turn around?"

"Don't be silly, how could statues turn around. They're just stone," the nerd butted in. "Really-"

"-She might be right."

"Excuse me?"

"They don't look the same."

"You're seeing things Sue, I've told you you needed your eyes checked before."

"Shut up David, my eye sight is better than yours."

"Hmpf."

The conversation ended there and they kept walking, catching up to the morph and giant who had stopped just past the end of the bridge.

"You took your time. Where we going now?" The morph muttered at them all before leaving his gaze on the army guy.

"We need to find out where it is we are first before we can decide on where to go. David can you use that computer of yours to tell us where we are, or do you still have the interference?" The nerd shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his computer, "No, there shouldn't be any trouble now that we're above ground. Something in those rocks that they built that place with was interfering with the satellite tracking abilities."

Again the conversation turned into something she had no interest in, at least not after the first few initial minutes where she realised she had no clue what they were saying or the places they were mentioning. Instead her attention went back to the giant and morph, mostly the giant as he was standing there stock still with his head turned to upwards to look at the tops of the columns not far from them. She let her own gaze follow suit and jumped a little in surprise to find two small faces looking down at her and the others where they stood. "Now I'm certain those things have moved, they weren't doing that before unless there's more than one face to those things.." The giant slowly turned his head and faced her, "Ye-ss. Moo-v-ed.." and then he was staring at the things again. She shuddered as she turned her own gaze up again and saw the things still staring down at her, one from atop each column.

"Oh great.. So we're nowhere near ANYONE? At all? Not even a secret military or hideout sort of place or even for some sort of organised crime? NOTHING? Nothing at all for MILES AND MILES? You're saying we're going to have to WALK for days before we get to anywhere? And what do you think is the likeliness we'll even SURVIVE that long with no weapons or anything? We're all gonna die.. I knew it, I told ya all before we're gonna die and it's all your fault.." The morph really knew how to ramble on and the defeatist attitude was wonderfully encouraging she thought as she looked at the small group around the nerd and his computer.

"It's not that bad Sulphur. You're supposed to know attacks aren't you? You're a morph after all, you do have the dark- "-Shadow-" "Fine, shadow abilities don't you? And BJ has a couple of things we could probably use as a last resort.. And it's not like anything can harm 'Bur." "Oh that's encouraging, we all become little bloody blobs of goo and 'Bur's still standing there just watchin it happen as he doesn't get hurt at all. No offence buddy." The giant didn't respond though, his eyes were locked on the things above them. The rest of them finally realising that he'd been in that position for a while let their own eyes wander up the columns to see what he was looking at. "What are you doing 'Bur..."

"Wha-tchin-ng the-m.."

"What for? They're just hunks of rock, they can't do anything..," the nerd said rather hautily. "It's not like they're even real."

There was a rumble from the giant but the nerd just shook his head and looked down again, looking at his computer screen once more. The rest of them quickly followed suit, leaving the giant staring at the statues while the rest of them started to organise themselves on what they were going to do next. Number one was to travel as far as they possibly could while there was still light and then find a good spot to make camp, well protected and easy to guard, that sort of thing. She could see the logic in that and so didn't have any problems, she just did as she was told, no thoughts of trying anything else entering her mind as she knew it'd just be plain stupid.

They were all leaving and had gone at least fifty meters before the nerd suddenly shouted and started running back to the bridge. "One moment! I need to leave a marker so I can get back here again to study this place!"

He didn't get very far. The giant who had been at the back of them all as he'd still been looking back to the statues every other step reached out and a hand and grabbed him roughly around the waist, lifting him up to eye level. "Nooo.."

"What do you mean no? Put me down you stupid pile of jumbled rocks!"

"Nooo.."

"PUT ME DOWN YOU USELESS HUNK OF ROCK!" and he was thrashing and kicking at the giant, with the only result being himself becoming more enraged as he made little or no damage to the giant.

"'Bur put David down before he hurts himself." The giant looked at the army guy and frowned before doing as he was told, placing the nerd lightly on the ground, though if you believed the account the nerd gave later it was extremely rough and unmannered of the giant. Well, he said that anyway in general about the giant. But now with himself free he straightened up and started stalking off back towards the bridge to finish what he had started.

Again he was stopped but this time only by the giant putting one of his hands in the way of the nerd. "Nooo.."

"Get out of my way 'Bur." It was more than obviously a threatening voice but the giant made no effort to make it easier for the nerd, instead he stood bodily in front of him instead. "Nooo Day-vi-d." And they stood there looking at each other, the nerd glaring and the giant looking for the most part indifferent and then the rest very much resolved.

"Will you two lunk heads hurry up, we need to get going and we don't need this." The woman was growing impatient and was not in the mood for this.

"Oh, FINE! But if I never find this place again I'll be blaming you 'Bur." The nerd gave him one last icy glare before turning his back on the giant and stalking back after the rest of them, mumbling unintelligebles under his breath. The giant seeing he wasn't about to try anything gave one last glance back to the two columns and the figures atop them before lumbering after the lot of them as they all started walking again.

They'd all just entered into the forest, past the small clearing that the bridge ended onto when suddenly the nerd spun around and raced back to where the bridge was, making sure to make a wide berth around the giant so as not to be grabbed. "David! No! Not Now!" She had to admit she was very surprised at how fast the nerd could run, he was very quick on his feet.

The giant took a moment before he realised what had happened and had only just gotten half way across the clearing by the time the nerd had reached the columns and was placing a small metal device into the stone, chipping it away a little so the thing would stay in place. As he started doing that there was a loud bellow that made the ground shiver, the giant was yelling at the nerd and all of them were about on the ground as the trees and everything else shook. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"'BUR SHUT UP!"

"BE QUIET 'BUR!"

"'BUR!"

It was too late though, the nerd swung around from the column to gloat at the giant, a look of utter triumph on his face that quickly changed to worry as he saw the looks on everyone else's faces. He was slammed hard and sent flying across the clearing to just past where the giant had gotten to. He was lucky, if it'd been just a few more inches to the left he would of actually hit the giant and become a human pancake.

"I knew those things were moving."

"I told you there was something wrong with this place, I did.."

Both herself and the morph said at the same time as they watched the stone creature slowly unwrap itself from around the column, spread it's wings and alight into the air between the two columns. The second one was only just now scrambling it's way down the length of the column, moving down it length as it were a spiral staircase, long stone talons gripping into the column with each step to keep it's grip. It was moments and they had two very much living stone statues in front of them, wings flared in the air and tails swinging just off the ground as red glowing eyes stayed trained on them all.

"This is not encouraging.."

"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.."

"They look like badly carved versions of the Demons Sir."

That got everyone who was nearby's attention and they looked back at the woman before back out to the clearing with it's four occupants.

"We really should get David and 'Bur out of there." Which would of been a good idea and was, there was only the small problem of the two living statues that were on the attack now. Both were hovering, just out of the giant's range and waiting for an opening to attack the nerd again, the giant was covering the much smaller human after realising the situation and rushing to shield him. It was a stale mate. The things seemed more than happy enough to wait, flitting just out of range of any swipes the giant risked to take at them and the giant wasn't about to move himself as he wasn't about to risk picking up the nerd and leave him open for attack.

"If we go out there do you think they'll attack us?"

"Only one way to find out, we've gotto help those two."

"But we don't even-"

"Sulphur you're our best shot for a distraction. Do it, Now."

"Yes Sir," and he was up and running low to the ground, his hands clasped together at his lap as he concentrated. He didn't even stop his speed after he'd stood up straight and brought his hands free of his lap, hands encircled by an inky black smoky substance as he'd nearly reached the two figures in the clearing. Moving his right arm as if throwing a ball, he sent a condensed sphere of the black smoke right at the closest of the two flying statues. It hit right on target and he didn't wait to see the result, instead eyeing off the second one and throwing another ball, this time from his left hand at the creature. It missed but seeing that he threw a third and a fourth quickly one after the other at the creature until he was sure he'd hit it. "'Bur get up and take David to the forest, we can cover bett-" and he was slammed from behind. The black morph didn't stop flying until he'd hit one of the columns at the end of the clearing, sliding down it and landing in a heap at the bottom. The statues hadn't taken much damage at the attacks, they didn't even look like they'd taken any aside from the fact they now had a black sheen to them.

"Bur, get off the ground and just bring him here! It's better here than there. At least we can defend our sides."

The giant glanced up and shook his head.

"'BUR DO IT NOW!"

The giant frowned and glaring at the two statues one who had resumed flying around his head and the other that was now clinging to the side of the column just above the black morph, collected up the nerd as best he could in his arms and started his attempt to get to the rest of them. He had difficulty for more than one reason, it was hard for him to keep the nerd in his arms in a position that left him unexposed to the statue and every opportunity the thing got it was diving at the nerd, claws outstretched to rake across his flesh. The thing got in more than a couple of hits but then so did the giant, the problem was that the statue's hits did damage while aside from sending a cloud of dust into the air as rock hit rock the giant was doing nothing to the other. It was not encouraging and they could all see that this wasn't going to work, the giant hadn't even reached halfway back and the nerd was bleeding from five spots profusely, a couple more cuts like those and he'd bleed to death before they could do anything. The one thing that was good was that the moment the nerd had seen his own blood he'd fainted, making it easier for the giant to carry him.

"Come on Sue, we've got to help them. You still got any of those mini's we got during the fight before?" She shook her head and the army guy reached into one of his pants pockets and drew out three small black discs. "Go." And they were both gone, leaving her alone among the trees as she watched the army guy and woman dash out into the clearing towards the giant who had stoopped to defend himself as the living statue had decided maybe it was better if it attacked the bigger thing first to get at the smaller.

"Get away from them!"

There was a small explosion and the statue was thrown backwards into the air a good distance, leaving a small trail of dust and smoke. Now there were four figures in the clearing and three of them were attempting to keep the statues away, as now, seeing that it's brother stone figure had been blown away the other had come up and started swooping at them all, talons and claws outstretched ready to grab and rip anything they could. The thing had already managed to get at each of them at least twice before the second one appeared in the air beside it again, looking no different than it had before it was blasted away, aside from a large black scorch mark along it's front.

"What the hell are these things? Don't they GET hurt?"

Two more explosions and the last of the three black things had been used, but to a good result, both the statues had been blown backwards a good couple of hundred feet and the four figures were making a dash back to the trees. "Move it! They'll be back in a moment!" Of course he spoke too soon and they were back already, one of the two slamming right into the back of the giant and sending him flying forwards and to the left of them. Lucky for the nerd he'd already been placed in the arms of the two other humans and was now being dragged bodily as fast as they could manage away to where she was hiding among the trees. "Come on, hurry, hurry! They wont be distracted long!" And they weren't, though one went after the fallen giant the other came straight after them again. It was just about on top of them when it went flying to the left, a trail of inky black smoke left in it's wake.

"You were just going to leave me, how rude."

"Sulphur, help us here."

"What? With that thing! I'd rather roll in dirt!"

"SULPHUR!"

"Yes yes. See, I'm doing it already. Yeesh," and he was, he'd grabbed the nerd under one arm and was pulling him twice as fast towards her as the others had done, it was seconds and they had all reached her but the giant. Right at that moment the giant was being pummelled by the second statue.

The giant who was used to being able to deflect hits like they were nothing and then strike out with enough force it'd usually knock out the opponent with the first shot was not faring well. For being 'just' statues the things packed a hard punch, the thing was pummelling him like he were little more than well, a normal human instead of a being made of stone. The thing was little bigger than his head not including wings and tail but it was fast, very very fast for something that logically shouldn't of been able to even fly in the first place due to how much it must of weighed. It's talons on the ends of it's limbs and the bat like claws on it's wings were scouring over the giant's rock skin like it was nothing more than soft clay and despite how much he was fighting back he didn't seem to be able to do more than send clouds of dust into the air or send the creature sprawling backwards through the air a short distance if he managed to land a hit fully to it. And neither of those were very often. If the creature didn't see an opening it flew just out of his reach, taunting as it flitted this way and that with surprising grace, just waiting for the right opening or angle to dart in and attack again.

"Sulphur get back out there and help 'Bur, you're the only one who can do anything, we're out of weapons."

"Oh that's great.." He got a look from the army guy then shook his head and was out there again within moments. His eyes illuminated with red light as his hands took on the smoky substance around them again. His attention was completely on the statue thing attacking the giant.

"Where's the second one gone..?"

The answer; waiting right behind the black morph as he reappeared into the clearing. Before he could be warned or even had a real chance to see it the thing was barrelling through the air straight at his back. SLAM! He went flying again, but this time he saved himself. Instead of just letting himself fly right into the ground he somehow managed to flip himself over in the air, landing on his feet and leaning heavily forwards so that when his feet dug into the earth he was forced to run forwards to save his balance. This saved him, as if he'd continued backwards as he was supposed to he would of been unable to defend himself against the next oncoming attack. The statue was flying at him again but this time he was ready and he sent both fists forwards, throwing all the shadows he'd gathered at the thing just before they were about to collide. The pure force of momentum on the air from the oncoming creature still sent him backwards a short distance but it was nothing compared to the blasting the thing got. It went flying backwards a good couple of hundred meters aimed straight through the trees at the edge of the forest, it hit them and kept going, bending and snapping each tree's trunk it came into contact with like kindling. The black morph didn't wait to see what it'd do next, he took his chance to go help the giant.

The giant wasn't exactly tiring, but he was losing ground and his faith in his ability against the creature. Everything he did seemed to make no difference against it aside from maybe to delay it's attack for a moment or two before it came back just as hard as ever. He'd never fought against something that was physically stronger than him in his entire life, especially something so much stronger as the thing he was fighting now. It was somewhat disheartening to find something better at what he'd always prided himself best at.

"Coming 'Bur buddy!"

And there was the black morph, sending another blast at the statue creature, not nearly as strong as the last one as his own strength was beginning to wane, but enough to detour it for the moments needed for him to reach the giant and start coaxing him back to the tree line. "Come on 'Bur, before they both start on us."

They'd gotten half the distance back when the two living statues appeared at once in the air above them, the giant closer to the trees than the black morph. "Ah crap, I thought we'd make it at least a lil further. Keep moving 'Bur, we're nearly there, I'll keep them back." The giant would of slowed down or stopped to help defend them both if it weren't for the fact the black morph was so insistent he keep moving, and the reassuring sounds of the things being blown away by the black morph's attacks that kept coming each time one of the things swooped. "See buddy, we're nearly there, not much longer, just a couple more meters." He was right and they were. Three more steps and the giant was in among the trees again. The black morph had two more himself when he was suddenly pulled backwards by his tail.

"OOWWWIE! LEGGO LEGGO LEGGO LEGGO! I DECLARE UNFAIR! UNJUST! LEGGOOO!"

The giant was just about to swing around and go back out there to defend his friend when all went silent. The black morph had stopped moving, he was standing dead still and the statue that had grabbed his tail a moment ago was flying around above him once again with it's brother statue. They both seemed somewhat anxious in their movements as they continually flitted around irratically compared to how they'd been moving previous. The morph was standing still, his ears down and pointed loosely as with his tail at a slight angle to the ground. Both his hands were at his sides, just off from touching his body and his legs were slightly spread. His eyes were also closed and he was muttering something under his breath that didn't reach the rest of the group.

"Wha-what's going on.."

"Shut up David."

"Wha-?" A hand was clamped over the nerd's mouth to keep him from talking as they all watched the scene in front of them.

The morph had started to emit the same smoky material all over his body that had been specifically at his hands before. This time though it had a very distinctly silvery shimmer to it. The two statues circling above the morph had started moving slower and in wider circles of the morph. They could tell something was up and she was under the impression they knew more about what was going on than the rest of them. That was not overly encouraging.

The morph continued to stay rock still but for the movement of his mouth as he continued to speak the same words over and over again, gradually becoming louder. His eyes quickly took on a silvery black shimmer under his eyelids much like the stuff that was now swirling around in circles about his form as he continued.

"Eiiorn Eool Eeeon Eosol Eeovee Eeon..

Eeio Eeo Eeeor Evio...

Eeiiorn Eool Eeevol Eeeio Eeeio Eeeio Eion..."

And it repeated over and over, with the increasing volume the density of the smoke around the morph increased, becoming thicker and faster in it's movement until it had nearly completely hidden the morph.

"What's he doing..?"

Suddenly one of the statues broke away from it's brother statue, diving straight down at the swirling silvery blackness and what it had hidden beneath it.

Everything seemed to freeze in that moment it which it made contact with the smoky barrier. The statue was poised with it's wings spread out completely behind it, the claws from it's talons outstretched to scythe the shadows away and get at what was below them. It hung in the air, unnaturally frozen like everything else around them for the next few seconds before a wave of sound washed over them all.

It was a booming crash that sent all the greenery waving away from where the blast had come from, rocks, twigs, branches, leaves and anything else that hadn't been anchored down to the ground was blown away at high speeds as the sound went past.

"EIANA EEEIO EEION EEVAAIAE!"

They barely had any time to get their senses together when they were all blinded, a silver white light had exploded from within the silvery-black smoke around the morph and was engulfing the statue. Covering it completely and continuing to spread outwards past it like a giant spear of light into the heavens. The statue's brother shied away from the light and it's sibling, racing back to perch upon it's column, climbing the length of the column from where it first hooked on until it had reached it's perch. Then covering itself with it's large bat like designed wings it attempted to hide itself from any attack that might come it's way.

The light didn't last long and as it dissipated the smoky silver veil around the black morph went along with it. The living statue still hung in the air when the light had gone, but it gave the morph one look and did just as it's brother statue had, leaving the black morph alone in the middle of the clearing as he collapsed into a heap upon the ground.

"Now what the hell was all that?"

"Come on, we have to get him before those things change their mind and try to attack him again."

"How did he do that?"

"Questions later! Action now! Do it!"

The army guy, woman and giant were all up in moments, out in the clearing and scooping up the morph and returning again to the forest before she'd even gotten herself up and finished dusting off her clothes from all the dirt and leaves that had been blown over her and latched themselves on.

"He's ok isn't he?" she found herself inquiring, which surprised her.

"Yeah he'll be fine. Just seems whatever he did drained him. All he needs is some rest and a good meal."

"Yeah well, we could all do with that couldn't we?"

And as none of them wished to hang around any longer than they had already they were all moving away from the clearing and it's column perched occupants. The giant held the still unconscious black morph while the nerd was helped along by the army guy and woman who switched every half hour as they travelled.


A Year previously.


If anyone every tells you ARC units are no good, reckless, useless, untrustworthy, non-dependable or anything else along those lines sock 'em in the head for me. They are by far the best kind out there, EVER. Nothing can beat them. Except for maybe another ARC unit, but then, I've got the best one there is and ever will be, so I don't have to worry about that like other competitors.

Of course it's taken a long time and work to get him to the level he's at now, but it was all worth it. I doubt there's ever been anything else I've ever been so dedicated to in my life like my ARC unit, actually I could probably lay a billion dollar bet down on that. I've never cared about anything else like I do my Cybernetic. He's my prize possession and I don't have to prove why anymore. I used to, but it's not a big deal anymore. Everyone knows who I am in all the competing circles. There's no one with a Cybernetic that doesn't know my name. My reputation as a Cybernetic fighter proceeds me like nothing you'd ever believe. There's hardly been a person in history who could match my fame or reputation and I've got no complaints to the fact.

Some people complain. Saying that I'm only so good because I got a leg up at the beginning and that my best friend is the son of the head honcho of Cybernetics Inc so I get all the best stuff before everyone else. But that's not true. Not completely at least. I DID get a leg up at the beginning and Sean is my best friend, but that's where it stops now. Now I don't get any of the new improvements before anyone else, I make an effort not to do so. I like to see people's reactions as I beat the crap out of them with my ARC unit using last season's best gear while they use this one's. It's funny and it deflates them faster than a popped balloon.

Me and my ARC unit are an unstoppable team. He also listens to every word I say. He's completely loyal, I have no doubt in my mind that he'd do anything, absolutely anything I told him to do, even if he didn't see the reasoning behind it. You can't really ask for much more than in a battle companion. The thing is though, my ARC has a brain, and I don't mean those stupid computerised made for calculating ones that most Cybernetics have. My ARC unit has an intelligence beyond that, he has common sense and a sense of self I've never seen before in any other Cybernetic. It's completely amazing. I knew from the first moment I laid my eyes on my ARC unit that he was special, that there was something about him that made him better than anything else. That something special is the only reason I haven't attempted to get another since first getting him. There's just this feeling that it'd be like betraying him after all the work I put into making him perfect. No, as much as I love all ARC units my one is the one and only for me. I'll never get another as long as I live.

You know, when I say it was a lot of hard work putting my ARC unit together I mean it. It was nearly four months of tinkering around with all his circuitry before I even had him up and running properly in a normal condition. Until then he'd suddenly stop, shut down unexpectedly, have different parts go offline on their own, others come online when they weren't supposed to and then some personality or character traits that didn't work very well when he was active. Not that I really messed with those last things. It just took a while to get him to trust me and to understand what I was doing. That was kinda odd initially. Usually when you completely wipe a Cybernetic's harddrive like I did to my ARC they forget and lose everything like they're supposed to and become completely inanimate. My ARC didn't. He still seemed to have a personality of sorts that stayed with him even when his harddrive had nothing in it. Well, at least I like to think it was a personality. He'd just randomly twitch or move unexpectedly or there'd be a low growl emitted from his chest or voice box. It was different and totally unexpected. A grand new experience that I loved and made me love my ARC all the more. He was the best thing ever.

After that initial effort of just getting him online and working properly with what he'd originally come with, I then started with the uploads and upgrades and such to him. I had to be careful at first and take my time. I couldn't rush anything as he was only just getting used to using his general skills again and adding extra ones on top too fast was just going to overload his circuitry and I'd have to start all over again. I knew better than that. Doesn't mean I felt any less impatient, I just couldn't wait until I had everything up and going like I'd imagined it in my head.

The first fight I had with my ARC unit wasn't against Sean like I'd thought it'd be but against the new regional champ of Thistlegrove City from Johto when I started my tour there. It was up against a plant/bug element, a PAraST407-33. It was an easy match despite the PAraST's long range attack capabilities against my ARC's then limited close combat ones. It was a while yet before I got to really test out my ARC unit and then it wasn't even close. I totally thrashed the FeRAL8072 despite the element disadvantage.

The best match up I've had with my ARC unit is when I got to the World Championship Competition a couple of weeks ago. That was the most exhilarating and adrenaline pumping experience I ever had. My ARC unit was nearly trashed, but he pulled through and managed to pound the RaniTR007-91 unit twice as badly as it had pounded him. I really doubt they'd of been able to of recovered anything what so ever from the wreckage that was left behind of the RaniTR. Oh well, that's what you get from competing in the high stakes of the Champion level competitions. It doesn't really matter anyway. Everyone can get a replacement Cybernetic after their's is destroyed. Despite all the effort you do put into looking after a Cybernetic and getting it to the level of perfection needed to be a Champion battler you can always get another and they are, after all, just another piece of technology. And anyway, most people who compete in the Championships only use the latest and the greatest available Cybernetics and accessories so they'll have new ones the next year to compete with.

I used to be like that but I'm different now. I don't think I'll ever change Cybernetics now that I've got my ARC. Not for the most important battles and fights at least. Sometimes I use another, but not often and usually only cause I've been asked to for some reason or another and it benefits me in some way. But it's not the same and I don't get the same exhilaration like I do when I use my ARC unit. There's nothing anywhere like him out there. It's not the same using another.

I'm not going to say all the add-ons I've added to my ARC unit but that's only because any record of that is a danger to me and my ARC. I don't need that sort of information leaked out, people will learn how to counteract my attacks and well, you always need surprises in battle or it's no fun. Also I don't think I remember everything I've installed into my ARC unit anyway, there's so much of it, so I probably couldn't even if I wanted to.

You know, out of all the people I've battled with my ARC unit the most worrying one I've ever been in was the one I had the other day with Sean. He used a unit I'd never seen before and didn't know the name of (which in itself is a miracle as I thought I knew what EVERY unit was). To be honest it scared me, Sean scared me. He's changing or he's changed and I hadn't even noticed until recently. He was more brutal than I'd ever seen anyone be in all my Cybernetic battles and career. I never knew he could be like that. I always thought Sean was the nice kid who only battled because I did it and he wanted to play along. And despite how strongly he fought he was always somewhat remorseful afterwards and would never compete so his Cybernetic was purposefully damaged, or if it was, nothing he couldn't easily have repaired. That single fact that he never wanted his own units damaged or even the other's was the reason why he was so hard to fight against in a Cybernetic competition. He knew his unit so well with it's abilities and strengths and everything that he knew how to order it in a way that it'd inflict the maximum amount of damage on the opponent with the most minimal amount done to his in return in any given situation. He always fought hard so it was quick or as undamaging as possible when the match was over. His skill was in knowing where the weakest points of every other unit was and he was a killer in battle (not in the literal sense of course). If he'd ever bothered to go into the competitions he could of had as big a reputation as me if not better I have to admit.

Anyway. Sean scared me and he made me frightened for my ARC unit during that last match. I thought he was gonna do worse to my ARC than it'd been when he'd given it to me in the first place and THAT was scary. His unit was strong, smart and nimble. More so than my ARC in all the categories. The most stupid thing I did during that fight was underestimate him. I underestimated him more than I ever should of. I was confident and cocky though after my win at the World Championship so I didn't think anyone could possibly beat me. Especially not Sean with his dinky little thing that he'd managed to put together himself at some point. It wasn't even as big as my ARC's head and despite the fact it had wings I didn't think there was anything to worry about, I didn't expect it to be so bloody manoeuvrable and fast on them.

I don't want to go into details but that match was a bloodbath. One of the worst ones I'd ever seen and it was all my ARC's, he hardly made more than a scratch on Sean's unit. It was completely humiliating.

I don't know where Sean went after that match but I haven't seen him since that battle and I'm beginning to worry. Usually after a match we get together and talk about what happened but before my ARC unit had even completely shut down he was leaving, his unnamed unit disappearing after him. My attention was completely on my ARC so I hadn't realised he'd left until too late. When I went searching for him later he'd disappeared, no one could tell me where he'd gone. I started to worry but I had to get my ARC unit fixed first before I went looking for him.

It wasn't until a lil while ago that I even remembered or noticed that he hadn't come back or seen me since that match, I'd been completely preoccupied with fixing my totalled ARC unit.

Sean'll come back, I just know it. He's disappeared for short amounts of time before and he's always come back. I just hope I'll see him before I have to leave again. I don't get to see him often now-a-days and well.. I don't know.

He's fine, I'm sure.

He'll come back.

Jamie.


Click.

Cybernetics™ apologises that it is required to recall the following listed Cybernetic™ units due to technical errors.

Click.


Same Year.


The last one. At least he believes himself the last one. There may be one or two others still out there, but it's unlikely and he dare not call out for to them least They find him instead.

He glides slowly over the ocean floor, disturbing no more than the sand as this water's dead, it has no life left in it. Due to what he's not sure but it was most likely human related. It doesn't matter. It's his last resort, the last hiding place he could think of while he waits for the inevitable.

Why he even tries to continue to hide he's not sure, maybe there is a small bit of hope still left in his heart despite all, but he's not sure. He might just as well be too scared to confront them, preferring to hide as best he can and just wish them go away or they forget him. He's not certain and he doesn't care to think it over, so instead he watches the empty waters ahead and the sand as it swirls behind him after each heave of his wings sends him further forwards.

He knows who they are and what they want, even what they're doing it for. But he wishes he didn't. He thinks maybe he could of accepted his fate if it hadn't been for the reason behind it. He tries to question it, to find answers, but there's no longer any others to ask and for as many no's that appear in his mind there's just as many yes's. He wishes with all his heart that why they are doing this was wrong. But then, if that were true.. All the waste, all those lives lost for no reason other than madness. Not that this isn't madness itself, but a madness that had no base.. He also believes in his heart that if it weren't really true, the reason why they had become hunted and now near extinct then something would of saved them all, that something out there would of stopped this happening. Maybe even the God that was the reason behind all this? The God who had betrayed them all.

He sighs and takes pause in the oceans deep before swinging his head around and taking off in another direction.

He, his brothers, his sisters.. His mother and father.. All the descendants before them. How could they not be true? Not as real as any other being upon this earth?

It was true that there were stories, stories that told of the first who weren't always what they were. But those were stories, stories of creation that all species had. They were nothing but stories! How could they really be true!

He cried. He cried for all the loss he had suffered, all the heartache and grief that had come with the coming of The One. The One that had started it all.

If it hadn't of been for that One, for that One that had come and stolen their God away. Captured and imprisoned Him, poisoned His mind against all His kin. Twisting His body and being into something nasty and cruel. Making Him want it all back. ALL OF IT!

The water steamed, bubbled and jumped as he flew through it, trying to move away before he came into contact with it. The water could feel his anger, his hatred flowing through itself, bringing the dead ocean into frenzied life.

What kind of being was his God then if this was His true self? The true being that The One said it was? Who was the God he'd known his whole existence then? Where had He come from? What had happened to change Him so?

Why couldn't He return to what He once was?

The surface was becoming choppy, small waves started to grow, drifting this way and that, crashing into each other and growing into large waves. He was bringing the ocean to life without realising it.

If he and his kin were nothing more than ghosts, shadows of his God, why was it that his God needed them destroyed then? Why must He wipe them all out? What reasoning did He have behind it all! What did He want so badly that nothing else mattered? Not even His own!

WHY NOW?

The clouds gathering above were becoming darker, floating closer together and mingling, growing into larger beings.

If He had been so determined why was it that He was not doing this Himself then? Why was it He was using others, why didn't He face what He was really doing?

A crash in the skies above as the first strike of lightning slashed the air. Another bang and a crash and the rain started, belting the choppy ocean's surface, swirling it up into a maelstrom. His anger was growing.

All this waste. All this death and it was not their fault. It was no more their choice as to who they were than it was anyone else's. Because of what his and his kin's ancestors had done, they were ALL being punished. Punished for being the image of their God. Wiped from the earth's surface and oceans. Hunted and killed as if they were nothing more than sport. An activity to pass the time that mattered very little.

How could HE?

He exploded out the ocean and into the raging storm, aglow with anger as he thrashed about, roaring to the heavens and the earth, screaming his fury and hatred for all that had happened to his family and his kin. The injustice of it all. That he could do nothing to change it, that he could make no difference now that he was the last of his kind, that after all this time that, that..

He roared and he fought, he fought the ocean and the rain, the storm he'd created, the world around him and last his fate. He fought as hard as he could, becoming more angry and frustrated, infuriated to an unknown level. But the more he became angry, the more he threw his head back and screamed.. it made no difference. The storm only became stronger, the waves more dangerous as they grew and grew, mirroring everything he felt. He could not fight himself. He could not fight his fate, he knew that in his heart. It was inevitable.

He could only hope that one day, one day that his God would realise what He'd done and would realise His mistake. That one day his kin would fly the oceans like they once had, with glory and honour. With no fear.

The last was found.

His outburst of rage the last needed sign to find him.

There were no longer any kin left to the Moon God.


It was not hard to find them all.

Simple really.

Destroying them was no harder.

The technology was all I needed.


And that'd be chapter2.

Weee... I actually did it in less than a week skips around in circles

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BYE!