OK sorry this one took so long, but as you can see a lot happened in this one. And near the end I felt I kinda rushed it a bit, because so many people weanted to see this chapter I wanted to get it done quickly. And see what you guys thought of this chapter anyways I hope you enjoy it!

Questions, comments, complaints, death threats, marriage proposals? Just leave a review I'll be sure to answer to the best of my knowledge

BTW this chapter is still raw (meaning that Jesh hasn't proof read it) sorry for any errors .

Chapter 3 The trap is Set!

A gentle wind blew over Konschant Highlands; the sky was its usual grey. The remains of the old windmills still stood strong, as if they refused to die. In the background sheep were grazing happily without a care in the world. Yamada envied them right now; it was almost time to meet up with his mystery employer. Yamada wonder what this was really about, why now? Why him? Why did she have to die…? Not that thinking about it was going to solve anything. His hand went over the hilt on his great sword that hung effortlessly over his back. That's why I brought this he told himself. The sword that had once belonged to Kaoric was handed down to Yama after Kao out grew the need for it. Yamada smiled it was beyond him how anyone could "outgrow" a five foot sword…

"Well looks like you did have the backbone to show up!" Cackled a dark and ominous voice.

"Looks like he has learned something in the last 6 years" The second voice was much more gruff and deep.

Yamada looked up. He wished he was wrong about who he thought those voices came from. Unfortunately he was absolutely correct, it was them…

"What the matter? You don't look happy to see us?" said the first voice. He was a Dark Knight just like Kaoric and Yamada, but the difference of power was very evident. The Elvaan grinned his face hid behind a Mask, but Yamada didn't need to see his to know who he was. Getoshi. The strongest member of The Honroku.

"Shouldn't you be dead?" Asked Yamada, surprisingly calm about it all. The next thing he remembered was blur then being slammed into the pillar behind him.

Yamada felt as if all the air had been violently sucked out of him, and then came the pain. The ringing in his head was starting to go away, or he was getting use to it Yamada really didn't know which. And now that things were coming into focus he could see his aggressor clearly. A Galka, his massive arm held Yamada a few feet off the ground and pressed against the old stone pillar. Well, at least explains why it's so hard to breathe….

"Whats the matter Jiraya? Can't take a joke?" painfully wheezed the last couple of words.

Jiraya's grip tighten.

"You were always the funny one, Senju." Chuckled the galka as his free hand reach for one of his katana's.

"I never liked that"

With that being said he pulled back his arm and rammed him again into the wall. Yamada didn't feel that one. But he started to taste something warm and sweet in his mouth…in his present state it took him a minute to figure it out. It was blood that probably meant that last hit got some of his organs.

Yamada gather all the blood and spit in his mouth and spat it to Jiraya's face.

"I guess when you c humor is the first thing to go"

"To bad you were never bright …" sighed Jiraya as he went for the third and final slam.

Yamada winced knowing it would be over soon. But he didn't feel anything, was it because he was already dead? As he opened his eyes he saw that Getoshi had put his hand on Jiraya's shoulder.

"He's no good to us dead Jiraya. She wants him alive. Do you wish to anger her?" Getoshi calmly said as though scolding a small child.

"Her?" spazed out Yamada while he desperately tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Heh well you might be wondering how we got like this. And why your not dead yet." Chuckled Getoshi. He kept on talking about something but Yamada closed his eyes and felt himself drift to darkness…..

Meanwhile at Norg, Nic and Mia were enjoying a meal in the local tavern. Nic stuffed the last piece of sole sushi into his mouth.

"Something wrong? You look a little worried? "Nic said as he wiped his mouth, careful of not getting his War Aketon dirty.

Mia lower her Yagudo drink (yagudo drinks were strong liquor, but preferred by mages for their medicinal use) and gave a sigh.

"I just don't get whats going on here; as soon as we arrive we discover that our mission has been canceled. And this whole thing with Yama doesn't seem right…" Mia replied as she over looked Norg, waves crashed on the shores breaking off her words.

Norg was a small city located in underwater caverns it due to this it became a strong hold for thieves, rogues, outlaws, and other type of scum.

"And now the next ship back to Jueno isn't for the next few days, seems pretty suspicious. If you ask me" Mia traced the paper with her eyes. The name Kaihi Toshiro appeared many times. He was the person that hired them as well as the person they were suppose to protect. But why would Norg need an ambassador anyways? Mia thought to her self. Kaihi that name… felt so familiar…

Mia almost jumped when Nic put his arm around her. Taken her completely by surprised she gave a slight blush. Nic grinned as if he won something.

"Trust me I'm red cause of my drink not you Nic-chan" Mia said with mock seriousness as her tail wrapped itself around his waist.

"Well since we do have a few days to burn here…" Nic said as they got up and walked to the door. Mia licked Nic's cheek as she said something to him, never noticing the man that sat a few tables behind them. Who had been following them ever since they arrived, His dark robes hiding everything. His smile (if you can call it that) showed the rows of his shark like teeth.

"You might as well have your fun now… Mia"

Back to matters at hand…

"So you sold your souls to Promithia, and now you want me to join as one of her flunkies?" Weakly answered Yamada. Still trapped in Jiraya's monstrous grip.

"A little over simplified but…that's the general gist of it" laugh Getoshi.

"So whats it gonna be?" Jiraya grip loosen a little to let him answer.

Yamada looked up and smiled "You can tell that Bitch, that I already gave my soul to someone else." Yamada knew that he sealed his fate with that said

Getoshi sighed "well I guess if you won't listen to 'reason' then we'll have to take you by force"

Jiraya smiled he had been waiting for this. But something felt wrong, for some reason Yamada was beginning to get heavier and heavier. Jiraya couldn't understand what was going on; it was getting to a point where he couldn't get him off the ground anymore.

"You fool! He's draining your strength!" screamed Getoshi. Jiraya quickly let Yamada go, giving him time to breathe and react. Before Jiraya could guard himself Yama reeled back his arm with his new found strength and punched the galka with everything he had.

Jiraya flew a few feet back crashing into a cliff wall.

That had to have given him some serious damage thought Yamada, but to his surprise he saw that Jiraya's body exploded into a puff of smoke. Damn! Utsusemi... but when did he cast it?

Yamada had no time to waste; Getoshi had already lowered his scythe. Yama pulled his sword off his back and swung it in an arc trying to give himself distance from the other Dark Knight. Strength wasn't the only thing he sapped from the galka; his health was as good as new. But he would need much more than that to defeat those two.

Just then he felt a cold sharp pain on his thigh. Yamada's hand traced the object; a shuriken had been dug deep into his flesh. He felt the blood slowly oozing out and running down his leg, the blade had managed to hit some muscles it would be difficult to run or fight like that. I guess they really trying to take me alive. Yama thought to himself, if they really had been serious he would be dead by now.

But he wasn't gonna give up without a fight. Sucking the pain in his pierced leg he lunged towards Getoshi, hoping to catch him off guard. But it probably would have been easier to take on all the Bastok musketeers. And as Yamada reached his target he was greeted with the back Geto's muffler. The impact shook him up but he still had strength (thanks to Jiraya) to rip out the shuriken from his leg and slam it into his opponent's side. Yamada expected a cry of pain or at least a wince from getoshi, but he got nothing. Getoshi simply looked down and smiled. But Yamada was already gone.

As soon as he felt he was at a safe distance Yamada used his magic to cast a blind spell on Geto. Yamada knowing the weakness of a Dark Knight all to well knew that the training that a person must take to become a DRK (Dark Knight) takes a huge toll on the users eyes. No one really understands why that is, but many try to compensate this with enchanted armor or other devices that might help.

A small black cloud formed around Getoshi's head impairing his vision more than it already was anyways He didn't show any emotion he just stood their and waited patiently for the spell to fizzle out . Perfect this is what I need for my escape Jiraya won't attack head until his strength was completely back I can make it. Thought yamada to himself. But the truth was that the strength he absorbed was already fading away and the cloud wouldn't last very long given Getoshi's strength.

Finding cover behind a rock was easy enough. Now he had to do something about that wound… Before he could finish that thought the sturdy rock he had hide behind exploded into a cloud of dust. Well I guess he has his strength back…

Yamada swung his sword while turning to face behind him, expecting to hit flesh. His sword was stopped by a katana with such a force that sent a horrible shatter back to Yamada's hands and arms which made him want to drop the sword. But he knew that he had to keep a hold of it, without it the little chance he had of getting out of this one would be gone. Out of the dust cloud he saw an image emerge he couldn't tell what it was until it was to late. It was a fist, to be more precise a galkan fist. It struck Yamada square in the chest it was strong blow, his chest plate cracked and shattered. Yamada crumbled to the floor gagging; no matter how hard he would try he couldn't get enough air into his system.

As he struggled to gain control of the situation, he realized it was all useless; the pain was just to unbearable. "Now do you see? You can't even hold you own for a few rounds. Much less the fact that you actually thought you had a chance of defeating us… pathetic. To think that Lady Promithia would want a spineless coward like you" Getoshi replied the anger very visible in his voice. He kicked yamada in gut which was answered with a whimper of pain. He wanted to say something but the blood pooling in his mouth made everything come out like an incoherent gargle. All he could do was stare blankly at his attackers.

"Well I guess we should end this." Grumbled Jiraya sounding very disappointed

"I didn't expect him to be 'this' weak, but we have orders. Anymore and he'll not make it back"

"I guess he has reached his limit, there's nothing else he could do…"

Yamada felt his breathing starting to stabilize, he could now move a little more freely, but he knew he was done fighting for now. His injuries were to great to sustain any kind of battle right now. He coughed out any remaining blood in his mouth to be able to say something.

"I think I have one last trick up my sleeve…" Yamada was able to squeezed out the last few words painfully. Getoshi and Jiraya looked on incuriously, they wanted to see what his last trick was.

Yamada slammed his hand into the ground where the pile of rock debris was, and concentrated all his remaining mana into that hand this better work…

The ground around exploded into a cloud which became a strong wind, which turned into a violent hurricane. The wind was scattering dirt, pebbles, rocks, or anything else that was light enough to be tossed around. Taking advantage of the situation Yamada rolled back as far as he could and he reached in his pouch for a scroll. He quickly snapped it half releasing the magic inside. A warp scroll isn't instant, it would take almost 2 minutes to go through. Any type of interruption would result in the scroll failing to activate.

Yamada quickly became enveloped in a warm black aura…

"You can't run forever Senju! This is your fate" screamed Getoshi as he realized what was going on. Yamada just smiled back and quickly vanished in the black aura.

"Arrh he may not be stronger but he's still as annoying as ever." Roared Jiraya.

"No matter 'She'll' most definably stop him, there's no way he can resist 'her'" replied Getoshi.

"So what do you wanna do about our little rat problem?"

"I'll take care of it you had your fun with Senju." Answered Getoshi his face gleaming with anticipation.

Seietshi was shocked… how did they know I trailed Yama-kun? I had my invisible spell on the whole time. Well its time I got going to… Sei began to cast a warp spell (she didn't need a being a mage) but before she could cast it she felt something around her body grab her. It was getoshi, he held her firmly.

"Lets make one thing clear, we let 'Yama' go because we needed him alive. You on the other hand not so much… but seeing how much of a lovely elvaan you are. We could make an exception" He said as she felt his hands hold her tightly.

"I rather die" replied Sei as tears rolled down her dark cheeks. She concentrated her magic and casted enfire on Getoshi's armor. The burning armor dung into his flesh and seared him all over his body, the mask he wore now twisted burnt the delicate flesh under it. Sei was able to get away from his grip thanks to that. Sei watch as geto burned and much to her surprise he still didn't let out a cry of pain. But he was angry…

"You bitch… how dare you do this to me" no longer any trace of his usual calmness. Blood dripping from just about any opening from his armor, he grabbed Sei by the neck.

Yama-kun I'm sorry… The armor burned her neck as well, the air was starting to stop flowing in her. She knew she was going to die, she felt cold and alone. But at the darkest moment she heard a voice a warm familiar voice.

"Don't be afraid my child, you will be in my care now"

What about Yama and the others? What will happen to them?

"I will guild them, they have a long journey ahead of them.

Will I be able to join them?

"This is a future even I can not even predict"

Who are you?...

Getoshi looked at the lifeless in his hands. "What a waste" he said sharply as he let her drop to the ground.

"Never thought I'd see you lose your cool" chuckled Jiraya

Getoshi ignored the galka and he bent down to Seietshi's body and pulled something from around her neck. He held the black pearl close to his mangled face admiring it.

"Maybe it wasn't such a waste after all"

Next chapter

In memory of Griffin