(A/N: sorry about this, I've been under a lot of stress, and I know people are like "where is my update?" well here it is, after getting flamed on my other one, I've sorta lost confidence, but I guess it's alright, there's nothing that discourages me more than bad stuff like that, oh well, I'll get by, I'm known for that, well, enjoy)
Veronica felt the small ball that she was holding in her hand crush gently, crumpling as the force gave way.
"How amusing…" She mumbled quietly, "That will not go well now, Misty. You should know that beating me is impossible now that Ash is in my possession." She smiled evilly, remembering the last day that Ash and Dante were under their own free wills. They told her that they would never be her 'slaves'. They struggled to get free, but as soon as she administered the serum to them, they fell to it quickly, soon becoming her puppets. She giggled quietly, they had both quickly fallen for her, easier than she had expected, and now she only needed to find the reincarnations of the other dark warriors, and she could have her guardians. She looked up and threw down the ball as Ash walked into the room, bowing on his knees to her as she stood up.
"Empress, all of the Mystic Warriors have awakened." He said, keeping his eyes to the floor, Veronica looked down at him. He was so handsome, his black hair falling down past his shoulder, his golden eyes always shined, she felt such a connection to him, and often he told her how happy he was without Misty. She smiled and came down the stairs, she grabbed his hand and lifted him to his feet, giving him a passionate kiss,
"No one's in the room my love, you can address me by my name." She replied as she smiled and gave him another kiss. Ash pulled away after it was over,
"Veronica…aren't you worried about them? They could try to overthrow you again." He said, and looked genuinely worried. Veronica smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders,
"I'm not Ash, they aren't strong enough to beat me. Let them try to get back together; we'll capture them before they even try." She sighed happily and squeezed him tightly. "Ash…I've been thinking. I would like heirs to the throne, and I want your child to be the first." She kissed him again; Ash kissed and hugged her back,
"As soon as we destroy those warriors, I will give you your heir." Veronica smiled and laughed happily, hugging him tighter,
"Thank you so much Ash. Isn't it absolutely wonderful that I rescued you from Misty?"
"It was like I was released from a prison…" He replied, but he didn't really mean it. The truth was, he still loved Misty with all of his heart. The fact was… he and Dante had put on the façade that they were under Veronica's spell for 10 long years. They were both too powerful to bend their wills to something as simple as a serum. He longed for Misty more than he ever had before. He thought about her constantly when he wasn't in a guise of Veronica's servant. Now that Misty and her sisters were free of their imprisonment, maybe he could go to her, talk to her and apologize for everything that he had done to hurt her. But at least he could see her again. Soon Dante came into the room. He bowed to Veronica as Ash released her,
"Veronica, I have news, I heard Lily of the wind is recovering in a nearby village that has been known for uprisings. We should go there and capture her, while destroying the village as well." Ash bowed his head to Veronica as she stepped away from him,
"Alright, I'll prepare for our departure right away, you two get something to bind her with to prevent her from using her powers, we'll need her and the rest of them alive before I can torture them slowly." She hurried out of the room, as soon as the men knew that she was far enough away, their demeanor changed completely. Ash spit to the floor and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
"Ugh…I can't stand that…" Ash said, as he looked downright disgusted, Dante patted Ash on the shoulder and smiled,
"Well, at least thanks to you she's still oblivious. You should be happy that she hasn't caught onto us and killed us both."
"I still don't know how I got stuck with this…"
"It's just your charm I guess, but it doesn't really matter, you shouldn't be so worried anymore, the girls are all freed and you'll be able to see Misty again." Ash looked to Dante, then turned his eyes to the ground and sighed heavily.
"Dante…you don't know what happened after our child was killed…I…I was just so angry with the fact that I couldn't save him that…I blamed all of it on her. It was so wrong of me. All of our misfortune I blamed on the fact that she couldn't be a normal woman. I didn't accept the fact that I was responsible in any way, even though I had just as much power as she did. I…my mind was clouded by Veronica, she sent someone to kill our child, and planted the idea in me that it was Misty's fault. She did that to all of us, killed everything dear to us, and intended to hurt the girls the worse."
"So why would you think about it now? What past is past." Ash sighed heavier.
"The day before I left, I talked to Veronica, I never realized that she twisted everything around to fit her needs so perfectly. I don't know how she did it, but she managed to plant it in my head that it was no one's fault other than Misty's. She suggested that I leave Misty, and I believed her, like an idiot I left Misty. She would never want to forgive me after I betrayed her!"
"Ash, Misty knows all of this, and as your wife she trusts you, no matter what you did. She knows now that it was all Veronica's doing, would she really hate you if you saved her from her death like you had. No, you've been together long enough for that not to happen." Ash rubbed the back of his neck and let out another sigh, but said nothing. "C'mon, we have to go now, Lily needs our help."
"Alright." The two men got their minds ready and went out of the room.
Violet was training hard, she hadn't used any of her skills in over 10 years, and had to regain some of her powers. She pulled an arrow back on the bowstring and stood quietly, staring at one of the trees, her target. She concentrated on the target, and then let the arrow fly. Sending it into the tree, she sighed and glared,
"I'm off…" She mumbled as the glare set the tree on fire with her thought, it burned to cinders on the ground, smoldering before it could spread. She sighed again, there had to be some way to enhance her training. She heard a voice from behind her,
"Maybe I can help." Violet spun around and regarded the man behind her.
"Who are you?" The man smiled at her, and said nothing. Violet had no idea who the man was. Violet started to back away from him, but he quickly came forward, kissing her passionately. She blinked and pushed away from him, "What are you doing!" The man smiled at him, it unnerved her,
"Violet, how can you do that, don't you remember me?" Violet at first had no idea, but then she started to get this feeling, she tried fighting it, but it took her over, she glanced at the man again,
"J…John?" She thought about it, he did look a bit like his old self. "How…"
"How did I get back? I was granted another chance. Since I'm one of the darkness warriors, along with Ash, Dante and Jun."
"Jun?" She tilted her head and rose an eyebrow.
"A reincarnation of Lily's husband. She's probably already met him, the heavens want you to overcome things, and now I'm back to help."
"Are…are you staying forever?" John hugged her,
"I don't know, but let's worry about our training." Violet nodded her head, but all she had the strength to do was hug him and she started crying. John comforted her and she finally calmed down.
"We should start training now."
"First thing's first, where's your sisters?" A sinister look came to his face, but he pressed her face against his shoulder, so he wouldn't see, she shrugged,
"I feel their energies, but I am uncertain of where they are exactly."
"That's fine, they're probably training, as should we." Violet nodded her head, she felt like she could actually get something done now that John was finally back.
In the Rexiv valley, the people were having a celebration. After hearing of the Mystic Warriors' return to Earth, the people began tearing down anything that signified Veronica's rule. Jun and Lily stepped out of the house.
"Look Lily." He said after they walked around in silence. See what happiness you've brought to these people. They have hope now that you and your sisters will eliminate this evil and restore peace to this land." Lily sighed,
"I don't know how to explain this to you, Jun. But without the dark guardians, the men that help us, I'm afraid we won't get near Veronica." Jun looked up to the sky, taking a deep breath,
"You never know, things seem to work out in mysterious ways…" He trailed off, Lily didn't understand,
"What do you—" Suddenly she stopped when she heard screams from behind them, then Jun tackled Lily into the bushes,
"Get down!" Jun landed on top of her and shielded her from an explosion. He looked out of the bushes, still covering Lily, seeing Veronica causing pain and destruction to all of the celebrators. She had two people in black cloaks with her.
"What's going-" Lily started.
"Shhh. It's Veronica. I don't want her to find you, stay here and I'll distract her." He whispered as he got off of her and came out of the bushes. Lily had a view of everything just by taking a look out of the bushes. Veronica set her cold gaze on Jun, and then she smiled.
"Well Jun, it's nice for you to come visit me personally." Jun gave her a false smile and bowed at his waist to her,
"It's always an honor for you to grace us with your presence Empress. To what do we owe this great honor?" Veronica knelt down beside him and touched his face, still smiling,
"Jun, my faithful servant, I have heard word that one of the Mystic Warriors have taken refuge here. Now Jun, I know how badly you want to serve under me as one of my guardians, so you'll have to tell me where she is." Jun kept his head low so she couldn't see his expression, Ash and Dante were observing from a safe distance so they could speak freely without Veronica knowing,
"He has to be David's reincarnation, there's no doubt about it." Dante whispered to Ash,
"I can feel it, but he's a whole lot weaker than David was." Ash replied back
"We shall see, they say reincarnation makes the spirit strong, we shall have to test him." They watched as Veronica lifted up Jun's head by his chin, staring into his eyes, he would certainly be easy to break.
"Tell me Jun, or I'll destroy everyone in this village, I don't want to do that." Jun was about to answer, but then suddenly they both turned as they heard a voice,
"Stop!" Lily came out of the bush, the wind whipping around her. Her eyes glowed white, "You will not harm any innocent to get to me! Your terror will be short lived!" Jun looked back to her, then up to Veronica, who smiled and stepped past him,
"Well, it seems you still have some fight in you! I'll have to make sure you are tortured horribly before you die!" Veronica started walking toward Lily, since the warrior was a lot weaker, Veronica could walk right through her winds without any problem,
"I'm not scared of you demon!" Veronica came up right next to her,
"Oh but Lily, I will teach you to be afraid, you will learn fear, along with your sisters." She replied as she went to use her power on the warrior, but suddenly out of nowhere, a black energy hit Veronica in the hand before she dispelled her power. She gasped and pulled her hand back, looked back and seeing Jun, a black aura rising up from him, an angry scowl on his face.
"Don't you dare touch her…" Jun replied forcefully, the black aura rising up and giving him a very menacing look about him, perfect for a darkness warrior.
"And what are you going to do about it?" She asked, a smile played across her face, Lily kicked Veronica and went to punch her in the face, but Veronica stuck out her hand and pieces of Earth came up and hit the warrior, she crashed into a house and it covered her.
"LILY!" Jun yelled as he was about to run to her, but Ash and Dante held him by the arms, "Let me go!" Veronica walked over to Jun, her smile widening, lifting his head up so he could look in her eyes,
"Such fire, you should use it for a different cause, like to serve me as one of my guardians."
"I will never serve you! You bring pain to the world to get what you want, and nothing will make me serve you!" Veronica chuckled and shook her head toward him, like he was a child,
"Well, love, once you take the serum, you will think otherwise. Take him away, and prepare for him to receive the serum."
"Yes Empress." Both Ash and Dante said as they disappeared into a portal that led back to the castle. Veronica turned back to the rubble where Lily was trapped. Veronica lifted her hand and the rubble lifted easily, she moved her hand to the side and the rubble was thrown beside them. Lily was free, but she was in no position to move, she was bloody and cut up, near unconsciousness. Not to mention the extreme amount of pain she was in.
"Well Lily, is this the 'glorious return' that I expected?" Lily said nothing, "I guess you'll have to lean how merciless I have become since we fought last." A portal opened up underneath Lily and she sank down helplessly into it. It was glorious, Veronica was going to win, now that she had one of the Mystic Warriors, the sisters wouldn't stand a chance.
(A/N: please review, I'd appreciate it.)