Shitza: Hello again, not too good today. I've caught a fever and cold. On the plus side I am recording the BB episodes. Only I wish CN didn't have to show the same ones over and over again when they are only showing them on the weekends.
B-Daman has entered Sweden… I saw the first episode today, just wondering what it was like. I really think they could have spent that time making a new beyblade season. Not that it was bad, but it was too much like everything else. But it was only the first episode so I should not judge it. We'll see.
Sigh, today is a non-happy Shitza. My brother is moving into town this time, last time he moved since he needed because of the school he was going to. This time he is moving to live for a year. Oh, I'll miss him.
Anyway. (Laughs like a maniac.) Okay, sorry, only joking with you. But some of you are going to hate me yet again for this chapter. Ha, this is indeed more then meets the eye and the teaser was nothing like the chapter. Hahaha, be prepared for some really rough and evil turns. This fic has finally reached some of the parts I've longed to write!
For all action-lovers here, you will adore the next chapters. For the rest who continue to read this… I should advice you to read between the actions because this fic has finally reached the heat.
Chapter 12 A Day of Darkness
"62… 62, try to beat that Kai!" a cocky voice said over the other voices. Tyson Granger was poking his finger into his captain's chest trying to get a response. Kai opened his mouth.
"121" he said before walking away. Tyson fell over. 121 was almost the double of his own victories against the demons. How on Earth had Kai managed that?
"Wow, and I only got 36 or something!" Max said in awe. The blond blader sat on the floor by the wall, binding more arrows for use. Max had begged the craftsmen in the Water Village to teach him to make his own arrows, since he thought he would need it.
"How about you two?" Tyson asked Zeo and Ray. Ray shook his head, "Do you really think I counted how many demons me and Driger slaughtered. I was busy enough trying to figure him out.
"251" Zeo said. "But it wasn't me who counted. Cerberus did. He surely hates demons more then any of us."
"First time and I do already reconsider if I ever want to fuse again." Ray said sadly. "It was cool in the beginning, I mean we could feel our elements and be part of them. But when Driger and my mind melted together, it was as if all my darkest thoughts mirrored his. It was weird and scary."
The raven-haired blader sighed just as the door opened to let one of the maids come in with some lunch. They all nodded towards her, smiling. "The Priests wants to see you later for the Meeting." She announced.
"What meeting?" Max asked. "They never said anything about a meeting to us, did they?"
Zeo cleared his throat to get attention. "I've heard about these meetings. It's supposed to stand for the Villages being united in the face of great peril and also helps the ten locations to decide what to do. The Priests holds their separate meeting from the Priestesses, am I right?"
The maid smiled. "No one could have said it better, you are very wise!"
Zeo blushed. "I'm not wise, I simply listen. I overheard the Priestess of Darkness talking about it once."
"So, that means we will talk in a warrior meeting, then?" Ray said not sure of what to think. He had been invited before into council meetings in his hometown, but this sounded quite different.
"It sounds rather messy!" Max said. "I do remember at school when all guys decided what we were going to do and everything ended into a large fight."
"Nah, that was years ago, wasn't it. We are grown ups, we don't fight anymore, do we?"
"You'll see!" the maid said just as they heard a call from the gates.
"LEE-ECK, THE PRIEST OF FIRE HAS RETURNED!"
"Where is he? Where is he! Where is that little fat coward!"
"Kim you should calm down!" Raya warned as she tried to calm down the furious girl.
Kim looked at Raya. "Oh, I'll be calm. Once the sun conquers the others side of the moon and we will be able to see it. Where is that stupid Priest? First he dies, then he returns and now he is frolicking around with the maids of this place. Let me through, I am a Priestess!"
The crowd before them quickly moved out of the way letting the furious girl through. Raya tried to follow but once Kim had passed the crowd moved back and the red haired girl had problems to get through. No one seemed to care about her status as Elite, which irritated her. Kim hurried towards a small building where she could, by putting her ear at the door, hear giggles and laughter. Oh yes, her suspicions were confirmed.
"LEE-ECK!" she roared opening the door. Inside she could see at least ten lightly dressed girls and the fat priest with a goblet of wine in his hand. The chubby priest jumped in fright and the girls all clapped their hands over their mouths, quickly grabbing their stuff and disappeared.
"Kin… I can… explain… you see…"
Kim sighed; her furious attitude seemed to disappear. "I don't need explanations, I need you to represent our Village in the meeting this afternoon and I don't need you drunk before that. Get up! You have a story to tell and that before everyone else and not some underage girls."
Lee-Eck sighed. "You do really think it was easy to escape the demons."
"I never said that. But even if you managed to return it doesn't allow you to quit your duties. I've worked myself dead, I almost got caught myself. And you know what happens if I get caught. It is not like I wanted this from the very beginning."
"You've said so before, but you know I cannot help you." Lee-Eck said sadly. "Hopefully there will be a way for you to deal with this."
Kim sighed as well. "Let's go. I can get some help if you need help to get up. You know what I've said to you before about loosing weight."
"I know, stop picking on this poor Priest. I know, I know, but it's not my fault the food tastes so good!"
Kim laughed. "I'm glad to have you back. I'll go and find some more who can help you get up. See you in a minute!"
"We sure will, we sure will!"
"So, where is this meeting held?" Tyson asked Lei Dan, who was showing them the way. The Elite of Water smiled. "We are nearly there!" he said.
The Elite of Water led them to what possibly was the back yard of the temple. Tyson, Max, Kai, Ray, Hilary, Kenny and Zeo had never entered this place before. It was a beautiful place, probably the best botanic garden in the world. Flowers bloomed all year around, even during the cold periods when the lava drew back and the cold hit them.
"This is so wonderful!" Hilary said gasping browsing around the many plants. Tyson sighed as his girlfriend dig into one of many flower patches. She studied an odd white huge flower with hundreds of petals.
"I would advise the young miss not to either smell, touch or look at many of these things. I cannot be responsible for the accidents these things might cause. Most plants and herbs here grow since they have healing or poisonous properties."
"Poisonous?" Ray asked. "That was new."
"They rarely mention it." Lei answered. "But knowing our dear friend, the Priest of this place, Daiku Chin or Daichi as you prefer to call him, knows at least 2000 different herbs of various poisonous effects and all of them grow here. Some of them only need a sniff for a quick death."
"That sounds dangerous!" Max said. Hilary backed away from the flowers at once.
"But what do I know?" Lei added. "I hate flowers, so start moving more. The Meeting lays some bushes away."
The followed Lei pass some weird looking bushes before they came to a huge clearing where all Priests and Priestesses had arrived to discuss the alarming battle. There were two smaller councils. One for the men and one for the women. The gang, minus Hilary, followed Lei towards the male council, and Shi-Ma happily invited Hilary to join the women saying something that sounded like: "You can talk to your friends later, but right now we really want to spare the females for the males roughness. Believe me, you don't want to join into one of the fights… I mean conversations."
Max looked confused and Ray raised an eyebrow. Tyson scratched his head while Kai looked unaffected as usual. Kenny simply shrugged trying to understand, but he wasn't that wise yet.
Max sighed. Now he could see what Shi-Ma had meant with what she had said. The men's council was probably the most horrid experience of his life. Everyone roared at the other, fists flew knocking into bone and flesh and wood. He held his hands over his ears trying to block out the sounds. He wasn't alone. Tyson looked as if he was about to roar at the others to be quiet, only the old tricks of focusing helped the blunette to stay calm. Kenny was hiding behind their backs. Ray looked oddly pale; his Village councils were far more structured then these fights. Kai looked like a bad cloud of thunder, but the Russian kept cool. Cooler then the others would be able to considering what was going on. Zeo was hiding in the shadows, somehow also being able to hide his usually brilliant turquoise hair. But that was the power of the darkness.
Now Ray was sighing. The Neko Jin leaned back on the chair he sat on, putting his feet relaxing on another empty chair before him. Max followed his example and did the same; relaxing trying to block all conversation from his mind, however it sounds easy it is impossible.
"Why not let them decide!" One of the Priests said pointing his finger at the six friends. Tyson looked disturbed and Ray choked. The wisps of shadows disappeared around Zeo.
"I do wonder if that's such a good idea?" Max murmured, but the Valley men didn't seem to listen. They literally carried them to the centre of attention. Kai of course would never let himself be carried anywhere, so he stepped onto some feet and walked on his own. It was surprising that he even turned up.
From the corner of their eyes they could see Daichi smirking. They guessed that the redhead had had something to do with this. Oh, how much didn't they think of about killing Daichi now?
"So, we are done here! Thank you everyone for coming, I hope this will be the good plan for things."
A chorus of giggling could be heard. The Priestess of Love bent closer to Hilary. "It's like this every time. We make the decisions and the men fight. That is why this council is so much better."
"Once we only had this council, but when 90 per cent of the villages choose a priest we created the second one so that they didn't feel left out. They hardly make the big changes, they are to busy to fight." Another woman said.
The Priestess of Ice nodded. A bandage was tied around her head and her left arm was missing. It was on its way of growing out, but these things took time. Daichi's cures were unbelievable but even he couldn't make things grow in one second.
"90 per cent only, I thought we made decisions for at least 95 per cent of everything here." Lin, Ray's sister said. The raven-haired priestess looked over at the other council where them men were fighting like usual. "My poor brother is going to suffer such a headache when he gets back."
"I'm worried about my little Daiku, do you really think it's healthy for him to be there?"
"No worries Shi-Ma! If there is someone who knows something about health it is your boyfriend and thanks to him most of us are still whole. Take my legs for example, I don't know how many times I'm getting torn into pieces." The Priestess of Wind said.
"He sure knows his stuff." Kim said sitting beside Raya. "Maybe I should give him some more credits, all though he still needs to pay back from every gold he steals from me."
"He steals, never knew he had a bad side?"
"I can give you the list!" Kim added.
The Priestess of darkness cleared her throat. "Girls, we came here for another reason then to discuss our dear Priest of Earth no matter how skilled he is. We still have some pointers left to discuss, shall we continue."
Several heads nodded. Shi-Ma giggled and Kim merely shook her head.
Max wondered when the shouting would stop. His head screamed in agony as the conversations grew louder and louder. At least they had managed to make them all stop fighting, but everyone wanted to be heard by his opinion.
Ray sat with his eyes closed blocking away most of the sounds only by pure will. His ears twitched as his sensible hearing suffered more damage then ever. No one had at least clapped their hands over their ears, out of respect. But the urge often came. Annoyingly Zeo had managed to escape using his dark powers to hide from view and he was soon forgotten in the conversations.
"I declare the meeting over!" a voice suddenly said. It was Lee-Eck, Priest of Fire. The other men got to their feet and started to argue for the sake of their Village but Lee-Eck wouldn't budge. The Bladebreakers shot the Fire priest a thankful look before getting to their feet. Some of the cowards in the meeting disappeared quickly and the Bladebreakers followed their example.
"Man… after this Hilary and Tyson's arguing is like the gently flow of waves." Max said glad to get away from that place. The others, except for Tyson who complained loudly, nodded enthusiastically.
Moments later the female meeting ended and Hilary came singing happily towards them. Their mood sunk hearing how much the priestesses had decided. Zeo joined them even later, having hidden in the shadows of a bush.
Tyson still complained a bit about Max's example. It wasn't until Kai told him to shut up that he became quiet. They walked back passing bushes towards the temple. Nothing of the sort had been expected when they suddenly heard a scream coming from the council meeting, or where it had taken place. They all rushed back to see the last parts of a terrible scene.
"What is going on?" Ray said. The raven-haired blader's eyes widened. A dark aura surrounded Kim, who lay on the ground unconscious. She was bleeding, probably from having been attacked. Lee-Eck stood behind her, from his arms they could see more dark powers reach her, drowning her in darkness.
"SIS!" another frantic voice said. Daichi entered the scene and he too was shocked. "Lee-Eck? Why?"
The Priest didn't answer but attacked them. The group of teens scattered into all directions avoiding to get hit. By pure luck they had their weapons with them and their blades as well. Ray and Zeo took this chance of fusing into a tiger and three-headed dog. Tyson summoned Dragoon and Kai climbed up on Dranzer's back. Max didn't summon Draciel as there was no natural source of water, but he launched his blade making the first strike. It was the first strike as well that unlocked their suspicions. There was no blood coming from the gash he received. Lee-Eck had become a demon.
"I should have known!" Daichi said throwing an axe against that thing. Lee-Eck caught it and threw it back. Daichi ducked and growled.
Max fired an arrow, but this too missed. The demon deflected it with darkness.
Ray and Zeo launched at the demon. Sparks flew, because even if they were fused they still could use attacks, as Ray's paws touched the ground. Zeo burned of dark powers coming from his body, the fused form of him and Cerberus. The two creatures barred their fangs attacking. But something went wrong… a shield seemed to absorb their strength and toss it back at them. The two of them were forced to return to their normal self.
"This is no normal demon that you've met so far. His strength is almost as strong as the dark lords themselves." Daichi warned them.
"Is there any way of defeating it?" Hilary asked.
"I'm not sure." Daichi answered.
Meanwhile Kenny's body started to glow as the youngest of them easily penetrated barriers into the demon's past. He could see hundreds of plans and days of training.
Kai swooped down, his sword slashing the already dead body. Things made sense. Lee-Eck had been gone for a while, stronger demons could hide the glassy eyes and such to not reveal their true selves. Body no one could hide the fact of blood. The demon roared in pain as the blade hit him and claw like hands made a move to attack. Dranzer evaded by flying into the air again.
"EUREKA!" Kenny said after a while. "The brunette too out a small powdery ball from his pouch and tossed it, with no regrets towards the demon. The demon stopped in his tracks as his body froze to ice. Not for long however, the ice slowly started to melt. But it gave everyone else time to summon their attacks.
Kaze… wind to summon
Kasai… fire to warm
Mizu… water to embrace
Ikazuchi… thunder to destroy
Yoru… night to recharge
Omoi… the mind that knows
And lastly upon that earth that heals. Seven elements combined into a large orb of power that exploded once it came into touch by the black powers of the demon. The light blinded them and they shielded themselves best they could. When the light slowly died the demon had vanished… but thus so had Kim.
Daichi fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. The redhead screamed in despair into the silent falling night. Footsteps could be heard coming, the other priests and priestesses finally arrived. Seeing Daichi they knew what had happened.
The mixtures of feelings hovered in the air above them. Raya managed to find Kai among the mass of people and she gently cried into his chest. Kai looked down at her in sympathy, kissed her and held her into his warm embrace shocking his team seeing he really did have some warm feelings. Lin walked over to ray asking of what had happened. Ray told her the story and the pair of them hugged each other trying to find reassurance in this dark night. Same time the Priestess of Darkness found Zeo and the two of them held a secret conversation where Zeo seemed more upset then any of them. Max and Kenny talked about what could happen now? Kenny also told him about things he had found out in the huge libraries in the Village of wisdom. Hilary snuggled up to Tyson, tears trickling down her eyes. The blunette was sad as well, but right now he needed to take car of his own "heart" before taking care of himself.
"It is over!" The Priestess of Ice said angrily. "All years we've spent upon this, all life we have taken and lost and here it ends. We have lost, and now we simply can wait upon the destruction to sweep over us."
More heads bowed and some cried. Daichi stood up, closing his fist.
"We haven't lost, we can make this undone." He said more tears streaming down. Shi-Ma gently hugged him from behind, shivering.
"How?" The Priestess of Ice asked.
"By putting out the Light. By… by killing her!"
Everyone stopped talking, all heads turned to him not daring to make a sound. People held their breaths.
"I seriously don't want to, but if it's the only way of saving this world I am ready to do so. I love my sister, she is the only family I have left. But I know she would rather be dead then becoming that thing's wife."
"She is your sister Daiku Chin, if you say we can kill here we will do what we can to put a stop on this!" The priestess of Darkness said. Zeo stared at her in shock. "However…" the Priestess continued.
"It seems we have some unexpected things coming up. Have you not noticed the potentials upon our guests as I have. I took Zeo as my apprentice because in hundreds of years we in the dark village have never met anyone with the same strong amount of powers as he possesses. I think it is easy to say about the rest of them, they learn quicker then our children, some of them more know then us. They were able to fight more demons then we could take care of normally. We have a slight advantage here, not a bug but some advantage in this battle and I think it is safe to say they were meant to arrive. I have spoken to the Prophets in my Village and even moths before their arrival I was foretold that seven great warriors would arrive to even the last fight. And after that both Kin and Daiku decided to return I knew the time neared.
"So, you are saying that we should kill her?" Hilary said outraged.
The priestess however smiled. "Not kill her, but I think your combined powers can bring her back to us. Unharmed and still a Light."
Everyone stared at her, but slowly nodded. No one dared to complain knowing that only darkness could see what darkness did. The seven teens were gently showed down into a small cave where they said they would have to spend their training in. No one would have to know what was going on.
(A week later)
The training was harsh, worse then ever as time was against them. It left only necessary time to rest, a lot of energy and strength. The cave they trained in was huge and had everything they needed, water, fire, darkness, wind, lightning, wisdom…
Max stood by an underground lake forming gigantic tings with it, even an army made of water, which he now had no problems to command. He could even summon heavy rain clouds, but the effects annoyed Kai as it messed up with his own magic. Max was often met with a downpour of fire whenever he did that.
Kai was practising by an underground stream of lava that equipped him with all necessary fire. The two-toned teen spent days summoning the heat into his body, combining it into orbs of power smashing it into various obstacles. His fireballs were stronger then before, so big he had to lift them over his head sometimes before throwing. His friends kept out of the way as they could feel the heat unlike him these days.
Ray was keeping his own forces up, and orbs of electricity danced before him. His best trick was thunderstorm where he directed the electricity into its targets using arm movements mostly. Tyson liked to mess up with this sending his own storms to dissolve the clouds. Because of that the two teens had started a war between each other, something not needed to be explained further.
In the darkest corner of the Zeo stood, his eyes glowing like endless pools of darkness. His training had really paid of and from what everyone else could see who visited them down there he was already stronger then any man from the dark village ever had been. And he knew his strength continued to grow. It felt weird but he couldn't help it. Smiling dark vapours whirled around him, poisoning as it came. Zeo knew he was far from being wonderful after the things he had done, but perhaps all this could help him repay some.
Kenny yawned, his life started to get boring as he didn't seem to grow more in strength, all though that really didn't matter as he already had listened to Napoleon's conversations, Cleopatra's thoughts about her husband and what an horse, who had lived 400 years ago, ate for breakfast. He yawned again closing his eyes, turning back in time 16 years to listen to more.
The last one, Hilary also trained, but her elemental powers weren't strong sadly. However she had developed another strength and that was incredible enough communication. The young teenage girl lay on her back talking with some beetles. See what I mean with communication?
Fire and water collided as Max and Kai seemed to have thrown some kind of contest into it. Ray and Tyson were having a contest as well, testing their own strength at each other. Zeo watched it from the shadows and teasingly he drowned them all into darkness so that they lost control and so that they stopped trying to see. His laughter echoed in the huge chamber, or cave.
"Zeo, you little!" Tyson said in the darkness. Zeo laughed even louder when suddenly all darkness vanished. The turquoise blader ay on the ground laughing his head of.
"Looks like I won booth rounds!" he said between laughter. The four teens looked at each other and smiled evilly. Zeo never knew what hit him when he was suddenly blown backwards. It wasn't a hard blow but the dust around him got down to his lungs and he coughed before he found himself tied up, restrained. The Bladebreakers carried him over to the underground lake and tossed him in. Max played around with him in the waves and whirlpools. Tossing him around. When Zeo finally managed to get up he was coughing water. Max looked at the others.
"Maybe we went a little to far." He said backing of. Zeo eyed them suspiciously before four dark orbs hit them in the chest. All four orbs pined them to the wall.
"You almost drowned me!" he complained. Tyson laughed nervously. "Come on buddy, can't you take a joke?" he said.
Zeo's sadistic smirk turned into a sot smile. The four orbs disappeared and the four teens slumped down onto the ground. Tyson laughed suddenly as Hilary had hurried over to give Zeo some real beating for what he had done. Zeo escaped back into his dark corner and training turned back to normal. Or, as normal as it could be.
The day seemed to continue peacefully, but something suddenly interfered. They noticed it as the roof shook above them. Small rocks rained down over their heads and they used the powers they had to shield themselves. Hilary duck behind Tyson and Kenny had to share waves with Max. The quake disappeared, leaving behind some puddles of rocks and dust.
"Lets see what happened!" Tyson said. The others nodded and the hurried up the flight of steps back to surface. Screams and shouts met them as the Village was in war yet again.
"Do they ever give up?" Ray asked sending electricity towards the attacking demons. The demons stopped and exploded. Such was the force of destruction.
"Doesn't seem so!" Max said. Rain poured down on his command, soon enough to create floods draining the evil creatures. Tyson backed him up with whirlwinds and tornadoes.
"Wonder if everyone is all right?" Hilary said worried thinking about all their friends. You can worry later Hilary, right now we need some assistance!" Kai said slicing a demon in half. Hilary nodded as both she and Max took aim and fired.
Shouts of joy as the seven teens single handily took care of most of the demons, driving them back. Thankful gazes met them as the demons retreated towards the ruined gate. Some girls screamed and cheered, annoyingly. All of them had already grown sick of fans screaming after their heels.
As the last demon was driven away Daichi sealed the gate with vines. May so be that this village was now isolated without any escape, but at least it helped them to stand a little while longer. Six of the seven friends had no idea what to expect, but the Valley knew. They had known, and Kenny knew as well having heard a conversation years back.
"Be prepared" he warned them as a raging darkness approached. "Whatever you do, don't let your guard down!"
The six teens nodded. The darkness slowly came towards them. Zeo's mind raced as he could sense the power. It was like no other demon power he had ever sensed. This was even worse.
Something pounded on the gate, and after three attempts the vines broke. People gasped seeing who the attacker was. She was dressed in a sleeveless dress that seemed to end in black smoke. Black pearls around her neck, her hair tied back. Nails painted in blood and brown eyes penetrating their very souls.
'Kim?'
TBC
To Reviewers: Oh, this is getting better and better, isn't it? Has Kim really gone over to the others side? You'll see…
Fire Falcon: Thanks for two wonderful suggestions. I'll try and make up my mind soon. If you do think of something else, please tell me! Hope you liked this chapter!
storm-of-insanity: Well, Kenny is cool in his own way. (comes from me, know-it-all). Nah, only joking, I'm not such a know-it-all anymore all though I have been and I still wonder how people could put up with me? Yeah, have to agree with you about Cerberus and three-heads. Poor Zeo must have such a headache after his fusing. Thanks for adding more to my list, I really need that. And did you really like EBC? Wow, maybe I'm not that bad after all!
Z Star The Hidden Dragon: Demons are a nasty business, and can you guess what they are up to? Anyway, I should stop to give out spoilers and such, ruins the fun of these fics. I hope you liked this chapter!
Storm-winter: I know this chapter has lacked of the next fuses, but they will come with a POV from it. Sorry this chapter took a while, I am still at home since my cold seems to have chosen to affect my balance system and I am quite dizzy these days. Anyway, I always babble too much. I am very amused you liked Daichi/Shi-Ma since it is cute! And yes, Kim will get into a lot of trouble, almost more then Tyson will be in through these series. Nah, maybe not after all, but I am not going to spoil more of the future fics. He he, this fic is finally reaching the tidal wave, hurray! Things will be thrown around from here on, Wohooo!
Teaser:
Kim attacks the Village, but why? What has happened to her, and what does darkness have to do with everything? Does Zeo have more inside of him then meets the eye? More fusions will be unlocked as the battle rages on? Will they be able to save her or is it already too late?
End Notes:
My head is spinning wildly, that stupid cold has ruined my balance system. I really wish it could go away, this is quite tiresome.
Anyway, I am still wondering if someone could come up with a flashy name for a BB corporation. The more names the better! If you have something is style of BEGA or BBA then do review!
As for me, going to lie down or something. At least I am done with this chapter, there will probably be less chapters in this then in GoL, but perhaps longer. Who knows, me Nop! I am simply trying to fix this story without forgetting the details, which is hard once my mind is planning the climaxes for fic nr 4 and 5.
Shitza