Oh my gosh, it's been like, forever since I updated. Sorry, school was madness. Oh, and Gester. about that thing about "Shrouded in mystery", no one really knows who Shuyin is, or of his actual life before the current group got to know him. You'll probably understand as this goes on... I hope. Anyways, thanks again to those who actually bothered to read this!

(P.S. I tried to come up with some Japanese terms, so if they are incorrect or something, please feel free to correct me!)

Disclaimer: I own pretty much nothing.

Chapter 13: The Darkness Within

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Back in the present.)

"So what happened to you afterwards?" Fayt asked.

"I joined up with the Graitts and helped drive the Greetons out, it took another 2 years of war for that."

"Sure gave us a hell, that's for sure." Drake said jokingly.

"Oh yeah, how do you and Crosell know each other?" Cliff joined in.

"Oh! I think I know that one! During one of our duels in the Barr mountain, a misfire from one of Greeton's explosive weapons sent him flying towards that cave, I think." Rena put one hand on her chin, thinking hard.

"Well, more accurately, I fell into the top of the volcano, and landed on top of his head." Everyone pictured a human landing on top of a dragon's head. It was quite funny to think about apparently, as some of them started snickering.

It turned out that after the war, Shuyin returned to where his shuttle had landed 5 years prior to the end of the war. It took quite some effort fixing it up, due to the damage it took by the crash landing in the past and the lack of maintenance for 5 years. Once he had it fixed, he left Elicoor II and wandered throughout the universe for the last 10 years. Occasionally, he ran into other wars, such as between the Federation, the Aldians, and the Vendeeni, and ended up joining in it. However, he only joined the side that was being oppressed, namely the civilians. That was how he had met Maria 3 years afterwards. There was still much that was left unanswered, such as Shuyin's life prior to the one he told them, but it seemed that he didn't want to talk about it, so that subject was immediately dropped. Even if he did want to tell them, there wasn't any time, for at that moment a runologist came in and announced that preparations were complete. Exchanging determined looks, the party headed out.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(After the battle... Too lazy to come up with something)

"Well, that's that, guess we better start heading back." Cliff shrugged.

The battle had been extremely hectic, since only the Thunder Arrow atop Crosell managed to do any damage. The Diplo's gravitic warp engine was damaged during the scuffle, and it required about 4 hours to be fixed. But the most disturbing of all were several mysterious beams that destroyed the Vendeeni ships. Beams that possessed a magnitude far surpassing even the Federation's best creation energy weapons. As Crosell headed back towards Aquios, the group discussed all thats happened, trying to see if they can get any idea what that thing had been.

"I sure hope that whatever it was, we don't have to go against it." Fayt shuddered at the idea of fighting against something with enough power to blast through a Vendeeni ship's shield with such ease.

"I'm with you kid, bad enough we got our own problems, but add this on top of that, man..." Cliff let out a sigh. On the other side of the little platform-ish thing on Crosell's back that they were in, Maria whispered to Shuyin.

"Did you see anything like that in your travels, Shuyin?" He shook his head.

"No, I don't think I've seen anything with that high of a magnitude... Unless you count..." Maria looked at him curiously.

"Nevermind." He said dismissively. "All I know is, whoever that is using the weapon that fired the beams are well advanced ahead of anyone."

"Yeah... This looks pretty bad."

"One thing bothers me though, just where were those beams aimed for in the first place? It seems unlikely that it was aimed for the Vendeeni from such a faraway place..."

"What the heck is that!" Everyone turned to Fayt, who was pointing at something coming from the land before them.

Two streaks of red flame came flying at Crosell, who barely managed to dodge it. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky when a crackling blue energy came pelting towards him. The lord of air dragons staggered in the air, then suddenly went limp and fell straight down, his passengers hanging on to any handhold for their dear lives. He crash-landed hard in the middle of the field that was still covered in craters and scorched earth from the Vendeeni assault. Everyone except Nel and Roger (Who had been flung all over the place within the Thunder Arrow) were tossed to the ground upon crashing. The Shuyin and Drake immediately jumped up, looking around wildly, followed by the rest (The two inside the weapon had crawled out).

"Yeowch! What was that just now?" Rena grumbled as she got up, massaging her aching back.

"That blue blast just now, it must've been a paralysis shock..." Shuyin looked back at Crosell's still form.

"But to do that to such a creature? Who could've?" Drake asked in a slightly nervous tone.

"We're about to find out."

Three figures leapt down from a small hill in front of them. One was a middle-aged man with shoulder-length blue hair and silvery eyes, dressed in long white pants, white shirt, and a white robe with scarlet markings on it on top (Likes white don't he?), and holding a long silver staff with a black orb attached on top, he looked like a summoner in fantasy games. The one on the left was a young woman with long black hair tied into a ponytail and dark blue eyes. She wore blue shorts and a blue clothing with criss-crossing white lines over her black shirt. There was also a pink sash tied over her waist. She looked very much like a ninja of sorts in those clothes. In her hand was a large and deadly looking scythe with a chain that ended with a bladed ring attached to the other end. The final one was a young man with short green hair and equally green eyes with a white bandana. He wore a green shirt and black pants. There was a black vest with short yellow lines across it over his shirt, along with a white sash. He also had silver armguards attached to his wrists that covered the length of his arm, and had an opening near the hand. Two long silver, slanted objects facing behind him were attached to his legs as well. The older man had an amused, but rather sinister, look on his face, whereas the girl seemed cheerful just like Rena while the younger man's face was filled with malice. Shuyin's eyes widened once he recognized them.

"O-overseers..." He said quietly.

"Overseers? Who the hell are they?" Cliff asked as everyone gathered next to Shuyin and Drake.

The three Overseers stopped once they got close enough to talk.

"At last we meet again... Zero." The older man said, grinning.

"Selemoss. Shienka. ...Braz." Shuyin regarded the younger man little differently than the rest, who simply glared at him as if he wished him nothing but ill-fortune.

"Hehehe, you won't get away this time Shu." The woman, Shienka, giggled. Although the effect was rather far from cheerful with that huge scythe in her hands.

"Wait..." Braz stepped forward, a frigid frost in his voice. "Let me deal with him myself."

Selemoss looked at him for a moment, then grinned as he gave his permission, much to Shienka's displeasure.

"Awwwww! No fair, I wanted to fight him!"

"Psst, Shu, just how many people do you have that wants to fight you? I mean, she is practically a clone of my sis in personality!" Drake whispered. Like always, the Viper somehow managed to take things lightly.

"Don't underestimate them, they each have a power that can easily rival the three of us, perhaps even more. We'll split into three groups, with each group taking on one of them." Everyone gathered into three separate groups upon Shuyin's advice.

Drake, Nel, and Roger went to the left, where Selemoss stood across the field. Rena, Albel, and Cliff went the other way where Shienka was. That left Shuyin to deal with Braz with Fayt and Maria. The two blue-haired youths realized with a start that this Braz was different from the other two. Selemoss was, well, to put it bluntly, creepy. Yet he had a casual and easy-going air about him, sort of like Drake and Cliff. As for Shienka, she was basically the same as Rena, no questions there. But Braz... He was burning... burning with hate. The fury in his eyes and the death aura pulsating from him was so immense, that the two youths almost backed up from the sheer tension. Not only that, Shuyin looked way different too when he faced Braz. Normally, he became extremely cold and calculating during battles, but this time his face registered a hint of remorse and slight frustration. Puzzled by this strange reaction between the two, Maria was about to ask him, but then thought better of it. Best leave it till after the battle.

"Ah, taking us individually I see... Tsk tsk, you'll have to do better than that Zero." Selemoss smirked as each of them prepared to fight their respective group. He held his staff in front of him, which was glowing with a faint bluish aura. Shienka began swinging her scythe very quickly, causing the disk-blade attached to the chain slice the ground around her. Braz crossed his arms in front of him, and from the small opening in his armguards, sharp blades slid out. At the same time, the things attached to his legs swung to the side of his legs, and blades shot out from the openings in them as well.

"...GO!" On Shuyin's signal, everyone charged at the Three Overseers.

Braz snarled and leapt towards Shuyin, easily deflecting the shots from Maria's guns. Fayt swiftly delivered a sidekick once they were close, but Braz parried his kick with his armguard, then gave Fayt a dose of his own kick. Fayt barely managed to bring up his sword in time, although he was still flung back a few feet. Had that blow fully connected, Fayt would've been in two pieces by now. Shuyin growled and lunged his lance at him. He remembered that Braz was extremely skilled in close-combat and bare-handed fighting. Those blade-guards he had were just an addition to make his attacks even more lethal. However, that was the least of Shuyin's problems.

"Dragon Maw!" Braz swung both his arms and legs from the side towards Shuyin, making it look like his extension blades are four fangs about to chomp on a prey.

Fayt and Maria were stunned by this display. The attack was same as Shuyin's, albeit slightly variated. Furthermore, their fighting styles were quite similar, and each of them seemed to read the other's moves perfectly. Shaking off the surprise, the two joined the fray immediately. Braz saw them chargin at him from one corner of his eyes, smirked, then leapt away from Shuyin. Turning round, he stretched out one arm, which was being engulfed in crackling blue and yellow energy.

"Rai-Ryu ha! (Thunder Dragon blast)" A torrent of electricity in the shape of a dragon -the long oriental type, not the medieval-western styles- flew straight at the two younger fighters. They were struck dead-on by the attack, which not only hurt them bad, but also numbed their bodies considerably. Shuyin's gritted his teeth upon recognizing the technique.

"You... you learned the Ku Ryu Ha (Nine Dragon Blast) technique?" He asked in slight disbelief.

"... I've trained considerably as of late... and also gained power... beyond your wildest dreams..." Braz now had a rather maniacal glint in his eyes. "Now... Come at me Shuyin! Is that the best the successor of the Dragon Clan can do!"

Shuyin had no time to reply as Braz charged with even more intense frenzy. Meanwhile, the other groups were not doing any better. Drake's crew were barely able to move, with the Viper himself kneeling down on one knee and using his sword for support. Selemoss hovered lazily above them, leering down with a smug expression. Rena's team was still moving, but all of them were cut up pretty badly. Shienka was still swinging that ridiculously big scythe of hers at inhuman speed, carving out anything that it and the ring-blade that was attached touched. Selemoss turned to see where Shuyin was locked in a deathmatch with Braz. He smirked at this sight.

'How ironic... That fool Braz really has an interesting way of thinking. Then again, perhaps its just the trauma.' He was driven out from his thoughts as Nel threw a dagger up at him. Snarling at the impudence, Selemoss returned his attention to tormenting these weaklings a bit more.

All the while, Shuyin and Braz continued clashing against one another, their attacks becoming more alike with each passing moment.

"Joushou-Ryusen! (Rising Dragon attack)" Shuyin plunged his lance into the ground then sliced upwards, unleashing a white shockwave that shot out from the earth.

"Kajou-Ryusen! (Spiral Dragon attack)" Braz spread his arms wide and spun around quickly, releasing a small purple tornado straight at the incoming shockwave.

The resulting explosion from the two attacks colliding blew back both of the warriors. Both panting heavily, they tried to regain their composure. After glaring daggers at Shuyin, Braz lifted his right arm, the yellow energy gathering once again at his palm. Shuyin countered by gathering red-and-orange energy onto his right hand. They both let loose their attacks at the same time.

"Rai-Ryu ha!"

"Honoo-Ryu ha! (Flame Dragon blast)"

Yellow energy surrounded by a crackling blue met red energy engulfed in orange flames. The two struggled to push the other's beam back, but for a while it appeared to be a stalemate. Then the tide seemed to turn in Shuyin's favor, as Braz was beginning to lose control. At that moment, Shuyin felt some disturbance in the air around him, then noticed something surround Braz. A fierce cry, and the size of Braz's Rai-Ryu ha multiplied five folds. Shuyin was struck by the full force of both his and Braz's blast. Once the dust cleared, there lay Shuyin, in the middle of a small crater, twitching as blue electricity crackled around his body. Gasping in pain, he struggled to get up, then what he saw nearly made his heart stop.

Braz was shrouded by a dark aura. An aura so black that it could've passed for his shadow, except for the fact that it shimmered about him. His eyes had gone completely black, no pupils visible. Red streaks were glowing throughout his arms and his cheeks. Shuyin was schocked at the sight. Then he instantly turned to the other two Overseers. Sure enough, they too have begun showing the same black, ominous conditions. The Black Lance turned to Selemoss and asked in a slightly shaken tone.

"You, what did you? You didn't? YOU RAN THE EXPERIMENT ON YOURSELVES!" Selemoss merely chuckled.

"Hehe, it wasn't that big of a deal, and in return, we got this great, unlimited power... Quite a bargain don't you think?"

"At the cost of your soul? What kind of fiend are you!"

"Whoops, nevermind that you should pay attention" Selemoss pointed behind the stunned warrior. Braz had begun his new wave of attack.

The merciless barage of blows, enhanced by the strange dark energy from which Braz drew his power from, began shredding the hapless lanceman to pieces. Staggering from all the cuts and bruises, one final Rai-Ryu ha was enough to fling him over 100 feet and crash right into a mountain, which collapsed on top of him. Braz didn't stop there. He immediately followed up more special attacks.

"Kaze-Danmaku! (Wind Barrage)" Everytime he swung his blades on his arms and legs, white crescent energy sliced through the air towards the huge heap of rubble that had once been a mountain, blowing apart what had survived the intial damage. Laughing like a mad man, Braz stepped up the pace of his attack, until two energy bolts struck him in the back of his head. Turning around, his glare met Maria, whose blasters were still smoking from the recent discharge. Snarling like a hungry beast, he was about to pounce on her when the ground began shaking.

"What the? No, it can't be..." Selemoss looked, for the first time, apprehensive, as he turned to the torn-up remains of the mountain.

The tremor intensified for a brief moment, then the entire wreckage was blown apart from within. A pillar of pure darkness shot towards the heavens, and something slowly emerged from the bottom of the pile of rocks. The dark beam cleared, and in its center stood, no, flew Shuyin. Maria gasped as she glimpsed his features. They were completely different. This Shuyin was far different from the one she knew, even the cold-hearted one with the feral yellow eyes. This Shuyin had eyes of pure red where the white should've been, the pupil was an electirc blue, and a dark aura far more intense than that of the Overseers surrounded him. Maria didn't know why, but simply being in the presence of this new Shuyin brought a sense of foreboding, as if something terrible was about to happen.

"DAMN IT! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" Selemoss cursed loudly as the dark energy that perpetuated the air around Shuyin became even stronger. Braz scowled in defiance and drew up the electrical power into his palm once again.

"No Braz! Withdraw, NOW!" Ignoring Selemoss's comand, Braz unleashed his blow.

"Rai-Ryu ha!"

As the crackling draconic energy spiraled towards it target, Shuyin raised one hand. The dark energy swirling around him began to gather at his palm. With a sneer that was totally uncharacteristic of the Shuyin everyone knew, he let loose the power of darkness.

"Kage-Ryu ha! (Shadow Dragon blast)"

An immense black energy in the form of a sinister looking dragon with red eyes burst forth from his outstretched hand. It simply engulfed the blast of thunder and sped towards the shocked Braz. Selemoss immediately intervened, flying in front of the green haired warrior and casting a shimmering silver shield around them. The blast dissipated eventually, but the shield had cracked and Selemoss was panting from his effort, sweat drops falling down from his face.

"This is not a foe we can handle, didn't I warn you?" Braz averted Selemoss's gaze and gritted his teeth.

"Shienka, we're leaving, NOW!" Shieka didn't bother to argue and immediately contacted their hidden space shuttle, which quickly began teleporting them out. As the blue-white energy encircled the two of them, Braz grinned bitterly and murmurred.

"Well, at least I leave with the intriguing thought on how his face will look like when he wakes up..."

"Indeed, now that he has lost control, it won't be long before this entire planet, no the entire system would be decimated... starting with these 'friends' of his..." Selemoss and Braz gave an evil laugh as they began disappearing.

"Prepare yourselves for Hell now you fools, for the Dark Shuyin has awakened once again!" were Selemoss's parting words.

Continued on Chapter 14: The Other Presence.