A/N 2/20/05: This is chapter...15 of ZCIM. Perhaps it was sixteen, I'm not sure. Most of the introduction got deleted for one reason only: IT WAS TOO BORING! Please review. Also, I am working on a co written fanfic which is up now. If you could review that as well, it would be appreciated. It's rated M, if that matters to anybody. It is under the pen name BerryKids. You don't like the pen name, too bad.

In other news, footnotes will be added periodically. This look like this:(#)

Wow. I just read the beginning, and realized something. IT SUCKS! I will focus my time on rewriting the beginning, and getting rid of the script-writing and other stuff. Chapter number will decrease, but the plot will essentially remain the same. So you don't have to read all the way through it again if you don't want to.

-ARK

Chap. 16: Murdering Royalty

Alex woke up some time later. He was crammed into a small jail type cell of some sort with Zack and Cody, who were asleep. That or knocked out, it was impossible to tell. He looked around, using the little light that was provided through the bottom of the door to check out his surroundings. He appeared to be in a small cell, and there was a very suspicious unlocked door set in the west wall, from which light was flowing. Waiting for something to happen, he sat there. Zack and Cody woke up sometime later. They had all lost track of any form of time measurement. They weren't even sure what month it was anymore.

"Man, I wonder how long we've been here." Cody wondered aloud.

"I'm not even sure how long we've been in this cell thing, let alone how long we've been on this whole journey." Alex responded.

"I wonder if our parents miss us? I wonder what they're doing to try and find us..." Cody said.

"Yeah, mom's gotta be REALLY worried." Zack said.

"Yeah, my parents are probably doing the same." Alex contributed.

"I wonder how long we're going to be here." Cody said.

"We still have all our stuff. Why did they leave it?" Alex wondered.

"I dunno, but let's get out of here." Cody said, going over to try the door. It was locked.

"The door's locked, guys." Cody told them.

"You think they're just going to leave it unlocked? Here, try this." Alex said, throwing Cody's lock pick at him. Cody caught it, and proceeded to unlock the door. In six seconds, the door was open.

"Six seconds? That guy said it was five..." Cody said.

"Why does it MATTER? Let's get out of here!" Zack said.

They gathered all their stuff, and exited into a maze of corridors. It didn't seem like a maze at first, but after wandering around for a while, they were beginning to get tired of it.

"Man, I'm getting REALLY tired of this." Zack said, punching one of the walls. Surprisingly, he fell right through it proceeding to break his fall with his face.

"Ow." Zack mumbled.

"Hey, these 'walls' are just made of paper."

"Wow, you'd think that they'd be able to afford something a bit more expensive. Like actual walls." Cody said sarcastically.

"Who cares, let's just go already." Zack said, getting up, pointing his gun at a random point on the wall and pulling the trigger. Instantly, the wall burst into flame, and slowly burned down to the ground.

"This is going too slowly." He commented, and held the trigger down. Pillars of flame shot from the gun, torching all of the fake wall to the ground, leaving only a HUGE room.

"Wow. This room is big. Anyway, let's go." Alex said. The three ran for the door, only to be stopped by somebody they knew half way across. Somebody they knew, and hated with a passion.

"Kimitsu..." Alex said, the bitter tone of his voice obvious.

"Yes? What is it...do you wish to die? That can be arranged."

"You're going to die today, you demon." Alex said

"You're the one that's going to be in pain...after these guys finish with you." Kimitsu spoke with menace in his words.

"What are you talking about? If you hadn't noticed, the only people here are you, me, Zack, and Cody." Alex said.

"Not for long." Kimitsu said with a smirk.

"Demoner av den 7 trinn, oppstår! Jeg, behersker av underworld rop De! Ødelegger elementalist!" He called out.

Demons rose from the ground, forming among the numerous pits of blood that had been formed as a result of Kimitsu's summoning. With the plate of their head like a triceratops's, and small spikes forming around the edges of said plate, their eyes, red with blood, glowed out from just above the shoulder blades. These, too, had spikes on them, and the body of this demon was like a snake's, with a tail that ended in a vicious, sharp spike, and the abdominal area had plates of hardened bone that looked almost like a football player's shoulder pads. This protective armor covered what seemed to be a rib cage, and their arms, with two spike protruding from their forearms, one hand ablaze with blue fire, the other sported hardened claws from a flesh-deprived hand.

"Have fun, elementalist. Demoner av den 7 nivå. Min tjenere, jeg kommanderer De ødelegge elementalist og hans følgesvenner."

"Why the hell does everyone keep calling me that?" Alex wondered, pulling out his sword. Cody pulled out his sword as well, and Zack aimed his gun at one of the repulsive creatures and pulled the trigger. Flames engulfed the hideous beast, and it fell to the ground, burning and taking on a horrible stench. It smelled like a cross between a skunk and 5 month old roadkill.(1)

"Zack, I've got some advice for you. NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! Although it only smells half as bad as that sandwich you had in your locker 2 years ago.

"You had a sandwich in your locker?" Alex asked him

"It was in a locker nobody ever bothered to clean out. Maybe it's still there. Let's go see if it is when we get back home." Zack replied.

"I think we should figure out a way out of this mess first." Cody said, parrying a blow from one of the vicious monsters, and then stabbing it in the stomach. It fell to the ground, and seeped downward, the ground absorbing the corpse.

"Weird. I wonder why that happened." Alex said.

"Who cares?" Zack said, lighting another one of the entities.

" I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT ANYMORE!" Cody yelled at his brother. The unmistakeable stench filled the room a second time.

"I know, but it's fun." Zack replied, and burned another one.

Rising up out of the ground, however, were reinforcements.

"More spiky dudes? Ugh." Zack complained.

"Are you sure about their gender?" Alex asked.

"You know, I really would rather be unsure about that aspect."

"Good point." Alex said, stabbing his 10th beast so far.

"Damn. I need to catch up." Zack said, and torched another three. "Eleven. Beat that!"

"Hey, those were mine!" Cody yelled. "Now I only have 6!"

Atop one of the rafters of the big room, Kimitsu crouched and watched the fight, and the various arguments going between the three.

'Amazing. Those demons are the fourth most powerful demons of their dimension, and those guys are making a sport out of it. That and talking about rotting sandwiches in lockers. It's confusing, with their horrible skills, they should be ripped apart by now. Guess I'll have to turn up the heat.'

"Demoner av den 8 trinn, oppstår! Jeg, behersker av underworld rop De! Ødelegger elementalist!" He whispered.

Back on the ground, Alex had just vanquished the last demon.

"Hey, I beat both of you! 23 to 22 for you guys." Zack said.

"Demon-hogger." Cody whispered to Alex when Zack wasn't listening.

"I know." Alex replied.

"Guys? Look..." Zack trembled as he pointed behind them.

"What?" Alex turned. "Holy s-" But the sight of the beast stopped him from completing his sentence. It had a skeletal face, with matted, lengthy hair running down in a point behind it, colored much the same as the face. Glowing blue eyes stared back at them, and it seemed to possess no type of defense. It appeared to be almost the shape of a human, but with long blades gleaming down past its hands, glowing with a blue light, which seemed to be made of pure energy. The monster, beside that, looked much like a skeleton, and seemed to be infused with energy from some other source. It opened its mouth, merely a jawbone, with no flesh attached, and spoke.

"What's this? Is this the rumored all powerful elementalist? Quite young, to bear such a great responsibility, yep. Quite young, quite young." It spoke with a slightly British accent.

"Okay, what the hell is wrong with that guy?" Zack asked.

"I'm not sure. He's really weird, though." Cody responded.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that! It gets annoying..." Alex said.

"You don't wish to be called like you deserve? Very well, then. How about 'annoying little kid?' That'll do nicely, I think. It also fits you well, don't you think, chap?" The creature said. Zack and Cody laughed at this.

"Damnit. You're going to die like your little friends did."

"Those were merely 7th rank. Low importance. I, however, am of the 8th rank, and much higher in ability." The thing spoke, still in the same Britain/Ireland accent.

"Well, demon with a British accent, you will be dead in an hour, maybe two." Alex said menacingly.

"Maybe, chap. Maybe not. You're quite stupid, eh?" The demon had taken on a Canadian accent now.

"You...are very annoying. You know that?" Alex asked it.

"I'm also rumored to be very very ugly, eh. Is that true, chap?" The demon asked.

"YES!" Cody shouted. "CAN WE PLEASE MOVE ON!"

"Eh, fine by me, blondie." The demon said. Suddenly, sheer force knocked the three back, throwing them against the stone wall. High above, safe from the destruction, Kimitsu watched with glee.

'This demon's powerful. Very powerful, if a bit talkative. He'll do the job just fine.'

Alex threw his sword at the enemy in desperation. The demon blocked it aside easily.

"Now then, chap, you're quite stupid if that's all you've got." The demon said. "Killing you will be effortless, I think. Then I can go have a burger or something. I think I'll have a quarter-pound of human flesh. Your's will do nicely. Hey, now quit that!" He said in annoyance as Zack tried to burn him with flames. This, however, had no effect.

"Did I ever tell you how much that annoys me? Quite a lot. Out of my way, now, chap."

"Ulwahg..." Zack cried out in pain as the demon easily swept him aside.

"Now to deal with your clone-boy over there." The demon advanced on Cody, and Cody bore his sword with bravery and fear at the same time. He was swept aside just as easily, and the shock of him hitting the wall knocked him out cold.

"Zack! Cody!" Alex yelled, but he could do nothing as the beam of wood broke off, and fell on Zack's legs with a sharp crack, leaving him unable to move and broken legs seemed like a good possibility fro them both.

"You bastard. You'll pay for how you hurt them. You hear me? You. Will. Pay." Alex said, his shoes changing slightly. This went unnoticed, however, by everyone.

"Really, chap? And how do you think you are going to do that, eh? If you're as weak, useless, and dumb as those two clone-boys, you hardly stand a chance, chap."

"That's it. You. Die. NOW!" Alex's eyes began to glow blood-red; his skin began to turn a pale gray. His outfit, dark blue, with two black streaks up by the armpits, and two streaks, also black, running down from his shoulders, curving to the sides to match his pants, which each had a single black stripe running from the side all the way down. His shoes, pure black, with blue soles. The sword also changed, it now had a blue blade, with a black hilt.

"Nice attire, chap. However, a change of clothes won't intimidate me at all. You'll have to try harder."

"You want harder? I'll give you harder. Much harder. I'll cut you to pieces, you rotting piece of scum."

"Hey, now, that's not very nice."

"At least I've still got skin, you ugly corpse."

"Just for that, chap, you're going to hell."

"I've already been there. My light side hasn't yet, but I personally find it quite enjoyable."

"Well, that's nice, chap. You're still gonna be going back."

"Fine by me. That is, if you survive to send me there."

"Alright, then, chap."

The demon lashes out at Alex, swinging the blades at him. Alex easily dodged this with lightning speed, and countered just as quick, slashing the demon like he wasn't even there and Alex was just swinging at thin air for practice. The demon fell, cut in half.

"Too easy."

Up high on the rafters, Kimitsu stood in shock.

"He...beat it...like it was just a pesky bug. A nuisance, rather than a challenge. Hopefully the demon will have something up his sleeve to turn the tables on Alex. I really don't want to have to do the dirty work myself."

And the demon did...

The two halves regenerated, sprouting their missing halves. Two beings took the place of one.

"Not that easy, chap. Gonna have to try again, yes you are."

"Very well. Let's try this again. DødSlag!" Alex's hand grew pure black with energy, and he punched both demons with lightning speed. The demons turned black, and disintegrated into nothingness.

"Well, that was simple." Alex then fainted, and returned to his normal self.

Zack could only stare in bewilderment.

"What just..."

Alex then woke up, looked around, and spoke to Zack.

"What the hell happened to me?" He said in complete confusion.

"I'm not sure, but you changed. You looked WAY different." Zack said.

"Here, I'll get that plank off of your legs." Alex said, and lifted the plank off of Zack's bruised legs.

"Thanks, man." Zack tries to stand up, but falls and cries out from the pain.

"Here, I'll help you." Alex said as he reached out his hand to Zack, and helped him slowly stand. Kimitsu watched this from the rafters.

'What compassion he's got. It's amazing. People don't show that kind of compassion to our kind. I wish they did, we'd definitely not feel the need to take out all our anger and depression on them. I hadn't even figured out that I was different...I was just a normal kid. At least, I was...until they killed the only person that ever showed me any sort of love. They killed my own mother. I'll think more on this later. Right now, I have something to do.'

Kimitsu jumps back, and with a small 'pop', he disappears. Alex helps Zack and Cody, both with injured legs, limp towards the door, and towards freedom from this room of bloodshed.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Zack weakly moans, mostly in pain. He can hardly breathe, and Cody is no better off. They meet up with two people.

"You two...seem familiar. I can't say where, though."

"We should look familiar, Cody. We know you, and you know us." Marc said.

"What? I've never seen you in my life. And yet, I can't help the feeling that I know you from somewhere." Cody said.

"That's because I've been watching over you, to make sure no harm befell you before this journey. My connection to you remains a mystery to both of us; however, it is there. There is no doubt of that."

"And I am connected to you in the same way, Zack. It's like...oh, what's a word for it...twin telepathy." Sarah said.

"Yeah. Our dad is upstairs, and he wants to meet you. Let's go." Marc said.

"Well, okay." Alex responded.

'I just hope this isn't a trap.' He thought.

They got to the throne room, and went inside. Everyone gasped in shock. Marc and Sarah's dad lay on the royal blue carpet.(2) His blood was spilled over the floor. In the middle of the room stood Kimitsu, with a smirk on his face.

End Chapter 16

So how'd you like it? I really tried to put some description into it. Only 8 pages...oh well. It's long enough. Now for the footnotes I promised in the beginning.

(1): If you've actually smelled this, I pity you. It sounds disgusting.

(2): No pun intended

And the beginning WILL be revised. It sucks, plain and simple. There may be some things taken out.

That's all. Please review!

- ARK -