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: Zero Radiance by Adriel Touchstone :
Episode III – Birth of the Radiants
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Andrew turned. The boy behind him was...blue, or at least as blue as Vincent was red. His black hair, a bit messy and only slightly longer than Andrew's on hair, was streaked neon blue. His glasses – rimless – had a steel blue frame and the lenses were also slightly blue-tinted, hiding (predictably) blue eyes. He wore a royal blue men's kimono with a dark blue jacket and sash. His feet, oddly, made no sound as they sat on two wooden sandals with dark blue straps. Tied to his right forearm were two folded pieces of wood – judging by the arrow, Andrew assumed they comprised a collapsible bow and the tie was the bowstring.
"Uh." Andrew said, unable to find any other words.
"Thanks for helping." Vincent said, having dispatched the other agent. He walked up to the other two boys – while Andrew was probably about early 18, this new boy was visibly much younger, maybe 15 or 16.
"Yeah," the boy said, looking more than a bit uncomfortable with the prospect of both Andrew's and Vincent's company. "No problem."
"Guess you're like me – Dream Drive?" Vincent asked. The other boy nodded. "Follow me."
Vincent turned around and walked out of the park. The blue kid looked at Andrew, giving him a look that seemed to be asking if Vincent could be trusted. Andrew nodded slightly and followed Vincent.
"We're...back at my house." Andrew said, deadpanning.
"We have no headquarters." Vincent said nonchalantly, walking into Andrew's room.
The third boy walked in, not moving far past the door.
"It's ok, come in...uh...who are you?" Andrew asked, realizing he never got the boy's name.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I'm Masuyo!" the boy said, flustered. Out of 'battle mode', his hair lost its blue highlights and his glasses shined clear, their frames dark silver. His eyes turned brown. The kimono he wore turned to slightly faded jeans and a dark blue shirt. His shoes – now actual shoes – were white sneakers. Overall, his appearance lost the superhero luster and he looked more than a little less athletic, an aura not aided by the book he was gripping expertly in his right hand. He pushed his glasses up a bit, grinning nervously.
"Well Masuyo, I'm Andrew and this guy is Vincent." Andrew was trying his best to be sociable, since Vincent obviously wouldn't do the same. Despite his best efforts, if tumbleweeds could materialize out of thin air, one definitely would have. Nevertheless, several crickets chirped from outside Andrew's window. Masuyo's eyes were flicking rapidly between Andrew, Vincent, the window, and the rest of Andrew's room.
"So..." Andrew said, lying on his bed and looking pointedly at the ceiling. "Have you been fighting them for long? The DC, I mean."
"For a few days." Masuyo replied. "But not really fight, I mean I just kind of watch what they're doing and scare them away when something happens. I wouldn't be any good at real fighting..." he said, trailing off quietly at the end.
"You did ok back there." Vincent said.
"Thanks..." Masuyo said.
"What do you know about the DC?" Vincent continued, catching Masuyo off-guard.
"Well, uh, there's one guy at the very top who no one knows by name, and he has seven main aides, one for each continent. Each of those seven has at least three personal assistants and each of those assistants controls a faction of agents. The circumstances lead me to believe that when Forty Two was talking about the person who sent them, they were referring to one of the seven. We're not big enough to register in the agenda of the man at the top."
Even Vincent's eyes were wide after that explanation. "How...do you know that?" he asked.
"I'm not really sure, but every time I strike someone with an arrow, I get a bit of what they know. So I know the basics..." Masuyo replied.
"And you said 'we'." Vincent continued.
"Oh, umm, yeah, I meant the two of us, I mean we've been messing them up a bit lately and umm..."
"It's ok. Maybe we should work together. All of us, I mean." Andrew said, looking hopeful.
"You don't even have battle powers. You'd get knocked off if something serious happened." Vincent replied curtly.
"But...but I made a Blue Eyes!" Andrew protested.
"Make it again." Vincent challenged.
"I..." Andrew looked downcast.
"Umm...how come he was with you today?" Masuyo asked.
"I rescued him last night. Stayed here till this morning. We tried to see if he had powers but nothing showed up until that Blue-Eyes incident." Vincent replied.
"How is his Dream Drive?" Masuyo said.
"Intact. I tried to wake it up, but as I said, nothing's happened."
"Let me try." Masuyo walked up to Andrew. "You should be familiar with the sensation of someone moving into your Zero Zone. Just stay still." Holding his hand in front of him as if something was in it, Masuyo looked at his palm and blew forward. Blue dust from nowhere poofed outwards and fluttered around Andrew, who began to glow white again as the blue subsided.
"Even if that did anything," Vincent said, observing, "I doubt we'll know until we're in battle again."
"About that..." Masuyo mumbled, "If we're working together, I think we should stop being undercover."
Vincent raised his eyebrow. "Why?"
"Well," Masuyo continued, "If we keep working in secret, the DC will keep doing what it's doing, only looking at us as a side job. But if we really want to do anything, we have to draw them out too. So we should go public. At least, um...I think so..."
"Yeah, come on, what's the worst that could happen?" Andrew asked. "If you're afraid of the press, you can just blow up all their cameras, right?"
Vincent started shuffling his deck, looking down. "If both of you feel like it, I'm outvoted."
"Alright!" Andrew said, jumping into the air. "Hold on, I'm going to go tell my mom." As he was running out of the room, Masuyo grabbed his arm.
"Wait... when I said public, I meant fight publicly. People can't know our actual identities or the DC will go after people related to us." Andrew's face fell at Masuyo's comment.
"What I meant was that we need to make ourselves look organized. Like there are more of us out there if we need them. Something that'll frighten the DC." Masuyo was steadily losing his nervous air, replacing it with one reminiscent of a mad scientist thinking up his next crazy experiment.
"All their monsters were shadowy..." Andrew said, thinking out loud. "So maybe something having to do with light?"
"How about the Photon Force?" Masuyo suggested. Andrew facefell and Vincent covered his eyes with his palm, making an 'ughhh' noise.
"Okay then..." Masuyo said, blushing. "How about...the Radiants?"
Both Andrew and Vincent pondered the idea. "...works." Vincent said. Andrew nodded in assent.
"So maybe now we should document everything we know about the DC..."
"Seven...hours..." Andrew said, twitching. "How do we know enough to write for seven...hours..."
"Well, it's not really that much..." Masuyo said. "We only have three pages of information..."
"That's less than a page every two hours! I write essays faster than that!" Andrew said, exploding.
"Shake it off. We have work." Vincent said, jumping out of the window.
"Is he always like this?" Masuyo asked. Andrew nodded, jumping out of the window after Vincent.
"You know, you're getting predictable." Vincent said, yet again in the park. "Do you target any other location besides this park?"
Two men in black let go of their targets – apparently a teenage couple, and looked up. "It's Red! Get him!"
Standing on top of a building, Vincent looked very heroic with the moon off to his side. "Not Red anymore. I am..." "Do I really have to say this...?" he muttered to himself, "Ruby Radiant!" Vincent jumped down and started rushing the men.
"Yeah, Ruby Radiant? Well this time we're better prepared for you. Eat this!" One of the men held his right arm in front of him, charging his Dream Drive for what looked like it was intended to be an energy attack.
"Blue Point Shot!" A blue arrow shot from the sky and cracked the Drive open.
"No matter how prepared you are, you'll still lose in the end. Sapphire Radiant reporting in." Masuyo was standing very dramatically, balanced on top of a church spire with the moon directly behind him. He materialized another arrow and took aim.
"So they ARE working together!" the man with the undamaged Drive said. He didn't get a chance to do much as Masuyo shot him in the back of the neck, severing his connection with his Zero Zone with a strange whooshing noise.
"Uh..uh, oh man... I'm out of here!" whimpered the other man, turning tail and trying to flee. Vincent slashed his sword and a blade of red energy flew out, striking the man. With a cracking sound, the man's Zero Zone was shattered.
Applause echoed through the park. "Admirable... truly admirable." A third man's voice. Older, but a lot more sophisticated. "Yes, the two of you certainly have been causing me a lot of trouble as of late. But where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself!"
The ground started trembling and black tendrils of something vinelike shot up through the tiles of the pathway, wrapping around Vincent and Masuyo before either could react.
In a flash of black flame, a man materialized on top of the fountain. He was in a black suit, but unlike his lackeys, he wore a white shirt underneath. He wore a pair of half-moon, rimless glasses and his graying hair was combed neatly. "My name is Alexander Arland, one of the three maintainers of this continent, representative of the Dream Crisis organization."
He had yet to notice Andrew, who was hiding on top of the building Vincent had been standing on, watching the whole thing.
"My supervisor has ordered me to dispatch you, but I'd much rather put the two of you to good use. So, I'll make you an offer. You two can be my personal bodyguards and in return, I won't destroy you right now. How does that sound?"
"Sounds like...you're full of yourself." Vincent replied, trying to break his arms free of the plant.
"Ah, how rude... I offer you the choice of life and you spit in my face. Maybe this will change your mind." Alexander snapped his fingers and three shadowed figures poofed behind him. "You three... find some way of persuading Mr. Antoine here." He stepped back and the three forms scurried forward, holding their hands in front of him. An odd glow emanated from them and Vincent's eyes clouded over.
"No use... I already know what happened to him... no use..." Vincent started to mutter low under his breath.
"Hm. I see. As for you, my boy," Alexander said, turning his attention to Masuyo. "You have considerable power as well. And aim, which is something my men regrettably lack. Would you be interested in my offer?"
"Not if it means hurting innocent people..." Masuyo replied, masking his fear.
"Ah yes. Neither of you have any knowledge of the Dream Drive technology. We've run tests, dear boy. The Drive Assimilation process causes no pain unless the subject is currently in accordance with his Zero Zone. The only two who have managed to achieve this feat are the pair of you. So, no one is hurt." Alexander explained.
"That's not what I meant," Masuyo said, starting to choke as the vines slowly tightened their grip, "And you know it."
"Of course I do." Alexander replied. "I'm only demonstrating how little you know. How little you understand. I'll bet you can't even materialize anything solid for more than a moment unless it's in range of your Zero Zone. Your arrows disappear after they strike, which made it extremely difficult to track you down." Alexander said. "My men are, of course, completely incapable of such a feat, but you can plainly see that I am not, correct? So why not join me? I'll help you grow in your powers. Help you understand everything."
Masuyo managed to sneer, despite the grimaces of pain that were plastering themselves on his face. "I understand more than you know. Like how the Dream Drives you steal are amplified... You won't be able to finish us, not with tainted powers like that..." he laughed weakly.
"A challenge? Well, I'd invite you to watch the show, but then again... you are the show." Alexander grinned darkly. A pistol appeared in his hands with a floral design along the barrel. "Even if you can't move, I should treat this as a gentleman's challenge, do you not agree?" Alexander turned around and paced forward three steps, turning back around. "Let's see if this bullet kills you, even if it isn't pure." Alexander fired.
From atop the building, Andrew had to use all of his will to stop himself from yelling out.
Masuyo looked up to meet the bullet. Two thin, blue, crackling beams of dartlike energy shot from his eyes, striking the bullet and dissipating its blackness. What remained vaporized into the air. "See?" he said mockingly. "Your own Dream Drive is pathetic. You have to have a supplement to do anything right."
Alexander's grin dried up into an expression of distaste. "Fine, whelp. I'll resort to a more traditional manner of killing you." The pistol morphed into a rapier, the handle of which was ornately engraved with a lotus. "You might be able to dissolve a bullet, but I doubt you can take out a sword, especially one that's sticking through your stomach!"
Alexander thrust forward. Masuyo blasted it with more eye beams, but the effect didn't work quite fast enough. The sword was unable to do much damage, but it pierced through slightly.
"That was something, wasn't it?" Alexander asked, now completely confident again. "I'll just keep this up as many times as necessary to take you out, while you grow weaker and weaker with every hit." Another rapier materialized in his hand.
"You're the weak one," Masuyo said through pain. "You're barely stronger than-" As he realized what he was doing, he immediately stopped talking.
"What's this?" Alexander asked, now interested.
"Uh oh, he's going to find out about me!" Andrew said, unsure of what to do. He had materialized a monster in a card game, but what would that serve to do against someone trying to kill him? Vincent was still lost in his delusions, but even if he wasn't, he was still trapped in the strange vines. "Well, if he finds me, I might as well try to fight back."
"So, you're hiding someone. I'll bet he's here; you wouldn't risk leaving him vulnerable to one of our attacks. Well, well, well. I'll just feel around for any sort of power at all..." Alexander closed his eyes and spun around slowly a few times. "And..." he said, facing Andrew's direction (the latter swore under his breath), "Got him. Do you really think that little of me? I was barely able to detect that insect." He was now turned to face Masuyo again. "Ah well, it's of no consequence. I'll do away with you before I move on to...dessert."
He slowly moved back towards Masuyo with his rapier in hand.
"Come on, come on, give me something..." Andrew felt something phasing in and out of his hand again, though he didn't dare to look.
"For what it's worth, you were powerful enough to merit my personal attendance." Three steps away, four at best.
"What is this? A ruler?" Andrew asked himself, forcing himself to concentrate harder. Whatever was in his hand was longer than it was wide. It was definitely solid as well, which was a good sign.
"However, both you and your partner...and your pet, wherever he is, are through."
"It's...a knife!" Andrew realized, his eyes widening. Knowing how he could save his friends, Andrew sprung up in the air, words coming to his mouth. "White Edge Reflection!" He hurled the knife downwards, grazing Alexander's hand and forcing him to release the rapier. As the knife dug itself into the ground, the reflections of the surrounding area became sharper and sharper, finally exploding into light which shot out of the knife, blinding everyone in the area. Alexander's rapier, the three shadowforms, and the tendrils holding Vincent and Masuyo in place all lost their shadow supplements and dissipated into the atmosphere.
The light died down to reveal Alexander scowling and looking up at Andrew. "You, you'll pay for this, boy. You're still weak, even if you've stopped my attack. Shadowforms, get rid of them!" Alexander turned and walked away, blurring back into the shadows. In his wake, seven large globs of black shadowy liquid fell from the sky, forming wide puddles on the ground. The puddles coalesced and sprung up to reveal feral-looking creatures who advanced upon Vincent, who was apparently still in a daze, and Masuyo, who was still hurt from Alexander's attack.
A knife shot through the air, impaling the creature at the front of the pack. Andrew jumped from the building he was on and landed in front of his partners. "I will stop you, this I swear... for I am Diamond Radiant!"
End
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Firstly, apologies to anyone who read this while it was cut off. doesn't like my file uploads, apparently. Secondly, in response to those of you who asked about why this is in Gx... Well, it has nothing more to do with the academy than it does with Yami, so does it really matter which one of the categories I put it in?
Also, you were introduced to Alexander in this chapter. I need more evil-type people like him for various roles. Submit ideas in my forum found under my pen name.
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