As the days passed, Aaron's stay at the castle became more welcome. Part of his contentment was due to the fact Kuro and Vic were getting bored and lonely, but the main reason was because he took care of the castle laundry.
Every morning he did 3 things: First get dressed, second, run around the castle courtyard 6 times, third, spend the next 2 hours folding the laundry and ironing it, bathing and cleaning whenever he got done. For some reason, he found shredded clothes in the wash, and spent the time sewing them back up.
Kuro watched from the security station, sitting with her legs on the console and reclining in the seat. "He's pretty handy around here," she graced Aaron.
"Ha! You only say that because you've lost half your work load!" Vic spat.
"What was that?" she barked. Her eyes took on a hazy look, and she was giving him a stare that could scare the life out of most people. Vic shut his mouth and returned to sweeping the castle floors.
Jeregrine chuckled to himself. He was examining ancient scrolls in the library, looking at the old records to see if he could find any thing of value that could help them against the Daikai. Some of it made for a rather intriguing read.
Aaron finished his last piece of laundry, and placed it in its corresponding pile.
"Finally! How much do they go through on a daily basis?" he wondered aloud. He put the four baskets on a ladder cart and rolled it out of the laundry room, down towards the barracks.
Kuro's load was the first. He dropped it in her room, in which he dare not dwell too long. Doing so much as touching something in her room could, after all, lead to much pain for him. After placing them on her bed, he whistled as he left; just being in there gave him the sense of being watched.
Vic's clothes were dropped by his door. Knowing the quiet librarian got on Kuro's bad side often, he decided not to set off any booby traps she had set in spite. As rose brambles wrapped around the clothes, he had been right in his logic.
Kara's laundry he tossed in her room, knowing she left on her train over 3 hours ago, and he knew she was probably the least dangerous in the castle.
Aaron finally headed back to his chamber. It was spacious, and it had quite a view out its window, but it was cold. There may have been indoor plumbing, but they hadn't bothered to install insulation for when the temperature dropped below -20 at 3 in the morning. Aaron was thankful the room came with its own bathroom the public showers were closer after his morning training. After hearing about the infamous Jordan Scandal, however, he figured his own was safer.
After taking his shower, he sat down at his desk and began to examine his deck, looking for any problems or mistakes that could be corrected.The first cards that caught his eye were the Ouija Board series.
The Destiny Board was helpful against Viper, but it just isn't enough force. It's too weak to be used in regular combat. I need something that they won't be expecting, he pondered.
Knock! Knock! Someone was knocking on his door.
"Come in." Aaron beckoned, swiveling around in his chair to face the door.
The door opened to reveal a guy with 5' 11'' with green eyes and brown curly hair. He wore a black shirt with jeans, and bore a Black Skull Dragon Brace on his arm. He seemed to have something on his mind.
"Hey Aaron," he greeted.
"Josh, to what do I owe the visit?" Aaron asked, wondering what was up.
"If you're not too busy, I was wondering if you could come with me to Chicago," Josh proposed.
"Illinois? Isn't that a little out of your way?" Aaron asked. As far as he knew, Josh lived in a small town in Arkansas.
"Its kind of a favor, will you come?" Josh beseeched.
Aaron nodded, grabbing his deck, and followed him out.
As they sailed along the tracks on the Zephyr Express, Josh's face remained serious, but his eyes looked like his mind was elsewhere.
"Josh, where exactly are we heading anyway?" Aaron inquired.
"A hospital. Somebody I know there may need your help," was the reply.
"Say what? I'm a psychic not a doctor!" Aaron began to protest.
"Exactly what she needs." He said, and then spoke no more. She? Aaron pondered, as the train tore down the tracks.
Back at the castle, Kuro was already putting away her laundry, when Vic slammed her door off its hinges!
"KURO!" he yelled. His face covered with black tar and chicken feathers.
"What? You didn't like what was coming to ya from that thing you did last Wednesday?" she said with a small laugh, not apparently giving him much concern. "Oh, and they look good on you" she added.
"What did I do? I was out on patrol Wednesday." He growled.
"Somebody stole whip-chan from me, and you were the only with a motive to take it!" she accused, pointing at a hook above her bed that was barren.
"Kuro, I think you should check again who had a motive to take it." Vic said, walking off to wash off his face and pluck himself. Kuro began to think about it, but then an alarm started to ring, she took off through her door and ran down to her security station.
"This is Kuro, what's the situation?" she asked.
"A mysterious entity is approaching from the south east of the detection area. It is traveling at mach 1, it will be in visual range within 3 minutes." the computer dictated in its monotone voice.
"Prepare for combat," she declared, as the emergency lights glowed red.
Meanwhile, Josh and Aaron had just disembarked from the train, and were heading down the old, worn roads of Chicago.
"How far is this hospital?" Aaron asked.
"Not too far, about a mile down the road," Josh replied.
"If you say so." He said. The buildings looked like they were nothing more than shells.
When they arrived, Aaron was a tad taken aback. The building appeared run down, but the inside was remarkably well kept. and looked reasonably modern.
"The neighborhood outside hides this place better than Kuro hides her name." Aaron muttered, looking at the desolate vicinity.
"Yeah, it took me a while to find out where it was when I heard…" He stopped.
"What?" Aaron asked.
"It's nothing. Come on, I'll show you," Josh told him, heading for the elevator.
Aaron was still bewildered. I haven't spent a lot of time with this guy, but I never got the vibe he was this secretive. Whatever has got him this spooked must be something indeed.
They got off on the 5th floor: The resident floor. Aaron noticed many weren't in good condition; one in the first room was on life support, and another was in a coma.
"Where now?" He asked.
"This way." Josh said, taking a turn down the hall and stopped at a room number 238. Inside was a young girl, about 16. She had cerulean eyes, her hair was a long black hair that shown like Gearfried's armor when buffed, and she had a slender figure. Her body was held horizontally in some sort of gurney. There was sever bruising around her neck.
"Eliza, it's me." Josh said, coming alongside her, holding her hand in his.
"Josh, nice to see you again, why didn't you go home yet? Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," she ordered. It was clear she was in pain from the severity of the wounds, but she still remained high spirited.
She has great inner strength, and with a little polish, she could probably surpass me in Rema strength and capability. Those wounds don't just stop at the neck, they go all the way down her back. Whatever happened hit her hard and fast. By the looks of things, she may be beyond repair.
Aaron saw a doctor walking by with a chart, he grabbed his arm, "Hey, what happened to this young woman? Her spine looks like it was crushed..." he whispered, not trying to alert Eliza.
The doctor looked and asked, "Are you family?"
"No, but he brought me along to see her and I wanted to know what I'm in for. So what is her condition? I don't want to be given false hope," he growled, making his point.
The doctor took another look at the girl, then sighed, "She got into an accident 2 weeks ago. A car crashed into her mother's, and a piece of the metal pierced one of her vertebrae and fused with it during the crash. So far, she retains the majority of her motor skills, but it is inevitable that she will lose more and more of her functions and become paralyzed, permanently," the doctor diagnosed.
Aaron took another look, "I'm guessing there is another option," he supposed.
"How'd you guess?" the doctor wondered.
"The room. If this was going to be the place for a doomed woman, there'd be more than a few pictures of family around. So what are you planning for her?" Aaron asked, awaiting the problem. If there wasn't a ray of hope, she'd be in recovery, instead of still in the bed after 2 weeks, Aaron concluded.
"There is an experimental procedure. If successful, it could return her back to 100 percent mobility with no side-effects," was the answer.
"And what can we expect from a failure?" Aaron asked, watching Josh make her happy.
"Permanent nerve damage, complete loss of functions from the neck down, and eventual death from infection. The metal is right in her neck. If she hadn't been wearing her seat belt, that metal would have killed her instantly," the doc stated solemnly. Aaron looked at the smile on Eliza's face. She was still a human, worth the risk of failure, and no doubt she would be strong of heart if it should go south.
"When's the procedure scheduled for?" he questioned.
"Immediately. Everyone on the staff is rooting for her, but unless the payment comes in, the lead surgeon won't so much as lift a finger for her," the doc growled.
"How expensive?"
"700,000 dollars. It's steep, but everyone in her neighborhood has been pitching in, and they made the total," he said, incensed. Judging by his tone, something was still wrong.
"Then why isn't she being operated on?" Aaron asked, blanching. He knew this was grave, if they hadn't done it yet.
"Because some thief attacked her family in the middle of the night and stole the whole thing!" Josh raved.
"Josh! Calm down, it's okay," Eliza pleaded. Her cool head was enough to immediately silence him.
"Aaron I brought you here so I can ask if you see where the thief is." Josh said, "Will you help me?"
"Not a problem." He said, stepping up to her.
Back at the castle, the being had landed at the front gates, Jacob, Amy, Nick, Vaurnut, Dalin, and Sarah had arrived at the castle as well to meet the visitor. She stood about 6 feet, in fine shape for a woman of 19, except for the fact she was a very pale green, and purple. She had four arms, a set of large butterfly wings, and a face that was that of a lovely lady and a grasshopper.
"Lady Crystalia, what brings you up from your nest to the south mountains?" Jacob asked. There was a little apprehension in his voice, mainly since he was primarily afraid of bees.
"I have word from the front. One of my scouts along my borders reported a large scale swarm of insect monsters is heading in two directions. One is heading for a vortex that leads straight to the human realm; the other is heading straight for this castle," she buzzed.
"Here?" Nick wondered.
"It sounds like we'll be outgunned 10 to one." Vaurnut said.
"Not if we counter attack. We could intercept them on both fronts. If we could get a hold of Josh, we could take out one whole force," Kuro analyzed.
"But he and Aaron got off a while back just after I got on." Amy pointed out.
"Then we'll need a little more help; call in who ever you can get," Jacob ordered. "We haven't stood this long without the little problem of sieging. Now let's get going!" He clapped his hands and the group dispersed.
"I'll see how many of my forces I can send to aid you," the princess declared.
"No, send them to the Vortex, but do not enter; try and defend it. If they make it through, we'll handle it." Jacob reassured her, and headed back into the castle.
Back at the hospital, Aaron took Eliza's hand, and closed his eyes. Here goes, this better work! WHOOAAA!
His mind was swept up fast shooting images of the future, an image of a Surgery room starting to work at 5:01 PM today, then an image of a covered body at 10:24 PM. Josh was in a corner of the room crying, with Aaron slamming his fist against a wall.
NOO! SHOW ME HOW TO FIX THIS! Aaron called out at the speeding images, refusing to accept fate.
The images changed to a street in the city.A figure ran with a sack filled with money at full speed. The figure was hooded and wore a black outfit, but the brown curls flowing down from the back of the hood were clearly feminine.
The image changed to the a room filled with cheering fans. With her back turned, she was being awarded with well over 4 times the amount she had stolen. Aaron scanned the room for any clues, and saw a black spider on the wall, covering a duel monster card back.
Aaron opened his eyes, "Josh we gotta go, I got an idea where she went." He said.
"Josh," Eliza murmured, "be careful."
"Don't worry about me so much. You should start to think about your self once and a while," Josh worried, tears forming in his eyes.
"Just the same, come back in one piece" Eliza wished. Josh then kissed her hand, and followed Aaron to the elevator.
"So what did you see?" he inquired.
"A woman theif, about our age. She's entered a dueling competition, an illegal gambling ring called the Black Widow Web. I read up on it, and it's stationed around here in the slums. If we're going to win this money, we need to win it back and before 5:01," Aaron dictated.
"Why? What happens at 5:01?" Josh asked, barely wanting to know.
"Complications will set in, causing her to go in for emergency surgery, resulting in her death after 5 hours. So if we're going to save her, we need to do it fast," Aaron rushed. The information was almost too intense to handle.
"Then I'll go, I know this place better than you do." Josh said, his shoulder rubbing against Aaron.
Aaron was swept up into another premonition, It was Josh, and he was surrounded by powerful monsters. His defenses were holding, but the clock on the wall was reading 2:17.
"Josh, wait, if you duel, you'll be stalled for too long with your deck as it is," Aaron said, reaching into his deck. He pulled out a few cards, and handed them over.
"If you use these, you can speed up the duel. Now get going, we've got a safe window of 4 hours left," Aaron commanded.
"Thanks Aaron, I owe you" Josh said, as the doors began closing.
"Just win for her. Take this; you'll need to pay to enter," Aaron stated. He reached into his pocket and threw something into the elevator as the doors shut.
Josh picked it up to see it was a check book, two thousand still left in the balance. "He comes through in a pinch," Josh noted aloud.
Aaron's duel brace began whistling, "Attention, castle under siege. All available DDL members report for defensive duties."
"Great, what else could go wrong?" He moaned as he took off towards the stairs.
Back at the castle, The top portion of the keep was changing shape. The keep was about 20 stories tall, it spread to the walls from the floors 5 through 12, and the top portion was floors 21 through 27 resembling a large turret or look out tower. This section was expanding, for it bulked out from the center outwards. From the bottom of the section, there were long tunnels running vertically up through the stone.
Inside, Jacob was manning a computer, as a group of large Gradius jets descended from the ceiling, their cockpits opening.
"Everyone ready to go?" he asked. He was already wearing a blue and black jumpsuit.
"What are we waiting for?" Nick asked, hopping into one. Vaurnut climbed in behind him in the rear seat.
"Were up next." Sarah said, as Dalin entered behind her. "Let's get the ball rolling!"
Vic hopped in the back seat of Jacob's. "All wings are ready and set for launch," he stated.
"All right then, let's go!" Jacob called in as he saddled up in the seat.The canopies closed and sealed up, the machines hummed to life as the engines roared in fury.
"SPIRIT MERGE!" Amy and Kuro were swept up in the sparkling energy, emerging as Injection Fairy Lily and Harpie Lady 2.
"Wild Card Squadron, Deploy Ace of Hearts, Queen of Clubs, Jack of Spades," the computer rattled off the call signs of the craft, as both the catapults and gravity itself shot the 3 craft down the tunnels and straight towards the earth.
Everyone's faces were rippling with G-force as they plummeted the ground at breakneck speed. Just as they were about to crash, they stopped in midair.
"Air brakes and G-Diffusers online." The computer said, its robotic voice sounding in the cockpits.
"I'm never going to get used to these things," Sarah groaned, sweat was still pouring down her face.
"There the best things we have for air combat, so unless you can get back to Wingweaver, they'll have to do," Nick said, as the three craft adjusted their pitches and pointed up and over the castle walls.
"Let the wind be at our backs, guys, the chances of us making it back aren't looking too good." Lily said, landing atop Sarah's Queen of Clubs.
"LET'S GO!" Kuro screamed as she landed atop Jacob's Ace of Hearts. The engines and thrust roared with power as the 3 aircrafts barreled over the walls, and towards the battle that awaited them.