Legacies
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Wow, things have been incredibly tough for me. I had to drop a class because of the grades I was getting in it. I've been fighting with my grades just a fiercely as Darkest and Lightest fought each other. I haven't gained any ground either, so expect the long delays between chapters to continue. I haven't lost yet though! So even though it might be two to three weeks between chapters, I'll never quit my writing! Enjoy this especially long 16 page chunk, it should make up for the wait!

Chapter XXIII – T6

The chattering barks of gunfire reported loudly behind Tanis as he flew the speeder across the marsh. Without hesitation, he raised an orange energy shield around himself and Ashley to block the bullets. He could almost feel them pinging off of it ineffectually. Ahead, a tree suddenly appeared in front of them. Tanis barely had time to swerve the craft around it, the branches whipped his shield violently. Their pursuers dodged it easily and continued to fire.

More shots bounced off of Tanis' shield, and he had to swerve around another set of trees. He suddenly sensed something very large approaching fast from behind. He turned his head to look, only to see the terrifying form of the gigantic craft that had been suspended back in the hangar. It was rocketing up toward them at a colossal speed, and Tanis pulled the controls to the left as hard as he could. The craft turned by almost ninety degrees in the span of less than five seconds. Ashley shrieked and nearly lost her grip, but Tanis locked his tail around her waist to much of his own physical pain. The giant airship soared past them and its wake caused them to spin wildly. Tanis regained control quickly and oriented the craft away from the base once more. The giant airship slowed to their speed and hovered alongside them. Its turrets all turned to face Tanis, and he looked up at them and frowned.

"Hang on!" Tanis shouted into Ashley's mind. He jammed hard right and the speeder did another wrenching turn. But the airship turned to follow them. Its turrets barked and spat howitzer sized shells at them.

Tanis jerked the controls left and right, and the speeder zigzagged like a dizzy ant. The shells burst in the air around them, missing harmlessly. Tanis felt large amounts of human energy in the near distance, most likely a city. He decided to direct them there, law enforcement might stop their pursuers. He pushed the controls into the floor and the nose of the speeder suddenly leapt upward. It did a perfect loop in the air, and Tanis heard Ashley retching as they turned upside down. Black pockmarks of smoke filled the air around them from the detonation of shells. More bullets ricocheted off of Tanis' shield as the other pursuing speeders finally caught up with him. He saw silver spires slowly rising up out of the distance, the swamp had faded away to flat plains. He pushed the speeder's little hover drives as far as they would go, and the city approached rapidly. Tanis veered around another tree, and one of the pursuing speeders which was following them too closely slammed directly into it in a ball of fire. The turrets on the gunship barked again and Tanis felt his shield nearly shatter under a direct blow.

A road suddenly passed them as they approached the city, and then another. Tanis dodged a car, swinging around it with only a few inches of clearance. The other three speeders dodged it as well, and the gunship's fire hit it as they passed. Tanis felt sorry for the poor man who had been inside when it exploded. He directed the speeder along the roads, more and more small buildings whizzed past them. One of the pursuing speeders crashed into a gas station serving regular cars, and the explosion mushroomed up into the sky. Tanis followed the road to a highway onramp and swept into the stream of traffic. His speeder was going nearly twice as fast as the earthbound cars, and he elegantly weaved through and around them. The other speeders followed the same pattern behind him and the gunship simply flew overhead, strafing the whole scene with heavy fire. Many civilian cars burst into flames under the withering fire that the gunship was pouring down at Tanis ineffectually. A car exploded directly in front of Tanis and again he pulled the speeder's nose upward to leap directly over the fiery wreck. They began passing through downtown, and the gunship was forced to fly up above the skyline.

The skyscrapers of the city were almost a mile tall; the whole metropolitan environment had been constructed within the past few years using more advanced building techniques. The gunship flew above them, not able to fire on Tanis' little speeder. The other two speeders eagerly followed him however. Tanis veered crazily between the ground bound vehicles, trying to throw off his pursuers. Their machine guns cracked again and cars nearest to Tanis were suddenly perforated. Tanis decided that this was getting them nowhere and was only destroying innocent lives. He suddenly dove left through an opening and out into the city streets.

The streets of the city were extraordinarily narrow as compared to the freeway. Tanis had to pull off gut twisting turns every few seconds just to keep them from flying into buildings. Street lamps, signs, and pedestrians all blurred past him as he flew through the grid of concrete in random patterns. His pursuers barely kept up with him, and he madly circled one building four times to try and lose them. Tanis heard the sound of high pitched sirens and turned to see blue and white speeders with red flashing lights had joined the chase. They were coming up fast on the men that were chasing Tanis, and Tanis decided it would be a good idea to try and escape while letting the law deal with his pursuers.

Tanis turned another series of corners and came upon a dead end, a glittering glass wall stood ahead of him. He couldn't turn in such a narrow space, and braking at this speed was impossible. He saw one single open window in the buildings shining façade, and knew they would die anyway if he tried it or not. He pulled the speeder's nose up and aimed into the open window.

The speeder was too big for the window, and Tanis' shield smashed the glass around them as they passed through. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Tanis pulled and pushed on the controls. He turned around a corner, past a line of cubicles, and knocked a man carrying coffee onto his rear. The speeder begrudgingly swerved around a ninety degree corner and sped down another hallway. Clear glass of more windows was up ahead, Tanis pushed on forward and broke through. The glass rained around them, breaking over his shield as time returned to normal in Tanis' senses. He sped through the streets now unopposed, but only for a moment.

More sirens screamed through the air as police hover cars rushed up behind him. Tanis could feel Ashley clinging to his tail like she had to his arm during their tornado ride. Tears of pain rolled down his cheeks as his tail burned in agony. He twisted around multiple corners, but the police speeders were faster than his. Their guns suddenly burst to life and even more bullets bounced off of his shield.

"Trust me on this, and don't let go!" Tanis shouted to Ashley. He saw an open sewer access ahead, and he yanked the controls as hard as he could. The machine nosedived down the narrow hole and into the darkness.

Ashley screamed at the very top of her voice, and Tanis pushed as hard as he could on the brakes. The machine slowed to a stop as they emerged into the main sewer line. Water of unpleasant colors and odors rushed below them. Tanis held the car there, hovering as he flipped on his mechanical arm's light. He surveyed the tunnel slowly, not suspecting what was lying right behind him. He and Ashley both gasped in surprise when the light swept over three more of the sleek speeders from the hangar hovering in the wide open tunnel behind them. As soon as they were illuminated, these little vehicles let loose with their guns as well. Tanis jerked his speeder's controls around and gunned the engines. He sped down the sewer tunnel with a new set of men in tow.

Tanis sped around multiple dark corridors, past gushing waters and over whirlpools. The stench would normally have been unbearable, but nobody involved in the pursuit noticed, as their attentions were occupied with the pursuit itself. Tanis turned around one last corner, and a light suddenly shone in the tunnel ahead. He maxed out the engines again, spraying the sewage back at his opponents in his wake. The light sped up at them and consumed them.

Tanis felt himself flying in free fall through the air. His eyes adjusted to see that they had emerged out the tunnel into mid air. The fall below them was thousands of feet to a lake of sewage. The speeder, only designed to hover, not fly, plummeted with them. Tanis made a split second decision that saved his and Ashley's lives, he grabbed Ashley and let go of the speeder as it fell. He caught them with his power and they flew onward as all four of the enemy speeders fell away behind him. He looked back on them and sighed in relief. The city had ended at the cliff, the sewer pipe had emerged from the cliff face underneath the city and dumped onto the empty land below. The gunship appeared from over the city and began to approach them at an astounding speed.

Tanis let them fall rapidly to avoid the ramming action of the gunship. They free fell all the way down to the tree line of a forest below. Tanis twisted and turned between trees and thick foliage, only to have branches smash and crack his shield repeatedly. He decided it was too dangerous to fly in the trees and emerged above the greenery. As soon as he did, the gunship which had flown down to meet them opened fire. Shells burst around them and shredded trees to ribbons. Tanis cursed and took evasive maneuvers.

Tanis flew them around to the top of the gunship and tried to stay out of its turrets' reaches, but the ship would just readjust its speed to bring him into firing zones. Tanis' energy was rapidly depleting again, he couldn't hold his shield and fly at the same time for much longer. He then heard the screaming of sonic jets and suddenly there was a tremendous explosion.

The gunship erupted into a massive orb of flames and a sonic shockwave threw Tanis through the air like a rag doll. As he reoriented himself, he saw a trail of smoke that had appeared in the air, he followed it with his eyes to see three King Raptor jet fighters flying off into the distance. No doubt they had just shot the gunship down.

Tanis would have felt relieved if he hadn't sensed something coming up right behind him at the speed of sound. He suddenly dropped his flight and fell straight into the trees. Five missiles shrieked by overhead, followed instantaneously by a sonic boom as more Raptors screamed past. Tanis had technically posed a threat to the city as well, so he understood the humans' reactions. He simply floated back up over the trees and watched as the planes disappeared over the horizon.

Tanis suddenly felt more energy in the air, presences were descending from above. He looked up and saw only a few specks in the sky. These specks grew rapidly as they descended, and hundreds and hundreds more of them appeared. The nearest ones suddenly became distinguishable as more of gunships of the same type as the one that had almost killed Tanis and Ashley. Other aircraft were appearing, small jet fighters very much distinguishable from the ones the human military had flown. They were all painted in red, and Tanis noticed something as they came closer; there were emblems painted on all of their sides. They were three swords, dripping with blood, crossed and inside a hexagon. The gunship from the hangar that had chased them had been half done with its paint job, and the emblem was being stenciled on by the men as he had assaulted them in the hangar.

As Tanis realized the serious nature of the predicament they were now in, another item suddenly clicked in his mind. He saw that all of these aircraft, as they descended, were appearing from the small black line in the sky. Tanis saw it clearly, they were coming from it and it alone, and as he watched another larger one appeared. It grew rapidly, even as it was still only far away. It flew down and came to rest over the city on the cliff a few miles behind them. It was as big as the city itself, it cast a shadow over the normally shining towers. It hovered there and began to emit smaller dots, more fighters and gunships were emerging from inside its hulls.

Tanis dove down under the trees as one of the gunships passed overhead. He found Ashley sitting on the ground, her fingers in her mouth as she chewed away at her nails. Her eyes were still wide with terror, as if she were reliving the chase again and again. She rocked back and forth like an infant in a crib, whispering incoherently as she chewed her nails to stubs.

"Come out of it Ashley, we're in serious trouble!" Tanis said to her.

Ashley looked up at him, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Please don't ever make me live through that again!" She screamed at him, suddenly pulling on her own hair.

Tanis knew the nature of human frailty, but this was the first time he had experienced it face to face. "We need to find one of your people's military bases to warn them what's about to happen." Tanis said still remaining calm.

The look of anger and terror on Ashley's face paused for a moment and she looked at him quizzically. Her pale face and wind whipped hair made her look like something akin to a banshee. "What's about to happen?" She asked, her voice quiet with new fear.

Tanis lifted them both up above the leafy sea and pointed to the giant carrier hovering over the city. Its bottom had opened up completely, and a sickly red glow was pouring down from inside the ship. Energy collected for a few brief moments until a pulse of red energy spewed from the hole in the ship and fell into the city. A shockwave rushed through the air above them, and suddenly the silver towers of the city disappeared into an orange and red cloud of destruction.

"That's about to happen to every major city in the world, I'm sure of it." Tanis said, his psychic voice still strangely calm.

Chapter XXIV – R7

"No, the catapults should be emplaced in front of the attack group to allow easier aiming at targets behind the castle wall!" Dregar said stubbornly, looking down at the tactical map on the table in the center of the Great Hall of the Gerudo Palace.

"They will be easier targets for the Hylian archers though! The ones operating them will be filled with arrows before the first round could fire!" Abaim said hotly.

The four Hylian Delegates; Dregar, Abaim, Kalana and Iona, along with Apprentice Ruru, were sitting at the table and pondering the map that had been splayed out for all to see. Hyrule Castle and its inner cities were displayed in minute detail, and the Goron, Gerudo and Zora forces were being arranged into formations as the first siege was planned. It had already been decided that the Gorons, with their rock hard skin and great physical strength and endurance, should be shot over the Castle walls with catapults. A debate was raging now on the placement of said catapults.

"We could solve that problem by raising magic shields around the catapult engineers! We would only need to fire a couple rounds of my people into the castle in order to cause chaos within their defenses, more than enough to create a significant distraction to assault the main gate!"

"Yes, but it would use quite a lot of magic to sustain a feat like that for too long, even with aid from Zora Mages." Iona said, foresight in her words.

"Why don't we put the catapults back far enough so that they can avoid arrow fire, yet still not too far away?" Ruru suddenly asked.

"That would normally be a good idea," Iona said reassuringly and a bit condescendingly. "But that would place them in the middle of our forces and break our formations."

"So, remake your formations around them." Ruru said, still trying not to be frustrated at how everyone was treating her.

"Again you presume to know more about warfare then us, young apprentice. You're here at this meeting only to observe, not to tell us what to do!" Dregar said in a most resentful and angry manner.

"But she's right, sometimes you need to be flexible, especially in battle!" Kalana said, rising to her sister's defense.

Dregar only shrugged. He looked down at the map and then swept all the little stone figurines off of it in one stroke, obviously showing anger at having to toss out all his strategic planning.

Iona reached over the table and set the line of catapults at the correct distance from the castle's walls. She and Kalana rearranged the troop figurines into regular phalanx formations and square formations around the catapults.

"Now, sometime during the siege we should expect some insignificant amount of Iresian forces to come to Sirpala's aid." Kalana began. "It could be anywhere from a couple hundred to a full thousand, but we all know it won't be the full thirty thousand. So, we should leave a number of Gerudo or Goron fighters on our flanks and rear to defend against any Iresian attacks. The only way that they would get troops into Hyrule without any of us noticing is if they moved them down and around to Lake Hylia. Should they come directly from the Western Sea and over the desert and plains, my people would be able to see them coming far in advance. Should they try and approach from the East, then they either have to pass through the Deku Forest or over the Zora's reservoir. Either way, they would be spotted quickly. Death Mountain and all the areas north of Hyrule Castle and the Zora's domain are impassable to any significant armies. Trying to scale Death Mountain's face is like asking for someone to spoon lava into your face. The mountains north of Hyrule castle provide the perfect wall against large groups of men and beasts, and they curve all the way back down to end at the start of the Gerudo plains. The Iresians' only logical point of entry is straight South, at lake Hylia where the Zora's River Collects at the Water Temple. They will gather there, between the lake's shores and the borders of the Deku forest, so we must either keep a contingent of troops there to fight them off or be prepared for a general assault on the rear of our besieging forces."

Iona nodded, admiring the logic and wisdom that Kalana had demonstrated.

"I agree. I think it would be most prudent and effective however, to move a contingent down south to that point of entry instead of spreading them around our besieging force. It would allow a smaller amount of forces to defend the area more effectively at a choke point like that." Dregar said.

"But you should remember, they will not hesitate to move through the forest or desert once their presence should be detected. They would fan out into the protective cover of forest trees, or scatter into the desert like ants and be impossible to track down individually. The only thing creating this virtual choke point is their possible element of surprise. We know that Anmor has something up his sleeve, and we've effectively convinced him that we think he has nothing. Due to that, he'll want to catch us by surprise and the only way to do so will be through the area Kalana just mentioned. As soon as he knows that we've found out his little plans, his forces will instead use the forests and plains as multiple entry points, not worried about being seen. It would be a hindrance for us at most, we could end up fighting him out of our land for months even after the siege." Abaim said.

"What course of action would you then suggest?" Iona asked.

"I think that we need to give him his little illusion of surprise. Let him leak into Hyrule through our choke point and prepare to attack our siege. As soon as he does, we will have multiple hidden contingents attack from the forests and plains to convince him that they are not suitable hiding places. He would be forced to retreat and our siege would continue without even a hindrance." Abaim said, suddenly sticking his toothpick into the paper map at the center of the Deku Forest.

"But that plan in itself would cause hindrance to our siege, the contingents you would need for it would rob our main assault force of needed men to attack the castle with!" Dregar said in a frustrated tone.

"That would only really cause a slight prolonging of the siege, nothing more. The plan I am proposing would only slow the siege temporarily in order to prevent Abaim's forces from digging into hiding spots inside the forest. The results outweigh the costs." Anmor said.

"All in favor!" Kalana shouted heartily.

"I!" Was the resounding call from Kalana, Iona and Abaim. Dregar remained silent, crossing his arms in disapproval.

Kalana grabbed some of the figurines and pulled them from the main assault. She put them in the forest in random locations, all facing into Hyrule Field. The main assault force at the castle lost almost one fourth of its strength.

"Through all this, what do you have to contribute?" Dregar asked of Abaim, looking over at the slender Sheikah man expectantly. "This war is about your people, so what do you have to offer?"

"You should know that my people have not really recovered from our near obliteration so many years ago! There are hardly enough of us left to populate a town of the size of Lon-Lon Town! We cannot afford to lose even one person!"

Dregar shook his head and frowned with a frown that seemed to split his rocky face. His unkempt grey eyebrows dangled down over his beady black Goron eyes and he scrunched his face together with worry.

"My people are the workhorses of this fighting force, do you think we are going to fare well either?" Dregar asked of Abaim anew. "Us and the Gerudos. Even the Gerudos don't have very many fighters, it us up to us to provide most of this army's brute strength! We are going to take serious losses, even at the hands of the inferior Hylian forces! All I ask is that you at least acknowledge your presence in this alliance by sending something along! All I ask is a symbolic representation so that we can appease whatever Hylian person who might ask us after the siege; 'Why?'"

"Very well, I can be flexible. I will represent my people in battle." Abaim said.

"So we are ready then." Kalana said, smiling as Dregar and Abaim shook hands.

"Aye, in but a few short days the Gorons will be fitted for war and ready to tumble down Death Mountain with spears at their sides." Dregar said, almost laughing at the thought.

"My mages have been meditating for several days now, preparing their bodies to endure the long periods of time out of water." Iona said. "The Zoras will be ready in two days."

"I am ready to fight now, should the need be." Abaim said, fingering the wrist blades that were sheathed at his hips.

"The Gerudos have organized and our scimitars are sharp. When all are ready, we will march upon Hyrule Castle!" Kalana said.

"To victory!" Dregar cried, and the four allies heartily shouted in chorus.

Chapter XXVa – I7

Isaac watched in full satisfaction as the tiny, almost unnoticeable speck of energy fell from the sky toward Kibombo. It was hard to imagine what kind of destruction would come in such a tiny package, but Isaac had used it plenty of times before and was now quite adjusted to the way it worked. As the bright little diamond touched down in the center of Kibombo, a flash blinded him as the energy de4tonated. A great orb of white glowing destruction engulfed the town within a fraction of a second. At least three hundred lives wisped out of existence as men, women and children were vaporized instantaneously. The shockwave from the blast passed Isaac by, following the universal rule that a summoned attack cannot harm its summoner. When the smoke cleared, Kibombo and its surrounding fields were now nothing more than a crater.

What was left of the old Isaac collapsed and finally gave in under grief and despair. His new self completely took control and he walked away from the crater nonchalantly. He didn't know where he was going or how he would get there, but the power propelling him made all idleness uncomfortable to him. He decided that he needed to change the world in some way, make it perfect and obedient to him. He was sick and tired of all the conflict and dissent in the world, he wanted to unite Weyward under one rule. He knew he had enough power to accomplish this task, but an inner lust for even more power crept through his mind and convinced him he needed to gather more power in order to achieve his ultimate goal. The Djinni he know owned allowed him to use psynergy from all four elements, but he still only had mastered the Venus Element to its full potential. He decided that he would make it his next goal to master all forms of psynergy.

Isaac set his headings back North toward the ruins of Magma rock once more. He would need the Blaze Psynergy in order to master the Mars Element, and he knew that the ancient tablet containing blaze's secrets must still be intact somewhere under the Earth. He vowed to recover it, even if it meant boring down through hundreds of feet of volcanic rock. He swept off into the north with speed unmatched by any of Weyward's finest runners.

Chapter XXVb – J1

Jenna sat panting on the floor of the crater that had been Kibombo. She and the others had survived through a concerted effort, they had used their psynergies to raise a shield at the last moment to save their lives. Isaac's summon had been powerful, but not strong enough to overwhelm the combined power of her and her friends. They had hidden themselves in the crater's shadow using an invisibility psynergy until Isaac had left, and now they were simply recuperating in the crater's bottom, trying to recover their energy.

A deep sadness welled up in Jenna's heart, she sat and cried that she hadn't been able to save the people of Kibombo. A burning anger was also welling up in her, anger at Isaac betraying her. They had been companions for over a year and a half, fighting to save the world from destruction and Alex's Conquest, and now Isaac had stabbed her in the back and run off to follow in Alex's footsteps. She could not understand why he was doing this, it was totally against his nature, and it threw her into a deep despair and an uncontrollable fury.

"Why, why, why?" Jenna cried, holding her face in her hands.

"He's not Isaac anymore." Garet stated firmly, anger burning in his eyes as well. "He's Isaac in name only now, he is no longer the person I spent my childhood with, nor the man who I fought alongside against Saturos, Menardi, and everyone else we battled against. He's our enemy now, and I will make him see his ways in the light that he used to see the world through."

Felix stumbled to his feet and patted Jenna on the back weakly. "Something is wrong with him, I could sense it. Something was influencing him, normally he could resist such lusts for power. Something has weakened his willpower against it, and now he has given into it and become just like Alex. The only thing we can do is to steal the Djinni from him and hope that it will reverse these effects on him. If that doesn't work, we may have to end his life."

Jenna burst into a new round of sobs and Garet turned away from Felix, hunching over and containing his emotions.

"Are you alright Kraden?" Piers asked, grabbing the grayed scholar's arm and helping him up.

"A bit banged up, but I'll be alright." Kraden mumbled, slowly brushing the dirt off of his long brown robes. "I must say that it was an interesting shift of perspective to experience the Judgment Summon firsthand like that."

"I'm sure the people of Kibombo enjoyed it even more." Jenna hissed, agitated at the nonchalant attitude that Kraden was having toward a situation that involved many innocent deaths.

Kraden just shook his head in an addled fashion and mumbled to himself, as if he had suddenly tried to apologize but then reconsidered it while in the middle of saying it.

"What are we going to do now?" Sheba asked, fidgeting with her staff and looking around idly at everyone.

"We need to figure out a way to stop Isaac and get the Djinni from him. Right now it seems any direct approach would be futile, seeing as he nearly killed us all with Judgment." Felix said, regarding Sheba while trying not to show emotions.

"You talk about him like he were Alex," Mia sputtered, "It's disgusting."

"Don't you see, he has become Alex!" Jenna suddenly shouted, "We will be doing him a favor by putting him out of his misery! His family will forgive us and understand due to the circumstances!"

"But don't you think there's a way to appeal to his old self without killing him! I know I might be naïve in saying this, but I don't want to lose Isaac!" Ivan said. Mia nodded in agreement.

"Well, if you can think up this magic little solution then be my guest! Run it past me for gods' sake!" Jenna raved, waving her staff in the air.

No-one spoke, and Jenna nodded and sat down, sadness still sinking into her heart. She couldn't believe she was advocating the death of her best friend, but she knew it was the best for him at heart.

"He hasn't detected us yet," Felix said, slowly climbing the crater wall, "I can sense him. His power is immense and it makes him easy to track. He's heading… Northeast!"

"But that would bring him back to the remains of Magma Rock!" Ivan said, sounding alarmed and confused.

"He must be trying to do the same thing that Alex almost accomplished, he's going to collect all the Elemental Master Psynergies!" Kraden said.

"Do you think that the Blaze Psynergy tablet made it through the meteor blast?" Sheba asked.

"No doubt, it and its brothers of the other three elements have powerful protective psynergies cast on them. They have lasted for centuries, I doubt one would crack under a few feet of rock." Kraden replied.

"Should we pursue him and stop him?" Piers asked.

"No, we've already decided that a facing him down would just lead to another failure. We either need to gather enough power to be as strong as him, or to influence him subtly." Felix said.

"How would we do that?" Ivan asked.

"I haven't thought of that yet, but it's obvious that the direct approach is most definitely not the solution." Felix responded.

There was more silence until Garet suddenly spoke up. "We're already powerful together as a team, and we survived through his little summon pretty well already, so we shouldn't have to gather much more power to match him, should we?"

"But, remember in his story, he told us of that golden triangle that came down from the sky to give him power? He still has it, meaning that no matter what we cook up, he will always be one league above us." Piers said morosely.

"Then we've got to find a way to influence him indirectly, but how?" Kraden said, and all of the party sat and pondered for a long time.

Chapter XXVI - A7

Ashley felt the cool, liquid presence in her mind once more as Tanis calmly read it. She had seen what had happened to the nameless city on the cliff top, and now she feared the same would happen to her parent's home. She had told Tanis to look into her mind to obtain an image of Saffron City, the place where her parents now lived, so that he could teleport them there. As the feeling receded, Ashley felt Tanis grab her arm and the world shifted around her.

Again, it felt as if Ashley's insides had all switched places, but she pushed the feeling away as the world reformed around them. They appeared in the sky miles above the city, amongst the thick clouds.

"Why did you put us up here?" Ashley asked irritably.

"I… didn't." Tanis replied, seemingly baffled. "Something interrupted my concentration, a foreign energy here. Nonetheless, we should descend quickly to warn your family."

Ashley nodded and gripped Tanis' arm tightly as they began their descent. The clouds whizzed past them in a frenzied fashioned as they plummeted like stones. When they passed out of the clouds, a terrifically terrifying sight was waiting for them. A humongous airship, the same kind that had destroyed the last city, was slowly descending down toward the city below. Ashley looked down at its top deck; there were hundreds of gunships lined up along a runway that striped the ship's top. Smaller fightercraft were intermingled, and they were all lining up to take off. The ship's massive bulk eclipsed Saffron City in its entirety below, leaving a rectangular shadow on the Earth.

"Faster!" Ashley cried, gripping Tanis tighter.

Tanis kicked into high gear, not letting just gravity do all the work. He powered his flight energy into full blast, leaving a glowing orange contrail in their wake as their descent speed quadrupled. The massive ship passed them almost casually, Ashley saw other smaller ships beginning to emerge. Fighters and gunships curved down to follow them as they rocketed toward the ground.

"They've seen us! Hurry!" Ashley shouted against the roaring, whipping wind.

"Which one is your parents' house?" Tanis asked as the suburbs screamed up to meet them.

Ashley concentrated on pushing her memory on Tanis, and apparently his mind listened. As they were about to crash into the ground, Tanis pulled up in a erratic manner to align their path parallel to the ground. The fighters accelerated behind them and began to catch up. The wind strung Ashley's eyes like scorpion tails had been jammed between her squinting eyelids. They decelerated with a sickening jolt and Ashley felt ground smack her knees and hands. She opened her eyes and saw her parents' small ranch house just in front of them. The double car garage door was open, and black tarps were hanging from the ceilings inside. Her father stepped out from between them, his eternally spiky black hair still as youthful as ever.

"Ashley?" Her father asked confusedly.

"Get down!" Ashley screamed, jumping to her feet and dashing toward her father.

Ashley knocked her father off of his feet and rolled him behind a wooden flat that was hanging amongst the tarps. Tanis landed just behind her and the rattling of machine guns filled the air. The were violent thwapping and cracking noises as lines of bullets perforated the concrete of the driveway. The wooden flat was suddenly halved as bullets ripped through its midsection. Ashley screamed, expecting death. The bullets stopped suddenly, and the sonic boom of the jet passed over the house.

"Ashley, what the hell is going on?" Her father said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No time to explain dad, we've got to get to a fallout shelter! This entire city is about to be blown to kingdom come!"

"I'm glad we had one installed in the basement, come on!" Ashley's father said. The three of them pushed their way through the tarps and to the inner garage door. They were about to pass through when it opened and Ashley's mother appeared from the other side.

"Ash what in god's name-" The orange haired woman was interrupted when her husband grabbed her staunchly by the shoulders.

"Misty, listen! Go get Ashton from his room and bring him down to the bomb shelter! We're about to be nuked or something!" Ash shouted, his voice rattled with fear.

Misty nodded quickly and dashed down the hall. Ash lead his daughter down into the dank concrete basement, still not having noticed her friend that she had brought with her.

"I had a multi-frequency holo-TV installed in the shelter so we could see what the hell's going in the world outside, as well as enough food to sustain the whole family four five months." Ash shouted.

The sounds of gunfire and explosions filled the air outside, moaning hover drives of gunships and shrieks of fighters tore at Saffron City's peace. The ground around the house shuddered around them as a bomb struck somewhere nearby, and Ashley ran across the house's unfinished concrete basement. He threw the door open and climbed inside, Ashley followed, and then Ash saw Tanis as he tried to enter. He fell back away from the shelter's doorway, his face pale with shock and fear.

"M-m-m-Mewtwo?" Ash stuttered dumbfoundedly.

"So you did know my father." Tanis observed nonchalantly, jumping gingerly into the shelter.

"Uh dad, this is Tanis. He's Mewtwo's son." Ashley said, gesturing toward Tanis like he might shake hands with her father.

"A son?" Ash asked, obviously not wanting to shake hands. "How, Mewtwo was the only one of his kind!"

"He cloned himself to create me." Tanis said. "Let me assure you, I do not have the same unstable mental tendencies as he."

"I've been traveling with him for some time, but I'll save the stories for later." Ashley said.

Suddenly, Ashley's mother Misty climbed down into the shelter, carrying Ashton, her kid brother. Ashton was a spitting image of his father with his black spiky hair and ambitious eyes. He even wore the same League Hat that Ash had worn as a trainer many, many years ago. Misty suddenly let out a shriek and dropped the twelve year old Ashton, and was about ready to bolt out of the shelter when Ash grabbed her arm.

"Don't worry, he's not dangerous. Now get in so I can close the door!" Ash said gruffly.

Explosions rocked the basement walls as Ash pulled the six inch thick steel door closed. It clicked and then hissed as it sealed airtight and the sounds outside were totally drowned out. Ashton looked at Tanis with a moment of mixed curiosity and apprehension.

"Cool!" Ashton suddenly shouted, and ran over and poked Tanis in the stomach. "What kind of Pokemon is this?" The trainer in him shouted, he looked up at Ashley with glowing admiration and idolization in his eyes.

"Yes, tell us!" Misty suddenly growled, no longer frightened but angry at Ashley. Her fiery red hair was still tied up into its traditional side frond; it sprayed outward like a flame deceptively hiding the fact that the middle-aged woman was an expert with water type Pokemon.

"Technically, his species name is Mewtwo, but his name is Tanis." Ashley said.

"How do you do?" Tanis asked, trying to be polite as possible.

"This is so awesome!" Ashton said. "Does it have psychic powers?"

"In fact, I do." Tanis said, smiling down at the young child.

"And you won't be using them on us, will you?" Misty growled, as if her fear was being directly translated into rage.

"If that is what you wish, then it shall be so." Tanis said.

"Alright, be quiet everyone, I'm going to turn on the HTV!" Ash shouted from the other end of the shelter.

Ashley, Ashton, Misty and Tanis found their seats and Ash tinkered with the round machine in the center of the room. It flashed once and activated. The volume roared at them as a crowd cheered for a rodeo. The man riding the bull in the center of the ring was thrown off of his saddle and hit the dirt.

Ash grumbled and turned the volume way down and found a news channel. It switched over to an anchorwoman standing somewhere outside Saffron City's outskirts.

"Seem to have appeared out of nowhere, advanced forewarning satellites did not detect them. Their fighters and bombers are right now wreaking havoc in the city, several skyscrapers have already been destroyed and collapsed. Their mother ship is holding position over the commercial center of the city, steadily releasing more of their smaller ships. We've received word that several wings of military jets are on their way, this reporter hopes we can last out long enough!"

The camera broadcasting this signal could see the whole city and the entire ship from its distance, and the reporter turned and looked at the gigantic ship holding position over the city.

"Watch the ship's bottom," Tanis suddenly said, "That's where their main attack will come from. They will scour the city clean with red fire."

"Oh man, we're going to die aren't we!" Ashton said, fear and desperation appearing in his immature twelve year old eyes.

"Shh, be quiet and watch." Misty said to her son.

The reported turned back to the camera, her hand pressed against her ear. She listened for a moment as her short black hair ruffled in the wind.

"I've just received word, the jets are here!"

The camera tilted upward to the sky and suddenly hundreds of black blurs whizzed past. He followed them until they slowed in his perspective with distance, almost three hundred UN Military jet fighters. The sleek Raptors screamed into the clouds of planes and gunships milling about the city and missiles flew. Ashley watched transfixed as explosions peppered the air over the city, flaming wrecks plummeted to the Earth. The enemy fighters died in inglorious, burning red fireballs, but the gunships erupted with their cargo holds full of shells and produced shimmering fireworks displays. Missiles streaked up and struck the underside of the mother ship, but their effect was minimal against the dense armor plating. Against overwhelming numbers the UN forced lost, it was their only disadvantage as the enemy small ships seemed inferior. They only needed a larger force and some powerful warheads to win. They were slowly whittled away and destroyed by the swarm. Then one of the gunships moved off, away from the swarm and down directly towards the camera. The cameraman grunted in fear and desperation and the camera suddenly clattered to the ground. It looked up at the sky to see the gunship move over it, and its speakers picked up the booming of cannons and harsh and tortured screams as the anchorwoman and cameraman were shredded by its guns.

"This is looking bad." Ashley said as her father clicked off the screen.

Tanis and the others only nodded in silent terror and acknowledgement.

A/N: So now we have some character related events, we're now shifting away from Isaac's point of view and into Jenna's. This should help keep his actions in shadow while he performs nefarious deeds and advances the plot.

And yes, I know a lot of you will frown on my including the all-hated Ash and the psycho-bitch Misty, but let me promise you that their stupidity has decreased monumentally with old age. I have and will make them much more intelligent and enjoyable characters than they were before, so remember to keep those minds open and trust in my skills! It will turn out much better than you think!

So yes, read, review and all that jazz. I'll see you all again in two weeks!