Destroyers Of Time
Chapter Twenty: Recovered Friend
By: Efra
The small white planet lay before them in foreboding gloom. The Earth lied away in the distance in its usual cheery attitude. Moonbase cover the moons face like a virus inside a cell waiting to flourless. Fayt stared calmly in the silence of the small control room; his last visit hadn't been a very pleasant one, now looking at this place again it almost looked like something he couldn't explain. He wondered it Peppita was still there, though she had hit him with a rock his previous visit in the lower back, but that didn't matter.
"Well let's go guys." He announced turning towards the door again. Cliff, Roger, Maria, Nel, and Sophia, all followed him simultaneously. Albel however remained where he stood staring at the blue planet to the left. Fayt stopped in the doorway as the others made their way by him towards the transporter room. "Fayt?" Sophia called from farther down the hall. Fayt looked to her with a soft smile "I'll be there in a minute."
Sophia nodded and disappeared around the corner. Fayt took a breath and walked over to the murderous lunatic called Albel. "Pretty isn't it?" Fayt asked leaning against the back of one of the chairs. Albel ignored him and continued to stare blankly, Fayt's expression turned to concern. "Albel are you ok?" He asked standing straight and reaching for Albel's shoulder. Albel quickly spun around gracefully avoiding Fayt touch purposely. "Don't touch me." He snapped glaring harshly at the boy. Fayt retreated a couple steps into the chair; he'd never felt such negative energy from him before…at least not as bad as this.
"I --- was — wa — just --- tr --- trying to help…" Fayt stammered gripping the chair firmly with both hands. Albel stepped forward quickly "Well don't! I can take care of myself! I don't need your pity!" He snapped pushing Fayt over the chair with his claw and turning on foot and stalking out of the room. Fayt tumbled over the chair and smacked roughly onto the floor pain rushing throughout his chest. "Uhh…" Fayt whined staring at small three cuts on his chest with a red bloodstain growing bigger. Now being the nice guy he is he wasn't going to let Albel get yelled at for hurting him, so Fayt merely unzipped his over shirt and pulled it off, Now in his black sleeveless under shirt he adjusted the fabric to cover up the rips and went on his way, throwing his white shirt into his room as he passed. Mirage was waiting for him in the transporter room. "Aren't you coming?" Fayt asked. Mirage merely smiled and said, "I think I should stay with the ship just in case."
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"What took you so long?" Nel asked as Albel finally appeared.
"None of your business." Albel snapped resting his hand on his hip.
"Ok stop it you two." Maria commanded sensing a fight.
Nel shrugged and folded her arms looking away from the swordsman. Albel in turn made a face at her then looked away. "Ok…so the Leingod lab is where we should look first right?" Cliff asked tucking his communicator into his pants. "It's the most likely place where we might have missed something still…" Maria said looking around the huge room in which they stood. Fayt finally appeared next to Albel whom ignored him still. "Ok are we ready?" Fayt asked happily with a warm smile.
Everyone minus, must I say, Albel nodded. Fayt nodded in return giving Albel a concerned glance before taking the head of the group. "Well then slave you may carry me." Roger demanded crossing his arms. Cliff raised a brow looking down to the Menodix. "You can walk just like everyone else." Cliff said firmly. Roger's jaw dropped and he glared harshly at Cliff. "How dare you talk to me that way!" Roger cried pulling his ax. "If you don't want to come then just stay here." Fayt said kneeling down next to the Menodix.
"Hmph! I see how it is!" Roger muttered and hopped onto the fountain like structure that stood in the middle of at least four different pathways. "Fine then!" He yelled plopping down and turning his back to them. Fayt blinked then sighed "Everyone is mad at me today…" He muttered under his breath then stood up calmly. Sophia seemed to sense his tiredness and wrapped her arm around him comfortingly. There seemed to be no sign of anyone around. And it looked more ruined then usual. The metal was twisted up further then before the walls were covered in plant life and blackened. Several beams hung dangerously from the ceiling. In short the place looked as if a bomb went off in it.
"Damn… what the hell happened…" Cliff muttered looking around.
"Do we need to even ask what happened?" Albel said from the back of the group.
"I don't think Praetorian did this…" Fayt replied over his shoulder.
"Bah! What are you an expert in mutations now?" Albel countered
Fayt sighed and kept walking picking up the place a little.
Albel stopped suddenly though no one noticed, there was something watching him, he knew it. Albel stared around as the other turned a corner and out of sight. A small moan met his ears from behind him, Albel spun around just as something nearly closed his jaws on his shoulder.
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Fayt rounded the corner heading towards the Leingod lab sighing to himself. "What's on your mind?" Sophia asked running to his side. Fayt jumped and tripped over a piece of metal that was sticking up slightly. Fayt stumbled forward and caught himself on Cliff's arm, Cliff smirked at him, and Fayt stared up at him embarrassed and stood straight rubbing his head shyly "Sorry Cliff."
A broken pipe fell next to Cliff with a loud clank that gave everybody a start. Cliff looked up to the ledge curiously. "Anyone there?" He called but no one answered. Fayt stared around Moonbase again the air now seemed stale and was defiantly to quiet. "Where is everyone?" Fayt asked staring around some more. "I don't know but I have a feeling something's wrong" Cliff muttered looking suspiciously to the ledge again.
"C'mon we're wasting time." Maria said opening the door to the Leingod lab and stepping inside. Everyone followed her cautiously. The Leingod lab laid in shambles like someone had come in with a sledge hammer, though it wouldn't be surprising, Fayt wandered over to the computer and pressed the power button but the computer didn't respond. "Damn the powers down." Fayt said narrowing his eyes and crouching down underneath the console. "Can you fix it?" Cliff asked kneeling down. "I think but I'll need help." Fayt called to him "Hit the power button again." Fayt added.
Cliff stood up and pressed the small red button. "Ah ha!" Fayt cried from under the console. "The wires are shot. I need three red and five green." Fayt called again. "Albel there should be a cabinet around here with colored tube things in it. Get three red ones and five green ones." Cliff ordered pressing some more buttons on the console.
Nel handed him the wires over his shoulder sometime later. Cliff took them and handed them to Fayt before realizing who handed them to him and double took. "Your not Albel." Cliff said in a surprised voice. Nel folded her arms watching him closely "Albel isn't here." She said softly closing her eyes. "Figures…" Cliff muttered annoyed then shrugged "Well he'll come back eventually." Cliff added examining Nel's legs with excessive interest. "I was wondering why he didn't put up a huge argument over being ordered around." Fayt called slipping out from under the computer.
"I just hope he doesn't fall down and break a leg then we won't hear the end of it." Nel sighed walking over to the doorway, guess what Cliff was watching during that unimportant sentence? Fayt laughed running his hand through his hair "I don't think he's that clumsy and if he dose I'm sure Elvy can shut him up for a while." Fayt replied turning to the computer again. "It would still be torture all the way back to Ellicoor." Cliff muttered standing up again.
Fayt pressed a few buttons and the computer screen flickered up. "Ok so now to find what ever we missed…"Fayt muttered. Maria watched him from the other side of the room patiently. Cliff continued to examine Nel whom hadn't notice yet. Sophia was examining some other trinkets. Still wondering if Albel is all right? How about Roger? Finally after much time has passed Fayt rested his head on his arms sighing heavily.
Cliff turned to him "No luck?" He asked. Fayt shook his head. "Did you try all three of our profiles?" Maria asked, Fayt nodded. "I think we've been lead on a wild goose chase." Fayt muttered sadly. Nel blinked and turned around quickly. "Fayt. Do you remember the prophecy said "without Luna's words of secret."? If Elicoor is an underdeveloped planet… then how could anyone know where this secret would be or end up?" Nel said calmly.
Cliff folded his arms looking serious. "Then maybe it would be listed as an OPA"
"That's right." Maria said looking to Fayt.
Fayt quickly typed in OPA and found several files. Everyone stare blankly at the never-ending files. "You gotta be kidding…" Cliff cried, relentlessly Fayt began to search through them. "Hey look." Sophia cried pointing to one file on the screen. "This one was found on Styx." She added. Everyone's attention was now drawn to the screen. The screen flickered when Fayt opened the file and the figure of Fayt's father appeared on screen.
" It is the strangest one found so far. It was placed near the gateway buried deep in the ground. It's writing has yet to be deciphered but it has slight similarities to ancient Expellian. It also contained a strange power that we have yet to harness but it might give a new break through in our research it also seems to have a part of it missing we've devised a search party for it's partner but so far they have turned up with nothing. Right now its contents are being deciphered in a hidden chamber north of here."
The message ended and the screen returned. "Huh? That's strange… are you sure that's the whole thing?" Cliff leaned forward. Fayt retyped a few codes then turned to Cliff. "The data must have been damaged when the wires went." Fayt replied standing up. "C'mon my dad said north." Fayt called walking towards the door. Nel still stood there staring over the structures carefully. "Fayt." She said grabbing his arm. Fayt stopped and looked to her "What?"
Nel looked around for a moment then replied, "There is something here. It's been following us for some time."
"Maybe is Albel."
"No it moves to slowly and not a smooth."
"Maybe it's one of the people."
"I'm not sure about that one either."
Nel let go of Fayt's arm and unsheathed her daggers. "Why dose it have five arms?" Cliff laughed patting Nel on the shoulder. "C'mon it's probably just some curious kid or something. Lets go." Cliff added walking out the door. Fayt followed. Nel sneered at him for a moment before sheathing her daggers and walking after them.
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Roger sat pouting with his arms crossed and his tail swishing back and forth wildly. "Those stupid jokers! Where is their loyalty? They just waltz on off and leave me here like extra baggage. How dare they! Well I'm really gonna let them have it when they come back heh heh. Man…if only Elvy was here she would've stayed with me." Roger muttered then began to fantasize about the twin blade. Roger grew an incredible huge smirk when he heard heavy footsteps. He perked his ears up and his smile washed away as an unpleasant nauseating smell attacked his nose.
Pinching it quickly Roger slid around to see where it was coming from. There stood a short man with glazed over blue eyes with ripped clothing handing off his emaciated body soaked in blood. He watched Roger with a disturbingly hungry look to his eyes. "Um…" Roger stood up slowly picking his ax up as well. The man took a clumsy step forward falling over his shredded pants and flat on the floor.
Roger hopped off the fountain like structure and slowly heading toward the path where Fayt and company had disappeared. The man groaned louder then a normal person would and pulled himself to his feet. Roger kept backing away until he ran into something else, slowly he turned around finding himself looking up at yet another emaciated human with blood soaked clothed and reeking of decay. But this one wasn't so stupid, he quickly threw his hand down grabbing Roger by the tail and pulling him up to his height. The undead man opened his mouth letting out another groan.
"HELP! HELP! SOMBODY HELP ME!" Roger screamed thrashing about.
Roger stared in fear at the man before shutting his eyes tightly. There was an extremely loud ripping sound and metallic bang moments later. Roger opened his eyes to find the zombie that had fallen over his clothing lying underneath a slab of the twisted up metal feet away with, guess who, Albel standing on top of it looking satisfied with himself. "Ha! Take that you mutation! That will teach you to try to—" Albel slammed his foot on the metal slab causing it to strike the zombie more senseless, "Put your filthy mouth on me."
"Um…Albel…would…you mind giving me a hand?" Roger asked still hung upside down. Albel looked up suddenly with a sneer of pure hatred on his face. "Now that is going to far…" He muttered pulling the Crimson Scourge. The zombie seemed to think Albel looked tastier so he dropped Roger onto his face. He leapt at Albel quicker then the swordsman could act grabbing him by shoulders. Albel struggled with the being for a moment before throwing it off him and into a deep hole on the floor. Roger stood up rubbing his cheek tenderly then looked up at Albel with his tail wagging. "You know you always been my favorite." Roger said in a sweet tone and big puppy dog eyes.
Albel raised a brow staring down at him blankly. "Lets go." He said. Roger nodded happily and followed behind the swordsman. Albel tried his best to ignore his discomfort from the Menodix' conniving words at least until something slammed into his back throwing him onto the ground below him. Roger yelped and jumped back pulling his ax ready to fight. Albel flopped onto his back staring at something he couldn't make out, but that didn't matter, what did matter was… it had a big long jaw that was well clasped on his shoulder tightly.
"Swirling heat!" Roger jumped forward striking the monster with a long yellow whip. The thing growled and swapped Roger into the fountain fixture with his snaky tail. Albel bit his bottom lip, holding very still. The monster bit down hard causing Albel to yelp. Roger pulled himself up looking in fear at the two. Albel scratching the monster cross the face and threw it off him ripping his shoulder up badly in process. The monster jumped back to its feet heavily lashing out at Albel again. Albel this time grabbed both its upper snout and bottom jaw sliding backwards into the wall. "Roger! Get Fayt now!" Albel shouter over the creature's shoulder. "What no I'm not leaving you here!" Roger yelled back.
Albel sneered the wall denting in behind him. "Go now you damn fool or I'll chop off your most precious body part when I get out of here!" Albel warned still glaring at the Menodix. Roger looked down quickly then back up to Albel. "You wouldn't dare!" He huffed turning red in the face. Albel smirked looking evil "It's hard to charm the ladies without any equipment." He snapped. Roger turned redder and took off down the pathway leaving a small dust trail.
"Well now my friend. Shall we dance?" Albel asked looking back to the monster thoughtfully.
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"Well hell how do we get it open it now?" Cliff muttered trying to wretch open a couple of sealed doors.
"From analyzing it, we need a card key." Maria reported typing on a compact computer.
Cliff narrowing his eyes and sighed deeply "Now she tells me…" Me muttered.
"So where do we find that?" Fayt muttered staring around. "It could be anywhere, destroyed, damaged…or even inside there." Fayt muttered agitated smacking the door roughly. Maria smiled "Don't worry Fayt I can pick the lock but it will take a while." She said kneeling down next to the lock. "What would I do without you?" Fayt asked laughing a little.
"HEY! FAYT! FAYT!"
Everyone turned around as the little Menodix came scurrying up. Fayt smiled "Finally got bored?" He asked. Roger collapsed onto the floor breathing heavily at their feet. "No…big…monster…Albel…big teeth…"Roger mumbled. "What was that?" Sophia asked falling to her knees next to him. "Albel…" Roger managed to say. "He chase you off again?" Cliff asked.
"NO YOU IDIOTS!" Roger yelled jumping to his feet. "DAMN IT ALBEL"S IN TROUBLE!" He yelled once more. Everyone stared at him in downright shock. Roger glared at them still red in the face. "Albel's in trouble? What happened? Did he fall down?" Nel asked looking concerned. Roger shook his head trembling. "There's a monster trying to eat him ok now will you please get moving before he gets killed!" Roger snapped. Fayt look to Maria "Maria you and Sophia stay here we'll go." He commanded.
Sophia shot up to her feet glaring at Fayt. "Hey I'm not a baby you know." He snapped crossing her arms. Fayt looked at her with big helpless eyes and looked down. "I know your not." He looked up grabbing her shoulders gently. "I don't want you to get hurt if I screw up ok? Besides Maria could use any help she can get. Alright?" Fayt replied softly.
Sophia stared at him for a moment then looked to the ground and nodded slightly. Fayt smiled happily and poked her nose gently "Good as long as you understand. C'mon guys." He cried running towards the path again.
Sophia fell to her knees again leaning against the wall looking at the ground. Maria glanced to her and got to word on the lock. "Don't be mad at Fayt. He doesn't like to see his friends get hurt. He was just protecting you." She said.
Roger hopped onto Sophia's lap and made himself snug as a bug. Sophia glanced up to Maria then down to Roger. "Yeah I guess so."
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Fayt, Cliff and Nel reached the frontal part of Moonbase to find nothing but an awkward silence. Fayt pulled his sword looking around from the mixed blood on the floor to the dent in the wall. "Albel?" He called his voice echoing across the room. "Are we to late?" Nel asked pulling her dagger. Fayt looked around nervously. "Albel?" he called more frantically. The creature screamed falling backwards from a higher part thrashing about in a crumbled heap on the floor. Fayt jumped backwards fully alert as did Cliff and Nel. Albel stood up slowly from his perch and leapt down gracefully with a wild look to his eyes and that cocky smirk on his lips. "I'll show you pain." He whispered and held his injured arm up to the ceiling. "Vampiric Flash!" A reddish black pool appeared underneath him and the monster. The monster screamed louder and more frantically before falling onto its side lifeless.
Cliff, Nel, and Fayt all looked at Albel in discreetness. Albel tilted his head to the side watching them closely. "Well it took you long enough." He muttered narrowing his eyes. Fayt sheathed his sword walking over to the monster and nudging it with his foot. "Well I think we know what happened to the people." He muttered. "Albel we better get you back to the ship your arm needs to be taken care of." Fayt muttered looking down. Albel raised a brow watching him. "What is your problem fool?" He asked crossing his arms and looking away "Not that I care or anything."
"Your worried about Peppita." Cliff said reading Fayt's expression. Fayt nodded. "I hope she got out of here." He muttered. Albel sneered and walked over to the newly ripped metal slab kicking it off the man below it whom was lifeless. "Unlikely. This is probably all that's left of theses people." He muttered kicking the corpse over the edge. Cliff's eyes widened and Nel covered her mouth. "The undead." Fayt muttered watching the edge.
"Please tell me you found your damn trinket. I want to go home." Albel snapped crossing his arms. "Yeah because your girlfriend is still there." Cliff replied looking smug. Albel glared at him and picked up the Crimson Scourge. "You think so?" He said softly. "I'll cut you in two." he added. Nel sighed and stood between them. "Stop it. Albel you go back to the ship and get your arm fixed, me Cliff and Fayt are going to go back to Sophia and Maria." Nel demanded glaring at the swordsman. Albel looked insulted, "I don't take orders from females." He snapped.
Fayt rested his hand on Albel's claw still staring at the ground. "Albel please. I don't want to see you hurt anymore." He whispered sadly. Albel stared at him blankly and pulled away. "Fine you damn fool go weep to someone else." With that Albel disappeared. Fayt smiled sadly and left for the pathway again.
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"And there I was the only one who could protect Albel. The jumped up and slashed the monster down the back and ---"
"Yes Roger we know you've told us three times." Maria muttered typing codes onto the computer that was connected with the lock now. "Hey c'mon I deserve some worship Albel would be dead now if it wasn't for me." Roger cried jumping off Sophia's lap.
"Well how's it going?" Cliff called. Maria stood up with a straight face "Is Albel alright?" She asked looking around for the swordsman. "Yeah he's with Mirage now getting his arm taken care of." Cliff replied rubbing his head. Maria smiled "That's good. I cracked the codes so the door can be opened whenever you're ready." Cliff looked around at everyone for answers but no one spoke up. "Umm ok then lets open the door." Cliff replied leaning against the wall slightly. Maria turned back to the lock and pressed a button on the computer. The door hissed and opened slowly with a scrapping that echoed throughout Moonbase. Everyone stared at the dark hole that lingered after the door had opened fully.
Fayt was the first to step forward into the darkness, He looked around at very still dark figures in the room after blinking a few times to let his eyes adjust to the dim. Cliff entered groping around in the dark for the light switch, his hand met something that wasn't exactly normal, in seconds something hard smacked into his nose causing him to fall onto his rear. Fayt spun around pulling his sword staring around the darkness. The same "thing" ran towards him and jabbed him in the gut. Fayt gasped and fell to his knees out of breath. Nel was tripped up and Maria shoved into the corner, Roger had split a long time ago and Sophia was already on the ground. There was a loud high scream that filled the room and a loud shuffling sound. "Let go! Let go!" The voice screamed and kicked around aimlessly.
"Well seems we have a mouse." Sounded Albel's voice across the room. Fayt stood up slowly and flicked on the light switch. Albel stood leaning against a table in the middle of the room holding a young girls arm behind her back while she kicked at the air. Fayt's eyes widened finally getting a good look at the girl.
"Peppita!"
The girl stopped struggling hearing her name and stared back at Fayt. "Fayt?" She said softly. Albel let her back to her feet reluctantly and glided past her over to Nel where he stood looking like a crazy stalker behind Sophia. Nel glanced at him "Why aren't you on the ship?" She asked. Albel didn't look at her and said nothing.
"Your ok." Fayt said happily walking over to her. Peppita looked to the floor "Yeah I'm ok." She mumbled then looked back up to him. Fayt looked around seeing no one else. "Where's the rest of the troupe? Don't tell me they were…" Fayt trailed off thinking the worst. "Huh? The troupe? Oh no they got away with some of the others." Peppita replied cupping her hands behind her back. Fayt sighed relived of that heavy weight on his shoulders. "Wait then why are you still here? Cliff inquired folding his arms. "Huh? Oh…I didn't make the ship is all. I got caught up fighting the ones who were already mutated. But now you guys are here. Now I can leave." She smiled happily.
"Uh yeah about that well you see. We won't be going to back to Earth or anything like that. We have some business on a different planet. It's a long story I'll explain later but we could use your help." Fayt rubbed the back of his head. Peppita looked from face to face in confusion then back to Fayt. "Is it like the last time?" She asked. Fayt nodded and said, "We need to find a slab of some kind here with a lot of weird writing on it."
Peppita's eyes lit up "Oh you mean this?" She asked pointing to the table that was more of a case up close with a huge stone slab inside of it. The group crowded around it. The markings were extremely different form it's partner on Ellicoor. The words consisted of symbols and uneven lines like someone had scrapped it in a hurry. Maria pulled out her translator and ran a scan on it and frowned. "There's no record of this language in the database. It seems the Leingod's couldn't decipher it either." She muttered.
"So what do we do?" Fayt asked. "Well I can enter the symbols into the translator and try to decipher it on the ship." She replied. "That might take forever." Fayt narrowed his eyes looking agitated. Cliff looked from one to the other curiously before taking a deep breath. "I hate to say it but maybe we should let Praetorian have a look at it."
Albel smacked him on the back of the head. "Are you crazy! You can't trust that bastard with something like this. Who knows what he'll do!" Albel snapped hitting Cliff again. Cliff moved out of his reach rubbing his head tenderly. "I know that but he was with Luther for a while so he probably knows a hell of a lot more about our universe then anyone. He's our best shot." Cliff replied.
Fayt looked down hating to admit it himself. "He has a point Albel. The hard part is getting him to do it and to tell us the truth."
"Both of which are impossible." Albel said snobbishly folding his arms looking proud of himself.
"Well we'll just have to persuade him somehow c'mon lets get out of here before some more monsters show up…
"If he hasn't killed himself and everyone else yet." Albel replied watching Fayt walk away.
When they were back on their ship Fayt was happy to let the small white moon disappear into the endless black void of space but in a few days he'll have to face his most complicated task. But at least he would be back on familiar ground that he could almost call home and Albel might lighten up too. But he couldn't help but feel a sense of anxiousness a strong feeling that Elicoor…wouldn't be there when they returned…
Well here is the next chappie. It took me forever T.T Sorry bout that guys…but anyway now that that is over with I get to really cause trouble hehehehehehe now it should get more interesting hopefully. I know this was a boring chapter but hey there has to be one in every story right? Finally I get my Prae back buyaka! But anyway reviews please and the next chapter will be coming along soon hehehehe
