Wild ARMs: Last Ignition
Chapter 7 Hunt in the TwinTowers
Three nights earlier on the Iron Mountains to the North of Neo Adlehyde
The rain pounded into the earth of the cold mountains where the Ice Golem Lolithia once slept.
Two people ran through the dense forest.
A man and a woman.
They came to a stop under a tall oak tree.
The man was in his early fifties. Standing at six feet one, tanned skin, slightly wrinkled, with deep forest green hair, streaked slightly with grey at the roots, cut short and running down his neck. With pale blue eyes.
He wore a pair of grey combat pants; a grey jacket zipped to the collar, a white t-shirt underneath, a set of black body armour made up of breast and back plates
Linked together by black straps, and a pair of shoulder pads, black metal plated fighting gloves, a pair of black combat boots, and a pair of sunglasses. Which were sitting in a pouch on the body armour.
And strapped to the back of the body armour on the right shoulder in a black scabbard was a three foot long Scimitar style katana.
The blade was two and a quarter feet long, similar to a Katana, but curved outward from the base as a slight angle, with a three quarter inch curved jagged blade running up at the back blade from the base in a V shape with the main blade.
The hilt was three quarters of an inch long. Bound in red leather. The crossguard was a deep black circle, criss-crossed in patterned lines. And at the base of the hilt was a black three fingered claw clenched in a fist.
The woman was in her mid twenties, standing at five and a half feet with raven black hair braided to mid back and tied in a ponytail by a black cord.
She wore a pair of dark blue combats; black steel toe capped combat boots, a black t-shirt, a white sleeveless denim vest with a black belt, and strapped across her chest was a bandoleer of ammo clips for her ARM.
Her weapon was a Might Glove on her right arm. Modified slightly and lighter than the type a man would use. But just as deadly, and a gauntlet with a metal plated glove on her left arm.
And beneath the armguard of her Might Glove. Rested a small but powerful machinegun style arm.
(AN For those who've played Wild Arms 2 and watched the disc 2 opening video. You might remember the machine gun blast Brad used in a section of the video. It came out of the side of his Might Glove. Well either way I think you understand)
The man narrowed his eyes and she looked through the tree-line
"Whad'ya see Z?" Serena Conners asked
Zed Kain scanned the clearing beyond the trees. Using the occasional flashes of thunder and his own keen night vision.
"The slimy bastard slipped away when we were fighting that damn pack of Lizard Men" he replied
"Any theories on where he could have gone?" Serena asked
"Just one" Zed replied "The Twin Towers"
"Twin Towers?"
"It's a Guardian Shrine with two towers about half a kilometre high pointing North and South. It's said to be the shrine to the Guardians of Darkness and Light, Leitea Salk and Stare Roe…the southern tower of Stare Roe is said to be on a direct line with Neo Adlehyde…can you tell me why kiddo?"
Serena smiled as she removed the armguard of her Might Glove to check the clip in her Striker P-90 machinegun ARM…it was down one round from the fight with the Lizard men in the forest..
She smiled as she thought of the answer to her latest pop quiz. It was something Z had thought of to keep her mind working when they had first started out.
"It could be because the first city of Adlehyde was called the Land of the Light a couple of millennia ago"
"Correct" Zed smiled "But Adlehyde wasn't just called the Land of the Light…in ancient Elw…Adlehyde means Light"
As Serena nodded Zed said "It's the only possible place he could run"
"Then we go after him?" Serena asked
Zed nodded "Yeah...but we'll have to split up once we go in"
Serena smirked as she stood up and cocked her ARM "Don't worry Z…I know how to watch my six" then she stepped into the open and searched for the Twin Towers.
Zed stepped out behind her and drew his Katana, the Doom Bringer.
(AN No he's not Zed from Wild ARMs 1…but you'll see)
"From what my sources told me the Twin towers should be at the northern end of this forest"
Serena nodded and took out her compass, within a few moments she found north and ran, Zed kept an easy pace with her.
Serena chuckled as she said "For somebody in his early fifties Z you can move pretty fast"
"Don't ya wish you'd age as gracefully as me then kiddo?" Zed laughed as the Twin Towers came into view over the rise ahead.
The antechamber of the Twin Towers seemed to be split into two sections.
The northern half of the chamber was covered in dark grey tiles and torches of dark blue flame.
The southern half was covered in shining white tiles, and lined with torches of pure golden flame.
There were two paths to take.
"North or South?" Zed asked
"I'll take North, Z" Serena replied as she clenched her right fist, causing the muscles in her right forearm to contract, activating a sensitive pressure switch inside the Might Glove, and sending a handgrip with the trigger for her ARM out of the underside of the Might Glove.
Zed nodded as he drew his sword and took the South path, not bothering to glance back as he said "Watch your six kid" and stepped through the southern opening.
Serena tightened her grip on the trigger of her ARM as she surveyed the room.
It was a simple room with a spiral staircase leading up.
She sighed as she stared up the stairs. It wasn't exactly an optimal fighting location. One slip and she was fucked. But if they wanted to catch their twenty thousand gella bounty they had to.
Zed grinned slightly as he examined the room he was in.
There was a spiral staircase at the end of the walkway. But it the walkway was blocked by an energy barrier. And the deactivation switch was against the wall. Ten feet across the open air.
He smirked as he reached down to his left hip and withdrew a tool he had found rather handy on several occasions. A blue throwing knife.
He flipped the knife in his hand and hurled it at the control switch.
The knife struck the switch and dissolved. But still had the desired effect, the barrier was lowered, allowing Zed access to the half kilometre high spiral staircase, which he took at a slow jog.
Serena sighed as she came to the end of her road.
She been jogging up the stairs for fifteen minutes, the only monsters to attack her were a few irritating little Harpies and Balloons, which she had blown out of the sky with her ARM.
But now she was at a dead end. A section of stairs ahead of her was missing. And it was too far to jump.
Serena sighed as she looked around.
To her left was the primary body of the tower. And in the shadows she saw what appeared to be a weak section of the wall.
Reaching into her pack Serena produced a small black bomb.
With a quick smirk she placed the bomb on the ground in front of the wall, lit the fuse with a lighter she kept in her pocket, and stepped back as the bomb blew.
When the dust cleared the wall section was gone and the bomb lay intact in the opening.
Serena smiled as she picked up the explosive, pocketed it, and stepped through the opening.
Zed smiled slightly as he reached the top of the southern tower.
While he enjoyed the Ranger occupation, there still were times when he said to himself "I'm getting too old for this shit"
He sighed as he walked through the opening at the top of the tower.
Inside the northern tower Serena rotated her shoulders as she looked around.
The inside of the tower was lit with blue stones. And a strong wind blew upwards from the bottom to the tower.
Serena frowned slightly as she reached into her pack and removed a small green apple and tossed it into the open. Almost instantly the wind caught the tower and carried it upwards and out of sight.
"So I'm supposed to just jump and let the wind carry me up top?" she asked herself
She shrugged as she stepped forward "Who wants to live forever" she whispered as she jumped.
Zed stopped as he heard a scream from just inside the room.
He drew his sword and stepped into the chamber.
His bounty, a man in his late thirties with black hair, lay on the ground, slowly backing away from a large blue furred creature with curved white horns and white claws.
(AN Think of a blue Ifrit)
The creature towered over the man growling
Zed sighed slightly as he reached for a throwing knife and hurled it at the creature, trying to get its attention.
The creature looked from the cowering man to Zed, and roared as it charged.
Zed tightened his grip on the Doom Bringer and leapt to meet the charge.
Serena swore as she leapt back to avoid a claw swipe from the Zombie.
She had been carried to the top of the northern tower by the wind. The chamber at the top was a simple room filled with torches of blue flame. And a large monolith at the back of the chamber with a strange symbol at the centre. The monolith seemed to radiate magical energies.
But the chamber was empty beyond that so Serena decided to turn back.
But before she could leave, a ten foot tall red scaled lizard like zombie with white horns and claws appeared and attacked her.
As the creature swung at her in an attempt to rip her in two, Serena gripped the handle of her ARM and waited the chance to fire.
And found it when the Zombie reared its head back to attack.
Almost instantly she snapped up her hand and pulled the trigger, sending a quadruple burst of bullets into the Zombie's chest.
But it barely phased the beast. The Zombie just went ahead and released a sphere of flame from its mouth straight at her.
Serena dove to the left to avoid the blast then came back to her feet aiming for the Zombie's head and fired.
The stream of bullets struck home, but the Zombie was still unaffected.
"OK" she thought "What now?"
Then an idea occurred to her.
She leapt backwards to the entrance to give herself room, and then she closed her eyes and focused.
Then a pale golden light appeared in her left hand and she roared "GATLING BLASTER" then the light flashed and dozens of streams of energy flew from her hand and struck the Zombie.
While the attack injured the Zombie. It was still on its feet.
Serena growled in anger as the Zombie struggled to its feet.
Then it hit her. Undead creatures are weak against fire. And while the Zombie had used a fire attack, it was still susceptible to the element.
Serena stood up and closed her eyes as she gathered her energy. A golden aura surrounded her as she roared "DRAIN STRIKE" and charged the Zombie. Her right forearm glowed a shining gold as she drove her fist into the Zombie's stomach.
The indentation she made in the Zombie's stomach glowed slightly as Serena took the Zombie's energy from it to strengthen herself. And after a few seconds a silver light flowed down Serena's fist.
She smirked as she kicked off the floor, flipping in mid air before she gathered her energy and in mid air yelled "FIRE BREATH" and released a blast of flame from her mouth straight at the Zombie. It struck the creature head on and engulfed the creature in flames.
The Zombie howled in pain as it burned away. Leaving behind a pile of ashes.
Serena shivered slightly as the residual energies of the Drain Strike force attack faded from her body.
She then took the chance to have a better look around the room.
The room was virtually untouched by the fight. Aside from a scorch mark on the wall near the entrance where the Zombie's fire breath had hit.
The only difference was that the symbol at the centre of the monolith was beginning to glow.
Serena frowned as she approached.
Zed swore as the creature, Nelgaul he had remembered, backhanded him into the wall.
He spun in midair and pushed hard off the wall before he hit too hard, and came down on top of Nelgaul with a crushing overhead slash.
The beast roared and swung for Zed again. But missed as Zed leapt back towards the entrance. Zed held the sword in front of him and focused. After a few moments a pale Yellow glow surrounded him and he charged forward yelling "Deathsword"
Five feet from Nelgaul the yellow glow surrounding Zed flashed and he vanished.
He reappeared behind the creature and struck hard and fast across its back, then he disappeared again.
Only to reappear right in front of Nelgaul to bring his sword upwards across its chest.
The creature roared and swung for him again.
Zed avoided the strike and drew his sword to his right shoulder and focused his energy.
After a few moments a silver aura surrounded him and he charged forward yelling "SONIC VISION"
His sword shone with a silver light as he attacked. Bringing the Doom Bringer up in a devastating rising slash that tore deep into the floor before bisecting Nelgaul right up the centre.
The creature came apart almost as soon as Zed's feet were back on the ground.
The body faded away leaving nothing but a few cracks in the tiles where Nelgaul had stepped heavily.
Glancing towards the entrance Zed saw that the bounty had fainted long ago.
He was about to move to pick him up when the symbol on the monolith at the back of the chamber exploded in light.
Serena leapt back as the symbol on the monolith exploded in black light
She shielded her eyes from the light and prepared to defend herself if necessary.
But a voice from the light said "Do not be alarmed warrior, I mean you no harm"
"Who are you?" she asked
After a few moments the light faded to reveal an image of a creature, the size of a man but its skin was a dark grey almost black, with a red sphere rimmed with white over the spot where its heart would be, white gauntlets, and leg guards on its legs and arms, a long tail lashing behind it, long black horns jutting from the side of its head, and white eyes that shone against the darkness.
The creature replied "I am the Guardian of the Shadows, Leitea Salk"
"Leitea Salk?" Serena asked
"Yes" the Guardian replied "You and your partner have been found worthy of the power of Light and Shadow"
Zed frowned as he stared at the image of the shining woman before him, the Guardian of Light Stare Roe. The image was of a woman, with pale skin, long black hair wearing a flowing white robe and wielding a long silver staff.
She hat told him that he and Serena were being given the power of Light and Darkness.
He folded his arms and considered the proposal. The power of a Guardian at his disposal. It would really help him out in work.
"Why not?" he shrugged and said "Alright I accept"
Stare Roe nodded as she said "Your partner has taken the offer as well..." then she stretched out her hand and a shining gold glow formed in her hand and flew from her hand to Zed's.
When the glow faded from Serena's hand there was a pale grey stone tablet with Leitea Salk's symbol carved into the face resting on her palm.
Without even trying she could sense the power flowing through the object. The power of the Guardian.
Leitea Salk showed Serena how to Invoke the Medium's power then said "I will transport you back to the Antechamber now" Serena nodder as she brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and Leitea Salk faded away and said "May the west wind watch over you" then after a few moments a pale green sparkle surrounded her and she disappeared.
Zed shivered slightly as the teleportation faded and he found himself back in the Antechamber. His bounty lay unconscious on the floor beside him, and Serena standing behind him gazing at her hand.
"You OK kid?" he asked
Serena shook her head to clear it "Yeah" then she glanced behind Zed and saw their bounty laying on the floor "That him?"
"Yeah" Zed nodded "Let's get him back to Neo Adlehyde and take a few days off before the Ruins Festival"
Serena nodded as Zed put on his sunglasses and picked up the bounty by the back of his belt and walked out of the Twin Towers. Into the rising sun and the cool morning rain.
Authors Notes: Done.
Not bad if I say so myself.
Next time the team meets and the excavation begins.