Red Mage 04- Yea, I was going for a grossed out/pity factor. You're absolutely correct (as always) they don't learn until it's too late. Unfortunately, in this case, Benedict, or now I have to call him Torqueo, still hasn't learned. I realize Daxter, in most fight scenes, is ignored, and I thought it fair to give the little guy a bit of action. There will be a point where he actually saves the day. Won't tell you where, but I've made only one change to the plot overview I sent you to include Daxter having some glory. Thank you for the compliment ion my fight scenes, though I know they are still nothing to be desired. No offense to your greatness, but people often don't realize how much power Samos has. Because, Gol used Dark Eco and turned evil. Jak used Dark Eco and was good. In my opinion, there are only two possibilities: either Jak had a better defense against the assaults on his mind by the Dark Eco long enough for the Light Eco to balance him out, or Jak has a pure heart and Gol does not. For the sake of this fan fiction, I choose the latter. Sorry about the one sentence, and like I said, you won't be seeing much of Star Wars, unless it subconsciously affects my writing, and if you thought Jak and Benedict were dukin' it out, just wait until you read this. Oh, I sent you an e-mail that was also a review for your chapter, (awesome job by the way) so please let me know if you got it.
animedragongirl- Well, not so much lucky as fortunate no one points out how disgustingly short it was. Well, I'm sure your fight scenes, while shorter, are probably still a lot better than anything I can churn out. Sorry you have to go to church instead of doing what you want, but I have some good news. I'm free. My lawyer came in and got me out of federal prison. Oh geez. I don't think I put in a disclaimer. Help, cops. Typing this as I am dragged off back to the prison. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Amathist Fwirrel- I know what you mean. Who needs therapy. Therapy is for the sane people. Insanity is bliss! Hehe, Soda. Well, Soda and Golious's showdown is this chapter, and I do hope that you approve of it. Thank you for being by my side, everyone else saw the lawyers' contracts and suits and pens and took off running. Yes, Benedict is dead, but Torqueo is not. He is going to be found by someone who you should expect, but saved by one of the last people that you would think. Your quite welcome for the shout out, and I hope someone out there reads the dribble and sees those shout outs and reads your masterpieces. Oh, and because I went back and read Surge again, Ew. Maia and Jak. Ew, just ew. Anyway, hope you enjoy the battle of the Sages.
Disclaimer- Okay, I'm using the prison computer again, and to avoid coming back here, I don't own this fan fiction. This is a disclaimer for both this and the last chapter.
The Parallel Power War: Clash of the Titans
As Samos and Gol ran at each other, Samos wondered for one final second how it could have come to this. He was fighting Gol Akaron, his former friend. Over the twenty years Gol had become more reclusive, but Samos would never had guessed that he would do things like this. Samos put his mind to rest as he concentrated on the battle in the here and now.
Gol brought his sword up in a horizontal slash, but Samos used a vertical block to stop it. Gol began spinning in the opposite direction and attacked, his cape keeping Samos from seeing the hilt of the Saber. The light, however gave the Saber's position away and Samos once again blocked the incoming assault. Although he blocked the Eco Saber, Samos did not expect Gol to grab out with his fake hand and snatch his staff. Gol twisted it out of Samos' grip and threw it away. Samos brought his sword down and to the left, but was deflected. Gol pushed Samos' sword back and copied his last attack; he came down and to the left. Samos blocked and spun his sword around and came up and to the right, trying to slice off Gol's legs. Gol blocked the attack and brought his sword up behind his head before slamming it down. Samos blocked it and they began pushing against each other, each trying to throw the other off balance.
Samos pushed his blade up, leaving Gol temporarily defenseless, and then delivered a hard kick to Gol's chest. If one was to assume that the technique would not hurt, one would be greatly mistaken. True, the Sage was old, but was in no way feeble. His physical strength was enhanced by his Eco powers, and the wood blocks on the bottom of his feet didn't hurt either. Or at least, they didn't hurt Samos.
Gol went flying back, but landed on his feet, using his levitation powers to ensure that he to regain his footing and his body healing the double fist sized dent in his chest. Samos slowly walked towards Gol and swung his sword in a vertical path going down. Gol blocked this blow, but was caught by surprise when Samos swung his sword in the opposite direction and came up from below Gol's line of view. Gol's eyes widened in surprise and he leaned back to avoid the blow. The tip of Samos' Saber touched his skin, cutting and in a way healing the wound at the same time, but not being as lethal as it could have been had Gol not sensed it coming.
Gol ignored the pain and brought his Saber crashing down on Samos' head as the skin from the minor wound grew back. Or he would have, had Samos not once again blocked the attack. Gol smirked as he turned his blade and came at Samos from below, only to be foiled and blocked again.
Again and again Samos and Gol went back and forth, alternating between assailing and guarding. One Saber seemed to merge and blend with the other; they were both moving so fast that the blades seemed to leave blurs in the air behind them, almost like an afterimage. Once again Samos came up from the ground and was blocked; both of them holding their blades firmly in place as they circled each other. Gol broke his off and did a triple strike, coming first across from the left, then across from the right, then straight down. Samos blocked all three blows with relative ease and then resumed taking the offensive. He swung his blade across, making Gol lean back. Samos was quick to press weight on the blade in an attempt to overbear Gol. Gol leaned back even further and stuck his real hand out. A telekinetic blast shot out, making an invisible yet perceptible shockwave travel through the air. The blast connected with Samos' chin.
Samos went soaring backwards in a graceful arc and floated a few inches above the floor and straightened himself out before landing. He quickly straightened up and stopped Gol's next attack- another downward stroke to the left. Samos jumped about twenty feet away and landed on his feet, bent down with one hand on the ground and the other in front of his face. He rose and charged Gol, swinging his sword in a straight thrust. Gol quickly parried it and the two of them once again danced around each other, damaging and defending, pivoting and parrying in a desperate attempt to win.
Gol swung his sword to the left and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Samos heard air being cut through behind him and quickly turned around to stop the Saber that was coming for him. After his block, he moved his Eco Saber down and then back up to put Gol off balance. Gol recovered instantaneously and brought his sword above his head and slammed it down, then brought it back and repeated the motion. Samos continued blocking and eventually managed to turn the tables by attacking Gol in the same way. Gol blocked the attack he had been using repeatedly until he had to take a step back. This one movement would prove to be his downfall, because the old Sage was quick to strike again and again, sending his blade crashing down over and over. Gol tried one last attack: a downward chop with all of his considerable strength behind it. Samos blocked and put both his hands on his hilt. He pushed back as hard as he could and forced Gol to fall over. Gol continued trying to defend himself as Samos' sword crashed against his continuously, but eventually Samos prevailed. He brought his sword across rather than down, and made Gol's sword arm swing wildly out and then he brought his sword down for one final attack.
Gol smiled in triumph as the power of Samos' bright green Eco Saber was halted by the strange metal of the gauntlet attached to his right elbow. Gol stood up and stared at Samos. The two of them circled each other, each one's eyes burning with an internal fire. As the Dark Lord swung his sword down, Samos came up to block it. Gol altered his course slightly so that Samos was forced to bring up his Saber in time to prevent himself from getting an unscheduled haircut.
Samos blocked a jumping slash from Gol and swung his sword so fast in retaliation that it appeared little more then a scythe, but the Lord of the Lurkers still managed to dodge it. Samos spun around as the Dark Lord did a front-flip over his body. As he landed, the twisted Sage stuck his arm out and Samos dodged to the right to avoid another telekinetic blast. Samos turned to keep Gol in his sights as the Dark Sage monster charged Samos once again. Samos evaded, sidestepped and deflected all of the oncoming attacks.
Samos finally caught a break struck aggressively at his opponent, his Saber coming in from the right on level with the Dark Lord's throat. Gol's Saber flew up to intercept his strike and swatted it away. Deciding to go with that momentum, the Sage spun around; copying a move he had seen Jak do many times in his sparring and training sessions. With speed that one would not expect from him being so aged, Samos completed his rotation, coming in with a relatively low angle of attack, intending to slice his adversary's feet out from underneath him. Unfortunately, his sword connected with little more than air, as Gol jumped straight up and levitated for a few seconds.
Samos waited patiently as the Dark Sage landed before rushing back to try his hand at the offensive.
Gol roared at a volume that Daxter would have been jealous of in frustration as a downward chop that would have split Samos in half (had it connected) was intercepted. Samos forced his nemesis' Saber down and away to the left, before floating into the air and bringing his right foot up and smashing it into Gol's face. The Dark Lord staggered backwards, his nose broken, blood tainted slightly purple dripping down his face. As Samos rushed in to take advantage of this, he went into a flurry of attacks, his blade no more than a blur as it hacked, struck, and thrust.
Gol growled in frustration as Samos' combos nearly shattered his defenses. He found himself desperately blocking and evading, unable to get a strategy going beyond trying to keep himself alive. At last, Gol caught a break and he turned the tables by striking out at the old ands wise Sage. Now it was Samos that was desperately blocking Gol's furious attack, trying to avoid getting a hit scored upon him.
But eventually Gol made a hit, his sword slipping through the Sage's raised blade to draw a line of blood from its left side all the way up to his right collar bone as Samos tried to leap back to avoid the stroke. Still, even as he hissed in pain, Samos considered himself lucky; the damage was not nearly as bad as it could have been had the blow hit home completely.
Growling, Samos leaped at his opponent, bringing his Eco Saber down from above with all his strength. Gol called upon a technique Jak had been subjected to during his battle with Kazan. Gol gripped his sword with two hands, his real one on the end of the grip, the fake gauntlet upon the end of the Saber itself, and held it horizontally, and succeeded in not only blocking the Sage's strike, but threw him back into the air, where Samos came in for a rather impromptu landing nearly ten feet away.
Immediately, Samos rolled backwards, and flew back up to his feet, and was scarcely able to avoid being skewered, as Gol had thrown his Saber in the ground where he had been mere moments before. As Samos got up, Gol stuck out his real hand and his Saber flew to him by means of telekinesis. There was a downside to this move; the split second distraction Gol experienced as he caught his Eco Saber enabled Samos to get behind him. Realizing the severity of the situation too late to correct it, the vile elf felt its feet be knocked out from underneath him by the use of a mental blast.
As the Dark Lord began a trip to the ground, Samos slammed his tree bark shoe into Gol's back hard. The blow succeeded in driving the breath from Gol's lungs. His breathing situation did not improve at all when he hit the stone floor, nor did what follow help at all either. Samos stepped on Gol's chest and caved it in once more. As Samos prepared to kill Gol, the Dark Sage dropped his Saber and threw out both his hands. Samos flew up to the ceiling and formed a shield around himself as he went through the ceiling and landed on the floor in another room. Gol levitated through the hole in the wall, smugly grinning.
"As you see, my Channeling abilities are far beyond yours. Back down." Samos groaned as he defiantly got to his feet. Gol sighed before launching a stream of Dark Lightning. Samos raised his green Eco Saber and the Dark Lightning was absorbed into it. Samos decided rather than letting Gol know he could deflect it if he wanted, he would pretend he couldn't. Either Gol would think Samos was weak to begin with, or that he was weakening due to the forty-five minute or so battle. Gol glared and ran forward. Samos sent a psychic blast that Gol spun to avoid before reaching him Not until he was within a foot of Samos and starting his swing did the old Sage opponent move.
Gol swung right for Samos' head but his attack was blocked. Gol swung his arms behind his back and tossed the Saber between them. With lightning speed he came in to the left at Gravis' midriff, but again was blocked.
Samos backed off an inch and stabbed, but his attack was parried away by his adversary. He spun around and aimed his Saber right at Gravis' head. To his annoyance, he was blocked yet again. He came in up and to the right, yet Gol proved to be just as fast as him. He swiftly parried an incoming blow to his chest from his heart's side before coming twice: low and in opposite directions. Gol was barely able to block Samos' ferocious assault, and he was pushed to his knees as Samos used brute force to try to unbalance him. Samos pushed down harder on Gol, trying to either drive the evil Channeler to his knees or slice his head in half, and not really caring which one happened.
Gol shoved Samos back and sliced at his waist again. Samos did something one would have thought impossible given his age; a whole back-flip over Gol's head and landing opposite him. Gol swung around to prevent his ears from being parted with the rest of his head.
The two of them leapt back and tried to get a bearing of where to attack next.
"Master Hagia, you disappoint me; I saw you as a worthy opponent and here I am in danger of falling asleep. Surely you can do better than this feeble attempt?" Gol taunted as he twirled his blade and came in for Samos' shoulder and then his arm. Both attacks were blocked, and the two of them locked blades as they circled each other. Gol broke free and spun around. Samos blocked Gol' next three attempts on his life and they locked blades once more. Samos charged up a ball of Green Eco. He slammed it into Gol's body and it sent him flying back into a wall. Samos smiled with satisfaction as he heard a cracking sound he was fairly certain was caused by a few ribs breaking. Gol got to his feet and his body glowed with an un-light; a darkness that no light could penetrate. Dark Eco swept over his body and healed to weaknesses and injuries his frail body had been dealt.
Gol walked over to Samos, summoning his Eco Saber as he did so. "Now, now Master Hagia, if you are going to use your Channeling abilities, then rest assured," he said as his eyes flashed in the darkness, "that I will use mine." He ended this pronouncement with a blast of Dark Lightning. Samos hastily erected a barrier to ward it off. Just as the Dark Lightning got to Samos' shield, it branched out everywhere and attacked from ever angle. It eventually blasted through and the shield broke. Samos clenched his jaw, determined not to scream with the pain as nearly one and a half thousand volts of electricity entered his body, determined not to give Gol that sick pleasure. As it was, all he did was thrash around in mid-air until Gol stopped his attack. Samos collapsed on the floor, his body sweating and shaking. As Samos healed his body, he still felt the unbelievable quantities of pain it had just been put through. Gol raised his hand as Samos struggled to get to his feet and blew him back down with a clairvoyant blast. Samos fell backwards and Gol walked up to him. He raised his Eco Saber and prepared to strike down the old Sage.
"Now, it ends," he hissed as his blade came down. Samos had his eyes closed and a bubble formed around his body. He disappeared with a pop, leaving only a slash in the ground from the Eco Saber as a mark of where he had been an instant before.
"Come now Darth Akaron. Did you really think you could defeat me so easily? I am a Sage after all. Although of course you know things about Dark Eco I don't. I had been hoping to learn something from you, but you have not met my expectations."
"Then perhaps you will allow me another chance to advance your edification of my powers." Gol snarled. He spun his blade in his hand above his head a few times before swinging it at Samos. The Sage spun his Saber to block it and spun his body around the Dark Eco Sage. Gol spun with Samos, their eyes never leaving each other. Samos blocked a blow that would have severed his head from its shoulders had it connected and they locked blades again. Gol snarled as the each Sage attempted to out-muscle the other. Gol began getting frustrated with his opponent and his body produced the powerful adrenaline as his thoughts turned dark and angry.
Unfortunately, Gol's rage would eventually prove to be his downfall. He let out a roar as he once again sliced wildly at Samos. Samos blocked his attack and appeared to work very hard to stop Gol's next onslaught. Samos finally caught a break and sent Gol flying into the wall hard enough to leave another silhouette of his body behind with a single psychic blast.
After healing his body once again, Gol jumped right back in, attempting to catch Samos off guard by attacking after such a short amount of time after being dealt such a crushing blow. He failed and began resumed the duel with the old Sage.
Gol continued to drive forward as he came in from below and to the right, causing Samos to backpedal. Samos blocked the incoming strike with relative ease before ducking under a swipe that would have shortened him by a good foot or so. Gol stabbed and Samos parried the incoming blow, sending both their Sabers around in tow full circles before they broke apart. Gol stopped for only the instant he needed to get his Saber under control before coming in once more. Samos spun around and blocked another strike from Gol before realizing he would have to get the offensive back soon. The two exchanged blows with lightning speed as they tried to defeat one another.
Samos swung his head back to dodge yet another strike before arching his body back so that he did not get a gash in it. The old Sage parried another strike before spreading his arms out in a deliberate "come and get me, I'm right here," statement in an attempt to infuriate the Dark Lord.
It worked… to say the least.
Gol came in screaming as he called upon every trick and technique he had in the book to try and just kill this infuriating old man. Samos caught an incoming stab and got in close with his opponent. The two of them bared their teeth and snarled at each other as they circled on the spot, each one grabbing and being grabbed at the same time.
Finally they broke apart and Samos shoved Gol back. The two of them raised their Sabers over their heads before restarting the duel. As they fought, they rotated on the spot so that they switched positions. Gol hissed at Samos as they eyed each other briefly before going at it again.
Samos struck forward, causing Gol to back-flip onto an object sticking out of the floor before side jumping off. As he looked back, Gol was glad that he had, as there were three slashed that were still glowing, indicating that they hadn't cooled off yet. Gol stepped forward and his foot slipped. Samos saw the mistake and tried to make it the one that would end the duel but alas, it was not meant to be. Gol simply got down on his knees and leaned back. Even so, Samos' Saber came within an inch of his nose as it swept across where his chest had been only seconds before.
The two of them exchanged even more blows before Samos managed to punch Gol in the face. The Dark Lord stepped back and blinked furiously as he tried to clear his eyes from the tears that formed when his nose broke.
Samos unleashed a furious assault on Darth Akaron, causing the twisted elf to back up. Still Samos pressed on, his legendary determination and power causing Gol to have to open doors as he continued to back up. The two of them made their way into another room ,this one filled with large pieces of Precursor metal. Samos grabbed Gol's wrist that was holding the light saber and with a deceptive amount of strength snapped it. The Saber dropped to the floor with a clatter. Samos kicked it into the darkness with one sweep of his left foot as he pointed his green Eco Saber at the Dark Lord.
Gol snarled at Samos and launched another Dark Eco Lightning blast at the Sage. Samos changed the angle on his Saber and the lightning rebounded upon Gol. Although Gol had not fired a strong blast, it was enough to paralyze him. As Gol's body froze, Samos pointed his Saber down at Gol once again.
"I will destroy you, just as Jak will destroy your apprentice." Gol growled at Samos and vanished in a puff of smoke. Samos quickly constructed a shield as he waited for Gol to play his next move. A flash at the top of a piece of Precursor metal sticking out of the wall made Samos look up. Gol was standing on a circular hunk of metal and had both his hands raised. Samos flew into the air and started making his way over to the Dark Lord. Gol reached out with one hand, and a pod was released from its mooring and heads toward the Sage. Gol used his telekinetic abilities to hurl pod after pod at Samos, who ducked and jumped from one flying pod to another.
As Samos jumped to another pod, he looked up and saw a pod that was too close to dodge. Samos stuck his hand out and the pod stopped in midair. He concentrated and threw it back at Gol. Gol leapt away from the piece of metal he was in and landed in another one. He looked around for Samos.
Said Sage came flying out of the darkness and turned on his Eco Saber. Gol hastily blasted Dark Lightning at Samos. Samos tried to deflect it with his sword but the force proved to be too much and it was blasted out of his grip. Samos reeled back slightly before the force of Gol's power. Samos stuck his hands out and the Dark Lightning gathered into a small ball. The two of them screwed up their faces in concentration as they attempted to get closer. Samos closed his eyes under the strain and Gol pressed forward, believing the advantage to be his. Samos opened his eyes and Gol saw them burning. For the first time in a few years, fear clutched at Gol's heart as Samos extended his hands and the two of them got within an inch of each other.
Suddenly the force of the bolts dissipating almost as soon as they were created caused a backlash effect. Samos and Gol were both hurled out of the pod in opposite directions. Samos dropped his Saber as he went flying back but managed not to hit the ground by levitating. As he looked over at Gol, he saw that the Dark Sage was also practically unharmed.
Samos saw a metallic object by his foot and recognized it as Gol's Saber. As he glanced at Gol, he saw that the Dark Sage had landed where his Eco Saber had landed. Samos could also tell that Gol had spotted it. The parallel Sages locked eyes locked eyes before a mutual understanding passed between them. Samos shot a telekinetic blast at Gol's Eco Saber and crushed it just as Gol caused Samos' to explode by injecting it with Dark Lightning.
The two Sages charged each other, ready to call upon the vast range of Channeling abilities they had at their disposal to win the fight. Samos dodged to the right to avoid Gol's punch. Normally, Samos would not have worried about a single punch. What did worry him was how Gol had wrapped Dark Eco around his real hand to not only enhance the damage inflicted, but would also make whatever hit Samos damage him by coming in contact with Dark Eco. Samos stuck one of his hands out and his staff, almost forgotten, flew back to him. Samos used his other hand to throw Gol back. As Gol started to slow down, Samos pointed his staff at the Dark Sage, who received another telekinetic blast.
Gol smacked against the wall of the room. Hard. Samos rushed in, his desire to end this conflict growing with every blow he and Gol exchanged. But while the breath might have been driven from Gol's lungs, not to mention a few ribs being damaged from the impact, Gol still maintained enough focus to notice the Green Eco Sage coming at him to finish him off.
A well placed pair of Dark Grenades, followed by a thunderstorm of Dark Lightning succeeded in driving Samos off and keeping him at bay until the dark Sage could sufficiently recover from the powerful attacks.
As Gol summoned a Dark Blade and flew towards his foe once again. Gol realized Samos would prove to be a much more powerful opponent than he had originally intended and began to use both his sword and Channeling abilities simultaneously. Samos Channeled Green Eco into his staff, giving it both resilience to Gol's Blade and the power to send the dark elf flying away with a simple touch.
Several minutes, and a few pain filled roars later, Gol quickly realized that his current strategy was not working against Samos, and knew that he was going to have to find a new one.
And so he took to the air flying around the room for a few seconds before unleashing his Channeling abilities upon his foe. This particular ability was to form two balls of Dark Eco and throw them in opposite directions. Samos watched the path of one and dodged it as it came in, but the other one hit him in the back. As he healed the burn marks on his back, Gol launched another Dark Grenade at Samos.
The Sage leapt up out of the way of the first blast, answering the attack with a Green Eco Bomb of his own. Gol barrel-rolled out of the way of the attack, and it impacted harmlessly upon one of the walls, though there was a decent dent left where it had landed.
Not pausing for an instant, Gol recalled his Eco Blade and charged up his ever familiar Dark Lightning, letting it crackle over his fists for a few seconds before he willed it to streak towards his foe. The outspread web of electricity would have hit Samos, if he hadn't teleported out of the way. As Samos reappeared, he began to charge up a technique, but Gol attacked him before the Green Sage could launch.
Gol snarled, and charged up an attack in both of his fists, before unleashing the Dark Eco Beam technique upon Samos. This time, the dark elf didn't move, and there was a bright flash, followed by a thundering explosion as the attack struck, stealing everyone's vision for a short moment.
The light cleared, and for a quick moment, Gol let a malicious smile come to his face, until he saw Samos standing tall, a green bubble protecting him.
Samos flew up to Gol and went on the offensive again, lashing out with energy balls and his staff, throwing everything he had at his foe, knowing full well what the price of failure would be. Gol would build the robot, open the Silos and celebrate the return of the Dark Times. Life would wither and die, and Jak, Keira, Wartstal, Hatu, and countless others, including Daxter, would be killed. Gol weaved back and forth, returning the favor whenever he could, determined to finish off this wretch, and the room was soon filled with craters and the like as testament to their nearly epic confrontation.
Gol let out a cry of fury, and unleashed some Dark Lightning at Samos. The blast hit Samos full force, and he went right through the wall. As Samos got to his feet, Gol fired a Dark Grenade at him and with a deceptive amount of agility, the Sage dove out of the way. The blast continued onward, and punched yet another hole in the wall. Samos got to his feet and tried to alter his strategy to start winning again.
However, as another dark bomb hit home upon him, he was also beginning to realize that he was going to need to alter his strategy yet again. Gol was good, a true Sage. Not only was he powerful in his own right, but his cunning and strategy made him a difficult adversary.
Samos charged up a massive amount of Green Eco, and then sent the assault straight at Gol. The Dark Sage, unprepared for such a powerful attack, got caught by it right in the chest and went through the roof of the chamber. As he landed on the top of the Citadel, he figured it would be easier to win out here, so the destruction of that portion of his and Maia's Citadel was a small price to pay for final victory.
Samos looked up as a deafening roar sounded as his ray of energy impacted upon the ceiling, and ripped the top right off of the room. There were a few small bits of debris that fell downward, but most of it had been vaporized by the explosion.
Once the smoke was clear, so to speak, Samos looked up, saw Gol hovering up in the air, waiting for him and knew that his job was not quite done.
The two Sages rushed towards each other, each one desiring the other's blood. Gol summoned a Dark Blade as the distance closed, and time seemed almost to slow as they drew ever closer, ever nearer to the third phase of this conflict.
And then time sped up again once they were in striking distance.
Gol, brought his metal fist in with all the strength he had at his disposal, kicking up a small wind with the force behind them. Samos, however, expertly dodged the blow with twist followed by a duck. As he came up, Samos rushed forward so that he was right underneath the Dark Lord. He struck out with his staff, and was rewarded with a pain filled grunt from his opponent as he slipped it in Gol's chest and sent him flying backward. Gol hissed at Samos as his body healed again. He noticed that it was taking longer and longer every time he was hit to heal the damage and if the battle kept up much longer, he would not be able to heal an longer. Samos on the other hand, ha d a near limitless supply of Green Eco, giving him the power to heal practically anything.
The demon dodged to the right, rolling out of the way as Samos threw his staff at Gol in a boomerang fashion. Snarling in frustration, Gol Akaron stood up. Unfortunately for him that all he managed to do while standing up was present Samos with another chance to strike at him.
A thundering roar split the air as the Sage teleported behind Gol and thrust his staff into Gol's back. Gol screeched in pain as his twisted his arm behind his back in order to get the double-pronged staff of wood out of his back. Samos stuck his hand out and the staff flew out. Samos watched as Dark Eco covered the hole in Gol's back and healed the wound. He now had nothing to show there except for a small scar the size of Samos' pinky nail.
Samos watched as Gol spun around. A tentacle of Dark Eco extended from his arm and hit Samos, even though he was well over ten feet away. Gol continued to pound the Sage furiously, knowing that the wounds would heal quickly. Samos sped back towards Gol as the Dark Lord missed one swipe.
However, as he closed the distance between them, Gol decided that now was a good time to show off yet another trick that he had hidden up his sleeve. He thrust his hands outwards, and focused his powers. This time, though, rather than the twin beams of energy coming forth, Samos instead found himself having to deal with a barrage of baseball-sized energy pellets coming towards him at a rather high rate of speed.
Frantically, the Sage dodged to the right, and Gol turned with him, trying to lead him as he unleashed dozens of Dark Eco bursts a second at him. Samos took to the air, using his powers of levitation to avoid most of the blasts. One or two did hit, and wound up leaving some rather nasty looking burn marks as testimony to their capabilities. Even so, the Sage bit back a growl as he felt his Sagely blood get to work healing him, and retaliated by swinging his staff hard enough to make Gol dodge to the left, leaving a four inch deep crater in the Precursor metal floor.
Samos then waved his staff a few times, sending waves of Green Eco streaking towards Gol. Although the evil elf dodged most of them, some connected on several places, causing the Dark Lord to snarl in a slight amount of pain. Despite the weariness of his body, Gol did not lose his focus upon the battle, and was soon flying up to the Sage, bringing them both back into melee range.
Although Samos had his staff, in close combat range, the metal arm attached to Gol was better suited. And even though Samos was rather quick in the air, he didn't always get off free of charge. More than a couple of times Gol did succeed in landing a blow, which usually sent the Sage into a tailspin of sorts, though he always managed to pull himself out of them before Gol could capitalize upon the sudden advantage and use certain Dark Eco powers Samos was in no way anxious to be hit by again.
The two separated again after some minutes of exchanging blows, and another lull in the fighting took place, with both combatants simply moving about in a circle, each one formulating their next move as they floated back down to the earth.
Gol figured it was about time that he played one of the aces that he had up his sleeve. Samos was confused when Gol rushed into the air and Lurker Wasps appeared from seemingly nowhere. Samos waited patiently while the Wasps rushed in. Three feet long, three inch talon connected to six legs, they resembled gigantic Wumpbees more than anything else. Samos quickly sat down as they closed in and chanted a spell. When he opened his eyes, the Wasps had all halted in midair and turned around. The Lurker Wasps charged their master, who frowned. Gol focused all his energies, concentrating his power into another attack.
Samos' grim smile changed to a look of utter disbelief as he saw nearly a hundred of the Lurkers speed towards the Dark Sage, only to die screaming as a Dark Lightning storm of mythical proportions suddenly erupted around Gol. The Wasps rained down, covering Samos and Gol alike with their black blood. Gol opened his eyes and ceased the attack that had turned him into a proverbial bug zapper.
Gol snarled at Samos' audacity. "How dare he turn my own allies against me?" Gol thought as he rushed down, Dark Eco crackling in his hand. Several Eco spheres were unleashed between both sides before the gap was closed, though neither was able to do anything more than superficial damage to the other.
As they reentered melee range, Gol once again summoned his Dark Eco Blade, ready to unleash it upon his adversary. The Sage and the Dark Lord met with a thunderous din, Samos brought his staff in from the side, a move that Gol block with his metal forearm and then attempted to retaliate against, lashing out with the other limb, the tentacle of liquid Dark Eco lashing out and causing Samos to skid back.
Samos breathed heavily as he tried to discern how much of his power he had used. Sage or no, he needed to rest soon to replenish his powers. Such were Gol's thoughts as well as both combatants were basically sent back to square one, watching the other, seeking some sort of flaw that could be exploited for their gain.
About three seconds passed before they were at each other's throats yet again, Gol blasting himself forward, willing himself to move as fast as he possibly could as he angled his Blade straight for where Samos' heart was located. However, it was not destined to be the deathblow of the fight, as the Green Sage's own razor fast movements with his staff forced him to take a detour, or suffer from some rather painful consequences. Instead, the Dark Eco harnessing elf opted for a different attack, twirling as he dodged to the right in midair and diving underneath the offensive assault that Samos threw at him.
The Sage brought both his staff back after missing and slammed it down. The scream that followed no doubt caused some dead Lurkers littering the top of the Citadel area to sleep a little less peacefully.
But then, one could hardly blame Gol for this outburst. Samos thought that he handled it pretty well for a guy who had just had his head cracked open. Indeed, Gol became a true Dark Lord again; rather than dissolving in tears, he simply went mad with rage as his eyes glowed red and the yellow parts that had once been white became black.
With a roar that could be heard throughout the entire Citadel, Gol stood up to face Samos, who quickly realized just how much he had angered his foe. Realizing that attempting to engage Gol while he was in this "Kill on Sight" mode would not be the wisest of ideas, the Sage selected evasive action. He took to the sky as Gol threw blasts out at random, his head healing the massive crack in it.
Gol calmed himself down as the pain vanished, but his eyes remained the same. He flew up to Samos much faster than he had moved so far. As they dueled in the air for a couple of minutes, Samos realized just how battered and tired his body was getting. He threw a Green Eco spear at Gol's face. Gol pulled his metal arm up at the last possible moment, taking the attack there instead. The blast, which had proven itself capable of blasting through more than dozen Lurkers in previous confrontations, did manage to make contact with the carapace, but it pretty much ran out of steam after that. The Dark Lord, now enraged even more than he had been previously, charged up an attack of his own, before letting it fly. The Sage flew down out of the way, and twisted to his right side as a pair of Dark Eco rays blew by him, singing his hair and part of the log that he kept in it.
Samos charged in at Gol while he was still recovering from his last attack. However, as he rushed back in, hoping to end the battle there and then, Gol retained enough sense of reality to retaliate. He spun around and back fisted Samos. The Sage hardly expected this and the blow square in his chest. Bone cracked, and an inch deep indentation was left where Gol's metal fist made contact.
Samos hit the ground, hard, and lost his grip upon his staff while he began to bounce and roll over the floor, the parts where he had blasted Gol through ripping through his clothes to tear into his skin and flesh away to the bone in some places.
After several seconds, he came to a stop, and the Sage, once so powerful, lay still.
Gol saw his opponent lying unconscious, but far from pacifying him, it enraged him even further and caused his power to skyrocket. How dare his adversary die just as he wanted to torture him. "Come on," he whispered, "get up, get up!"
Whether through some peculiarity of nature that allowed Samos to hear his adversary and wanted to spite him, or he simply proved to be more tenacious than the pain that was coming from his many wounds, Gol never knew, nor did he ever find out. Nonetheless, regardless of which reason was the cause, the Sage slowly and gingerly got back up to his feet as his wounds healed, although they did so much slower than they had been so far.
As the lacerations closed and muscle and skin interweaved themselves back together, the Green Eco Sage extended his left arm and his staff shot towards him, heeding the call of its wielder.
Once his old and now weak fingers had clasped around the wood once more, Samos roared with such strength and fury that Gol knew fear for a minute.
"GOL! I may beaten and battered, but believe me, this fight and I are both far from finished!" Samos roared so loud that Maia heard from the base of the Citadel where she had been overseeing the Lurkers put the Robot together and sped up to join her brother.
"Brother, should I help you kill this abomination?" Maia asked as she arrived.
"No. I want you to only watch as I finish Master Hagia off." Gol replied.
The Sage then shot down through the air, and shot like a bolt of lightning towards his opponent, who had by now fully recovered, and was standing up, albeit leaning heavily on his staff.
They were at each other's throats again within seconds.
Their battle was as terrible as ever as it raged on, carrying both up into the sky once more after a time. However, before they had been at it for too much longer, Samos had knocked Gol back down to the ground. The Dark Sage raised himself up onto his hands and knees as he healed the internal bruises and hemorrhaging that he had sustained once more.
Both Sages had come to the conclusion that their bodies could not take many more trick, and this fight would have to become one of cunning rather than power.
Thus, it was with the intention of dicing the Green Sage up when Gol rushed back towards Samos, a battle cry coming from his jaw as he tried to intimidate the old Sage. Samos did not wait for Gol to get to him, rather, he flew up and away before dive bombing the Dark Lord. Gol unleashed Channeled Dark Eco attacks until he got close enough, and then began striking with his metal arm upon entering melee range.
Samos brought his staff up and swung it through the air, causing a slash of Green Eco to come blasting out of it, which the Dark Sage blocked with his forearm. As it had been in the case of the spear Samos had used, the attack did do damage to Gol's carapace, but after that, not much else.
The Dark Lord came back with more attacks of his own, throwing out another pair of Channeled beams before rushing back into a more personal kind of combat. He reached back to his sides and lashed out with both of his hands at the same time, his hands curled un into fists. A quick upwards flip was all that saved Samos from being killed.
However, Gol made the mistake of overextending himself in his attack, and it took him an instant longer to recover than usual.
That one second would a gigantic mistake that Samos would use to his full advantage. Even though Samos believed he would defeat Gol, he knew he would lose against Maia unless he found some way to recharge his power. He put that thought aside as he slammed his staff forward. There was a raucous silence for a moment, followed swiftly by a bellow of agony.
Samos wasn't surprised.
After all, such a reaction was to be expected now that Gol had just had one of his eye sockets punched in. Gol roared and dropped to the ground. Apparently that roar was a signal, because another few scores of Lurker Wasps rose up and charged the Sage from every angle.
Gol looked up in hatred at the elf that had caused him such agony as his eye healed. Suddenly he realized the gravity of the error he had just made.
But it was too late.
Samos roared as a hundred beams of Green Eco shout out of the Lurkers and infused them within his body. As another wave of Lurkers dropped, Samos calmly descended to the weakened Dark Sage, his body glowing a faint green light.
Maia, however, was not going to allow Samos to kill her brother and decided to intervene. She sent a beam of Dark Eco and Gol got to his feet as the power swept through him and basically recharged his failing energy reserves.
Maia, her job done, fainted as almost all of her body's Eco had been drained in that one attack.
The two Sages faced each other and charged up what they mutually understood would be the final attack. The very air seemed to vibrate as each of the two Sages unleashed an enormous beam of Dark and Green Eco. The beams collided in the middle and they began vying to win the struggle. The two beams pushed back and forth, gaining and losing a little.
Gol began to groan as they reached the two minute point. He widened his hands and a stream of Dark Eco Lightning broke off of the main beam. Samos hastily erected a shield, but eventually Gol won and the Sage was blown off the top of the Citadel. He landed a hundred feet below on a ledge and was knocked out as his head hit first. Gol slowly lowered to the Sage and saw that, even unconscious, the Sage's body healed itself.
Gol's eyes returned to normal as he reached behind his back and drew a small device out. He placed it on Samos' back and the Sage woke up. He stood and grabbed his staff before facing Gol. His normally green eyes were now purple as he bowed before Gol, who began laughing hysterically. A Wasp came up to Gol at his whistle.
"Wok mo jajkoh udt fcuso xoh ad kxo hosxuhwadw heed. Den!" (Get my sister and place her in the recharging room. Now!) Gol snapped.
"Ooj mo Lord. Hawxk unuo." (Yes, my Lord. Right away.) The Wasp responded.
"Samos, you will come with me."
"Yes… Master," Samos responded, no trace of emotion in his voice.
"I sense that Darth Torqueo is in danger," Gol said as he teleported the two of them away…
A mechanical hand clutched at the rocky soil as the owner struggled to pull himself up, his eyes burning yellow and black with hatred.
Torqueo used every ounce of willpower he had to not pass out from the pain as he struggled to pull his maimed and deformed body up the hill. He had lost all feeling in his right foot due to the lava and his left arm was cut up from the sharp rocks. The only working limb he had wasn't even flesh; he was using his metal one. He groaned with every movement he made, his body screaming in agony.
Torqueo looked up as a loud whip-like crack split the air. He saw Gol Akaron looking around and he moaned in agony. Gol looked down and saw his mangled apprentice.
"Torqueo! Torqueo!" Gol called before catching sight of him. "There he is. He's still alive." he gasped as he levitated the body. The three of them vanished once more...
Torqueo screamed in pain as Samos Channeled massive amounts of Green Eco over the burned and charred skin that was associated with very bad third-degree burns. Eventually, it looked normal again, but his entire body now looked like a map, so scarred it was.
"Will he survive?" Gol asked anxiously.
"Yes Master," Samos responded as he set to work on attaching aleg made out of ordinary metal, as well as replace an eye that had been too damaged to heal with a Precursor one. After what seemed like hours, Torqueo opened his eyes and felt his scarred face. All his hair had been singed off, and his eye was now permanently yellow and black.
"Where is Keira? Is she safe, is she all right?" Torqueo asked, looking around through his real and fake eye.
"I am afraid that she tried to go to you when you were damaged, but Jak held her back and vanished before I could stop him." Gol responded.
"That bastard! I swear, when I get my hands on him I'll rip him apart." Torqueo roared as he stood up and let his power rage out of control.
"Jak, I don't want you to go." Keira said. "I'm scared." Jak turned around as he stepped away from the Warp Gate and smiled softly. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. The two of them held each other close as Jak put his face down to her shoulder. Keira tried to hold back sobs as she buried her face in his chest.
The two elves held each other close, each regarding the other as their only firm rock in their lives that had been turned upside down. They took comfort in the fact that they were still entitled to a small amount of sanity in a world that was spinning out of control...
Okay, here it is. I hope that it was up to standard (meaning little more then crap). Please, I know the romance at the end was beyond sappy, so don't yell at me for that. Yell at me for the horrible fight scene. Also, I do have a request. Grateful though I am for all of your positive feedback, I would like it if you guys and girls (nodding to animedragongirl) would give me some criticism or an evaluation of how the plot is holding together. Anyway, until next time, when Jak traverses the dreaded Red Eco Temple, I'll see you guys around.