Roy…"
Roy only saw an oblivion of darkness, "Who are you?" He murmured to the voice.
"Wake up…"
"Marth?" Roy whispered again, "Is that you?"
"Open you eyes,"
Roy tried to open his eyes but he lacked the energy to do so. Roy mustered up all the strength in his body to pry his eyelids open. The same man that attacked him before towered over him. Roy panicked and whipped his hands at the man attempting to punch him back. His hands completely dove away from the target as he felt his strength slowly depleting again. Roy panted, "What did you do to me?" His body rested on a rather soft bed lined with silk and possibly cashmere.
"It's just a little after affect with the antidote." The man replied, "I guess we should start with introduction. I go by many names; the shades of hell, grey fire, but I would prefer you to know me as Dusk."
Roy couldn't even gather the strength to sit up. Even his eyelids were slowly falling. Roy closed his eyes and turned his face to the ceiling, "My name is Roy. I'm the…"
"General of Pharae," Dusk took out a small book wrapped in leather, "Your father is Lord Eliwood and your mother is Ninian, an ice dragon. You left your land to come compete for a tournament but after that tournament, you stayed behind in the city and started a company with your friends. You resemblance to Eliwood is uncanny but then again, you're his son."
Roy turned to Dusk even though his eyes were closed, "I got my dad's looks but my mom said that I get all my good looks from her." Roy used the little bit of his strength to open his eyes, "Antidote?"
Dusk turned around, "Took you long enough." Dusk sat down on what appeared to be a crate, "Do you remember what you ate last?"
"Your antidote,"
Dusk sighed, "Think a little harder,"
"Pizza?"
"Yes, I poisoned the pizza. I used myself as a decoy and got Kirby to steal the money off of me. Knowing Kirby, and trust me, I studied Kirby as well; he bought a pizza with the money. Before the pizza was given to you, I slipped a poison into it."
Roy panted hard, "You killed my friends?"
"No, you mistaken what I meant by a poison." Dusk muttered, "I created this poison. It will seep into their flesh and into the blood stream. When it reaches the heart, it shall grow a lump or rather a lining of poison flesh around the heart. The layer is sensitive to a special ultraviolet sonic wave that I created so I can kill them anytime I want. If you don't listen to me, I'll kill them." Dusk stood up, "By the way, it'll be a very, very painful death."
Roy turned away from the man, "What do you want me to do?"
"You're going to be my apprentice."
"Why am I so special?" Roy barked as he sat up and scowled at the man, "Why is it me?"
Dusk laughed, "You truly are remarkable." He grabbed his chin and forced Roy to look him in the eye, "You gained all your strength back because of your emotions. The antidote could cause the strongest fighter to lay immobile for a week. You are the perfect apprentice."
"Marth is strong too." Roy hissed, "So are Link, Mewtwo, and Kirby."
"You don't look into my studies close enough. Marth is much too delicate for this. He'd break down in a second. Link's mind is so obsessed with heroism that he would falter when I force him to do my bidding. Kirby's greed is what I admire but that would mean his mind would get clouded. He's a double-sided coin. He can lean both sides very well but he's greedy. Mewtwo is much too strong for this type of manipulation. You are perfect to become my apprentice. I'll teach you everything you'll need to know."
Roy thought back to his friends. He shut his eyes tightly and dug his nails into his flesh, "Okay,"
Dusk grabbed his arm and pulled Roy to his feet so quickly that he stumbled. Dusk threw Roy his sword. He turned his back to him and walked into the shadows, "Follow me, I'll lead you to the training centre." He stopped in the shadows, "By the way, don't bother trying to kill me right now. You don't stand a chance against me."
Roy looked at his sword. He bit his lip and followed the man into the shadows.
Marth slammed his fists onto the table, "Damn it!" He grasped his hair tightly with his hands and rested his elbows on the table, "Why was it Roy?"
Mewtwo growled and clutched the bandaged wound on his stomach, "I should've known it was a trap. Why did that man take Roy?"
Marth turned to Mewtwo. His face was a mask of sorrow and rage, "Why didn't you read his mind? You could've gotten so much from that."
Mewtwo batted him away and stood up, "There was something…something blocking me from reading it." He limped slowly over to a brand new laptop, "Maybe there's something about that guy. His element is fire, he uses two swords that seem to represent yin and yang, and he wears half a mask."
Kirby scratched his head, "That woman outside seemed like a puppet or a disguise of some sort. Try and find who that mansion used to be owned by."
Link lied back on the chair, "I remember hearing the man say something about an apprentice."
Mewtwo typed fire, mask, twin swords, and yin and yang into his special search engine. No match came up, "We have nothing about that man. I'll search the mansion."
Marth closed his eyes, "Roy…"
"I got something on the mansion!" Mewtwo shouted. He turned the laptop to them, "The mansion was abandoned but the last person to own it was the billionaire Cray Orion."
"Cray Orion created many training centers for people to hone their fighting skills." Link picked up a rather flashy advertisement from the pile of mail, "We even have an advertisement!"
Kirby thought for a while, "Why would a multi-billionaire kidnap Roy? He could easily take someone training in his dojo."
"He's our only lead for now." Mewtwo stood up, "Let's go!"
"Whoa," Link stared at the enormous sky scraper that stood before him, "This place is huge."
"Damn straight it is!" Kirby replied. He reached his hand out to push open the glass door but it opened itself, "This place is starting to scare me." As he put his feet on the plush carpet, a hologram appeared before him, "Check this out!"
"Hello, where would you like to go?"
Mewtwo stepped in front of Kirby, "Can you lead us to Mr. Cray Orion's office?"
"Certainly, he has a meeting in twenty minutes."
Link nodded, "Thanks for the help," Before Link could step on the floor that seemed to be made of marble, the tiles around him suddenly lit up.
"Please follow the highlighted path,"
Link turned to them, "This place is so awesome! What kind of rich person would risk all this just for an apprentice?" Link ran across the highlighted path like a hyperactive child.
Mewtwo sighed and followed him. Marth stared at the highlighted path, "We're coming for you Roy. I hope you're okay." Marth ran across the highlighted path.
Kirby wandered off the path and walked around the marble floor. The tiles that he stepped on lit up so it appeared as if his body was glowing, "This is cool." He soon found a path behind a fancy leather couch that wasn't made of marble. It was just a normal carpet path that led to a door that seemed hidden in the wall since it lacked a doorknob. Kirby ran across the path to the door, "What's this?"
Mewtwo looked around, "Where is Kirby? Damn that," He turned around.
Marth stopped him, "Please, Roy is more important than what chaos Kirby is creating in here." Marth walked ahead of Mewtwo.
Mewtwo sighed and followed him. He spotted the end of the highlighted path. Link stood in front of a finely carved wooden door with gold framing and diamonds encrusted all over the doorknob.
"Holy shit," Link laughed as he grabbed the doorknob, "I'm going in." He twisted the doorknob and opened the door.
Before him stood a regular sized room with a plasma screen TV coming out from the wall with a small laptop placed on top of a desk in the middle of the room. Giant crimson velvet curtains were behind the desk where the powerful man sat.
"Are you Cray Orion?" Marth asked as he approached him.
The man laughed, "Last time I checked." He stood up and walked towards them. His face was well framed with rich, dark coffee-coloured hair. He had beautiful clear blue eyes and a strong-built body behind his charcoal coloured satin suit. He stuck out his hand, "Cray Orion, your name?"
Marth stared at the hand. Memories of Roy suddenly struck his head to the point where he had to step back from the man. Mewtwo approached him, "I'm Mewtwo. We're here to ask you a few questions."
Cray nodded, "Okay then," He sat down, "What would you like to know?"
"Do you remember owning this mansion?" Mewtwo snapped his fingers. Link came by and took out a photo of the mansion he found on the internet.
Cray rubbed his chin and leaned on his chair, "That mansion…oh! Yes, it was my summer home. It used to be a missile silo and I always liked a house with history." Cray took a sip of water from the water bottle on his desk.
"Why did you abandon it then?" Mewtwo asked.
Cray shuddered, "There was a giant fire in the kitchen that scared the hell out of me. I've never been able to face it since. I left it and I didn't have the nerve to sell it. My daughter was kind enough to take out all the furniture for me."
Marth turned to Link, "Our suspect used flames as his weapon. This guy could be lying…"
Link shook his head, "Look around you," Link whispered as he pointed to the ceiling and walls, "There are sprinklers and fire extinguishers practically everywhere. There's a pretty good chance that he's not lying about this fire thing."
Mewtwo nodded, "Alright, do you have any other family?"
"My wife Haya and my daughter Shade Orlow," Cray answered.
"Shade Orlow?" Mewtwo questioned, "She's married?"
Cray nodded, "She's married to one of my dojo mentors."
"What's his name?"
Cray turned to his laptop and began typing, "Let's see…Tide Orlow. He works in the lakeside dojo. He's got flaming red hair and red eyes. You can't miss him."
Kirby examined the door carefully. He touched it with his hand and kicked it with his foot after nothing happened. Kirby sighed deeply, "This is probably just a fancy wall of some sort." He turned his attention to the floor where he spotted a small wooden chip, "What do we have here?" He picked it up and looked at it, "Wood in a high tech building." He turned around and ran back out of the hallway.
Mewtwo, Marth, and Link were heading back towards the door when Kirby ran in front of them.
"Where were you?" Link asked, "We could've used your interrogation skills."
"I found a valuable clue." Kirby showed them the wooden chip.
They stared at him blankly. Marth sighed deeply, "Kirby…that's a wooden chip."
"It is but…why would there be a wooden chip in a building as high tech as this?" Kirby replied with a sneer in his voice, "I also found it in front of a door with no doorknob."
Mewtwo waved his hand in the air, "And?"
Kirby lowered his eyebrows, "The flaming mansion had furniture made of wood inside to spread the fire easier. Maybe that door led to the mansion and that's how our assailant put all the wood there."
Link blinked, "Wow, Kirby's idea actually seems…logical."
Mewtwo nodded, "Kirby and I will research this tower and the mansion. Link and Marth shall go to the Lakeside dojo."
Link held up his hand to high-five Marth, "Alright! We get the better job!" Link lowered his hand awkwardly when Marth ignored his high-five, "Okay…"
"Very well then," Marth replied.
Roy wore a tight fitting black leather suit with metal buckles. He stood in a dark room that seemed to be falling apart due to the pieces and dust that fell from the ceiling. Roy gripped his sword tightly as Dusk came in and ran his fingers through his hair affectionately.
"I think you're ready for your first mission." Dusk replied as he removed his hand from his hair and patted his back. He saw Roy's pained expression, "You don't have to hate this. I'll be like a father to you."
Roy looked up, "You're not my father…"
Dusk turned his back to Roy and looked at his armband, "You're going to strike the Lakeside dojo. Kill everyone in your way and retrieve the gauntlet of waves. Fail to do what you're told and I'll kill your friends." Dusk smiled and threw him a black mask, "You have an hour."
That's the end of that chapter. Please R & R
