All right, its time to update this story. I left you right before there would be a raid, I'm surprised no one threatened me. Speaking of, where is everyone? Some of the reviewers just suddenly disappeared. I mean, a few of you I know that you're doing something or your internet isn't working, but where is everyone else. I was going through profiles the other day and saw some people that I haven't heard from in awhile and I do miss your reviews. Remember what you tell me is important. Actually, because of a review I decided to start this story not too long ago. So, remember that it is important. Also, I updated the forum for those of you who were waiting for me to reply. I kinda slacked off a little. Plus, there's a spot for those of you who like this pairing or Storm/Zelos. There are places to discuss either. Well, thanks for the reviews and I hope you all like this chapter.


Chapter 5: Raid the Ranch

Storm didn't quite know what to expect as Yuan got his troops ready for the invasion. It was just dawn and they were all up and ready to go. They had to attack, and they had to be ready because his spies had told Yuan that there was a large number of Desians in the ranch. Storm had to admit, she was feeling a little nervous before the big battle. She did have to admit that she did feel a lot safer with Yuan leading the troops.

Storm grabbed her sword as she went to the front of the large with Yuan. She looked at him, trying to retain her stoic look, but it wasn't fooling him.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked him. He looked at the ranch before looking back at her.

"Well, we get in there and stop them and Magnius. If we can get rid of him we can stop his troops easier. If they don't have a leader things could possibly fall apart," he told her.

"I just want to get through his troops. I want to get to take of Magnius personally," Storm said with a new found determination. "I can't let him try the Angelus Project on someone else," she added as she looked to the ranch.

"I'll help you," Yuan said. Storm looked at him before she slowly smiled at him to show her appreciation. "I won't let you do it alone," he told her.

"Let's do this," she said as Yuan nodded his head before giving the command to his troops to begin the raid.

The troops all began to swiftly make their way to the ranch as they charged the area. There was one Desian keeping watch as he saw the group come out from behind the wooded area they were staying in. This guard ran inside the remains of the ranch as he went to warn the others of the attack.

"Sir, there is a group of troops heading this way. They're on the attack and they're led by Storm and Yuan," the soldier told Magnius as soon as she warned the others to defend the front lines. Magnius had a smirk form across his face as he looked at the soldier.

"Put our little plan into action," he ordered her. The soldier nodded as she ran off to regroup the troops to defend the ranch and bring down the Renegades. Once she was gone Magnius chuckled a bit to himself. "Looks like I didn't have to bring them to me, they came on their own. How convenient," he said cooly as he went to prepare for the battle.

Storm and the rest of the group were met by a large army of Desian soldiers at the remains of the ranch. This didn't stop them as they charged at them full force. Storm and Yuan tried their best to make their way through all the soldiers, trying to get closer to Magnius. They tried to leave the majority of the Desians to the rest of their soldiers. Unfortunately, they had to fight some of them as Magnius' soldiers came at them more often than they went after the others.

Storm ran up to one of the soldiers, she didn't need to completely defeat them, she just wanted to get past them. She had to find Magnius before she got too worn out. She had made her way into a small area that used to be part of the building. There were three tattered walls left of this wall and no ceiling. There was a small set of stairs that only went up so high, but if she could jump over the hole in the wall at the top she was sure she could get into what used to be the next room. She wondered if that was where Magnius was hiding. She ran up to where the few soldiers had gathered to attempt to stop. She stopped in her tracks when she heard someone laughing from up by the stairs.

Storm looked up and saw exactly who she was looking for. Yuan stopped what he was doing along with everyone from both sides of the fight. They all looked up at Magnius as he stood on top of the small ledge at the top of the small flight of stairs. He had a few soldiers standing with him and Storm was about ready to take care of him since he showed up for her.

"I see that you finally found me. That's good because you just saved me the trouble of finding you. The only problem is that the rest of your little group doesn't appear to be here," Magnius said as he chuckled a bit.

Storm had had enough of him and was ready to take care of him quickly. She revealed her wings and was about to fly towards him and above all of his soldiers that were protecting him. Suddenly, she heard the sound of bows being pulled back, ready to attack. She looked around her and she saw a few soldiers scattered on the broken walls around her. The few soldiers near Magnius on the top of the stairs also had bows pulled back.

"Now, now Storm, you need to make your way up here fairly. If you get to me from there I will fight you, but no wings. That goes for you too Yuan," he warned the both of him as Storm put her wings away angrily. She then went back to the soldiers that stood between her and Magnius. She was going to make it to him no matter who got in her way. She looked behind her quickly and saw that Yuan was right behind her, covering her back as he followed her to Magnius.

"Demon Fang!" Storm cried out as she unleashed the attack, knocking a few soldiers over as she jumped over them to keep moving forward. She the wind from a sword barely missing her as she looked to her side to see a soldier staring at her. This soldier looked determined to tear her to pieces. Storm jumped forward a little to avoid being sliced in half as the soldier raised his sword to her again. Suddenly, as the soldier came at her one more time, his sword was stopped in mid-air as it clashed with Yuan's own weapon. Storm looked back at Yuan in surprise as he held the soldier off.

"I can take care of this one no problem, you go and get to Magnius," he told her as Storm nodded quickly as she finally made it to the stairs. Unfortunately, the stairs were already full of other soldiers that were ready and waiting for her.

"Super Sonic Thrust," Storm called up as she swiftly blew past a few of the guards as shew finally made it to the top where Magnius was waiting for her. Storm glared at him as she got ready for the fight that was waiting for her. She did hope that Yuan would be joining her soon, she wasn't sure if she could handle the grand cardinal all by herself.

Magnius seemed to be more than ready to take on Storm as he pulled out his rather large sword and raised it to her. Storm had never faced Magnius before and seemed a bit surprised as he came at her.

"I'm gonna make you and your little friends pay for what they did to Cruxis. The half-elves were so close to their own glorious age, but you all ruined it. You will die for what you did you worthless piece of trash," Magnius yelled at her as he came at her swinging the large sword at her.

"Hell Axe!" he screamed as he brought his sword down in a fury of flames as Storm attempted to jump out of the way quickly, but she was burned on her arm as she moved away. The sword crashed into the ground, leaving a large indentation where it hit as well as a large mark where the flames had been.

"Hang on Storm, I'm coming!" Yuan called to her as he slashed at another soldier who attempted to keep him away from where the battle was taking place.

"Hunting Beast!" Storm yelled as she jumped into the air before crashing to the ground in front of Magnius and ramming into him as soon as she touched the ground. This sent Magnius sliding backwards.

While he was down and trying to recover himself Storm came up to him as she got ready to attack him with her sword to finish him off. Suddenly, she felt pain crashing into her back. She spun around and saw that the soldiers standing on the walls all had empty bows in hand. She reached behind her and felt one arrow in her back, but from the pain she was feeling and the number of archers she knew there was more than one. There were four archers on the wall and she figured that she had four arrows in her back. She stepped backwards as Magnius got up when she was attacked.

"Storm, hang on!" Yuan cried to her as he knocked the last of the soldiers out of the way as he ascended the stairs that separated the two of them.

Storm jumped back painfully as she attempted to dodge Magnius as he came at her with a new fury. He was so angry that he had allowed her to knock him to the ground. He whipped his sword at her multiple times, and she barely managed to get out of the way in time. Finally, the pain from her back caught up with her as she fell to one knee.

She wasn't about to give up too easily as Magnius brought his sword down on her. She raised her own sword in defense and attempted to save herself despite her condition. She didn't want to die there, and she especially didn't want to be killed by this man. She heard Yuan coming up behind her and she spun around and tried to get away from him while she was weakened.

"Get her out of here. We need to retreat," Yuan ordered the soldiers that had followed him up, they weren't completely up the stairs, but they sent the word out to the other soldiers. They had to get Yuan and Storm out before they abandoned the fight.

"Giving up already? I suppose you need to protect your little girlfriend. Word of advice though Yuan," Magnius began as he met weapons with him, "stick to your own kind," he finished as he pushed him backwards.

Storm was just behind Yuan attempting to get up, but when Yuan was pushed backwards by Magnius she was left exposed again. Magnius took full advantage of this as he sliced into her backwards causing her to cry out in pain. When he attacked her it caused her to lose all the strength she had left when the blood started pouring out of the new wound. Yuan saw the vicious attack and ordered some of his men to come out in front of him, his new priority was to get Storm to safety so she could be treated before it was too late for her. He picked her up as he carried her through the battle. He managed to gather up some soldiers to fend off the Desians that came at them as they made their way through the crowd.

"Hold on a little longer Storm. Don't you dare die on me," he told her as she stared at him before she blacked out completely.


Well, I'll leave you with that. I'm evil I know. Sorry... Anyway, please review and if you're someone who maybe used to review and you haven't in awhile please review. I worry that something either happened to you or that I did something with the story that you didn't like. Anyway, I'll stop ranting and let you wonderful people get on with your lives. Remember that I know I have the best readers and the best fans out there. Thanks for reading and reviewing.