AUTHERS NOTE:Sorry the last chapter sucked. This chapter should be better then the last and I really tried to shorten the paragraphs. The chapter is rather short but I had to post sometime..lol

Chapter 3:Troubleshooting

He was weakening. It was taking uttter control of him. He had never imagined this kind of pain even when he was beat as a child. Ais needed to kill or he was going to snap. No matter what, he was destroying things. He could sense someone in his presence but who or what. It was a familiar scent but it faded quickly as the demon inside of him fought to take over his soul and body. He twisted around growling into the darkness of the night at...nothing. Nothing was there. No one was around. His senses were very strong and he NEEDED to know who or what was there even if they were miles away. Moments later, he heard the rustle again. He bellowed in anger in the direction of the noise to get a growl in return. In the nearby bushes was a girl, a elven girl like him. Apparantly, she had a berserk form inside of her also as she also resembled a wolf. He hair long and ebony. Her eyes gold like the moon. She definitly was on her guard and appeared alot more skilled at fighting then Ais did. Since she was in berserker stance, large wolf-like ears came out of her head replacing her human ones. A long flowing, furry tail, trailed behind her and like Ais, she had long claws and sharp fangs. She was ready and she wanted to kill.

Ais felt dumbfounded. He hadn't seen a berserker since before he destroyed the village. She was so much more superior then him also which was rare. Wait. Maybe she could help him control the berserker in him. Help him hone his skills. That would have to wait til later when he was not being ambushed. Right now he needed to defend himself from his attacker.

The female berserker lunged into the sky and blasted down into Ais before he was able to evade to attack. Ais stumbled backward and shot a blast of purple fire at the creature. She hissed in anger as she began to glow. Her whole body was enveloped with black flames as she thrusted herself foreward. Ais managed to avoid the assult barely but it was strong enough to push him away into a tree. His claws struck the bark damaging the tree. He took his nails out and shot another blast of purple flames at the attacker. She did the same with black fire. It was so strong that he fell backward, making him loose his breath briefly. When he stood back up, Ais bellowed in pain. His left leg was enflamed and his right shoulder was scared. Blood dripped down the wounded parts of his body and he collapsed.

The female berserker changed back human with no problem. She was beautiful through his eyes but yet she was so powerful. One would never think that she had a demon spirit in her. Ais stumbled getting up and fell back on the ground. He couldn't believe that this woman was so strong and yet he was so weak. She knelt down and grabbed him by the arm, causeing him to get up. He yelped in pain as he stood, revailing a gash in his left leg. It burned badly and he didn't know how he should react with another berserker. After all, he thought he had killed them all but he guessed that he she must have been in a different city or town when the disaster struck.

"Who are you?" He managed to say. She smirked and let go of his arm. The woman walked arond him looking at all of his features. He didn't like the idea of someone staring at him so he mannaged to turn around and stared into her eyes. It was one way of telling a berserker to stop. His father had taught him little about the berserkers before he died so he had a little knowledge of the race. She smirked and crept closer. Every step made Ais' heart skip a beat. He was afraid and did not know what to do. She stopped in front of him and glared at him. This made his body tremble in fear.

She sighed. "My name is Anyra(ah-ne-ra). You must be that other berserker that destroyed our clan. Hmph...still you did not destroy ALL the clan..." She flexed her arms and put her hands on his chest. Sharp claws pierced his soft skin making him groan in pain. "You feel that. That is what our family and friends felt before they were killed...now you can face the same fate." She brought their bodies together and bit his neck. pain resided in those areas as he cried in pain. Her fands had a poisonous toxic that began to weaken him. Ais began to fall to the ground and turned pale. he couldn't blieve he was feeling this kind of pain. it was not normal for him to ever feel this kind of horrifying pain in his neck. His pain got so bad, that he clawed her in the chest. She blushed alittle and released her grip on his neck.

"Why did you stop?" He asked wanting more oddly. "Don't tell me thats the best you can do. " She looked into his eyes and noticed the poison was beginning to take control. He begen to grow dizzy and collapsed to the floor. She knelt down and began to feel soething in her chest. It was her heart. It was throbbing. She began to think she had some kind of feeling for the young elf. But why? He had done the worse thing by destroying the clan. But yet, she felt bad that he was suffering so badly. She lifed him up into her arms carefully trying to make sure he doesn't awaken. He move alittle but she carefully supported the moving boy. She needed to get him some of the antidote she had in her camp which was about 8 miles away from her current position.

Jumping up into the air, Anyra sped into the trees. She traveled at the speed of sound making a soft whistle as she went bye. Within three seconds, she arrived at her destination point. She layed him down on the sleeping bag she had recently used and took out the antidote needed. It was a blue liquid that she poured into a container and added a few herbs to bring out the remedy's strength. Carefully, Anyra lifted Ais' torso off the ground and opened his mouth to let the liqid slide down his throat. Within a few seconds, the liqud was gone. She layed him back down and put a blanket over his limp body.

The night sky was much more beautiful in the part of the woods Anyra and Ais were in.The way it sillouitted around the area, brought back memories from Anyra's past. It was like an endless river from once she lived near as a child with her mother. Her father had been killed in a war between the humans and berserkers, known as the Twilight War. Many people were killed then and her father was one of them. It was a long and painful time to her and her mother. She often tried to erase those memories as they were way to painful for her.

She began to realize that the serpent that her master-Xyor had left at the Hollow Bastion castle had been destroyed. He had left the creature in the library many years ago to kill Ansem one of his many rivils. If the serpent had failed, then the reason for her to come to the Bastion was lost. She needed to retrieve the beast so Xyor could give it the special antidote to grant to stronger powers as Xyor knew that Ansem was getting stronger. There was one good thing about coming here and that was finding the berserker Ais. He would be a great asset to Xyor's army.

She was brought out of her daze when Ais awoke. He sat up and winced in pain. He was sore all over from the fight with Anyra. Ais turned his head and looked directly at Anyra who appeared amazed that he was still moving after that fight. He glared at her hoping to make her leave. Ais did not want to fight after the last battle. He knew he would not win against her. She was way more advanced then he was in fighting and let alone the demonic berserker stance.

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Ansem and the crew were searching for Ais. Ansem had a feeling that he was not gonig to come easily and that is what worried him. Ienzo looked out into the distance and noticed smoke.

"Master Amsem, its a fire." Ienzo pointer to the smoke rising overhead.(it was the fire caused from the battle) Ansem shifted his pose and looked at the smoke coming from the trees.

Ansem stated,"That is our next destignation. Everyone lets get to that location from where we are by the river apth to our left." Everyone nudged theri heads in approval and began to walk towards the river. Its water was clear blue and the aroma it gave off was so refreshing like rose petals and the clean smell after a rainshower. They walked along the rocky edges to find a snake-like creature only it was half human. Ansem recognized it as his loyal servent Vrayle. Vrayle was the one who he remembered from ages ago. Vrayle's physical appearance was rather frightning with many frills on the sides of his face and some spikes on his arms and down his back.

"Master Ansem," He said bowing. "I have seen two berserkers around the western part of the forest." Ansem appeared worried that Ais may be in trouble. He knew that Ais was way to young to understand his extent of his powers and let alone control them.

Ansem answered, " I will assure we will make sure we find the survivers. Braig and Aeleus, you two go east to the Canal and looks for the berserkers. If you find anything then turn around and come back to inform us. Dilan, Even, Ienzo and I will go in the direction Vrayle had pointed out. Remember becareful you two-especially you Braig. I know how rash you can be." With that they all split up. Vrayle decided to go back tothe Bastion and inform other people about the berserkers so ansem would not have to later. He knew that Ansem would be to tired or weak to deal with all the news he needed to tell everyone including King Mickey.

Braig and Aeleus had arrived at their destination about a half hour later. They noticed nothing out of normal and were read to turn around when Aeleus heard a rustle in the grassy area next to them.

You hear that?" He asked Braig cautiously. Braig looked at him as if he had 100 heads.

Braig said, "Dude your hearing things." Aeleus took that for credit and began to walk back to Ansem and the other. Little did they know that someone was following them through the bushes.

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Ais began to back away from her against a nearby tree. His gaze never left her glare as she got closer. He was utterly terrified and ewas clueless to what to do.

"Your awake."She said in a careless voice. "Thought I had overdone it on you." She sat down close to him and grabbed his arm. "Better seal the demon in you before you loose control of yourself." He pulled his hand away and growled.

"Your not doing anything to me." Ais growled. He hated when people touched him especilly if she was a mortal enemy. He began to get up and soon collapsed in pain. Pain was searging through his head and body. His vision was slurred and Anyra knew that this was going to happen so she had made sure the herb she used would make sure he would not leave her.

"To think I was the one who saved you..." She cussed. "Guess I should know better then to help a big ugly welp." She got up and began to walk into the forest nearby. She noticed he had followed afterall he would not know his way form here to the Bastion. From here it was many miles away.

Ais stated," Wait. Where are you going?" She turned around and stared into his golden eyes. They were rather nice compared to the ugly berserker eyes that she had only witnessed. He really was alot yunger then she was. Maybe she could teach him how to control the beast in him and train him to obey her and her master.It was a good idea but she was curious to know if he would go with her to meet her mastere and begin his training but then again maybe that is what hee wanted. Maybe he wanted to tame the beast in him. It was possible.