AOE Saga

The Dragon Within

Chapter 5: Cards Played Out

It was breakfast time for the crew at where they were staying. Matt was gently nursing a cup of cocoa, taking sips every so often. 'Today was the day. Man I miss you, Chloe,' he thought looking into his cup miserably. The door opened and Chris staggered in, looking worse for the wear, helping himself to the coffee. Matt looked up. "What happened to you?" he said in a dull voice.

Chris looked up. "I just had one of the worst nightmares ever." Matt shrugged. "And this was?" Chris went on to explain his dream about marrying Silvia. Matt just stared. Morph waved his hand in front of Matt's eyes. "I think you broke him," he said after getting no reaction. Suddenly Matt yelled, "THAT'S MESSED UP!" "Tell me about it;" said Chris with a grimace, "I'd rather have one about being fed to an Emperor Asteroid Worm."

Meanwhile Chip was talking with Draco about Contrinus. "Look…you should be really careful around Piton Toxico now. He could use your liking for Contrinus against you. He'd trade all his extra heads for this kind of advantage over you." Draco nodded and said, "True, I wouldn't put it past that hybridized hydra to do something as underhanded as that. Where is he anyway?" "I've seen him with Silvia. Muttered something like 'This better be important' or something like that." Draco grinned and said, "Speaking of Silvia, can you imagine her and Chris walking down the aisle?" Chip smirked and said, "More like screaming in opposite directions." The two of them roared with laughter along with any other experiment nearby.

Matt got up. "I'm going out," he said gloomily. Chris jumped up ignoring some of the sniggers of the other experiments who'd heard him explain his dream. "I'm coming too…in your mood, you'll blast the first guy to throw you an insult," he said following. NegaMorph, who'd been silently enjoying Chris's embarrassment, got up for a stroll too.

A few minutes later…

NegaMorph was walking through the dirtier part of New York. He kept his trench coat and fedora tight around him so that people wouldn't know he was an alien. NegaMorph got bored watching the stone since it didn't do anything. Except for when it went off when Matt tried to strangle him.

NegaMorph grumbled to himself as he walked through a series of alleys. NegaMorph didn't really like the city. The vibes here were tangled and twisted so he couldn't tell which were positive and which were negative. Another reason he didn't like the city was because he was extremely asocial in nature. Close to hermetic in fact. The only person he really opened up to was Silvia. She seemed… different in a kind of way he can't identify. Maybe it was because she wasn't too corrupted with power and focused on her work first. She's probably the closest thing to a friend that NegaMorph had.

NegaMorph sighed and was about to start back when something happened that should have never happened. NegaMorph was walking by an alley when he heard some obnoxious laughing. He looked over into the alley and saw a gang of teenagers. They seemed to be a mix of punks, goths, and 'gangstas'. The leader, who was a boy with a tattoo of a roaring panther's head on his arm, pointed and said, "Look what's crawled into our turf." Another boy spat and said, "Man, dat's the ugliest hobo I evuh seen." NegaMorph looked at them and said, "Shouldn't you kiddies be school?" The teenagers laughed heartily at this. Then one of the girls stepped forward. She was much younger than the others, about 12 or thirteen. She had red hair with black highlights and was wearing black clothing in the gothic stile. A few accessories of interest on her was the earring that was shaped like an eye on her left ear and the bracelet make of pewter fangs on her right arm. "We don't go to school," she said, "we're too cool for that." NegaMorph focused his stare on her and said, "Aren't you a bit young to be hanging out the badlands?" "You don't want to tick Megan Roph off," said one of the other girls. "Or what?"

Megan gestured a hand towards the shadow of a trashcan. The shadow lifted itself of the ground and slapped NegaMorph in the face. "Yeah," said one of the boys, "Megan's born with mad skills. She'll beat you down flat with her shadows." NegaMorph brushed some grime off his coat and said, "Actually I'm not the type to get mad either." He turned around and started to leave. He was planning on sending them nightmares telepathically when the leader did something incredibly stupid.

The leader said, "Yeah, we know what your type is, freak!" He threw a tomato at NegaMorph's back which hit with a splat. Two eggs were thrown by the other boys. NegaMorph stopped stock still when this happened. The gang started laughing wildly except for Megan, whose instincts told her to get out of the way. She back into a corner and covered herself with a shroud of shadows to escape notice. Suddenly the others stopped laughing when the tomato and the eggs suddenly burst into flame and were quickly converted to ashes. The feeling in the air quickly changed as NegaMorph's coat and hat evaporated, revealing his true form. He turned on the now cowering teenagers and yelled in a demonic voice, "NO HUMAN CALLS ME A FREAK!!" His roars drowned out the teenagers' screams as he leapt at them.

Sometime later, NegaMorph called Dante, "Dante, you have to get over her. I infected a gang of hoodlums with the EXP Virus." "What'd you do that for, NegaMorph?" asked Dante. "Let's just say that they pressed the wrong button." NegaMorph hanged up and looked at the teenagers he attacked. Their bodies were looking pretty mangled, but they'll recover after the mutation. NegaMorph looked around and said to himself, "Where'd that little shadow-bender go?" After finding nothing, he shrugged his shoulders and recreated his hat and coat from the shadows. He then headed off back to where they were guarding the Fang Stone.

As soon as he was gone, Megan let her shroud come off. She stepped over the bodies of her friends as carefully as she could. According to NegaMorph, if the man over the communicator was calling him by name, her friends would mutate into something and she didn't want to find out. Besides, someone was coming over to pick up the bodies. She got to the other side and was about to leave when something caught her eye. A large blot of NegaMorph's plasma was stuck to the wall. She was about to wipe it off when she recalled the strange powers that creature used. She picked up a beer bottle that her leader was drinking previously and dumped the vile stuff out. Then she slowly scraped the vile stuff on the wall into the bottle. She put the top back on it and looked at the inky black substance inside. "You're going to be very useful for me," she said. She quickly left the alleyway, clutching her prize close to her.

Central Park…

Matt and Chris had parked not far away and Matt had insisted on taking a nice quiet walk. That and Matt had nearly blown up a taxi that had cut them up on the way there. "…I don't care if it's the anniversary of your sister being blasted…YOU DON'T GO 627 ON ANNOYING TAXIS!" Chris was saying. Matt wasn't listening. "Er…Chris? Where in the park are we?" he said looking around. All that was around was a tent that advertised Tarot card readings. Chris shrugged. "I dunno…what are you doing?" he said as Matt walked towards the tent. "I always wanted to try this," said Matt going inside.

Inside the gypsy had been listening and heard Chris answer, "You know, it's all fake right?" Matt peeked in. "It said Tarot readings outside?" The gypsy nodded. She planned to swindle this non-believer…right up to the point when she asked to have her palm crossed with silver and Matt gave a pure silver NSSC credit when she decided to do the real deal instead. She got an ancient-looking set of cards and said, "These are special cards. What ever future they predict is inevitable, they are never wrong." She shuffled them and spread them out in a special way. First, she put two cards in a horizontal position in the middle of the table, then she place two cards in a vertical position to the left of the cards in the middle, another set to the right, three underneath, and one above. "Now we shall see what the future holds," she said.

"These cards represent you," she said as she flipped the cards of the left side. revealing first a knight of horseback wielding a sword and then two children with six cups full of flowers. "The Knight of Swords," said the gypsy, pointing at the knight, "it shows you are an adventurous young man out on a quest. But the Six of Cups," pointing to the two children, "shows that you are feeling nostalgia, missing someone from your past."

"These cards show the nature of your enemy," she said as she flipped the cards on the right, revealing first a man wearing a crown of leaves and then a demon with a man and woman chained to its seat. "The Emperor and the Devil," she said, "it means your enemy is one who is in a position of power with a corrupted greedy heart. And yet, I feel that these cards could also mean two separate enemies. Perhaps your 'Emperor' will metaphorically 'make a deal with the Devil.' Or perhaps literally, I am not sure."

Then she pointed to the horizontal cards in the middle. "These two cards show the connection between you and your enemy," she said and flipped them over. On the bottom was a picture of a chariot being pulled by two sphinxes and on the top was a picture of a maiden with a lion laying its head in her lap as she keeps its mouth closed. "Oho," said the gypsy, "The Chariot and Strength. It shows that you and your enemy are fighting for superiority and the focus is tipping the scales in your favor. In other words, a balance of power, an interesting combination."

Then she motioned to the three cards at the bottom. "These cards represent elements that will affect the balance of power." She flipped them one by one to reveal; a young man with a stick and bandana over one shoulder and a white rose in his hand; an old man wearing a dark robe and holding both a staff and a lantern; and an angel pouring liquid from one vessel into another. "The Fool, the Hermit, and Temperance," explained the gypsy, "they represent the nature of three people who can help you defeat your enemy." "What exactly is Temperance?" asked Matt, knowing the other two. "A blending of the elements," said the gypsy, "sometimes healing."

Then she gestured to the last card, the one above all the others. "This shows what the struggle between you and your enemy is over," she said, "what will be affected by the outcome." She flipped and it showed a picture of a half-male/half-female being in the center of a circle. Outside the circle were a dolphin, an eagle, a lion, and a bull. "The World," she said, "you carry a great weight on her shoulders." Then Matt stood up and left the tent. "I hope he succeeds in his quest," said the gypsy, "the fate of the universe itself, or other universes may rest on his shoulders. Besides, it's not often I actually get paid in silver."

As Matt and Chris continued their walk, Matt told Chris about the gypsy's prediction. "Well the Knight and the Six fit you perfectly," said Chris, "and you don't need to have half a brain to know who your enemy is. Emperor Hamsterviel, clear as daylight." "But she said it could have meant two people," said Matt, "Like Hamsterviel will team up with someone really evil."

"That doesn't surprise me," said Chris, "when you look at his lackeys, you can't see any real saints." It took only a quick thought for Matt to agree with Chris. "But who can those three people who are supposed to help me be?" he asked. "Sounds like you're looking for someone's who dumb, lonely, or good with medicine to me," said Chris. "But the World," "Look, Matt, this guessing fun and all, but do you really believe all this? Even you have to admit it sounds pretty loopy." "You do have a point," said Matt, but he still had a nagging feeling about this...

Meanwhile, back at the Headquarters…

Silvia showed Virustoxico into the room full of crystal balls. Their several heads looked around and they said, "Well? What's this big business opportunity you told us about?" Suddenly Silvia touched various symbols underneath one of the crystal balls. Suddenly the ball opened up and a vortex came out. Before Virustoxico could do anything, they were sent hurtling through it. When the vortex spat them out, they could tell they were in some subterranean cavern. "So glad you could come here, Piton," said a voice. Virustoxico looked around and saw the Dragon of Asia, standing there. "Er, do I know you?" asked Piton. The Dragon of Asia smiled and suddenly transformed into an older woman. Piton's eyes bulged slightly as he said, "Chang! It'sss been ssso long. I thought you were put in prissson."

"I got bailed out," said Chang. "And would be ssso foolisssh asss to do that?" "That would be me," said a deep dark voice. Virustoxico turned around and emitted various sounds of surprise, shock, and a little bit of disgust. "Dark Dragon," hissed Piton, "I ssshould have known." "You're looking well," said the Dark Dragon, "where'd you get that fancy armor?"

Here Virustocron broke in saying, "I am no armor. I am Virustocron, the Hacker Baron, the Earl of Erasers, the Duke of Deletion." "Yes, yes," said the Dark Dragon, "I'm surprised you didn't try to find you old master. Perhaps that metal was weighing you down." In response, Piton hissed and opened his mouth wide. His head and neck telescoped all the way to his shoulders. Out of the open mouth came Piton's smokey head, the closest he can get to being separate from Virustocron. "I wasssn't thinking of meeting you. In fact, I recall that said that you never wanted to sssee me again when I failed at turning Draco over to your ssside." "Yes," said the Dark Dragon, "I admit that I was rather hasty when I did that. But employing yourself to that werepyre?"

(Author's note: Just to clarify, by freak coincidence, the events in 'The Curse of the Werepire,' did happen in this continuity, just without the parts with Lilo and Victoria being experiments and the whole romantic theme.)

"Red Moon wasss a fairer massster than you. Besssidesss, I wanted revenge on the mongrel dragon that made me lossse my job." "Ah, I thought you would get to that," said the Dark Dragon, "you see I had you summoned here for, a deal if you will." "Forget it," spat the smoke hydra, "there'sss nothing you can sssay or do to make me work with you again." "What about Draco's head?" "Eh?" "I can offer you a swift chance to finally get rid of the Alien Dragon once and for all. And his cyborg cousin as well." Virustoxico paused and then Piton extended his armor over his head. "You have our attention."

After explaining his plan and the Fang Stone's power, Virustoxico said, "So you need us to help you steal the Fang Stone so you can spread its affect?" "Yes," said Chang, "that's why I hired you two. You and Silvia combined can slip through their defenses and steal it before they can react." "But that leaves the question of how to power the machine," said the Dark Dragon. "What do we need?" "We need a large supply of negative energy, a collection of most of men's darkest emotions."

"NegaMorph!" cried Virustoxico without hesitation. "Who?" asked the Dark Dragon. "The black blob with the coat and hat, he'll turbo-charge that thing." The Dark Dragon scratched his chin and said, "Very well, but there's the concern about that 'Lynch' person. The Fang Stone's mental effects aren't present in him at all. He could be a serious threat to our plan." Virustoxico grinned with his several mouths, showing poisonous fangs in most of them. "Don't worry about him," they said, "we'll take care of him, personally."

There is a lot of important information in this chapter you should notice. It will appear in stories to come. I'll let you figure out what it is. Keep an eye out for the next chapter. Please review.