Authors Note: Chapter 13

So it's either going to be this chapter or the next one that's the end of Disk 1. I'm not sure if I'm going to have 3 disks or 4. Not sure where the story will climax at all. But anyways, Onwards!

Separate Ways

Meru led them higher and higher through the forest. They went through many teleporters which most of the time led to a higher floor but sometimes they were brought straight into people's homes. The first time they were teleported into another's house everyone was slightly frightened.

They stood in a long hallway with four doors, two on each side. Darian looked around before walking into the closest door which he assumed housed the next teleporter. He was shocked when he walked right in on a Wingly family having dinner. Darian went pale white as he slowly backed out of the room. He turned his head to see the rest of the group again laughing at him. Meru walked past him with a huge grin on her face before moving to a larger teleporter at the end of the hallway.

"This way guys, Ancestor Blano sits through here." Meru stated as she activated the teleporter.

Everyone stepped onto the green circle that marked the teleporter. Before the teleporter activated Darian muttered.

"Do Winglies not use doors?"

The teleporter trip was quick and this time they were in a large, dark spherical room. In front of the group was a man who had seemingly been waiting for them. He was old, very old but looked very strong for his age.

"Ah Meru, Dart I have been expecting you once again." The Ancestor spoke in a calm, wise voice, "And you have brought others, the new Dragoon's perhaps."

"Ancestor Blano. We urgently need your help. These new Dragoon's are not from our world, they were brought here by Winglies, evil ones. We have been told by one of their warriors, a general no doubt that they are based in a forest not much unlike your own. They told us their own ancestor wants the Dragoon Spirits to regenerate the Moon That Never Sets and become a god by absorbing the moons power itself. We have to get too their forest, destroy them so that their plan can never come true, and get these guys home." Dart quickly explained.

Ancestor processed what Dart had said in his mind and sighed. He knew exactly who was causing all this trouble.

"Gidarl that fool." Blano muttered, "A long time ago there was an old Wingly mage that lived here, his name was Gidarl. He was a powerful wizard but he broke too many of the Wingly Laws, I was forced to banish him. Back then my magic was much more powerful so I duplicated a lesser copy of the forest and sent him there to live forever. I suppose he has rallied an army somehow and has plans for revenge. I do not know how he has rallied an army when the only way I know how to get into the duplicated forest is upstairs. You must stop Gidarl quickly, he can not succeed. This way!" Blano explained before ushering the entire group on to the elevator to the top floor.

As they all shuffled out of the elevator Blano pushed himself to the front of the group.

"The portal was destroyed to avoid anybody coming through but-" Blano said as he started chanting a spell.

It didn't take long for Blano's spell to be fully charged and he released it almost instantly after its power build up was complete. In front of the group a green mass formed and then spread, revealing a large rusty gate that held a portal not unlike the one to get into the actual forest.

"Inside here, is the duplicate forest. You Dragoons must defeat Gidarl. Meru you must stay, you are no longer a dragoon and I fear that you will only hinder their progress." Blano explained.

Meru looked angry but sadly agreed with Ancestor Blano. She walked up to Dart and poked him hard in the chest.

"You all better come back alive after kicking this old guys butt!" She said, poking Dart in the chest again.

Dart grinned as he unsheathed his sword, followed by the rest of the group unsheathing their weapons.

"Let's go." He said as they all stepped through the portal to the duplicate forest.

The forest seemed abandoned. There was no life whatsoever moving throughout the desolate trees. Instead of the lively green that filled the original forest this one was covered in a dull grey. The group stood in the entrance of the forest, surprised by the forests abandonment. Dart took the lead stopping in front of the group.

"Ok guys we know what we're here for. To kill the Ancestor Gidarl and anybody else who gets in our way." He stated bluntly.

The whole group nodded in agreement before Dart spoke up again.

"They had the Earth dragoon spirit, which means that my friend Kongol is either dead or held here somewhere. If he's here, we're getting him out. Also, when we're done here I'm blowing this place to bits so make sure you get out safely." Dart said confidently.

Everyone nodded once more before the group continued onwards. Soon enough they came up to a three way fork in the path.

"Well I don't remember this in the original forest." Mai said.

"That ancestor's lived here so long; he's bound to have made some changes." Darian spoke from behind.

"Well it seems we will have to split up." Shane said quietly.

"I'll go to the right." Tristan said, holding his spear tight as he walked off.

"I'll take left." Darian said, stepping off and waiting for any fellow companions to follow.

"Straight."

"Right."

"Left."

"Left."

"Straight."

After the selections for which paths were being taken going left were Darian, Tara and Shane. Going straight were Dart and Connor and going right were Mai and Tristan. Everyone turned to look at each other one last time. They all nodded, each person knowing their goal. They all turned and set off.

Watching from a liquid pool with a glass cover that reflected whatever the person wanted to see, sitting in an almost exact copy of the ancestor's room was Sean, Nicole, Chaos and Gidarl. Gidarl lifted up his hand as if to make an order. Sean, Nicole and Chaos all stood instantly, waiting for commands.

"Chaos, wait in the healing room. Sean, go down to the prison area. Two of them will be there shortly, wait for them." Gidarl ordered.

Nicole was surprised that she wasn't given anything to do. Gidarl looked at her and grinned.

"And to make sure Chaos does his job-" Gidarl spoke, he cast a quick spell and Nicole passed out on the ground.

Chaos unsheathed his katana and readied himself, anger instantly filling him up.

"What did you do to her!?" he asked urgently.

"I'm just using her as a security to make sure you do your job correctly. If you don't kill them, she dies." Gidarl stated.

Chaos cursed before turning around to leave the room, not saying another word. In his mind though he was thinking about how brutally traitorous his own ancestor was to his pupils. Did he really want to win that much, to use his sister as a bribe? He wouldn't let her die, he couldn't. Sean looked back at Gidarl, a slight flash of anger could be seen in his face. He knew that if Tara was ever taken hostage, despite being on the opposite side Sean would tear them to shreds.

Tristan and Mai ran across the many treelike pathways that littered the right path. They soon realized that they were heading deeper into the depths of the forest village. The trees became blacker and everything looked rotted. The huts were broken open and there was no sign of civilization. Mai slowed to a stop, a look of worry showing on her face.

"What is this place?" Mai asked cautiously, keeping her voice low to avoid any unwanted attention.

Tristan looked around, holding his lance tightly. He didn't see anything of danger but he knew that they weren't entirely safe.

"Looks like a slum of some sort. Didn't know forests could have slums." Tristan said as he walked ahead.

Mai quickly followed him, although she had been alone for quite a while now she didn't exactly want to be left alone in a place like this. They continued to walk along the path, examining the various worn down buildings in the area. Tristan stopped as they passed one building that was the odd one out from the others. Instead of the black forest huts this was completely made out of stone with barred windows.

"It's a stone slab." Mai stated, coming up behind Tristan.

"It's a prison." Tristan stated, "And I think it's why we're here." He said as he slowly opened the door and stepped in.

Mai surprised by his initiative to go straight in quickly followed. Inside was actually quite small. The room was basically split in half by steel bars, hung up on a wall close to them was a rather large axe and behind the bars was an oversized man wearing loincloth and covered in battle scars and odd coloured markings.

Tristan and Mai walked closer to the bars, taking a closer look at the man inside.

"This must be Kongol." Tristan said quietly.

"Hey Kongol, wake up!" Mai called.

Tristan heard something behind them, footsteps, and heavy ones. He tightened the grip on his spear. Kongol slowly stirred from his unconscious state. Looking up slowly he coughed, his deep voice trying to say one thing.

"Behind…" Kongol managed to get out.

Tristan quickly turned around to see exactly who he expected. Mai also turned; shocked that she hadn't heard the three men enter. She was once more shocked that she had known the man who led the other two.

"Sean do you really think sneaking up on us was going to work?" Tristan asked.

Sean hefted his heavy axe, followed by the two Wingly soldiers beside him who unsheathed their blades.

"I wasn't sure, it almost worked didn't it?" Sean asked.

"Actually I heard you on your way in." Tristan confirmed.

"Why is Sean with the enemy?" Mai quickly asked.

"Long story explain later." Tristan said quickly, "Anyways, what do you want with us?" Tristan asked.

Sean pointed a single finger at Tristan and Mai.

"Well Ancestor said if I am to kill you two, then I will be able to bring myself and Tara home. I may be losing some former friends but you guys are too blind to notice this opportunity to get home when it's right in front of your faces, so I must surpass you to get who is most important to me home." Sean explained, "Now ready yourselves."

Tristan readied himself as well as Mai who just took out her battle staff now. Tristan grunted calmly.

"Sean, you're the blind one." Tristan stated.

Dart and Connor only had a short distance to travel through the forest. Since this was only a cloned forest there must be some sort of power source that kept the forest alive. They assumed it was in the center of the city and they were getting quite close to it.

As they continued to run they noticed the buildings growing larger and more developed, no longer just huts but large buildings that looked like they held important things to the village.

Dart skidded to a halt as he noticed two very disturbing things. One, there was an increasingly large force of Winglies assembling in front of them, although they hadn't been caught yet Dart knew it would be better to be careful. Two, there was a large purple cylindrical building that seemed to reek of a powerful essence, and it was also what was being guarded.

Dart skidded to a halt and ducked down behind a hut, he quickly grabbed Connor, him skidding as well as he was dragged back.

"Dart?" Connor asked confusedly.

"We need to get over there, and destroy that tower from the inside." Dart explained.

"So how we gonna do it?" Connor asked.

"A distraction?" Dart suggested.

"A distraction or do you really mean a fight?" Connor asked, unsheathing his two blades.

Dart unsheathed his broadsword and grinned.

"Maybe a little bit of both." He finished.

Darian, Tara and Shane noticed that they were heading up throughout the forest. That only meant one thing; they would be at the ancestor soon. Darian and Shane were both surprised that they hadn't had to fight anybody throughout this small trek, Tara was thankful that she didn't have to kill anybody.

Soon enough they came up to a teleporter. Shane, Darian and Tara nodded to each other before filling out onto the teleporter and activating it. The teleporter compressed their bodies into a green light and sent them off somewhere deeper into the forest.

When the teleportation spell faded they were standing in a pink coloured room with odd circular markings in the center. The three warriors could feel something odd move through their bodies, except it felt good. All of a sudden Tara screamed.

Shane and Darian quickly unsheathed their weapons as they spotted who had taken Tara; standing at the opposite side of the room was Chaos and one other Wingly. Chaos had hold of Tara, his hand over her mouth. Chaos grinned as he passed off Tara to the other Wingly.

"Bring her to the Ancestor." Chaos commanded.

Darian was about to protest but it was too late as the Wingly and Tara disappeared. Chaos slowly unsheathed his katana and grinned. Darian gripped his sword tightly, anger quickly filling his face. Shane was about to charge but Darian held out his arm, stopping him.

"Go back, get Dart and the others and bring them here. I'll hold Chaos off." Darian commanded.

Shane looked stunned but slowly he backed up and went through the teleporter once more to head back, leaving only Chaos and Darian in the room.

"So how does it feel to have your girlfriend taken from you?" Chaos taunted.

Darian almost growled. Chaos was playing with his emotions and doing it well. He hadn't even officially started dating Tara, it was just a kiss and yet Chaos could sense his feelings for her. Darian lifted his blade.

"You bastard." Darian growled.

"Ooh sassy." Chaos laughed.

Darian grunted while Chaos only grinned as they both charged and clashed blades in the middle of the room.

Hehe this chapter took way too long. I'm sorry bout that guys and I can only really say one thing to cover up for me….school has really killed my mood to write and my time. So I write when I have time but updates are gonna be slower starting now ok guys? Thanks for reading, R&R and wait for more!!

Fox