Chapter Six – The Circus Freaks
The group walked up to the Azure door and approached with caution of what may be on the other end, so Zell decided to go first and open the door. There he was greeted by the blue reapers. The group followed in after Zell, and once they heard the cry of the blue reapers and helped eradicate the minor threat with relative ease, which seemed suspicious, as the reapers faded with one wave of a blade, and when the spies were at WOOHP the reapers seemed immortal. Sam and Zell were the only two to recognize this, but disregarded that minor detail shortly thereafter. The group fought their way up a small flight of stairs and there they were greeted by a pair of blue double doors. The group headed in without hesitation, and ready for anything. Upon their entry into the new room which was fairly large and had two flights of stairs on each of its sides. Then several statues appeared and began to move and grow one eye and stood as if it were resembling a crab with six arms and spun it's bow-like hand around and launched blue and red energy at the group.
Mary and Trish were the first to be targeted and as a result Alex, Zell and Sam took the first defensive actions by slicing the energy into pieces. Mary cart wheeled to the side and fired off some shots at the archer Cyclops monsters. Clover and Britney jumped over some shots of the energy arrows and tried to rush the archers with some close combat, but missed when they had seen the speed of the archer monsters' agility. Sam lunged at a archer monster and pierced it with her S saber then threw it into another monster with a quick rotation, and destroyed it. The monster that was struck had been sent flying toward Britney and she sliced the statue in two before it buried an arrow into her skull. Clover jumped over Britney's shoulder and unleashed a wave of lightening at an incoming salvo of red arrows that flew at amazing speed, the lightening jolts shattered the arrows and Mary returned the favor to the monsters by firing her own salvo of mini missiles from the back end of the Kalina Ann and destroyed several arms from the monsters. Trish threw the Force Edge and cut through the remaining monsters, and allowed another wave of monsters, composed of the blue reapers, grey reapers, and the archer Cyclops. Zell and Alex jumped away from the group and ran up the walls to take on the archer Cyclops monsters, and that left the remaining spies and the hunters to take care of the reapers that appeared right in front of the team. Trish threw the Force Edge into a skyward blue reaper and Clover unleashed lightening into it and it burst into pieces, then Trish jumped to recover the Force Edge, then she plummeted herself downward and sliced another reaper in two. Mary pitched a grenade onto a grey reaper's mouth and blew it to smithereens, then fired the grappling blade into another blue reaper and yanked the rope, forcing the reaper to fly toward her. Mary motioned for Sam to finish it off, so Sam thrust her S saber through the center of it's body, and freeing the Kalina Ann's grappling knife and Mary reeled it in. Alex and Zell were taking turns on the archer Cyclopes and Alex was the one who launched them up to Zell. Alex sent them skyward and Zell plummeted them down back to Alex, as though they were playing catch, and they would go on to the next one when the current one shattered. When Zell destroyed the last Archer Cyclops the red door at the top of the stairs made a sound, as if it had just unlocked itself. Thus, Zell led the group to yet another riddled room of mischief. This room; however, was filled with unmoving statues. It also had a wheel on a nearby wall.
"Huh? What do we do here?" Alex asked, slightly disappointed that there was no more fighting to do.
"Does it have something to do with the statues?" Mary inquired with a thoughtful pose.
"Perhaps… no it wouldn't work, would it?" Sam asked herself then walked over to the wheel and attacked it several times and fully lit the torches on it, causing the platform to vibrate and shift upward then fall back down with a hard thud.
"Sammy, what did you just do?" Clover asked surprised at the rumbling of the platform.
"I just hit this thing here." Sam replied and pointed at the glowing wheel.
"Hmm… Girls clear the statues from the platform. I hope my theory is correct again." Zell stated then destroyed one of the statues.
Clover, Britney, Alex, Trish, and Mary each destroyed a statue and then looked around to see if there were any more to break, but quickly noticed that there were none.
"Okay, all of you get on the platform, and if none of you have been hitting the burger shacks then this should take us to the upper level." Zell joked and began to strike the wheel that Sam had hit moments earlier.
The wheel began to glow wildly and suddenly the platform began to escalate, causing the girls to stumble and fall onto their butts.
"Well it's working so far. But I've gotta get on it before it goes too high." Zell laughed at the girls due to the looks on their faces when their butts hit the hard platform, then quickly regained his composure and ran toward the platform. He jumped and barely missed the platform, then tumbled into the wall, hitting his head. Holding his head he jumped off of the wall and escalated high enough to land on the rising platform, and was greeted by some sour faces.
"What were you laughing at?" Sam asked, gently stroking her bottom as she stood up.
"Nothing, nothing." Zell replied casually then shot a quick peek at Sam's body, which he hadn't noticed before.
"Sure, okay. Don't do that again, they'll kill you, and I won't be able to stop them." Sam teased as she moved closer to Zell and embraced his neck.
"Alex, are you alright?" Trish whispered into Alex's ear.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. What about you?" Alex replied, and began to creep toward Trish.
"I'm okay, but shouldn't we be worried about that right now?" Trish said back, then helped Alex stand up, then she pointed to the horde of reapers falling from the sky.
"Zell, Sam get ready!" Alex called out, causing Zell and Sam to look up and get their weapons ready. The others heeded the warning as well, and got into the ready as well.
Sam hopped onto Zell's outstretched arm and he hurled her into the incoming swarm of reapers. Alex and Trish followed suit, as Alex was hurled upward by Trish while Mary provided cover fire from the platform. Britney and Clover flew up to assist their friends, and Zell and Trish stayed on the platform to secure Mary's safety, as several reapers landed onto the platform. Alex, Sam, Clover, and Britney continued upward steadily as they sliced and diced a majority of the reapers, and Mary picked up some of the slack by blowing some of the reapers to pieces with the Kalina Ann missiles and the mini salvos that the Kalina fired. Trish took Mary's left, and Zell covered her right, and they left some space just in case she needed to move to avoid a diving attack. Sam, Alex, Clover, and Britney made excellent usage of their bushido training, as they all had tons of reapers to kill this was the most effective way of doing it. Alex and Clover criss-crossed multiple rows of reapers and they burst into sand instantly. Sam and Britney used the cyclone style of the bushido and rapidly circled a group of descending reapers and tore them all to shreds. Of course while doing all of this some reapers did slip through, so Mary took care of them with a nice juggling then fiery burst from the Kalina Ann, and even after this defense some still managed to get onto the platform, so the last line, Zell and Trish, made their moves. Zell kicked a green reaper upward a little then he distorted it with a double spin move, where he slashed diagonally downward, then rotated and slashed diagonally upward, causing the green reaper to shatter. Trish upward slashed another green reaper, then threw the Force Edge and lodged it in the reaper's body, then jump kicked the sword through the body of the reaper and shattered it with little effort. After a matter of moments they group was at the top o the lift. There they were greeted by more green reapers and spotted a green door just beyond the three rows of reapers.
"There's the door we need! Fight through!" Zell blared with Wolf Tail in hand, and charged into the crowd of reapers.
Mary, Clover, Trish, Alex, Sam, and Britney followed almost instantly and quickly broke into groups of two. It was Sam and Zell; Clover, Britney and Mary; and lastly Trish and Alex. Sam and Zell cross slashed the first row of green reapers, sending two waves of energy tearing across the room. Trish and Alex cleaned up with an attack similar to the one that Sam and Zell used, only it was using rapid thrusts and samurai style speed slashes and when the after effects kicked in the green reapers that were attacked by Trish and Alex burst into waves of yellow energy. Britney and Clover unleashed the full power of the S sabers and released two huge crescent waves of red and blue energy, tearing through the majority of the remainder of the reapers. Mary finished with Clover, flying into the air and the two of them fired off rounds and wiped the remaining reapers into oblivion with a huge cloud of sand. When it all cleared, the two girls walked up to the green door with the rest of the group.
"Nice shooting, Clover." Mary complimented with a smile.
"Um, thanks. That was my first time with an actual gun." Clover replied, slightly blushing.
"Really? I could kinda tell with the way you handled the guns." Mary said, then wrapped an arm around Clover's slender figure.
"S-so… um, could you show me the right way to use them?" Clover asked, blushing more.
"Hmmm…I don't see why I shouldn't. Here, show me how you hold it." Mary replied with a small, but enthusiastic smile, as she gave Clover an empty handgun.
"…Like this, right?" Clover muttered nervously, holding the weapon slightly downward and crooked.
"No, no… It's like this. Here let me show you what I mean." Mary said then moved behind Clover's figure to realize that she was one inch taller than Clover, and help Clover to hold the gun correctly.
"Oh, I see now. So like this?" Clover asked in a pleased and excited manner, holding the weapon more straight and with both hands to steady her aim.
"Yes, that's it. You've got it now." Mary smiled gleefully and let a small giggle escape her lips, causing the whole team to stop and see what was going on.
"S-so guys, do you all have any idea of what we'll be facing in the next room?" Clover asked with a blush trying to hide the fact that she enjoyed Mary's body touching against her own.
"Hopefully nothing. I don't detect any of the reapers at least." Zell replied with a deep sigh, which seemed to catch Sam's attention.
"I have yet to sense their presence either. So let's hope that we can get a small break." Trish added slowly placing her blade on her back.
"Hey, guys, let's take a break for a bit. This area's clear, so we'll be safe for a while, right?" Britney asked between breaths as she ran to stop the group from advancing any further.
"Hmmm… what say you all?" Zell asked with his eyes closed and arms crossed as if he was trying to formulate a plan.
"I think we could all use the rest." Clover stated with a hand high in the air.
"A little rest shouldn't hurt anybody, don't you all agree?" Alex chimed in and moved closer to Trish who was resting on the stairs.
"Yeah, Zell. You and Alex need it the most." Sam added as she wrapped her arms around Zell's waist from behind him, discovering that she was a bit smaller than her newfound crush.
"Besides, Vergil already knows that we're coming for him. He wouldn't waste his energy killing normal humans, would he?" Trish asked, she didn't really know Vergil personally.
"According to Dante, he wouldn't unless he was certain that it would bring us out of hiding and it'll give us more drive to beat him." Alex replied and sighed, then there was a long silence.
"You aren't serious, are you?" Clover asked shocked at the explanation.
"Yeah, it seems that way." Alex stated with one more sigh and sat a bit away from Trish.
"Alex, are you okay?" Trish asked, then sat next to Alex and Alex leaned her head on Trish's shoulder.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" Alex replied dryly, with her eyes closed.
"Zell, maybe we should stop and rest for a while." Trish, Mary, Clover, Britney and Sam stated, almost simultaneously.
"O-okay. Yeah, I don't see why we can't stop for a moment." Zell stated kindly then sat at a nearby set of stairs with Sam at his side.
After several long minutes of warm embraces and silent, but caring gestures toward one another they decided that it was time to head forward. They proceeded to the next area, which was a yellow doorway. The group was greeted by a very narrow passage of stairs on the other side of the door. The girls followed Zell cautiously across the stairway and when they got in the middle of the stairs, the stairs collapsed. Alex, Sam, Clover, and Britney activated their jetpack backpacks and hovered over the area where the stairs had just fallen, in shock of what happened. Sam, and Alex flew downward toward the rest of the group, as Clover and Britney followed, and were greeted by their friends battling some red and white reapers. The girls quickly prevented an aerial ambush as they all took out their S sabers and deflected the red crescent flames that were hurled toward the hunters and Zell.
"What took you all so long?" Zell joked as he kicked a reaper into a wall and it burst into blood.
"We forgot you all didn't have gadgets like us, so we came to make sure you all didn't die on us." Britney replied in an equally joking manner then tackled a reaper into a gate then filled it with the beam of her weapon.
"Good, at least you aren't as thoughtless as I had thought." Zell mumbled and stomped an incoming reaper's skull into the wet floor beneath him.
The girls rid the small basement type room of the new reapers then were shown a blinding light that seemed to serve as a portal, as it wasn't any other way out the room but up, and didn't have enough juice to make multiple trips or any trips that exceeded the weight limit of the jetpacks.
"Everybody grab a hand. I'm not too trusting of lights that appear out of nowhere, so just to be safe we pair up." Zell instructed then took Sam's hand. Alex followed suit with Trish, and Mary with both Clover and Britney, then the groups each went into the light one at a time. They all appeared at the entrance from the yellow door again and walked to the now open giant red double doors that were to the right of the yellow entrance.
The group was surprised to find that there was seemingly nothing in the room except a dozen holes coming from the walls.
" That's it? I was hoping for a way out of this creepy place!" Clover whined and plopped onto the ground of the long curved corridor.
"Huh… I'd thought there'd be some monster around…" Zell glanced around quickly sizing his surroundings.
There was a long silence, then it was followed by a blood curdling screech. The sound dropped all to their knees and covering their ears in pain. Alex stood up and realized that something big was coming. She grabbed Trish and Zell, the strongest two, and helped them stand with great effort on her part, but almost immediately dropped them when the screech stopped and a giant bug appeared, surging with purple electricity.
"Uh-oh…" Alex stammered as she caught sight of the gigapede monster.
"W-what is that thing!" Clover cried out in fear.
"That's… no… It can't be…" Mary gasped as she caught sight of the giant bug like creature.
"Damn… not again…" Zell fumed, then cracked the ground with a powerful punch that shook the entire ground, the he stood up with little noticeable effort and helped the other spies get up.
Britney, Mary and Clover stationed up side-by-side and awaited Zell's next command. However there was no next command. The five girls all gasped when they saw what he was holding – Sam, in his arms and he said nothing as the gigapede soared overhead and into the hole beneath the entrance of the room.
"Looks like you all will be taking this one." Zell smirked darkly.
"What do you mean?" Britney asked, staring at her friend in his arms.
"You don't need me to take out the overgrown pest. Sam is still unstable, and very vulnerable to the effects of the Z gene. We can't take a risk on this one. I'll sit this one out and try to treat Sam." Zell explained as though someone was going to die. Then he found a place underneath a pillar where he was able to try to wake her up.
"I'm leading this time. Move out, and find a way to get onto that thing. When you do, attack like crazy." Alex explained, then the gigapede flew out from the hole beneath the entrance, where the girls were.
Alex and Trish jumped onto the gigapede's back, Mary ran along the side and supported with a little fire of her own, and Britney and Clover flew on the sides and attacked with all of their might.
Zell was near the opposite side of the battle and tried to make sure that the Z gene hadn't killed Sam just yet, as the power weakens the immune system of the person, and they undergo change like puberty. Zell had figured the gloves that he'd given Sam would be enough, but it was a slight miscalculation on his part.
Alex and Trish slashed the body of the gigapede, causing it to decay and when one section was dark brown and green, they jumped to the next small section of the body that wasn't already being destroyed by Clover and Britney. Clover and Britney were slashing opposite sides of the monster in order to get it to fall, but only ended up doing the same thing s Alex and Trish, except it was going from the sides. Mary got the easiest part, as she didn't really have to move from her location. Her Kalina Ann fired off some homing rounds that dealt massive damage and gradually began to slow the large monster.
Zell was having little luck in determining the status of Sam's Z gene, as he had none of his usual equipment, but was able to wake her up. He tried calling her name, shaking her, calling her name again, shaking her more frantically, tickling her, and finally he kissed her. The kiss woke her up, as if it were taken straight out of a fairy tale, but he didn't care. He enjoyed the kiss, even if it was one sided, but she was alive, so his mission wasn't failed just yet.
At the same time, the other girls had finally taken down the gigapede and found Zell and Sam once again, and like the other tomes, they were whispering to each other. Britney crept over and cleared her throat loudly which surprised Sam, and she nearly fell over Zell.
"Are you two lovebirds ready? We've taken care of the threat." Trish asked with a smirk of satisfaction.
"Yeah, so where is the—" Zell began to ask, but was stopped by the sudden appearance of another portal.
"Sam, Clover, Mary, Britney you all stay here. We'll go check things out here." Zell instructed.
"I want to go with you all. I have to be certain that my father's dead." Mary stated defiantly.
"Okay, but don't die on us okay?" Zell retorted carelessly, then led the four through the portal.
On the other side of the portal was a pale man in a purple jester's costume laughing in the same tone that The Joker uses, causing Mary to freeze in shock of what she was seeing. Trish and Zell noticed Mary's reaction and assumed that the jester was her father.
"N-no… I-I killed you…" Mary mumbled in a frightened tone.
"Come now Mary, if you think that then you'll just have to suffer a spanking from daddy later! Jester's gonna spank your butt, spank you on the butt…?" Jester replied then was interrupted by Alex.
"Oh, brother… Don't tell me that we have to fight a freak like you." Alex sighed and pulled out the Ebony and Ivory handguns from the rear holster and fired at Jester.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Come now Alexandra, I've been watching you, and I know that if you had any of the skills that the devil-boy inside you had, then I would've been Swiss cheese by now." Jester laughed like the Joker as he dodged the bullets with blinding speed.
"N-no… NOOOOOOO! This isn't happening! You're supposed to be dead! I killed you, I know I did. You died at my feet! You can't be here… you just can't…" Mary cried out then, in tears of the painful memory, and in pain of what he did to his wife, swung the bladed portion of the Kalina Ann at Jester with relative ease, and after several attempts she torn a piece of his outfit and it fell to the ground.
"OOOOoooooohhhhh… Well, well Mary. It looks like you'll provide more of a challenge this time, no?" Jester asked as he stared at the cloth on the floor, then spun around and appeared next to Mary with a blade in each hand, one black with a snake engraved on it in the left, and the other silver with a piranha-like handle in the right.
"Not today you circus reject!" Alex stated then appeared with the Rebellion in hand, near his neck on one side.
"If anybody's falling today it's you!" Trish added from the opposite side with the Force Edge pointed at his neck.
"So be a good freak and die quietly." Zell appeared to Mary's right and had his Tournesol weapon, which was the golden blade, in a similar fashion pointed at Jester's neck, but his was more into his neck, causing purple blood to escape the pale blue neck of the demon.
"Oh, poopy… Looks like you lose this round!" Jester cackled then burst into dust and appeared outside of the circle and kicked Trish into Alex.
"So it begins…" Zell huffed silently and charged at Jester with speed rivaling that of Sonic the Hedgehog.
The two were locked in an intense game of push, as Zell and Jester were using their weapons to force the other back. Zell, who was using only one sword had to move faster, as Jester had two blades out. Zell and jester clashed blades with such ferocity that the sound echoed throughout the room, and even to where the other spies were. Suddenly, Zell was caught in a recoil and couldn't regain his momentum, then Alex and Trish joined the battle. The two girls deflected the two blades and forced Jester into the air, then Mary bombarded Jester with a salvo of missiles from the Kalina Ann's rear and frontal sides, each impact adding to the enormous explosion from the one prior. Zell and Alex added to the damage with some support fire from their guns(Gunblade for Zell). Then as the smoke cleared the jester stood there with the carnal smile on his face, as if from some twisted satisfaction then said with the voice of Arkham, Mary's father.
"My, my… looks as if my little Mary has finally grown strong. I'm very proud of you. Even if I was irrational in my actions of that life I still cared for you… After all… I AM your father…" The figure waved his hand, then patted his butt at the group and exploded into confetti, thus leaving the two swords behind.
"Are you okay, Mary?" Zell asked as he approached his new comrade who was sitting down on the ground crying.
"Y-yeah… I'm okay. Look what he left you two…" Mary replied and pointed at the two Devil's Arms: Merciless, and Alastor.
"Hmm. At least we get a reward." Zell joked and pulled the Merciless from the face engraved in the center of the room.
"Yeah, but something's kinda not right here though…" Alex stated then approached the Alastor.
The Alastor had charged at Alex, but thanks to her reflexes she managed to avoid any life threatening damages, except she was missing her left forearm. This sudden occurrence shocked the team, at least all who saw it, and suddenly Dante released a seal on Alex's body and she was glowing with a yellow aura and appeared as a yellow female version of Sparda. At that very moment, the Force Edge that Trish was holding, morphed into a new and more powerful weapon; the Sparda. When Alex reverted from her demon form she collapsed and her missing arm was replaced with a yellow arm that had a very pale blue fingers and palm and very sharp nails on it. Her spy suit had become a long yellow trench coat with a black piece of leather covering the breast area. And to add more change, the Rebellion had disappeared and in its place was the Red Queen, and on her hip was a large revolver that was recognized by Trish as the Blue Rose revolver.
"Now how did Dante manage to do that?" Trish mumbled is slight surprise at the new arsenal of weapons that Alex possessed.
"We'll worry about that after she wakes up. Lot's go. There's the way out." Zell said and grabbed Alex, careful not to bring any blades to any skin and headed toward the portal, only to find out that the spies were being attacked by bloodgoyles. Trish, Mary and the other spies broke out into groups to reduce the damages total, and the girls with blade-type weapons slashed the bloodgoyles in two only to find out that they multiplied when cut, so Mary blew the goyles into stone, where the spies finished them off with relative ease afterward. Then after all of the bloodygoyles were gone an object fell from the sky and was picked up by Sam.
"What's that Sammy?" Clover asked as she saw Sam examining the round object.
"It's something that goes into a gate or something…" Sam replied slowly, unsure of what she was holding.
"Looks like the thing that goes into the nailed up gate we saw in the room before." Mary added, wiping tears from her eyes.
"What's wrong Mary?" Clover asked and approached her new friend.
"Nothing… I-it's nothing. I'll be fine. C'mon we have to keep going." Mary replied softly.
After a bit of scouting ahead by Zell and Sam, Alex shot up with a jolt and smacked lips with Trish who was looking over her while the rest of the group recuperated and planned their next move. Luckily for the two girls, there was no one around to catch sigh of what they were doing, as Alex was a bit afraid of what her three best friends would think if they found out, but then she was hit with a thought: Why would they judge me? We've been friends for all of this time… they wouldn't judge me… would they? The thought was quickly released from her mind as she shared yet another passionate moment with Trish. Within the next few minutes Zell returned with Sam, who seemed to be going through the most trouble due to the Z gene's activity. This also meant that she would begin to get a significant amount of attention from Zell now, which she did want. The group was getting closer as friends and more, but the next encounter was going to be one that they may regret.
"Lord Vergil, I come with the news of the whereabouts of Dante…" Spoke a figure in a well fitting black suit.
"Well, then I suspect that he, or she, will have already been to battle Cerberus, and made it in unscathed." Vergil stated with a chilling enthusiasm.
"Yes sire. I have determined that Dante's reborn self is in fact female. And I happen to be an old rival of hers, and a former lover of one of her friends." The Suited figure added as he and Vergil stared over the top of the Temen-Ni-Gru and out toward the WOOHP building as it was being engulfed by the darkness of the night.
"So tell me about this girl who you claim has my brother's power. I want sufficient details of your encounters with them, and what their weaknesses may be." Vergil demanded in the emotionless cool demeanor that he knew so well.
"Yes, now where to start? Oh yes, I was an agent in their organization, as an intelligence agent, then I made a name for myself by utilizing their technology, and as a result I befriended the red headed girl whose name is Sam and had acquired me as a boyfriend at one point, but then I turned her loose as it wasn't enough for me and broke her heart, and as for the one who has Dante's power… She is more athletic and she has a knack for sports and seems to have an astonishing speed and strength parameter. This girl's name is Alex and is the youngest of the team of three. I warn you though sir, they have a type of bond that makes them almost inseparable." The Suit explained with a stern and dark tone.
"Hmmm… that is enough info. Now I want you to find them within the tower Scam, and disorient them to the best of you ability. And use this." Vergil ordered and gave Scam a pendant that glowed with a white aura.
"Yes Sire. I shall not fail you." Tim Scam stated with a bow, then took the pendant and disappeared into a dark portal into the ground.
After relaying the message to the remainder of the team, Zell decided that it was time for them to cross the hidden stairwell to the heavily nailed large coffin, which housed a component to place that spherical object that the group found. They left the gigapede's lair and walked into the previous room. Zell and Alex had led the way to the other side with their team and as they took the hands of their team and walked across the invisible path which rippled each time someone took a step on the path. The ripples formed and appeared to look like puddles of blood. The only person who noticed this was Sam, although she said nothing about it.
"Okay, put the item in the opening." Zell stated and stood back to watch.
"Alright…" Sam said then reluctantly placed they Soul of Steel into the opening in the large coffin.
The coffin had began to open and revealed a door, and in it was Tim Scam. The sight of him made Sam shiver and made Britney, Clover, and Alex red with fury. Zell, Mary, and Trish were confused as to why they reacted the way they did.
"What's the matter girls?" Scam asked with a dark smile on his face.
"Don't take that tone with us, you bastard!" Clover snarled, suddenly furious and her S saber was emanating red sparks of lightening.
"What? That's how you greet an old friend?" Scam asked deviously, and then he held out a pendant.
"You aren't one of us, so back off!" Alex yelled, and her new arm began to glow.
"What's going on Sam?" Zell asked, watching the scene grow more intense by the second, he could smell the fear and uneasiness coming from Sam.
"Oh, I've never told anyone this, and I hope that I never will have to again, but that guy was an old boyfriend. He used me to try to get to WOOHP…" Sam replied, her voice breaking with each word as she recalled the broken relationship.
"You don't have to remember that. I'll gladly put out of your misery, my dear." Scam stated darkly then began to step toward Sam.
"No, you won't be doing anything to her!" Britney jumped in front of both Sam and Zell, blocking Sam's view of Tim Scam.
"I'll never be just a memory to her. Shall I reveal to you all her final words to me?" Scam replied darkly, relishing this opportunity to destroy something that was becoming dear to Sam.
"What's that thing?" Mary asked noticing the white pendant.
"This is a little device I was given by Lord Vergil. It shows me the deepest memories of the person I'm thinking of. And I'm thinking of a certain red headed girl that seems to have been getting attached to a certain dog in the area." Scam explained casually as he eyed the pendant in his hand.
"Don't believe it. It's just a bunch of lies!" Sam cried and kneeled down onto the ground and dreaded what happened next.
The group was engulfed in a strange light and they were shown an image of Sam and she was talking to Tim Scam on the WOOHP heliport. She was in tears of the events that led to him being arrested and her disbelief that he had committed the crimes and said all of the things he did with a straight, emotionless face. Then he'd told her the reason he faked the love they shared and then the display was over after Sam said that she'd never love another guy again. This display amused Tim Scam, as it was going as he'd hoped. Zell stood there in shock of what he'd just seen, and now he smelled more fear on Sam's person. She drooped over herself and was nearly in a fetal position on the ground. She was becoming an emotional wreck.
"Hmph… She won't admit it now but she used to love me with a passion, but that's gone now." Scam smirked and stepped toward Sam.
"You will not lay a finger on our Sammy!" Alex yelled with the Alastor sword in her demonic hand, she was to the right of Sam.
"If you want to get to her, you'll have to go through us." Britney added coolly with her S saber at max power crossing Alex's Alastor sword, she was to the left of Sam.
"But you won't even get a chance to touch us either." Clover added as she stood in front of the two criss-crossing blades with her S saber in her hand and at full power as well.
"Oh you girls…" Scam giggled evilly then out of the pendant came a giant red sword that resembled a bloodgoyle. He took the sword and swung it and knocked the three girls out of the way and walked toward Sam.
The three girls quickly recovered and charged at Scam, but he defended with the enormous weapon with relative ease and held the girls at bay.
"Zell, kill Scam! He wants to kill Sam!" Clover yelled snapping Zell out of his shock.
"Make him pay for what he did to her. We aren't strong enough to even crack this." Alex added with a loud grunt. Then as if he had sneezed, the three girls were flung out of the way yet again, but this time they all hit the wall and were knocked out.
"Zell, do you believe what I've shown you? Or do you believe those insolent girls?" Scam asked with a dark toothy grin.
"Um… I-I don't know…" Zell responded with a hollow tone, as if his heart had been pulled from the nerves and held his head down.
"Not good. You should have learned to trust you elders by now kid." Scam grimly spoke and held up the Bloodgoyle blade high above his head and brought it down with enormous force over Sam.
The blade was shattered by Zell when Sam let out a loud scream, breaking him from his trance. The night was completely visible from the area that the group was and there was a full moon this night. Thus Zell's fully fledged wolf form was exposed to Trish, Mary, and Sam.
"You aren't goint to lay a sinlge finger on her. Not even on a strand of her hair." Zell growled as he stood on his hind legs, thus revealing a long, puffy, silvery wolf tail coming from his in between his back pockets, razor sharp wolf claws from his gloves, and metallic red fur highlights on his head of silver and black.
"So the rumors were right…" Scam gasped and was gripped by the neck inside of Zell's crushing grip.
"Zell, stop!" Sam called out, stunning the newly awakened beast.
"Why are you calling off your attack dog Samantha? Ate your feeble emotions clouding your judgment again?" Scam mocked, trying to pry himself of Zell's powerful claws. Then, as if on hnting instinct, Zell tightened his grip, crushing Scam's windpipe.
"Stop it!" Sam yelled again, screaming as loud as her lungs would allow.
Finally, Zell dropped Scam to the ground and he fell with a loud thud and his body lay limp on the ground. Zell pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to Trish and gestured toward the three unconscious girls. Trish caught the small white item and rushed over to aid her new comrades and wake them again. She started with Clover, then to Britney, and lastly to her unofficial lover, Alex. Sam slowly walked over to Scam's limp body and examined it carefully, then checked for a pulse in multiple areas. Zell punched his fist into his other hand and reverted to his human self, emitting a red aura due to the magnitude of his transformation ant stayed quiet during the entire time. Sam turned to face Zell after she confirmed that Scam was truly and fully dead.
"…" Zell sighed and turned away, unsure of what to believe from the recent events.
"I-I'm…sorry…" Sam said quietly as Zell turned away from her, as if her actions disgusted him, which they did.
"Trish, are they coming to?" Zell asked as he passed Trish and stopped in front of the newly opened gateway.
"Yeah. They should be alright in a few minutes." Trish replied with slight enthusiasm, as she was walking Alex to a more stable part of the room.
"Alright. Then I'm going to scout ahead while they rest. I have to blow off some steam…" Zell stated then walked off into the next chamber without a word. There he was greeted by two bodies, one blue and the other red. They stopped Zell from going an further.
"Brother, look! We've another guest!" Blue said happily.
"Yes, I see. But how should we entertain him?" Red asked, confused.
"Hmmm… I don't know…" Blue stated with disappointment.
"Ugh, will you two cut that out!" Zell blared, "That's really annoying!"
"Oh no, our guest is furious." Blue said with a gasp.
"Brother, what is furious?" asked Red.
"…" Blue replied then was interrupted by Zell.
"Hey! Listen, your guest wants to get through!" Zell yelled and pointed at the doors the two were guarding.
Suddenly and without a word, the two took off their heads and jumped off their posts and onto the ground on the other side of the room.
"Hmph, too bad for you, I just had bad moment, and now you two are going to be my anger relief." Zell stated as he pulled out two swords.
The two bodies had taken their heads and turned them into swords and charged at Zell, who simply jumped over both of them and slashed their backs and severed the arm of the blue body, then kicked the red body into the wall on the opposite wall and cratered it. The girls on the other side of the gate only heard the thuds and couldn't get through as the gates were closed. Zell finished the blue body with a hard combo of 75 rush hits ending with a burst of fire that resembled a nuclear explosion. Yet again, the girls head the impact on the other side of the wall and Sam began to get worried, like when Zell had choked Tim Scam before her very eyes. When the red body came back it realized the blue body was gone, so the red body summoned the blue sword and thus began the clash of the dual wielders.
Zell and the red body attacked each other and deflected the other's attacks and sent waves of fire and wind at each other, skidding across the room and dashing at the opponent with amazing speeds. Zell had grown tired of playing with the red body, so he used his special ability. He stopped time and delivered 100 critical blows to the red body then nuked it with another huge blast of fire, and the body disappeared and the two swords landed in the middle of the area and they began to talk.
"Brother, why does it take so long for us to find those who can surpass us?" The red head said.
"I do not know the answer to that, but I can say that I'm quite pleased that we have met such a capable wielder." Replied the blue head.
"So would you take us along with you?" Both heads asked.
"Yeah, yeah, shut up already. Not more talking okay?" Zell answered bluntly then took the two swords of fire and wind and placed them on his back, then the doors on both sides grinded loudly and opened.
Sam was the first one in the room and she jumped onto Zell's back with tears in her eyes. Zell said nothing, he just scoffed and folded his arms. The other girls walked in and asked one question: "Where do we go next?" all in unison. The girls asked then suddenly go quiet when Sam thudded hard onto the round.
"You have some explaining to do…" Zell stated with the red Gunblade pointing at Sam's face. They all knew he meant business.
"Zell, does she really have to go through with that? It was painful enough when it was brought up just now." Clover interjected, and moved the blade from her friend's face.
"Please, Zell. Don't make me have to go through that again… I can't stand that guy, and I'm mad that I was a fool to let him trick me that way. I'm sorry. Please, I'm saying this because I love you." Sam's eyes sparkled with tears as she spoke the last three words. Zell almost dropped his sword in amazement and slowly kneeled down and gave her and apologetic hug, and she returned it.
"I love you too, Sam…" Zell whispered in her ear as their tears dropped onto each other's shoulders.
After a brief amount of time, the two released each other and stood up and Sam had a genuinely content smile at Zell then the two led the rest of the group deeper into the tower.