Combat Training

"So, Aster, Johnny, who's the new guy? Scrierea asked.

"This is Rayde, a warrior from the past." Aster answered, "I used my reality-bending powers to bring him here because Johnny and I were getting overwhelmed by the golems."

"Okay. I guess that we should put him back right?" Scry said.

"No." Rayde turned, "I saw the way that Aster fought, it was rather deplorable, and needs a lot of work, besides, I know an element that's been lost to this world."

"And that would be?" Scry said, slightly annoyed at his refusal.

"Plasma." Rayde said simply, "None of you know how to use it, and probably won't ever learn, along with that, I also have a friend that still lives whom I wish to speak to."

"Oh, forgot about that element…" Scry said, "Alright, time to head back, Rayde, I hope that you have your own mode of transport—"

Scrierea was interrupted by a pair of crystal wings appearing on Rayde's back. "-tation." Scry finished, "Okay, let's go."

And so they took off toward the Bermuda Triangle to rejoin the other elementals and to continue Aster's training.

As they walked up to the entrance of the temple, Dekrosna happened to be outside and see them, "Hello Scrierea, Aster, Johnny, and—" Dekrosna stopped short at the sight of Rayde.

"Hello Dekrosna, it's been a long time hasn't it?" Rayde said nonchalantly.

"R-Ray-Rayde?!" Dekrosna cracked out, "Is that really you from the dead?"

"Yes, thanks to your little cousin here, he brought me back from that tomb, which protected me from chronic abrasion." Rayde said.

"Rayde, it's been at least ten millennia! How can you be so casual about this?" Dekrosna asked

"Because, I never really knew I was dead, one second I was falling from the platform that Kaze had raised, the next I appeared next to Aster, he apparently saw everything that happened and so, filled me in." Rayde explained, "One other thing though, I knew that weren't actually a dragon."

Dekrosna grinned, "Same old Rayde." He slapped his back and led them inside.

They met up with Ultima who had come back earlier with Artemis and Leda.

"Hello Rayde, somehow I knew you'd come back." Ultima said warmly

"Ah yes, Ultima. I saw you as a phoenix back then, so what happened to you?" Rayde asked.

"Well, the light decided that I needed to be a human, so my spirit was infused with a human seed that was being conceived and I became a human." Ultima explained.

"That makes sense, but that doesn't explain what's happening now, also, I always saw you with a raven. Who was that?" Rayde asked.

"That was Rogue, and that is all I'll say on the matter, either way, now that I've seen you face to face, and I'm sure that Aster was the one to bring you back, I think he can continue his elemental training." Ultima surmised.

"Absolutely not." Rayde said, "What he needs now is combat training, not elemental training. I saw the way he fought, it was rough, but still not good; he was using more magic than sword."

"Well, you're the combat expert then, you teach him." Ultima turned to him.

"That is what I plan to do." Rayde then started to the meadow, where Aster did his training.

As they walked out into the meadow, Aster began taking out his swords, and Rayde turned and said, "Put those, away, we won't begin with real swords, I might hurt you if we do."

Aster did as he was told right as a wooden sword was tossed to him. He caught it and took a stance. Rayde took a defensive stance and said, "Show me what you've got."

Aster lunged at Rayde and began hacking and slashing at him, but to no avail. Rayde blocked each attack that Aster sent his way, then finally countered and sent him halfway across the meadow.

"After every attack, you leave yourself open; you need to keep your attacks close to you, so that you won't be left open. Also, I forgot something." Rayde turned and tossed Aster another sword, "Since you'll be using two swords, you should train with two swords as well. Now come at me."

Aster eagerly complied, hacking and slashing with more precision, but still just hacking and slashing. Rayde eventually began dodging his blows, "You'll have to deal with a variety of foes, some agile, some slow but powerful. Let's see how well you do with an agile foe."

Rayde's constant dodging began to frustrate Aster to a great degree, so much so that his eyes began to turn silver, and then slowly dull to a charcoal grey. Rayde repelled him and then sent him across the meadow again.

Aster was angry. None of his attacks worked, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He began transforming into the form of his anger. His normally silver wings were now charcoal grey. The air around Aster began to warp and turn hot. The ground around him began to die and become desolate. His hair then turned completely black, and his clothes faded to a charcoal grey. He stood and looked at Rayde with grey, slitted eyes, and then his swords rose up and sped toward Aster, however, he was no longer Aster.

He roared an inhuman roar, and ran at Rayde. Rayde immediately disappeared, grabbed his fang sword, and attacked the creature that Aster had become. Oddly enough, Rayde couldn't even touch him. The creature was on level with him, and didn't seem to be relenting.

Ultima saw what was going on, and immediately got Dekrosna who was in his study. Dekrosna saw what Aster had become and immediately stopped time. The creature kept moving, but realized that Rayde was no longer moving. He stopped and looked at Dekrosna, "Why did you do that?!" His voice was no longer his, it was warped and beastly.

"I know you aren't Aster, so who are you?" Dekrosna questioned, while taking a stance.

"Yes, I'd like to know that too." Ultima, who was unaffected by Dekrosna's power because of his ability to move at the speed of light and faster, agreed.

"You're right, I'm not Aster." He confirmed, "My name is Satre, his alter-ego. Everything he can do, I can do. And as you may have surmised, I know all that he can learn already, so I'm much more powerful than he is."

"Why have you appeared?" Ultima asked.

"I have appeared to help him defeat this arrogant idiot." He gestured to the still frozen Rayde. "He was too weak to do it, and his anger and frustration gave me entry."

"Very well then." Ultima raised his hand, "Purifying Light!"

A bright light engulfed Satre. He roared in pain and retracted his presence before he was eradicated. The light disappeared revealing an unconscious Aster, his regular features restored, and his swords sheathed.

Dekrosna positioned himself between Aster and Rayde, waved his hand to resume time, and drew his sword. As the hands of time began to turn again, Rayde stopped short before he hit Dekrosna, then said, "What the hell happened to him?"

"An alter-ego that appeared under extreme anger or frustration, or both." Ultima walked up to his ward. "He was angry and frustrated that he couldn't even land a single hit on you, while you just seemed to be toying with him."

"Ah, I see. I'll be more careful about his training then." Rayde said.

"What do you suggest we do now, Ultima?" Dekrosna asked.

"We wait for the others, and we wait for Aster to wake up." Ultima answered.

I'm back! I'm terribly sorry for being so late on this update, but I can't help it when the motherboard on my last computer fried. I got a new one and had to figure out Windows 7 and now I'm back to writing.

One other thing, He is not in this story, but he's mentioned quite often, so I'll go ahead and say that Kaze belongs to Arrowsight as well as Rayde. All credit for Kaze goes to him.

Oh noes! Aster's got an inner demon! We'll see what he does with it as the story goes on. Tell me what you think!

-Ultima