Hey guys, sorry for the wait! I might put up character profiles for the O.C.s early so check my profile from time to time. A thank you to all who have been supporting/reviewing/following along.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

~ Return of an Old Rival ~

The wind howls as the clouds part to reveal the silver orb floating high above a tattered warehouse. Her beams illuminate an august creature sitting atop the roof of that warehouse. One wing juts out from a side of his head and its scales gleam in the dim light of the moon as the movement of air causes it to flap slightly. The demonic being watches as a small cloaked figure runs towards the warehouse dragging a bundle wrapped in a dark cloak. A few moments later, a loud noise caused by the sudden opening of the warehouse doors fills the air.

"I'm back!" a childish voice greets from the door.

A pair of iridescent, glowing eyes opens half way in an unlit corner of the dark space and a pair of iridescent, glowing eyes belonging to a young man sitting atop a scarcely illuminated crate turns to the childish boy.

"You got her?" the youth from atop the crate asks casually.

"Yup," replies the young boy. He drags a wrapped bundle into view to show the youth on the crate. "She's not in good condition though…"

"That doesn't matter." the voice from the unlit corner says.

"She was a good joke…" the youth atop the crate chuckles.

The small boy snickers. "So what do we do with her?"

"Don't ask me, how would I know." the youth atop the crate says as he turns a page of his magazine.

"Where's Lok?" the young boy asks.

In a few moments, a loud thump sounds in reply to his question. The boy turns to the highest crate in the warehouse to see a figure standing tall on the crate under the opening in the roof. The wind plays carefully with the creature's lopsided platinum hair and falls still when the creature folds its rough wing.

"I find...

My quest is opposed.

A kingdom there exists,

Two knights

Savoring the contemporary.

Enemies declared,

My armies engage."

The one called Lok stops reciting and turns to the one reading a magazine. He calls to him an an authoritative tone, "Wyvynn."

The youth atop the crate turns to him. "Yeah, big bro?"

"Take Kull to the altar."

"You got it." Wyvynn says, closing the magazine he was reading.

He jumps off the crate and throws the magazine in his hands behind him. He then makes his way to the small boy in an arrogant manner and takes the bundle from him. He slings it over his shoulder with one hand and strides out. The small boy watches as he disappeared off and then turns to the one winged humanoid.

"Hey," the boy calls to him.

"Hm?" the pale creature answers.

"I'm gonna go for some entertainment." the boy says. "That ok?"

"Do what you want." he tells him as he spreads his wing and leaps back up through the opening in the roof.

"Ciao then." the boy says as he turns to go.

The pair of iridescent glowing eyes in the unlit corner opens fully as the boy leaves. Its owner stands up and leaps over the many crates between him and the door. He turns back to the opening in the roof one last time.

"I'm going out too."

...

The sounds of the night eventually fade and the light that nurtures life returns. Soft chirping fills the warm air of late May but all of it is ignored and unheard inside a well lit dojo. A two toned blue haired boy leans against a wall in the dojo listening to two of his teammates quarrel over trivial matters as a brown haired girl scolds them and tries to quiet them down. A small brown haired boy tries to work on something on his laptop but gives up due to his inability to concentrate in the noisy environment. Watching them with uneasy eyes is a blond haired boy and a black haired boy.

On the roof of the dojo above these seven youths unaffected by the quarreling below is a slender, golden haired girl happily twirling with great balance as some birds fly past her and greet her.

"For the last time, Daichi, quit eating all the snacks in the house and leave some for other people!" Tyson yells.

"But I'm hungry and besides, grandpa said it's ok!" Daichi returns.

"So what!" Tyson exclaims. "That doesn't mean everyone else doesn't need to eat!"

"Can you two please give it a rest; you've been at this so many times already!" Hilary screams.

"NO!" they yell back to her in unison.

"Not until Daichi learns to share!"

"What's that suppose to mean, Tyson, like you ever share!" Daichi screams. "You always hogged the camera during the tournament last year!"

"Excuse me for having fans!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Guys!" Ray yells over them.

Tyson and Daichi turn to him.

"Anyone know where Lux went?" he asks.

"Hey, you're right, she's not here." Tyson mutters.

"You would've noticed earlier if you weren't fighting so much…" Hilary mouths to no one in particular.

"He started it!" Tyson retorts.

"What was that!" Daichi yells back.

"Stop it guys!" Max stands in front of the two. "We should go find Lux. Who knows what kind of trouble she can get into if we leave her alone for too long."

"Yeah, especially since she learned to cross the road by herself not that long ago…" Hilary adds.

"Hey wait, then how come Tyson only yells at me about stuff?" Daichi asks.

"That's obvious, at least she doesn't go around cleaning out other people's fridge or using other people's toothbrushes." Tyson mutters.

Kai gets off the wall and makes his way to the door as Tyson and Daichi resumes arguing.

"Kai?" Ray calls as Kai walks out the door. He then turns back to the others. "Let's go look for Lux."

The others, with the exception of Tyson and Daichi who were still arguing, nod and follow Ray outside. Tyson and Daichi, noticing the sudden absence of their friends in the room exit the room as well. As the seven of them leaves the room and steps out, an innocent giggle that seemed oblivious to all things unpleasant in the world reaches their ears. They turn to the source atop the roof of the dojo to find the golden haired girl they seek standing on the beam where the two tiled sides of the roof join and their eyes widen with fear for her.

"How did she get up there?" asks Hilary.

"Yeah…" Max mouths, a little amazed as well.

"Hey Lux!" Tyson yells.

Lux turns from the bird perched on her hand to her friends below.

"Oh, hello everyone," she greets. They seem to have barely heard her.

"Lux, come down!" Hilary shouts. "It's dangerous up there."

"Dangerous?" Lux repeats, not sure what Hilary meant.

"Come down from there, Lux!" Max shouts. "You could fall off!"

"But I haven't played with the birds for so long…" Lux protests.

"What?" Tyson shouts to her.

"I wanna play with the birds!" Lux repeats a little louder, leaning forward a bit as well so that they could hear her better.

As she did so, she lost her balance for a second and tumbled down the roof, letting out a soft yelp. Seeing this, Kai quickly rushes past the others to catch her. Luckily for Lux, Kai succeeds in catching her but the momentum of her fall sends the two of them crashing to the ground.

Lux opens her eyes and pushes herself up. She hadn't thought that it would be possible to fall off before, nor did it occur to her that falling from the roof could be dangerous. She looks down below her to find Kai staring at her, apparently waiting for her to remove herself from him. Lux looks back up to see that her friends have gathered around them.

"Are you two alright?" Ray asks as Lux sits up and gets off Kai.

Lux nods and turns back to Kai as he sits up. Her expression resembled that of a child that had done something bad without meaning to. "I'm sorry…"

Kai rubs some of the dirt off him before getting up and turning to Lux. He had to admit that he was a little annoyed by the whole thing but how could he blame her when only about two weeks ago, she was still calling paper money paper with pictures and numbers. Besides, she was alright and he was glad for that. He extends a hand to help her up. "Just don't do it again."

"Ok." Lux replies with a nod before taking his hand and pulling herself up, glad that he was not mad at her. As she was about to open her mouth say to something more, a voice from the dojo's front gate interrupts her.

"Hey there, Tyson."

The eight of them turn to the owner of the voice to see a familiar but relatively short boy with red and dark gray hair clad in an outfit with mainly light orange and red. Behind him are three others clad in similar clothing. One of them wore her hair in a ponytail while another, a shorter boy bares green hair. Behind these three stood a broad youth with blondish hair

"Ozuma!" Tyson exclaims. "What are you guys doing here! And long time no see…"