spiritfire: All their sayings in their heads are all in italics
XI. Moonlight
Mayor Tristan made a little fake cought and everyone's eyes turned to him. Riku crossed his arms while Kaiba just silenced himself. Dark, Yami, and Mahad made no sound of their voices.
"Ahem..., as you may have noticed when you came to the village there were no children around. That's because bandits kidnapped them and demanded the Moon scroll and the Apprentice Rod" Tristan stated and everyone was puzzled
"Just what is this 'Moon Scroll' anyway?" Riku asked, tapping his fingers on the table
"The Moon Scroll is actually our village's heritage. It contains the secret ingredients of a rare medicine we sell. This medicine can cure any sickness around this continent and it also contains magiks of ancient times" Tristan replied
"What about the 'Apprentice Rod'?" Mahad asked in his most disciplinarian tone
"A-a-ah that? Well. for some reason the bandits think that we had it but I told them that I don't have it. Even if I did, I wouldn't hand it to them" Tristan replied in exasperation
"Hmmmm... I think I can answer that about the Apprentice Rod" Dark said and everyone stared at him
"What are talking about?" Kaiba asked
"I'm talking about the location...if my history is correct, it supposed to be in the Lost Continet of Solar but it's impossible that it would be here" Dark replied
"The lost Continent of Solar? Isn't it the one that used to be with the Lunarian Continent?" Riku asked and Dark nods
"You remember the magical war between Solar, Lunar and the creatures of Darkness, yes?" Dark asks and everyone nods
"Who wouldn't" Tristan said, rolling his eyes
"The seven magicians of both continents used all their power but in exchange the whole continent of Lunar was sucked into a warp hole separating them. As a result, the seven died the same time that continent disappeared. I heard that only one of the magicians were reincarnated but it was just a theory" Dark explained
"I see... at least that clears up everythingbut how did you know all this" Tristan said and asked in puzzlement
"...I studied it during my history class in my home" Dark replied coldly
"So all we have to do is get the children back and protect the Moon Scroll, right?" Yami said and the mayor nods
"Question, where are the children now?" Riku asked
"They were held at Cresent Forest. It's location is just near my house" Mayor Tristan replied
"Well, better get some rest and tell the villagers to stay in their houses tomorrow" Yami said and everyone agreed so they left the mayor's house
- - -
Meanwhile in Cresent Forest, Bakura smirks at his latest plan. By kidnapping the children, he has access to the Moon Scroll and probably the Apprentice Rod. He remembers his last encounter with Dark and the royal family and when Dark used the Valkyria Staff's powers to destroy the fake item. Even though he demanded the mayor about the Apprentice Rod, he didn't really care as long as he gets the treasure
"This time, I will take my revenge on those wretched fools" Bakura smiled nastily as his minions...the shadow creatures emerged from the ground. The children were frightened at the sight of it
"I wanna go home" one of the children whined and some of them began to cry
"Shut up, be lucky that I spared your fucking lives. It's not my type to harm nasty little children like you" Bakura said cruelly. The children shut their mouths, frightened in fear
"And if I get the Apprentice Rod, I can counterattack that's boy's Valkyria Staff...that stupid mayor is nothing but full of shit...Hahahahaha" Bakura laughed that all the birds in the forest flew away
- - -
Back at the village, Mahad just saw the birds flying away the forest. He knew something was bound to happen. Riku noticed it and so did Kaiba. Dark and Yami just sensed a familiar magical aura and it didn't look good
"Did you sensed what I just sensed?" Yami asked, staring intently at himself
""Yeah" Dark replied coldly. "If you think who I think it was"
"... What are you guys talking about?" Riku asked crossly but the two of them didn't listened to him and didn't mind their surroundings at all
"If you need me, I'll be in the inn" Dark said and left the others behind
"What's with him, anyway?" Kaiba asked but Yami and Mahad just shrugged
"Well, it's no use to roam around this empty lot so might as well hit the sack" Riku yawned and went to the inn as well
"Guess, I can't argue with that" Kaiba said and went after Riku
"If 'she' did appear that would mean my death is coming to reap me" Mahad said and so he and Yami went back to the inn as well
- - -
Everyone was sleeping in their rooms except for one empty bed. It was neatly folded indicating that someone is out of bed. The wind breeze began to cool the entire village and in the town square, Dark was looking at the stars. Everything is happening so fast that he wasn't aware of anything. And he wonders if he'll be able to go back home. Every people he meet in Lunar so far made him more and more cold except for special someone. The image of the Lunarian Prince was still etched on his mind since he was in Alexandria. Even though that they're different, they also have similarities like their hair color and what they represent but that's where similarities will end. Dark closed his eyes and began to dance. First, he circled his feet around the town square then he extended both of his hands trying to feel the wind around him. The spirit of Magician Valkyria appeared and watched her master doing his little routine
"Oh master, your mind is still deluded. I still like your previous attitude before" she sighed
"Really? I thought it would be different than in Solar" Dark said stiffly while he was dancing
"...You don't know the half of it" Magician Valkyria said and suddenly both of them heard a mishievous laugh
"Did you hear that?" Dark asked, stopping his routine
"Yeah, it's so vaguely familiar that I can't pinpoint it" Magician Valkyria replied
"You know what? Me too" Dark said, his eyes are in a trance
"...Well it's no use dwelling about it, it's just probably the wind" Magician Valkyria said and she vanished. "I don't know if my powers can protect him much longer. I sense a strong magical aura here. Sister..."
Dark wonders what it is and stares at the Valkyria Key on his neck
- - -
Next day, everyone was out of their bed and Yami noticed that Dark's bed was neatly folded. He wonders where he went. On the other side of the room, Riku and Kaiba just got up and went downstairs.
"Good morning" Riku yawned, stretching his arms
"Whatever" Kaiba grunted as the rest of them noticed that Dark was sitting on the table, staring at the Valkyria Key
"Well, it looks like you're early today" Mahad chuckled but Dark stood silent
"What's wrong?" Yami asked then Dark just noticed that everyone's up
""It's nothing" Dark replied casually but Mahad wasn't convinced
"Mahad, I know what you're thinking...do that after we deal the unecessary" Dark said coldly. The magician stood silent wondering if he knew what he was talking about
"Okay, let's have a nutricious breakfast then we go to Cresent Forest. I don't want to waste time" Kaiba said and it's time to eat their meal
- - -
Everyone in the village began to shut their doors as Dark and the others went to the entrance of the forest. They don't know how deep it is so Yami put a marker to indicate where they are
"Okay...once we enter we'll split up" Kaiba said
"Fine if you insist" Riku said. "But how are we gonna contact each other if we found the children or ran into trouble?"
"We use these" Dark said, giving them each an item. The item is a circular object with the size of a small pea
"What's this?" Yami asked, staring at the object
"That's a Flare Bomb, I bought it from Alexandria and it's a good thing I bought it. All you have to do is throw it at a 1 m(meter) radius above you and it'll automatically explode" Dark replied. "But if you don't throw at 1 m, it'll give you a very bad bruise"
"Useful, but I'm sure I'm not gonna use it" Kaiba smirked, thinking highly of himself
"Okay, let's get started" Mahad said and they all went in
- - -
Bakura smirks as one of the shadow creatures reported that Dark's group has entered the forest. His smirk went even wider when they decided to split up.
"So they're here to retrieve the prey, eh we'll see about that" Bakura said and with a snap of his fingers, the so-called bandits began to rise from the ground. They were actually fiend like creatures who like to feed human flesh
"Hihihihi, and just to make sure...I summon Vilepawn Archfiend" Bakura chuckled and a hole appeared on the ground. Claws beagn to appear and a pawn shaped monster with very sharp teeth and demon red eyes ready to do his master's bidding
"Go and seek your prey" Bakura commanded and the Archfiend went to do his bidding
"Let's see if they can pass this Hahahahaha" Bakura laughed nastily that he didn't noticed that one of the children escaped from his grasp and fled from here
- - -
The Cresent Forest was not much wide but can be easily to get lost as the whole part split up. Kaiba was at the middle, Riku was at the west side, Mahad was at the east, Yami was at the north but Dark was at the deeper part of the forest where not much light was shone.
"Reminds me of my home" Dark mumbled as he continued his search but still had no luck
Kaiba on the other hand, still no sign of anything. Riku was suddenly encountered with Bakura's Shadow creatures and beat their butts, Mahad has no luck so far and Yami well...let's just say that he sunk to his thoughts again.
"Man...when will you make a move on him?" Yami complained and asked himself as he was walking though the forest
"...Hmmm...Dark...why do I have a feeling that it's not really 'you'...?" the prince said and suddenly he heard a sniffle
"Who's there?" The Lunarian Prince commanded and out from the bushes a small child came out looking very afraid
"Hey, are you one of the missing children?" Yami asked and the child nods
"Do you know where the rest of your friends are?" he asked again
"They were held at some kind of a house and a mean white spiky hairy guy took us from our mommy and daddy" the child replied, for fear was etched on its face
"Don't worry we'll get all of you out. Lead the way" Yami said and the child began to lead him the way
Dark on the other hand encountered one of Bakura's Archfiend creature, the Vilepawn Archfiend and so far he had no luck hitting it or even damaging it. He tried using a variety of his spells but it resulted a minimal damage instead.
"I can assume that I'm near" Dark said as the Valkyria Staff began to glow red. "Fire Slash"
His technique did hit the Vilepawn but not that much. Suddenly, the creature began to extend his legs and WHAM! It send Dark across the forest from where he was standing
"By the gods, how the hell am I gonna beat this thing and even though I cast Ultima...it'll do minimal damage" Dark scowled and he was ready to use Fire Slash again but this time something was protecting the creature from getting hit
"Welll if it isn't the one with new powers" said a familiar voice and Dark gasped
"YOU!" Dark said in his most dangerous voice
"Nice to see you and I see you met one of my archfiends" Bakura smirked and Vilepawn Archfiend cooed beside his master
"Are you the one who kidnapped the children of this village?" Dark asked coldly but the warlock merely chuckles
"I don't call it 'kidnapping' rather I call it 'negociating'" Bakura replied
"You're a pain in the ass you know" Dark growled but Bakura didn't mind
"So what's the mayor's reply about my little bait?" Bakura asked, smiling nastily
"He said he wouldn't hand it to you and about the Apprentice Rod you seek, he already said it's not here" Dark replied more coldly
"Welll, I can't blame him for that but what I want is what I get" Bakura quoted and turned to his creature."Vilepawn Archfiend, you can have your prey" And the archfiend began to attack Dark again
"Damn it..." Dark swore and evaded the archfiend's attacks. "I better use the Flare Bomb now!". With that, he threw it at 1 m radius and suddenly it explode
"I hope anyone of them is near here" Dark said as he continued to fight
- - -
Meanwhile, Kaiba just noticed that someone used a Flare Bomb so did Riku, Yami, and Mahad. Kaiba smirks and hopes its the Lunarian Prince but suddenly the so-called bandits appeared endlessly and he had to slay them with his gunblade
"Fools, you're wasting my time out of my way" Kaiba growled and does a forward sweep against them
Riku on the other hand just finished killing the so-called bandits and wonders if one of them got really hurt. He hopes that no killing would be necessary. As for Mahad, he hopes that it wasn't the prince but he still wants to find out who's in trouble
Yami and the child he was with saw the Flare Bomb Dark threw and he knew it spell trouble
"Wait I think it's near where my friends are!" the child exclaimed
"Really then let's hurry" Yami said and both of them ran as fast as they can. When they arrived, they saw Dark was fighting Vilepawn Archfiend and kept using Fire Slash endlessly
"Dark, my God what the friggin' hell is that?" Yami asked in exasperation
"It's Bakura and hell, his little 'Archfiend' is killing me" Dark replied, evading the claws of the creature
"Dark Savior!" Yami chanted and familiar knives rained down the archfiend but unfortunately not that much damage
"Sheesh it didn't do much damage it looks like I have no choice on this..." Yami said to himself and suddenly the Millennium Puzzle appeared on his chest. "Thunderstorm"
Lightning began to cackle even more and the entire sky became black. Yami's eyes suddenly turned to deep red and Dark was shocked to see it. The electricity began to gather and struck Vilepawn Archfiend. It howled in pain as it took the damage. Little did they noticed that the Valkyria Staff is glowing.
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spiritfire: There at least a new chappie is up and I'll put a time out on my TBC for a while don't worry