"Do you really think that any of those people over there actually care for you? You were built to work alone, you foolish girl. You're not meant to have friends."
Janet ignored the man. She threw a punch at his rib but it was blocked by his other hand.
"What did you do to my brother?" She asked through gritted teeth. She used her strength to push him back. He however countered with equal force keeping them in place.
"My mind, my memories, my morals-."
"What morals!?" She interupted.
Raymond chuckled as he kneed Janet in the gut then kicked her.
She flew back and hit the protective barrier.
"I anticipated my death ahead of time and took some precautionary measures."
"Doesn't explain how you're so strong. Jace has as much strength as a limp noodle since he doesn't bother to actually work out." She said rubbing where he had hit her. She knew the stegth was not natural, the area she was hit would shurley bruse. She had to do something.
"Oh Commander, can't you sense it? I know your power of perception is sub-par, but surely."
Janet ignbored the man jumped in the air and came down with an axe kick. Raymond easily blocked with his forearms. The intense impact cracked the ground beneath his feet. But he remained unfazed by the attack.
Janet quickly shifted her weight and grabbed his jacket.
She landed on her feet and threw him towards the shield.
He however stopped himself mid flight and floated to the ground.
A large impact could be heard on one side of the dome. Janet looked to the direction.
"Those children seem to be doing their best to get you out. Admirable, but completely futile."
"I won't need their help to beat you."
Raymond disappeared in a blue flash in front of Janet. She froze in place, surprised.
He grabbed her collar and lifted her off the ground.
"Are you so sure about that?" He grinned as he lifted his sword.
-Symphony of the Eight-
Poppy's eyes fluttered open. She stretched and yawned as she looked around. "This isn't my room." She was sitting down on a chair next to a bed.
She then remembered what happened. She felt a warm blanket over her and noticed that the one from the bed was missing. There were several droplets of blood leading out of the bed.
"Jace?" She called but received no answer. She rose from her chair and placed the blanket on the chair, deciding to follow the droplets. As she followed the droplets, they became more frequent and larger. She increased her speed.
"Jace!?" She called, worried as the droplets became bigger.
She saw the hatch outside that was opened wide. She ran out looking around.
It was sunrise. She saw Jace near the edge if the platform.
"Jace!? What are doing?"
Jace turned around. His bloodily nose was trickling blood in rapid succession all over his shirt.
"Janet's in trouble." He said blankly. His voice was void of any of his usual emotion.
"What do you mean she's in trouble?" Poppy asked. She crept closer.
"She's dying. I can feel it." He turned to look at the sunrise.
"But there is nothing I can do about it. I will just have to trust Ness and the others to bring her back safe."
He buckled over in pain as he held his stomach area. He threw up blood as he fell to his knees in pain.
Poppy ran to him and caught him mid-fall.
"Poppy, if something happens to her, I don't know what I would do with myself." He admitted.
Poppy looked at the smaller boy with worry. "Nothing's going to happen to her, ok? The others will be there together to protect each other. I doubt they would let her go into battle by herself." She re-assured.
Jace smiled. "I guess you're right I don't have anything to worry about. They will protect each other." He smiled as he stood.
He took in a deep sigh, relaxing himself. "I hope they are all alright." He said worried.
Poppy smiled confidently. "I'm sure whatever they're doing, they can protect each other and save the planet. Cause that's our job, like it's my job to protect you." She said, ruffling the shorter teen's hair.
He wiped away his bloody nose with the neck of his black shirt. "If you are going to protect me, then I hereby promise to protect you no matter what happens!" He proudly stated.
He put a hand over his chest to symbolize his resolve. Poppy chucked at the boy's enthusiasm. He smiled as he scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed at what he did. "It only seems fair."
Poppy giggled at the embarrassed teen's sudden boost in confidence. It made her think of something she had thought of earlier.
"Hey Jace, why do you fight? I mean, for this planet? It's not even your own."
He stood still, thinking up an answer. He then smiled as he looked over to the sunrise, removing his bandages. His eyes already repaired themselves, besides the large scar that started at the end of his left eye and up to the top of his right. A white film covered over them.
As he looked out onto it, his smile became bigger. He took in a big sigh as he embraced the warm light.
"I wish you can see what I see; how the rain falls and it doesn't matter how cold it is. I love the smell of green in spring and how the snow falls in winter." He sat down, lay back and blankly looked into the sky.
"How immaculate the stary night sky can be."
But, most of all, I love the morning; how the sun rises and at the end of the day sets in the sky. It's so beautiful.
I may not be able to actually see it anymore, but I know it's there. That's why I fight; not for me or any one person, but for all people to enjoy it..."
"Enjoy what?" Poppy asked.
"Life. I want people go enjoy their lives, no matter how long or short it may be. And the person who wants to destroy that must be stopped. This may not be my home world, but it's home to me. That is why I will defend it no matter what." He smiled as he re-wrapped the bandages around his eyes.
"Thanks for hearing me rant and everything."
"No that's alright. It's kinda cute." Poppy said, ruffling the shorter teen's hair again.
"Well then, big shot. Why are you fighting to protect this world?" He asked.
"I'm sure you could have just as easily refused
"Well, my reason isnt as, 'poetic'," She thought for a moment, "Guess I don't want or like seeing people get hurt."
Jace chuckled. "That's as good a reason as any if you ask me."
Poppy laughed, turning back to Jace. Her smile faded as she saw his nose start to bleed.
Jace looked at her direction questioningly, putting his hand to his nose, feeling the sticky wet liquid between his fingers.
His head started to feel light as he grabbed his head. Blood started to trickle down his mouth as he started to fall over.
"Someone! We need help out here!"
"Janet's in trouble." He got up out of Poppy's arms.
"What are you doing?" Poppy walked in front of him.
"I need to help. Janet... she's in trouble!" He said, trying to push past her.
"Jace, calm down! The others are with her she'll be safe!"
Jace wasn't listening as he tried to push past the girl in complete distress.
She held onto him, keeping him in place. He started to struggle less and less, before passing out.
She placed him on the ground. Just as she did he started to spazzum uncontrollably with no definable pattern.
Poppy looked around to see the guardsmen running up to the two teens.
"What's happening to him?" She asked.
"He's having a stroke," He looked back at the trail of blood he left. "He lost alot of blood. We have to let it run its course before we can move him." The guard said this with no hint of emotion.
Poppy turned away from the sight as she started to sob.
-Symphony of the Eight-
On the outside, Ness fired his Psi Rockin' Omega. But there was still no sign of the barrier losing strength.
"None of this is working!" Leon growled.
The barrier completely obscured the inside. All he could hear was the faint clashing of swords.
"Alright then, I'm tired of playing around." Cien said. With a mighty swing, the Sythe ripped through reality.
A large beam shot out of the hole and directly hit the barrier directly.
The gate closed itself and disappeared in a momment, in the same fashion it appeared.
As the dust cleared, everyone looked a Cien.
"Woah, where'd that come from?" Lexi asked.
Cien just shrugged as she rubbed her head.
"Well, whatever that was, works."
Ness pointed at a small crack in the barrier.
Lexi cracked her knuckles as she stood in front of the cracked barrier.
"What are you about to do?"
"Just watch." She said as she got into a fighting stance.
She put her fist on the crack as if to aim a punch. She reared the fist back.
"Falcon..."
Ness's eyes grew wide eyed. "Everybody hit the dirt!"
"Punch!" Her fist lit a flame as she threw the punch. As the punch made impact, the cry of a falcon was heard. The attack was as intense as an earthquake. As it dissipated, Lexi shook her hand in pain as she looked to the crack. It had grown at least 6 meters in diameter significantly.
"Still not enough." Ness said.
'Do I really have to use 'that'? To break this?' He thought to himself.
"You hear that?" Leon asked.
Ness listened. There was nothing to hear besides the sound of the ocean.
"I don't hear anything."
"That's my concern. Shouldn't we at least hear the two fighting?"
Leon's eyes widened. He took out his twin glocks and aimed them at the crack.
"Stand back. I'm getting this thing open!"
Everyone stood behind him.
His pistols glowed with a navy blue light. Two shots of energy blasted from the guns and landed their mark on the weakened shield with a large explosion coming soon afterwards.
The smoke cleared and the shields cracks began to connect and web their way through out the entire shield.
The sound of glass shattering filled everyone's ears as the shield disappeared into the sky.
Everyone uncovered their eyes.
"Oh my...it seems you have broken into my shield sooner than expected. Unexpected, but not an issue." Raymond said through the smoke.
"What did you do to Janet?" Green asked.
A force cleared the dust from the area.
Splatters of blood were all around the area; on the trees, even on the sanctuary boulder. Janet lay on the ground at Raymond's feet in a puddle of her own blood and a sword through her back.
"Poor girl couldn't even lay a scratch on me. All she managed was to stain my favorite blazer." He roughly kicked her unmoving form.
"Immensely disappointing just like the first time. I suppose Raychale really was the complete success after all. At least she put up a bit of a fight before I killed her." He pointed to a faded scar on his left cheek.
The team remained speechless. "I suppose I should go after your 'friends' instead. Perhaps you will cooperate with me then." He mocked.
He removed his dirty blazer and threw it to the side. Pulling the bloody blade that impaled Janet's body out, he made a battle stance.
Ness walked up to Raymond. "Well then, I guess I was wrong. I thought she could take him but after seeing that…"
"Ah, I remember you. You were the savior of this planet, were you not?"
Ness nodded. Raymond smirked.
"Ness, stay out of this." Ness looked down past Raymond to see Janet struggling to get on her feet, coughing up blood.
"No, I'll handle this." Ness frowned as he looked at Raymond.
"What kind of father are you?" Ness questioned.
Raymond answered with an overhead strike Ness blocked with his bat. "Ha! Do you really think you can beat me with a wooden bat?"
Ness smiled as the bat glowed with yellow and blue energy. Ness pushed him off, making him stagger.
The light faded.
"When did he learn to do that?" Cien asked.
The bat transformed into a glowing dark purple metal, its sleek design glew in the natural and artificial light that had filled the area
Cien looked closer at the bat and gasped. "That's one of Ness's most powerful bats, the Magicant Bat."
"The what?" Zane asked.
"Ness told me he extracted it from his own mind." Cien informed.
"That's pretty fucking Metal and everything, but we need to get Janet." Leon said in a mixture of annoyance and distress.
"Changing matter itself by will alone. What an interesting power…perhaps I should take you back and disect you after I kill you." He slowly inched towards Ness.
Cien and Leon quietly shuffled one way while Zane, Green and Lexi went the other to retrieve their now uncontious comrade.
"Not so fast!" Another Raymond stood in their path. "I'm still not done with her."
The original Raymond threw his extra sword to the clone and made a smaller shield like the one before.
"You can't stop me!" Leon pulled out his glocks, but as soon as he pointed them they fell apart in his hands.
"Am I too quick for you?" The clone mocked.
Cien however successfully swung her scythe, landing a hit across his chest.
The clone retaliated with a swing of its own blade, but was parried by Leon's sword. He quickly glanced over to Janet, who was still unconscious. But Green and Zane were hacking away at the shields with their swords.
Lexi managed to severely crack it with another well-placed punch.
"Cien, I need you to help them. Get Janet back with the others and get her out of that shield." Leon requested. Cien nodded as she ran past the two.
"I saw that." Raymond pushed against Leon as the two remained deadlocked.
"I saw how you looked at her." He teased again. "You know she's technically not even human."
"That's funny. Neither am I!" Leon kicked the clone away.
Ness swung at the original, only to be parried. Raymond swung and landed a few punches on the boy's face.
Ness swung his bat and stunned him, he then ran up to him and punched him in the gut. "PK Freeze."
Ice quickly enveloped him until he was completely frozen solid.
The clone ran at the group with wild ferocity, attacking Green. However, she blocked with her shield and rolled around him with skilled precision and cut his back with a several cuts.
She finished the clone with a swift chop to the head. Its body vanished in white energy.
The shield around Janet dissapeared.
"That guy was a major asshole." Cien commented, trying to wake Janet up.
"What's his fucking deal? He almost kills her and he disassembles my gun. I'm starting to see why she wants to kill him." He complained as he re-assembled his gun from the pieces.
"He won't stay in that block of ice forever." Ness turned to the rest of the group.
"That guy is insane!" Green said re-sheathing her weapon.
"We need to get out of here for you guys' safety."
"No, I need to finish this." Janet wiped the blood from her mouth, as she got up.
"He wants his commander back. I'll just give him what he wants." Her sword slowly floated back to her. Grabbing it, she used it as a crutch.
Zane stopped her. "Woah, wait a moment. You're way too injured to f-"
"Shut up! I'm going to kill him! And I will do it just like I did last time!" She started to hobble over to him, but fell over.
"I hate him so much. Jace and Raychale would agree with me." She felt herself being lifted by the arm. Looking up, she was shocked to see who had helped her.
"Raychale? How did you?" She looked completely exhausted, having what looked like dried blood on her shirt and nose.
Everyone jumped in complete surprise.
"What the? Since when did you get here?"
Ness smiled. "It's about time you got here."
"Hehe, I'd like to see you run here all the way from Fourside." She said, tiredly.
"You need to stayback." She addressed Janet with athority. "Where's Jace?" She asked, worried.
"He's back at the ship with Sabrina and Phil." Leon said.
"You can tell me why later. But for now, can you take care of her?" She asked kindly.
Leon nodded as he took Janet, who didn't resist as he helped her walk back.
The ice around him started to crack. She lifted her skirt slightly, taking out two blades from the folsters on her thighs.
Zane walked up, unsheathing his sword. "He's going to pay for what he did to those people. People should not be forced to do what they do not want. I feel it is my duty as king to uphold that honor."
"Oh, that's so admirable." She lightly teased.
The ice cracked even more.
She glanced at the taller teen as if sizing him up.
"Stay behind me and wait for an opening, got it?" She asked with confidence.
The ice exploded with energy as Raymond undid his now ruined tie.
"Now, even I admit that was a bit cold of you." He chuckled at his own pun.
But it completely faded as his eyes landed on Raychale.
"I'll admit that I still have trouble facing you, kid." He addressed Raychale with a bit of a different tone compaired to the others.
"Is that doubt I hear in your voice, father? You seem hesitant." She teased as she readied her blades.
"You ready?" She asked Zane.
He smiled and nodded.
Raychale disapeared in a burst of speed. She appeared next to Raymond, round-house kicking him at his side. He blocked but she disapeared again. Raymond made a motion to block with his sword and was met with Raychale's knife.
He punched her in the face, but a mere moment later, she appeared at his side, cutting his arm.
Zane watched closely as he tried to keep up with there near invisible speeds the two of them were going at. He noticed something he hadn't before, however. Raymond's speed seemed to be going down.
Raymond appeared for a few moments in front of Zane. Seeing the oppertunity Zane slashed his heavy sword downwards.
Raychale kicked her father away as he tumbled to the other side. He clutched his side where Zane had deeply wounded him, breathing heavily.
"He is slowing down. I think Janet did do some damage to him during her time trapped inside that dome." Zane whispered to Raychale.
Raychale looked as Raymond had a hand over his chest.
"I believe I can handle the rest." Zane took charge as he stood in front. "He is not nearly as fast as he was before, and plus, I want him to answer for what he did.
Raymond wordlessly stood placing both his bloody hands on his blade.
Zane ran at him and swung his sword. Raymond parried with a swing of his own. Raymond's frown turned into a sadistic smile.
He placed his palm on Zane's chest. A tremendous force rocked his body and launched him to the other side of the arena against a tree. Zane however immediately stood and ran at him again.
Zane, with a primal roar, ran at the man. Zane looked to be engulfed in flames. Out of the flames, he had transformed. His blue scales that shined around his hand had turned into claws. A large bone crushing spiked tail followed his heels. His large wings had naturally tucked themselves away on his back. His eyes turned into slits like a lizard and had several blue scales reaching to his chin.
Zane slashed his sword. Raymond moved to block, but the force was so great it launched him away. He hit his head against the Sanctuary's stone. The sword clattered away in another direction.
Zane walked up to him. "You make me sick. Someone like you doesn't deserve to live." He said in a deep brooding voice. He burst into flames again reverting to his normal form.
"But, I will not kill you." Zane said, turning around walking away re-sheathing his weapon.
"Even with such intense powers you squander it...you freak." He ran to Zane releasing a small blade out of his sleave.
"Die!"
Zane turned around to see Raymond frozen in place. Looking down, he saw Janet's sword had pierced clean through his chest.
He saw Janet standing up, being helped up by Leon. "You bitch."
Raychale appeared infront of him, quickly removing the sword from his chest.
Janet hobbled over to her father, who had sat on his knees bleeding profusely. "Why aren't my powers working?" Raymond said angrily as he saw his cuts where not healing.
"When I kicked you I sent a part of my power to dissrupt yours, its how im able to keep Jace in control of his powers." She lifted the sword ready to slice.
With a swift swing, she decapitated him.
"Aw, sick. Could you warn me before you do that?" Lexi flinched as she looked at the headless carcass.
Everyone relaxed.
"Ha, you fools." They all looked to Raymonds head, as he was somehow still talking.
"You are vermin mistakes! I shouldn't have made any of you abominations and had you killed like how I killed your mother!" He just laughed and kept laughing. Janet walked up to the head of her father, putting her foot on top his head.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Go back to hell." With a swift stomp, she crushed his head.
"He's finally gone…" Raychale said as she breathed in deeply. She quickly turned from everyone. She sniffed aswipped some tears from her eyes with her sleave.
"I don't think I've met anyone like that before." Lexi admitted.
Janet took a deep breath. "Count yourself lucky." She smiled at the group.
"Guy was a major asshole." She shrugged. She made a mildly disgusted face as she wipped off the brainmatter from her shirt.
"Bathing in the blood of your enemy." Zane stated."I never imagined I would see it literally."
She picked up the sword and scabbard Raymond carried, re-sheathing it. Raychale tossed the original back to Janet. She snatched it from the air and resheathed it as well.
"How can you just shake something like that off!? You crushed his head!" Green yelled at Janet going to the front of the group. Green looked both horrified and furious at what she had just witnessed.
"I, don't know. I never felt guilty when doing it, It feels as natural as breathing. " She walked up in front of the group.
"I guess, now you know everything about me. You happy now?" She looked over Leon who avoided her glare.
The sound stone floated into the pedestal like all the others. A yin yang symbol with wings and a halo appeared and glowed.
Energy began to flow out of the stone. Janet closed her eyes waiting for the energy.
"What's it doing?" Cien said.
Janet opened her eyes to see the energy amassed into a small white-silver ball. It shook violently until it ripped apart into two equal halves: a black ball of energy and a white one.
The black ball of energy sped off towards the exit.
The white ball released a stream of energy like before. A wave of euphoria passed through her, but as soon as it came, it disappeared completely. She opened her eyes confused and looked around.
"That's it? I don't feel any different." She commented, she had expected more from the sanctuary.
"From what I can guess, from the way the energy behaved, you must share your powers with Jace." Ness summized.
"But, Jace and I don't share powers. We feel each other's pain, but that's the extent to our connection." Janet told the group.
This confused some of the others. "But, from what I saw, and remember from the tournament, you and Jace are a tag team. How can you NOT share powers?"
"I never got that. Jace and I are twins sure, but we are still two separate people."
"I just find it creepy that you two look alike, despite being male and female twins." Leon joked, trying his best to ease the tension.
She weakly chuckled before collapsing to the ground.
-Symphony of the Eight-
"Another sanctuary has been taken by Ness and his comrades." The Starman Deluxe looked to the screen.
"It was to be expected. Raymond has been a thorn in my backside for enough time. His permanent demise only helps me. However..." It rose its hand. A mist of darkness formed above it.
"Ness and his comrades should be wary of what just may in store."
A/N: Ta da! I hope you enjoyed reading it! I will come up with the next chapter as soon as I am able! Also tell me what you think in reviews like what i did wrong, what you lked and so on! It keeps me going in making these! (Like I said i'll never stop. I just wanna hear your opinion.)