Chapter Seventeen: Like Father, Dislike Son
Swift and elegant as a cheetah, the goldenrod hound sliced the vegetation that had previously smacked him in the face, his claws pulsating with violet energy. It had only been a few hours after the duo of Damien and Lia had left Westopolis in search of this Donatello character. The ebony jackal joined her friend in the festivity of killing plant life to advance through the forest. The area was peaceful, birds chirped and the rushing waters filled their ears with serenity.
"The great outdoors, isn't it such a sight to behold?" the female asked.
"Yeah, if you like mosquitoes, crawling through mud and having to use the bathroom using trees as outhouses." the Angel complained, a scowl on his face.
Unfortunately, the dog never liked the outdoors due to the various times he had gone with his parents when he was younger. He always seemed to get chased by a bear at the end of the day though it was suspicious because it was always the same one.
"Well if we're going to find this Donatello character, you're going to have to man up until we find him." Lia stated.
"Sure, I can deal with it but if I get hit by another tree again, I'm going to chop down every tree in my radius." Damien proclaimed.
From the distance, a crimson projectile zipped straight ahead however Damien's keen eyesight allowed him to dodge the attack in time. The same couldn't be said for the jackal who got caught in the shoulder with the chaos energy arrow, the canine forced into a tree. The heroes looked as Phoenix walked forward, her longbow aimed at the jackal and her face scrunched up to show dislike.
"Didn't think I'd find you two again? Well you were wrong. I'm going to show that jackal how things are done now!" the G.U.N agent said angrily.
"Not on my watch you won't." Damien exclaimed.
He attempted to summon a geyser of ebony flames however his powers faded out on him, giving the hawk an opportunity to fire a volley of arrows at her opponent. His eyes widened and frantically, the dog danced to dodge the attacks. Several arrows grazed him and one arrow caught him straight in the leg, the dog falling down to one knee. Phoenix proceeded to punch the dog, blood leaking from his nose and finishing him off with a kick to the head which sent him flying.
"Damn that girl can hit hard." the bloody hero commented.
"Now that I got that blabbering fool done with, I'm going to kick your ass now." the revenge driven female said to the dog's partner.
Lia began to pry herself from the tree's trunk, her shoulder ripping through the arrow like pulling out a splinter. Painfully, she grasped her arm and heaved it with such force to get it freed. Although she had released herself from the grip of the weapon, she was met with a direct punch to the gut followed by numerous elbows to the back of the head.
"Drop to your knees you little nuisance. I'm tired of your antics!"
The G.U.N agent kneed the girl in her stomach, throwing her to the floor like a sack of potatoes. She mounted herself above the female, sending countless fists of fury into her face, crimson staining her already red hand. It was extremely exhilarating for the hawk, adrenaline running through her veins like cars driving on highways.
From above, a cloaked figure sighed, scratching its head as thoughts raced through its mind. It's attention completely on the vermillion hound for some reason.
Not these two again. I saved them from this girl once already. Guess your work is never done until its done.
Green and red arrows littered the area as Lia's bloody body laid posted on a tree, a jade arrow aimed directly at her forehead.
"Any last words scrawny before I send you to the pits to rot like you truly deserve?" Phoenix asked though she received no reply. "Guess not. Oh well, I wasn't going to wait for you to blabber anyway."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you miss archer. Not after the last time we met. I remember making you flee in complete terror."
The figure hopped down from the tree and revealed himself.
"Not you again!" the hawk stuttered from fear.
Flashback
"And that's a wrap baby!!! Now that the action's done, this show is whack and I'm out. But before I go, Phoenix...you are the best baby!" Damien exclaimed with Lia smacking him behind the head for that.
"Watch when we escape Damien, you are so getting an earful of a speech from me." Lia stated, a blush on her face but Damien was oblivious to it.
"Well right now, we have a sexy hawk lady to deal with." Damien replied with a snarl on his face.
Phoenix pulled out an archer's bow with a bunch of red and green arrows and shot two towards the duo, their shirts getting snipped and pinned down to a tree. The crimson hawk walked over with her bow pointed towards Damien's head, a green arrow locked and loaded.
"Any last words Damien Angels?" the hawk asked adding to the suspense.
"OH HEAVENS NO!!!" Damien screamed and before the arrow was shot, a gray blast ripped through the trees, knocking the hawk back with a mysterious figure appearing from out of nowhere. The figure wore a black cloak with a crescent moon symbol on the back of it, the moon outlined in white and shaded in with a yellowish white color.
"Leave now while I deal with this girl young ones!" the figure exclaimed, Damien and Lia not hesitating to run from the scene, their footsteps becoming less audible with each second. The figure turned back to Phoenix before charging forward, something in his hand. Screams of agony echoed throughout the jungle with the sun dawning down on the world below.
End Flashback
Oh damn, I remember him. He saved us the first time we met Phoenix, Damien thought.
The figure wore a dark black cloak with the insignia of a crescent moon embroidered on the back, the pattern outline in thick white and the shape shaded a light yellow. He removed the hood of his cloak. The mysterious figure was an indigo colored raven with light hazel pools. A thick scar ran down his right eye and just under his left eye was a bandage. His hair was slicked back and tied up by a hairpin.
"Yes, it's me again and you seem to have attacked these poor travelers once again. It seems you must want to face me again." the raven assumed.
With the waving of her hands, the hawk signaled that she didn't want to face the male character. Unfortunately, the bird looked into her eyes and produced an image within her mind causing the girl to scream in terror. While incapable to fight back, the cloaked hero dashed over and struck several pressure points to cease the hawk's movement though it was impossible to see where he struck.
"Fall."
Like a dead weight, Phoenix fell down to the ground defeated while Damien and Lia walked over to their savior. Suddenly, the older male embraced the dog with tears running down his eyes. The Angel pushed the old man back before looking at him strangely.
"Whoa dude, I'm into chicks, not dudes. And besides, even if you were a chick, you'd probably too old for me." the dog stated.
It was as if smoke dispersed from his ears and infuriated ruby rushed into his eyes, the raven grabbed the dog and threw him through a tree.
"You have to learn to respect your elders you foolish child. It's kids like you that make me glad I'm not a parent." the bird said, cleaning up his hands.
"Who exactly are you?" the Redclaw Tribe leader questioned.
"I would be glad to answer that question. I am Donatello the Raven, famous writer, fighter and martial arts teacher. That dog right there, your friend, is Damien Christian Angels who is also my godson." the newly introduced Donatello stated.
"Wait, so that makes you my uncle?! No wait, you'd be my grandfather but he's dead. Oh snap, you're my cousin!" Damien screamed out of joy while the other two sweat dropped.
"But how exactly is that possible?" the ebony female asked.
"His father and mother, Severus and Sarah were great colleges of mine when it came to science and they decided that if they were to have kids, I would be their godfather so I now am the guardian of two young boys."
"I'm fifteen so I don't need you here!"
"He's more of an idiot than I remember him being last time we saw each other when he was five." the martial arts teacher declared.
"Imagine being with him twenty four seven for numerous days. It's an idiot convention all day, every day." Lia joked.
Damien ran over and embraced his godfather tightly, Donatello returning the hug as the dog began to smile. He thought that the only remaining family member he had was Darius but this was a sigh of relief indeed. Lia smiled over the touching family moment though she understood how having her family back felt.
"So how are you Damien?" the godfather asked.
"I'm great, still learning how to manipulate my powers but the progress is getting better and better with time." the godson answered.
"And your brother?"
Damien's coal black eyes went into a solemn state and automatically the bird knew that the subject of Darius Angels had to be taken out of the conversation.
"Fine. So why exactly are you out here then?"
"Well it's funny because we were actually out here looking for you. See, I'm still trying to learn how to use your powers but it's harder than I thought to the point in which I have little to no control of Nightshade. Fortunately, Lia can suppress my powers if needed."
"That's good."
"When we were in Westopolis, we saw an advertisement for your newest book and decided to see you!" Damien explained.
The elder nodded slowly, easily processing the information fed to him through his mind. He did become a writer and scientist to study the patterns and personas of demons for his two godsons. A smile spread across his face as he nodded eagerly.
"I understand. You need me to teach you how to control your powers to the point where you effective control of them and they won't fade out?"
"Pretty much." the Angel answered.
"Well you better start calling me sensei for the next few days because you will have hard work to do if you truly want to master your abilities." Donatello stated, earning a nod from Damien.
With that, Damien, Donatello and Lia began to walk away from the scene as Phoenix's body soon began to move once more.
"Si puo certo senso lo da qui?"
"Unfortunately no, his powers have faded out once again meaning we'll have to set up camp for now."
The villainous trio of Darius Angels, Mario Toki and Carnage had stopped dashing through the thick forest as soon as nightfall hit. The beige coyote growled at the vermillion hedgehog, the G.U.N agent leaning back nonchalantly and waving his hand in front of his face.
"Si chiama un coyote menta respiro." the hedgehog commented.
"Oh my god, can you stop speaking Italian you damn fool?! Ever since you started doing that days ago, it's been annoying the hell out of me because I don't understand a word you're saying." the Blackheart Tribe leader exclaimed at the leader of the group.
"The fighting needs to stop because if we aren't on the same page when we meet with Damien, what's to say he won't defeat us?" Darius said, his eyes closed as he leaned against a tree.
"Why should we be worried? I defeated Lia the last time I faced her and you defeated your brother last time you faced him. If I'm about to lose, I'll always bring out my back up plan if you know what I mean." Carnage replied.
"Inoltre, Damien troppo arroganti per mettere in su una lotta reale. Per quanto riguarda lo sciacallo, lei è troppo testa calda come la sua rivale." Mario added.
"As much as I would love to agree with you two, we can't be too carefree against either of them. I was almost killed by that beast he calls Nightshade and Carnage, you had to use a sneak attack to dispose of Lia." the Devil explained his side of the argument.
"He does make some sense. But with Mario's manipulation of time, we have an extreme advantage over the duo. It would be amazing for those two to defeat us three and our army of Blackheart soldiers and G.U.N agents." Carnage added.
"Ricordate, la mia manipolazione del tempo sottolinea me il più lo uso." the third member interjected.
"And nothing of ours rivals the power of Damien's Nightshade form. Well that was until a few days ago. I've unlocked my true power." Darius proclaimed.
"Do you have control of it though?" the coyote asked.
The grey dog nodded, looking at his right arm in fascination. He was now able to rival Damien in every form and in every way. But could he beat Damien once again even without the luck he got the first time?
There's no way I'm going to get caught off guard by his attacks like I did last time. He may have unlocked his stronger form before I did but in the end, I will always be stronger than him. I need to accomplish my true goal, the goal I've been setting up for countless years.
"Penso che la vera domanda è sei sicuro che il nuovo potere sono fino a pari con Nightshade?"
"Yes I'm sure it does. When we raided that rabbit's lab, I looked at my brother's results and then took some tests on myself. After some comparison, it is safe to say that my power overpowers my brother's. He's just a rookie." Darius answered.
"I see then. If you can't defeat him, then I'll take over and finish it and vice versa. He may have been my friend before but duty calls and he's a criminal." Mario stated.
Carnage raised his Desert Sun claymore while Mario did the same with his Uzi Submachine guns and Darius followed with Shoukyoku and Sekkyoku. The trio put their weapons together in a circle and raised them upwards.
Lia the Jackal of the Redclaw Tribe, your head and your entire tribes' heads will be placed on my pedestal when I'm done with their precious little leader.
Damien, we were once friends but now we're enemies. I wished it could've been different but unfortunately, that isn't the case. I'm sorry.
We're brothers, family but nonetheless, I must do what is right. Your sacrifice will not be in vain younger sibling. I will become more powerful, god like even. The Moonlight Form shall make this finale interesting.
The trio raised their weapons into the air.
Damien Angels, tomorrow…
Darius smirked evilly as his last thought finished.
You die…
To be continued…
A/N: Well this is it! The Finale Arc is about to start finally in the next chapter which will showcase our first battle though I'm giving you the chance to choose which one shall be shown. Anyway, a few answers were given but more questions have arisen. What is this Moonlight Form? What is Darius' true goal? Can Damien and Lia ultimately win? Review! Thanks! Bye.
