Author's Notes. It is time again for my biweekly (in this case once every two weeks) chapter! I am really happy about the positive reaction everyone's been having about Brag; he is a really interesting character to write about, and I do indeed have plans for him and the dynamic duo (by this I mean Lyric and Summer, not to be confused with the dynamic duo of Doxia and Derpy). In other news: I have reached 100 favorites! I can tell you it's been quite a ride, but I don't think I've ever felt this accomplished since I hit 100 reviews, or 100,000 views. Thank you so much, everyone! I cannot say how grateful I am for your interest and attention. Hopefully I will be able to keep said interest and attention through this season, and the two that are following. Yeah, after much thought I've decided that the main story arc will come to an end in the fourth season, though it might actually come to an end next season if I change everything up by the time I start it. But that is in the distant future, and I hope to shove a lot of exciting events in between here and there. Anyways, enough of that, let me take a moment to answer some reviews.
To BlazeWriters69: I totally agree with you that Sherlock and the Doctor were an utterly awesome team. However, I don't know if they will show up this season because I am doing my best not to introduce too many Dimensional Traveler's this season. I went way over limit last season, and large amounts of characters can both stretch stories out too long and drown out important character development. Character development is something I'm doing my best to focus on this time around. But they were awesome, and they may show up again for season three and perhaps season four.
To Vibrant Sound: They are indeed the dynamic duo. My favorite group with no equal... But then again, they're not the dynamic duo anymore, are they? They have Brag now. I guess that would make them the terrific trio, or something similar to that. And don't worry, as I said previously, this season is all about character development, so I will do my best to unravel the secrets of this mysterious Brag character. You received a box of... Cheez-its? Oh no. It's happening again.
To R4ptorCS (formerly known as the great and glorious austin xj liu): Confused about what is going to happen next? By that do you mean you have no idea of what is to happen and now anticipate future installments? Or do you mean you are confused by something I've written previously and that has affected your assessment of what may happen next? If it is the latter of the two, hit me up; I would be more than happy to clear up any confusion you may have. And yes... There will be more on Brag, without a doubt.
To xCrysis-x: Disgruntled Summer is best Summer. Just kidding. But seriously, she is the coolest character ever, maybe besides Doxia. I think at this point it is safe to say that Brag, too, is awesome. I'm glad that I've managed to make a crowd favorite! Last time I did that the character subsequently died a couple chapters later! Don't worry, I'll probably be smart and not follow the same formula. Don't worry about the story, either. Just think about it and let the creativity flow! You can always get a beta reader to help you chisel it into perfection. Again: no worries. And thank you for your encouragement. I'm really glad you enjoy each chapter, I do really try my hardest.
To FocusedStream: SUMMER AND LYRIC FOR THE WIN. I could basically say that to everyone everywhere, and it wouldn't make it any less true. And yes, do not worry, Brag will tag along and be all "cool and mysterious" like all outback explorers are. Except this isn't the outback. It's a jungle full of flesh-eating savages. Well, if you squint your eyes they look similar though, so I guess we could go with it either way. And thanks! I try my best to make each chapter amazing!
That's it for now. Enjoy the latest installment!
Dimension: Skylock
Planet: Scorch
Specific Location: The Broken Valleys, Carrion
Time: Four days after Lyric and Summer ventured into the Southern Jungles.
Blue stood quietly, looking over the broken plateaus that were scattered across the Broken Valley like small flat-headed monuments. Though most life in the Skylock dimension had met its premature end already, some tough grasses, parasitic and persisting weeds, and deadly herbs still dotted the brown landscape. Large natural stone pillars filled the land as well, crumbling with the wear and tear of time. On the top of the small plateau ahead of Blue was a makeshift tower of stone and iron, acting as a sentry point for a demon scout. And, sure enough, a demon was patrolling the tower, a longbow charged with demonic energy in its claws.
"Do you want to incapacitate him? Your call."
Blue turned. It was Sunflower, hefting his sniper rifle. He could have hit that clearly exposed monster during a hurricane, blindfolded, with both hands tied behind his back. Blue shook his head. "It is unnecessary as of yet. We can still learn from him."
"We could also learn from him if you let me tear out his innards and scatter them over a two-dozen kilometer radius."
That was Dark. He was still determined to kill at least something once every other minute. Blue sighed.
"No. We need to watch them before we strike. Analyze them. We will spend hours doing it if we must. Find a pattern. Find a weakness. Then we exploit it until they are utterly destroyed."
Sunflower cocked his head to one side. "Understandable, but we are not going to learn anything from that sentry. He is alone."
"Not for long."
Blue motioned for them to look below. A group of demons were wandering in a sort of half-regiment formation, making their way between the stone pillars to the outpost ahead. Blue tilted his head to one side and his armor systems began to pick up the conversations down below with potent clarity.
"Blord is taking his sweet time taking us to the meeting place."
"That is only natural. Nistor is his rival, and Blord wants to make it clear he is going to be at this meeting on his own terms."
"That is folly in its purest form. Captain Caprum is at this meeting as well. If Blord wants to keep his head he will be prompt."
"I do not care for either outcome really. If Blord dies at the hand of Caprum then we are all relocated and join another taskforce. If Blord eventually rises to power, we will still be relocated as he recruits more trustworthy and more powerful demons to be his entourage."
"That is another issue. Why these taskforces? The Dimensional Travelers are scattered and few. They are no longer a threat. The only other rival is the Amethyst Empire, but we cannot fight them. They are too powerful."
"We are not here to prepare for war, fool. We are guarding something, did you not know? It is irrelevant really. Only the captains truly know what is going on."
Blue had heard all he needed from that conversation. He leaned back a little and deactivated the hearing-aid system. He quickly took refuge behind the outcropping of rocks that he and his teammates had camped out since they had arrived in Skylock to foil Harold Dellor. Well, the believed they were foiling him. They still were unsure as to whether or not they were simply playing into his hands.
"Did you hear that?" murmured Blue, pertaining to the conversation they had just eavesdropped upon. Sunflower had nodded. He had tapped into the data transfer and listened to everything. Dark had heard it all as well; however, he cared the least of the three.
"So we now know that the captains are working with taskforces to protect an object that is most probably the tablet that Harold Dellor wants," muttered Dark. "I couldn't care less. Can I kill them now?"
Sunflower shook his head. "The stress is on 'probably', Dark," he said. "We have no idea what the true value of this tablet is. To the demons it could basically be a large rock with weird scribbles on it… Or it could be the most valuable thing they've seen since the fruit of the tree of good and evil. We still do not know enough, and it seems the Inquisitor databases does not operate thanks to this phantom device that cloaks the dimension. I will hand it to these demons: The device's energy-based constitution is crude, but effective. It has cancelled out any connection to the multiverse by any form of Imagination Stream or sub-dimension wave."
"Yes," said Blue. "We need to know more. And, as you said, Dark, the captains are the ones that are operating these taskforces. The demons we listened to also implied that the captains are the ones with the answers… Even if they are not, there will be some fraction of truth in their confessions. There always is."
Sunflower glanced at Blue. "Confessions? Oh. You're planning to take on this Captain Caprum."
Blue nodded briefly. "Indeed. He will give us answers."
Dark unhooked his hatchet from his right thigh and unlocked it, flipping it into its ready position. "I can live with this plan."
"You can only live when you kill stuff, really," Sunflower muttered under his breath. If Dark heard he made no implications, as he began to sharpen the edge of the hatchet against the impenetrable metal of his left gauntlet.
Blue looked over the outcropping rocks again. His HUD tracked the wandering taskforce as they made their way past the outpost he had been looking at previously. After a bit more intense scanning and sorting of through the waves of interference that the demon's phantom device was giving off, Blue was able to detect a set of tents on the other side of the outpost. This revelation took ten minutes to decipher from the interference, and the demons were already almost upon it when Blue had managed to uplink this new data to his teammates.
"This interference from the phantom device is slowing everything down," growled Dark. "We need to move if we want to catch this captain."
"Indeed," replied Blue. "It seems that the set meeting place is at the base of that small plateau ahead of us on the other side. Sunflower, take out the sentry, but hit him so that he leans against the steel railing. Make him look as if he is resting or leaning over."
Sunflower nodded wordlessly. He turned off his HUD and aimed with his sniper rifle. It was just him and his weapon. No aiming assistance; no modifications. But the gun itself was really all Sunflower needed. There was a pause, and then Sunflower pulled the trigger. An energy beam exited the barrel of Sunflower's sniper rifle soundlessly; burning its way through the air to the target. It struck the sentry in the back of the head. It was perfectly timed. The demon was in mid-step when he died in an instant. He jumped a little, and then leaned forward, his lifted foot falling limply. As his foot hit the floor, his ankle rolled and he twisted to the side and collapsed against the railing. However, his arms swung forward as he struck railing and wrapped around it. Though his head was limp as a ragdoll's, it looked perfectly like the demon was simply leaning on the rail, observing the "scenery" beyond. One demon down. Countless to go.
"First K.O." Sunflower whispered to Dark. Dark just growled. He swished his hatchet through the air and leapt over the outcropping rocks at the edge of the wide-based plateau they were hiding upon to the ground meters below. He landed silently and stole away behind some bushes. Blue and Sunflower were right behind him, moving as silent as shadows. They worked their way to the base of the plateau that held the outpost and the dead sentry. Quickly the climbed to the peak of the outpost and looked over. Sure enough, on the other side, there was a large encampment, where a group of demons numbering at least two-score gathered around fires.
Blue began to eavesdrop again on the conversations. He picked his way between news, gossip, and profanities until he settled on listening to the demons whom he had determined to be Blord and Nistor.
"You took your time to get here, Blord."
"I had other things to do, Nistor. I'm a busy demon. The Grand Devil holds me in high regard."
"Hah! I bet you were just dragging your feet to make it look like everyone is to work about your schedule. Well, joke's on you: Caprum has yet to get here!"
"Damn. The captains do take their time."
"You bet your hide they do. Shouldn't you have known this little quirk, being important and all?"
"Shut your gob. We have other things to worry about now. Did you hear about the reports of a crashing ship?"
"Yes. The Intel seems to imply that it was a dimensional-jumping ship. Belonging to the Barius Nation."
"The Barius Nation? They vanished into the dust eons ago, disbanded when the Maelstrom fell."
"Regardless, one came down and crashed. There had to be drivers, and despite the violence of the crash there is a chance they still live. Undoubtedly taskforces will be sent to hunt them down."
"But of course. My team is adept at hunting and killing. I am sure my demons will be up to the task."
"And I'm sure your mother was up to the… Wait! Here comes the 'great and glorious' captain Caprum now…"
Blue peaked his visor over the edge of the outpost railing to peer down at the camp below. Though the top half of the demons Blord and Nistor were hidden by the outstretching flaps of the tent they were in, he could see them step aside to allow a third pair of heavily scaled and clawed feet to join the circle. This was undoubtedly the captain Caprum.
"Blord and Nistor. So nice to see you." It was Caprum. His voice was gravely but soft, like a snake singing to its prey before consuming it alive.
"Caprum." The two other demons responded glumly, but there was respect in their tones of voice nonetheless. They feared him.
"You two have heard about the fallen ship, right?" Caprum still was speaking softly with venom in his voice.
"Yes," replied Blord. "I know all about it. Let me hunt down potential survivors, Caprum. I swear to the Grand Devil that I will find them and serve you their blood in a golden chalice."
Caprum just laughed callously. "Ah yes… Blord… Always looking for a way up. Your time will come, ambitious demon… But not yet. The hunters to the south will look for them, for they are the closest. We cannot spare any of our forces here. The tablet of power must be protected."
Blord snarled out something and tried to convince Caprum to rethink his order, but Blue was not listening. Tablet. They were hunting down a tablet of power.
He turned to Dark. "It is highly likely that the table that this demon captain spoke of is the one we are looking for. Dark, Sunflower, ready yourselves. We must clear this campsite, killing all but the captain. No one must escape, no one must know.
Sunflower began to set up his sniper rifle. "I'll take the high ground here and activate a cloaking field."
"I'll be down there, murdering everybody," murmured Dark. He glanced to Blue. Blue nodded. The two began to back up, and then they dashed forward. Just as they reached the end of the raised platform, they leapt high into the air. Their jump carried them up and out, arching like a ballistic missile. Then they fell earthward, right toward the encampment. In an instant, the Inquisitors were among them.
Blue landed directly on top of a demon, hurling him to the ground and puncturing his brain with his wrist blade in the same movement. For a second all the demons stared at him in shock. There was no movement. Dark immediately took advantage of that. He came in like a meteorite, scattering the demons like chaff before the scythe. His hatchet bisected seven whole demons before they could scatter and regroup. Three or four demons spread their bat-like wings to raise the alarm, but each demons that tried to do that tumbled to the ground with holes between their eyes. The rest rushed Dark and Blue, not realizing they were up against the Inquisitors. Dark swung his hatchet, catching two whole demons and hurling them to the earth with such force that the ground beneath cracked and sent dark blood shooting in the air like a bottle rocket. Blue dodged and weaved, cutting throats and stabbing hearts as fluidly as a hot knives through melting butter.
Blord shot toward Blue, screaming: "I'll gut you like our shield gutted your ship!"
Blue cocked his head to one side. So, they thought they were the survivors of that ship crash. There were probably no survivors of that in reality, but it was best that they thought they were the survivors to conceal the fact that the Inquisitors were among them. Blue ducked under a demonic energy blast, spun past a poorly-aimed demon-sword swing (he proceeded to snap the wielder's neck in a fluid movement) and then leapt over another energy blast. He landed on top of Blord, driving the wrist blade into his face. He came out in a roll, and finished it with firing his Inquisitor Blaster, which blew the head off of Nistor in an instant. The now headless demon stumbled and collapsed next to the dead Blord. Blue leapt up in time to stab another demon and shoot two more. The demons began to falter as their numbers began to thin; but they were demons, they never surrendered. With an eerie howl the rabble regrouped and rushed the two Inquisitors for a second time. Only twelve were left.
Blue raised his Inquisitor Blaster and aimed it deftly. Then something odd happened: His HUD, which had been monitoring the demon activity of the surrounding areas, flickered and then shut off. An instant later it turned back on like nothing had happened. His HUD had just rebooted. That never happened. An Inquisitor's HUD was powered by a nigh-endless energy source, and was self-sustaining. There was never a need for the HUD to reboot unless the system itself was being refitted with new software or hardware. Then the screen's flickered again, shimmering and stuttering as it readjusted. Odd.
The loud, blood-thirsty shrieking of a demon brought Blue back to reality. A large demon was bearing down on him, an axe charged with demon energy held high. Blue quickly dove forward, striking the demon in its stomach and seizing the monster's head. He brought the head down on his knee hard as the two went into a roll, shattering the demon's skull and driving the broken bone deep into its skull. The demon died with a gurgle. Blue came out of the roll and hoisted the body high and hurled it at the two demons that were too close. As they fell with the corpse on top of them, Sunflower took their heads with well-aimed shots. Two more demons rushed Blue from the other side, their swords at the ready, demonic energy flying from their claws. Blue instinctively dodged their energy shots, moving in for the kill. Swiftly he stabbed one with the wrist blade and shot the other in the stomach. Dodging back, he viewed his handiwork: All demons were dead beside Caprum, who stood there, a pike hanging loosely by his side as Dark tore the innards from the last surviving demon out with a bloody fist.
Caprum bared his teeth. "You'll never take me alive!"
Dark shrugged. "We never intended to."
Caprum immediately tried to turn the pike on himself to commit suicide, but Dark was too quick for him. He wrest the weapon for the demon's claws and reduced the whole thing to dust in less than a second. Caprum turned to run, but Sunflower shot out his legs. Grunting in pain, Caprum tried to drag his bloodied and disabled body through the dust like a snake. Blue simply walked up to him and flipped him about. He then placed the palm of his right hand on the demon's forehead. In less than a minute he had downloaded all of the demon's highest-priority memories; anything and everything pertaining to the "tablet" he had mentioned when conversing with Blord and Nistor. Blue withdrew, quickly storing the data.
Caprum hissed long and low. "You're not just any ordinary being… You're an Inquisitor!"
Dark crushed Caprum's skull under the sole of his armored boot, scattering his brains like corn meal. Blue shrugged as he replied to the late demon's question. "That should have been obvious the second we attacked."
Sunflower leapt down from the outpost he had commandeered. "I ran a scan of the surrounding area. There have been no communications, and no hostile activity… I think. The phantom device is scattering most scanners."
Blue shrugged one more time. "Very well. We will just have to be careful. Demons in the dozens and in the scores is not an issue. All will be well as long as we can operate without having to combat thousands of demons at once."
Dark wiped the bottom of his boot on the dead grass beside the corpse of Caprum. "We have the data. We should get moving."
"Indeed." Blue nodded and quickly brought up the memory data that he had stolen from Caprum. To his surprise, the data had been automatically sorted and cleaned of all noise. That usually took untold hours, perhaps even longer now that they were blocked from the rest of the multiverse by the phantom device. But yet here it was. Was this efficiency a result of the unauthorized reboot that had taken control of his system for a millisecond a couple of minutes ago? Had Rerenhaw pushed out an update or something of the like? Was something like that even possible, especially since they actually had no contact with Rerenhaw in this dimension?
Blue had no time to bother himself over these quandaries. This land was no place for questions and wonderings; they had to move before more demons arrived.
Blue motioned for Sunflower and Dark to follow them. As they began to slink off, Blue began to sift through the data that had magically provided itself in an orderly fashion. It took him moments to notice the most important bit of memory data (which had conveniently been placed at the top of the list of data points). It related to him a meeting between Caprum and another captain the day before. Blue activated the audio clip.
"Caprum," said a gravelly voice, rougher and tougher than the venom-lined tone of Caprum.
"Lorgas," replied Carpum. "How are you?"
"Not too well. There have been reports of a crashed ship than somehow made it into this dimension."
"A ship? Our phantom device cannot stop ships. It crashed, you say? Well, that is better than it landing, for that means its pilots could have been slain in the collision."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. They may yet be alive. I am preparing the hunters of the south to search the area."
"Why not my taskmasters? We all know the northern demons are better at this type of hunt."
"Indeed. You and Captain Kanla won't let us forget it. But you know the drill: Protect the tablet at all costs. That is what the Grand Devil told us. That is what we need to do. I will send in the hunters. You keep watch of the north with the rest of the captains."
"This is foolishness. You know it is foolishness."
"I do not care, Caprum. I do not care. If you have complaints, then go to a higher-up. They are in closer connection to the Watcher. Ah, yes… Commander Istir is securing the old ruins of the Skyfort the day after tomorrow at sundown. Go to him and whine. Perhaps he will explain the situation better… Or put your head on a spike."
"You can go to hell."
"We're demons. We are spawn of hell. You are going to have to try better than that."
There was a snarling insult from Caprum, and then the audio of the memory cut out. Blue considered the information very carefully. According to this, there were four – possibly even more – layers of command. First there were the grunts. Demons that acted like cannon fodder for their betters. Those betters were the captains, controlling taskforces across the planet. Then there were the higher-ups, the commanders; probably demons in control of groups of captains, or rule over a region. Then there was the Watcher, some unnamed being that was apparently the highest of the high, if Blue understood the grudging respect and reverence that had slipped out in Captain Lorgas's tone of voice when he had spoken of that being.
"The ruins of the Skyfort," said Blue out loud. Dark looked at Blue curiously.
"What?"
"We are looking for a Commander Istir, who will be at the ruins of the Skyfort by nightfall tomorrow."
Sunflower gauged the time as he looked at the sun. It was lazily slipping past its zenith. "We have several hours before night is cast upon this side of the planet… So almost twenty four hours, I believe. Hmmmmm… Blue… How did you find this information so fast? It takes an hour minimum to clear neural noise from memory data, and that is with direct connection to the supercomputers of Amethyst. How did you find this data point so quickly?"
"My systems have been operating at peak capacity for the last couple minutes."
That was all Sunflower got out of Blue on that subject. Sunflower let the mystery slip by him, this was not a time to be curious.
A minute later Blue suddenly said, "My HUD is showing us the location of the Skyfort. Follow me. When we get there we will lie in wait."
Sunflower looked at Dark and shrugged. Even Blue sounded surprised when he stated that his scanning systems had located the Skyfort already despite the heavy jamming. The phantom device was messing heavily with all electronic devices, including Inquisitor equipment, and yet Blue's information systems were operating more efficiently than they had ever before they had entered the dimension. Had Blue's suit's electronic systems been updated remotely by the Rerenhaw? They had no way of knowing. They had no time to find out either.
Blue signaled for his team to form up on him, and the trio stole away, keeping to the bushes and the shadows as they worked their way to the unknown.
Dimension: Skylock
Planet: Scorch
Specific Location: The border between the Stone Desert and the Broken Valleys, Carrion
Time: Four days after Lyric and Summer ventured into the Southern Jungles.
Tenebris gritted his teeth, squeezing his hands into hard fists as pain tore through his body. He held onto a stalactite that protruded from the low-hanging stone cave that they were taking refuge in, several meters beneath the shattered stone wasteland above. After being on the run for a whole day, the group stopped to rest in one of the many caves that lined the dip in the wasteland as the broken-stone-filled valley conjoined with a large valley full of odd island-like plateaus.
Tenebris gasped in pain again. "Are you… Are you trying to kill me, Batusi?!"
"Stop squirming," snorted Batusi as he poured glowing healing-energy into the open wound in Tenebris's side. "The more you move the less effective this healing power is! I'm not a Designated Healer, so I can't patch you up so quickly!"
Tenebris winced. "You keep talking and I'm just going to squeal like a baby who lost his lollipop. Then we all die. Deal?"
Xavier, who had been using the limp body of Anima as a pillow, peered at Tenebris from under the rim of his giant pointed hat. "You wouldn't ever do such a thing, boss-man. You know the moment you do something as silly as that I'm going to have it on video and uploaded to YouTube in minutes."
Tenebris arched his back and grunted as Batusi finished administering healing-energy to his wound. His flesh stretched over the bloody hole, bubbling and fusing together as the glowing aura of power practically cauterized the wound. Batusi backed away.
"You're good now," he said. "Don't kill me."
Breathing heavily, Tenebris checked the wound. It was puffy and red, and it looked like there would undoubtedly be a scar, but there was no more oozing blood, and his head was beginning to clear. "Well… Can't argue with results."
Batusi nodded. Tenebris shook his head as if to clear it. Then he looked to Xavier. After a moment he rolled his eyes.
"Xavier. Get off of Anima."
Xavier rolled his eyes in return. "Yeah, yeah, yeah… Whatever you say. He was so comfy! And what's even better: He doesn't whine."
"He never whined," snorted Batusi. "He spoke sense. Oh yeah… All logical talk sounds like whining and gibberish to you."
"Maybe that's because I'm right," replied Xavier without missing a beat, grinning.
Tenebris groaned, a little louder than usual, to get his teammates' attention. "You two arguing like an old couple is good and all, but I would appreciate it if we worked towards waking Anima up. We need to move before those demons find us."
Xavier actually looked a little more alert now. "You said THOSE demons. Do you see any?"
Tenebris motioned out of the small cave exit, signaling Xavier to join him. The two peeked out the exit. At least a dozen groups of four demons were scattered about the slopes of stone, scouring all caves and rocky outcroppings.
"They've been at it for at least half an hour now," murmured Tenebris. "They haven't found us as of yet, but they are getting pretty close. We need to move, and fast."
"Let's get Anima up then," said Batusi. He squatted down beside the prone form of his downed friend and shook him. Gently first, then roughly. Neither times roused him.
Xavier just chuckled. "This is what you get from wearing a seat belt. 'Wear a seat belt' they said. 'It'll be safer' they said. Now just look at this poor young soul! Only one to actually wear the seat belt… And now here he is: Knocked out cold like Sylvester Stallone's punching bag."
"I don't need one of your sermons right now, Xavier," said Batusi, a little sharply. "You heard Tenebris: We need to move. NOW. I need your help."
Xavier stretched. "Right then. Out of the way, kind sir. Let the expert handle this!"
Xavier sauntered in close to Anima. He then leaned in close and took a deep breath. Both Tenebris and Batusi braced themselves for Xavier screaming at the top of his lungs – which would effectively sentence them all to death at the claws of the demons. But instead of screaming, Tenebris just cupped his hands and quietly whispered in one of Anima's ears.
"Anima… Your sister-in-law called. She needs you to take her shopping in Manehattan again."
Anima shot up, breathing heavily. "No. NO. You tell her that I…"
His voice trailed off as he deliriously looked about, regaining his bearings. Then he remembered the events that had lead up to the rough landing upon this strange land. He glared at Xavier.
"Thanks a bunch, Xavier."
Xavier just rolled his eyes. "Oh yes. Like I said to Batusi here: Next time we have less than a millisecond to make a pivotal decision I will make sure to call for a vote and a couple of hearings."
Anima just ignored Xavier. He looked at Tenebris. "You don't look too well. Your face is pale. Wounded? In the side?"
Tenebris smiled ruefully. "Is it that obvious? I'm fine now. Don't worry about it, Anima. Are you okay?"
Anima rubbed the back of his head. "Actually… Yeah. I mean, my head is pounding and I think a couple of my ribs are bruised, but I don't feel too knocked about. I just was knocked out by the collision. It looks like we all are pretty well-off considering that horrible landing."
"Yeah. I wonder who we have to thank for such a glorious crash?" muttered Batusi, looking pointedly at Xavier.
"Alright, break it up," interjected Tenebris. "As I have said probably a million times now since we got here, we need to be with each other, not against each other. We are in enemy territory now and so we need to act like a team. Anima, can you walk?"
Anima got to his legs slowly. His knees wobbled a bit, but Xavier steadied him. There was a minute or two of silence as Anima gently tried out each of his limbs to ensure he was fine. He blinked.
"I seem to be mostly unhurt."
Tenebris nodded readily. "That is good news. Give me a second."
He quickly doubled back to look outside the mouth of the cave once more. The demon hunting groups were still a good couple of minutes away from covering the area that their cave was situated in. That was good. He turned back to his beleaguered and battered team.
"We need to decide what to do now," he said, looking at each one of his teammates in turn.
Anima nodded. "Agreed. We have time now to do so, I hope. What was the status of the ship when we evacuated?"
"Exploded. Dead. Broken. Brotinn. Kaput." Xavier did not mince his words.
Anima pulled a face. "Right. Escape that way is no longer an option. We also know that the phantom device prevents us from escaping by natural means. That leaves us with only one option: Find the phantom device and disable it long enough for us to escape."
Tenebris cocked his head to one side as he listened to Anima. After he finished he said: "I agree that that is one of our priorities… But… But perhaps we need to remember to grab the tablet."
Anima looked to Tenebris with a curious expression upon his face. "Are you sure we should still be working toward that?"
"Well, we DO have a nearly perfect track-record," mentioned Xavier. "Would be a shame to break the streak now. We've had it worse, right?"
Anima thought about it for a moment. "I suppose. Right then, we have two primary objectives: Find the tablet, and find the portal-blocking machine. We need to grab the tablet and disable the phantom device within minutes of each other."
Tenebris nodded. "Right. We are going to have to move soon, but we will have to search for a safe location to base our operations. Without our ship and our instantaneous-travel abilities at our fingertips we are going to have ensure we have a safehouse as our mission stretches over the next several days."
Anima blinked in agreement. He approached the cave entrance and looked out, activating telescopic vision. With his visual capabilities increased tenfold, he began to look about the valley before him, searching for any semblance of a location that would offer protection. Then he saw it.
"Guys… I think I found something useful." He signaled for the rest of the team to gather by his side and look out the window. They were beside him in an instant, scouring the area he had indicated. It was a large ruined fort, stretching high into the air. A skeletal thing, with many exposed interiors and crumbling walls. However, it was not really the looks of the building that were intriguing; it was the state of occupancy. There were a couple demons camps position around it within a nine kilometer radius, but no fires or movement was detected within the fortress itself. It was abandoned and unused.
"A fort… Are you sure that is a good idea?" murmured Batusi, scoping out the place with a critical eye. "I mean… It's a fort. A pre-built structure designed to easily defend insiders. Sooner or later the demons will want to utilize it… For protective reasons or maybe even just for aesthetics."
Anima cocked his head to one side as he considered Batusi's argument. "True… But due to the fact that the demons have been here for a long time and clearly have not taken to the place as of yet I think it is safe to say that we are free to at least investigate the place. It is practically a skeleton of a fortress, but it would be an unlikely hiding spot thanks to its proximity to those demons camps and it would provide an effective roof over our heads."
Tenebris nodded. "You're right. Everyone else in agreement?"
"Sure."
"What were we talking about? Oh, Batusi said 'sure.' Sure, I'll say sure too. Sure."
Tenebris nodded his head one more time, glancing briefly at Xavier, who had just spoken. "We need to move quickly and quietly. The sun is already beginning to set, so we need to have secured a possible base location by tonight. The demons hunting the slopes currently are not here yet, so I suggest we move now before it is too late."
Tenebris did not have to say anything else. The team silently began to move out without another word, crawling out of the cave into the cover of the rocks that cropped up around the small opening in the hillside. Pressing their battered bodies close to the ground, the team of four made their way out into the dying light of dusk.
Author's Notes. Hmmmmm... It seems to me that since the Catalyst Corps are on the edge of the Broken Valley; there is a small chance that the ruined fortress that they are approaching could maybe possibly be the Skyfort! Does this mean that they're going to run into the Inquisitors? Will they (by "they" I exclusively mean Dark) try to kill each other immediately? Find out at some arbitrary time in the future! Now, at this time I would like to say, again, thank you for helping me reach the 100-favorite-mark. I really, really, really appreciate it. Kudos to you all.
If you enjoyed the action of this chapter, please let me know! And don't worry, the Catalyst Corps will be showing their abilities in the fire of combat soon enough. Explosions and stuff. Boom. Now please leave a review! If you leave a review, I will start an Indiegogo campaign to fund my Kickstarter campaign to fund my repairs to my teleporter. Apparently it's been sending Cheez-its and bread with small green tumors inside to everyone instead of boxes of gold fish crackers. Weird.