A New Game Begins
If one would be willing to describe the desert heat of Egypt, it would be a scorcher. The heat radiated off the desert sands as various tents were spread out along a certain area, where various researchers, archeologists, and workers walked about. One tent was the largest amongst the many others, and that's where the focus is mainly on.
Inside the largest tent was a middle-aged man with short blonde hair, with a bit of a stubble on his face, wearing a light tan safari hat, a brown vest over a tan shirt with his sleeves rolled up, blue jeans, and brown boots. Right next to him was a beautiful woman with long orange hair tied up in a ponytail, a bit of freckles on her face, wearing a green shirt, and safari shorts. Both of them were sitting down at a table while setting up a laptop and getting ready a FaceTime call.
"Hope the little guy's still up." The man said as he set up the camera on the laptop.
"Don't worry, Robert." The woman said with chuckle. "You remember the last time we talked to him, he was practically jumping up and down the walls."
"I guess that's true, Amanda." Robert said in agreement. "Remember that last Halloween when he snuck in some candy into his room before bed?"
"How could I forget." Amanda said with a good-natured shake of her head. The camera on their end turned on, and not even a second later the screen displayed the other end of the call.
On the other end, the screen displayed a young boy with blonde hair, who looked to be about ten years old, with a wide grin on his face. "Hi Mom! Hi Dad!"
"Hey there, little man." Robert said with smile.
"Hi, sweetie!" Amanda responded back. "You being good for grandma and grandpa, Alex?"
"Yes, mom!" Alex said with a nod, before the kid's smile looked a bit sad. "I still wished I went with you to Egypt."
"I know sweetie, but you had a cold, and it's better to be safe than sorry." Amanda apologized with sad smile as well.
"Not to worry, son. Next time we go on a research trip, we'll be sure to bring you along, cold or no cold." Robert said vigorously, but flinched under the look his wife was giving him. "Though your health is more important than any research trip, so we'll think of your wellbeing first and foremost."
"Good save, honey." Amanda said with a smirk.
"So did you guys find anything out there?" Alex asked in excitement.
"As a matter of fact, we did." Robert said with a grin. "We made a discovery not that long ago, something that may prove our theories about an ancient civilization five thousand years correct."
"Really?" Alex asked with a wide smile. "What is it? What is it?"
"Settle down there, son." Robert said with a chuckle, before giving a teasing grin. "I've actually had the artifact sent to our home, so you'll see what it is very soon." This caused Alex to grin widely and bounce up on his seat.
"Alright, alright, little man, just settle down there." Amanda said with sigh, but still held her smile. "Just be careful with it, because it's not a toy. We may have found two others like it, but we still don't know what it is just yet. As soon as you get it back home, make sure you leave it in our personal lab and keep it in one piece."
"Don't worry, mom. I'll be careful with it." Alex reassured.
They're talk was soon interrupted when a young man, who resembled Robert, but had Amanda's red hair, entered the tent. "Mom, Dad, you're gonna want to come see this."
Alex managed to see him and smiled widely. "Hi, Tyson!"
Tyson smiled at Alex gave a wave. "Hey, little brother. How's things back home?"
"They're okay." Alex said before he started to give a light yawn.
Amanda noticved this and gave a teasing smile. "I saw that. You know what that means."
"I know, mom. I just wished we could talk a bit more." Alex said with a sad look on his eyes.
"I know, little man." Robert said with an understanding look. "But, hey, when we get back, you'll be the first one who'll know about everything we discovered this day, before the whole world ever hears about it."
Alex had a wide grin on his face as soon as he heard that. "Really, dad?!"
"You bet." Robert reaffirmed with a nod.
"Alright, there'll be plenty of time to talk about the discovery of the century, but right now I think someone is ready for bed." Amanda teased as she looked to see Alex's eyes starting to blink slowly.
"I know, mom. I'm going to bed." Alex said after another yawn, before looking at his parents and older brother with a smile. "I love you guys."
"Love you to, little man." Tyson said as he waved goodbye.
"Love you, Alex. We'll be home soon." Robert said.
"Goodnight, sweetie. We love you very much." Amanda said as she gave an air kiss to her son.
As soon as the video call ended, Robert and Amanda turned to their oldest son. "Alright, Tyson, what was it that you needed?" Robert asked curiously.
It was tough to contain the look of excitement on Tyson's face as he told them the news. "Me and the rest of the men found something that you have to see for yourself." Robert and Amanda looked at each other curiously, before deciding to follow their son to see what he wanted to show them.
As they followed their son, they soon discovered the rest of their crew gathering around a certain spot along the rocky cliffs that their research base was stationed along the base of. The crew split up, allowing the three research family members to step up and see what it was that had everyone so fascinated.
It turned out to be what looked like a huge doorway, but it was sealed off completely. On the two opposing sides of the doorway appeared to be the crumbled remains of two statues, but they were so damaged they couldn't make out what exactly they were supposed to look like. Over the doorway was an arching curve that had hieroglyphics lined up along it.
"What do you think, honey?" Robert asked as he stared up at the huge doorway.
Amanda pulled out a small telescope so she can get a closer look at the hieroglyphs up on the arch. "It's hard to make out. Some of the hieroglyphs I've never seen before. But..." Amanda's eyes slowly widened as she looked at the last set of hieroglyphs. "I think...I think the last markings say...Kul Elna!"
Everyone, from her husband, son, and the rest of the crew gasped ion shock when she said those words.
"Kul Elna?! Are you certain?!" Robert asked in shock.
"I'm absolutely certain!" Amanda said with confidence.
Robert and Tyson soon gained a wide smile of elation as they both grasped each other's shoulders. "Dad, we did it!"
"Yes, son! We certainly did!" Robert said with elation, before turning to the rest of the crew. "Bring a small number of explosives. Let's get this door open!"
Soon enough, the crew gathered small cluster of dynamite and placed them along the barricaded doorway. Robert lit one of the fuses before running back to cover with his family and the rest of the crew. After a few more seconds of waiting, the dynamite set off, creating an explosion that shook the very cliffs. When the smoke cleared, the doorway was blown to pieces with a large gaping hole along the cliff.
Robert, Amanda, and Tyson entered first with lanterns in their hands to see, with a few other members of their crew coming along with them, each of them carrying a lantern to see through the dark corridor. As they continued down the dark corridor, which felt like it was going downhill more and more, they came across an opening and managed to walk on through, before gasping in shock.
They stared at what looked like an underground city stretching along for miles, that was mostly made up of small houses and huts, but at the center of the large corridor was a huge temple that nearly reached the top of the cavern.
Robert and his family stared at this in shock, before he broke out into a large grin. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the lost city of Kul Elna!"
Everyone cheered and clapped each other's shoulders, with Amanda giving her husband a kiss on the cheek, with Tyson giving his dad a side hug. They all made their way down the large cavern and walked along the abandoned streets of the abandoned city.
"Wow, this place is thousands of years old, yet everything looks so well preserved." Tyson said in amazement as he took photos of some of the buildings.
"Let's try and keep it well preserved, so try not to touch anything too delicate." Amanda lightly warned.
"Come on, everyone." Robert called out as he pointed to the top of the temple. "Up there is where the real discovery lies."
The group walked up the stairs of the temple until they made it to the top. As soon as they made it up the stairs, they found themselves in a large empty room, but the floor felt slightly off. The center of the room was standardly a flat surface, but the surrounding floor was rough and rigid, with carved images of what looked like creatures spread across the floor.
It didn't end there, as even more carved stone drawings of various creatures spread across the very walls of the room, with some images showing the creatures fighting against each other.
"Amazing." Tyson whispered in awe as he gazed at one of the creature images. "Such detail."
"What do you believe all these images mean?" Amanda asked curiously.
Robert looked closely at the temple wall and noticed small images of people standing behind the creatures fighting against each other. The pictures of the humans seemed to be wielding some type of arm bracelets with what looked like wings attached to it. "If I'm reading this right, it appears that the citizens in this city called upon the creatures we see along the walls in gladiatorial combat against each other." Robert mused over the images.
"But, come on, summoning monsters?" Tyson said skeptically. "There's got to be a reasonable explanation for what these symbols mean."
Amanda looked closely at one of the creature images, before taking a brush and sweeping away some dust off of it. The moment she did that, however, an odd phenomenon occurred. The creature's eyes began to glow red, causing her top gasp in shock and backed away. Pretty soon, all of the creature's eyes began to glow red, causing everyone to gasp in fear as the temple began to illuminate a blood red glow. That wasn't the worst of it, as the entire cavern began to shake violently, causing nearly everyone to nearly lose their footing.
"Earthquake!" Tyson exclaimed.
"Everyone, out of the cave!" Robert shouted, but before they could begin running, the glowing red eyes began to spew out purple smoke that coated the entire floor. "What is this?!"
"AAAHHH!"
Everyone looked to see Amanda looking up at tower of purple smoke that began to take the shape of a monster with large claws, before it reached out and picked her up.
"Robert!" Amanda called out as the smoke creature began to sink into the ground.
"Amanda!" Robert called out as he raced towards his wife. Before he could reach her, another purple smoke hand came up from the ground and latched onto his leg and began to pull him down into the smoke as if it was nothing but water. "What's going on?!"
"Mom! Dad! I'm coming!" Tyson exclaimed as he raced towards his parents, but he to wound up caught when purple smoke tentacles wrapped around his body and started pulling him down into the smoky abyss as well.
All of the family members screamed as they were completely engulfed into the darkness, with even some of their crew getting trapped as well. What they never saw, was that the entire underground city began to glow red outside.
Back outside, the entire sky was all of a sudden counted in thick storm clouds, with even sparks of lightning flashing, along with booming sounds of thunder. The rest of the crew looked in complete shock, before they looked at the opened entrance and noticed the same purple smoke leaking out of the entrance and taking the shape of various monsters.
The entire crew screamed in fright as they tried to make a run for it, but the creatures gave chase and chased down the crew members. They were all soon grabbed by the monsters, whether it be with their claws, tentacles, or talons, and each of them were carried or dragged back into the cave entrance.
The nightmare didn't end there, as soon as the last crew member was dragged into the cave, the earthquake began to shake even more violently, until an avalanche of rocks crashed right in front of the entrance, causing the cave entrance to be sealed off again.
It was then when the storm clouds began to disperse, until the sky was bright blue again, and the shaking completely subsided. Everything was silent, as if there was no sign of anyone every arriving.
The only sign of life, was the empty tents, completely void of their entire occupants.
/
Shinto Teito, 10 Years Later...
A single train rode down the tracks, taking its passengers to their destinations, whether they be work or social gatherings with friends or loved ones. Among these passengers was a 20-year-old young man with short blonde hair, green eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He wore a safari hat on his head, a white jacket over a blue shirt, and jeans. Over by his feet was a suitcase and he had a large black and grey backpack just over his lap. This young man was Alex Jackson, son of the late archaeologists Robert and Amanda Jackson.
Alex pulled out a photo of his parents from his pocket, that showed them together as his mother was holding him in her arms when he was three years old. 'Mom, dad, I really wish you were here to see this.' Alex thought to himself in sadness. Just then, the train came to a stop and the doors opened, allowing everyone to exit including him.
Alex looked up at the skyline and could really marvel at how large the city was. He grew up in a city, but nothing as big as this, but that wasn't what he should be focusing on right now. His flight to Japan landed about half an hour ago and he spent the rest of that on the train, so now the next step should be to find a place to stay for the next few months. As Alex walked down the sidewalk, he noticed a large screen on one one of the buildings giving a news report.
"And in the world of business, famous pharmaceutical company MBI has just bought over 80% of the properties of Shinto Teito, and it looks like they're not stopping any time soon. CEO, Minaka Hiroto, wasn't available for an interview, but he has commented that Shinto Teito is about to reach new heights the likes of which no man has ever seen before."
"MBI, huh." Alex commented as he decided to just keep walking. "Oh well, not my problem. I should really try to find a place to stay, possibly one that's decently priced."
GURGLE!
Alex paused in his stride as he could feel his stomach loudly rumble in hunger, which earned glances from passerby's before they just continued walking. 'Although I should probably find someplace to eat first.' Alex thought sheepishly.
Alex looked around to try and find a decent place to eat, before noticing quite a bustle of people gathering around at what looked like a diner of some kind. Up front of the entrance there was a couple of girls dressed up as maids and were passing out flyers, possibly for a grand opening of this restaurant.
"Well, might as well. I've got time before trying to find a place to stay." Alex said as he walked up to the restaurant. He took a flyer to be polite and entered, where another waitress in a maid uniform stood by a podium greeted him. "Hi, I'd like a table for one, please."
"Right this way." The waitress said as she grabbed a menu and escorted him to a table at the far corner. "Your server will be with you momentarily."
"Thanks." Alex said before scanning through the menu. After finding what he wanted to eat and drink, Alex placed the menu down, pulled out a newspaper from his jacket pocket, and began to read a page.
"Shinto Teito's Natural History Museum is proud to announce a brand-new exhibit that will be opening in just a month, where head archeologist, Doctor Arkeville, will present a new string of artifacts to the populace. These artifacts stem from ruins found years ago in ancient tombs buried beneath the sands of Egypt, where they will now be on display and finally shined into the light."
"Excuse me, sir?"
Alex felt someone tapped his shoulder, causing him to look to the side, and had to fight off a serious blush forming on his face when he noticed the server standing right by his table. Like all the female servers, she wore a maid uniform, but this one was dark blue. She had long black hair that split into two ponytails, hazel eyes, but what really made her distinguished was that the uniform could hardly hold her breast, making her cleavage clear to see. Wanting to be a gentleman, Alex tried to pay as much attention away from the clear view of her cleavage and focus on her eyes, which he had to admit were very pretty.
"Hi there, my name is Hikari and I'll be your server." The woman named Hikari said professionally with smile as she held her notepad. "Sorry about tapping you, it's just I called you couple of times and you didn't respond."
"Hi there, sorry about that." Alex said sheepishly.
"No problem, so what can I get for you?" Hikari asked.
"I'll take the steak with a side of salad, please. And I'll also take a Diet Coke, as well." Alex listed his order off, which Hikari wrote down on her notepad.
"Coming right up." Hikari said as she was about to walk away, but noticed the suitcase beneath his table. "What's with the luggage? You leaving town?"
"Just arriving into town, actually." Alex said with a chuckle, before pointing to the article he was reading on the paper. "You heard about this event happening soon?"
Hikari read the article quickly before shrugging her shoulders. "I might have heard about it in passing, but not that much. I'm not really into museums all that much."
"That's alright, I'm just excited because of what they'll be displaying." Alex said with a big smile. "The new artifacts that'll be on display will be stuff that my parents have discovered on their archeological expeditions. Since my parents discovered the artifacts, I've been invited to the special event free of charge. I'm staying in the city for a couple of months to see all I can."
"Wow, that's pretty something." Hikari said with an impressed smile. "Your parents must be proud of this event."
"I'd like to think they would be." Alex said with a sad smile on his face. "They passed away ten years ago, so this new exhibit is a way to honor them and their achievements."
Hikari eyes widened as she immediately gained a look of regret. "Oh my god, I am so sorry! I should have just kept my big mouth shut!"
"No, no, it's okay. You did nothing wrong." Alex said in reassurance. "Besides, it happened ten years ago, and while it's still sad to talk about, I don't get depressed about it anymore." Alex then gave Hikari a gentle smile. "Besides, they say it helps to talk about these things, so thanks for listening, Hikari."
Hikari was stunned by his smile and his gentle attitude from talking about such a troubling subject, before her face sported a red blush on her cheeks. "W-Well, I better deliver your ticket, so you won't go hungry." Trying to regain her composure, Hikari quickly walked off in order to get his order started.
"Oh, okay then." Alex said, a little surprised how quickly she walked away. "I probably took up too much of her time. Hope I didn't get her in trouble."
As soon as the order was delivered, Hikari walked up into an adjacent hallway and started to take deep breaths as she leaned against the wall, trying to control the blush still visible on her cheeks. She peaked her head slightly past the corner and watched who she suspected was the whole reason for her sudden change in behavior, who just continued reading his newspaper.
Walking out a door was another waitress, who was her twin sister on the count that she looked exactly identical to Hikari, except some key notable differences. For one thing the color of her maid uniform was different, with it being a magenta color, and the last most notable thing was that her breasts were smaller in size compared to Hikari's.
"Hikari, are you okay?" She said as she looked towards the panting form of her twin sister.
"Hibiki, see that guy right there." Hikari pointed out towards Alex.
Hibiki looked at said young man, and couldn't help but feel slightly captivated by him, before she came back to reality a few seconds later. "Yeah, what about him?" Hibiki asked curiously, but then she noticed the signs all over her sister and had a look of surprise. "Hikari, are you saying...?"
"Only one way to find out." Hikari said astutely as she was about to walk up back to Alex's table, but was then pulled back into hiding by her sister. "What the hell, Hibiki?"
"Just wait a moment." Hibiki said cautiously. "We can't just simply rush into this. Let's just take this nice and easy, just so we are absolutely sure he is the one we've been searching for."
Hikari wanted to argue with her sister, but it was hard to when she made such valued arguments. This is why she was the smart one in this duo, though she would argue that she has had her fair share of ideas herself.
"Alright, so how do you want to play this?" Hikari asked.
"You took his order, so just talk to him like nothing's up, and then I'll take my turn to speak with him. Once we've both had our time with him, then we'll decide how to respond if we feel anything." Hibiki explained.
"Sounds like a plan." Hikari said with a nod before they decided to continue with their job. All the while, their eyes continued to glance over at Alex every minute.
/
Meanwhile...
"Man, this just stinks." A woman said as she walked down the street, carrying a huge load of groceries in her hands.
This woman had a look that would put almost all supermodels to shame, with a tall frame, and a voluptuous figure most women would kill for. She had long brown hair with some of it being tied in a side ponytail, wore a pink and violet belly top shirt, that had a picture of a star on her chest, and the number ten on her back, plus capri jeans.
"Honestly, why did Miya have to punish me by making me grab groceries?" The woman complained to herself. 'So, what if I walked around the inn in nothing but my panties? It's not like there's anyone there who'd take advantage of it. 'Uzume, there's no public nudity in Maison Izumo. Uzume, show some proper conduct at the table.' Honestly, I love Miya, but she can be too stingy sometimes.'
Feeling that she was losing her grip on one of the bags, Uzume stopped to adjust her grip on the strap, but ended up accidentally spilling some apples all over the sidewalk.
"Awe, crap!" Uzume complained as she placed her groceries down and started to pick the apples up. She noticed one apple rolled right into an alley and made her way towards it. "This is just not my day." She knelt down to pick the apple up...
"Grrrr..."
Uzume paused when she looked down the dark alley, which for some reason seemed a lot darker than usual despite it being the middle of the day. She cautiously took a step back and narrowed her eyes into a hard stare.
"Hello...?" Uzume called out cautiously. After receiving no reply, she cautiously took another step back and called out again louder. "Is anyone there?!"
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Uzume looked slightly put off when she felt a slight shake in the ground in a pattern, but also the fact that she could make out a large silhouette in the shadows, slowly moving towards her. She still couldn't figure out what it was, but it appeared to be large and moving on all fours and was larger than the average human.
"Is that...some kind of animal?" Uzume muttered in confusion as she still couldn't make out what it was. Her answer soon came, and her eyes widened in shock and fear.
Stepping out of the shadows was, much to her disbelief, a large dragon. This dragon was light brown in coloration, and short legs with large claws, sharp spikes that went down the spine of its back, had sharp teeth with four teeth on its lower jaw shooting up to look like tusks, but it also had small wings on its back.
"What...the...hell?" Uzume muttered in disbelief.
The large dragon stood up on its hind legs and looked down at Uzume, giving her all its attention. The dragon extended one of its forelegs and brought it down to try and crush her, but Uzume jumped back a good distance to avoid getting crushed by the creature.
'What the hell is that thing?!' Uzume exclaimed in thought.
The dragon stepped out of the alley in an attempt to give chase, but paused when a car drove up and crashed into the large dragon, but it did little move it. The dragon gave a glance towards the crashed car, causing the driver to look up in fear, before it raised its other claw and brought it down, crushing the front half of the car, but luckily the driver jumped out of the car and ran way before he could get crushed as well.
"Seriously, just how messed up can my day get?!" Uzume exclaimed fearfully as she got in a battle-ready stance, staring up at the large dragon that towered over her.
/
Alex sighed in satisfaction as he just finished up the last of his lunch. "Man, that was really good." Alex said after once last sip of his drink.
After he got his food, he just ate in relatively peace, but has been approached by Hikari and, to his surprise, her twin sister Hibiki. They just walked up to ask him if he was enjoying the food or if he wanted anything else, however, there were times they'd walk up and just simply asked how his day was going, what he thought about the city, or just small random topics in general. He didn't mind it, in fact, he relatively enjoyed talking to them.
"All done?" Hibiki asked as she walked up to his table again.
"Yep, and it was delicious." Alex said as he put his utensils on the plate and Hibiki picked it up.
"Thanks, we'll get you that check really quick." Hibiki said as she was about to walk off to get him his check, but paused when she noticed something strange. "Hey, Alex, I think something's up with your backpack."
Alex was confused by what she meant and went to check on it, but paused as a look of fear spread across his face. Inside his backpack, a golden glow was seeping off from the opening and seemed to be getting brighter slightly. Alex's eyes were wide as he slowly unzipped his backpack to peek inside, causing the light to seep out of the pack even brighter.
"Oh no." Alex whispered as he quickly zipped his backpack up, quickly gathered up all his stuff, threw quite a bit of money on the table to pay for his meal, and then quickly ran towards the exit, but not before he turned back to look at Hibiki. "Sorry, I need to go right now. That should cover the meal!"
"Wait, what's going on?" Hibiki asked in confusion, a little put off by his rush to leave.
"Sorry, can't talk right now, big emergency I need to take care of!" Alex said quickly as he grabbed his luggage and backpack and raced right off out of the restaurant.
His quick departure was noticed by all the patrons and staff, who looked at him oddly before going about their business, though Hibiki still stood there with a surprised, yet conflicted look on her face.
"What was that about?" Hikari asked in confusion as she stood next to her sister.
"I'm not sure." Hibiki answered. "Something odd just happened, and he just took off like he was in a hurry."
Hikari shared her sister's look of confusion before she matched the same look of concern. "...You know, that feeling just coming back the more I talked to him."
"Same here." Hibiki confirmed with a nod.
"You think it's him?" Hikari asked with an intuitive look. "You think he's our Ashikabi?"
"There's a strong likelihood that he is." Hibiki said with another nod, feeling more confident about it.
"Dammit!" Hikari said in frustration as she punched the palm of her hand. "We should go after him!" Hikari made to run out there, but Hibiki grabbed her by the shoulder before she could move. "What the hell, Hibiki?!"
Hibiki gave her sister an expectant look as she pointed her thumb back. "We're on the clock, Hikari. We have to go on a break."
Hikari had the decency to look embarrassed at the point her sister made. "Oh...right."
/
Alex raced down the street with as much speed as his legs could carry him, all throughout having a panicked expression on his.
'No, no, why is it happening here to?!' Alex thought in panic, as he reached into his backpack. He reached into his backpack and pulled out what's looked like a glowing arm brace and clipped it onto his right forearm.
He raced down the street and held up his braced arm and pointed it down street which caused the glow to fade, but when he pointed down another street it glowed brightly again. He raced down that street and repeated the process again, using the glowing brace as a makeshift compass telling him which way to go.
"I hope I'm getting close." Alex said to himself.
CRASH!
Alex looked down the street and noticed that a car was being flipped down the street, and multiple people ran away screaming. "Yep, I'm definitely getting close." He said with a troubled expression on his face.
Alex raced down the street and noticed exactly what was the cause of the disturbance. A large brown dragon stood in the middle of the street and gave a war as it destroyed another car. Alex then panicked as he noticed the dragon stood over a young woman who backed up as the monster advanced towards her.
"Oh no." Alex said in panic as he raced right towards them.
Uzume backed up slowly with a stern glare as she gazed up at the large dragon as it continued its rampage. So far, she's managed to avoid every swipe this thing threw at her, but it just would not let up on its assault. The people around her ran away, and she couldn't blame them as she felt like running away as well, but she didn't want any innocent people getting eaten by this thing.
'I have no idea what this thing is, but I am not going to let this thing kill me.' Uzume thought to herself as she got in a battle-ready stance, ready to use her powers to take this thing down. 'Besides, I still have an Ashikabi out there to find.'
Uzume got ready to attack, but then noticed whips of flames escaping the dragon's closed mouth and was about to breath fire. Honestly, Uzume should have expected this since it is, after all, a dragon. Still, she had a perfect defense against it and was about to utilize it, but then she felt something come in on her side.
"Look out!" Alex exclaimed as he pushed Uzume out of the way, sending them both tumbling down to the ground. Just in time, as the dragon breathed a stream of fire and missed the two of them.
Alex and Uzume sat back up and with the former looking towards Uzume in concern. "Are you okay?" Alex asked.
Uzume was stunned for a moment, surprised that someone was willing to jump in the line of literal fire to save her. She did eventually find her voice to express her gratitude. "Yeah, I'm alright." Her face became serious as she looked back at the dragon that glared at them, but she didn't notice that the dragon focused its attention on Alex. "Listen, you have to get out of here, or you'll get hurt!"
"It's okay." Alex said confidently as he stood up in front of her. "I can handle this."
"Are you kidding?! That's a freaking dragon! How are you going to handle something like that?!" Uzume exclaimed in disbelief.
"Don't worry..." Alex said as he looked back at her with confident smile. "You can count on me. I promise."
Uzume looked right up at Alex and couldn't help but gaze at him with a blush on her face.
Ba-bump!
'This feeling...this sensation...' Uzume thought to herself as she started taking deep breaths as she placed a hand over her heart. 'It's like I was just...entranced by his eyes...his chivalry...'
"Alright, here we go!" Alex exclaimed as he held up his forearm up in the air, causing the golden brace to glow so brightly that it almost blinded Uzume. The dragon didn't like the light one bit as it backed away a few paces. The brace soon gained some new additions, as it looked like five golden wings were attached to it, causing Alex to give a confident grin. "Alright, I call upon...Blade Knight!"
An image of a knight with a sword and shield appeared on one of the wings of the brace, before it started to glow. All of a sudden, a bright light that took the shape of a portal shined in the middle of the street, which was soon followed up by a warrior knight in full-blue body armor, with a diamond-shaped shield, and a curved white sword appeared in the middle of the street.
"...Huh?" Uzume responded at the sight before her, with her eyes wide as saucers and her mouth hanged open in disbelief. Whatever she was expecting to happen, this was not it.
"Keep that thing busy!" Alex ordered, causing the knight nod before it charged right at the dragon.
Blade Knight tried to slash at the dragon's midsection, but the dragon backed up in time. The dragon retaliated by breathing a stream of fire at the knight, but it knelt down and raised its shield to defend from the attack. Blade Knight jumped up high into the air and tried to bring its blade down on top of it, but the dragon opened its maw wide and bit down on the sword. The dragon tried shaking the knight off of its catch, but the blue knight hanged on to its weapon tightly.
Alex took this chance and ran back to Uzume and helped her back up. "Alright, now's are chance to get away." Alex said.
"How did-when did-what just-" Uzume stuttered as she kept glancing at him and then at the battle in front of her.
"I'll explain later, but right now we need to get out of here!" Alex said urgently as he grabbed her hand and they ran away from the battle.
The dragon finally let go of the knight's sword as it dropped back to the ground, before it raised its tail to swipe at its enemy, but Blade Knight managed to avoid it and looked back to see that Alex and Uzume had successfully escaped. Deciding that its work was done, Blade Knight disappeared in flash of light, right before the dragon could swipe at it with its claws.
The dragon looked around and noticed that it was alone and that its prey escaped. The dragon growled in agitation, before it took a few sniffs in the air in different directions, before focusing on the right. It gave another low growl before its body started to change into purple smoke, and then it moved down the street like an ethereal ghost.
It's mind focusing on just one thing...finding its prey.
/
Alex and Uzume finally stopped running as they ended up at what appeared to be a park. They took a deep breath from exhaustion from all that running, but they were still relieved that they managed to get away.
Alex looked at the wing on his brace that had the image of Blade Knight before the image disappeared, causing him to smile. "Nice work, Blade Knight. Knew I could count on you."
Uzume took a couple deep breaths, before she looked down and had a teasing smirk. "My, you're so forward. You plan on doing this all day, handsome?"
Alex was confused by what she was referring to, but after following her line of sight, he realized that he was still holding her hand. Blushing from this, Alex quickly pulled his hand back in panic. "Sorry, I was just trying to get us away quickly and did the first popping into my hand!"
Uzume chuckled at his flushed face, but she to couldn't help but blush from the close contact they had, and even felt herself wanting to hold it again. "So, you got a name, handsome, or do you want me to just keep calling you that?"
"Oh, I'm Alex Jackson." Alex introduced himself.
"I'm Uzume." She introduced back. Wanting to get back on track, Uzume adopted a more serious look. "Okay, you said you would explain what that was all about, so tell me what the hell that thing was."
"Well..." Alex spoke up as he rubbed the back of his hand.
"And don't give me some cheeky response on saying that it was a dragon. I know what a dragon looks like, but they shouldn't exist." Uzume interrupted.
"I wasn't going to." Alex said sheepishly before he gained a troubled look. "To be honest, I'm not really sure myself on what that thing was, but I know that it wasn't the first."
"What do you mean?" Uzume asked in confusion.
"It all started with this." Alex said as he held up his winged arm brace. "I'm not sure what this thing is, but ever since I got this from my parents, before they passed, strange occurrences always happened around me. A variety of monsters started appearing, and whenever that happens this thing seems to glow and point me in direction where that monster is at."
"And that knight in shining armor that just appeared out of thin air?" Uzume asked.
"That's another thing that I discovered this thing can do." Alex said as he remembered the first time that happened. "It was the first time a monster appeared out of nowhere and attacked me. I was about eleven, just swinging on the swings of the park, when all of a sudden some monster appeared out of nowhere."
"What did you do?" Uzume asked with worry. Having to be just a kid and be attacked by a monster was not something one should go through.
"I was so scared that I just held the golden brace as tightly as I could, begging for my mom and dad to save me, when it started to glow. I didn't know what compelled me to place it on my arm, but I did and the images of monsters just popped into my head. I called out to one of them, and for some reason, it appeared and protected me." Alex explained.
"Wow." Uzume said in amazement.
"Ever since then, whenever a monster showed up and started causing destruction, I'd just use this thing to summon my own monsters and take it out before anyone got hurt." Alex finished.
Uzume couldn't help but smile when he was finished with his tale. "Wow, who would have thought a scared little boy would take it upon himself to be some kind of superhero."
"I wouldn't go that far." Alex said sheepishly.
Uzume smirked as she started to lean into Alex on the shoulder, causing him to blush from the contact he was making with her large breasts. "Oh? Then how about I call you an actual knight trying to save a princess? You gonna carry me to safety?"
"Uh...well..." Alex stuttered with his blush darkening, but he grew serious in an instant when he spotted something heading their way. "We're not safe yet."
Uzume was confused by what he meant, before she looked to where he was looking and saw a plume of dark smoke moving in the air and heading straight towards them. It came down a few feet in front of them before it started to take shape and materialized as the dragon that they just got away from. It looked directly at them before it gave a loud roar, having found its prey.
"This thing just won't take a hint." Alex said as he got in front of Uzume and placed a protective arm in front of her. "Listen, Uzume, you get out of here while I keep this thing busy."
"Are you crazy?! I can't leave you here to fight this thing alone!" Uzume exclaimed as she subtly gets into a fighting stance.
"Don't worry about me, I can handle this." Alex said as he prepared his winged arm brace. He looked back towards her and gave her a confident smile. "Trust me when I say, I will never let this thing hurt you."
Ba-bump! Ba-bump!
There it was again. That same feeling she felt from before when he protected her. Uzume could feel her heart starting to beat faster by the second, and her body started to get hotter as her face became flushed red. She began panting so much, and her legs started to shake, before she just collapsed to the ground on her knees.
"Uzume!"Alex called out as he knelt beside her, but he still kept his eye on the dragon stomping its way towards them. "Are you okay?"
"It's you." Uzume whispered.
"Huh?" Alex muttered in confusion, but was surprised when Uzume placed both her hands on his cheeks and made him look directly in her eyes. Alex could see that her eyes were half-lidded, but there was a look, a need, of desire in them. "Um, Uzume...what's going on with you?"
"I finally found you...after all this time..." Uzume whispered as she leaned her head closer to his, causing him to blush even redder, though she held a strong grip on his face to make sure he wouldn't lean back. "My Ashikabi."
It was then when Alex got the surprise of his life when Uzume unexpectedly kissed him right on the lips. Alex's eyes widened as she started to encircle her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. Uzume could feel her body starting to cool down and her heart returning to normal, but Alex's heart felt like it was about to pound out of his chest.
The surprises, however, didn't end there, as no sooner than when she started kissing him, a bright flash of light started to appear behind her. It became so bright that it caused the dragon to halt in its tracks and tried desperately to cover its eyes. Alex didn't cover his eyes from the light, as he witnessed another bizarre sight, as wings of light started to sprout from her back that looked almost identical to veils.
Uzume soon separated from the kiss, giving Alex a loving look, while he looked completely stunned by what has just transpired. "Sekirei Number 10, Uzume, at your service, my Ashikabi. Now and forever." She said lovingly as she rose back up to her feet, while Alex still knelt down and looked up at her with a stunned expression.
However, twhatever was going on will need to be dealt with later as the dragon made itself known again when it gave out a roar that made the two of them look back at it.
"You don't have to worry about me, Alex." Uzume said confidently as she stepped up to the dragon. "I'll show this overgrown gecko who's boss."
Alex was confused about what she meant, and was about to tell her to stay back, but she did something that once again took him by surprise. Seemingly out of nowhere, a white veil court up from behind Uzume and wrapped around her, and when it blew off her, she was now in a completely different outfit. A white veil completely crossed over her chest in an x-pattern, exposing the majority of her breasts, but still kept some of her modesty. She wore white arm-length gloves that stopped just below her shoulders, a white veil-like skirt, and white thigh-high heeled boots. To complete her new look, multiple large veils was draped across her shoulders that seemed to move on it's own.
The dragon roared as it breathed out a stream of fire at the girl, but she jumped up high in the air to avoid it. As she was in midair, one of her large veils wrapped around her arm till it took the shape of a drill.
"Showl Lance!" Uzume exclaimed as she plummeted down right at the dragon. She thrusted her veil drill right at the monster's chest, causing it roar in pain. As she stepped back, she turned her head to look back at Alex with a wide grin. "What do you think? Pretty neat, huh?"
Alex just watched in stunned silence as this amazing woman just performed feats that no ordinary human girl should be capable of. His stunned look soon became alarmed as he noticed the dragon was still moving forward. "It's not over yet, Uzume!"
Uzume looked back and noticed that, despite the gaping hole in its chest, the dragon still stood strong and roared at them. "Are you kidding me?!" Uzume exclaimed in disbelief.
Alex had to think of something quick, before he glanced at his winged arm brace and back at Uzume, formulating a plan. "Uzume, try and tie it up and keep it still!"
Uzume was confused by that request, but followed his instructions without question. She ran up right behind the dragon and launched multiple white veils, wrapping around its limbs and neck, causing it to roar in defiance, but Uzume still held strong.
"Blade Knight wasn't enough, so let's go bigger." Alex said as he held up his winged arm brace, causing one of the five wings to glow and an image appeared. "I call upon Enraged Battle Ox!"
In a bright flash of light, a different creature appeared, one that was much bigger and looked a lot meaner than the last one Alex summoned. This creature was a giant Minotaur that was slightly taller than the dragon, wearing red and yellow armor, and wielded large axe in one hand.
"Enraged Battle Ox, take that dragon out for good!" Alex exclaimed strongly.
Battle Ox gave a roar of its own as it charged at the tied-up dragon and swung it's axe out, completely beheading the trapped dragon. Uzume let her veils come back and watched as the headless dragon completely collapsed to the ground. No sooner than it had been defeated, the dragon's body began to dissipate into purple smoke until it completely disappeared.
Uzume took a deep breath of relief, before looking back at Alex with a bright smile. "Alex, we did it!" Uzume exclaimed happily before running up and hugged him tightly.
"Y-Yeah, we really did." Alex said sheepishly. He then held a curious look as he looked at her and his mind raced on how she was able to do those things. "Um...Uzume?"
"I know, I know." Uzume said as she let go of him and gave her own sheepish look. "I suppose I have some explaining to do myself."
"Yeah, looks like it." Alex said with a chuckle as he looked at the smiling girl. 'How did this go from a simple vacation, to all of this?'
/
On top of one of the many skyscrapers of Shinto Teito, a lone figure stood as he stared down at the many people going about their lives.
This figure was a man, but did not look like an average human in the slightest. He had long blonde hair, wore a purple suit with a yellow tie on his chest, and a purple hat was on his head. The most distinguishable features about him, however, was that his skin was completely orange, his ears were pointy like an elf, and his eyes were all green.
The figure chuckled as he held a pair of dice in his hands and rolled them up in his grip. "So, the game begins anew." The figure said with a smirk. "And this city will be swallowed by the shadows."
/
Hey everybody, hope you like the first installment to my newest story!
I am so excited to finally be doing a Sekirei story, in fact, I have two Sekirei stories planned out that I will be working on. First it is this one, and a crossover of Sekirei and Superman, which I will work on in the side, but won't release it until later on in the future.
Now, this one is a little bit different from what you might think, and let me explain.
This is technically a crossover with Yugioh, but I'm mostly using the lore of Yugioh, mainly the concept of the Shadow Games, then the actual card game. A key element to clues this in is that Alex wields the device known as the DiaDhank, which is the ancient golden duel disk that was shown in the final season Yugioh, but instead of having three wings on it, mine has five.
In this world, all of the Yugioh characters don't exist and the game of Duel Monsters was never invented. I have a vision for this story and the direction I want it to take and I wanted to share it with all of you.
Please keep in mind, for everything I do, there is a reason behind it.
Now, for all of you Sekirei fans out there, just because I have an OC in this story doesn't mean Minato won't be a main character in this story, in fact, I have big plans for him and his Sekirei.
As for my OC, I already have his Sekirei harem all picked out so I will to be taking any requests for his Harem.
Well then, that's all I really have to say, so then I will see you al next time. Stay healthy, and stay safe my friends!