In the tower:

Auria, Zane, Lloyd, and Raven stood on the floor before the top floor. They were looking upward, seeing that another elevator was the only way to reach the top floor.

"What's with these weird elevators?" Raven asked, and the other three just shrugged.

"We're not alone in here," Auria said, hearing creaking from the shadows of the dark room that only had a spotlight in the center area.

"You two need to go ahead. We'll handle whatever lurks here," Zane said, as he and Auria took out their twin weapons.

"Are you two sure you'll be okay?" Lloyd asked.

"We will Lloyd. Will you two be okay?" Auria asked.

Raven and Lloyd looked towards one another, as they nodded in unison.

"We'll be okay as long as we stick together," Raven said, standing closer to Lloyd as he added,

"And we don't plan to be apart, ever."

Auria and Zane smiled and nodded towards them. Then they all ran to the elevator, as they waited for the doors to slide open. The Lizarians that stood hidden in the shadows reacted when they stepped out from the spotlight. Four Lizarians lunged forth at them, as Auria and Zane attacked all of them with a combined wind and ice attack that created a blizzard to blow them away and injure them.

The elevator doors opened, as Lloyd and Raven quickly entered inside and pressed the button to the next floor above. They watched Auria and Zane stand guard of the elevator, as they fought off a few other lizarians that were trying to attack them.

"Be safe Auria! Zane!" Raven called out, as the elevator doors started to close.

Auria and Zane turned to Raven and Lloyd as they smiled at them.

"We'll be okay as long as we stick together," Auria said.

"And we don't plan to be apart, ever," Zane said, as the doors closed while Lloyd and Raven smiled back.

As Lloyd and Raven traveled up the elevator, Auria and Zane ran back to the center spotlight. They stood back-to-back as they attacked whatever Lizarians stepped into the spotlight to fight them. As they stood in their positions and were taking down many Lizarians, Zane heard a ring, as he reached over to his arm and answered a phone call from Dr. Julien.

"Hello, father. Is something wrong? Are you okay?" Zane asked, as he back-slapped a red-eyed lizarian with his shurikin when it came too close to him.

"Zane! I'm fine, but where is Lloyd and Raven? Did they get to the top of the tower?" Dr. Julien asked in a rush.

"Yes. They just made it," Zane replied, while Auria drop-kicked an orange-eyed lizarian back into a few other Lizarians.

"Oh no! I didn't call in time. Darkness isn't on the top floor. I'm tracking him down right now with the dragons," Dr. Julien said.

"What? Darkness isn't here?" Zane asked to clarify, as Auria looked at him in surprise.

"No. He's not there. His power is influencing the area, but he's not actually there," Dr. Julien replied.

"It was a trap," Auria said.

"A distraction. I believe Darkness left the tower to enact another plan. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm going to try to find out," Dr. Julien said.

"Don't get into trouble father! Please stay away from him," Zane said, with much concern.

"I'll be fine Zane. I'm with the dragons, so if there's any trouble, they'll let me know," Dr. Julien said.

"But, if Darkness isn't up there, then who is?" Auria asked.

Top Floor of the Tower:

Lloyd and Raven entered the final floor when the elevator doors slid open. The room looked larger then the other rooms below, and the same spotlight stood in the center area. The two slowly walked towards the center spotlight, as they stood a quarter of the way into the light, since they were very suspicious of the room they were in.

"Darkness! Are you there?! Come out!" Lloyd called out.

"Wait… wait a minute! Darkness isn't here!" Raven said.

"What?" Lloyd asked.

"I can sense much better now that we're in this room. I couldn't sense very well on the floors below, something prevented me from sensing anything from this room besides dark energy," Raven replied, as she looked around the room cautiously.

Then they heard footsteps walking towards them from one side of the shadows, as Lloyd and Raven stood on guard. Glowing red eyes were seen in the shadows, as they came closer to the light.

"P-Please… p-please..." the person with the red eyes said, as they stepped into the light.

Lloyd and Raven took a step back in shock, as they saw their friend standing before them with shadow claws embedded on his hands and up his arms, as well as his legs and feet. Half of his face was encompassed in shadow around his right eye, while a white fang stood in one side of his mouth.

"Ryan," Lloyd said in an almost whisper to see his friend suffering.

"No," Raven said, as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"P-Please run. D-Don't stay here. D-Darkness is forcing me… t-to do his b-bidding. P-Please go, or stop me… for good," Ryan said, as he held a painful expression on his face, as his hand raised up and dark energy accumulated in that hand.

"No! Ryan, we won't do that!" Lloyd said.

"W-We can't. We can't k-k..." Raven said, but she couldn't finish her sentence.

"Don't l-let me hurt you! I have no control! I-It's taking almost all of my strength… t-to even talk to you t-two! P-Please stop me before… before I d-do s-something I'll r-regret," Ryan said, as his other arm raised without his consent, as more dark energy accumulated in that hand.

"No. NO! We're not going to kill you! We'll save you! That's what we're meant to do!" Lloyd said, as golden energy gathered in his now raised and clenched fists.

"That's right. We promised Silva that we would bring you back to her! And we're bringing you back alive!" Raven said, as she took a step forward while holding one of her now clenched fists up while silver energy gathered into her fists.

Ryan looked at them in surprise and sadness, as he said, "I want to b-believe in you t-two… P-Please… if I become too difficult… d-don't hesitate… I w-will understand..."

Ryan shot a beam of dark energy at Lloyd and Raven as they dodged. Then they ran towards Ryan, as they attacked with fists full of energy and Ryan blocked with both hands. The battle to save a life and break free from the Dark Tower began.

…

Well, that escalated into a cliff hanger quickly.

See ya soon.