THE LAST ONE PART 1: THE BEGINNING
Story by: Malus Wolfe
Edited by: Davey Rootbeer
Produced by : Your Mom
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Chapter 6: Temple of the Youkai
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The winding, stone walls of the temple were cold and dark. Light was nowhere to be found in the temple. As soon as everyone stepped in, however, a flash of light appeared behind me. I spun around, and saw that everyone was illuminated, with a small ball of chi in their hand. Davey had two of these ‘torches’ in his hand.
“Catch.” He shouted, throwing me one. As I caught it, it singed my hands a bit. Holding it up, I examined the group. Picc’elo was in poor shape after her fight with Zero, and Asylus was quite winded. The rest of the group, however, seemed fine. I felt a bit drained of my chi, but good enough to continue.
“Oh my!” Picc’elo shouted. She was holding her light up to the wall. Among it were several paintings. They showed a grim scene, with demons torturing humans. Large, grotesque demons were pictured, tearing apart the limbs of their captives. The paintings were all red, and all seemed to take place in a cavern. I reeled back in shock, they were very detailed.
“Do not worry.” Jubei stated calmly, “They are just representations of the world below ours, the world of devils, Makai. They’re meant to throw us off, to guard the treasures. We must push on.”
The stone corridors lead on for quite a ways. I dazed off a little. The corridors were cold, and I wanted to return to daylight. But for some reason, I got a nostalgic feeling from this place, as if I had been here before... I decided I couldn’t turn back.
“Walk, walk, walk! I need some goddamn excitement to be excited!” Shouted Asylus. His hands were above his head, and he had an annoyed countenance.
“Oh, shut your mouth! Don’t you know we’re here for a reason?” snapped Cougar. “Besides, didn’t you bring a flask along with you? Entertain yourself with that.”
“That has nothing to do with the subject.” Asylus muttered, taking a swig from his hip flask.
“Calm down you two, we must be close.” I said. We were. I could feel it, like a sense. I had felt it growing the second I stepped into the pyramid; I sensed the immense youkai that was contained within these walls...
After five or so minutes of walking, we finally came upon the door. There it was, a biohazard symbol, the mark on my hands. My hands started to glow. I clenched my teeth for the pain to come, but none came. The door responded and slid open. I stared down at my hands in disbelief. Must be getting better! I peered into the room ahead of us. It was a large, round, dome like structure. There was a pedestal in the midsection of the room. Upon it was a small glowing ball of intense purple light. Although it did seem evil emanating around the room as it did, it also was very beautiful.
“It’s more glorious than anything I’ve ever seen!” exclaimed Picc’elo, her eyes as wide as diamonds. She said what the entire group was thinking. She seemed like a child gazing upon a gem, entranced. The group stared in awe as the vibrant colors spun around the orb, dancing as if it were fire. This was our prize, a famed youkai orb.
“Thank you so much for leading me here!” a sinister voice behind us shouted.
We all simultaneously spun around. Standing there was Zero. He looked to be fully healed. Accompanying him were four more wolves. They looked much more muscular, and glowed with a solid color as opposed to their translucent-looking predecessors.
“I have a proposition for you! A duel! Two of your strongest warriors against yours truly.” He said with a wide grin, drawing his two full-length katana. “That is, if you’re up to it……”
“You know you’re really asking for it! Two of us will demolish you, and you know it!” I shouted with my fists clenched. I was trying to provoke Zero; I had noticed his irate temper earlier. To my surprise, Picc’elo held me back.
“This is my fight. Let me take this one.” She said calmly, locked in a deep concentration, katana extended. She paid no heed to her wounds, and stepped forward as if she was perfectly fine.
Jubei stepped forward as well, drawing his blade. “What kind of Gentleman would I be if I let you fight alone?” He smiled at her, and focused his energy upon Zero.
Without another word, Zero threw his arm forward. The wolves lunged at the remaining members of the group. My wolf stared at me, circling. It lunged forward, razor teeth extended to my neck. I leaned backwards, kicking it behind me by rolling on my back. I felt my chi flow upward as the chi enhance was put on. The power was growing with every second. The wolf staggered up as I got up. As it rushed towards me, I dodged below it, meeting it with an elbow to the neck. As it sprung into the air, I wanted to test my chi. I began to gather chi, taking off my enhancement. It spun and circled in my hands, until it was roughly the size of a basketball.
I screamed as I launched it, throwing it at full force. The chi flew through the air like a knife. It hit the wolf below the shoulder blade, tearing open its youkai skin as if it were paper. The pieces of the wolf flew against the cave wall, hitting the ground with a thud. I looked around. Zero, Picc’elo, and Jubei were all staring at me, in complete awe at my powerful shot. Simultaneously they all began to lock in concentration again, no one making a move. I collapsed at my lack of energy, and watched the others battle.
Davey was faring good, but having some bits of trouble. The wolf was faster, and he had a hard time matching the tune. Finally, he played a short melody. A falcon emerged from the lute, brimming with chi energy. It sprang forward at the wolf, claws extended. As opposed to firing a shot, the bird turned and moved when Davey played a note. The wolf was looking from side to side, trying to match the movement of the bird, but to no avail. The bird dove into it, dissipating it in a flash. The falcon flew over to Davey, rested on his shoulder, and seeped into his body.
Cougar was in a primal rage. She had a chi enhance on, but it wasn’t like mine. Rather than the chi simply coating her body, it swayed around her as if she was in a blaze. It seemed to use up more energy than my enhance, but it was leagues stronger. The wolf lunged at her, only to be met with a lightning-fast three stab combo with her daggers. She went into a pure frenzy, throwing knives as fast as she could remove them from her belt. The wolf made a last ditch effort and lunged. Cougar let out a blood-curdling scream and swung her hammer. It struck the wolf at the midsection, crashing it into the wall. When the dust cleared, all that remained was a mangy corpse. She took off her enhance and relaxed.
Asylus was getting pushed back. His back against the wall, all that was between him and the wolf was his wooden staff. The two were wrestling one another back. ”Hey, um, Cougar, throw a few of those knives to me!”
“Hmm…” Cougar grinned, throwing him a few knives. She obviously thought he was going to be killed, and didn’t seem to mind.
“Good, now throw one at me!” Asylus said, gathering the knives while holding the wolf back with his feet.
“What, are you insane?” She scoffed, with an obvious scorn to his stupidity.
“Just do it!”
She didn’t seem to mind one bit. The knife sliced through the air, and struck him in the arm.
“Ugh…that’s going to leave a mark” Asylus then readied the other knives in his hands, kicking the wolf back. He released them with the same skill as Cougar! They sliced through the wolf. He followed up with a few quick jabs with the staff, and a very large lighting chi bolt. The wolf collapsed into a corner, dead.
I looked at the three warriors in the chamber’s center. They were still in concentration, judging the chi and physical strength of one another. Finally, Jubei and Picc’elo ran forward. Zero grinned. He was deflecting all of their blows with a single katana! Zero dashed in the gap between them, slicing Picc’elo midsection, and stabbing Jubei in the gut. Bloody and bruised, the two fell against the wall.
Jubei formed some chi into his hand. Taking it, and drawing a single vertical rune. He sliced his sword into it. The sword glowed with a blue aura. Picc’elo was in pain. She was forcing all of her chi into the hilt of the sword. The chi snaked up to the metal blade. The metal seemed to disappear, leaving only a bright blue chi sword. This seemed to be the same technique, and it was the first time I had seen Jubei’s rune magic act like that of the elves.
“Hahaha! Am I supposed to be scared? A simple chi enhance isn’t going to beat me! Have at you!” Zero chuckled. He readied both katana, and charged at the duo.
The pair struck forward as well, catching him off guard. Zero raised a single katana in each hand to block. The blades of chi sliced through the metal like it was water. A metallic clank hit the floor, as each sword tip dug into the stone ground. Zero was defenseless. Picc’elo let out a painful laugh. “Nobody said it was a simple chi enhance. I’m glad you enjoyed my chisaber technique.”
“You…you scoundrels!” he flustered, backing up, “I’m not done with you! You cheaters damaged my pride! I vow it to my death day, I will have my revenge!”
In a flash, he was gone. Picc’elo stumbled around, as she bandaged her stomach wound with some more of Davey’s cloth. Her sword returned to normal, as the metal blade returned in place of the chi. Jubei seemed to be doing bad, gripping onto his stomach. He grabbed hold of the chi on his sword, and absorbed it again, placing a small bit of chi in his wound, seemingly to brace it.
The group circled around the orb, battered and bruised.
“Ok, everyone touch the orb with a finger.” Davey instructed, “Release a small amount of your chi into the orb.”
Everyone complied. It was hard for me to summon chi, I had used seemingly most of it, but it still came. A steady blue stream flooded into the orb from six different points. The blue energy diffused into the orb, slowly pushing out the purple. After thirty seconds, the ball was glowing bright blue, no youkai to be seen.
“Well, to tell the truth, I wasn’t so sure if that was going to work!” Davey said, looking at me. He smiled, and motioned toward the orb. “Take it, Ben”
“What? Why?” I questioned, backing up a little.
“You’re the Planeswalker; you get the honors of the first orb.”
Saying nothing, I grabbed the orb. It pulsed three times, and shattered, the shards sifting into my skin as if it were my own chi. The energy spread out unto me. It was painful, but I could feel my power growing. It was as if my stamina had all of a sudden been restored, and then some.
“Whoa, surreal….” I said, dazed.
“Hey guys, you might want to take a look at this!” Asylus was pointing to a large crystal. It was in the very back of the chamber. It was tall, towering above my head. It was a solid blue in color, with a deep black Planeswalker symbol carved into the front.
“Ben, it has your symbol…” Picc’elo noted.
Nodding, I extended my hands. They started to glow, and the crystal spun. It spun uncontrollably, teetering on its tiny crystal base. Finally, it shattered, with blue mist covering the entire room. Everyone gasped as the smoke cleared. There was a girl lying in the middle of the floor. Her upper body was covered by a black robe, with short sleeves ending just below the shoulder. The robe was tied off at the waist, and she had simple grey pants extending below, flaring off at the ankle. She seemed young, about my age, and she was the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen. She had dazzling chi-colored hair, draping over her shoulders like a wave of blue fire. She looked up at us.
Then it struck me, she was the girl from my dream, and the game!
“Hi! I’m Saphira!”
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END OF PART I
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