Chapter 3: A Story Long Forgotten

[Blaze Sanaku]

yes!!! FINALLY An enemy.

The perfect way to blow off steam from being smashed under a Sho. Even though her teammates were under attack, Blaze still threw him a dirty look.

Blaze had thrown the first blow, with her claws extending unmercifully, and had been repelled by the monster's seemingly indescructible force. But she felt her dignity return when nobody else could hit the monster with physical attacks either.

Blaze let out a little growl of fustration when she saw that Jaime's pain spell didn't affect the monster at all. She was just about to use her "cries of agony" limit break. Sho casted tornado, which seemed to be effective, but the monster casted auto-cure on itself. It seemed that if it were hit with magic, it would immediately cast cure on itself.

"Fury cutter," Blaze said with determination. She felt her body speed up, but it was useless. Physical attacks were Blaze's strongest aspect as a fighter and this was the first enemy she'd ever been against that was immune to them. Her limit breaks were not power hits like Polaris's were. All she could do was speed up.

If we could break the barrier... but how??? How has this thing been living down here anyway?!

/the ruby/ Deathstrike murmered, /the ruby has kept it alive./

Blaze saw Polaris unleash her limit break, and felt a swell of pride at how well her best friend was fighting. She ran over to Polaris's side after she saw her take a bad hit.

"You okay??" Blaze asked, searching her pockets madly, "I'm such an idiot. I don't have any support items."

[Diego Stanton]

Deo stood in the back of the seeDs, watching them fight with a ferocity that the Opps never had. He didn't really know what to do. Judging from what was happining to the seeDs, physical attacks didn't work and magic barely did any damage.

Deo just stood there, watching everyone else attempt to take down the monster.

What am I supposed to do?

His bombs were all gone, and he didn't even have Jun's sword. All he was doing was sucking up Polaris's aura spell.

Deo's attention was caught on Polaris when he heard her agonizing scream. Blaze rushed over to her but wasn't really doing anything to help. Deo shook his head and reached into his sack for support items.

Oh yeah He thought, when his hand groped nothing but air.

/Diego/ Drake said.

yeah, yeah

Deo calmly walked over to Polaris and Blaze as if he were taking a stroll in the park. Once he reached them he stood in front of Polaris with his back facing her.

"Safeguard massacre," Deo murmured. His body began to fade away as Drake materialized. He was a huge, spiky looking cross between a dinosaur and a lizard and he gave a roar that sounded like 10 T-rexaurs put together. A huge string of saliva pooled from Drake's mouth when he snapped his jaws.

/gross/ Deo said in the back of Drake's mind.

I'm a dinosaur Drake replied.

The monster reared half of its heads towards Drake, noticing its new enemy. Drake roared threateningly, but did not attack. He paced back and forth in front of Polaris- guarding her.

I can't attack it unless it goes for the girl Drake reminded Deo.

Just then, the monster charged towards Deo's GF. Drake crouched down with his tail swishing violently over Polaris and Blaze's head.

/You're attack's not going to do anything!/ Deo shouted

But it was too late. Drake lunged for one of the monster's heads and easily penetrated the barrier as if it were never there. He tore off one of the 10 heads and kept it in his mouth. Blood splattered everywhere and rained upon the ground. The monster reared away from Drake and did not attempt to attack him again.

Drake tossed the head aside and it landed millimeters away from the seeDs. The head's mouth was foaming and the end was pooling blood.

/uhh... good job/ Deo congratulated his GF.

[Polaris Lyn]

Polaris raised herself up on her arms and gave her best friend a pained smile. If she didn't move too quickly, her broken rib would stay, and the Regen would heal it eventually.

"No worries." Polaris grit her teeth and arranged herself to a sitting position with her back against the stone pillar. She gently pressed an arm around her abdomen, willing the intense pain to go away. "I'll be fine, Blaze."

It was then that Deo strolled up to them, positioning himself in front of the girls and vanishing in a whirl of light. A giant dinosaur GF replaced him, and there were animalistic shrieks before one of Guardian's heads was lying on the floor, bleeding out its life on the stone.

Polaris let out a cross between a laugh and heavy sigh, glancing at Blaze. "I guess using Guardian Forces was the only thing we haven't tried."

[ani]

"Our GFs?" Stardust said, huffing as she remained on the defensive, dashing and evading the berserk attacks of the monster.

But my GF is useless! she thought to herself.

/EXCUSE me./ Diwata haughtily said. /Are you pertaining to me?/

In that same second, tiny ball of lights surrounded Stardust and fluttered on top of her like swarm of purple fireflies.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as the form of her guardian force materialized. Long, flowing hair lined her whole frame and the familiar fairy had appeared in front of the group once again.

"So it's all about the GFs huh?" Vanesse took in Deo's lead and summoned Paridge. The griffin made a huge impact the moment it slammed in front of the whole group, shielding them right when one of the heads released a high energy beam.

"Now!" she commanded, and in an instant, the griffin soared above the monster and flapped its wings with great force. A malevolent cyclone rushed towards the creature and practically shredded its thick hide. The monster arched its back and its heads shrieked in agony.

"It's working!" she chirped at everyone.

"That thing is a Hydra!" Hadrian announced, lifting his head up from his little scanner. "You have to chop off all the heads quickly to damage the head in the middle." He pointed to the head bearing the Ruby. Amidst all of his calculation, something felt wrong. "It's the one controlling regeneration!"

Stardust's GF hovered above the SeeDs. Bringing her palm to her face, she blew a kiss on it and a cool breeze rushed around everyone's body thus closing any wounds and scratches they previously had--Polaris's wounds in particular. The tender breeze rejuvinated everyone's health to the fullest.

"Kiss...of life," Stardust mumbled, chucking her GF a blank face. Useless, useless GF. The fairy had no offensive attack at all. She guessed the other GFs would have to cut off the rest of the heads.

[Bun]

Polaris felt the healing magic surge through her like an electric shock, and at once, her aches and pains were relieved, the broken rib and the gash on her back vanished. The cooling magic numbed her fingertips for a moment, but then she vanished, calling forth her Guardian Force.

The dim room seemed to darken even more as the cawing of ravens filled the space. Obsidian came hurtling from the shadows, a black-winged angel with ruby eyes and a feral, catlike grin, speeding towards the Hydra. The entire party could feel the Gravity magic that encompassed the black-winged demon as it exploded into black feathers inches from the Hydra, the Gravity spell following like a black missile, and the Hydra screamed. Another head fell limply to the floor, neck broken by the intense pressure of Gravity. The ravens took after it, cawing loudly, pecking at the scaly neck, severing the dead head from the body.

[Blaze Sanaku]

As soon as Diwata had cured Polaris, Drake left in a swirl of light and Deo was left standing next to Vanesse's gigantic griffin.

"I don't think I can do much else," he apologized to Van.

Blaze groaned. She had no choice but to actually use Deathstrike now. This was going to take forever.

/you're FINALLY summoning me?/ Deathstrike asked when she noticed Blaze concentrating. /the first time in years/

shut up! I'm trying to concentrate Blaze squinted her eyes shut and tried to draw upon her GF to come out. She had failed her GF test four times before she was able to pass.

COME ON! COME ON! Blaze stood as still as a statue. You were supposed to achieve the state of blankness to be able to summon a GF, and it was difficult for Blaze.

/Stop pushing yourself or you'll faint like last time/

"Bloodlust!" Deathstrike finally came out and Blaze's mind exploded into pain from trying to force her to come out.

Stormy black clouds appeared out of the ceiling and a young girl who looked about 14 appeared in a swirl of black. She appeared innocent but had an deadly aura about her. Smiling upon the seeDs, she flew towards the Hydra with her arm oustretched. A hoard of shrieking vampire bats surrounded the monster and latched their fangs onto its heads, sucking the life out of the Hydra.

The Hydra was withering uncontrollably, but the vampire bats were overwhelming it. At soon as it had started, it was over.Once they were done with their feed the bats flew away and Deathstrike was gone. The room cleared up and the Hydra was seen with two of its heads deathly white and punctured in a hundred places. The heads lolled downwards and hung limply.

/Score 2!! 6 more heads to go/ Deathstrike giggled.

Reminds me never to summon you again Blaze shook her head.

---

You guys can cut off more than one head in the next posts! 6 more heads to go

[waterlily43]

It seemed that the way to kill the Hydra had been summoning GFs. Jaime would never had thought of that at all, but she was glad someone did.

Puup, I'm gonna summon you okay? Cos most of the GFs are already out, we should our part too, right?

{Sure, Jaime! Let me out. I think my saucer's eager to go too.}

As soon as Jaime relased Pupu from within, the little alien GF started encircling a few of the Hydra's heads in several maddening circles, spinning away when the heads tried to atttack him.

"BEEPBEEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP" An electronic sound emitted from Pupu's saucer, followed by six squares lighting up on its little windows. From a little laser cannon in front, a startingly bright beam shot out and took off two of the Hyrda's heads cleanly.

{That's all I can do for now, Jaime.} Pupu squeaked after he returned to her, his voice faint with exhaustion.

It's good enough! Thank you puups! She shrieked internally with delight.


-------------------

Come on Sapphy... You're the only one who's not out now... besides one or two others. Are you trying to let people think that I have a useless and cowardly GF? Maybe the others have excuse for not releasing theirs but you? Why are you always so reluctant to put to use your supreme powers?!!! Jun half-pleaded and half-grumbled to Sapphire.

He gave a grunt as reply.

It's not as if I'm summoning you so that I can loaf off, but I'm sure you can see for yourself only GF attacks work.

{Alright alright you're worse than an old lady.} He grunted again in displeasure, whoosing out of her immediately. The thing great about Sapphy that seriously overrided his unsummonable quality was that no matter what the state of their compatibility, he didn't need much concentration or downtime to appear. And that was the main reason Jun had decided to keep him.

Sapphy reared his head back, opened his mouth and blasted at the remaining Hydra heads with a deafening roar that sent his brilliant scales rippling. Three of the heads vaporised completely together with their necks, leaving a sole head pathetically waving about and clinging onto its neck and body for dear life.

Sapphy shot a glance at Jun that seemed to say "Happy now?". She grinned at him with a thumbs-up. Throwing his head back slightly, he gave a snort, paraded before everyone before returning to his rightful place.

{That's how it's done.} There was no mistaking the arrogance in his voice. Jun knew she had to stroke it if she wanted future cooperation from him.

I'm so proud of you Sapphy. She replied in a soothing voice.

-------

Rayden felt absolutely useless in this battle. Not mentioning his own attacks having no impact, even his GF couldn't do anything. Ariadnialla only had status attacks... and the Hydra was simply immune to it.

I guess you'll have to prove your worth another time, Ariad. Both you and I.

{Don't fret. I am sure there will be plenty of chances for that.}

Evidently his GF was in a good mood.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Pupu's saucer and his little canons are so cute XD And I love Sapphy forever!! Time to finish this stupid Hydra and move on! >D
_________________________________________________

The powerful beam Jun's GF had emitted illuminated the whole place. The enthusiasm within Hadrian sprung to life as the three of the Hydra's heads were killed.

/Cadmium existence detected./

You don't have to tell me that, CQ. The hacker grinned. This battle was over. The place was crawling with ancient symbols (he didn't know what language it was) all embedded in metal walls. Can this be from the lost civilization? He could only guess.

"Aight, time to finish this!" Hadrian said and brought his hand forward. As soon as his eyes closed, a bunch of holographic symbols appeared before him ,and out of nothing, purple sleek fingers came out. The space divided and a figure of a cyber being pushed herself out. Coming to her feet the GF stood straight before Hadrian, wires and cables covered her naked body in a weird fashion.

Mechanical Armageddon!

The GF's eyes shot open and a strong wave pulsated out of her frame. The solid metal walls behind the Hydra was ripped out of their place and were bent out of proportion in a liquid/solid state. It separated into a hundreds of huge discs with deadly razor edges. By CQ's command, the discs started spinning wildly and advanced towards the remaining head that bore the ruby.

The Hydra cried in pain as the numerous razors rained upon it like locusts. Once all of the discs got a taste of the Hydra's skin, they merged altogether to form a great razor blade and neatly sliced the giant head off the body, ending its misery. Headless, the Hydra swayed back and forth before completely surrendering to the ground with a deafening "thud". Its whole body rotted immediately seeing as the Ruby was separated from it.

Hadrian collapsed on the ground in a sitting position and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Hyne the sh*t is over." He winked at his GF before seeing it dispersed in the air.

Just a few feet away from all of you, the Ruby could be seen attached to the forehead of the dead Hydra head. It was shining.

[miyavi]

"Thank Hyne the sh*t is over." Sho, like Hadrian, was sitting on ground, his long legs splayed out as Sho leaned on his hands. Sho smirked at the hacker, <maybe he isn't so useless after all!> and blew a chunk of blue hair from his face before rising to his feet and stretching.

"Aa, we'd better go, then." He stepped towards the Hydra's final head and leaned down, catching the Ruby on the monster's forehead. And quick tug and the Ruby seperated from the skin with a sick squelch, and Sho winced. "Disgusting," he mumbled, fishing another travel-sized container of baby wipes and wiping off any excess blood and slime from the gem. Tucking the baby wipes back into some obscure pocket, Sho held the gem between a thumb and a forefinger, before chancing a glance at his team and the Opps. He unzipped his hoodie and hid the Ruby into an inner pocket of his jacket.

"So...we gonna lie around here for a little bit more, or are we going?" he asked curiously, blinking at them and zipping up his hoodie.

[ST]

It was a long trip back up the marble staircase but once you reached the top, you immediately noticed something. All of the doors surrounding the circular room were now open. You looked towards the statue for guidance but they were still, providing no help whatsoever.

Sho
You couldn't quite explain it but you have a feeling... you just knew that the passageway you were staring at is the correct one to go through. Your mind kept directing you towards that doorway... or maybe it was the ruby that was doing the directing?

---

Bun- go ahead and describe whatever you want about the what's in the passageway! Like paintings etc.

[miyavi]

"It's that one," Sho said, automatically pointing. "That's our door."

"And you know this...how?" Polaris's voice was softer than before, weak----she obviously wasn't feeling 100 percent even after she'd been healed by the freaky fairy GF.

Sho shrugged. "I guess it's my awesome intuition?" He flashed everyone a cheerful grin. "You're all such crabbypants right now." He mock-pouted. "We just defeated something that seemed undefeatable!! We should be celebrating! So onward!!" And without waiting for the others, he walked through the doorway.

<...Whoa.>

They were in a hallway. At least, it looked like a hallway. It looked like the main hall in the Caraway mansion, with a floor made of creamy beige marble that stretched on for quite a while, a high ceiling---<it's at least fifty feet up>---where crystal chandeliers hung, and the walls were the same cream color as the marble, nearly hidden behind rich velvet tapestries and paintings of various kinds---pastels, watercolors, oils...

Sho glanced around. The hall was wide, about fifteen feet across. The chandeliers lit everything up, not just pale yellow, but with a bright, white light, cool and fresh and setting everything in a dreamy glow. The marble floor was carpeted with a long white carpet.

"Friggin' Hyne," Sho breathed. He hurried over to the first three paintings to his left. The very first was a young girl, only ten- or eleven-years-old, with waist-length brown hair in a ponytail and bright, inquisitive gray eyes. She was swathed in white, her delicate wrists covered with arcane symbols. The next was of a woman in her late teens, her hair silver-brown and braided to one side, with the same gray eyes and a serene smile. Her dress was a high-collar lace gown of pale gray that matched her eyes. There were markings that covered her forehead in fine silver lines. The third and final picture was of a woman, perhaps in her late twenties, her hair long, silver-white curls that seemed to float in the air. Her back was turned to Sho, and she was glancing back flirtatiously, her gown a deep black and backless, revealing the archaic symbols drawn all over her back.

Sho blinked. "What weird pictures," he commented.

[ani]

Sho's new banner!! ^.^^^^^
___________________


Vanesse didn't have any clue on which door to pick so she decided to trust Sho's instinct and followed suit. It seemed like the others were doing the same anyway. On the hallway, there were portraits of beautiful women in foreign clothing. She paused to stare at one of the portraits when she noticed the girl named Stardust point to something ahead of them.

"There's the end of this hallway," she said gruffly and strode briskly towards it. Vanesse turned to look at what she was pointing and saw a hazy light reflecting on the wall where the hallway was swerving left.

Sticking close to Deo and Jaime, Vanesse followed again.

Soon, the whole group arrived at the end of the said hallway and found themselves back at the garden filled with fireflies once again. However, this one was different, there was no labyrinth this time. Instead, there was an old marble staircase leading all the way up to a close trapdoor--or that was what it looked like to them. It should be something like that since its surface was different from the soil-like ceiling.

Hadrian went ahead and pushed the trapdoor open but it didn't move. It was like something really heavy was sitting on it on the surface.

"It's no use, it won't budge!" he said, sounding frustrated. "Did they cement the other side or what?"

[Diego Stanton]

"Thanks a lot, Sho." Blaze snapped. "We might as well go back."

"There must be something on the other side," Deo spoke up, "Move back."

Soon there were four bombs hissing at the corners of the trapdoors.

"3...2...1" Deo counted on his watch. BOOM!!! The trapdoor flew off of its hinges and chunks of cement crumbled down. Dust clouded the passageway so thickly that everybody became enshrouded in it. Deo calmly took a fan out of his pocket and began fanning the dust away.

"Did it open??" he asked loudly enough to be heard over the coughing.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Hadrian thought the whole underground was going to crumble when Deo decided to blow up the trapdoor into smitheereens. Coughing, he brushed the dusts around him.

"Did it open??" he head Deo say.

"Congrats." Hadrian replied, looking up. The light had penetrated the dark underground. Hadrian climbed up the marble staircase once again to see where the trapdoor was leading to. He poked his head up the hole. To his surprise, he saw a ceiling instead of an open sky. He blinked and lurked his gaze around. The place was like a wide shack with some furniture. From the looks of it, he was inside a...hut?

"What in the world--" he whispered harshly. They blew off the floor of a Shumi's house. Climbing his way up to the surface, he froze when he saw the Shumi Elder himself subdued on the corner. He was going to open his mouth to say something when two DoTNAs had shown themselves from the shadows bearing guns. One was pointed to the Elder's head and the other one quickly swung the barrel to him once he was spotted.

Hadrian's jaw tightened. The others were on their way up.

[waterlily43]

Jun joined Hadrian on the surface. Things weren't looking good at all. Seems like Polaris' brother had been rightfully warning them about Dotna's ambush after all.

Darn it, someone should've been assigned to protect the Elder. Jun cursed herself inwardly for not thinking of it earlier, instead of now when it was too late. She itched to hurl an Ultima spell at the enemy but with the Shumi Elder's life at stake, it wasn't a gamble worth chancing.

"Dotna scum..." Jun muttered from the corner of her mouth to the next person joining them from the hole. "Figures...doesn't it?"