Writing My Untitled Story

[Ninjaman]

If anybody didn't know, I have been trying to write a book. Well, make it two since this particular story has two parts. I am only on part one so far and have written the first eleven chapters and I'm trying to finish part one by the end of summer. I'll try to type up the chapters and share the story with all of you guys. For now, here's chapter one. Hope you enjoy.

Oh, and as you can tell, my story has no title yet, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Prologue

''How long has it been since I first met you? We had our own personal problems to deal with. We always wondered if the problems would cease so we could continue our journey. But sometimes our problems can intertwine with another's. Not only does a new journey begin, but a new friendship, a new destiny. ''



Chapter 1: Let It Begin

''My heart is alone. Friends stand by me, but for how long and how far? How loud is my voice? I'm walking in darkness, searching for my light. I want to go to see new worlds, but not alone. I guess I got to try harder.''

Suddenly, Scott heard a mysterious voice.

''How long have you been searching?'' the voice asked. ''Searching for your light?''

''Almost my entire life,'' Scott calmly responded.

''What about those you have met so far? Don't you care about them?''

''Of course I do. They might not know, but I care about them.''

''Your heart is filled with sadness and hatred from the past. If you're not careful, it will grow and your heart will be consumed by the dark. But it is still growing with your heart growing lonely. ''

The voice vanished and Scott started falling deeper into the darkness. But Scott fell through the darkness and landed in a hall. The hall had lockers and doors that led to rooms. But the hall didn't have color, everything was in black and white. The area was familiar to Scott.

''My school,'' Scott muttered.

The voice came back and spoke.

''You must take courage and step into the unknown. If you don't, you will stay in the darkness and it will attack your heart!''

Scott's heart was suddenly beating rapidly. Dark shadows surrounded Scott and they shaped into monsters. They walked closer to Scott. With every step they took, his heart began to beat faster. Scott closed his eyes and panted as he wished for the nightmare to end.

Scott opened his eyes and stopped panting. He placed his left hand on his heart.

''Take courage and step into the unknown,'' Scott whispered.

The shadows stopped in their tracks. A bright light was shining in Scott?s right hand. The light formed into a shining sword.

The shadows continued walking towards Scott. Scott turned around and lunged at the shadows. He swung his sword, which destroyed the shadows. Scott slashed his way through the horde of monsters and started running down the hall.

Scott ran into a large area where he saw a glass door. A door he hopes that will get him out of the nightmare. Scott ran towards the door when he heard something. He stopped to listen for the sound. He heard soft cries. Cries for help.

Scott walked around to find where the cries where coming from. The cries grew louder as he walked near the glass door. Scott looked to his right, where there was his school?s logo on the floor. The crying apparently came from below the logo.

Suddenly, the shadows were heard, approaching Scott. Scott looked at the glass door, which was only a few feet away to escaping the nightmare. Then Scott looked in the direction where the crying was coming from.

Scott closed his eyes and gave a small groan. He opened his eyes and ran to the school logo. There he found a trap door, where below, Scott could find the source of the cries.

Scott got on his knees and opened the door. A blinding light flashed after he opened the door. The cries grew louder and became numerous. Scott took courage and jumped into the light.

The jump became endless and, one by one, the cries ceased. Finally, Scott landed after the final cry vanished. Suddenly. a human shadow appeared in front of Scott and it lent him its hand and whispered, ''Help me.''

But before Scott could respond, the light grew brighter?




''Scott!''

Scott's eyes opened and he was back in reality.

When Scott woke up, he noticed he was sitting on the floor. He was in a hall of his school, not the same hall from his dream, but another one. He had his back against his locker and had a notebook filled with drawings on his lap.

Suddenly, Scott realized there was a person next to him, sitting on his knees. He was a teenager about Scott's age.

''Hey, Scott,'' the teenager said.

''Hey, Eddie,'' Scott replied, scratching his head.

Eddie Ramos was a friend of Scott's. They both met during their freshmen year of high school, which was a year ago. They're both sophomores now in their second semester.

Eddie was taller than Scott and both had black hair, but Eddie's hair was shorter.

''Were you asleep or something?'' Eddie asked.

''Yeah actually,'' Scott replied. ''What time is it?''

''Ten minutes before the bell. What are you doing sleeping in the hall?''

''Actually, '' Scott moaned, ''I didn't even know I was asleep. I know I was drawing and I guess I must have spaced out and fell asleep.''

Scott kept rubbing his face and groaned. He was thinking about his dream.

''Uh, are you okay?'' Eddie asked.

''Yeah,'' Scott stopped rubbing his face and put his notebook in his backpack, which was sitting next to him.

''I just had a weird dream.''

''Really?'' Eddie asked. ''What about?''

Scott stood up. ''It was strange, I was here at the school and I was killing some monsters.''

''You're right, that is weird. What else are you doing this dream?''

''Dunno. Oh, man, I got to go. My class is in the other building.''

''Okay. Try not to fall asleep on the way,'' Eddie chuckled. ''See you later.''

Scott picked up his backpack and said bye to Eddie. He then walked through the halls.

The reason why he was sitting was because he was waiting for his classroom to be opened. The teacher always unlocked the door at ten minutes before the bell. Either that or another teacher came and unlocked the door. Scott could never really guess when the door was open, so he always waited ten minutes before the bell before he headed to class. But sleeping in the hall wasn't intended. Scott usually walks around the halls instead of sleeping in one of them.

Scott walked in the another hall where an entrance to the school cafeteria was. Some of the students were wearing their uniforms and others wore black or white polo shirts. It was Friday, and on Fridays students could wear white or black polo shirts, which they could buy at the campus store, but the students still had to wear their uniform pants, or skirts if the student was a girl. They could also wear tennis shoes on Fridays. Scott was one the students wearing a black polo, and so was the girl who stopped Scott in the hall.

She was a small Hispanic girl with long dark brown hair.

''Hey Ryans. Did you bring your game?'' the girl asked. Ryans was Scott's last name.

''Hey, Glori,'' Scott replied. ''Yeah, I got it in my pocket. But wait until Theology class.''

''Aww, why not now? Come on Ryans.''

Scott rolled his eyes and pulled out a transparent blue Game Boy Advance. He gave it to the excited Glori.

''Here. Give it back to me after Theology. Back in one piece, please.''

''Thanks! Don't worry. I'll bring it back in one piece.''

Glori jumped a little and walked into the cafeteria. Scott chuckled for a second and kept walking through the hall.

Scott walked into the area from his dream where he found the trap door. He stopped and stared at the school logo on the floor. He couldn't find any sign of a trap door, but then he realized it was just a dream. But even Scott had his suspicions. That's the feeling he got since he has played a number of video games where dreams were more than what they seem.

Suddenly, a gunshot was heard and some students screamed. Scott immediately looked up and saw a group of men holding guns. The shot came from one of the men, who was pointing his gun towards the ceiling.

''Nobody move!'' the man who shot his gun yelled. ''Try anything funny and you will be shot! Don't try to escape because we got more men coming through every entrance of this school! Drop everything and put your hands in the air!''

Scott and the other students had no choice but to drop their bags and put their hands in the air. This was no dream.

[Epsilon]

O_o...can't think of a tilte for that, but a very intersting story. I've never heards a story quite like this one before, the plot lines really different. And the characters are in deapth in personaltiy. Very good, if want you could be come a very good author. Ahhh...I have no clue what to really say...but I'll keep reading it if you put up more. Oh yes, good luck on your books!

[Ninjaman]

Thanks Ruby! Anyway, sorry for taking so long to type this chapter up. I'm trying my best to find time to type these chapters up. So enjoy Chapter 2. ^^

[size=1]On a complete side note: I'm turning 16 today. Woo-freaking-hoo.[/size]

Chapter 2: Escape

Fear had taken over every student and teacher in Scott's school. The men called themselves terrorists. They put groups of students and teachers into every room in the school. One or two terrorists guarded the doors to the rooms and the windows from the outside.

Scott was placed in a room in the hall that was in his dream. There was one teacher in the room and he was staring out the window. Some of the girls were crying. Some of the guys were just staring at the wall not knowing what to think. Scott was sitting on desk staring out the window.

Almost an hour had passed. The terrorists told the school, using the intercom from the school office, to wait and not to try anything to escape while they prepared. Naturally, the school wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that.

Rain clouds were soon covering the sky. Scott found it ironic on how the weather was bad on a day like this. As he looked at the dark clouds, Scott remembered his dream. The advice the voice gave him. Who was that voice? Scott didn't know whose voice it was, but, for some reason, it sounded familiar.

Scott's train of thought was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. When Scott turned around, he saw a teenager boy with black hair. This teenager also wore a black polo shirt. Scott knew him and was happy to see that one of his friends was with him now.

''Davis,'' Scott said, standing up, ''you're okay.''

''Yeah, I'm fine.'' Davis said with a slight smile. ''Glad to know someone I know is okay. I hope everyone else is, too.''

''I hope so, too. But didn't you see anyone else like Ethan, like, alive at least?''

''Actually, yeah, I saw Ethan being put into another room. I wonder what they're 'preparing' for. It's starting to scare me just waiting here.''

''Yeah, I know,'' Scott answered with a quiver in his voice. Davis could detect the quiver.

''You okay?''

''Fine,'' Scott answered, going back to look out the window. ''Just scared. Really scared.''

''Hey,'' Davis placed his hand on Scott's shoulder. ''Everything is going to be all right. As long as we stay calm, we'll be fine.''

''I just want to go home,'' Scott muttered. He was blinking back some tears.

''I know. We all do.''

''I mean, we don't know what these guys are going to do to us. What if someone we know gets killed? What if we get killed? I mean for all we know, those guys are planning to blow this school up! We got to get out.''

''I wish we could, but, I don't know how.''

There was silence after Davis said that. Scott didn't know how to escape either. He was starting to feel really depressed. But then, a thought entered his head.

''Wait,'' Scott said. ''I think I know a way out.''

''What?'' Davis almost exclaimed.

Scott turned around and looked around the room. He then walked towards a man who was the teacher. Davis followed Scott, curiously. The teacher was sitting at a desk when Scott walked up to him.

"Uh, excuse me, sir," Scott said to the teacher.

The teacher looked up. "Yes?"

"Sir, I think I know a way out of the school."

"What?"

"I think I know a way out of the school that we can use to sneak into and escape from here."

"What? Do you want to risk our lives? Do you want us to get killed?!"

Scott knew that his plan could get them killed, but then he had another idea.

"Okay, well, I'll go," Scott said.

"What?" Davis and the teacher said in unison.

"Scott, do you wanna die?" Davis almost exclaimed.

"He's right, Scott," the teacher agreed. "It would be better is we just cooperate with the terrorists for now. Soon enough, the police will be here to get us out."

"Can you honestly tell me that everyone will be alive by that time?" Scott questioned.

"No, I can't," the teacher said with a sigh. "But can you honestly tell me that you won't get killed trying to escape?"

"No, but at least I'll die trying."

"Are you serious?" the teacher began to raise his voice. "If we try, there will be more of us dead than alive. There's about two or three terrorists guarding every room, each holding a weapon, and there's a whole lot more. There's more than thirty rooms in this school, and I didn't want to bring this up, but I overheard a terrorist saying about another hundred are coming here."

"Look," Scott began, "just let me go once. I mean if we don't try at least once, we will regret it. I mean, don't you have a family you want to come home to?"

That got to the teacher. There was a brief silence as the teacher stared endlessly at the desk.

"Alright," the teacher said looking at Scott now. "Just once. But alone?"

"You're right. I need someone to come with me."

Scott immediately looked at Davis. Davis was a little surprised, but then he nodded his head.

"Okay," the teacher said standing up. "First off, we need you out of this room. Get everyone in this room. I think I have a plan."



Meanwhile, in the school office. Some teachers were in the corner being looked over by one terrorist. Three were at a desk, one of them looking at papers on the desk.

"Lance, when are the others getting here?" one of them asked the one looking at the papers.

"Within an hour," Lance answered. "Perry is waiting at the gas station near here."

"What are you reading?" another asked.

"Not a clue," Lance tossed the paper he was reading back on the desk. "But I can't say it doesn't interest me."



"Okay are you ready?"

The teacher stacked a chair on a desk leading to an open air vent.

"Ready," Scott replied.

Davis climbed on the desk and chair and into the air vent. He peeked his head out and lent out his hand to Scott. Scott climbed the desk and chair and pulled Davis' hand up to the air vent.

"The air vent connects all over the school," the teacher said to the two. "So you should be able to find the exit you're thinking about, Scott. Good luck."

Scott nodded at the teacher and crawled further into the air vent with Davis following. The teacher climbed to the vent and closed it. When he climbed down, a student removed the chair off the desk and put it back in place.

"Pray to Go that they make it," the teacher said to the students in the room.



"Don't say a word and crawl as quietly as you can," Scott whispered to Davis.

The vents were almost completely dark. New paths were found along the along the way, but Scott crawled right past them. Time from time, Scott looked through the vents to see what room they were over.

The two tried their best to stay quiet, but there were dust particles in the vents. Scott and Davis both coughed once, but they placed their hands on their mouths to muffle the sound. And they both stopped in their tracks for a moment in case someone below heard the muffled cough. Once, Scott almost sneezed, but he held his nose to stop it.

The crawling seemed endless, but it took almost ten minutes before the two turned to the right. Scott then stopped before a vent.

"Where are we?" Davis whispered.

"Campus store," Scott whispered back.

Scott, as carefully as he could, removed the vent. He then slowly peeked his head into the room. Scott took out his head from the room.

"No one's there, come on."

Scott slowly got out of the vent and jumped to the floor, followed by Davis. Davis took a look in the close to make sure no one was in. Fortunately, no one was. Scott opened the store's door and peeked his head out the hall. The area with the trapdoor from Scott's dream was ahead. At both ends of the hall were building exits, but were guarded by three terrorists. Luckily, they were outside and their backs were facing the doors, so Scott's head wasn't seen.

"So where's this exit you were talking about?" Davis asked.

Scott pointed to the school logo on the floor ahead of them.

"No offense, Scott, but that's a logo on the floor," Davis replied with confusion.

"I know, but there's a trap door beneath that logo," Scott said.

Davis looked at the logo and back at Scott. "You're kidding, right?"

"No. I saw it in my dream."

"Scott! We're looking for an exit you saw in a dream?" Davis almost yelled, but kept it in a whisper.

"Hey, every other exit is guarded. This is better than nothing. There's no one in the hall, so I'll sneak behind that pillar and check to see if there is a trap door or not. If there isn't, I'll come back and we'll get back into the vent and go back to the room."

"What if you get caught?"

"Then you go back without me," Scott answered, then he sprinted to a pillar in front of the campus store.

"Scott!" Davis almost yelled.

Scott stayed close to the pillar and looked around. After a few seconds, Scott got on his knees and crawled to the logo. He moved his hand across the logo, but didn't find anything. Scott moved his hand a second time, and this time, he found something.

Davis saw Scott pull open the logo and find the trap door.

"Oh my God," Davis muttered to himself. "He actually found a trap door."

Scott waved at Davis and jumped into the trap door. Davis quickly sprinted behind the pillar, then crawled to the trap door. Davis looked inside and saw Scott waiting for him below. Davis grabbed the door and slowly closed it as he climbed into the hole. As soon as Davis closed the door, it was completely dark.

[Ninjaman]

"Where are we?" Davis asked.

"Dunno," Scott answered. "But it looked like an underground tunnel before it got dark."

"Well, shall we go?"

"Sure, but let me find the wall first."

As soon as Scott's hand found the wall, they followed it. Momentarily, the two would call for each other to make sure they were close to each other. The humidity was high in the tunnel and the walking seemed endless. The darkness almost seemed eternal until they saw some light in the distance.

The light was coming from a lit torch on the left side of the tunnel. On the right side was a prison cell with, surprisingly enough, a girl inside. Her back was facing Scott and Davis as they approached the cell. She had light brown hair, which was in a ponytail, and was wearing a white polo shirt and a khaki skirt.

"Uh, hello?" Davis spoke.

The girl turned around, surprised. Her face was but of a young teenager's. A year younger than Scott and Davis at the most.

"Who are you?" she asked, frightened, but she calmed down when she saw that her visitors were teenagers. "Are you from this school?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" Scott replied.

"Well, terrorists usually aren't teenagers. How did you get down here?"

"Well, he saw this place in a dream," Davis answered, pointing to Scott. "We sneaked our way here, hoping to find a way out. How did you get here in this prison?"

"The terrorists caught me," the girl answered, standing up. "They caught me overhearing their conversation in an alley. They were talking about taking over a school, which I'm guessing is this one. One of them bumped into me and the next thing I know, I'm in here. They must've knocked me out when they found me, which, if you ask me, was just plain rude."

"Did you hear any reason why they were taking over our school?" Davis asked.

"Sorry, no."

"Well, let's get you out of there," Scott said.

"Really? How?" the girl asked.

Davis looked around the area and found a large rock. He picked it up and walked towards the cell door.

"I'll break you out," he said.

"Thank you," the girl said with a smile. "Oh! By the way, my name is Lisa. Lisa Kia."

"I'm Scott Ryans," Scott said, then pointed to Davis. "He's Davis Brendan."

Davis swung the rock at the cell's lock three times before it finally broke off.

"Go Davis," Scott complimented. "Come on, let's see if there's an exit."

Lisa got out of her cell. When she got out, the two boys noticed she was smaller than both of them. Then, they continued going through the dark tunnel, but this time, Davis brought the torch near the prison.

Soon enough, the three met a dead end with a door in the ceiling. Davis boosted Scott to the door so he could open it while Lisa held the torch. Scott slowly opened the door as he peeked his head out. No one was around, well at least no one's feet were seen. When Scott fully opened the door, he noticed they made it to a back of a gas station.

Scott climbed out and helped Davis and Lisa out of the tunnel. When they closed the door, they could see how no one noticed the trap door before. It was camouflaged to look like concrete.

"Where are we?" Lisa asked.

Davis went around the corner of the gas station and looked up.

"That Fina gas station near the school," he answered.

"Well, come one, let's call the police," Scott said reaching into his pants' pocket and bringing out two quarters.

The three went to the front of the gas station, where they found a pay phone. Scott picked up the receiver and was about to put his quarter in the phone when Davis tapped his finger on Scott's shoulder. Scott turned to Davis, who was pointing at someone. A terrorist standing on the corner looking right at them.

"Oh, crap," Scott muttered.

[Epsilon]

Wow! That's of supense! I like it, trap doors, strange voies, weird dreams...I'm gonna keep reading this story it's great. Hopefully this really dose get turned into a book. I think it'd sell very well.

[Ninjaman]

Chapter 3: Monsters and Magicians

The teenagers' hearts beated faster with each step the terrorist took towards them. They stood like statues, without a sense in their heads telling them to run. They were paralyzed with fear. Time seemed endless as the terrorist approached the three. Suddenly, Scott dropped the quarter he had in his hand and when the quarter hit the ground, the following sound brought the teenagers back to their senses.

"Run!" Davis yelled.

Without a second thought, the three were running like madmen. The terrorist closed his eyes and whispered to himself, then he ran after the teenagers.

The three called out for help but, for some reason, no one nearby paid any attention. No one paid attention to the fact that the teenagers were being chased by a terrorist. Although they weren't being heard, they ran across the streets. Luckily, there weren't any cars coming. They ran past many houses and buildings continuing their cries for help. But none were answered.

They ran across one street, where luck came to their side. Before the terrorist could run across the street, some cars drove in front of him. Scott and the rest took the opportunity and ran to a small bridge over a ditch and hid underneath it. When the cars were clear, the terrorist couldn't spot the teenagers.

"Dammit," he whispered to himself.

He then ran across the bridge where the three teenagers were hiding under. He stopped at a corner and looked around. As he did so, he placed a finger on his right ear, where a small device was hiding, pulled the right collar of his dark blue shirt, where another small device was hiding, close to his mouth.

"Lance," he said to the device. "Lance, it's Perry."



Back at the school office, Lance picked up a headset on a desk and placed it on.

"Did they make it, Perry?" Lance asked.

"No, it's not that, sir." Perry answered. "We have some runaways."

"What?! Are you positive?"

"Very. Two boys wearing the school's uniforms and the girl we caught this morning. They came from behind the gas station, where the entrance to the tunnel is. They tried to call the authorities when they saw me and ran off. I tried to catch them but they managed to get away."

"Dammit, Perry! Did you at least -?"

"Yes sir, I did."

"Good. Now find them before they reach another phone. I'll inform our incoming people to go ahead and enter the school."

"Yes sir, I'm on it."

Lance took off the headset.

"How the hell did they find they tunnel?" he asked himself.



Scott panted and had sweat all over his forehead. His heart was beating rapidly. He thought he couldn't get any more scared than when the terrorists entered the school. Davis was sneaking a look over the bridge, hoping that the coast was clear. Lisa was just standing and staring at the small stream running in front of her. After a few seconds, Davis returned under the bridge.

"He ran around the corner," he said. "We'd better hurry before he comes back."

Scott and Lisa nodded. Then suddenly, there was a sound. Louder than the sounds of the cars rushing over the bridge. The sound of footsteps in the mud. It was coming from the shadows under the bridge. All three of them froze and their hearts began beating rapidly again. They saw a hand touching the wall of the bridge enter the light. Then they saw a body and face that wasn't the terrorist's. It was a wounded man.

The long gray-haired man wore odd clothing. A white and blue tunic with a green cape. He wore brown leather boots and wristbands. His gray pants were covered in mud, while his tunic had some rips. His youthful face had scratches.

"I believe you are from the school that the terrorists have taken over," he said.

"Who are you?" Lisa asked. "How do you know what happened to the school?"

"Relax. I am a friend, not a foe. I came with some others in pursuit of those terrorists. We came to stop them before they caused harm. However, I got separated from my comrades and, as you can see, have met some rather unfortunate situations."

"Then, we should get you to a hospital," Davis said approaching the man.

"Wait," the man said raising his hand at Davis. "Before anything else happens, I must give you weapons."

"Give us weapons?" Lisa asked confused.

"Yes, give me a second. Please."

The man stood up straight and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and raised his hands in front of him.

"What is he doing?" Davis asked Scot. Scott just shrugged and watched the man curiously.

The man's hands were suddenly outlined by a gold color. The teenagers' eyes widen.

"Open your mind," he said as the gold color soon outlined his entire body. "Open your heart. Find the courage and strength within your soul and release it!"

He opened his eyes and three thin gold beams shot from his hands to each teenager. The words the man said repeated in their heads. Their scared faces soon relaxed as the felt a sudden warmth. They closed their eyes as a small light appeared in their right hands. They clenched their hands and suddenly felt an object in their hands.

Scott opened his eyes and found a long silver sword with a blue hilt in his hand. Davis also found a sword in his hand, but his was shorter and broader than Scott's. Lisa held a rod with a gleaming emerald.

"That should do," the man sighed, looking at the shocked teenagers.

Suddenly, a gunshot was heard. The man fell to the ground dead, with blood on his back. Lisa screamed. Suddenly, Perry emerged from the shadows holding a gun in his right hand.

"He was a fool to interfere with us," Perry chuckled.

Perry's smile faded when he saw the teenagers holding weapons.

"Your attempt to escape ends here. You have seen too much and you will die before you tell anyone else."

Perry pulled a card out from his shirt and threw it on the ground.

"Shadow Minion!" Perry yelled. "Destroy these pathetic runaways!"

The card flashed and a growing shadow emerged from the card. It grew a head with yellow glowing eyes and a body with four arms. A spike appeared on both of its shoulders. The shadow let out a monstrous roar.

"Prepare yourselves!" Perry yelled. "For you will fall victim to this creature of the darkness!"

"What do we do?" Lisa asked, stepping back slowly from the monster.

"Lisa, you back away," Scott replied. "Davis and I will take care of him. Right, Davis?"

"You got it," Davis said gripping his sword.

"Wait, I'll fight too," Lisa said, who had stopped stepping back. "Don't think a girl can't fight too."

"Okay, then. Let's go!" Scott shouted.

The three ran at the monster that Perry called 'Shadow Minion'. The monster lunged an arm at Davis, but he stepped out of the way and slashed the arm off with his sword. Shadow Minion screamed in agony and threw a punch at Scott, who also dodged and severed the arm. The three paused as the monster screamed in agony once more.

"That was actually kind of easy," Davis said.

Suddenly, the two severed arms rose up from the ground and levitated right next to the monster.

"It can still control severed body parts," Scott said.

Shadow Minion's severed arms lunged at Lisa, but Scott and Davis slashed the hands off. The detached hands fell to the ground but they levitated right back next to the monster. Scott lunged in and slashed at the monster's body while Davis and Lisa shielded him from the arms. Sweat was running down Scott's face when the monster's body was horizontally cut in half. Things repeated itself as the body hovered back into placed. Perry was laughing, being amused by the battle.

Scott and Davis detached the two remaining arms, while Lisa swung her rod at the body. The boys even sliced the spikes off the shoulders. Every body part that was cut off floated right back into fighting position.

"There's got to be a weakness somewhere," Scott said, fight off severed fingers.

"The head, Scott!" Davis yelled. "We didn't cut that part off yet! Get the head, we'll cover you!"

Davis took Scott's place fighting off the fingers and arms and Lisa him up. Scott jumped into the air and swung at the monster's neck. He jumped numerous times before he finally decapitated the head. However, as he landed on the ground, he slipped on the mud and fell on his behind. The dagger-like fingers ignored Davis and Lisa and immediately lunged at the vulnerable Scott.

"Scott!" Davis and Lisa yelled together.

Scott tried to shield himself with his sword, when Davis ran in front of him and slashed all the fingers away.

"Scott, are you okay, man?" Davis asked.

"Yeah, fine," Scott said with a quiver in his voice. "Thanks."

Davis pulled Scott to his feet and Lisa ran to them. They at the decapitated monster that was frozen. Suddenly, the head floated back into the air and let out a roar.

"Ah, come on!" Davis moaned. "Die already!"

"Let's work on the head," Scott said. "It seemed pretty damaged when it was decapitated."

Davis and Lisa nodded. Then all three them were jumping, taking turns to swing at the head. Each hit resulted in a scream from the monster's head. The other body parts tried to stop the three, but they were easily dodged.

Finally, one small piece of the head remained and Scott got dibs on slashing it. Then, a bright light broke through the monster's remaining body. Perry shielded his eyes with his arms. When the light vanished, so had Perry's monster and the teenagers.

Perry ran from under the bridge and saw cars rushing over the bridge. One of them was a dark blue truck, which secretly had Scott and the others riding in the back.

"Dammit!" Perry yelled.



Scott, Davis, and Lisa gasped for air. They had some mud on their clothes and had sweat all over their faces, but they could care less. If you just survived fighting a four-armed monster, would you care is you were dirty and sweaty?

When the cars came to a red light, Davis tapped on the window to get the driver's attention. The driver turned and looked straight at Davis, who was waving, then at Lisa, then at Scott. The driver turned back around scratching his head. The three looked at each other in confusion. Davis tapped the window again. The driver turned around again and looked all behind him in confusion, then turned back around again.

"Can't he see us?" Lisa asked.

"I guess not," Davis replied confused.

"Uh, guys," Scott called looking at the truck's rearview mirror. Davis and Lisa came over to Scott.

"What?" Davis asked.

"Am I the only one who can't see himself in a mirror?"

Davis and Lisa looked at the mirror and gaped. Their reflections weren't there.

"No, you're not alone," Lisa answered.

[Epsilon]

Wow! Gotta keep reading this! This is great, it's great I love the plot. ^^ and sorry I never said happy birthday...so HAPPY REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, LATE BIRTHDAY! Anyways keep writing and I'll keep reading, if this is published I'll be the first one to buy the book. And the no refleaction thing...really cool!:D

[Ninjaman]

Thanks Ruby for the support, and thanks for saying happy birthday too. Anyway here's Chapter 4. ^^

Chapter 4: One Problem After Another

Scott stared at the sights that the truck passed.

No wonder no one answered our calls for help, he thought. How could they when they can't see who's crying for help? This day just keeps getting better and better. Plus the weather isn't really helping.

The dark clouds completely covered the sky. The brisk wind was slightly blowing. Rain would fall at any minute it seemed. It certainly was perfect for this particular day.

"Guess we look for a phone wherever this guy stops?" Davis asked.

"Will it work?" Lisa asked. "With us being invisible and all?"

"Well, we should try, at least. We made it this far."

"Right. Should we tell them about our other situations?" Lisa asked, raising her rod.

"If we do, they might think it's a prank call," Scott answered.

"He's right," Davis nodded. "We'd better not tell them."

The truck suddenly turned. It drove up to a gas station. The three spotted a pay phone and climbed out of the truck. They walked up to the pay phone, when Lisa stopped, staring at the convenient store's window, surprised. Scott and Davis stopped to look at what Lisa was staring at. What they saw was their reflections.

"How-?" Davis began.

"Let's not try to figure this out right now," Scott replied.

"Scott then ran to the pay phone and picked up the receiver.



Lance stared blankly at the desk in front of him. Perry had just reported earlier that the three runaways now have weapons. Lance wasn't too thrilled to hear who gave them the weapons, but he gave a smile when Perry reported that the giver of the weapons was terminated. Lance gave order to Perry to find and kill the runaways in any means necessary.

Lance had more important business to attend to. His plan was going well, except for the runaways. He got up and left the room.



Minutes had passed after Scott called the police. A police car was coming to pick them up, so they decided to wait inside the convenient store. Davis was reading a magazine, Scott was pacing around the store, and Lisa was staring out the window. They kept their weapons hidden outside so as not to have the store clerk be suspicious.

"Hey, the police are here," Lisa finally called out. "Let's go."

The three left the store and walked to the car. Two policemen got out of the car and walked towards them.

"Hey, are you three alright?" one of the policemen asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," Scott answered.

"Are you sure?" the other asked. "You seem to have mud and scratches on you."

"Yeah, we just tried our best not to get caught by one of the terrorists," Davis replied.

"That's right, one was chasing you, right? I'm impressed you managed to get away. But why did you wait to call for help all the way over here? I mean, isn't you school a bit far to run here before someone noticed you were in trouble?"

"Yeah, well," Scott began, "we really tried to hide ourselves from not only the terrorist, but other people, too. We didn't want any one else to get themselves hurt trying to help, because he had a gun. We wanted to make sure we lost him before we called for help?"

Davis and Lisa were impressed on how Scott thought on his feet.

"Someone did try to help us, though," Scott continued. "But, uh, the terrorist killed him."

Both of the cops' eyes widened a bit.

"I see," one cop said, looking at the other. "Can you describe the man that was chasing you?"

"Yes," Davis said. "He has brown hair and he wears a white bandanna. He's also wearing a dark blue shirt with a white one underneath and khaki pants."

"And he's down right deadly," said a voice behind the cops.

Everyone looked around to find Perry pointing a gun at the policemen. In one moment, he shot both of them, but didn't kill them. Both cops fell to the ground and before they could get up to retaliate, Perry whispered some words and then both cops fell unconscious. He stared at the three teenagers, who brought out their weapons hiding behind a trash can. He then muttered some more words. Scott quickly turned to the store's window. No one's reflection was there, not even the police car. Perry then closed his eyes and began to whisper again.

"Don't let him cast another spell!" Scott yelled as he picked up a rock and threw it at Perry.

Perry opened his eyes to quickly catch the rock. Davis then threw a rock at Perry, who caught it with his free hand. Finally, Lisa threw a rock and hit right at Perry's forehead.

"Run!" she yelled.

Scott and the rest ran across the street, luckily, not getting hit by a car. Perry rubbed his forehead, which held a bruise from Lisa's rock, and cursed the teenagers. Within a second, he took off after the runaways.

"Where do we go?" Davis asked.

Scott quickly looked around the area and then pointed to a building in their direction.

"That furniture store is empty. Let's see if we can confront him there," he said.

"I hope you have a plan. Because I know I heard you say [i]'confront him'[/i].

"Not really, but let's see what we can do inside."

When they reached the door to the building, they couldn't open it.

"It's locked!" Davis stated the obvious.

Scott sighed and took his sword and slashed the door open.

"Not anymore. Come on! He's close," he said, running inside.

Perry was in the parking lot when he saw the three going into the building. He took aim with his gun and fired, He nearly missed Lisa as she entered through the door. Again he cursed and ran into the building.

It was a large, dark room with light coming from the window on the side of the entrance. It was empty and the teenagers were nowhere to be seen. Before he could even turn around, he felt something hard hit him in the back of the head.

"That's got to leave a headache," Davis said. He swung the flat side of his sword at the back of Perry's head.

"Impressive," Perry said, quickly recovering and pointed his gun at Davis. "But very foolish."

"Not so fast!" Lisa yelled from behind and swung her rod against Perry's face.

"This is going to hurt," Scott said before he took the flat side of his sword and hit Perry's face, making him fall to the floor.

"You're fools," Perry said, climbing to his feet, "to not use your weapons right."

"We may have killed a monster," Scott began, "but we don't kill humans. Now who are you?"

"I suppose making it this far deserves my name. Fine. I am called Perry. But, you won't make it any further. Your lives end here!"

Perry closed and whispered to himself. Before the three could respond, Perry shot a fireball from the palm of his right hand at the three teenagers. But, fortunately, they jumped out of the way.

"What are you, a wizard?" Scot asked.

"Quite correct," Perry answered. "Where I come from I learned to cast various magic spells. It's because of my magic that no one has heard your cries for help or seen you."

"Where are you from?"

"None of your business."

Without hesitating, Perry shot a fireball at Scot, who rolled out of the way. Davis lunged at Perry, but he shot a fireball at him. Luckily, Davis jumped out of the way.

The three took turns distracting Perry, while another lunged at him. However, not one of them got close to Perry. And, once, Lisa barely dodged a fireball and it singed her shoulder. Lisa stopped trying to hit Perry after that.

"You know, we can't do this forever!" Scott yelled. "This is getting tiring!"

"Heh, not for me," Perry laughed. "I'll cremate you like I did to that dead wizard earlier."

"You're sick!" Lisa yelled in disgust.

"It comes with the job of being evil."

The three continued their strategy, but when Scott ran past Davis, he whispered to him, "Stall him and don't let him see me."

Davis ran at Perry, dodging the fireballs and tried to swing the flat side of his sword at Perry. However, Perry ducked and pushed Davis to the floor. Perry moved in for the kill, but Lisa struck his back with her rod.

Meanwhile, Scott went to a corner where he saw a mirror. He picked it up.

"Scott!" Lisa yelled.

Perry had spotted Scott and had thrown a fireball at him. Scott closed his eyes and prayed for his plan to work. Then he turned holding the mirror as a shield. The fireball collided with the mirror and was reflected back at Perry. The fireball collided with Perry and he was set a ablaze. He screamed in agony as the fire burned him.

"Damn you!" he screamed. "Damn you all to hell!"

Suddenly, his skin fell off and the fire stopped. Perry fell to the floor as his skin was replaced with black scales. His hands and feet became claws. Then his whole body dissolved into the air.

"Was that normal?" Lisa asked.

"Not to my knowledge, no," Davis answered.

Within that moment, the mirror Scott was still holding shattered to the floor.

"As if we didn't already have enough bad luck," Scott said.

Scott looked at the broken shards of the mirror. He saw his reflection.

"The spell's off," he said. "Now that the spell's caster's gone, we and the two cops are back to visible form. Speaking of which, they should be awake."

"How do you know all of this?" Lisa asked.

"Years of playing video games kind of rubs off on you," Scott said, smiling.



"He knocked both of us unconscious?"

"Yeah, after that, he chased us into that old furniture store across the street," Davis explained to the cops.

"Luckily, we got there first and had enough time to hide, Don't know how long, but we managed to stay hidden the whole time. He then gave up and left through the back door. But he threatened to cremate us like he did to the guy he killed earlier today. So, apparently he cremated the buy we told you about earlier that tried to help us."

"I see," one cop said. "We'd better send some men to find the terrorist. In the mean time, we'll take you with us to your school, where more of us have already surrounded the school."

"If you don't mind me asking," Lisa began, "but shouldn't you worry about where the terrorist shot you first?"

"Don't worry, ma'am. It's nothing serious. Besides an ambulance should be with the other police just in case. Now let's go you three."

Without another word, all of them got into the police car. Scott, Davis, and Lisa hid their weapons under their seats.



Glori Ashton sat on the floor of the room she was put in. She was glad she wasn't alone. She had her arms linked with her friend, Dana Mahari. Dana was a hispanic girl with short dark reddish hair.

Both of them had some dirt on their faces and clothes, as did everyone else in the room. Both girls stared at the floor, wishing the nightmare would end.

"I hope everyone is okay," Glori muttered.

"I hope so, too," Dana replied.



"Sir, we have a problem."

"What is it?" Lance asked.

"We have police surrounding the building."

"What?! Put up the shield, quickly! Do not let anyone in!"

"Yes, sir!" the man said, leaving the room.

"Damn runaway. Perry should have gotten them by now."

Lance picked up the headset from the desk and pressed a button as he placed it on.

"Perry?" he called. "Perry, pick up now."

No response. Just static.



"Dana, look!"

Glori was looking out the window. When Dana looked out the window, a ray of hope grew in her heart. They saw police cars surrounding the school. Soon enough the entire room saw the police and knew they were going to be saved soon.



Scott and the rest got out of the car when it drove up to the school. There were numerous cars surrounding the school. One cop came up to the two cops with the teenagers.

"Jim. Alec. Are you two okay?" he was talking about the bullet wounds.

"Yes, we're fine Aaron," Alec replied. "It's not too serious. How's it going here? Has someone sneaked in yet?"

"That's the problem. Something odd is happening. Hey, are these three that called for help?"

"Yeah," Jim said. "They're Scott, Davis, and Lisa."

"What happened to your shoulder, Lisa?" Aaron asked.

"It got cut by a branch," Lisa said quickly. "But, uh, what's the problem, sir?"

"Oh, please call me Aaron. But it's hard to explain the problem. I'll show you what I mean."

Aaron walked to the school building with his hand in front of him. All of a sudden, he stopped when his hand met something in the air. Scott, his friends, and the cops ran to Aaron and placed their hands in the air, also.

"Are we, uh, looking for something?" Davis asked.

Aaron nodded and Jim moved his hand around in the air. Suddenly, his eyes grew wide when his hand stopped. Scott followed Jim's actions, then felt something. Something solid, but yet invisible.

"This may sound impossible, but there seems to be an invisible shield around the school area," Aaron explained. "They apparently don't want us in."

"But h-how?" Alec stuttered.

Scott looked at Davis and Lisa. They all had the same idea.

"Sir, we might know another way in," Scott said. "Follow us."



Eddie fell the floor as the guard threw back into the room he was put in. Other guards grabbed three other students and took them away, locking the door behind them. Eddie knew where the terrorists were taking the students. It was the place where he just came from. The place where he got the dirt and sweat on his face from.

"Where are they taking them?" one student asked Eddie.

"As crazy as it sounds, some tunnel underneath the school," Eddie answered.



"A tunnel?"

Scott nodded at Aaron. He got on his knees to find the tunnel he, Davis, and Lisa traveled to escape the school. Finally, he found the trapdoor and opened it.

"There it is," Scott said.

"Where does it lead to in the school?" Aaron asked.

"In the new building, next to the auditorium," Davis answered.

"The terrorists must have made it themselves, because we found Lisa in a prison cell in the tunnel," Scott said.

"All the more reasons to stop these terrorists," Aaron said. "Okay, Jim, I'll send some men with you to sneak through the tunnel, alright?"

"Yes, sir," Jim responded.

"Are you in command here, Aaron?" Lisa asked.

"Yes I am," Aaron answered. "Why?"

"Can we go with Jim?"

"What?! No, I can't let you! Why do you want to go back somewhere dangerous?"

"Well, we know the tunnel and we can guide Jim and the others inside."

"And besides, our friends are in that building," Scott added.

"I know how you feel about your friends, but the answer is no," Aaron said. "Please, leave it to us to rescue your friends. We don't want you to risk your lives anymore."

"Alright," the teenagers muttered.



Minutes had passed before Jim and a few other cops entered the tunnel. Against Aaron's wishes, Scott, Davis, and Lisa grabbed their weapons from the police car and sneaked into the tunnel. They kept their distance from the cops and followed the lights from the cops' flashlights. Nobody talked. The cops feared that if they spoke, the terrorists would hear them. Scott and the others either because they didn't want the cops to hear them.

Things became familiar for Scott, Davis, and Lisa when they passed the prison cell Lisa was once in. Finally, the cops reached the trap door to the school. One by one, the cops climbed out of the tunnel. When the last cop got out of the tunnel, Scott and the others walked slowly to the door. Scott was about to climb out when something happened.

"Freeze!" a voice yelled from beyond the door.

The teenagers hoped that the voice belonged to a cop's.

"We thought you might come from the tunnel," another voice said.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the cops. It was the terrorists.

"Quick," Scott whispered. "Let's go back and tell Aaron what happened."

Without another word, the three turned around and walked back to the gas station. Then the came to two paths.

"Were there two paths here before?" Lisa asked.

"No," Davis answered. "Which one should we try?"

"Let's try the right, I guess," Scott said.

They followed the right path. They saw some lights at the end. When they reached the area with the light, the three had noticed they entered a cavern with torches attached to the wall.

"Nope, we went the wrong way," Davis said. "But this could get interesting."

[Epsilon]

Mages...terroritest(sp?), swords, and monsters. Really big, and great journey ahead in the story I think. I love reading this, to me...Every one should read this! Fantasy and just alittle bit of Sic-fi. It's great,and Yay! ^^They got rid of Perry...evil Perry.

[Ninjaman]

Chapter 5: While You Were Running

Jim and the cops were standing, handcuffed, in the school office. Lance was sitting at his desk, hiding his face in the dark.

?So, the runaways succeeded in calling for help,? Lance said. ?Even if they called the army, nothing would have changed.?

?Who are you?? Jim asked. ?How is it that you can keep the police force from entering??

?Listen, I am here on business and I plan on getting it done. One way or another.?

?What is this ?business???

?Nothing that concerns you. But then again, you could prove quite useful to us.?

Saying that,Lance turned the computer monitor on the desk to face the cops. Jim?s eyes widened. Scott, Davis, and Lisa were on the monitor looking around.

?It?s too bad they don?t know that some of the torches are our security cameras,? Lance said.



?Where are we?? Lisa asked.

?Some sort ofmine,? Davis answered. ?Look.?

Davis was pointing to shovels and pickaxes on the ground.

?Did they do this while we were gone?? Lisa asked. ?The cave looks like it goes pretty far. How long were we gone??

?About two hours,? Scott answered, looking at his wristwatch.

?Really? Time went by pretty fast.?

?Yeah, I know. Let?s check out this cave,? Davissaid.

Scott and Lisa nodded and all three of them walked further. They entered another room of the cave that had tools on the ground. Since it was empty, the three continued walking. Instead of another room, theyentered a curved tunnel that led them to another room. Suddenly, they heard a yell.

?Get up!?

Scott and theothers ran deeper into the cave into another room. A room that wasn?t empty. They saw a terrorist pointing his gun at four students lying on theground.

?I know you heard me! GET UP!? the terrorist yelled.

Davis sneaked behind the terrorist, gripping his sword, and swung the flat side of the sword against the terrorist?s head. With a sharp pain in his head, the terrorist fell unconscious to the ground.

?That?s going to give him a headache when he gets up,? Davis said.

Scott ran to one of the students on the ground and rolled him over to see the tired face.

?Jax!? Scott out to the tired student.

?Scott, you know him?? Lisa asked, standing next to Scott.

?Yeah, he?s Jax Anderson. He?s in one of my classes, ?Scott replied, then turned to Jax. ?Hey, wake up.?

Jax slowly opened his eyes. When he saw Scott, he rubbedhis eyes.

?Hey, Ryans, how?d you get down here?? Jax asked.

?The hard way,? Scott said looking at the unconscious terrorist.

?That?s impressive,? said Jax, who also saw the unconscious terrorist. ?How did you manage to knock him out??

?With the help of these,? Scott said, holding up his sword.

?Tight,? Jax said in amazement. ?How did you get thatsword??

?Long story. All I can say is that Davis and I snuck out and called the police. Along the way someone gave us these weapons. We snuck back in here and here we are. It?s been a long day. Oh, by the way, that?s Lisa. Davis and I met her here in the tunnel.?

Lisa and Jax exchanged a wave of their hand.

?But, anyway, what?s been happening here?? Scott asked.

?Those terrorists are making us work down here. All the students and teachers have to work. They?re apparently looking for something. Something that looks like a glowing crystals.?

Mark then stood up.

?And I think we found one, too.?

Mark pointed to a crystal on the wall of the cave emitting a white glow. Scott and Davis stepped near the crystal.

?We found it right before we collapsed out of exhaustion,? Mark explained.

?Come one,? Lisa said. ?Let?s get the rest of these guysand get out. We need to tell Aaron that Jim and the rest were caught.?

?She?s right,? Davis said. ?Let?s try to wake them up.?

[Epsilon]

Ohh....very cool! Diging tunnels to get a glowing crystal....thingy. I don't know what to call it yet. I love it when Scott hits the terrorest with the side of his blade. Hee...that's always fun to read about them getting knocked out. I love this book, this chapter wasn't as long as the rest though. But it tells alot and helps build up the plot. Keep up the great work.

[Ninjaman]

?That won?t be necessary,? a voice said.

All four teenagers turned to the entrance and saw a numerous amount of terrorists. One terrorist emerged from the group. He had short brown hair. He wore a white sweater underneath a black vest and black pants.

?Congratulations on making it this far, kids. But I?m afraid your attempt to rescue you school ends here,? the terrorist said.

Scott, Davis, and Lisa readied their weapons.

?I wouldn?t try that if I were you,? the terrorist said, then snapped his fingers.

Some terrorists emerged through the group, each holding someone?s arm. The terrorists had Jim and the other cops handcuffed.

?Unless you want your friends dead,? the same terrorist said, ?I?d suggest you surrender.?

Without arguing,the teenagers dropped their weapons, admitting defeat.

?Wise decision,? the terrorist said and then turned to the group of terrorists. ?Get these workers out and get a fresh group. We are getting close.?

Some of the terrorists picked up the unconscious students, grabbed Jax, and took them out of the room.

?Who are you?? Davis finally asked after a few minutes.

?Ah yes, I am forgetting my manners,? the terrorist said. ?I am Lance. I?m the leader of this group of terrorists that took over this school.?

?Why have you taken over our school anyway?? Scott asked angrily.

?I believe your friend Jax pretty much explained it. Everything else is of no concern to you.?

?Like what you really are? After one of your own died, he turned into a monster. Not only that, but he managed to cast spells and summon a monster to kill us.?

?Ah, you must mean Perry. I must say, it was quite impressive that you defeated him.?

?Just answer his question,? snapped Davis impatiently.

?Watch your mouth,boy. In case you haven?t realized, Imake the commands. But to answer your question, let me just say that we?re more than what you see.?

?Like you?re from another world?? asked Scott.

Lance?s eyes grew wide at Scott?s question. But before Lance could respond, the terrorists that left with Jax and the other students came back with another group of students. The students must have cleared Lance?s requirements for being ?fresh?,as they didn?t have dirt on them or look exhausted.

?See that crystal on the wall?? Lance asked the students. ?Pick up the tools from the ground and dig in the area of the crystal. What we want is beyond that wall. Now work!?

Scott, Davis, and Lisa tried their best to not fight, for they knew the consequences if they tried to fight. All they could do was wait and watch.



A feeling suddenly rushed through her body. Her magical intuition told her intruders were coming. It was time to do her job.



Time had passed. The wall had been broken down. Everyone in the room was astonished. There was a whole room withthe glowing crystals. But what they were more surprised at the largest crystal standing in the middle of the entire room. What surprising was the fact that there was a girl inside it. Nobody moved or spoke.

?Scott, would you count this as weirder than Perry turning into a monster?? Davis muttered.

?Yeah, definitely,? Scott muttered back.

Suddenly, one terrorist slowly walked towards the large crystal. He slowly reached his hand to the crystal.

?Stop! You fool!? Lance yelled.

It was too late. The terrorist touched thecrystal. Suddenly, the crystal gave off a bright light. Everyone shielded their eyes from the light and heard a painful cry. When the bright light faded, everyone noticed that the terrorist that touched the crystal was gone.

?Where?d he go?? one terrorist asked.

?The light,? Lance muttered. ?It must have consumed him.?

?Look!? Lisa yelled.

The girl contained in the crystal had opened her eyes. She placed her hand in front of her, against the crystal. Her hand slowly emerged from the crystal, followed by her whole body. She then stood on the ground calmly.

She had short blonde hair that came to her shoulders with a black hair band. She looked to be in her late teens. She wore a black sleeveless dress with a white sweater underneath and a white belt wrapped around her waist. She also wore brown boots.

?I am the protector of this area,? the girl said calmly. ?I am called Ally. I request that you identify yourselves.?

?He didn?t saythat there would be a guardian,? Lance muttered and then spoke to Ally. ?I am Lance and that?s all you know. Attack her, men!?

The group of terrorists took out their guns and shot at Ally. However, she created a light blue shield to protect herself from the bullets. The terrorists stopped shooting and some took out knives and lunged at Ally. By the time they reached a foot away from her, Ally unleashed white electricity from her hands at them.

?Disappear, you evil monsters!? Ally yelled as her magic attacked the terrorists.

The terrorists then disintegrated from Ally?s attack. Most of them turned into monsters like Perry before they disintegrated.

?Who are you?? Ally asked.

?What? Was my name not enough information for you?? Lance asked, grinning. ?Besides, you won?t remember what ever I tell you. Once you?re dead.?

Lance then took out a card from his pants? pocket and held it in the air.

?Come, Blade Tank!? he yelled. ?Reveal yourself and destroy the guardian!?

The card levitated from his hand and flashed. A growing figure emerged from the card. It grew to the size of the Shadow Minion that Perry summoned earlier that day. It was an armored monster with four curved silver blades for legs. Its two arms had a blade as long as its body attached. Its brown armor had strange black markings all over it. The monster stared at Ally through its thick helmet and charged at her.

?Prepare for your demise!? Lance yelled.

Ally immediately cast a shield around her as the monster charged at her. When the Blade Tank slammed into Ally?s shield, the impact broke the shield, knocking her back at the large crystal. The Blade Tank was also knocked back as well, but not as much as Ally.

?Finish her!? Lance commanded.

The Blade Tank swung its blade at Ally, but she quickly moved out of the way.

?We gotta help her,? Lisa said.

?How?? Davis asked. ?Our weapons are far from us. If we try to get near them, Lance will try to kill us.?

Scott looked at his sword on the ground across the room. Davis was right, if they made a move toward their weapons, they were as good as dead. But Ally was in desperate need of help. Scott couldn?t imagine letting Ally die.

Suddenly, Scottsword disappeared in a small light. An instant later, the sword appeared in Scott?s right hand. Then Davis? sword and Lisa?s rod appeared in their hands, also.

?I think we can help her now,? Davis said.

?Blade Tank! Forget the guardian! Get those teenagers!? Lance suddenly yelled.

Lance saw the teenagers get a hold of their weapons. The Blade Tank turned and lunged at Scott and the others, leaving atired Ally behind. The Blade Tank swung its arm at Davis, but he ducked. Scotswung his sword, but the monster blocked it with its own blade. Lisa swung her rod, but the Blade Tank blocked it with its other blade. It then pushed both Scott and Lisa to the ground.

?Damn, it?s strong,? Scott said.

The Blade Tank jumped and tried to land on Scott and Lisa, but they rolled out of the way. Davis jumped and swung his swordat the monster?s back. However, theBlade Tank turned and blocked the attack. Davis fell to the ground and the Blade Tank prepared to swing its blade. Then the monster felt a strike at its armor. It turned and saw Scott and Lisa standing, preparing to attack again. The monster prepared to swing both its blades then it felt something painful hit its back and was stunned. Davis turned and saw Ally standing with her hands raised in front ofher.

?Now!? she yelled. ?While it?s vulnerable!?

Davis nodded and stabbed the Blade Tank?s back, breaking through the armor. The monster screamed in agony and dissolved in the air.

?You may have defeated Blade Tank, but you haven?t won anything,? Lance said.

Lance then released a burst of black energy at Scott and the others. Suddenly, Ally rushed in front of the teenagers and created a shield around all four of them. Lance?s attack disappeared after it hit Ally?s shield.

?Impressive,? Lance said. ?But try and block combined attacks.?

Lance let outanother burst of black energy from his hands, but was reinforced by four other terrorists. They released a burst of magical energy at Ally?s shield. However, they weren?t done. The terrorists let out a barrage of their magic attacks at Ally?s shield. Each impact at her shield weakened Ally?s focus.

?It?s too much,? Ally gasped.

?Ally, my dear,? Lance taunted as the magic raid continued. ?Is our power too much for you to handle??

Ally fell to her knees, but kept her shield up from the terrorists? attacks. The teenagers quickly rushed to her side.

?Are you okay?? Lisa asked.

?For now,? Ally muttered. ?But their attacks are too much. I can?t last long. We must flee.?

?How?? Davis asked.

?I can teleport us out.?

Lance suddenly laughed. He apparently was overhearing their conversation.

?Yes, retreat,? he taunted again. ?But retreat and you shall never return here. You shall never save your friends if you should retreat.?

?What are you talking about?!? Davis shouted.

?I?m glad you asked. You see, with the crystals we found today, I can create an impenetrable shield around this school. In fact, you won?t be able to enter even you used the tunnel.?

?What?!?

?Yes, you heard me right. To die or to retreat, leaving your school and friends behind. Pick now, while you still have time.?

?I?m sorry,? Ally muttered. ?But, we must retreat.

?There has to be another way!? Davis exclaimed.

?Yeah, isn?t there anything you can do?? Scott asked.

?I?m sorry,? Ally repeated. ?Fleeing is our only choice.?

Then, at that moment, Ally raised her right hand and emitted a flash of light. When the light faded, Scott, Davis, Lisa,and Ally were nowhere to be seen.

?Hurry!? Lance yelled. ?I want that shield created before they try something else!?

Lance then smiled evilly and began to laugh.




Outside of the school, the rest of the police waited for their comrades Aaron sent inside thebuilding. Suddenly, there was a small flash of light in front of the crowd of police. When the light disappeared, the cops saw Scott, Davis, Lisa, and Ally standing in front of them. Aaron broke through the crowd to the teenagers and their new friend, who was on her knees.

?What the hell is going on here?? Aaron asked, in total shock.

?Don?t worry,? Ally said, standing up. "I will explain."

(sorry, but this a [i]really[/i] long chapter)

[Ninjaman]

An hour had passed. Scott, Davis, and Lisa were waiting outside of a gas station near the school. The police recently called the teenagers? parents and told them about the recent events. The parents were on their way to pick up their children. Not only the parents were called, but some news stations as well. They were also on their way to the school.

The teenagers then saw Ally walking towards them.

?Well, how?d it go?? Davis asked.

?I explained as clearly as I could,? Ally said. ?I?m not sure if they believed me, but since these types of things aren?t common around here, I can guess they believed at least some of the things I told them.?

?Speaking of the uncommon,? Lisa said. ?Can you tell us what?s going on here? Like where are you from??

?Yes, it?s time for me to explain what?s going on here. I am from another world called Odera. I come from the great kingdom of Auria. I was chosen by my king to be the guardian of this area. It is my duty to protect the Astral Fragments.?

?Okay, what are the Astral Fragments?? Davis asked.

?The crystals you saw earlier are called Astral Fragments. In my world, there are three continents. Two of them, my world have explored. The last had once been occupied, but now it is a desolate place. Long ago, my king had sent his men to explore the continent. It was a treacherous journey because dangerous waters surround the continent. The men barely succeeded in landing and explored the land. What they found was the Astral Fragments. The men took the crystals back to Auria.

?The king had scholars research the Astral Fragments. The scholars had learned that the crystals are indestructible and have a very high level in magic. However, the scholars could not figure out what the use of the crystals was. But then the king met a great scholar and had him research the Astral Fragments. The scholar had solved the mystery and told only the king of his findings. The king was shocked of the scholar?s findings. He was afraid that the darkness would get a hold of the Astral Fragments, so he planned to hide them. He hid them in other worlds, including here on Earth.

?Several loyal followers of the king, including myself, volunteered to guard them. The king decided to place a certain amount of the crystals in the different worlds. There are, in fact, other areas on Earth with more Astral Fragments.?

?So you secretly placed these Astral Fragments here?? Lisa asked.

?Yes. Please forgive us for involving your world in this matter without a word of saying. But we had to keep it secret for safety reasons.?

The teenagers stood in silence until Lisa said, ?Don?t worry. We understand.?

?Ally, could the terrorists be the darkness your king was afraid of getting a hold of the crystals?? Scott asked.

?I know for sure they are a part of the darkness my king feared of,? Ally answered. ?I have come to realize who these terrorists are. They are called the Infinite. They don?t come from Odera, but numerous of other worlds. I have heard many stories about them. They travel from one world to another causing chaos and corruption. Those with darkness in their hearts joined the Infinite. Apparently, they came to Odera and learned about the Astral Fragments and came here. I fear they found the other crystal in the other worlds my king hid them in.?

?The Infinite,? Scott muttered.

?Already I have failed my duty to protect the Astral Fragments in my area,? Ally continued. ?And I?m sorry for your school. I should?ve tried harder.?

?It?s not your fault,? Davis said. ?You couldn?t have known how strong they were.?

?Thank you. But now, I have to ask you for some explanation. Where did you get your weapons??

?We?re not exactly sure,? Scott answered. ?We got them from a man who seemed to be a wizard. But, one of the terrorists, Perry, killed him before we could get a name.?

?I see. I ask because it is not normal for Earthlings to hold weapons such as yours and know how to use them so well.?

?What do you mean?? Davis asked. ?You just take the weapon and swing.?

?That?s not exactly what I meant. I noticed how you summoned you weapons to your hands.?

?Yeah, what was that?? Scott asked. ?Was it magic??

?Kind of,? Ally answered. ?You were one with your weapons. And I am surprised that anyone on Earth is able to use such ability. And this is where I must ask a favor.?

?What is it?? Davis asked.

?For me to be able to get back into the school, I must look for the scholar with the knowledge of the Astral Fragments. He is one of the guardians of the areas on Earth. If I can find him, he might be able to help me find a way back into the school.?

?You mean the scholar is somewhere here on Earth?? Lisa asked.

?Exactly. He volunteered to a guardian on Earth because he was fascinated with this world.?

?How flattering, I guess,? Davis said.

?The favor I ask of you,? Ally continued, ?is to help me search for the scholar. I know that I won?t be able to find people with your abilities and I know that you would want to do something to save your friends. If you don?t want to go, I will not force you but I wish you would.

Scott, Davis, and Lisa looked at each other. There was a moment of silence, but they all had the same thing on their mind.

?I can?t answer right now,? Scott answered. ?I need some time.?

?We all need time,? Lisa added.

?I understand,? Ally said. ?But I request you answer before tomorrow.?

?I see,? Scott replied. ?We will decide before sunrise tomorrow.?

?Thank you. Please use you time wisely. Your friends, your school, and both our worlds? fate depend on your answer.?

(okay, that's chapter 5, folks. Sorry, but I had to do a [i]lot[/i] of editting. Once again, thanks Ruby for the support!)

[Epsilon]

O_o An alternet world, with magic, swords, and monster things...Cool! And I was wrong about it being short, oh well. To me the other world just sounds really cool. And the Astral Fragments, yeah from their propose the crystals just sound important and real powerfu. l love this chaperter the most because of Ally in the crystal. This story and plot...it's better then mine. Keep it up! ^^

[Ninjaman]

Chapter 6: Departure



[I]Pit-Pat[/I].

The rain softly patted against the windows. Scott was staring out his window at the falling rain. It had been raining since he came home, which was hours ago. He felt warm and calm in his room. A lot had happened that day and he was glad to be home. But something was on his mind.

A few hours ago, Ally ha asked him and his friends to go on a journey with her. They all needed time to think this through, because it wasn?t exactly the easiest decision to make in the whole world. Scott, Davis, and Lisa decided that once they came to a decision, they would meet at the airport sometime early in the morning. No matter what decision Scott would make, he would still have to tell his parents about everything.

Scott sighed and turned to his clock. It was half past seven.

?Better now than never,? Scott muttered to himself.

He stood up and walked out of his room and into the hall of his house. He entered the room across from his. Inside was his mother lying on the bed watching television and his father sitting at the computer desk.

?Hi Scott,? his mom greeted.

?Hi mom,? Scott replied. ?There?s, uh, something I needed to tell you. It?s about what happened today.?

Scott?s dad turned to him as he sat on the bed.

?What is it?? Scott?s dad asked.

Scott reached his hand in front of himself and a small light glowed around his hand. When the light vanished, Scott was holding his sword.



She sat in a chair while staring out the windows. People were staring at her because of her clothes, but she could care less. Ally more things to worry about. She was waiting the airport for Scott and the others to come. She feared what might happen if they didn?t come.



There was silence. The television was turned off. Scott?s parents had heard his story of what had happened at the school. They couldn?t think of anything to say, so they all just sat there staring in different directions.

?And that?s not all,? Scott said finally.

His parents looked up at him.

?Ally says that there are other places that have the Astral Fragments here on Earth. She knows that the scholar who learned about the crystals? mystery is in one of those areas. She?s going to look for him, hoping he?ll have an answer to getting through the shield covering the school. But, she wants Davis, Lisa, and me to come with her.?

?What?? Scott?s mom asked.

?We didn?t answer right away. We told her we needed time to think. To decide if we wanted to go.?

?And do you want to go?? Scott?s dad asked.

Scott stared at the floor for a moment.

?Yes.?

Scott?s mom placed her hand on her mouth and his dad stared at the floor.

?I know this isn?t great news,? Scott said. ?But I need to go, to save my friends and school. I?m leaving sometime early in the morning to leave for the airport. I?m going to walk to the bus stop nearby here and go to the airport from there.?

?You?re not going to let us drive you there?? Scott?s dad asked.

?It would probably be better if you didn?t. Wait. So you?re going to let me go??

?Scott, your mom and I love you very much and we know we can?t force you stay. We?re afraid what might happen to you because you?re not one who goes out much, but we would still be afraid even if you did. But from what I heard from you today, you were able to take care of yourself pretty well, and for that we?re proud of you.?

?Thanks. My friends were there, too, and we look out for each other. I wish you could meet them, but we had little time.?

?Do you know if they?re coming with you??

?Honestly, no. But I?d still go, even if they don?t come.?

?I see,? said Scott?s mom. ?Is there anything we can do to help you? I mean you?re definitely going to need money.?

?I don?t want to take your money, you guys need it more. I?m going to use my own money.?

?How much do you have??

?Somewhat over a hundred.?

?Are you sure that?s enough?? Scott?s dad asked.

?Dad, I can manage.?

Scott got up and headed for the door.

?If I do need any money, I?ll let you know. I?m going to get ready now. I have quite a trip ahead. And mom, dad, don?t worry. You?ll see me again. When it?s all over. By then, I?ll make you really proud. If I?m lucky, you might see me on TV. Love you, guys.?

Scott left the room and entered his own. He shut the door behind him and took out a black and dark blue backpack from his closet. He zipped it open and took out his schoolbooks and folders that were inside it. Scott placed a few sets of clothing inside his bag. He also put a notebook and some pens and pencils. He opened a drawer and brought out a jar full of money and placed it in his bag. He also placed his wallet in his bag as well. Scott started looking around his room for one particular item. But then he remembered where it was.

?One more reason to go,? Scott whispered to himself with a small smile. ?I?m not paying for another Game Boy.?

Scott was almost done packing. All he needed left was some food. Scott was going to grab some food on his way out of the house. All that was left to do was wait. Scott looked at his clock. It was almost nine. He laid down on his bed and listened to the rain.



Ally picked up the receiver of a payphone and pulled out a piece of paper from her dress pocket. On the paper were three sets of numbers. They were phone numbers. She summoned some quarters to her hand. She placed two quarters in the payphone and dialed one of the phone numbers.

?Hello? Lisa?? Ally asked. ?It?s Ally. I found out the time for the flight. It?s at 8:25 AM. I?ll tell the others. Bye.?

Ally hung up and picked up the receiver. She placed two more quarters in the payphone and dialed the second phone number.



A few minutes past 6:30 AM. Scott was already on the bus. He was wearing blue jeans with a black belt, a short-sleeve buttoned khaki shirt, with the collar open, and a white shirt underneath. Scott was ready, or at least he though he was. He had some time before he would arrive at the airport, so he closed his eyes to get some sleep.



He was walking in the rain. The sky was covered with dark clouds.

?So, you?ve decided to go?? the voice asked.

?Yeah,? Scott answered, still walking.

?Why have you decided to go??

?To save my friends.?

?Is that all? I sense you have other reasons.?

?I do have other reasons. Most, if not all, are personal.?

?I see. But I warn you: this is not a game. Be careful of what you do, because you can?t turn back.?

Scott stopped. The rain stopped and he removed his hood and looked straight above him. A small light gleamed through the dark clouds. The light shined on Scott?s face giving him a warm feeling.



Scott woke up. He looked out the bus window to see that he was near his destination.



Dana?s eyes opened as light shined her face. She saw that the light was coming through the blinds covering the windows. She rose from the floor and looked at her surroundings.

?So, it wasn?t a dream,? she whispered to herself.

Dana looked around the room again. Her eyes widened as she couldn?t find her friend.

?Glori?? Dana called out.

?Looking for your friend?? a student asked, lying on the floor.

?Yeah. Do you know where she is??

?Yeah. They came in half an hour ago and took her and some others to work in the mines.?

?I didn?t think they would make us work so early.?

?Well, I think it?s just going to get worse.?



Ally was pacing. She was nervous. It was past seven. No one had showed up yet and she was afraid no one would. Then she saw someone walking towards her. It was Scott.

?You?re here!? Ally almost exclaimed, running up to Scott.

?Yeah,? Scott replied. ?Are the others here??

?No, but whether they will or not, I bought their tickets. Here?s yours.?

Ally handed Scott a plane ticket.

?You bought tickets? How??

?My magic allows me to have American currency.?

?So we don?t have to worry about money??

?Not exactly, casting that spell has limits.?

?How so??

?Depending on how much money I summon is when the next time I can summon more.?

?So, when?s the next time??

?No more than three hours.?

?Where are we going anyway??

Ally pointed to the ticket and Scott looked at it.

?Wow, San Francisco,? Scott said.

?San Francisco? Sounds like fun,? said a voice behind Scott.

Scott turned to see Davis behind him. Davis was wearing a gray hooded jeacket with a dark blue shirt underneath and khaki pants.

?Thank you for coming,? said Ally, beaming.

?No problem,? Davis said.

Ally handed Davis his ticket.

?So now we wait for Lisa,? said Scott.

?Think she?ll come?? asked Davis.

?Maybe. We don?t know her well to tell if she?ll come or not.?

?You?re right. She doesn?t have to go. It?s not her school and friends that are in danger.?

?Yeah, but you could use all the help you can get,? said another voice.

Scott, Davis, and Ally turned to see Lisa walking towards them. She was wearing a black shirt with a light green short sleeved, unbuttoned shirt on top and light gray capris.

?You made it,? said Ally, smiling. ?Thank you.?

Ally handed Lisa her ticket. Lisa looked at the ticket.

?Wow,? she said. ?San Francisco.?

?Well,? said Scott, ?we?re all here. We have quite some time before our flight, so what should we do??

?Oh!? Ally responded. ?I have something for you all. You need more than your weapons to defend yourselves. I am sure Lance has some of his men searching for the rest of the Astral Fragments on Earth. And I?m sure they?ll be physically strong and are sure to possess magic abilities. So I will give you the ability to use magic so you can stand a better chance at the enemy.?

?Ability to cast magic?? asked Davis. ?How??

Ally reached into her pocket and brought out three small glowing crystals.

?Astral Fragments,? muttered Scott.

? Yes,? said Ally. ?I managed to grab come back at the mines before we teleported out of there.?

?Are we able to get magic from them or something??

?In a way yes. One discovery we found without the scholar?s help was that the crystals could transfer some of a person?s magic to another. Normally, Earthlings cannot cast magic, but that doesn?t mean it?s impossible. Very hard, but not impossible.?

?So you?re going to transfer some of our power to us? How??

?Just watch.?

Suddenly, the three crystals levitated from Ally?s hand. Her body was outlined with a gold color. Then, each crystal levitated over the teenagers? heads and three streams of light from Ally?s body to each crystal. The crystals glowed and small glowing dust fell from the crystal onto the teenagers? bodies. The crystals returned to Ally?s hand.

?There,? Ally said. ?You are now able to use magic.?

?Really?? asked Scott. ?What kind??

?Well, the crystals have just given you the ability to use some elements. Those elements include fire, water, electricity, healing, and so forth. You are just beginners at using magic, so learning to master your magic skills will be a difficult process.?

?What elements do we have now?? asked Lisa.

?I sense fire in you Scott. Davis, I sense water in you. And Lisa, I believe you have the power of healing.?

?Cool,? said Davis.

?Well,? said Scott, ?I guess we wait now.



The wind was blowing. The rain stopped, but the dark clouds still refused to let sunlight through. Darkness was all the people of Dallas could see. Lance noticed this on the roof of the school. He saw the police, still surrounding the building, look at him.

?Your efforts are meaningless,? Lance called out to the police. ?You know you cannot enter and yet you are still. Your presence is a thorn at my side. I should kill your captured men, but they are very good workers for me. But still, your watchful eyes are an annoyance. I will see to it that nothing will pass my barrier. And that includes your sight!?

Lance then threw his hands in the air. His hands glowed with a gray color. Suddenly, a gray cloud appeared above him. It grew with each passing second until it covered the entire school, including its stadium. The area was enclosed with a heavy dome of fog.



The wait was over. Scott, Davis, Lisa, and Ally were on the plane to San Francisco. At any minute, the plane would take off. Scott was looking out the passenger window when he had a question on his mind. He turned to Davis, who was sitting with him.

?Davis, why are you coming?? asked Scott.

?Why am I coming?? Davis repeated. Well, to save my friends and the school. Besides, my girlfriend is in there.?

?Girlfriend? Who??

?Becky Kay.?

?Really? So it?s like guy saves girl for you, huh??

?Yeah, I guess. Why do you ask??

?Just a question that?s been on my mind.?

?Well, why are you going??

?Pretty much like you, to save my friends and school.?

?What no girlfriend, Scott??

Scott looked at Davis, his ears slightly turning red.

?Oh, shut up.?

Scott looked out the window while Davis laughed. Scott slight smiled at Davis?s remark. Suddenly, the plane started to move. It was time to go.

?Oh, boy,? Scott said nervously.

?What?s wrong?? Davis asked.

?Well, it?s just that I, uh, hate flying.?

?You?re kidding. And you weren?t afraid of the two monsters from yesterday??

?What? So sue me.?

The plane then took off for San Francisco.


*Oh! Before I forget. To any of those who are interested, this story is in the process of being made into a video game. If you want to help make this into a real game, please click on the third link in my sig, or PM me. Thanks!*

[Epsilon]

Wow! Cool, San Francisco, very nice touch! The fragments give power, that's just so cool. And I think I shall try to help you make this in to a game. It'd be great to play, bet it'd be extreamly fun too. If this dose get turned in to a game I'm betting it'd be one of the grestest hits to. Keep up the good work!

[Ninjaman]

Sorry I'm late for posting the next chapter. ^^;; Well anyway, here it is:


Chapter 7: Where the Wind Blows



It was half past noon. A taxicab stopped in front of a seven-floor hotel. Scott got out of the cab followed by Davis, Lisa, and Ally. The teenagers got their bags out of the trunk while Ally entered the hotel.

?Welcome to our hotel,? greeted the young woman at the front desk. ?How may I help you??

?Hello,? Ally replied. ?I reserved two rooms this morning under the name Mr. Ryans.?

?Ah, yes, I remember. Here are the keys to your rooms. You?ll find them on the third floor. Have a nice day.?

?Thank you. You too.?

Ally turned with the keys in her hand to see the teenagers standing in front of her.

?You used my name?? Scott asked.

?Yes, I hope you don?t mind,? said Ally.

?No, not at all. Besides, when did you reserve the rooms??

?At the airport, while you were getting your baggage.?

?Yeah, which actually took awhile because she brought so much stuff,? Davis said, looking at Lisa.

?Hey, a girl has her needs,? Lisa replied.

?Too much if you ask me.?

?Alright,? interrupted Ally, as Lisa shot Davis a nasty look. ?Come on, our rooms are on the third floor.?



Scott opened the door and entered the room. The others followed in. The room had two beds and Scott was lying on the one nearest to the window.

?Dibs on this one,? Scott stated.

?Fine with me,? Davis said, sitting on the other bed.

?Guess we got the other room,? Lisa said to Ally. ?So what do we do now??

?We rest for now,? Ally answered. ?I assume you?re all hungry.?

?Yeah,? the teenagers said together.

?Alright then. Let?s go see if there?s a restaurant in this hotel.?



As it turned out, there was a restaurant in the hotel. Within time, all four of them had eaten lunch.

?So how are we going to find the guardian of this area?? Lisa asked before taking a drink from her glass.

?I am going to attempt to use telepathy to contact the guardian,? Ally answered.

?Well, shall we go?? Davis asked.

?Sure, let me pay the check first,? said Ally.

?But, where do we start?? asked Lisa.

?We?ll just have to wander around this city until I can clearly get in contact with the guardian. So, any spot will a good starting place.?

?Hey, let?s start with the Golden Gate Park!?

?Fine by me,? said Scott. ?Ready??

?Yes,? answered Ally, placing the money she summoned on top of the bill, including tip.

The four got up from the table and headed for the exit. Scott suddenly stopped. He felt someone was staring right at him. He turned around. No one suspicious was there. There were only three other tables occupied with people and not one of the people was staring at Scott.

?What?s wrong?? asked Davis.

?Nothing,? Scott answered. ?Thought someone was watching us.?

?Really? Well, come on. We?ve got some exploring to do.?

Scott nodded and followed Davis through the exit. Then, a middle-aged man wearing a dark coat appeared from the restroom. He pulled out a cell phone from his coat pocket and dialed.

?They?re here,? he said. ?The ones that Lance warned us about? No, they didn?t see me, but I think one of them had suspicions, though. Yeah, they?re going to the Golden Gate Park? Okay, boss.?


He hung up the phone and left the restaurant.



Ally walked on the sidewalks with her eyes close and her finger on her forehead. Some people near Ally stared at her with confusing looks.

?She, uh, has a bad headache,? Davis tried to explain to the people.

?Anything yet?? Scott asked.

?Nothing,? answered Ally, not breaking from her concentration.

?You might want to-,? Lisa began, pointing to a tree Ally was about to walk into.

?I know.?

Ally slowly walked in another direction to avoid walking into the tree Lisa was referring to. Davis walked behind Ally while Scott walked beside Lisa.

?Hey, I got a question,? said Scott.

?Shoot,? Lisa replied.

?Why did you come with us??

?What do you mean??

?Well, it?s not your school that?s been taken over by people from another world.?

?Well, that may be true, but that doesn?t mean I can?t come and help you guys. I mean you?re my friends.?

?I?m not saying that it?s not true, but is that the only reason why you came??

?Of course not. I kind of feel, you know, like I brought this quest upon myself when I overheard two of the Infinite?s conversation. I?m not saying I didn?t have a choice of whether or not to join you, but I couldn?t just ignore all that happened yesterday and move on my life like nothing ever happened. You freed me from that cell in the tunnel when I couldn?t help you and your school from being captured by the Infinite. I mean I could?ve run and warn the police what they were planning to do, but instead I was caught by the Infinite. I?ve been given power to help you fight for your friends? freedom and I just can?t throw that away. You need all the help you can get when it comes to the Infinite. I want to repay you for saving me by helping you fight.?

?Thanks, Lisa.?

?Besides, I do have one other reason as to why I came along.?

?And what?s that??

?I?m an adopted child. The adoption agency my foster parents got me from holds no information on my real parents. I only have two things that my real parents gave me. My first name and the earrings I?m wearing now.?

Lisa pointed to an aquamarine stud on her right ear. It was in the shape of a
butterfly.

?But, how do you know your name is your real birth name?? Scott asked.

?The adoption agency said they found me in a basket on their doorstep when I was a baby. Inside the basket was a piece of paper with my name and the earrings I?m wearing were in a small pouch.?

?Quite a story.?

?Yeah, I know. I just hope it comes with a happy ending, though. That?s one of the reasons I came along. In hopes of finding them along the way.?

?Don?t worry, you?ll find them. If not on this journey, then someday.?

?Aw, thank you. But why did you ask me why I came??

?Just something that was on my mind.?

Scott then noticed that Ally stopped walking and her arms were now at her sides.

?Any luck?? asked Lisa.

?No,? Ally answered. ?We should go try somewhere else.?

?Are you sure?? Davis asked. ?We didn?t go around the entire park.?

?Well, I still wouldn?t be able to get into contact with the guardian even if we did go around the entire park.?

?Then, where shall we go now?? asked Scott.

Before anyone could answer, there was a scream. All four of them turned and saw people running and screaming. The source of the commotion was a monster with razor claws. It was chasing after some fleeing people, until it caught sight of Scott and his friends. It roared loudly and leaped into the air and landed in front of the four.

?Watch out!? Ally shouted. ?It could be an Infinite!?

?What do you mean ?could be??? asked Davis.

?The Infinite also have the power to transform into monsters. Now let?s go!?

Before another second passed, Scott, Davis, and Lisa summoned their weapons. The monster chuckled and gave a ferocious roar. Suddenly, six more monsters emerged from the ground, surrounding the four. These monsters were smaller than the one that summoned them.

?Oh man,? Scott muttered.

Scott and Davis lunged at the monsters in front of them and slashed their swords.

?Aren?t you going to join them?? Ally asked Lisa.

?Uh, not right now,? Lisa laughed nervously.

Suddenly, a monster jumped towards the girls. Ally then pointed in the air her hand outlined with yellow energy. Then, a lightning bolt shot from the sky and struck the monster before it could reach the girls. The monster fell to the ground, electrocuted, and disintegrated.

?Well, one down,? Ally stated.

?Six to go,? Lisa finished.

Scott swung his sword rapidly at the beast in front of him. The monster swung its arm at Scott, but he ducked Scott then slashed his sword upwards at the monster. It screamed in pain and fell to the ground, dead, to disintegrate.

?Little help here!? Davis shouted.

Davis was trapped in between two of the monsters, barely blocking their attacks with his sword. Scott clenched his left fist and closed his eyes.

?I hope this works,? he muttered.

Then, a red light emitted from his clenched fist. Scott then threw the light at one of the monsters surrounding Davis. The light turned into a fiery projectile and collided with the monster. The monster fell to the ground, burning to death. Davis slashed the other monster, killing it. But, as the monster fell, it scratched Davis?s right shoulder, leaving a deep cut.

?Davis!? Scott and Lisa called out, running to Davis, who was on his knees grasping his right shoulder in pain.

?Are you okay?? Scott asked.

?Yeah, a little bit,? Davis answered.

?Hold on,? said Lisa. ?If it worked for Scott, it should work for me.?

Lisa placed her right hand over Davis?s wound and closed her eyes. Her hand glowed a white color. Then, her glowing hand dropped small fragments of light to Davis?s wound. The wound glowed for a moment and healed completely.

?Hey, it worked,? said Davis. ?Thanks Lisa.?

?No problem,? Lisa replied.

?Hey, where?s Ally?? Scott asked.

Lisa pointed to where Ally was, who was making motions with her hands, which were glowing green.

?What is she doing?? asked Davis.

?That,? Scott answered, pointing to a small tornado near Ally.

Inside the tornado were two monsters. The remaining monster was being chased by the tornado. Finally, the monster was pulled into the tornado. Ally then ceased her hand motions and so did the tornado, dropping the monsters to the ground, dead and disintegrating.

?That?s all of them,? Ally said, walking towards the others.

?Impressive,? said a voice from above.

The four looked above and saw a woman landing from the sky to the ground. The woman had long blonde hair wrapped in a ponytail, dropping to her waist. She wore a white tank top with black pants and collar with her silver earrings. Two dagger were placed in her belt.

?Who are you?? asked Davis.

?The last beautiful thins you?ll ever lay your eyes on, sugar,? said the woman said with a wink.

She pulled out two daggers from her belt and assumed a battle stance. Ally summoned for another lightning strike, but the woman leaped out of the way of the attack. The woman lunged at Lisa, but she was hit by an impact of water. She fell to the ground, soaked.

?Hey, that wasn?t too hard,? said Davis.

?Was that you?? Scott asked.

?Yeah,? Davis answered and then looked at the furious woman. ?Uh oh.?

?How dare you drench my clothes!? the woman screamed and lunged at Davis.

?Here let me dry you off,? said Scott, throwing a fireball.

The woman then spun, creating a tornado. She then threw her tornado at Scott?s fireball. The fireball collided with the tornado and created a fiery tornado, which was coming towards Scott.

?Hang on Scott!? Ally shouted.

Ally created a force field around Scott that shielded him from the fiery wind. The woman leapt behind Davis and swung one of her daggers, but Davis turned and stopped her dagger with his sword. The woman kicked Davis?s side, making him fall to the ground. She leapt in the air to finish Davis off.

Suddenly, something fiery made impact with the woman, knocking her to the ground.

The group turned to see a small boy, levitating in the air, pointing a wooden staff with a ruby attached on the top at the woman. He had blonde hair beneath his green hat. He wore a green robe, with its sleeves covering his hands, and cape and a gold medallion worn around his neck.

?Hang on,? he said. ?I?ll get us out.?

The boy waved his staff. Then he, Scott, Davis, Lisa, and Ally vanished from the scene. The woman got on her feet cursing under her breath. She placed her daggers back in place and snapped her fingers. With the wind blowing in her hair, she vanished.

[Epsilon]

That's ok. I like the ch. anyways lots of beating of monsters. Ally used Scotts name, that's great I can imagen what his face looked like. ^^ The person in the ending sounds really powerfull. Hee just heard of the charcter and I like 'em. Weird. Anyways keep up the good work.

[Ninjaman]

Hey, long time no see. ^_^ Sorry for taking a long time, but here's Chapter 8! Enjoy!

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Chapter 8: All Under the Bridge



In Scott and Davis?s hotel room, there was a small gleam of light. Then, Scott and his friends, including the floating boy, appeared in the room. Everyone turned to the boy, who was smiling politely.

?Hi,? the boy said.

?Hello,? Lisa replied with a smile. ?Who are you??

?Oh, I?m sorry! I?m Noah. Noah Mag. A wizard-in-training.?

?Well, hi, Noah. I?m Lisa. And these guys are my friends, Scott, Davis, and Ally.?

Noah floated to Ally and circled her.

?I can tell you?re not from around here,? said Noah. ?By judging by your clothes, I mean.?

?Well, I too can tell you?re not from around here, either,? replied Ally. ?I believe you?re from Odera, like I am.?

?You?re from Odera, too? How did you know? By my clothes??

?Well, yes, that was a big giveaway, but your last name, Mag. One of the greatest wizards of Odera had that last name.?

?My brother??

?Yes. I was with my king, as well as the other servants, when he met him.?

?You work for the king??

?Uh, hate to interrupt,? Davis said. ?But, what are you two talking about??

?Oh, I?m sorry,? replied Ally. ?Before the king hid the Astral Fragments, there was a terrible beast causing havoc in one of the towns. A powerful wizard, by the name of Isaac Mag, defeated the monster. The king praised him. Isaac then returned to his home to continue his life.?

?Yeah,? said Noah, looking down. ?Until they came.?

?Who?? asked Scott.

?The Infinite.?

?The Infinite??

?Yes. After the king had hidden the Astral Fragments and placed his servants with them, the Infinite came and took over. The Infinite somehow got the information about the Astral Fragments. This is what my father has told me, since I was not even born at the time.?

?How old are you?? asked Lisa.

?Nine years old.?

?When did the Infinite arrive?? asked Ally.

?Five years before I was born.?

?So fourteen years have passed since we guardians have left Odera.?

?Well, since I have been born, the Infinite have been looking for the Astral Fragments, using the kingdom of Auria as their base. No one knows what has happened to the king or his family since the Infinite refuse to tell. I hope nothing terrible has happened to them.?

?How terrible,? said Lisa.

?But then, a group of courageous people decided to fight back. My brother too joined the group. They left Odera to follow the Infinite and stop them from getting the Astral Fragments. A couple of months passed since their departure and Odera grew worse under the Infinite?s control. I decided in secret to find my brother and his comrades and bring them back to Odera to help. With some sneaky moves, I managed to learn about the next target of the Infinite and followed them here on Earth. I know my brother and his comrades must be here as well, so I?ll search for them until I find them.?

?I admire your courage,? said Ally. ?But, I wish for you to return home.?

?Not until I find my brother. Besides, I can take care of myself.?

?Yeah, you did manage to save us from that woman,? said Davis.

?Hey, how about you join us?? suggested Scott. ?We?re looking for a particular guardian, so we?re sure to run into you brother.?

?I appreciate you offer, but, no, I can?t. I can?t really let anything slow my search down. Besides, I?m sure I?d slow you guys down as well. It was great meeting all of you. I have to continue my search. I hope I see you guys again. Bye.?

?Bye,? said Lisa. ?And thanks for saving us earlier.?

Noah waved his staff and teleported out of the room.

?Well, now what?? asked Davis.

?Go back outside,? said Ally. ?We must continue our search for the guardian.?

?Right,? said Lisa. ?But where do we go??

?Let?s try somewhere north. I might get a better connection there.?

?Alright, then let?s go to the Fisherman?s Wharf!?

?Sounds good,? said Scott. ?The guardian might be underwater.?

?Okay, but what do we do if we run into that woman again?? asked Davis.

?We?ll just have to retreat,? answered Ally. ?But if we can?t, we shall have to fight.?

?Well, let?s go,? said Lisa.



Fisherman?s Wharf was crowded when Scott and the others arrived. More crowded than it was at the Golden Gate Park. Ally walked through the crowd in the same trance she was in at the park. While she calmly walked, the teenagers had trouble keeping up with Ally.

?Why is it so crowded?? asked Lisa.

?Dunno,? replied Scott. ?Hey where?d Ally go??

?Over here,? Ally called out, through the crowd.

Finally the teenagers got through the crowd and saw Ally walking past a line of signs. All the signs said this:

DO NOT CROSS!
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

?Well, at least we know why it?s so crowded,? said Davis.

?Should we stop?? Scott asked.

?Well, Ally obviously isn?t,? replied Lisa. ?So we might as well follow.?

They checked to see if anyone was looking and walked past the signs. They followed Ally until she topped on a deck.

?I found him!? Ally called out. ?I found the guardian!?

?Where is he?? asked Lisa.

?Hold on, I?m figuring that out.?

Scott looked around with suspicion. Something wasn?t right.

?What?s the matter, man?? asked Davis.

?Isn?t there supposed to be construction, like it said on those signs?? Scott replied.

?You?re right. There isn?t any construction in the area. Something?s up here.?

?He and the Astral Fragments are under a bridge,? Ally said suddenly, breaking from her trance.

?He must mean the Golden Gate Bridge,? Lisa said.

Suddenly, a dagger was thrown near Lisa?s foot. The four looked around and saw the woman from the park, standing behind them.

?Thanks for the info, honey,? she said with a sneer. ?And you should thank me for providing you space to contact the guardian.?

?This was a trap?? Ally growled.

?What? No thanks? Well you should be punished for being so selfish.?

?Who are you?? asked Scott. ?One of the Infinite??

?If you have to know, I am an Infinite. Lara is my name, but enough of the introductions. It?s time to say good-bye.?

Lara snapped her fingers and shadows emerged from below and surrounded the four. All the shadows formed into monsters, the teenagers then drew the weapons.

?Well, I guess I?ll be off,? said Lara. ?I have an appointment with a guardian. Buh-bye.?

Lara snapped her fingers and vanished with the wind. Scott and the others looked at their enemies.

?There?s too many of them,? said Lisa.

?Ally, can you teleport us out?? asked Davis.

?No, I?m sorry,? Ally replied. ?Lara sealed my teleportation magic.?

?Ugh, that?s just great. Guess we?ll have to do this the hard way, then.?

?Let?s get this over with quickly,? said Scott.

Scott and Davis lunged at the horde of monsters and started swinging their swords. Ally kept the monsters at bay with her tornado magic. And Lisa swung her rod at any monster that dared to get near her. Every swing from Scott and Davis?s blades slashed through the monsters? shadow-like bodies, leaving them dead.

Then all the monsters were on the ground dead. At least, until their body remains revived.

?Ah man,? moaned Scott. ?This is like when we were fighting that Shadow Minion.?

?We don?t have time for this,? said Ally. ?Be gone shadows!?

With quick waves of her hands, Ally created a large tornado and vacuumed up the monsters.

?Scott!? Ally shouted. ?Add your magic to the wind!?

Scott nodded and threw some fireballs at Ally?s tornado. The fire mixed with the raging wind and created a firestorm. The blazing wind burned the monsters until they were no more. Then, once the tornado disappeared. Ally gave a tired sigh.

?You okay?? asked Lisa.

?Just tired,? Ally replied. Just remember not to use magic too much. Doing so will consume too much of your energy. Now, we must hurry to the bridge!?

Ally got on her feet and without another word, they took off for the bridge.



The taxicab stopped on the road. It was only a few feet from entering the Golden Gate Bridge. There were numerous other cars in front of the cab. There seemed to be a traffic jam.

?What?s with the hold up?? asked Davis.

Suddenly, a monster with horns landed on the hood of the vehicle.

?Oh okay. That?s reasonable.?

The cab driver immediately evacuated the vehicle and ran away screaming.

?Let?s get to work,? said Scott.

Scott got out of the cab and swung his sword at the monster?s leg. The monster jumped and avoided the attack. It landed behind Scott, who turned and swung his sword, slashing the beast. Davis finished the monster off by stabbing it with his sword.

?Come on,? said Ally. ?Lara must be somewhere on this bridge.?

The four raced passed the empty vehicles. Again, another monster appeared in front of them.

?Come on,? moaned Davis. ?Leave us alone!?

?We?ll have to push our way through,? said Ally.

Scott and Davis charged at the monster. Scott immediately stopped in front of the monster and threw a fireball at its face and Davis slashed its body. Within a moment, the monster fell dead.

?Come on,? said Scott.

Scott and the others resumed running. Eventually, they saw what caused all the traffic in the first place. There was a large monster lying in the middle of the road.

?Is it dead?? asked Lisa.

Davis slowly walked towards the monster and poked it with his sword. The monster groaned and slowly got on its feet.

?Nope,? answered Davis.

?Next time, let?s not poke the sleeping beast, okay??

Ally quickly called for lightning bolt to strike the beast. It roared as it fell on its knees. Scott launched a fireball at the monster and it fell to the ground. Davis ran to the beast and continuously slashed at the body and killed it.

The four then continued running.

?This bridge is too long,? moaned Scott.

?Don?t worry,? said Ally. ?I can feel the guardian?s presence getting closer.?

Ally led the way and stopped when they reached the middle of the bridge. She walked towards the edge of the bridge and looked at the water below.

?He?s underneath us,? Ally said. ?I will open the gate to lead us to him.?

?Wait,? said Scott. ?We haven?t run into Lara yet. How do we know this is safe??

?He?s right,? said Lisa. ?Is there another way??

?I?m afraid not,? replied Ally. ?So, prepare yourselves for any battle.?

Ally then raised her hands in the air.

?Guardian!? she shouted. ?Please open the door to let us in!?

Suddenly, the water below the bridge slowly began to rotate. Then, a flashing whirlpool was created.

?The door is open,? said Ally.

Suddenly, there was a woman?s laughter heard in the air. When the four turned around, they saw that monsters surrounded them. Lara stood behind the horde of monsters, smiling evilly.

?Oh, this was too easy!? she exclaimed. ?Thanks for doing all the work for me, sweeties. Let me give you reward. Four one-way tickets to hell!?

Then all of the monsters leapt at Scott and the others to kill them. Only to be struck by numerous lightning bolts. The monsters fell to the ground, dead.

?My babies!? Lisa cried.

Everyone turned and looked at Ally.

?I didn?t do it,? Ally said, smiling. ?He did.?

Ally pointed above her. Above her was Noah.

?You little brat,? growled Lara. ?You will pay for destroying my monsters.?

Lara pulled out her daggers and leapt towards Noah. Ally jumped in the way and slapped Lara to the ground.

?Back off, blondie,? said Ally. ?Scott, you guys go in and get to the guardian. I?ll take care of her.?

Scott nodded and ran to the edge of the bridge. The others, including Noah, followed and looked at the whirlpool below them.

?Here goes nothing,? said Scott.

They closed their eyes and took a leap of faith.

[Haze]

*blink blink* WOW!!!!!!!! omg this is soooooooo good!!!!! do you care if i print a copy off just for me??? i love this soooooooo much!!!! you really should turn this into a book. i would so totally buy it. amazing work!!!! when is the next chapter coming??? :D you are so good at writing.

~Haze

[Epsilon]

Yes, very long time. Glade to see you've decided to stick to writing the book. ^^
--------------------

^^ Yay, Noah is finnally in the story. That's a good thing, giving back story to what had all lead up to the story. I like the monster, cause you haven't had one like it in the story before. Lara sounds funny to mess with, -.- also kind of annoyinh too. I'm beating that there will be alot of clashs between Lara and the group. Also, nice touch to the end with the leap of faith. I like it, glade to see another person now knows of the story too. Cause the story's plot is great.

[Haze]

now it only needs a title ^__^ cuz i dont like callin it "the untitled story". that is a little silly. maybe sumpthi that has to do with light.what do ya think it should be. im gonna reread and see if i can think of one.

[Ninjaman]

Don't worry, I [i]am[/i] planning on sticking with the story, it's just going to take some time. School started for me and some of the classes I'm taking are most likely going to be obstacles towards getting any chapters done. Ack! >_<
---------------------------
Chapter 9: Bye Bye Birdie



The two women stared at each other. Lara gripped her daggers, waiting to get payback at Ally for slapping her. Ruining her plans was one thing, but slapping her was another.

?I hope you know that fighting me won?t do anything,? said Lara. ?As I speak, more of my monsters are following you friends to the guardian and the Astral Fragments.?

?Why are you after the Astral Fragments?? asked Ally. ?What are the Infinite?s motives??

?That is none of your business.?

?I guess I?m going to have to twist your arm to get answers, then.?

?Good luck, then. Because it ain?t going to be easy, sugar.?

Lara?s eyes glowed in a green color. She then screamed in pain while falling to her knees. Ally stepped back, in horror of what was happening in front of her.



Scott awoke, lying on the rocky ground. He looked around and noticed he was in a dark cavern.

?You all right, Scott?? asked Lisa, who was standing over Scott.

?Yeah,? replied Scott, standing up. ?What about the others??

?We?re fine,? answered Davis walking to Scott?s side with Noah.

?Shall we go look for the guardian, then?? asked Noah.

?How? It?s too dark in here to see a thing.?

?I?ll take care of that.?

Noah waved his staff and summoned a small fire above it. The fire illuminated the cavern. The four then noticed a tunnel.

?Let?s get going,? said Noah.

Noah led the way into the tunnel. The ceiling was dripping with water. The dripping water had the four aware that they were in an underwater cave.

?Look!? Lisa suddenly exclaimed.

There was a small white glow in the distance. As the four walked closer to the glowing light, they realized the glowing was coming from the Astral Fragments. They had found them. When they approached the crystals, Noah extinguished the fire on his staff, since it was bright enough with the glowing crystals in the area.

?Okay,? said Scott, ?we found the crystals. Where?s the guardian??

?I figure wherever the biggest crystal is,? replied Davis.

?That area looks promising,? said Noah, pointing at an area near them.

The four rushed to the area Noah had pointed to. They found large crystals on the ground. However, the guardian was nowhere to be seen.

?Where is he?? asked Lisa.

?The Infinite have gotten here first,? said Noah.

?You?d win that bet,? said a voice behind them.

The four turned and saw a group of lizard men wearing and carrying swords and axes. Noah floated higher to notice that a middle-aged man behind the monsters, lying on the ground, tied up in glowing ropes.

?They have the guardian tied up in magic resistant ropes!? Noah exclaimed.

?What?? asked Davis.

?I?ll explain later, we got other problems to deal with right now.?

The lizard men charged at the four. The front row of monsters met their demise with Noah?s lightning bolts. The teenagers summoned their weapons as the remaining monsters charged forth. Scott and Davis fought with their blades, Noah flew around and shot fireballs from his staff at the enemies, and Lisa kept her distance from the monsters and got ready to heal any injuries. In time, Davis managed to reach the guardian.

?He said magic resistant, not weapon resistant,? said Davis.

Davis took his sword and cut the ropes that bind the guardian. He then helped the guardian get up.

?Thank you,? said the guardian. ?You must be the ones that accompanied Ally.?

?Yeah, I?m Davis. That?s Scott over there fighting that reptile guy with the axe. Over there, away from the monster, is Lisa. And the little floating guy is Noah.?

?I am Derek. Where is Ally??

?She?s still on the bridge, fighting that Infinite woman, Lara.?

?Then we must hurry! She might be in need of help!?

?Right. Hey, aren?t you guys done yet?!?

Davis noticed that there were two lizard men remaining. Davis?s shout caught the monsters? attention, but Scott and Noah took the opportunity to throw a fireball and destroy the enemies.

?Now we are,? said Scott.

Scott, Lisa, and Noah rushed to Davis and the guardian. Suddenly, the cavern began to shake.

?What now?? asked Davis.

The whole cavern rumbled more with each passing second. Rocks, small and large, fell from the ceiling. Scott and the others covered their heads with their arms. Then, a large beast broke through the ground and landed in front of the group.

The beast wore a horned helmet. It had horns on its shoulders and had a drill for a left hand.

?Oh man, they just keep coming,? said Davis.

?Hence their name, ?Infinite?,? said Noah,

The monster drove its drill at the group, but all five of them moved out of the way, causing the monster to drill into the ground.

?Come on,? said Davis, gripping his sword.

?Wait!? exclaimed Derek. ?If Ally is above ground fighting Lara on her own, then you must assist her. Leave this demon to me.?

?Are you sure?? asked Lisa. ?Can you handle this without our help??

?Positive. Now make haste to the surface before it?s too late!?

?Right,? Scott nodded. ?Good luck.?

Scott, Davis, Lisa, and Noah ran out of the area. Derek faced at the monster before him. The two stared at each other. As the sound of Scott and the others? footsteps began to fade, the beast broke eye contact and looked towards the exit.

?Don?t even think about it,? said Derek, before he launched a fireball at the monster.



The wind blew silently. The whole bridge was quiet. Suddenly, there was the sound of crashing waves. The whirlpool below the Golden Gate Bridge has appeared again. Then, four figures floated out of the whirlpool and landed on the bridge. Scott and his friends looked around their surroundings.

?Something?s not right,? said Noah, ?Where?s Ally and that woman??

Suddenly, the wind roared. A small tornado was forming in front of the group. As it died down, it revealed what was hiding inside. Lara, smiling in a smug way, stood as the wind returned to normal.

?I bet you?re wondering where your dear friend is,? said Lara.

She took out something from her pants? pocket and threw it at the ground, in front of the group. It was a black hair band. Ally?s hair band.

?Oh no,? whispered Lisa, tears forming in her eyes.

?It was pathetic. She was too weak. Not only did she fail to protect her area, but she failed to help protect this area too.?

?No,? cried Noah. ?How could you kill her??

?Look, honey, she?s better off dead. She was too weak for this world, or any world actually. She brought shame to the guardians. Thanks to her, she opened the portal to the crystals? area, allowing my monsters to get in. Believe me, she is better off dead.

?Oh, you should have heard her last words. It was pathetic. She asked for your forgiveness. She asked for you forgive her failures. Oh, it was such a tearful scene. I don?t think she?d deserve any forgiveness. I pity her. I?d weep for such a weak failure, but I?d be wasting my tears for the weak.?

?Shut up,? said Davis angrily.

?What did you say, young man?!?

?You heard him,? said a teary eyed Scott. ?Shut up. You?re the one that?s weak. You?re the one that?s going to fail. Ally courageously helped us from the beginning, and using the last of her bravery, she tried to defeat you. She may have failed, but we?ll finish what she started. We?ll make you pay for taking our friend?s life!?

?I?d like to see you try,? growled Lara.

The wind roared once again. Lara?s eyes flashed green as the wind wrapped around her. She screamed in pain and fell to her knees. A pair of black, scaled wings emerged from her shoulders. She grew a black, scaled tail as well. The collar she wore grew spikes and her arms were covered with dark green gauntlets. Black markings appeared on her body as she tore her pants, making them into shorts. The wind then died down.

?Fools, I control the power of the wind,? Lara growled. ?In our first battle, I barely used my powers and yet you failed to stop me. How can you possibly win when I am using my full powers? The wind can be quite merciless. Now die to the same power that killed your precious friend!?

Lara spread wings to pull out her daggers. She flew into the air as Scott?s group readied their weapons. Lara then dove at Scott, rapidly striking with her daggers. Scott quickly deflected the attacks with his sword.

Davis went behind Lara and swung his sword at her. Unfortunately, she turned and blocked the attack wit her dagger. Scott then quickly slashed at Lara, but she blocked the attack with her other dagger. Then Noah flew in and threw a fireball at Lara. Lara flapped her wings at the fiery projectile, turning it into a puff of smoke.

?You?re calling me weak?? taunted Lara. ?You should take a look at yourselves!?

Lara then kicked Noah and sent him to the ground. She then flapped her wings again and blew Scott and Davis away at a distance. Lara turned and stared at Lisa, who was away from the battle.

?You?ll be the first to go,? she said.

She flew at Lisa and slashed with her daggers. Like Scott, Lisa defended herself with her rod. Noah got up and summoned a tornado to engulf Lara. The raging wind wrapped around Lara, who broke free from the spell in a matter of seconds.

?Did you really think wind could stop me?? Lara roared. ?Weren?t you listening, you fool? I control the wind!?

Lara turned at Noah and back kicked Lisa to the ground. She flew at Noah with great agility. Noah shot a barrage of fireballs at the upcoming Lara, but she flew by each projectile. Suddenly, through the corner of her eye, Lara saw Scott and Davis running towards her. She stopped, turned towards the two boys, and flapped her wings to generate a tornado. Lara then launched the tornado at the boys, who quickly ran out of the tornado?s path.

Noah quickly threw more fireballs at Lara, but she rose up into the air and dove at Scott. Lara slashed at Scott again as he defended against the attacks. Simultaneously, Noah launched a fireball and Davis swung his sword at Lara. However, she quickly summoned a tornado to shield herself. Lara ceased her barrier and charged at Davis. Noah quickly called for a lightning bolt to strike between Davis and Lara. Lara stopped in front of the bolt and Davis took the opportunity to take a swing at the winged woman. Lara, however, avoided Davis?s attack. Scott took his turn to attack from behind, but Lara turned and blocked it with one of her daggers.

Scott and Davis took turns attacking Lara, who blocked all of the attacks. Lara suddenly did a split, kicking the boys to the ground. Noah launched more fireballs as Lara rose into the air. Lara evaded the fiery shots except for the last one. Noah?s last fireball singed Lara?s left wing. Lara slowly floated to the ground, whimpering.

?Oh, my poor wing,? she whined. ?You?ll pay, you little brat!?

?You know,? said Noah, ?those threats are getting old.?

Lara lunged at Noah, but Scott and Davis used their own magic. Scott singed her other wing, while Davis drenched her with a burst of water. Lara fell to her knees, soaking wet.

?Okay,? she growled. ?Now you?ve gone and ticked me off!?

Lara got on her feet and took a deep breath. Her daggers were outlined with a green color.

?Come on,? Scott said to Davis. ?It looks like she?s charging up for something.?

Davis nodded and ran with Scott towards the standing Lara. Lara gave a smirk and swung one of her glowing daggers. The dagger threw a green razor disc at the boys. Scott and Davis quickly jumped to the sides and watched the disc fly past them. Lara turned and threw another disc at Noah. Noah cast a blue barrier around him, but when the disc struck the shield, the impact knocked Noah to the ground, injured. Lisa ran to Noah to heal his wounds as Lara slowly rose up into the air again.

?Her wings,? said Noah, as Lisa recovered his injuries. ?We have to damage them so we can get a hit on her. They seem to give her the agility she needs to evade our attacks.?

?Okay,? said Lisa, ? but how are we going to do that??

?She seems to be a little slower than before now that both her wings got singed, so we have a better chance of hitting her.?

Noah floated into the air and looked at Lara. Lara threw two discs at Noah.

?Okay,? said Noah. ?Time for some fireworks.?

With a wave of his staff, Noah summoned two lightning bolts to destroy the incoming discs. Lara lunged at Noah, who waited until his enemy was at a close range before he called for another pair of lightning bolts. The lightning trapped Lara and struck her wings. Lara fell to the ground. When she got up, she saw Scott and Noah at a distance facing her.

?Payback time,? said Scott.

Noah summoned a tornado in front of Scott. Scott threw two fireballs into the raging wind to create a fiery tornado. The firestorm then launched at Lara. Lara tried to rise up into the air, but her wings were too damaged to allow her to rise up. The fiery tornado engulfed Lara and burned her skin.

The fiery tornado ceased and Lara fell to the ground. The four slowly approached the motionless body. Suddenly, Lara growled and got up on her feet.

?You cannot defeat me that easily,? she muttered.

Lara looked at Lisa. One of her daggers glowed in green again.

?As I said before,? she said, ?you?ll be the first to go.?

Lara then threw a razor disc at Lisa.

?Lisa!? shouted Scott.

?Get out of the way!? shouted Davis.

Lisa couldn?t move. All she could do was watch her doom come closer. Suddenly, Lisa felt a strange power. The emerald on her rod shimmered. Without a second thought, Lisa waved her rod.

Immediately, dozens of shining, emerald razor leaves appeared in front of Lisa. The leaves then launched at the disc that was coming towards Lisa. The leaves sliced through the disc and destroyed it. The leaves continued towards the surprised Lara. The razor leaves slashed at Lara?s body, having her screaming in pain.

Then, the leaves disappeared. Lara fell to her knees, with cuts all over her body.

?No,? said Lara. ?This can?t be, I wasn?t supposed to lose. Lance. I?m sorry. Forgive me. Please.?

Lara then fell to the ground dead. Her body then slowly dissolved into the air.

?Man was that tiring,? sighed Davis.

?Lisa how the heck did you do that?? asked Scott.

?I don?t know,? replied Lisa. ?All I know is that I felt a strange feeling and the emerald on my rod started to glow.?

?I guess we are starting to master our magic like Ally said.?

?Yeah,? sighed Davis. ?Like Ally said.?

?Oh Ally,? moaned Lisa. ?You?ve never been a failure to us.?

Scott walked around the bridge and picked up something from the ground. It was Ally?s hair band. Scott took it to the edge of the bridge, followed by the others.

?Rest in peace, Ally,? Scott whispered.

Then Scott dropped the hair band to the water below. Suddenly, crashing waves were heard from under the bridge. The whirlpool had appeared again. A figure floated from the whirlpool. The four looked at the figure and recognized it. It was Derek, but he was wounded. Derek landed on the bridge and fell to his knees. Scott and his friends rushed towards the guardian.

?Are you all right, Derek?? asked Lisa.

?What happened?? asked Scott.

Before Derek could answer, sirens were heard.

?Hold on,? said Noah. ?I?ll teleport us back to the hotel room.?

With a wave of his wand, Noah and the others vanished from the scene.



?So, Ally and Lara are gone,? said Derek.

Scott and his friends were back in the hotel. Lisa healed Derek?s while the others told him what had happened.

?Yeah, they are,? said Noah.

?Derek, what happened to you?? said Davis.

?When you four left,? began Derek, ?I fought the monster you saw. I finally defeated the beast when, all of a sudden, I was surrounded by more of the Infinite. I tried to against them, but they were too much for me. I had no choice but to escape. Now they possess the Astral Fragments I was sent to protect. However, I did manage to save some of them.?

Derek pulled out five small Astral Fragments out of the pocket of his pants. Then he pulled three more crystals out of his other pocket.

?The five I hold in my right hand are the ones that I saved. The ones I hold in my left hand were once Ally?s.?

?Ally?s?? asked Lisa.

?Yes. Before you four had arrived at the cave, Ally transported her crystals to me. She told me that if anything should happen to her, that I should give the crystals to you. So I will give you hers, as well as my Astral Fragments for safe keeping.?

Derek went to Scott and handed him the eight crystals.

?But the question remains, will you continue your journey to find the scholar??

Scott looked at Davis and Lisa. He was able to tell that they had the same answer he did.

?Of course we will,? answered Scott.

?Scott,? said Noah, ? will you take me with you? Not only to find my brother, but to help you find the scholar to stop the Infinite. My magic can prove to be quite useful on your journey.?

?Sure, Noah. The more the better.?

?Yeah,? said Davis. ?Welcome to the team. How about you, Derek??

?I?m afraid not,? said Derek. ?I would not prove to be useful. Instead, I will supply you the money to reach you next destination.?

?Which is??

?Las Vegas. You will find another guardian there. With any luck, it?ll be the scholar.?

?Las Vegas? Never saw that coming. Cool.?

?But, Derek, how will we find the guardian?? asked Lisa. ?Wouldn?t we need you to contact the guardian??

?Actually, the Astral Fragments I gave you will be your guide,? replied Derek. ?They react with a blinking light when they are near another crystal. Where you find the Astral Fragments is where you will find the guardian.?

?How convenient,? said Davis.

?I will go to your school and wait for you to return with the guardian. Where is your school??

?Dallas,? replied Scott. ?Be careful, though. There might be police and the might think you?re one of the Infinite.?

?I?ll keep that in mind.?

?Well, off we go,? said Noah. ?As a team??

Noah placed his hand in front of himself. Lisa placed her hand on top of Noah?s.

?Of course as a team,? she said.

Davis placed his hand on Lisa?s, followed by Scott.

?Kind of ?all for one and one for all?, isn?t it?? asked Lisa.

?Yeah,? said Scott. ?It is.?

[Epsilon]

Finally, I kept getting pulled away from reading your story. Nice to know that you'll contue posting it. Feel free to take as much time as you need with it....anyways...Alley's gone :bawl: , she was a cool character. You pick very interesting places for them to find the fragments. I like the character Derek, he seems like he's gonna be a good ally in there journey. The battles you make up always get more exciting to read. And the relationship between each char. of friendship is fun to read about.

[Haze]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. you killed off alley!!!!!!that is horribley sad. BUT. . . .Noah joined the team!!! YAY!!! im glad you have kept it goin.
take ur time tho. . . wouldn't want your school work to suffer! *grins devilishly* lol.