This is getting out of hand, R.D. growled in his mind, We've got to get out of here.

===Within Xobelisk===

Ziatoch appeared in the now-darkened throneroom of His black tower. His body seemed to dissolve into nothing as He melded with the shadows, causing the room to darken further.

Daemonus, He commanded, Come to Me.

Matt just turned to face Bruno. "Yeah, screw this!"

With a quick gesture, like a matador, he made a portal appear before him, closed enough for Bruno to fly through. All it did, however, was transport Bruno away to a farther distance from Matt.

"I've got crap to do!" Matt shouted. "So I'm gonna have to take a rain check on this!"

In truth, he knew Bruno's power level, annoyingly, could overwhelm him given the chance. But he wasn't going to let Bruno know that. Right now the priority was getting through that Gateway.

"But make no mistake..." Matt grinned nastily. "When we meet again, I'll be sure to finish what I started."

He raised both of his pointer fingers. "F*** You, Everybody!"

He crossed his arms. "GOOD NIGHT!"

Matt was suddenly engulfed in a large, mighty explosion, one with enough flash and show to make the world shake with its power.

Suddenly, Matt appeared next to R.D. and the group, the explosion concealing him from Bruno. "Let's go, NOW!"

Edited by The Helldragon on December 16, 2006 at 1:21:25.

R.D. nodded as Matt made the command. That was when energy started gathering around them. R.D. sensed it coming from a far-off location, but he couldn't do anything about it. In an instant, and another blinding flash of light, the group disappeared.

Over a hundred miles away, a there was a flash of blinding light, and R.D. yelled as he was flung, along with the others, out of a swirling vortex at high speeds. There was a loud crack, and the rift disappeared.

R.D. pushed himself off the ground and groaned. "What the fuck just happened?" he asked, his head throbbing.

"That's a good question..." Hugo muttered, as Hsien-Ko set him back up straight.

Mei-ling, now out of her talisman form, glanced at Matt. "Did you do that?"

"Hell no." Matt stood up, floated again due to the Drive, and glanced around. "But whomever did it had better have a good explaination..."

A feminine voice spoke up a short distance from the group.

"I couldn't just allow you all to die, now could I?"

R.D. was instantly up and readying himself as he looked at the newcomer. And gaped.

It was a young woman of Asian descent. She had long, flowing red hair tied up in a ponytail, and wore an elegant white dress with black designs on it. The long skirt was split near the front of the legs, allowing for movement and exposing soft black leather boots. Her right arm was covered in a long black glove, while her left hand was covered in a small black glove. The hand carried a sheathed katana. The woman smiled at them kindly, watching them with brilliant violet eyes.

Edited by RisingDragon on December 15, 2006 at 22:29:52.

"Who're you supposed to be?" Matt asked, as Hsien-Ko and Mei-ling got back to their feet.

The woman bowed politely as she introduced herself to the group.

"My name is Aisha Liembre," she started as she rose, then pointed to each of the group.

"You are Matthew Willard," she began, "And you are Hugo the Mettaur. You are Hsien-Ko and Mei-ling," she nodded, pointing to the two sisters, "And you," she said, pointing to R.D., "Are the one known only as the Rising Dragon, or R.D. as you've come to call yourself."

Finally, she turned to Alasea and looked deep into her eyes.

"And you," she said quietly, "are Alasea Dagenais, and the one I've been seeking for quite some time now."

Alasea's eyes widened as the woman made the statement.

ZetsumeiRyu: AAAARRRGGGGGHHHH!!!! Grrrr!!... I won't give up!!! *he charges at Xastra again* I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!

"No sense at all." Blazen agreed as he made his way to it, by merely walking. He wasn't in a great hurry, but felt just slightly rushed. He placed his hands in his pockets and watched his new friend one could say.

Matt looked at his jacket. "Do I have a nametag on or something?"

"If you're some crazy bitch who's out to kill Alasea like everyone else's been tryin' to kill R.D...."

Hugo stepped defensively in front of Alasea, brandishing his pickaxe. "You'd better reconsider, quick."

Aisha continued smiling. "Forgive me," she said quietly, "I have been watching your group for some time now. I'm not here to harm you, but to help you."

"Help us?" R.D. said, watching the swordswoman warily.

"Yes, R.D.," she said, catching him off-guard with the use of his name. So far everyone had been calling him Rising Dragon, which frankly pissed him off. "It was I who warned your friend Juno about Maya's appearance on Kattelox, requesting him to help you and your friends."

"Why..." Alasea spoke up, quietly, "Why have you been looking for me?"

Aisha turned back to Alasea. "I will explain later, when you have rested. Come," she said, motioning to the group to follow, "I will take you somewhere where we can be safe, so I may tell you my story."

As she left, Alasea watched her retreating back. And for no reason that she could find, she started following. She had to know more. Especially why she felt she shared some kind of connection with her.

Matt was naturally a paranoid person. Even as he deactivated the Drive, he eyed Aisha's back. "What do you think?" he muttered to the sisters.

"She seems to be on our side," Mei-ling replied. "We might as well take this opportunity to rest."

Hsien-Ko stretched, with a minor wince. "Yeah...I'm beat."

"All right. But everyone stay on guard in case that bastard finds us."

With that, the others followed.

It didn't take long for the group to reach Aisha's destination. It was a splendid Japanese abode set near a pond, close to a small valley. She invited them in and motioned for them to sit down near one of the small tables. With that done, she left and began making a meal for the group.

Alasea pulled her knees up to her chest.

"You okay?" R.D. asked as he sat down next to her and looked at her.

"Yeah, it's all just... weird," she replied.

"Well, that's one way of describing this little adventure of ours."

"Son, this is NORMAL for me," Matt remarked, not sitting in a cross-legged position-his legs fell asleep too easily. "I've seen some weird crap in my day, and this hasn't topped it yet."

"You're one to talk," R.D. said, "I can't even tell what crap is normal and what crap is strange."

Alasea giggled, although she knew she shouldn't laugh at R.D.'s memonic misfortune.

They fell silent soon after, and shortly Aisha returned, bringing in food for them to eat. R.D. started immediately, tasting the food cautiously. It wasn't long before he dug in. It was possibly the best food he'd tasted in a long time.

Not that I've had much in the way of grand dinners, he thought wryly.

"Secret Bacon Cheeseburger," Matt whispered to the Chinese food before him. It didn't change visually, but when Matt managed to down the stuff, it indeed tasted like a super awesome bacon cheeseburger.

He couldn't refuse the food, after all.

"So..." Hugo glanced around. "Why're you lookin' for Alasea?"

Aisha shook her head in a polite refusal. "I will inform you all later," she said as she ate, "What I have to discuss is not for tired minds."

"In other words," R.D. said, "We get to speculate for the rest of the night."

Alasea glared at R.D., apalled at his lack of manners. She was about to tell him off with Aisha laid a hand on her arm. "I do not mind," she said, "All of you may speak your mind in front of me. I will not take offense."

She turned her gaze to R.D. "Tell me, am I correct in saying one of the Khaglessi still lives?" she asked, curious about the continued existence of Re-Tuul.

R.D. snorted. "Yeah, I wound up missing one on the island," he said, strangely bitter about the ordeal, "I got the others, though. And when we figured out how to kill him, Re-Tuul will join his brethren in whatever Hell they went to."

The group finished up their meal, and as evening fell, she informed them of the location of the nearby hot springs and where they would sleep. R.D. went outside, and Aisha then proceeded to the hot springs. After a moment's indecision, Alasea followed the redheaded woman.

"Hot springs?" Hsien-Ko clapped her hands together. "Oh, that sounds really good!"

"I could use a hot bath," Mei-ling remarked.

"Pass." Dismissing the matter with a wave of his hand, Matt began to waddle toward his room. "I'm gonna use a normal shower."

R.D. sighed and looked out over the pond. He was angry. Angry that they had lost. He wasn't sure why he was angry, he knew that sometimes one had to escape to survive. Eventually he wrote it off as something in his unknown past.

I hope you're not smug, you freak, he thought, Because you failed to kill us too.

Alasea slipped into the waters of the spring, shortly followed by Aisha. She sighed. "You'd think after today, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with heat."

Aisha smiled. "It's a good thing I intervened," she said, spying the other women approaching.

"Yeah," she said, "Thanks for that. We'd have been fried without you. Were you the one commanding the wind?"

Aisha nodded. Alasea opened her mouth to ask how, but Aisha cut her off. "You will find out later. It is related to what we have to discuss."

Alasea sighed, then nodded. She went about washing herself.

"Fine then." Meta replied. "Let me start off with rupturing your eardrums." She grinned broadly. She put away her sword again, and stood in a normal pose. She then opened her mouth and let out a tremendous scream, so loud it rose over 130 decibels. It's frequency slowly became higher as Meta was seeking for the resonating frequency of the guardians eardrums, at which point they would be sure to rupture.

Edited by Morphman on December 16, 2006 at 11:42:15.

Edited by Morphman on December 16, 2006 at 14:18:30.

"Hmph." Meta jumped out of the way of the attack, and decided for a different approach. She increased the power of gravity underneath the guardian by roughly ten times, thus, if the guardian would normally weigh 200 pounds, he would now weigh 2000 pounds, and have more trouble moving.

Edited by Morphman on December 16, 2006 at 14:18:12.

Meta evaded the attack by putting up a field of anti-gravity around her, repelling the guardian. She floated in the air, glaring. "You know, guys like you make me sick. I'd rather just create a miniature black hole to get you in the centre of a hypergiant star and be done with it."

(OOC: Blood...)

"Hrm." Meta gritted her teeth when she saw the armies had gone. "Cowards." She said in disgust, spitting on the ground were the guardian had been. "I'll get 'em one day." She said. "For now..." A smirk appeared on her face. "I suppose a short visit at Hell wouldn't matter much."

Edited by Morphman on December 16, 2006 at 16:40:25.

Edited by Morphman on April 5, 2009 at 11:56:41.

"I hate leaving a fight unfinished," Matt muttered, digging through his pack.

Hugo tapped the bed with his pickaxe. "Up."

After Matt picked up the Mettaur and set him down on the bed, Hugo sighed. "Yeah. Pisses me off, too."

Matt took out the dragon statue and set it on the table next to him, giving it a little friendly tap on the head. "Well, next time I'll find a nice way to stick his knives in all his major organs...in alphabetical order."