R.D. grunted, slapping away some bats, but he didn't want to really do something bad and bring down the entire tower. Alasea, however, had the answer. She thrust her hand up into the air, and a burst of electricity fried the bats. R.D. prickled his nose at the stench.

"Well, that's one way of taking care of them," he said, looking back up the tower. "Why would a throne be in a clocktower?"

"I don't fuckin' know!" Matt snapped, raising his hands. "It's possible! Maybe Dracula had bad aim."

"What does that even MEAN?" came Hugo's question.

"That's called creative joking."

"That's called creative failure," the Mettaur retorted.

"Shut up." Glancing upwards, Matt squinted behind his glasses. "Still...I wonder what's awaiting us up there..."

"Whatever it is," R.D. said, "We better keep our guard up. We have a bad habit of having our asses kicked once 'it' shows up."

"And then I pull out a bold new weapon to defeat the monster of the day!" Matt proclaimed. "HA HA!" he laughed, pronouncing the "HA"s. "Redundancy."

They finally reached the top of the stairs-a small stone platform, with a set of smaller double doors. The platform was just enough to fit them all, thankfully with a guardrail.

Helena backed up to the wall next to the doors, looking straight ahead. "Come on, let's go," she pleaded. "I don't like heights."

"All right, all right," Matt said. "Just lemme get this." He approached the double doors, and began pulling them open.

When the group saw the slightest crack, the doors suddenly billowed open as a streak of blue shot foward, smashed into Matt, and sent him tumbling over the guardrail.

"Matt!" Soma shouted, rushing to the guardrail and gripping on, looking down as the streak and Matt fell toward the gears of the clock tower.

"Here we go again!" R.D. said, grabbing the handrail and vaulting himself over it and down below.

"R.D.!" Alasea shouted, rushing to the edge and looking over the edge at the two falling boys and the streak. "Ugh, trust the boys to follow the path of stupidity."

Bryant, Veronica, and Brandon jumped off the dragon and looked around the waste land a bit from thier position. The Veronica felt the weight in her pouch and decieded to show Bryant and Brandon it. She reached back and pulled out the crystal.

"Hey." Veronica called and the two looked over, seeing the cryistal first. "From our tall friend." She explained quickly. THe two then walked closer, Bryant grabbing it first and examining it.

"What's it for?" Bryant asked, holding it to the sun.

As the two-foot-long blue crystal, round on one end and pointed and fluted on the other, was held in the air, light refracted off of it for a dazzling display.

"It is one of seven pieces for a dangerous weapon known as the Chronoscepter," Bahamut explained to the man, "If you collect the remaining six pieces, you can create one of the most powerful and dangerous weapons known to mankind."

(OOCL:Veronica looked at the crystal, it being two feet, then at small pouch that could hardly hold anything five inches tall or wide. 0_o)

"I see." Bryant reasponded as he then stuck an end into the ground. "So there are others?" He questioned further, looking to the Dragon Lord now.

Meanwhile, Matt was falling. Summoning balance, he grabbed his assailant, and with a twirl in mid-air, threw it toward the grey stone wall. As Matt landed solidly on the ground, the assailant nealty landed against the wall, and in the same blue streak, he leapt back and forth between the turning gears as he moved downwards, landing on the floor as well.

"All right, you bastard," Matt said, "time to-"

He paused as he took in the details of the creature before him:



"Hey, aren't you Taliban?" Matt asked. "You know Felicia, right? She's told me a lot about you." Taliban's answer was a mean growl, which prompted Matt to say, "Well, someone's a bit rude today."

R.D. landed behind the wolf creature, a Phase Blade at the ready. "Taliban, huh?" he said, "Why isn't he in his own world?"

Blane looked ahead and finally noticed Kalmar,"So tell me, was kite's assumption right about you?"

((You what's funny about that post? Is that ZR isn't supposed to know we're here for one reason. The dragon magic barrier makes it seem like we're not there at all. From not giving physical pressence, to energy. 'Like were not even there. Funny no?))

Kalmar turned to Blane with a quizzical look on his face, "What assumption?"

Blazen continued forward as the two conversed. His eyes forward as he felt thier destination get closer and closer. Soon enough they would find it and the sourse of the entity he sensed before. It was odd however, normally he couldn't sense something, this thing must be different. He wondered what thier asspect would be to allow him to sense them.

(OOC: Well, seeing how ZetsumeiRyu has draconic blood, and that Bahamut is a DRAGON... I seriously doubt he'd overlook that detail.)

"Don't play stupid kid, I know what you really are made up of," Blane said.

*steals this from Dranzer to use*

Seriously, if Bahamut is the DRAGON KING, he wouldn't be stupid enough to not notice ZR seeing how he has dragon DNA. Besides the barrier makes them undecetible by anymeans. So yeah, ZR is basicly high right now and is talking to...air!


Edited by Blazen on March 16, 2007 at 15:38:10.

Kalmar shook his head, "Yes, I admit. I have evil inside of me.. that is where I draw my power from. Before this I was just a warrior, fighting demons outside my home while my wife watched it."

He looked into the morning sky, realizing that he could not sense the being's energy. That, alongside the impeded movement speed, he was getting curious as to who did this.

"I have an evil being inside of me, it's essence at least. I draw my power from it, but in the process it mutated me." He held up his right arm, now bare, the sleeve having been torn off. The limb pulsed, with red and yellow lines running intricately through the mutation.

"Everytime I draw on it's power, it changes me a little more. The more I draw, the more i'm changed."

Matt's eyes narrowed as he recalled the conversation between him and Felicia. "Because Felicia saw him get knocked into a gate," he said. "I said I'd try to find him, and I guess we got lucky here." He scanned Taliban's mind, and instantly felt the familiar wavelengths of magic surrounding the wolf man. "He's affected by magic," Matt reported, his eyes widening as Taliban suddenly decided to charge him. "It's probably mind-control!"

"Why the hell is Taliban attacking Matt?" Hugo said, as he saw the wolf attempt to strike the boy with his claws.

But Soma was already moving past the Mettaur, quickly stepping down the stairs. "I'm coming, Matt!"

Matt made an artful flip backwards, landing squarely as he avoided Taliban's attack. "Oh, you wanna fight, huh?" he asked, with a smirk. "Felicia told me you're pretty good at martial arts...I've always wondered how'd you scrap." He entered his combative position. "Come on!"

Taliban rushed Matt again, and now Matt countered with his own attacks, serving up his own style of combat against Taliban's-wild, power-heavy blows against the refined strikes of a beast.

R.D. slowly strafed the battle between Taliban and Matt, looking for an opening in case Matt needed help. Ugh, he thought in annoyance as he observed the battle, Matt'll waste far more energy than he will if he keeps this up.

"C'mon!" Alasea said to Helena and Hugo, motioning for them to follow Soma, "They might need our help!"

"So my hunch was right, but what happens if that consumes you...?" Blane said.

"Pick me up and let's go!" Hugo barked at Helena.

"Okay!" She scooped up the Mettaur, but before she took a step, she recalled the length of the stairs, and with Soma and Alasea heading down that way, she couldn't get to Matt as fast. "...you go on ahead!" she said, gripping the guardrail with her free hand. "I'll fly down!"

"Can you do that?" Hugo asked, still uneasy about the control Helena had over her powers.

The girl grit her teeth as her wings began to painfully form. "We'll find out!"

A thrusting claw attack from Taliban was avoided as Matt tipped his head to the side. "WWWWWWWWWWWWA-TAAAAA!" Matt cried out as his backhand shot through the air, evenly smacking into the side of Taliban's face with a burst of speed and power. As the wolfman reeled, Matt took his opening-running foward, he leapt upwards with a flaming uppercut aimed at Taliban's chin. "Shoooooooooryuken!"

However, Taliban's senses came back to him quickly enough to move aside, causing Matt's Shoryuken to cut through nothing but air. Immediately, Taliban leapt at Matt, shoulder first, and an aura of blazing blue energy surrounded him, magnifying the impact of the resulting tackle. Matt cried out with an "OOF!" as he was sent flying toward the wall.

As Matt was knocked away by Taliban, R.D. quickly positioned himself between the two. "My turn," he growled as he sheathed his weapons and readied his fists. He felt the weapon would do more harm than good, as they were trying to stop Taliban, not kill him. So as he brought his fists up, they ignited with Godhand. The amnesiac teen threw himself at his opponent, letting his body guide him as he lashed out with quick, hard strikes while keeping himself a small target and constantly moving, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he kept his fists close to block when he wasn't punching.

"We'll fight." Meta replied casually, not turning her head in any way. "It'll be... fun."

Meta smiled. "What makes you think we cannot?" She returned the question.

"If it consumes me," Kalmar continued, still rather subdued by his thoughts, "then I will become no better then any demon you find. More powerful, and eviler, but mindless nonetheless."

"Funny, I always thought demons were using their minds to scheme..." Blane said interested in the last phrase Kalmar used.