Ellie cocked an eyebrow at them. That's not a well-known trick, she thought as the Daughter of Dawn saw Blazen bounce off her SaintFlame sphere. With surprising quickness, she swung her massive sword around and blocked Blazen's attack with the flat of her sword's blade. With a grin, she catapulted him off her weapon.

Laughing, she pivoted around from the force of the launch, silently thanking for the sword's enchantments to make it indestructible and as light as a feather. Just she launched Blazen away, the SaintFlame orb, which hadn't moved very far, began firing finger-sized piercing beams of fire at his back.

Ellie's eyebrow cocked again as she saw Kalmar, and she made the ground into harmless lava again, trapping both legs even farther, along with both arms. "You're not going anywhere!" she said in a sing-song voice as she waited for Blazen's next attack.

Before them spanned the throne.

Ruined curtains hung from the ceiling, flanking the red throne. Carpet sprawled before the steps to the throne, mixing with the blood from the tremendous bust of a woman's head behind the throne, crying crimson that ran down to the floor.

And before the throne was Graham-he turned around suddenly at the exploisve intrusion, as the heroes spilled into the room. His gaze was wild, his expression disheveled. "You're too late, Soma!" he shouted. "Dracula's power is already in my grasp!"

"I don't care about Dracula's power, I came here to find a way out of this castle!" Soma snapped back.

Graham smiled uneasily, as if focused on too many things at once. "With my new abilities, I can get you out of here quite easily...but..." He raised an accusing finger. "You have some property of mine in your possession. The souls of my demons are under your control." The missionary's voice rose to a great shriek. "I can't forgive such crimes! No! NEVER!"

Soma took a bold step in front of Matt, eyeing his crazed enemy. "If I knew how, I'd return them all to you right now!"

"Even if you return them, you have still committed the crime of stealing!" Graham clenched his pale fist. "It's only right that thieves recieve the punishment they DESERVE!"

"You, sir, are fucking NUTS!" Matt shouted. "You waltz in here trying to get Dracula's power and now you're a little basketcase because of it!" He shook a fist. "If you're gonna attack us, then I'm gonna KICK YOUR ASS!"

"So be it!" The air around Graham wavered, solidfying into a blood red aura-its power lifted him effortlessly from the floor. "I, myself, will deliver your PUNISHMENT!" He made a big gesture, and from the arc, three fireballs shot at the group.

"Scatter!" Pushing Helena to the floor, Matt leapt aside, landing in an impromptu slide, while Soma and Hugo managed to roll.

*****

"I know what you're looking for," Malvettix hinted. "And I can deliver him to you. All I ask...is to accompany you."

Edited by The Helldragon on March 31, 2007 at 18:57:09.

R.D. blinked. Things were already going down the tubes, and they just started!

The amnesiac teen seized the Second Cipher energy and aligned elemental energy, gesturing upwards as one of the fireballs came near him. A large geyser of water erupted from the floor, drowning the attack. Alasea gasped, dodging to the side while countering with a Reverser Slash to turn the fireball into harmless water.

"That's it!" she heard R.D. shout. She looked over at him to see his fist glowing again. R.D. shot forward, slamming his empowered fist into the floor and using it to propel himself at Graham. As he got close, he swung with a vicious uppercut at the insane man's chin.

===At Egypt===

The young man raised an eyebrow at Malvettix, looking surprised for a brief moment. Then he chuckled, soon becoming full-blown laughter. "You surprise me," he said, calming down after a few moments, "Well then, Malvettix, if that's what you wish, I accept your proposal."

"Not very." Poncho noted.

"All the rum was gone."

Poncho moved his head upwards, noticing the cackles of energy that bursted forth from the monster, before pulling the larger of his two weapons off his back.

Graham smirked. In a flash of red light, he was gone, moved instantly to the west wall of the room. He gestured again-this time, arcs of flame shot along the ground at those involved. Matt produced a red cape out of nowhere, sweeping it away as the firewave shot by him. "Ole!" The firewave reappeared behind Graham, streaking toward him, but he teleported again, this time near Soma.

Soma acted fast-his hands shot foward, and arcs of electricity snapped at the missionary, which also failed to strike him. As Graham summoned geysers of energy to erupt underneath Soma, Helena, and Matt, they were forced to roll to avoid it. Helena's ensuing fire beam and Hugo's desperate shots were for naught as Graham continued to teleport, successfully avoiding every attack.

*****

Malvettix's eyes gleamed. "Excellent. Now...I must inform you that I lack any form of dimensional travel. If you can provide me with that, I will bring the boy to you however you please as efficently as possible."

Edited by The Helldragon on March 31, 2007 at 21:23:22.

R.D. lashed out with several charged energy beams, growing frustrated as Graham teleported to avoid them and the attacks of his friends.

Alasea's eyes searched the throneroom, trying to track Graham's teleportations. If I can just time it right, thought the future Daughter, I could hit him. We just need to figure out where he's going to appear.

With a new determination, Alasea spun her short swords around and held them low, waiting for Graham to appear near her.

===At Egypt===

"Hmm," the young man mused, his eyes turning back across the desert, to the ruins of the Sphinx and the gigantic creature atop it. The light suddenly distorted in front of Malvettix, curling in on itself before becoming normal again. Floating in front of Malvettix was a black scale of some creature, small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand.

"Take your time," he said to Malvettix, "I'm sure you're aware how tricky they can be."

"DAMN IT!" Matt shouted, spreading his arms. "STOP BEING CHEAP!" From behind him, a salvo of rockets suddenly arced past him and charged at Graham, for naught-Graham merely destroyed some, teleporting behind Matt just long enough for the missiles to crash into him, sending him flying.

"Matt!" Helena shouted. This time, she allowed the beast to take control with relative ease, tearing her humanity asunder with the offer of dramatically increased power. Her clawed hands send arcs of fire streaming to counter Graham's own attacks, and her scaled form stood fast against his own explosive attacks.

Soma's eyes narrowed. There had to be a way to get Graham to stop moving...but how? He reviewed the creatures he had fought as he weaved and slashed with Claimh Solais as soon as he was in range-surely there was one power he had that could turn the tide in their favor!

Graham reappeared by the throne, folded his arms, seemingly lowering his guard. "You stupid fools are nothing against Dracula's power! Give it up!"

"It's not over yet!" Hugo shouted, charging his pickaxe for a more powerful shot.

*****

Malvettix languidly reached out and took the scale, clenched it tightly. "I am." He grinned again. "Thank you for the opportunity." His form receded into the ground, becoming the blackness of shadow until he had completely disappeared.

Edited by The Helldragon on March 31, 2007 at 22:09:53.

Blazen spun in the air as he was launched, to keep his balance. However, behind him was the assualt on his back. Blazen was hit first in the shoulder, then the back of his left knee and finally the middle of his back. He grunted slightly in irritation and used the force from the attacks to make him face the fire. He was upsidedown now as he began to fall.

Blazen then held his hands above his head and shot a large blast of fire to propell himself to the ground with a spin. He stopped himself as he spun, his legs crossed around eachother and bent a bit. He then shot himself up, spinning in the other direction.

Blazen would then hit the giant flame with his head, his hair hardly damaged let alone his head. He continued to spin as he began to drill into the fire. Then once his head was in the fire, he stopped, dead. He seemed lifeless for a moment, then in that instant...the fire seemed to implode as Blazen inhaled.

Blazen then landed on the ground, his cheeks puffed as he seemed to be holding his breath. He turned to Ellie and smirked the best he could before he would blow out the fire he breathed in at her and the flames would engulf her.

"Distract him," Alasea whispered when she got to R.D.'s side. He nodded and lashed out several times with his Phase Blade, launching a number of Kougenjin wave slashes at Graham. Behind R.D., Alasea stood with her back facing R.D.'s back, a reddish-pink light enveloping her hands, one hand held just above the other, her swords still in hand.

===At Egypt===

As Malvettix left, the gray-haired young man grinned. "My pleasure," he said, turning back to re-enjoy the unfolding battle.

===At Germany===

Ellie thrust the blade of Rakukojin into the ground, causing lava to burst up in front of her, arching over before suddenly cooling into a makeshift shield. The SaintFlame struck it and washed over, leaving the Daughter of Dawn unharmed. Giggling, she removed her weapon and shot out backwards, pointing her free hand at Blazen. Multiple explosions rent the air around him.

All right, heroes, here's the basic deal. In summary, Matt and his group kicked Graham's butt with a combined effort of Matt's Master Swordsman Variable Arm and Soma's innate power. Afterwards, they discover Soma was actually the reincarnation of Dracula. Arikado tells Soma to go cut off the source of chaos in the castle to stop Dracula's power from consuming him. Wishing him well, Matt and the group left the castle and ended up back in the Seven world. There, the power of the Pillar of Dawn calls out to Alasea, and to get there, Matt conjures a giant shotgun to ride on. They fly it for a while, land, and approach the Pillar of Dawn on foot. And now, we join that story, already in progress.

Thank you, THD, for that summary. And thank you, Doc, for reviving that which has kept quite a few people busy for quite some times every now and then.

Anyways, in Egypt we have Saikou, the disturbing fusion of two ancient guys, Kouken and Juno, having getting his butt handed to him by the giant lightning hawk known as Electra, after Kouken, Juno, Shujou, Derek, Gilgamesh and Meta had hacked their way through legions of the little sparkly birds. After that, the bird-brained Electra turned her gaze to Meta, as if she were to be a mere desert. With one 's'.


(Of course, proton cannons and rubber boots >>> lightning hawks.)

Someone should've started with, "Last time, on IO-Files..."

Also, to take it a bit further, Alasea got electricuted by her Pillar of Dawn for some odd reason, and Re-Tuul returns to that floating island in the sky to update his boss on the return of their quarry. Michael was watching the battle between the good guys and the giant lightning-rod chicken, while hinting at Meta's origins. Also, Blazen and Kalmar had just entered a stalemate with Ellie, and after the revelation of Blazen's origins, Ellie healed them and then set fire to Kalmar's shirt after he wouldn't take it off per Ellie's orders. Blazen lawls at this, for he is LAWL!

Also, megaman x rocks! had begun a new story, which has unfortunately been lost, as I never got around to reading it. Hopefully he can renew it.

On to the story!

(OOC: Electra and Meta were exchanging insults after Electra countered Meta's water/light energy sword wave attack.)

OOC: Okay, sounds good, R.D.. Why don't you kick us off again into the right direction?

===Much, MUCH time later===

R.D. wiped some sweat from his brow and looked over at Alasea. "That was a really dumb thing to do, you know," he scolded, "Considering what we have to deal with here."

He was ignored. Alasea's gaze was fixated on the Pillar of Dawn, its light was threatening to captivate them all. The pulses of pure energy that traveled upward within, revealed by the transparent walls of the Pillar, seemed to grow brighter and brighter. A sphere of energy was gathering at the crown of the Pillar, with tines of lightning dancing across its surface as tendrils of energy swirled around it.

The alluring song that only Alasea could hear was drawing her in. Its call was too powerful for her to resist. She took a step forward.

The Pillar reacted.

The energy atop the Pillar swelled and compressed at the same time, a beam of light erupting from its depths. The beam engulfed the brown-haired girl, and she screamed out in pain and fear as electricity danced across her body. Her body was lifted from the ground, surrounded by a near-blinding aura of light, and her screams continued. Prismatic light shone in a massive pillar around her, lancing up into the sky to be seen for miles around.

"Alli!" R.D. shouted, running towards her.

As quickly as it happened, however, it stopped. With a pitiful whimper, the unconscious Alasea fell from the air, only to be caught by R.D. He lowered her to the ground carefully, swearing as he felt her burning, energized skin.

"Alasea!" Helena shouted, running toward Alasea as well.

"What the hell happened?!" Matt demanded, lowering the arm he used to shield his eyes. He looked at the Pillar, and was reminded of the power that infused itself into Soma. Was it the same thing?

"Damn it, the last thing we need is a signal that we're here!" Hugo said, waving his pickaxe wildly about him as he scanned the area for enemies he expected to suddenly appear.

R.D. laid the girl down on the grass gently, looking up at the Pillar of Dawn. It almost seemed... muted. Dim, in a way. What in the world happened? he thought fearfully as he looked back at Alasea. She was breathing heavily, and her skin almost burned at the touch, but he could feel power flowing through her... power he had felt in Aisha. It was intense.

But in her current state, she seemed more fragile than glass. "Looks like we'll be camping here tonight," he muttered, "I hope you can set some wards or something, Matt."

"Wonderful. And I don't got much food, so we'll have to be stingy." Setting down his pack, Matt began taking out the vital items he had always carried with him.

Helena sat down next to Alasea, and, almost without knowing, held her hand over the girl's forehead. Like R.D., she could feel the great power now swimming within the other, and it seems to harmonize with her own innate abilities. "It feels tangible," she reported.

"What does?" Hugo asked.

"The energy inside of Alasea," Helena explained. "It feels like I can touch it."

"This is bullshit," Matt muttered. "This isn't what I need, we're gonna be sitting ducks if the Seven find out we're here..."

R.D. nodded, noting their predicament. "I'll keep an eye out for trouble," R.D. said, standing up, "Keep an eye on her."

R.D. made his way down the hill, drawing both Phase Blades as he scouted. Hours passed, and there were no sign of any monsters around. As R.D. looked around, the Pillar of Dawn slowly seemed to regain its vibrance, soon constrasting with the twilight.

Night had just well when R.D. returned, and the Pillar of Dawn illuminated the ground with a pale glow, like moonlight, despite the moonless void above. R.D. put the two Phase Blades back in their sheathes and approached Helena and Alasea's inert form. "How is she?" he asked, stopping near them.

Meta looked a bit frightened at the attack, then figured something out, smirked, and jumped into the air a short time before it would hit her, and the attack passed without doing anything.

As the attack came back more quickly now, it passed before Meta had reached the full height of her jump, and she felt a slight nauseic feeling as it passed, but asice from that, it did her no harm.

"Is this everything?" She shouted. "You're pathètic!" She cried out mockingly. "Can't you do better, birdbrain?"

(OOC: Just as it says. Also, since it says "coming from every direction" I assume it was done while Meta was still in the air.)

Meta, hanging still in the air as she was shocked, didn't really feel much, aside from the nausea. She shook her head and looked at Electra. "This is just pathetic, you birdbrain. Why don't you just fire your strongest attack while you're at it?"

Meanwhile, Gilgamesh cast a worrisome gaze up to Meta. "I hope she knows what she is doing... I know what her plan is, but if she keeps this up, she will be killed."

"Bloody hell," Michael swore, "You're all a bunch of cowards. I'm going back now."

And with that, the light distorted around Michael as he teleported out of the Blood Beach.

===At Egypt===

Michael reappeared near Meta just moments before Electra struck. Immediately Michael forced a large energy shield into existence, covering a wide area, causing it to flare brightly as the lightning exploded against it. Just as the attack ended, the shield shattered.

"Okay," he muttered, pulling out and lighting a cigarette, "I'm gonna have to work on that technique a bit more. Damn near lost it that time."

The gray-haired youth looked over at Meta. "You okay, babe?" he asked.

Edited by RisingDragon on April 12, 2007 at 13:15:52.

OOC: I'm gonna go from what RD has told me and the posts i've read.. and i'm gonna wing it.

Kalmar leapt back and began beating furiously at the shirt, but when he saw the condition of it he tore it off and threw it away. His corruption was revealed for Ellie, or anyone near enough to see for that matter.

"Happy now?" Kalmar growled, obviously displeased with the sudden turn of events. He smiled lightly though, realizing the woman meant no harm by the gesture.