Re-Tuul's wings spread out from his back in an instant, alighting with a malevolent orange glow. In an instant, the beams ripped out of the ocular designs, spearing through the bolo net and the vines, incinerating them both. The engineered demon lifted up his hands, readying antimatter to obliterate them all.

"Dammit!" R.D. snarled back at his companions, a gemstone and a satchel appearing in his hands. "Run, now! Chaos CONTROL!"

As the Chaos Emerald flared, he flung it and the pack at Matt and Alasea respectively. In a moment, thunder clapped and the others were warped away in a blaze of emerald light, to the castle gates.

"You're that eager to die?" Re-Tuul said, lowering his arms and folding his wings back as he began stepping forward. "You've still got your guts, kid."

R.D. said nothing in reply, but began walking forward to meet his nemesis halfway.

"I'd hate it if your excuse for losing was to protect your friends. But it won't save them," the demon continued, spitting the words. As they neared, R.D.'s left fist swung out, impacting against Re-Tuul's own left fist. Overhead, black portals ripped into existence, opening gateways that spat out a plethora of winged monstrosities.

"A debt made by blood's a debt to be paid by blood!" the demon crooned, grinning insanely. Their arms flashed out, Azurewrath's blade and the Khaglessi greatsword parrying off each other. "That's my way of doing things!"

The others reappeared just outside of the gates, stumbling to catch their balance.

"We have to go back!" Matt snapped, dropping the Chaos Emerald and rushing up to the gates.

Helena's strong claw grabbed his shoulder and kept him at bay. "Matt, you can't fight Re-Tuul, you KNOW that!"

Matt whirled around on the weredragon. "I KNOW, Helena, I'm not STUPID, I'm gonna go in there and yank him out!"

"No time! Look!" Alasea said, pointing to the sky. Demons were dropping out of the portals, and with screeches, they took off straight for them. "We gotta get out of here!"

Her words were punctuated by the sounds of explosions bursting through the air above the castle and the statue. Re-Tuul was banking and diving through the air, avoiding rays of energy fired at him by R.D.. The demon pressed through, closing the distance and slashing at R.D., forcing him to block with Azurewrath. "Come on, that the best you got!?" the demon snarled, smashing his blade repeatedly into R.D.'s sword. One final swing cleaved downwards, knocking him back and leaving him open for a follow-through.

His sword broke apart, becoming a hook-shaped blade and the six Meteor Fangs. "Go, Fangs!" the demon shouted as they took off at R.D., peeling back barbs to fire beams of energy at him. He spun about, dodging each one before he retaliated, firing blasts at the fangs. One by one, they started blowing apart by the shots. Grinning beneath the helmet, he continued firing away.

The air whistled behind him, and he spun about, seeing Re-Tuul flying straight for him, a leg curled back and a blade of energy stretching out from it. "Got ya now!" the demon roared, sweeping it out at R.D..

The blade cleaved through nothing but air as R.D. twisted himself out of the way, underneath the attack. Growling, he swung about, slashing with Azurewrath and severing Re-Tuul's leg at the knee.

Beams tore through the air after R.D. as the Meteor Fangs reformed themselves and continued their attack, causing him to flee. To think he could perform that kind of move despite the pressure...! the demon thought in amazement.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 18, 2010 at 22:51:50.

"Son of a -" Matt switched to the red gem and spread his arms, displaying power. "Helena, help me cover our escape!"

Helena passed the babies over to Mario and Luigi, then joined Matt in summoning fire. Together they launched a massive, spiralling burst of flames at the main swooping demon attack. "Let's ROLL!" Matt shouted.

The demons pressed through the flames, many of them perishing from the burns that were inflicted on them, but that didn't stop them from coming, brandishing fangs and claws. They swooped low over the ground, chasing after them, dodging the beams Ileyna fired back at them.

Alasea swept up the discarded Chaos Emerald and threw it in R.D.'s satchel as she ran. Flames issued out from her feet, leaving a dangerous trail across her path for the demons to follow.

Up above, R.D. and Re-Tuul raged through the skies. R.D.'s fist swept through the air, only to be caught by the demon's hand, and the Khaglessi swung down with his blade. Grunting, R.D. ducked and deflected the attack off the armor of his shoulder, and quickly caught the follow-up as the demon tried to drive his knee into his gut.

Grinning beneath the helmet, R.D. spun about and drove his leg into the demon's side, smashing Re-Tuul's ribs apart. "Don't think that's enough to stop me!" Re-Tuul snarled.

"Let's end this, Re-Tuul!" R.D. screamed back, attacking again with a kick that sent the demon flying. Re-Tuul steadied himself and shot back, grappling with R.D., and they spiraled off away from the castle and the demons chasing Matt and the others.

Matt roundhoused a demon that swung in too close just as Helena decked another. "Get to the time hole!" The group scrambled across the yard, with Mario and Luigi taking down a few of the nearby demons with well-placed hops.

"Come on, get in!" Matt shouted, scooping up Hugo. "I'll clear some room and follow!"

"Don't you die on me!" Hugo spat, before Matt tossed him into the gap.

As Helena bounded into the hole with a whip of her tail, and as Mario and Luigi took the plunge, Matt faced the oncoming demons. "Thunder..." His frame coursed with electricity and lightning flashed in the sky - he raised his hands and called it all down upon the soaring crowds. "Heaven!"

Ileyna darted through the portal, Mass Effect dragging the subdued Fawful behind her. Lightning cut through the sky and descended upon the horde, striking them down where they flew. Those that escaped were quickly consumed by the raging fires that Alasea conjured from her body, flinging the auras at them and killing them in droves.

Soon, nothing was left except a wildfire. "Let's go," Alasea said, turning towards the portal with R.D.'s satchel slung about her form. Before she could take one step, something crashed into the ground between them and the rift. The demon stood, revealing itself to be a Hell Knight like the ones that had attacked them at Aube.

"Oh, crap," Alasea swore, readying her sword. The faceless demon roared in challenge, generating energy in its claws.

===

Thrusters flared out from R.D.’s boots, slowing his descent before he landed on the alien landscape of the Mushroom Kingdom, the strange, staring hills nearby behind him. As he landed, Re-Tuul’s white feet touched the ground way ahead of him, the Khaglessi Patriarch landing in a relaxed stance—his wings, normally folded and retracted when on the ground, stayed extended out from his body. The Meteor Fangs gripped into the flesh of his wings and back. He grinned at R.D., whose scowl was hidden behind his fierce-looking helmet. R.D.’s hands were held clenched, contrasting to the relaxed, open hands of his nemesis. The demon stood as if nothing could hurt him, nothing could touch him. His arrogance infuriated the amnesic teenager.

“So, that’s how it is, huh?” the demon called out, mocking him. “That’s too bad. Your life ends here.”

The Meteor Fangs detached from Re-Tuul’s back with a hiss, floating into the air and zipping around until they were in front of Re-Tuul, who lifted his arms up in front and above him. The Meteor Fangs retracted within each other and docked, two sliding over his fists, the other four sliding over the front of them into two equal columns, locking into place. The demon crossed them over one another, and they suddenly burst apart, columns and hands dissolving into many black and gray particles that swarmed around the air before reforming into a new weapon, two cylinders covered in hollowed spikes, merging into one and crowned with a demonic skull, mouth agape in a silent scream. The weapon swung down and pointed directly at R.D., and the hollowed chambers of the skull and spikes flickered and shone with energy, shining silver in the right side and brilliant orange in the left.

“Meteor Breaker!”

"Ah, COME ON!" Matt shouted. "That's such a DICK MOVE!"

"Quit complaining and kill it!" Alasea yelled at him. "Its just one of them, we can take it! Just don't hold back!"

Roaring, the demon attacked. Alasea leaped forward to meet it, her burning sword laying open the demon's chest, but with a snarl, the Hell Knight simply smashed her aside--the plasma in its claw exploded, sending the girl careening into a nearby tree.

She connected with a grunt and collapsed, her body and clothing suddenly returning to normal as the Fire Flower's energies faded.

===

The brightness of the energies intensified, and gravitational waves were dragging R.D. towards the demon and his malicious weapon. He lifted his arms up and dug in his feet to resist the pull, as his mind reeled from the revelation of Re-Tuul possessing what could only be an Ultimate Offense and Defense attack. R.D. growled angrily, and he grit his teeth beneath the helmet.

“Your soul is blacker than any other, Re-Tuul!” he roared, extending hands out to his sides, the right hand filled with violent orange energy, the left gleaming with bright silver. “I’ll show you that it doesn’t deserve to exist, that this soul is greater than yours!”

Flames and shockwaves exploded out both hands as bright azure fire swarmed around the skies.

“Dragon Soul!”

The ground was being shredded apart by the Re-Tuul’s feet as he rocketed forward, Meteor Breaker carving a path across the soils of the Mushroom Kingdom, debris being pulled in and broken apart by the screaming, blazing skull. Dragons of energy burst out of R.D.’s gauntlets, spiraling around the glowing hands and tightening, pulling the hands together and locking them in place, causing the blazing light of the Crystalis to wash out from the fingers. With a mighty roar, R.D. blasted forward on his armor’s thrusters, combined fists held out before him as blazing azure light tore apart the air.

The two attacks struck and exploded with a shockwave of power, blasting apart the wilderness with their might as shining azure ignited all around them. Two forces struggled against each other, the combined energies tearing apart the battlefield in the process.

This was stupid. Hell Knights took forever to kill and they didn't even have five minutes. As much as Matt wanted to beat the thing's face in...he wasn't even gonna bother!

Bounding over to Alasea, Matt lifted her up with a grunt. "Don't worry, I got us," he said. Then he looked at the Knight and said, "Well, what're you waiting for? Come on, big man!"

The demon snarled in response and charged, flinging the plasma ball at Matt as it ran.

Before it could fly far, it exploded in midair, striking against a faint barrier.

"Bastard," Alasea growled, letting her hand drop back down to her sword while her spell faded.

Matt didn't say anything. Just bent down, then burst into a ru, powered by the yellow gem as he zoomed towards the portal.

Re-Tuul’s maniacal grin remained in place as he stared with his eyeless gaze at R.D., then split open as he spoke.

“You know, you really should be thanking me, Dragon!” Re-Tuul crowed over the noise of the clashing ultimate attacks. “Without me, you wouldn’t be who you are today! I’m the reason you are who you are! Who stopped the Dragon Tribes from coming to your aid when you and that Ancient fought off against those mercenaries that Sheena hired? I did!”

R.D. chose not to reply, gritting his teeth and increasing the power of his thrusters, trying to force past the Meteor Breaker with Dragon Soul. He could feel the energy of the ultimate offense and defense attack grinding away at the housed energies of Re-Tuul’s attack. Without waiting to hear a response from his nemesis, Re-Tuul pressed on with his verbal assault. “Who kept attacking you and giving you a reason to fight through all of those terrible battles all of these months? I did!”

The very ground was shaking with the forces emanating from the two attacks, with debris being scattered to the wind as R.D. and Re-Tuul pressed on. R.D. forced more and more power into the Dragon Soul, only for Re-Tuul to do the same, prolonging the moment when R.D. would wipe that infuriating grin off of the eyeless demon’s eel-like face, who was still speaking to him. “Who was it that started you down on the path that made you hunt the Khaglessi? I did!”

The very air was practically blinding for anyone who’d try to look directly at the two warring powers, at the clash of Dragon Soul and Meteor Breaker. The noise was rising in pitch.

“Who was it that killed your dear loving sister? I did.”

At those last words, R.D.’s breath caught in his throat, his eyes widening in absolute shock. His world rocked on its foundations as the revelation, and forgotten memory flooded into his mind. He remembered exactly what Re-Tuul was talking about. In his mind’s eye, he could see the nine original Khaglessi circle overhead before descending upon the redheaded girl that had been haunting his dreams and memories for all this time. Teeth flashed in the light, claws swept out, blood arced through the air, screams assaulted his hearing—he couldn’t bear it. Suddenly, his concentration broke. Something inside of him snapped.

The noise rose to a crescendo, and Re-Tuul, mouth split in triumph, pressed forward with Meteor Breaker. It broke through the Dragon Soul’s energy, forcing R.D.’s hands apart. The skull and spikes tore into the armor covering his arms, and into the flesh beneath, as it zeroed in and smashed into R.D.’s armored chest, crushing it into pieces of shimmering blue metal. R.D.’s body arched backwards as an agonized scream, both of pain and horror, ripped from his throat. Armor was flying apart from his body; his helmet disintegrated, everything was in chaos.

Only one thought echoed continuously in R.D.’s mind at the time of his defeat.

Why?

===

The time hole flickered dangerously as a catastrophic explosion disintegrated the region beyond the forest and castle they were in. The blast-wave ripped all around them, flinging the Hell Knight aside like it was nothing.

And in that same instant, Matt and Alasea felt as if something was being torn from them inside their hearts and minds, as if something was taking away some vital piece of their existence; the same phenomenon striking at Helena, Ileyna, and even Hugo years ahead in the future.

"R.D.!" Alasea screamed before she and Matt's momentum sent them hurtling through the time portal.

Wait wait wait what was that?! WHAT WAS THAT?! What the hell just happened?! He reached out to try and catch himself, but the time hole engulfed him and Alasea too quickly, sent them churning back to the future.

The rift spat the two of them back out unceremoniously, scattering the boy and girl on the ground in front of Hugo and the others.

Alasea shoved herself up onto all fours, looking about wildly. "We have to go back!" she exclaimed, trying to stand up. Ileyna was also sitting on the ground, her powers dormant and her expression confused and lost-looking. "Something's wrong, we have to--ahh!"

Her legs gave out underneath her, forcing her back to the ground. Grunting, she tried once more to stand.

Helena's claws landed on Alasea's shoulders. "No, Alasea! We can't go back - not while that place is still a disaster zone!"

"We--argh--we killed everything but one of the monsters before we escaped!" Alasea said, rising somewhat more successfully. "I won't give up on him, I'm not leaving him there! Something's wrong! Can't any of you feel it?!"

"...you felt it too?" Helena asked.

"I felt something," Matt said. He lifted himself up and dusted off his pants. "I don't know what it is."

"Perhaps it's our connection with R.D.," Princess Peach theorized. She laid a hand over her chest. "Something has gone terribly wrong."

"I'm going back," Alasea said, sounding a bit stronger as she propped herself up with the Megami Tsurugi. "We have to--we have to find out what happened."

"You're not going alone," Hugo said, stepping up next to Alasea.

"That's for sure." Matt shot Mario and Luigi a look. "Can you watch over the princess while we're gone?" The brothers both flashed a thumbs up. "Good."

Mass Effect deposited the still-restrained Fawful between the two plumbers before disappearing from Ileyna's sight, and she quickly ran over to join the others. Alasea smiled weakly at them, grateful for their support, then steeled herself as they proceeded back through the time portal.

The air in the past was smoky and dusty; the aftermath of the gigantic explosion settling down. The Hell Knight was nowhere to be found; it'd either been killed in the blast or dismissed when the others had escaped.

A massive plume of black smoke was rising up off to their left, well past the forests.

"Hol-ee shit," Matt remarked, shielding his eyes. Sun wasn't out, but it helped him focus on the plume.

"This is really bad," Helena said. "We have to find R.D., fast."

Alasea nodded and started running, with the others following soon after. With Princess Shroob dead and Fawful removed, the Shroobs had either left or were in disarray, and nothing else was encountered in the forest.

Soon, the trees parted way to fields, with small foothills crowning the area where the smoke was at. "R.D.," Alasea breathed, before darting off ahead of the others, calling out. "R.D.!"

She crested the hill, only to stop in her tracks. Her hands shot up to her mouth, and her eyes widened in horror at what she saw. Blood was splattered about everywhere in the expansive crater, among the scattered shards of the Dragon King Armor.

Helena gasped out loud, also covering her mouth. "Oh my God. Oh my God, no..."

But Matt raised his hand. "Hold on. Let's see if we can find a body first before we call it quits."

"If he is dead," said Hugo quietly, "then Re-Tuul probably disentigrated him."

"Let's not jump to that conclusion yet either."

As they searched, it soon came apparent that there was little else but blood and metal in the crater--far too much blood. Alasea constantly was fighting the urge to throw up, trying to stave off the possibility that R.D. had... no. She wouldn't think about that.

Off near the edge of the crater, Ileyna tugged discarded Phase Blades from the ground. They were covered in soot, but they hadn't been activated. Frowning, she looked back up at the others.

Something caught Alasea's eye, and she turned, going near the heart of the crater. Here, the smoke was starting to die out, allowing the blackened ground to be viewed. When it became obvious what she saw, her heart stopped.

Trembling, the girl approached it and fell to her knees. Weak tugs soon dislodged R.D.'s helmet from the ground, or at least what was left of it. The red crystal set into its crest had been shattered, and one whole side had been broken off, and was only connected by the shredded, bloodstained padding inside of it.

She lost it then. As she clutched the helmet to her breast, unable to deny it any longer, Alasea began to cry.

Matt sank to the ground, still warm from the battle. His body started to tremble. It all came rushing in.

"This...this can't be happening." Helena whipped around to face Matt. "Right? It can't be happening. You came back once, so maybe..." Her face scrunched, teeth clenched, trying to hold it all in as tears escaped her eyes. "M-Maybe..."

Her sentence ended in a mournful wail that felt like it was going to spread across the entire forest.

The group was long in returning to the present time period through the rift. When they finally returned, everyone had a hollow, downcast expression. Alasea wore the satchel she had given R.D., and was clutching the helmet gingerly, as if she was afraid the slightest amount of pressure would turn it into dust. His Phase Blades had been taken from Ileyna, and was now slipped under Matt's belt.

Matt had insisted on the swords. Might as well keep on using them the way they were intended to be used. Preferably against Re-Tuul's face.

"You're back!" Young Toadsworth piped up, with Old Toadsworth quick to his side. "The Princess and the Mario brothers have already returned inside the castle, but they asked that we see to it that you returned. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah," Hugo said. "We found it."

"We should go see the others before we leave," Alasea said quietly, her voice little louder than a whisper. "We should... tell them what we found."

"Let's go talk to the princess," Matt said. "Then we can drop by the cafe and get something to eat." They couldn't sit around and mourn for long...but at least some food would get them refocused.

"Very well," said Old Toadsworth. He was pushing the same pink stroller from before. "Follow me." He lead them into the castle, leading the way with that same stroller, and he directed them to a new, expansive room with red carpet leading up to the exquisite throne, flanked by majestic red curtains.

Princess Peach rose from this throne as soon as the group entered. "You've returned! Did...did you find him?"